The first thing to do when getting up early on the first day of the New Year is to light incense for the Kitchen God and his wife. You should also light incense at the door and then set off firecrackers.
A group of children covered their ears, and when the firecrackers stopped popping, they all gathered around him and excitedly called Uncle San. He knew what they were up to without having to think too much.
"As soon as you stick your butt out, I know what you want to do. It just so happens that I actually won money last night. Come on, line up, two cents each."
"Wow, hahaha~ Uncle San is so nice~"
"hurry up…"
After each person received 20 cents, they were all very happy because they could buy a lot of firecrackers.
Then they started looking all over the ground for the remaining firecrackers that had not finished going off.
"What are you looking for? Isn't it enough for you to buy?"
"Don't waste it. If you haven't used up all the items, you can pick them up and continue to use them!"
After a while, everyone had several small firecrackers in their hands, and they all said excitedly that they wanted to go to the beach to set them off and make a lot of splashes.
I don’t know if it was because of the wind at night, but I felt the waves were a bit big early in the morning. The weather was a bit gloomy, and the wind on the shore was a bit strong.
There were only a few rainy days in this month, and most of the days were sunny. But today, the first day of the new year, it was cloudy. The weather was not good.
Ye Yaodong thought that he hadn't had breakfast yet and couldn't go out to play cards so early in the morning, so he walked to the shore with them and watched them throw firecrackers into the sea one by one, which occasionally caused small splashes of water, while others made no sound at all.
After setting off all the firecrackers they had picked up in a few seconds, they felt unsatisfied. They touched the 20 cents in their pockets which were still wet, and ran to the village happily to buy firecrackers.
Ye Yaodong continued to squat on the shore when he had nothing to do, watching the tide recede, and picked up a few flat stones to skip them on the water.
He fired several three-shots in a row, and just when he was getting excited, he heard his wife shouting at the door for dinner, so he had no choice but to throw away the stone in his hand and clap his hands.
Just as he was about to turn around, he saw from the corner of his eye that there seemed to be something unusual on the sea in the distance. There were several white tentacles dancing around, but they stopped all of a sudden and started moving again after a while.
He found it a bit strange. How could the tentacles be seen clearly from such a long distance
There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. He was not in a hurry to go back and continued to stare at the sea, but the tide was receding a little slowly and it was a little difficult to wait.
Lin Xiuqing found that she couldn't get him to eat, so she walked over and asked, "What are you doing? I told you to eat for a long time but you didn't move. You're still standing here looking at what? Where are the two children?"
"I went to buy firecrackers with a few of them. I don't think I'll be back. I'm stuck on the way. I'll eat them after they cool down."
"Then what are you doing here? Isn't the tide low? It will be eleven or twelve o'clock by the time it goes out. If you want to go down, you have to wait until noon." She asked puzzledly.
"No, look in the distance, isn't there something like a whip waving and hitting the water?"
Lin Xiuqing looked up and it really did sound like a whip was waving around, but the movements were a little slow.
"What's that?"
"I don't know, everyone is sure, but I don't know if it will run aground after the tide goes out."
If there are any living things that can move in the sea, they must be big ones, no doubt about it. Besides, today is the first day of the new year, so it is normal to have a high tide.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. It really was true that money would come to him just by sitting at home. For the past half month, he had only occasionally collected traps and had never properly set out nets. It turned out that his shipping was so powerful that all the good goods were automatically delivered to his door.
When luck comes, nothing can stop it.
Lin Xiuqing was also excited when she heard him say it was a big one. "Really? Could it be some big one? But those whip-like things, they should be tentacles, right? They look so long, and I can see them from such a distance, how big can it be?"
"It's hard to guess without seeing its appearance, but it must be very big. Its tentacles look quite like an octopus, but I've never seen one this big. It's a bit strange."
"Octopus? It really looks like one, except that its tentacles are a little thicker."
"If it's big, shouldn't its tentacles be big too? Maybe last night's New Year's Eve cannon was auspicious, so they sent me a big one today."
"You're outside, and you don't know how to keep it to yourself. What nonsense are you talking about?" Lin Xiuqing glared at him unhappily. "Then you stay here and watch slowly. I'll find the child and eat first."
"Go ahead, I'll watch here."
The location was awkward, the boat couldn't get there, the tide was receding and the water was too shallow. It was too cold to swim across, so we could only wait on the shore for the tide to recede.
Fortunately, today is the first day of the new year and the weather is a bit cloudy. There is no sun. The women are busy cooking, the children are busy setting off firecrackers, and the men are busy playing cards. Not many people go to the beach to blow the cold wind early in the morning. Even the children in their family who went out to buy firecrackers can't come back.
Ye Yaodong had been squatting on the beach in a daze, smoking and looking at the sea, watching the tide recede little by little, but the big guy was still swaying in the same position, not moving forward with the tide. The onlookers were somewhat helpless.
