The grandfather sat nearby, listening to their conversation, and took a cheerful sip of wine before smiling and saying to Wang Chu'an: "A'an, once you're able to go out and take on catering gigs on your own, you must put your heart into it!"
"Don't worry, Grandpa, I know. Eldest Uncle taught me that a cook's reputation is built on his craft. If you cook badly, your reputation is ruined!"
"Right, as long as you remember that. You need to be a bit more steady after you're married."
"Got it, Grandpa."
...
While this table was still drinking and chatting, the other tables had already finished eating.
Eldest Aunt walked over, saw that everyone was chatting, and asked Wang Chu'an, "Third one, I heard you caught a Bahaba fish this afternoon and sold it for 500 yuan. Is that true?"
Hearing Eldest Aunt's words, everyone at the table looked at Wang Chu'an.
"That's right! Second one and I were selling fish just now, and we heard A-Jun talking about it. I actually meant to ask you when we got back, but things got busy and I completely forgot!"
"Yeah, Third, is it true?"
Seeing everyone looking at him with curiosity, even Chen Hong and the others, who had finished eating and were clearing the tables, stopped what they were doing and turned to look over.
"Of course it's true. After eating, I went over to Eldest Uncle's place to haul some things back. On the way, I bumped into A-Wen and the others going fishing, so I tagged along. I never expected to hook a Bahaba fish weighing over fifty pounds."
"Then why did A-Jun say you were being unfair when you went to sell the fish just now? He said you agreed to sell it to him, but then turned around and sold it to someone else."
"He has the nerve to say that? Just thinking about it makes my blood boil. The fish had already been hauled to his collection station and put on the scale, and then he offers me 6 yuan a cathey. Bahaba fish aren't cheap to begin with. He's offering me 6 yuan a cathey for a fish this size—wasn't he treating me like a fool? While I was haggling with him, that Chen Qing from town—the one who made his fortune smuggling back in the day—somehow got wind of it and rode over on a motorcycle. He took one look at the fish and offered 500. Naturally, I sold it to him. At the time, A-Jun just stood there without saying a word, and then as soon as the other guy left, he started bitching that I was playing dirty."
After hearing this, Eldest Aunt immediately took his side. "Oh, so that's what happened! That A-Jun is something else—too stingy to pay a fair price, and then he blames other people!"
Eldest Brother chimed in with some indignation: "Exactly! Did he expect to force a sale? We won't sell him any fish caught from the sea anymore. If I'd known, we wouldn't have sold to him today either."
"Eldest Brother is right, we won't sell to him from now on. There's not just one collection station at the dock; who you sell to is up to you!" Second Brother agreed.
"Back in the day, whenever your Eldest Uncle did catering jobs, the hosts would ask him to source the seafood. Because they were all from the same village, your Eldest Uncle always bought it from his place. We won't be buying from him anymore."
Actually, the dock wasn't used by just their village; two villages shared it. Because the neighboring village didn't have deep enough water to build a pier, the two villages shared one. No matter what kind of business people ran at the dock, everyone usually supported folks from their own village. There were four seafood collection stations at the dock in total—two in Wantang Village and two in neighboring Haixing Village. The only reason their family sold fish to A-Jun and why Eldest Uncle patronized his business was that back in the days of the collective communes, A-Jun's father and Wang Mangul had been on the same boat crew.
"All right, let's leave it at that for now," Eldest Uncle said, interrupting the discussion. "If word gets out, people will think our family is petty!"
Grandpa took a sip of wine and added, "The principle is sound. You don't have to sell to him, and you don't have to patronize his business, but keep it to yourselves. It doesn't look good if outsiders hear you talking like this."
"Mm-hmm, Grandpa is right. You can take action, but don't talk too much about it." Hearing Grandpa's words, Wang Chu'an mentally gave him a thumbs-up.
Seeing that everyone had nearly finished their wine, Grandpa said, "All right, that's enough of that. Let's wrap up the drinking for today. Tomorrow is A'an's big day, so don't drink too much. Let's have some rice!"
At Grandpa's command, father Wang Mangul shouted toward the fourth son standing by the door: "Fourth, go scoop up some rice and bring it out."
"Got it, coming right up!"
Once Fourth brought the rice out, the men finished the wine in their cups and each scooped a bowl of rice.
After eating, as they sat in the courtyard smoking and enjoying the cool evening breeze around eight o'clock, someone shouted from outside: "Is anyone home? Come out and take the ingredients."
It was the food delivery for tomorrow's banquet. Since the daytime was too hot and the house didn't have a refrigerator, they had asked for the delivery to be made at night when it cooled down to prevent the food from spoiling.
Eldest Uncle and Father went out first, followed by the rest of the family. After Eldest Uncle checked the delivery, everyone pitched in to carry the ingredients inside.
Once everything was put away, Eldest Aunt, who had plenty of experience, began assigning tasks: some washed vegetables, some sliced meat, and others minced it. The whole family kept busy until midnight before things were finally wrapped up, and everyone was told to go home and sleep since they had to get up early the next morning.
When Wang Chu'an got home, he didn't bother heating water; he just took a cold shower, collapsed onto the bed, and fell fast asleep.
...
The next morning, it was Eldest Sister Wang Lijuan who came to wake Wang Chu'an up!
He checked the time—it was already six o'clock—and hurriedly scrambled out of bed to brush his teeth and wash his face. He put on the custom-made new shirt and trousers, slipped his feet into a pair of large leather shoes, and instantly looked much sharper.
"Third, you clean up pretty well! You actually look quite handsome!" Wang Lijuan praised when she saw his outfit.
"Of course. Your little brother has always been a handsome fellow," he said, narcissistically basking in the compliment.
"You, your skin just keeps getting thicker."
"Let's go, time to eat. Big Brother A-Jiang and the others should be getting over here soon. Let's finish eating early so we can go fetch the bride."
"Okay~"
Conditions were much better now than in the past. For Wang Chu'an's wedding, his eldest cousin had helped borrow a car, and they had even rented a large bus from the transport company!
When they arrived at the old family home, they found the childhood friends had already gathered. Wang Chu'an pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed them around.
Xu Wenjie looked at Wang Chu'an's getup and laughed, "Ha, A'an, you look different today—much more handsome than usual!"
Zhang Lei chimed in, "Today is his big day, of course he's handsome."
"How could the groom of the day not be handsome?" Li Zhengwen added.
Li Zhengwu smiled and said, "Big Brother A'an, you've got that glow of someone blessed with great fortune today!"
"Ha, of course! But hey, is there a day I'm *not* handsome? Today's just extra special!"
"Bah!" ×4
"You're the most handsome today, we won't argue with you, but normally you're really nothing special."That's right, that's right (Exactly / True that) — your skin really is getting thicker!"
"Smelling like cooking oil all the time, and you call yourself handsome? More like a cricket's handsome."
"Ha ha~"
The group stood at the doorway joking around, and a moment later Wang Lijuan came over to call them in for breakfast.