After Secretary Chen finished speaking in an unpleasant tone, he frowned, put down his tea bowl, stood up and walked out.
"Hurry up, if you are late and fail to intercept me in time, I won't care about you then."
Secretary Chen glanced at him with his eyes drooping, "Can't you be more motivated?"
"You're really good at this. I've only been out to sea for less than half a year. I can't become fat in one go."
Secretary Chen shook his head and walked out with his hands behind his back.
Ye Yaodong felt anxious for him as he watched his slow movements.
Lin Xiuqing was sitting in front of the stove cooking, listening from beginning to end without saying a word. When she heard him call himself Yangwei, she couldn't hold the fire tongs firmly, and her ears turned red with embarrassment. This guy really had no taboos.
"gone?"
"Well, he left. He said he had something good to say to me, which made me happy for a while. So that's it?"
"It would be great if we had 10,000 yuan." Lin Xiuqing felt a little regretful. She also felt that this was a rare opportunity.
"Having 10,000 yuan is a good thing, but there's no need to advertise it. There will be a lot of troubles coming one after another, and we don't have the ability or the time to deal with them. People are afraid of being famous, just like pigs are afraid of getting fat. When we have enough money that we are not afraid of being taken advantage of, then it won't matter."
Lin Xiuqing blinked and thought it made sense.
Ye Yaodong flicked her head and said, "Hurry up and cook. I'm starving after working all day."
The couple thought that what Secretary Chen said was over, but they didn't expect it was not over yet.
The family was having dinner happily when Secretary Chen came hurriedly again. Ye Yaodong's heart skipped a beat.
If it had been intercepted, he wouldn't have to make another trip, right
"Ah Dong, I'm so sorry. I just came out to check with you this afternoon, but when I went back, I found that the report had already been typed in. They were afraid that they wouldn't have enough time to submit it in advance."
"Everyone in the village committee thinks you are almost there, maybe just a little short, and the village will help you make up for it a little bit and lend it to you for a few days, so you acted on your own initiative." Secretary Chen apologized sincerely as soon as he walked in.
Ye Yaodong was so shocked that he threw down the kuaizi and stood up, "Fuck... You guys are messing around! Didn't I tell you that I'm a long way behind the boss? You guys acted first and asked for permission later. Do you really think it's so easy to make money?"
"Ah, I don't know either. I told them this afternoon to ask you, but they were afraid that other villages would get there first, and they were also worried that it would be too late, so they reported it directly tomorrow. It's because you've been in the spotlight so much recently..."
"Shit, you guys acted on your own and you blame me?"
Secretary Chen smiled awkwardly, "Look, it's all reported. How about you take over, and then when someone comes, you can tell us about your fishing experience during this period? Or the village can lend you some of the money you need?"
"Don't you have to pay it back? I'm short of 9,000 yuan!"
He raised his voice, "Nine thousand dollars? Are you kidding?"
Secretary Chen shook his head like a rattle, "No, that won't work. It's a loan, not a gift to you. No matter how much it is, you have to pay it back after you've dealt with it."
"What are you talking about? I thought you would just give it to me, so I just did it reluctantly."
"Look at what you said. How many people have tried their best to become a millionaire but don't have the chance. This is a public commendation and will be published in the newspapers. This opportunity is right in front of you..."
Ye Yaodong wrinkled his face and waved his hand, "I can't help you, I can't help you. I'm an honest man, I can't do fraud, you can find someone else, when the county comes, just take him to someone else's house, I really can't do it. A while ago, many people in the village got rich, you can go ask around and arrange someone to take over."
Secretary Chen automatically ignored what he said about being an honest man, and felt that the matter was a bit difficult to handle, as it was stuck in a rut. If he had known this earlier, he should not have thought about those false reputations from the beginning.
"Really?"
“I really can’t!”
"Let me take a look at the situation first. Why don't you stay at sea for the next few days? Stay at home first. Who knows when someone will come?"
What a fuck!
"I don't care." He stared at Secretary Chen in frustration. "One day without going out to sea is one day's loss. You want to compensate me? You're trying to make trouble for me..."
"I'll go back and discuss it. We'll try again. Let me put it this way for now. You should have an idea in your mind. I'll leave first..." Secretary Chen said as he retreated.
"What do you mean by knowing the situation? You're not going to force me to take on the responsibility... Hey... Explain yourself more clearly..."
Ye Yaodong stood at the door and shouted, only to see Secretary Chen's pace getting faster and faster, and he even ran behind him, as if he was afraid that he would catch up with him.
Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua, who had just returned, also heard his voice and came out of the house, "What's the matter, Third Brother?"
"What's wrong? Why did Secretary Chen come to see you? Where are you going?" Ye Yaopeng asked puzzledly as he looked at the receding figure.
"Damn it, he dug a hole for me and forced me to jump into it. He is looking for trouble. I am going to be pissed off by him..."
"What's up?"
"Tell me about it?"
Ye Yaodong looked at the curious looks of his two brothers and felt that there was nothing to say. If his two sisters-in-law found out, and started making a fuss about it everywhere, things would never stop. By then, they might even confirm his reputation as a millionaire. It would be really screwed.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm just grumbling now before the incident comes to my mind. Let's go eat first!"
"Are you really okay? I saw you react so strongly just now..."
He waved his hand and went straight into the house, "Let's talk about it later!"
After eating, he still has to go to the literacy class. Now he will go as long as he has time, and it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t have time, as the class will always be there.
