After having children of her own, Lin Zhilan wanted to give them everything she had been deprived of as a child.
Jiang Chengzhou loved basketball, so he became the first child on the island to have a basketball of his own.
When Linlin was little, she practiced calligraphy with her grandmother, learned to draw with Wang Rou, and later took up the violin.
Su Li was the same. He had been learning to play the trumpet all along.
Lin Zhilan and Su Lang had wanted him to try other things too, but he was very much his own person. He insisted on learning the trumpet and refused everything else.
Watching Linlin and Yaoyao draw together, Lin Zhilan felt as if she were healing the deprived child she had once been.
Su Lang kept an eye on Su Li while shielding his wife from the sun.
Su Li was already as black as charcoal from the sun and did not care whether he got any darker. He stayed by the side of the boat the entire time.
Several times, he had hurriedly pulled up the line, only to find an empty hook.
This time, he had learned his lesson and waited a little longer.
No one expected anything, but then the silvery line began to move.
Su Li thought he had sensed it wrong again. He laid a hand over the line and watched carefully.
All of a sudden, the line in his hand went taut and began to vibrate violently.
“Dad, we’ve got a fish!”
Su Li beamed and pulled with all his strength.
The others hurried over when they heard him.
Su Lang grabbed him by the back of his shirt to keep him from being dragged overboard. “Want me to help?”
“No!”
Su Li refused without hesitation. Gripping the line with both hands, he kept hauling it in.
Not far away, the silvery body of a fish was forced to break the surface. It struggled desperately, but Su Li continued pulling it closer.
“Come on up!”
With a sudden jerk, Su Li flung the fish onto the wooden planks of the boat. It thrashed wildly.
Su Lang crouched down, caught it, and removed the hook.
It was a yellow croaker, with a large, flattened head. Its dorsal and tail fins were grayish yellow, its pelvic and anal fins yellow, and the rest of its body silvery white.
Su Lang weighed it in his hand a few times. It probably weighed a little over two pounds.
At the state-run aquatic-products station, large yellow croakers weighing over two pounds sold for sixty cents a pound. This one was worth more than a yuan.
“Li Li, now you have your fishing rod.”
Su Li shook his head. “We’re eating this one ourselves. I’m going to catch an even bigger one.”
Once he had caught one fish, Su Li’s confidence soared.
A few small conger eels came up next, but they were too small. Su Li already knew the rules. He removed the hooks and tossed the little eels back into the sea. “Go on home. Remember to eat more and get nice and fat before next time.”
Everyone else burst out laughing.
Su Yao watched her little cousin and quickly sketched a simple drawing on a sheet of paper.
They caught a hairtail after that. Su Lang checked the time and decided it was about time to pull in the net. Otherwise, it would be dark by the time they got back.
Su Li was reluctant to stop. Lin Zhilan promised to take him out to sea at least once a month, and only then did he agree.
After locating the float, Su Lang bent down and reached for the net.
Pulling in a net was hard work. Su Li stood at the front and hauled with all his might.
Su Lang used only half his strength so that Su Li would not have too hard a time.
When they had pulled it halfway up, the first prawns finally appeared. They were a decent size, and Su Li grew even more excited as he hurriedly hauled in the net.
It was covered with prawns and crabs.
Linlin and Su Yao came over to help, removing them from the net and placing them in a bucket.
Altogether, they had more than a dozen prawns and three swimming crabs. The rest were assorted small sea creatures.
Everyone was delighted with the catch.
Now they had to hurry back to the pier.
It was already past four in the afternoon, and the sunlight was no longer so scorching.
A gentle sea breeze blew as seabirds circled overhead. Su Li tossed a small fish into the air, and a seabird immediately swooped down and snatched it.
Su Li freed one hand and gave it a thumbs-up.
Su Yao kept drawing without pausing. By now, she had finished several simple sketches.
Linlin leaned over for a look. “Yaoyao, are you drawing Su Li?”
“Drawing me? I want to see too!”
Su Li wiped his hands and hurried over.
Su Yao handed him the sketches.
In the drawings, Su Li crouched by the side of the boat, his small hands gripping the fishing line and his body leaning slightly forward. A little bamboo fishing basket sat beside him, with several small fish poking out of its opening. With only a few strokes of shading, Su Yao had captured a vivid sense of movement.
“Have you read The Old Man and the Sea?” Su Yao asked.
Su Li shook his head.
Su Yao smiled. “Li Li, I want to use you as the model for a book called The Child and the Sea. Is that okay?”
Su Li’s eyes lit up. “Sure! But… Yaoyao, I don’t have any money to pay you.”
Su Yao had drawn Li Li so convincingly that, although the sketches differed from photographs, it was easy to recognize his distinctive features.
There was a camera at home, and Su Li knew that his older cousin had given it to his mother. Film was expensive, though, and he had no idea whether Su Yao would charge him for drawing him.
Su Yao laughed heartily. “You don’t have to pay me. What if your Yaoyao-jiejie makes money from it? I’ll give you half.”
“No, no.” Su Li waved his hands shyly. “Just make me look handsome.”
Su Yao was thoroughly amused by her little cousin.
The children discussed it among themselves, while Lin Zhilan and Su Lang did not interfere much.
When the boat reached the pier, Su Lang helped Lin Zhilan, his daughter, and his niece down one by one. Su Li, however, shook off his father’s hand and jumped straight off the boat.
Su Lang clicked his tongue with a laugh.
He picked up the fishing basket and headed straight home.
“Dad,” Su Li said hesitantly, “why don’t we sell this hairtail and use the money to buy a fishing rod?”
Su Lang smiled. “Don’t you want some pan-fried hairtail?”
“I do.” Su Li sighed. “But right now, I want a fishing rod even more.”
Lin Zhilan waved her son over. “Your dad’s teasing you. The fishing rod is homemade. Later, go cut a thin bamboo stalk in the grove and have him make one for you.”
Su Li cheered, then calmed down. “Will Dad agree?”
Lin Zhilan coached him. “You caught the yellow croaker and the hairtail today. If he won’t make you a rod, don’t let him eat any.”
Su Li turned around, pulled a face at his father, and ran home happily.
Linlin and Su Yao had an incredibly happy time on the island.
Every day, they were woken by the reveille. After breakfast, they helped Su Li with his homework at home. At noon, they could play in the water in the courtyard, and in the evening, there were breathtakingly dreamy sunsets by the sea.
Lin Zhilan and Su Lang were the children’s guardians, but they never treated them as helpless little girls. They respected their thoughts and opinions, sometimes playing with them and even suggesting ways for them to have fun.
Things they had been forbidden to do as children were now encouraged by Lin Zhilan.
They went out to sea, gathered seafood along the shore, and followed the fishermen at night to fish with longlines and set crab pots.
Lin Zhilan also took them to the supply cooperative at the fishing port and to the pier, where they set up stalls to sell seafood.
Su Yao spent a month on the island, and thanks to the beauty cream her little aunt made, she did not tan at all.
Not only that, she painted dozens upon dozens of pictures there and found endless inspiration.
When it was time to return to the capital, Su Yao hugged Lin Zhilan and refused to let go.
“Little Aunt, I want to come play again next time. I’m bringing my mom and my sister too—and Dad as well.”
