Chapter 44: I Wouldn't Dare Have a Woman Like That

Upon hearing this, the smile on Li Chunhong's face vanished instantly.

No wonder the village chief's family made a special visit today; she had thought the sun was rising from the west.

It turned out they had a guilty conscience and had come to sound things out.

Seeing Zhao Qinqin standing there looking furious yet unable to present any valid reasoning, Du Yu knew that continuing to argue with her was pointless.

The key to resolving this matter lay with the village chief.

"Village chief, I'm well aware that our family previously owed you money, and there's still a balance of a little over a thousand left. If you wanted the money, you could have just said so directly. There was no need to ruin someone's business, was there?"

The village chief had witnessed Du Yu's connections early that morning.

"Not at all, not at all! I certainly didn't mean anything like that!"

Yet the reality of the situation was right in front of them.

It was no use for the village chief to simply issue a unilateral denial.

Seeing Du Yu's grim expression, the village chief felt a surge of helplessness inside. "This time it's due to my poor discipline at home. I promise you that such a thing will never happen again, and the accounts between our two families will be wiped clean!"

"That won't do."

Having already suffered quite a few losses at the hands of these people, Du Yu had no intention of stumbling into another trap.

"Business is business. As for the money I owe you, I'll pay it back in full, principal and interest, by the middle of next month. But as for today's incident..."

Du Yu held his ground firmly. "Two hundred yuan in cash."

"Du Yu, don't push your luck! Who ever agreed to that price?"

Realizing that Du Yu was genuinely going to make her family pay out of pocket, Zhao Qinqin panicked.

In this era, how much could a factory worker possibly earn after breaking their back for an entire month?

Besides, wasn't today's scheme unsuccessful anyway?

Before Du Yu could even respond, the village chief started shouting from the side.

"You ungrateful wretch! You commit a wrong and yet you have the audacity to stand here and threaten others? What on earth did our family do to deserve a fool like you?"

The village chief had finally figured things out.

Not only was Du Yu no longer a burden, but he was also very likely destined to become the wealthiest man in the entire village.

Just those connections of his, laid out in the open, were enough to make the average person green with envy.

If he didn't butter him up now, what was he waiting for?

The village chief's mind worked quickly, and he hurriedly forked over the two hundred yuan.

At the same time, he didn't forget to seize the opportunity to put in a good word for his daughter.

"I know my daughter best. Qinqin did what she did because she still has feelings for you. You two just lack communication; your relationship used to be so good. If possible..."

"Village chief."

Du Yu was exhausted today and had no patience to listen to this nonsense.

"A woman who destroys you because she can't have you—how terrifying is that? If you think this is a blessing, why don't you take it for yourself?"

The village chief's smile froze instantly on his face.

"Qinqin didn't mean..."

"Alright, I've accepted this two hundred. We have a deal for the middle of next month: I'll pay back what I owe you in one go, and then our two families will be completely even."

With that, he intentionally let out a yawn. "It's getting late, so I won't keep you any longer."

This truly was walking right up to someone's door only to get a face full of dirt in return.

The village chief had rarely encountered someone as tough to crack as Du Yu.

He cast a fierce glare at his daughter, but dared not utter a single word of dissent to Du Yu, and simply left in a huff.

"Mom, they didn't give you a hard time, did they?"

After sending the village chief's family away, Du Yu placed the food on the table.

Li Chunhong shook her head. "No. If I had known they went to give you a hard time this afternoon, I would have given them a piece of my mind no matter what... Oh my, why are there so many treats?"

Du Yu smiled. "Business was great at the shop today, so I stayed behind to eat some food before coming back. This part is saved for you."

Du Yu didn't say a single word about the eldest sister-in-law coming to cause trouble.

Even though the families had split up, what mother wouldn't worry about her children? If she found out that the eldest sister-in-law had interfered with their business, it would only cause her needless distress.

Besides, they had already been taught a lesson; as long as the eldest sister-in-law stayed away from now on, that would be the best outcome.

Du Yu slept soundly at home through the night, and early the next morning, he went over to Wang Xiaowei's house to drag him out of bed.

"Hey! Brother Yu, I knew you'd come early. I got up extra early specially today!"

Wang Xiaowei was already used to Du Yu pulling his ears, and his internal clock had shifted significantly by now.

"Let's go, we're going fishing today."

"You got it!"

In the past, Wang Xiaowei was someone everyone in the village looked down upon.

Even his own parents worried endlessly about him.

To his surprise, ever since he started hanging around with Du Yu, he had really started to turn things around. Now, when he walked through the village, people would at least greet him with a trace of a smile.

Before long, the two of them arrived at the seashore.

Wang Xiaowei asked in surprise, "We aren't heading out to the open sea?"

Wang Xiaowei still couldn't forget the thrilling and exhilarating feeling from their trip to the East China Sea last time!

It felt as though he could actually see money lining up and marching straight into his pockets!

Before he could finish his thought, he received a light smack on the head from Du Yu.

"Our target today isn't that ambitious."

Wang Xiaowei scratched his head. "What do you mean? Brother Yu, do you have to plan out every single fish you want to catch in your head beforehand?"

If that were true, wouldn't that be far too defying of the heavens?

Did he really think the ocean belonged to his family, allowing him to catch whatever he pleased?

However, Wang Xiaowei quickly collected his thoughts.

Upon second thought, it actually seemed to be true.

"Brother Yu, do you possess some kind of superpower? Otherwise, I really can't wrap my head around this."

Seeing Wang Xiaowei's face full of curiosity, Du Yu let out a soft chuckle.

Your brother's prowess is simply beyond your comprehension!

Shortly after, the two of them found the elderly fisherman they had met previously.

Having witnessed Du Yu's incredible fishing skills firsthand, these fishermen had completely abandoned any thoughts of trying to learn from him.

That sort of skill was purely a matter of natural talent.

Even if Du Yu were brave enough to teach, most people wouldn't have the life in them to learn it.

Besides, they were already using the fishing gear Du Yu had given them.

Though it had suffered severe wear and tear after being tossed around for a couple of days, it was still vastly superior to the gear they used to have.

The most crucial part was that it could expand!

What looked like a tiny fish fry no larger than a palm in the water would turn out to weigh at least two pounds once hauled up.

Just that alone was enough to keep them grinning for a long time.

Therefore, when Du Yu and Wang Xiaowei came to borrow the boat today, it was handed over without the slightest hesitation.

Du Yu hadn't done much fishing over the past couple of days, but the frequent use by the other fishermen meant something else.

When he opened the system interface, his luck value had already accumulated back to 2,000 points.

Du Yu directly purchased two oxygen spheres and exchanged them for 200 portions of fish bait.

This time, his luck was quite decent; the refresh yielded 10 premium bait pellets specifically for rare fish species.

He tossed the two oxygen spheres into the water one after another, followed by scattering the fish bait across the sea surface.

Then, he handed a landing net to Wang Xiaowei.

"No problem, leave it to me!"

Wang Xiaowei had done this alongside Du Yu countless times before, and he stood ready with an eager and confident posture.

As for Du Yu, he remained unhurried, calmly attaching the dark, murky bait onto the fishhook.

"Brother Yu, going through all this trouble just to fish right here?"

Wasn't this a bit too wasteful?

Du Yu shot him a sideways glance.

"What do you know? Just focus on your own job and stop talking nonsense."

What he was about to do was a major undertaking.

Wang Xiaowei had wanted to say a few more words, but right at that moment, the seawater began to churn as if it had come to a boil, bubbling furiously!

Fish on!