"Done!"
After ending the call with Wu Mingwei, Li Haochen sent two characters via WeChat to Murong Yanran.
On the other end of the phone, Murong Yanran looked at the two characters, which felt as heavy as ten thousand catties, and her eyes suddenly blurred. She wanted to type something back but found herself unable to articulate anything. Her fingers hovered in the air for a long, long time.
Li Haochen, still waiting for Murong Yanran's reply, unconsciously fell asleep, oblivious to his phone dropping to the ground.
Waking up the next day, Li Haochen looked at the spiderweb-cracked screen of his phone with a dark expression. He pressed the power button. The screen lit up, but it was eye-straining.
"This is clearly telling me to get a new phone."
When a person is down on their luck, even drinking water can get stuck in their throat.
As if to prove this, just as Li Haochen finally got over the frustration of the shattered screen and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, he picked up the toothpaste, but it slipped from his grasp and landed right in the toilet bowl.
"Damn it!"
He put a plastic wrap over his hand, pinched his nose, and reached down. The opening of the toilet bowl wasn't large, but Li Haochen's large hand got stuck in the middle. He couldn't reach it at first. His middle finger could touch the bottom of the toothpaste tube, but he couldn't grip it.
After struggling for a few minutes, he didn't manage to retrieve the toothpaste. Instead, he got some sticky yellow residue on his hand, which had a pungent smell.
Li Haochen's stomach churned, and he almost threw up. He quickly held his breath and walked out to take deep breaths.
Returning again, Li Haochen smeared some shower gel on his hand and then got some soapy water from the sink. He put on a new plastic wrap, dipped it in the soapy water, and curled his fingers together as if he had cramps.
Slowly reaching down, the added lubrication made his hand feel less constricted. He applied a bit more force, and his palm began to slide down slowly.
"Thud~"
After a low, subtle sound, Li Haochen's entire palm broke through the barrier. The feeling was like trying to pass a large, hard stool – he held his breath, his face turning red, only managing to expose a tiny bit. He had to hold his breath and push through again and again, like the sense of accomplishment when something suddenly bursts out.
It was indeed difficult to get in, but coming out was quite easy. Perhaps his muscles and bones had loosened up.
It was too disgusting inside, slippery and sticky. Li Haochen dared not linger. He dug around a bit, clamped the toothpaste with his fingers, and pulled it up. It came out smoothly and wetly.
Looking at the toothpaste still dripping with murky water droplets, Li Haochen shivered. He quickly threw it into the trash can along with the plastic wrap, tied a knot, and then put on another black plastic bag.
Li Haochen sniffed his hands, which he had washed more than ten times. Only the fragrance of the shower gel remained, but his mind couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, making him afraid to use that hand even while brushing his teeth.
After brushing his teeth, Li Haochen soaked his hands in soapy water again and then applied some medicated oil before slowly recovering from the mental trauma.
After breakfast, Li Haochen put on his gloves and walked out. A fishing boat was already parked a few meters away. It was Li Linfeng.
"Haochen, long time no see."
"Fengzi, I heard about your family's affairs. My condolences!"
"About what happened last time... I'm sorry!"
This apology was heartfelt, and Li Haochen felt his sincerity.
At this moment, Li Haochen harbored no resentment towards him. He even felt a touch of sadness and regret. Having experienced the loss of both parents, how could he not understand such pain?
The former Li Linfeng was always idle and did all sorts of petty thievery. The sudden change in his family led the prodigal son to turn over a new leaf, but the price was too high.
Li Haochen sighed heavily in his heart, "Fate plays tricks on people; life is unpredictable!"
"It's all in the past..."
"Thank you!"
"We're brothers, don't be so formal."
"Brothers..." Li Linfeng murmured a few times, then looked up and smiled slightly, "Brothers!"
"I'm leaving now. If you're not busy tonight, let's go out for a drink."
"Sure, I'm free anytime."
Li Linfeng noted down Li Haochen's phone number and then sailed back into Moon Bay.
"Sigh..."
With a long sigh, Li Haochen couldn't help but think of his parents, looking in the direction of home with a melancholy expression.
After a long while, Li Haochen looked up at the sky, a slight smile on his lips.
Turning around, all his melancholy vanished.
Li Haochen grabbed the rope fixed to the side of the boat and pulled hard. "So heavy!"
The heavy cage trap made Li Haochen exert all his strength. The reason it was so heavy was related to this sea area. At the bottom lay a vast expanse of soft mudflats. When the cage trap was lowered here, it would slowly sink.
As long as it was moved, it would come out easily. Although the mud was soft, it was very slippery.
This area was most populated by crabs, eels, and those caught by bottom traps. There were also many hairy conches.
Under Li Haochen's immense strength, the seabed silt finally couldn't resist. After a slight loosening, the fish cage was quickly pulled out of the water, but it stirred up a large cloud of turbidity.
Li Haochen grabbed both sides of the fish cage and rinsed it a few times in the seawater, washing out the silt.
Seeing several large, yellow-green pincers inside, Li Haochen beamed with joy.
The several large blue crabs, startled, raised their pincers for courage. They moved sideways to the west. The several crabs even learned a triangular defensive tactic. With their six large pincers, Li Haochen couldn't get at them.
At this moment, something stirred beside the blue crabs. He initially thought it was sea mud, but it turned out to be a flat-sized sole.
This disturbance attracted the attention of the blue crab directly facing it. It immediately glanced sideways, made a few smacking sounds with its mouth, and then darted away from the defensive formation.
With a swift pinch, it clamped onto the fish's mouth. Feeling the pain, the sole struggled even harder. The two blue crabs, still oblivious, maintained their positions but were soon attracted by the commotion.
With a flick of their rear ends, seeing their brothers fighting over food, one of them cursed, "Damn it, you have no crab manners, trying to eat alone? No way?"
The two crabs looked at each other, then dashed over.
"Hmm, why can I fly? Am I a legendary flying crab..."
Indeed, it was flying because Li Haochen had caught it. Seizing such a good opportunity, Li Haochen, the螳螂捕蝉, 黄雀在后, naturally seized the chance.
The blue crab that was still running looked curiously at the empty space beside it, furrowing its crab brows, "Where did my brother go? Could it be... uh, why can I fly?"
"Plop~"
Inside the plastic bucket, three blue crabs, bound tightly, were spewing foam from their mouths.
At this time, two crabs with big, bright eyes stared intently at the few fellows, making them clench their bottoms. They cursed, "Freaky pervert!" and moved to the edge to feel safer.
This freaky pervert was none other than Li Haochen. He was beaming at the sight of the large blue crabs. Such big ones, weighing two to three pounds, were rarely seen.
After more than an hour, all the cage traps were pulled out, and the results were very pleasing. More than ten large blue crabs, several black and yellow sea breams, not a few stone eels and white eels, and even several catties of hairy conches were caught. Unfortunately, no bottom trap crabs were encountered.