Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

"Where did you get the oil lamp?" Zhang didn't believe that her frugal mother-in-law would be willing to spend money to buy an oil lamp.

"This is not the oil lamp sold in town. This is a whale oil lamp I made," Li Yuer explained.

After a careful look, they found that it was true. The lamp holders of the oil lamps in the town could not be broken porcelain pieces.

"This is much brighter than the oil lamps in town."

Zhang had seen an old oil lamp in the village chief's house. Last time when something happened at night and he needed help, the village chief lit the oil lamp for a while. His wife said it was a waste of money and wanted to save it for worshiping gods on the 15th day of the first lunar month, so she replaced it with a torch.

The old oil lamp was brought back by the village chief's daughter who married to the land. It is very precious to the village chief's family.

The oil lamp in the village chief's house not only produced a lot of smoke when it was lit, but was also not as bright as this one.

A few people gathered around the oil lamp and looked at it curiously.

"What is the wick made of? Cotton?"

Li Erlang squeezed over at some point and looked at the oil lamp curiously.

"Is this cotton? Where does our family get the cotton?" Li Meir follows Old Lady Cai to manage household affairs, and she knows everything that is at home.

Li Yuer explained: "This is not cotton, this is the pith of rush."

Li Yuer showed everyone a piece of rush.

"So this grass is called rush. It's everywhere. How does it become a soft and white wick?" Li Erlang became even more curious.

An idea occurred to him: if this weed that can be found everywhere can really be made into wicks, then can he take it to the market and sell it for money?

Moreover, the wick made of rush is obviously much better than the cotton wicks sold in the town. It is white, long, and does not produce smoke.

Li Mei'er's eyes lit up and she said, "Yu Bao'er, what you were fiddling with just now was not this grass, right? So, this pith is what you dug out from the grass stalk with a knife?"

Li Yuer nodded and said, "That's right, that's the pith of the rush. However, the pith of the rush needs to be dried in the sun to be best used. Right now, there is no time to wait for it to be dried, so we can only use it this way."

Li Meir was a capable person. As she spoke, she immediately took a fish knife and cut open the stem of a rush. Soon, a long white pith was revealed.

"I didn't expect that there would be such good things hidden in the wild grass all over the mountains."

Li Meir had an idea in her mind, and went to the corner to find a relatively large piece of broken porcelain. She followed Li Yuer's example and made another whale oil lamp.

"It will definitely come in handy when Uncle San and the others come back."

Li Meir heated up dinner on the stove and waited for Old Man Li and the others to come back and eat.

Mr. Li ran back to Jishiditang and spent most of his money to pay for the consultation and medicine for Mr. Li.

Because there was no point in staying in the clinic for Li Laosan's condition, the few of them spent sixty-six big coins to hire the same donkey cart to take him back to Rabbit Island.

After settling Li Laosan down, Li Laohan and his companions ate a few mouthfuls of food and then took turns to look after Li Laosan.

When it got dark, Li Meir lit the oil lamp and placed it on the deck.

Mrs. Cai was wiping Li Laosan's face in the dark when the light suddenly illuminated the cabin. Mrs. Cai looked up at Li Mei'er and asked, "Where did you get the oil lamp at home?"

Li Mei'er was afraid of disturbing her uncle, so she whispered, "It's not bought. Li Yu'er made it with whale oil and rushes. Grandma, does the lamp holder look familiar to you?"

Old Mrs. Cai looked at the oil lamp for a while before asking tentatively, "Could it be that I just picked up some broken porcelain pieces?"

Li Meir smiled and nodded.

Li Laosan has not yet passed the critical period, and someone is needed to keep watch at night. It is very inconvenient in the dark. If something really happens, it may not be discovered. At this critical moment, an oil lamp can play a big role.

Old Mrs. Cai nodded with satisfaction and said, "You are all good children. Yu Baoer is particularly smart and has many ideas. I am grateful to her for the past few days, otherwise..."

Old Mrs. Cai didn't say the second half of her words. If her little granddaughter hadn't discovered the whale, earned money, and got to know Shopkeeper Qian, the third son would probably be dead.

"Hurry up and pack up and go to bed. You have to get up early tomorrow. I'll take care of everything." Old Mrs. Cai sent everyone else to rest.

Li Laoda said, "Mother, you can't endure the whole night alone. I will return it to you in a few hours."

"I'll come too." Other members of the Li family also vied to keep watch.

Old Mrs. Cai nodded and sent them to rest first, and replaced them in the second half of the night.

In the middle of the night, Li Laosan had a fever, and he kept shouting nonsense: "Run! Run!"

After a while, he shouted again: "You bunch of beasts, I will fight you to death!"

"Even if I become a ghost, I won't let you go!"

Old Mrs. Cai led the eldest daughter-in-law and her daughter to boil medicine. The medicine was bought from Jishidiang in advance, just in case she had a fever.

It was a dark and cold night in December, so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Fortunately, there was the whale oil lamp made by Li Yuer, otherwise, with a torch and groping in the dark, it was not certain whether the medicine could be made.

Li Laosan was almost unconscious due to the fever and could not take medicine with a spoon. Old man Li helped him up, held him in his arms, and poured medicine into his mouth. After a few mouthfuls, he vomited it all out.

