Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 327 - 320: Did You Buy This Fish?

Chapter 327: Chapter 320: Did You Buy This Fish?

July was a festive month.

The physical edition of the comic, after half a year of sales, finally managed to sell 15,000 of the initially printed 20,000 copies. The publishing house had already started the serialization of the second issue and the reprinting of the first issue. With the second issue stirring up some buzz, it would hopefully boost the sales of the first issue.

Qin Guanglin received eighty thousand, from which he gave ten percent to Xiao Yu. He rounded up the amount and called him out to meet, then threw the cash at him.

"That was the deal we made initially."

"Holy shit, this feels weird," Xiao Yu didn’t accept it and threw it back. "You did the drawings, why share it with me?"

"Just take it, I’d feel embarrassed to keep drawing if you didn’t. Now you’re the second main character."

The stack of cash wasn’t thick, only ten thousand, and it got tossed back and forth between the two men until Xiao Yu couldn’t outstubborn Qin Guanglin and stuffed it into his bag.

Raising a kid indeed burns money; these ten thousand could buy his son quite a few things.

"This is just for now. As we keep releasing more issues and sell more copies, I’ll just deposit it directly into your account next time."

Qin Guanglin laughed leisurely, "You’ve been reading it, right? Your son even appears in it. Let’s see if he can catch any fish decades from now."

"Don’t underestimate me. With me teaching him, he’ll catch one every single time," Xiao Yu retorted, offended. A Fishing Man never admits he can’t catch fish.

"Who taught you to fish?"

"My dad."

"How good is his fishing prowess?"

"..."

Qin Guanglin couldn’t help but laugh, "A family legacy skill, this can’t be lost."

"Alright, enough bullshit. How’s your wedding preparation going? Need any help?" Xiao Yu didn’t bother explaining that fishing was all about mysticism for him, he was just plain unlucky.

"Everything’s ready, just missing the east wind."

Qin Guanglin sighed, everything was prepared, just waiting for the end of the month to have a blast of a wedding.

He Fang was from another town, so it was not as troublesome as with Xiao Yu who had to fetch his bride from her family’s home. He just needed to head to the hotel, get dressed up, and all set. His father-in-law and uncle-in-law were already staying at the hotel, waiting for the wedding to marry off their daughter.

"I feel less excited than you were back then," he mentioned, looking puzzled at Xiao Yu.

"That’s obvious, isn’t it? How many years have you two been living together? I wasn’t married for as long as you two have been together. You’re already an old married couple," Xiao Yu scoffed, "The novelty wore off long ago."

"That’s true, it’s almost like we’re married already, now it’s just a formality..."

Qin Guanglin found this reasonable; they were an old couple now, what was there to get excited about in marriage.

Still, he did get excited when he proposed, that was enough.

"Hurry up and eat, it’s your treat, right? I haven’t had such good food in a while. Having a kid is really... painful yet joyful, every day thinking of ways to save money for him, it’s like raising a gold-eating beast."

Xiao Yu, gnawing on a pork knuckle, usually relied on Zhou Nan to cook regular home meals. They occasionally had meat, always saving money for the kid and a house. It had been a long time since they last dined out.

Sometimes he thought, being single was more carefree, but it was useless to think that way now; he just had to keep pushing forward.

Sooner or later, everyone goes through this phase; the arrival of the child just brought forward this stage.

"Eat, eat up, at the end of the month you can have another big feast."

Qin Guanglin watched him eat happily, ordered two more bottles of beer, one for each, not enough to get drunk, just to clink glasses and reminisce about the good old days.

After the meal, it was past three in the afternoon. Xiao Yu, burping contentedly, took his money and bid farewell to Qin Guanglin to head home. Qin Guanglin hadn’t driven there; He Fang, along with Xiaoqing, went out on a date in He Fang’s car. He took a taxi instead, thought about it, and decided He Fang probably wasn’t home yet, so he might as well take a taxi to Qin’s family’s house.

...

...

"Thought you’d be out eating, why are you back so early?"

It was past five in the afternoon when Qin Guanglin got home carrying fish, he found He Fang on the couch clipping her toenails, absorbed in the task and somehow looking adorable.

"Yeah, just signed something for her and invited her to the wedding... I promised I would before, nearly forgot."

He Fang acknowledged with a hum, looked up curiously at the basin he was carrying, "Having fish again?"

"Yeah, was thinking of keeping it till tomorrow to eat, but since you haven’t had dinner yet, let’s cook it now," Qin Guanglin suggested as he placed the basin in the kitchen then came out.

