Powerful and heavy rain was pouring down outside the window. A typhoon was howling outside the house, getting stronger and stronger, like a wounded beast roaring loudly and running around. The doors and windows were shaking all night.
The children were more excited than each other and none of them wanted to go to sleep.
Ye Chengyang climbed onto a stool and was playing with the candles on the table in the room. He covered all ten fingers with hats, and was making "shashasha" sounds in his mouth, saying they were hot, and mumbling to himself, no one knew what he was saying.
After all ten fingers were wearing wax caps, he kept moving his fingers to make them crack, and then put them into the candle wax again, repeating the process. How could he never get enough of it
Ye Chenghu was leaning against the window, looking out at the pitch-black darkness and howling wind. He was also screaming and shouting, "The ghost is coming, the ghost is coming!"
Lin Guangyuan was happily doing somersaults and handstands on the bed. He was so excited.
"Cousin, your house is so nice that it doesn't leak. Our house is like a sieve when there's a typhoon or heavy rain. When I was a child, I could only sleep on the table in the living room, and my mother would sit by the table and watch over me all night. Now that I'm older, I have to let the youngest one sleep."
"We are the same! Whenever it rains, we take out the bowls at home and put them on the bed to collect the water. This is a new house, so it doesn't leak. You can go back and ask your father to build a new house, so that it won't leak in the future when it rains or blows."
"But our family has no money."
"Then how do you make money? When you first came here, you were very diligent and even carried sandbags to make money. Now you have changed. You are so lazy. You eat and do nothing at home every day. You don't work and you run away all day long..."
Ye Yaodong just pushed the door open with some malted milk in his hand, wanting to tell them to drink it and go to sleep, but when he heard these words, the corners of his mouth twitched and he looked at his eldest son speechlessly.
It seems like these are the words his parents said to him before, right
They learn really fast. Children are really easily influenced and learn especially fast from adults.
What he said sounded very strange, and it was both ridiculous and absurd.
Lin Guangyuan also looked at him speechlessly, "Do you think carrying sandbags is a good job? And you said I have changed, I was forced to do it, isn't it because your father is cruel..."
"How am I cruel? Others started carrying sandbags at the age of 20, but you started at the age of 15. If you persist, you will earn five years more than them."
"Ah?" Lin Guangyuan's brain froze instantly. He felt like something he said was wrong, but at the same time, he felt it made sense.
"Wow~ It smells so good~"
Ye Chengyang was like a cat stealing fish. As soon as he smelled the scent, he quickly climbed down from the stool and ran over, hugging his legs.
Ye Chenghu also reacted quickly and ran over, "Malted milk~Malted milk~"
One of them held one leg, and the malted milk in his hand shook a little, and some of it spilled out. "Stop, stop, stop. It's almost all gone. Don't move. It's Lin Guangyuan's. Go to the table and get it yourself."
The two men immediately let go after hearing that.
Lin Guangyuan leaned on the railing at the head of the bed and said happily: "Uncle, can we eat it dry? I heard that malted milk is delicious when eaten dry. I want to eat it dry."
"It's up to you. We'll just eat dry food tomorrow morning."
"Can we have a bite now?"
"Fine."
He was still able to fulfill such a simple wish.
"Okay~"
After their wishes were fulfilled, the children's faces were filled with happy smiles. For them, happiness is so simple.
The three of them took small sips of the malted milk, trying to make the taste of the malted milk stay in their mouths longer. They couldn't just pour the whole bowl in just because they could eat a small bite.
After they finished drinking, Ye Yaodong scooped a spoonful into each of their hands and asked them to chew it dry.
The granules of malted milk have a crisp texture and make a crunching sound in the mouth. They melt as soon as you chew them and slowly dissolve in your mouth, leaving a sweet fragrance on your lips and teeth, which is extremely delicious.
"Uncle, your place is so nice, I don't want to go back."
"I don't lack sons. When you've stayed long enough, you have to go back to where you came from."
"Alas, why am I not my aunt's child?"
"You wish! Two sons are enough. I don't want to have three sons." Ye Yaodong said unhappily, "After you finish drinking, blow out the candles and go to bed. Don't dawdle and play around there."
All their responses were very pleasant. As soon as he turned around and left, the three of them continued to play and quarrel as usual.
The noise was almost louder than the symphony outside; the roof wasn't blown off by the typhoon, but it was almost blown off by their noise.
The people next door heard the noise from here and started shouting in response. Some of them even talked and chatted loudly across the wall, knocking on it so loudly.
How can this be
Just as Ye's mother came over and told them to go to bed quickly, Lin Xiuqing came over with a whip and hit the table hard several times. At the same time, cries of begging for mercy were heard from next door. Only then did they instantly calm down and lie down in their seats.
Outside, the wind was howling, the rain was crackling, the waves were rolling and roaring, and the mixed noise was continuous, but it did not affect the children's sound sleep at all.
