Chapter 124: Too Much Bullying
"How is this possible?" she snapped out of her daze when she heard Old Master Chen’s cry. She turned to look at the man who was looking at the female king crab in her bucket with a shocked look on his face. He looked like he was about to faint after suffering such a ’loss’. "How come I didn’t see it?"
"There is no need to get angry, Uncle Chen. I was just lucky that I noticed something moving. This female crab is very careful, which is why she was making little to no movements. It’s not a surprise that you missed it." What a joke. Without the sea scanning system, no one would be able to find out that there was a female crab hiding in that dark and risky-looking crevice. What was there to be jealous about? She took a risk, and it paid off. Uncle Chen didn’t take it, so how could he blame her instead?
Old Man Chen was really upset. He had indeed seen the dark crevice earlier, but he didn’t make a move because he was worried that there was a snake hiding in there. If he had known that there was a female roe crab, then he would have done everything in his power to get his hands on it. Of course there was no such thing as ’what if’. He had already missed the chance to catch this roe female and he was not shameless enough to ask Han Ruochen to give it to him.
Just then he heard the sound of something else clamouring. Startled, he looked around and saw a large crab coming out of another opening. Seeing this, he immediately made his move but before he could catch the crab, it was snatched by Tong Zhaodi. She raised her head and looked at Old Man Chen, whose hand was outstretched. He looked like he was about to catch the crab as well but she got there first.
"Ah, I am sorry, Uncle Chen. I did not know that you were going for the crab as well or else I would have gone a bit slower." She apologised but Old Man Chen did not think that this apology would suffice. In fact, he felt that the woman was mocking him for his old age. What did she mean by that? Was she calling him old and slow?
Han Ruochen was worried that Old Man Chen would be driven mad by Tong Zhaodi, so she caught her by the wrist and pulled her along with her.
"Let’s go; we will first sell these products and then wait for the other tidal wave to arrive."
Han Ruochen spoke to the woman as she dragged Tong Zhaodi along with her.
The two of them walked past Old Man Chen, who was still shivering in anger. He looked around the spot where Han Ruochen had found the female roe crab; he was sure that he would be able to catch a king crab as well!
Han Ruochen knew that Old Man Chen would not follow the two of them. Given that he had seen the two of them catch the crab full of roe in the creek, since that was the case, he would definitely stay behind and try to test his luck out. Unfortunately for him, he would only find shrimps and snails there.
*
Elsewhere, at the docks.
"You cannot do this; the legitimate price of the dried chiton shells is ten yuan!"
Han Ruochen heard her second uncle quarrelling with the supplier collector.
"Second Uncle?" Han Ruochen called out to her second uncle when she saw that the man was glaring at the collector with a red face.
Second Uncle Han heard Han Ruochen’s voice and turned to look behind him. When he saw that it was his niece, Second Uncle Han turned his tone down and softened his expression. He turned and looked at his niece before asking her, "What are you doing here, Ruochen?"
"I wanted to ask you if you can take me to the county," replied Han Ruochen. Her gaze lifted and she looked at the tall man who was standing in front of her uncle. "But you don’t have to do it if you are busy." She added when she noticed that her uncle was busy.
Second Uncle Han was about to say that it was okay when the collector said in a low voice, "That is the price. If you do not accept, then there is nothing we can do."
"What do you mean by that? The dried chiton shells had always been accepted for more than ten yuan but now you are saying that you will only give me three yuan. Isn’t that a loss for me?" Second Uncle Han exploded. He had bought these chiton shells for fourteen yuan, as he always sold them for ten yuan to his suppliers. That was four yuan profit for him but now the supplier was telling him that he would only give him three yuan a jin for the chiton shells; wasn’t it a loss for him?
The supplier simply shrugged and said, "Well, the prices have changed at the county. There is nothing I can do."
In the past, he was careful because of Old Man Han’s name but soon he realised that Second Uncle Han was an honest man and thus, all kinds of evil intentions started to rise in his heart.
"You..."
"Then we will not sell it."
A voice intervened, and the supplier, as well as Second Uncle Han, turned to look at Han Ruochen, who smiled at the supplier politely.
"What did you say?" the supplier asked in a shocked voice.
"I said we will not sell these chiton shells to you," repeated Han Ruochen in a firm voice. She elegantly tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and then continued, "The price, as my uncle said, is unfair. Since that is the case, it will be better for us to keep these things with us rather than sell them at a loss. Don’t you think so?"