But fortunately, today is the first day of the new year and the tide has receded to the bottom. If it retreats more than 100 or 200 meters, I estimate that it should be about the same distance. It's just a little difficult to wait.
I just flicked the ash off my hand when someone patted my shoulder.
"I brought you the meal."
"Good wife, you are so sensible!" He put out the half-smoked cigarette in his hand with a smile and took the big bowl she handed over.
"It's windy at the beach, do you want me to get you a hat?"
"It's okay, go in first, don't catch a cold."
"Then do you want to go in and wait? The tide won't recede that quickly, and it won't be pleasant to be out here in the cold wind for a few hours."
"I know. I'll watch for a while. You go in first." It's safer to watch from here. In case he misses it in the blink of an eye and someone else gets there first, he would regret it so much that he would slap his thigh.
Lin Xiuqing had no choice but to go in first. The two children were still eating by themselves and it was unclear whether they were eating properly.
Ye Yaodong ate while keeping an eye on the surface of the sea. After scooping a whole bowl of porridge into his mouth, he quickly took the bowl into the house.
When Lin Xiuqing saw him enter the house, she quickly put a hat on him and tied a scarf around his neck. "It's New Year's Day, don't catch a cold, it's unlucky. Wrap yourself up like this to keep you warm."
He hugged her now somewhat sturdy waist, and kissed her rosy cheek with a smile, "It's okay, you are used to the wind on the sea, it's not that easy to catch a cold."
"Dad, shame on you~ Kissing mom secretly~ shameless~"
"Shame on you~Shame on you~"
Ye Chengyang also imitated his brother's words, and then scratched his face with his index finger.
Lin Xiuqing was a little embarrassed in front of the two children. She glared at him in reproach and said in a soft voice, "Don't you know how to restrain yourself in front of the children? Don't lead them astray. Children will go out and say nonsense if they don't keep their mouths shut. How embarrassing it is."
Ye Yaodong immediately glanced at his two sons beside him. Before he could warn them, Ye Chenghu said with a hint of anger, "I didn't tell anyone that Dad kissed Mom secretly! I also didn't tell anyone that Dad shamelessly hugged Mom to sleep every day."
Ye Chengyang also nodded and said, "Me neither!"
He simply ignored his eldest son's scolding him for being shameless, "Well, you can brag as much as you want, but you are not allowed to tell others about family matters, especially about our parents, understand?"
They both nodded.
Ye Yaodong patted his head and walked out. Seeing that there was no one around the shore, he felt relieved. As long as no one noticed him, it was good.
He was about to walk towards the shore, but after thinking about it, he stopped and walked towards his eldest and second brothers' homes.
If it really is a big one, he won't be able to handle it alone, and he will have to call his two brothers to help. Besides, the three families live next to each other, and he can't eat the goods right in front of him alone.
He knocked on the window of his second brother's house first, and without waiting for his second brother's response, he knocked on the window of his eldest brother's house, and then waited at the door.
Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua were both a little puzzled, and they both shouted in their respective rooms, "What's going on?"
Seeing that Ye Yaodong didn't respond, the two of them came out with their bowls in hand to take a look. "What's wrong, Dongzi? Why are you knocking on the window without making any sound? What's going on?"
"Yeah, why don't you go in and talk?"
"Eat quickly, and then come with me to the shore. I just noticed something different on the sea."
"Ah? Is there another red tide?" Brother Ye stretched his neck to look at the sea surface, "The sea water doesn't seem to have changed?"
Brother Ye didn't care about eating. He stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck. "I can't see it. Do I have to wait until night to see the changes?"
"Look carefully, don't you think there's anything different?"
"No, what's that thing on the sea? It seems to be moving?"
"It's like a whip, swinging back and forth."
"You guys eat first, I'll go to the shore and watch." After saying that, Ye Yaodong walked towards the shore.
At this time, Big Brother Ye and Second Brother Ye didn't bother to eat slowly. They just took two bites and poured the remaining porridge into their mouths. They quickly took the bowl in, and hurried to catch up with it even though their cheeks were bulging and they didn't swallow it.
"Dongzi, when did you find out?"
"Just before breakfast, I went to the shore with some kids to set off firecrackers. At first, there was no movement on the sea. After a while, I saw something swaying there. It looked like some large cargo, so I didn't dare to leave. But I couldn't see clearly what it was."
The three brothers stood in a row on the shore, looking into the distance and discussing with each other.
"It looks a bit like an octopus's tentacles to me!"
"I think so too. I can't imagine anything else with such long tentacles except octopuses."
"Giant squid is also a possibility."
Ye Yaodong touched his chin. Both were possible. There were giant octopuses and giant squids in the world. The tentacles waving on the sea surface were quite consistent with these two creatures, but without seeing them up close, it was really impossible to tell them apart.