My Fish Pond Has One Very Loyal Customer novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Aerator

Aunt Fen left the buns and went away with her eyebrows still moving.

Lu Qing waited for the door to close.

"Thirty-eight thousand," he said.

Meng Yuhe put the folded blanket on the cot and squared its edge.

"The feed invoice was on the bench," said Meng Yuhe.

"It was under a stone."

"It was visible," said Meng Yuhe.

"It was my invoice, Meng Yuhe. It was mine."

Lu Qing heard his voice go up and could not bring it down.

"Rule three. Nobody pays me anything but fish."

"It wasn't a payment," said Meng Yuhe.

"What was it?"

"A deposit," said Meng Yuhe. "On Saturdays."

Lu Qing stared at him.

The man said it flatly, standing in the grey morning in Grandpa's shirt.

For a moment he did not seem to know that it was a joke.

Then the corner of his mouth moved, a very small distance.

"That's terrible," said Lu Qing.

"I know," said Meng Yuhe.

"It's the worst thing anyone has said to me this month."

"I'm out of practice," said Meng Yuhe.

He did not know whether he wanted to laugh or throw the teapot.

He had been poor for a year with great pride.

Now a stranger had lifted the whole weight off his back with one phone call.

It was the kindest thing anyone had done for him since the funeral.

It also felt exactly like being told he could not manage.

"Thank you," said Lu Qing stiffly. "And never again."

"All right."

"I mean it. I'll pay you back at forty a jin."

"All right," said Meng Yuhe.

He put on his jacket and took his thermos, and at the door he turned.

"Pond Day," he said. "I'll fish for you."

"You'll be my entry," said Lu Qing. "You'll work it off."

"Yes."

He left through the wet grass toward the lane.

The water had gone down enough for the car.

The Pond System said, delicately, "Customer Meng Yuhe's loyalty has risen sharply."

"I know it has," said Lu Qing. "That's what's wrong with it."

Meng Yuhe did not come back that night.

At three in the morning Lu Qing woke in his bed in the farmhouse, with the whole room ringing.

"Alert, Host," said the Pond System, with all the lightness gone out of its voice.

"Dissolved oxygen is falling at the east end. Aerator offline."

He was out of the door in his socks, and down the lane.

The night was black and cold, and the pond lay flat under the stars.

All along the east bank, the surface was breaking.

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