"What should I do?" Old Mrs. Cai's hands were shaking as she held the medicine. "Third brother, you bastard, you black-hearted debt collector, do you hear me? Give me the medicine quickly." She spoke in a crying voice.

Li Laosan's fever was getting worse and worse, and he seemed to be possessed by a nightmare. He kept struggling and talking nonsense, and almost reached out to knock over the medicine bowl.

Li Yuer was woken up long ago by a door curtain.

She picked up the tinder next to her pillow and lit another oil lamp with the light coming through from the next room.

"What are you doing?"

Li Meir, who was sent back, actually didn't fall asleep. She was also worried about her uncle and couldn't sleep at all.

Uncle San was about the same age as her older brother and her. When they were young, whenever they were bullied by older kids in the village, Uncle San would stand up for them and beat them back harshly until the other kids dared not bully them anymore.

Because of this, Uncle San was often visited by villagers. Her grandmother was not one to suffer any loss. She dared to confront others even when she was wrong, not to mention that she was right. Naturally, the other party could not get the upper hand.

Uncle San was naughty. He would go up the mountain to catch birds and down the sea to catch fish. Whenever he caught something, the brother and sister would always get a share.

Later, as they grew up and were able to help with housework, they had less time to play together.

I don’t know when Uncle San started going to the town more and more often. Later, he left early and came back late almost every day, and sometimes he didn’t even come home at night.

Grandpa had lectured Uncle San a few times, but Uncle San would always stiffen his neck and retort: ​​"People who move live, trees that move die. I don't want to be like you, staying on Rabbit Island as a fisherman for the rest of my life."

She also knew that life on the island was difficult, but how much better could the world outside be? Was it so easy to make money outside?

In the past, there were fishermen who left the island to seek a way out, but they ended up either working as laborers or being cheated out of their money and gaining nothing. One fisherman was even abducted by human traffickers and his whereabouts are still unknown.

The world outside is big, but it’s also full of frivolous people with bad hearts.

Li Yuer got up very quietly, fearing to wake up her mother and brother who were sleeping soundly. Her mother and brother were in poor health and malnourished, and they basically spent most of the day sleeping. At this time, the noise from the compartment was quite loud, but they were not woken up.

"Sister Mei'er, I can't sleep. Let me go over and take a look."

Li Meier didn't move and said, "What's the point of you going there? Don't make trouble."

Li Yuer kept moving, mumbled a few words, lifted the door curtain and went to the next room.

At this time, everyone's attention was on Li Laosan, and no one noticed the little Li Yuer.

When Li Yuer learned that the medicine could not be fed to the patient, she suddenly had an idea. She took the oil lamp, got off the boat, and broke off a few thick reeds from the reed bush not far away.

Reed stems are hollow and are ideal for use as conduits.

The reeds here grow for a long time and no one picks them. Their stems are very thick, making them perfect for feeding medicine.

Li Yuer took out a piece of whale skin from the kitchen shed. It was the size of a palm and was sliced ​​off from a piece of meat. Old Mrs. Cai was reluctant to throw it away, saying that it was quite soft and would definitely be strong enough to be used to repair shoes for going out to sea after drying in the shade.

"Grandma, try this."

Li Yuer handed over the whale skin and reed pole.

"What's the use of this? Stay away! Don't make trouble!" Mrs. Cai was in a bad mood at the moment, and her words were a little harsh. As soon as she said it, she regretted it, thinking that she shouldn't take it out on her granddaughter, and said, "Be good, Yu Baoer, go to sleep, your uncle is fine, he will be fine tomorrow."

"When the third child wakes up tomorrow, he will start clamoring to go to town to do big things, do big business, and become famous."

Old Mrs. Cai was talking in a crazy tone at this time. For several days in a row, disasters had been happening one after another. Two people had just fallen, and now another one had fallen. The continuous blows made her a little dazed.

She even suspected that the dragon had offended the Dragon King when he went out to fetch water that day, and was blamed by the Dragon King.

The ancients were superstitious and associated many natural disasters with gods and ghosts. For example, when a tornado passed over the sea, it would occasionally roll up the sea water and soar into the sky.

Looking from afar, a white column of water connected the sky and the sea, as if there was a dragon fetching water from the clouds.

Li Yu'er was not angry either, and said patiently: "Grandma, look, this way, use the whale skin to roll it into the shape of a funnel, insert the top of the funnel into the reed stem, and slowly pour the medicine into the funnel, then you can feed the medicine in."

"This! I think it will work!" Old man Li's eyes widened instantly, as if he had found a life-saving straw, and said, "Old lady, let's give it a try, maybe it will work."

With the mentality of trying everything possible, several people helped Li Laosan half-lean on a pillow to raise his upper body and began to feed him medicine using this method.

Unexpectedly, it was actually fed in. After feeding a bowl of medicine, several people were sweating coldly.

Old Mrs. Cai sent everyone back to sleep, leaving only the old couple and their eldest son to stay.

At daybreak, Li Laosan's fever finally subsided and he fell into a deep sleep, no longer talking nonsense or having nightmares.

The few people finally breathed a sigh of relief. On the deck, the whale oil lamp that had been burning all night slowly went out in the morning light, completing its final mission.