Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

"Li Jiaye, where did you get this meat?" Aunt Gui stared intently at the pork in Li Jiaye's hand, her voice trembling.

Wu Rong, the sister-in-law holding the child beside her, also had her eyes wide open and was involuntarily swallowing.

Looking at the meat my brother-in-law was carrying, it probably weighed seven or eight pounds. Goodness, that's more than what we bought for Chinese New Year.

An absurd reason popped into my head: Could my brother-in-law have gone to rob it?

At this moment, not only Wu Rong thought so, but even the old lady sitting to the side panicked.

Nowadays, no one has the ability to buy such a large piece of meat. The meat ration coupons are limited each month, at most two catties.

The only place where such a large piece of meat could be obtained was the commune's free market.

Aunt Gui became increasingly panicked. Since she had no suitable tools, she simply took off her shoes.

He grabbed Li Jiaye's arm and started whipping his buttocks repeatedly.

"Tell me, did you steal the meat? Yesterday you stole a chicken, and I thought you'd changed your ways. Today you steal meat? Are you out of your mind?"

Li Jiaye, who was showing off, was stunned when his mother slapped him with the sole of her shoe. Why did he have to be beaten for the money he earned through his own hard work?

The old wounds from yesterday haven't even healed, and now new ones are about to be inflicted?

The pain surged up, and Li Jiaye howled, "Mom, stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I bought this! I bought this!"

"Look at me, I have money, lots of money." With that, Li Jiaye dropped the meat in his hand and hurriedly pulled out the tightly clutched ten-yuan note from his pocket.

Aunt Gui paused upon hearing this, looked at the handful of ten-yuan notes in Li Jiaye's hand, her eyes went dark, and she shakily raised her arm to start drawing again.

The sole of the shoe struck her body with a "crackling" sound, and Aunt Gui's tears fell.

"Still lying! Where did you steal so much money from?!"

Wu Rong glanced at the large denomination bill in Li Jiaye's hand, her eyes narrowing. It was so thick, there must be at least eight or nine bills. This brother-in-law was carrying a heavy burden.

Li Jiaye never expected that even after he presented the money to prove that he bought the meat, his mother would hit him harder, howling and trying to break free from her restraints.

"stop!"

The old lady in the house could no longer bear to hear her grandson's screams and quickly got up to protect Li Jiaye behind her.

"Let's find out first! The family business doesn't belong to that brat!"

Aunt Gui wiped away her tears, looked at the old lady, and said, her hand frozen in mid-air, tears falling even more heavily:

"Alright, Mother, let's ask him properly where this money came from."

Even before, when Li Jiaye stole chickens, she was angry but then her anger subsided, and she regretted hitting her son too hard yesterday.

After Li Jiaye returned and apologized to her, she was still angry on the surface, but she was actually overjoyed inside.

Unexpectedly, all of this turned out to be fake. It hadn't been long before the truth began to show, and it had even gotten worse.

As she thought about it, Aunt Gui felt even more resentful, both angry at her son for being so disappointing and angry at herself for not disciplining him properly.

On the other side, Li Jiaye was also heartbroken by his mother's words. He stiffened his neck, sobbed, and refused to answer no matter how he was asked.

A standoff ensued in the courtyard. Wu Rong wanted to step forward and say a few kind words to ease the tension, but she opened her mouth, unsure of what to say.

The awkward atmosphere in the courtyard only eased after Li's father, Li Jianshe, and eldest son, Li Jianye, returned home.

Remembering Lin Chuan's instructions, Li Jiaye sobbed as he recounted the whole story, explaining that he would go to Lin Chuan's house the next day at noon to discuss matters.

Aunt Gui then realized she had wronged her youngest son. Leaving aside how the Li family dealt with the awkward situation...

On the other side, the water monkey quickly returned and explained the whole story to his grandparents and sister Wang Haiyue.

Before Wang Pusheng returned, Old Master Wang led the water monkey to Lin Chuan's house by oil lamp.

After finishing his work, Lin Chuan didn't go home first, but instead went to the team leader's house.