"Okay... check if there are any pickles in the fridge, if not then make boiled fish—where did you get these? It feels like every few days you bring home a fish in a bowl, can’t the market handle it?" He Fang found it strange, as these past few months, Qin Guanglin would occasionally bring home a lively big fish.

"Yep, I specifically bought live fish to nourish your body, they’re tastier and more nutritious."

Qin Guanglin solemnly replied and opened the fridge to check, then turned around and said, "No pickles left, but I want to eat pickle fish."

"Then go buy some, are you waiting for me to conjure it up?" He Fang glanced at him and continued trimming his nails while switching feet.

"I’ll go buy more."

The supermarket downstairs was close—Qin Guanglin returned in just a few minutes with a big bundle of pickles and put them in the fridge, watching He Fang start to kill the fish. After a while, he turned around to head to the study to tinker with his drawing.

After killing, you need to cut it into slices, then marinate it, and then fry the pickles and spices... It’s a complicated process, dinner will probably be ready by seven.

"This fish is huge, I guess we can’t finish it by ourselves." He Fang said while scraping fish scales.

"Don’t worry, I can devour it all."

Qin Guanglin agreed and slipped into the study to wait for dinner. He Fang cleaned the fish and checked the time, wiped his hands, and then picked up his phone to call Qin’s Mom.

"Mom, have you eaten?... Oh, Guanglin bought a huge fish, really big. He said to invite you over, you don’t have to cook, yeah, come over and eat with us."

After the new district opposite was completed, a bus route was added that goes straight to South Fly Road, making it much more convenient than having to change buses several times like before, only taking half an hour now.

When Qin’s Mom arrived, He Fang was still marinating the fish, sprinkling spices on the fish slices and tossing them in a bowl. After washing his hands, he came out to watch TV with her.

"Guanglin is lucky to have found someone like you who can cook so well... Where did he go?"

"He’s in the study, drawing that comic book."

"Oh... that comic is quite good, it’s been published, both of you are now big authors in the house." Qin’s Mom was overjoyed. She didn’t care whether it was a comic book or a novel, as long as you were published, you were an author to her. Qin Guanglin becoming an ’author’ through his art brightened her days during chats with fellow elders.

What a blessing, all blessings!

Having practiced releasing life for over half a year, Qin Guanglin had his book published... this thing really does accumulate blessings—The old lady attributed the comic’s print success to the fish, thinking more ought to be released.

He Fang didn’t bother correcting Qin Guanglin being an artist not an author, as long as the old lady was happy. After chatting for a bit, he guessed the fish was marinated enough and headed back to the kitchen to continue his tasks.

When the fragrance of the pickle fish drifted from the kitchen, Qin Guanglin finally stretched and drifted out from the study, "Smells good... Mom, when did you get here?" He paused when he saw the figure on the sofa.

"When did I get here?"

Qin’s Mom was also stunned. He Fang had told her that Qin Guanglin wanted to invite her for dinner. Something seemed off.

He Fang must have wanted to invite her... The old lady realized and laughed joyously, "I came over for dinner, and you, Guanglin, didn’t even think to invite me. It’s all He Fang being thoughtful... Wait, did you release the fish this afternoon?"

She suspiciously glanced at Qin Guanglin, then at the kitchen, feeling something was odd.

If he was the one who invited her over, it must have been his own fish he bought. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare not to invite her, so Qin’s Mom hadn’t suspected until now, realizing He Fang had done the inviting, she suddenly felt uncertain.

"Oh right, I was so engrossed in drawing, I forgot, yes, I asked He Fang to call you... The fish, of course, I bought it, picked a particularly big one, hehe... smells great, let me check the kitchen."

Qin Guanglin chuckled dryly and escaped to the kitchen.

Half an hour later.

The delectable pickle fish was served. Qin’s Mom kept feeling it looked familiar, although it was already cooked and sliced, she just sensed it was the fish she handed him to release.

"Eat up, it’s delicious." Qin Guanglin casually beckoned.

"Did you buy this?" Qin’s Mom asked.

"Of course, I’ll go get the receipt right now to show you it’s freshly bought."

Qin Guanglin made a move to stand, but He Fang, puzzled by the conversation, asked, "What’s going on?"

"Nothing, nothing—sit down, who needs a receipt!"

Qin’s Mom felt relieved, picked up her bowl and tasted a bite, nodding, "Hmm, He Fang, your cooking is truly excellent."

"Tastes good, right?" Qin Guanglin cheekily inquired.

"Nonsense."

The pickle fish was truly aromatic and savory.