Yang Ruxin nodded. The Black Bear she mentioned was indeed sold to the Shen Family, it seems that the Shen Family really is wealthy and imposing. However, that wasn’t something a commoner like her should meddle with.
"If you want to eat fish and shrimp, I’ll buy some larger ones for you next time." Gu Yao looked at Yang Ruxin handing over copper coins to the boat owner and couldn’t help but frown.
Yang Ruxin smiled without saying a word. Even if frying seemed wasteful, grinding them into a paste to stir-fry with eggs was also very delicious. She would also need to buy a small stone mill later. There were just too many necessities to consider.
Gu Yao, with a look of disdain, still helped to dump the small shrimps into the newly purchased wooden bucket and tied it to the cart.
"Uncle Boatman, do you come here every day?" Yang Ruxin suddenly had a money-making idea, thinking of shrimp paste. Given Gu Yao’s expression, it seemed that they didn’t have any at the moment. If she could make it herself, could it become a viable business?
"It depends on the weather. Generally, I come every other day if the weather is good. But these past days, the Shen Family has placed a large order of fish and shrimp, so I’m definitely coming every day..." The boat owner uncle was tidying up his equipment as he replied, "But this will only last for the next three or five days. Once the old lady’s birthday is over, there won’t be such good business."
"Uncle, could you save some of those small shrimps for me in the future?" Yang Ruxin’s eyes lit up.
"You..." The boat owner uncle was surprised. "You want those small shrimps?"
"Yes," Yang Ruxin nodded, then showed a slightly embarrassed smile, "My family is poor, and we can’t afford big ones, but I was thinking that this stuff is also meat. We can buy it to treat my younger siblings..."
Gu Yao’s lips twitched slightly. With over two hundred taels of silver, she claimed to be poor? Hadn’t she said earlier that she was from a wealthy family?
"Alright," the boat owner uncle looked at Yang Ruxin’s clothes, indeed not that of a wealthy person, and then nodded in agreement, "I’m from Shiyan Village in Peach Blossom Town, my surname is Lü. I’ll be back tomorrow. If you want some, come find me, there might not be a lot, but I’ll save whatever I have for you..."
"Thank you, Uncle Lü." Yang Ruxin smiled.
"No problem, those are just caught incidentally anyway."
"By the way, uncle, do you ever go out to the sea to fish?" Yang Ruxin casually asked more, really craving seafood, especially spicy grilled squid, which was something she could never get enough of. Some of her most comfortable moments had been sitting on the sidewalk at night with a draft beer and several skewers of spicy squid. Those were the days she wouldn’t trade even for a fairy’s life.
She couldn’t think about it any longer, or she would start drooling.
"Our place is quite far from the sea, it would take three or four days to get there." Uncle Lü laughed, "But fishing in the sea is different from the river. The necessary nets and everything are different. So, girl, if you want to eat sea fish, you’ll have to go to the fishing villages by the sea and find those fishermen who go out to sea..."
"That’s far." Yang Ruxin felt a twinge of disappointment in her heart.
Uncle Lü laughed, then turned to pack up his equipment.
Yang Ruxin quickly adjusted her mood, said goodbye to the boatman uncle, and started walking back with Gu Yao.
"You want to eat seafood?" Gu Yao glanced at Yang Ruxin.
"Yeah," Yang Ruxin looked at Gu Yao, "I’ve never had it, but I think it must be delicious."
Gu Yao’s lips curled slightly; he somehow didn’t believe a word she said.
"Have you eaten it before?" Yang Ruxin asked Gu Yao.