After talking with Li Xinru, he had some ideas. To maximize the use of sea bass, relying solely on his own small fishing boat was unrealistic.

Moreover, the sea bass migration only lasts for a few days. After the November high tide, the sea bass will basically finish their migration, and the next opportunity will not come until next year.

It was pure luck to encounter a school of fish feeding today; it's impossible to do so every day. To achieve large-scale fishing, a plan is necessary.

The most important issue is sales. Li Xinru's side can only handle a limited amount, but according to his plan, the catch will definitely be more than this, and adding three to five times that amount would be no problem at all.

When we arrived at the team leader's house, the handle on the wooden door was freezing cold.

Lin Chuan knocked on the wooden door, lifted the thick curtain, and a wave of hot air mixed with the aroma of cornmeal porridge rushed out.

He poked his head in, glanced around, and called out with a smile, "Uncle Jianguo, Auntie, are you eating?"

"Chuanzi, come in, come in and warm up inside." Li Jianguo put down his chopsticks and greeted Lin Chuan with a smile.

The team leader's family is quite large, with four children: two sons and two daughters, all of whom are now married and have children of their own.

It seems everyone is here today; the daughter and son-in-law are both back, and they all look over when they see Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan greeted them with a smile, but didn't move his feet inside. "Uncle and Aunt, I won't go in. I have something to discuss with Uncle Jianguo. You guys eat your food, we can talk about it tomorrow." After saying that, he left.

Lin Chuan waited outside for a while before coming over. He thought the captain's family had already eaten, but the whole family had just sat down at the table.

These days, everyone is struggling to make ends meet, so going to someone else's house for a meal would put the host in an awkward position.

If we let you eat with us, we won't have enough for our own family; if we don't let you eat, it will make the host look bad.

Lin Chuan shook his head and walked home. It seemed he could only discuss it with the team again tomorrow morning.

Inside the house, the second son-in-law asked curiously, "Dad, is that Lin Chuan? I heard he could have gone to university, it's a bit of a pity."

"That's right, he is Lin Chuan." Li Jianguo nodded, then said regretfully, "It's rare enough that we can produce even one high school student here."

The youngest son, Li Jianmin, interjected, "Dad, what did Lin Chuan want to see you about? I heard he went to the island to dig for sweet water but it turned out salty. Does he regret taking over Canhong Island?"

Hearing his youngest son's words, Li Jianguo frowned and said in a deep voice, "Nonsense! Lin Chuan is a prudent person and doesn't go back on his word."

Besides, the documents have already been submitted; how can they be changed so easily?

"What's Lin Chuan doing here? He's never come to see you this late before."

Li Jianguo frowned and remained silent.

Seeing no response, Li Jianmin was about to ask again when he was suddenly kicked. He looked up and saw his wife winking at him.

A thought struck him, and he immediately came to his senses, saying, "Father, I didn't mean he went back on his word."

I was thinking, now that Lin Chuan is willing to take on the task of managing the deserted island, maybe our family doesn't need to go anymore.

With him taking the lead, I'm sure people will be willing to take over on other deserted islands too.

Li Jianmin's wife quickly chimed in, "Yes, Dad, with Lin Chuan as an example, I'm sure someone will take over the other deserted islands."

Li Jianguo glanced at his son and daughter-in-law, "If no one is willing to manage the remaining deserted islands by the end of the year, our family must be allocated one, and the rest will be allocated by drawing lots."

"father..."

"Master..." Aunt Li hurriedly tried to persuade him, but after being glanced at by Li Jianguo, she could only sigh softly and swallow her words.

At this moment, the second son-in-law put down his bowl and said, "Father, if you ask me, since we've already drawn lots, why don't we have the whole team draw lots together? That would be fair."

If we actually find sweet water on the island, at least we won't have anyone gossiping about it later.

With his brother-in-law's encouragement, Li Jianmin perked up again. "Yes, Dad, if we're going to draw lots, the whole team should do it together; that's the only fair way."

We absolutely must settle this matter today, while my brother-in-law is here.

Managing a deserted island is easier said than done. My eldest brother is in the military, and my two older sisters are both married. If it really comes down to it, it has to be him.