During the day, he originally wanted to find Acai to order fish bait, but was intercepted by Secretary Chen and sent straight home. He was delayed for a long time, and when he went there, there were not many miscellaneous fish and shrimps. As soon as it was afternoon, he had to receive the goods and load them on the truck. If he hadn't instructed in advance, he usually had to rely on luck.
Even without bait, he still had to go out to sea at night. If he couldn't use longline fishing, he still had trawl and sticky nets. He didn't have time to sit at home and wait for the millionaire.
As for whether the county would send someone? Would they still ask him to take over? Or had they already found someone else? This was not within his consideration, and it was not his intention in the first place.
After four consecutive days out at sea, we finally collected the goods in the traps.
Fish are less active in winter and it is easy for winds to pick up in the afternoon. In recent days, the fish have returned early as early as two or three o'clock because of the wind.
My daily income is about 40 yuan or so, and sometimes I can make 60 or 70 yuan with the goods from the ground traps. There are no big goods, but the delivery is pretty good. After deducting the gas money, I can still save a lot, which is better than sitting idle at home.
The weather had been sunny for more than ten days, but he had only been out at sea for four days when it started to rain and wind again, turning into cloudy and rainy weather. Fortunately, he had dried everything that needed to be dried a few days ago, including dried fish, sweet potatoes, and radishes.
Although it is a bit uncomfortable on rainy days, it is winter and the weather is dry and not very humid. The temperature has dropped again, and the whole family stays in bed after dinner and is reluctant to get up.
It had been raining for several days in a row, and Lin Xiuqing had nothing to do at home. Thinking that the winter solstice was approaching, she dried some shredded radishes a few days ago, and had some freshly made sweet potato flour that Ye's mother had given her, so she planned to make some rice dumplings.
The locals also call rice dumplings "Cao Bao Kueh."
It is a local custom to eat rice dumplings during the winter solstice. They are usually prepared in advance and kept there, so you can steam a few whenever you want to eat them.
In fact, she was not very willing to get up early in the morning to cook breakfast as the weather was too cold. She could just make some rice dumplings and leave them there. She could then just get up in the morning and steam a few of them. It was convenient and delicious.
When Ye Yaodong knew that she wanted to make rice dumplings, he was very enthusiastic to collect ingredients for her. The rice dumplings would taste better only if you put fish in them. He hadn't been out to sea for a few days and didn't have any stock at home.
So early in the morning, he planned to wait on the road in the center of the village. It was very windy today, but there was no rain, so there should be carts selling goods. It was the winter solstice, so there must be fish meat for sale on the carts.
As soon as he arrived, he saw many women gathered around the cart, buying things. Most of them were buying fish. It was almost New Year, and most people were willing to spend some money.
What's more, the winter solstice is approaching, and it is a very important solar term for local people.
Ye Yaodong waited until the women had finished grabbing the fish before he bought up the remaining fish meat. The fish sold at the stall were not the small fish sold on the market. They were whole, extra-large pieces of fish meat, and they would cut as much as the customer wanted.
This giant fish of this size can only be found in the deep sea. It is large in size and has particularly thick meat. When it is spread out flat, it is one or two times larger than a cutting board.
There was about one pound of remaining fish meat, which was enough. The vendor simply poked a hole in it with a knife, passed a straw rope through it and handed it to him. He also asked the vendor to cut a piece of pork belly, as meat also needed to be put in the straw wrapped cake.
The other ingredients are all available at home, so there is no need to buy them.
After returning home, Lin Xiuqing asked him to wash and peel the sweet potatoes, while she went to pick celery and garlic leaves. She had to fry the stuffing first. Since she didn't buy meat and fish, she didn't dare to prepare it in advance.
Dice the meat and fish, cut the celery and garlic leaves into small pieces, and stir-fry them together with the shredded radish to enhance the flavor.
They love celery very much and like to put some celery in everything they cook.
Fortunately, it was an earthen stove, which was big enough and convenient for stir-frying. After a while, a large pot of fragrant stuffing was ready.
The two children waiting on the side were already drooling at the smell. Lin Xiuqing filled a small bowl for each of them and sent them away to avoid getting in the way.
Then she cut the peeled sweet potatoes into pieces and steamed them in a pot, preparing to mix them into the sweet potato flour later.
The dough made in this way is reddish-brown and very soft. You can also not add fresh sweet potatoes, but it tastes better with them. If you don’t add them, the dough will be white when steamed. You can also add purple sweet potatoes, and the steamed grass bun cake will be purple.
Seeing her busying around, Ye Yaodong thought that there was still some sweet potato flour that had not been packed out, so he took an empty can and scooped the sweet potato flour that had been made a few days ago into the sack. After pouring most of the basin, he began to add water and knead the dough.
"Can you do it?" Lin Xiuqing looked at his actions questioningly. She had never seen him do it before.
"It's just kneading dough, what's there to be unable to do? I'm strong, so I can knead it just right."
"This amount of sweet potato flour is not enough. I need to make another basin and pack more. I will send some to the old house when the time comes."
"Do you have any sugar? Pack something sweet. The old lady likes to eat sweet grass cakes."
"I like sweet food, too!" Ye Chenghu ate the salty filling and did not forget to order a sweet one.
Lin Xiuqing ignored her eldest son and said, "Then go to the grocery store and buy some crushed peanuts. We have sugar at home."
Ye Yaodong nodded.