Even the adults were worried at first, fearing that the wind and waves would be too strong, but the environment was so comfortable that they fell asleep while lying down in the middle of the night.
It was not until the early morning of the next day when the wind stopped and only the heavy rain was still falling that the family woke up and realized that they had slept soundly the previous night and did not even know when the typhoon would pass.
When Ye's father and mother got up, the old lady was already there making a fire and cooking porridge. She smiled and said, "The typhoon has stopped. It's a rare thing that there was no water leak yesterday. I can still sleep for a while."
Father Ye saw that the rain was still going on outside, so he took the raincoat hanging behind the door and put it on, "I'll go out and check the tide first."
"I'll go out with you and take a look." Mother Ye was unable to go out last night, so she hurriedly put on her straw raincoat and hat and followed him out.
"Why are you meddling in this? It's raining heavily and you still want to..."
"You want to let people watch? You watch your waves, I watch my fish. The wind was so strong yesterday, maybe it blew at night..."
The couple was arguing, and they opened the door one after the other and went out. Their voices were blocked behind the door.
The old lady was still sitting in front of the stove, burning fire, as motionless as a mountain. She was already old, so she didn't go out to make people worry. Making money was the job of the young.
But as soon as Ye's mother walked out of the house, she hurriedly banged on the door and shouted to open the door.
The old lady thought something had happened, and hurriedly got up to open the door, "What's wrong? What happened? Why are you so anxious? It's raining heavily outside..."
"Oh, stop talking. Hurry up and wake them up. There are so many scallops on the beach." Ye's mother anxiously interrupted the old lady's nagging and hurried in to knock on the door of Ye Yaodong and his wife.
He was worried about the strong wind and waves, so he didn't sleep much at night. Now he was sleeping soundly with his wife in his arms. Ye's mother was banging on the door anxiously, which scared the couple awake. They thought the house was blown away by the typhoon.
Ye Yaodong didn't even bother to put on his clothes. He only wore shorts, grabbed a vest, and rushed to open the door. "What's wrong? Is the tide coming up?"
He said this with an anxious look on his face as he put the vest on his head.
"Hurry up and pick up scallops. There are piles of scallops all over the beach, as big as rice. Go quickly~ Call your wife to go with you... I'll call your eldest brother and second brother..."
"Hey, it's really like rice. Someone is already scooping it up with a dustpan on the beach... Hurry up..."
Mother Ye walked out nimbly as she spoke, her face full of joy and eagerness, as if she wished she had Hot Wheels on her feet.
Ye Yaodong was surprised to see his mother rushing back and forth, and hurried into the house to put on his pants, "I'll go out and see what's going on, I don't know how many scallops there are, but she's so excited."
Lin Xiuqing also hurriedly got up and put on her clothes. "There should be quite a few, right? Otherwise, Mom wouldn't be so excited and rush over to knock on the door. It must be that the typhoon yesterday blew a lot of scallops ashore."
"Let's go out and take a look first. It's still raining outside and the sky is still gray."
"It's only 5:50. The rain doesn't look as heavy as yesterday. There's not much wind either. The typhoon should have passed."
"Well, take your time. I'll go out and take a look first."
The rain boots that got wet last night haven't dried yet. When I put my feet in them, I felt a cold and damp feeling. But there's nothing I can do. I only have this pair of rain boots, so I have to wear them even if they're wet. It's raining, and I can't go to the beach wearing my Liberation shoes.
After going out, Ye Yaodong didn't even bother to wash up. He was the first to stand at the door with his straw raincoat, putting it on while looking towards the distance.
The morning rain had slowed down, with a drizzle of rain dripping from the eaves. There was no wind, but it felt a little cool.
In the distance, the sky was still gloomy, and the sky and the sea were the same color, both dark and turbid.
The courtyard gate was wide open, and he saw a few people squatting on the beach. He couldn't see exactly how many scallops there were, but he just felt that there seemed to be an arc on the beach. His second brother and his wife from next door happened to run out in a hurry, and the neighbors nearby also ran towards the beach.
After he put it on, he also put on a hat and trotted out in the drizzle.
Without the resistance of wind, running is much smoother.
As soon as he ran out of the house, he saw a lot of fish, shrimps and crabs scattered on the ground. They didn't look of good quality and the fish were a bit small. They were not as good as the ones they picked up in the wind and rain last night. He didn't know if they had been screened by people who got up early.
When you really have nothing to eat, you can pick these up and they can all be eaten.
Anyway, he didn't take it seriously at the moment, so he just ignored it and walked past it.
If he had nothing else to do, he might pick them up and use them as bait, but let's forget it now.
When he trotted closer, he was surprised to see large areas of clams, scallops, juvenile shells, sea cucumbers and other shellfish in shells forming a small arc around the coastline.
It was only one night, but the shells were already forming a small circle around the coastline.