Lin Xiuqing was asking her youngest son to do some work. She asked him to stretch his hands forward. She twisted a piece of wool into a long braid, twisted it in the opposite direction and put it on his arms.
And grab his arms and ask him to continue to open his arms and stretch the wool to its tightest.
"Okay, just keep doing this and help with the work. You will be rewarded later."
Ye Chengyang said happily: "Mom, is it a reward of apples? I saw it all."
Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "You have sharp eyes. You saw me put the apples in the basket and covered them with cloth. Just help me with the work. I will give you apples after dinner."
"Okay, okay, I'll share it with my brother and sister!"
"You are quite generous and know how to share. You are better than your elder brother who is stingy and guards his food."
The old lady beside him also smiled and said, "Yangyang is the best and loves his brothers and sisters."
Ye Chengyang was coaxed into submission, smiling with joy, and standing there obediently as a stake.
Lin Xiuqing found one end of the yarn in the ball of yarn in his hand, then put the four fingers of her left hand together and continuously wrapped the yarn around her four fingers. After wrapping a small ball, she took the yarn off her fingers and wrapped it horizontally again.
Then slowly wind the thread into a small ball and continue winding and rolling.
Ye Chengyang looked at the woolen thread stretched out in his hand, and quickly rolled it up in his mother's hand. He also coordinated with the force of the thread being pulled, turning left and right, coordinating with the thread being rolled out, which felt a bit fun.
"Mom, what are you doing in a ball?"
"I'm knitting sweaters for you three siblings."
His eyes instantly lit up again, "Really? We're going to have new clothes again."
Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "Yes, this year our family is well off, so I plan to knit you a new sweater so you can wear it warmer in the winter, so you don't have to have two Yellow Rivers hanging under your noses all day long, and then wipe it with your sleeves, which makes it so dirty and stiff every day."
The old lady said quickly, "The sweaters from previous years that the eldest child can't wear because they are too short can be passed on to the second child, with the sleeves folded up at most. For the ones that the second child can't wear, we can unravel the thread and add some new thread to knit for the eldest child. This way, we can have two sweaters, one new and one old, to change and wash. The extra thread can also be used to knit a vest for the ninth child."
"Yes, I thought so too, so I took some time out this afternoon to go to town and buy some wool. I plan to knit now that the weather is just getting cooler, so that I can have something to wear when the temperature drops next month."
"What a pity. My eyesight is not very good now, otherwise I could help knit two more pieces of clothing."
"It's easy. I'll just take you to get a pair of reading glasses." Ye Yaodong had just pushed the cart to the door when he heard their voices and spoke quickly.
"Dongzi is back?"
"Why did you come back so early today?" Lin Xiuqing turned her left wrist and looked at the watch. It was only half past three. She said that she had just been home for a while and thought she was late.
"There's not much to buy today, so I came back early. I brought back three baskets of croaker, which should be around 200 kilograms. I'll ask mom to come over and help kill them later."
"Another 200 pounds," Lin Xiuqing tried to stop herself from complaining, but changed the subject. "It's still early for Mom to get off work, so I'll kill him first."
She handed the half-rolled ball of yarn in her hand to the old lady. It was about the size of her fist. "Since you have nothing to do, I'll roll this for you."
"Okay, okay, I'll do this."
Only then did Ye Yaodong notice what they were doing. No wonder he heard the old lady say that her eyesight was poor, otherwise she could help with the weaving.
"When did you buy the wool? Don't you have a lot of fabric left at home?"
"The cloth can only be used to make autumn clothes or outerwear. To keep warm, you still need to knit two sweaters."
"oh."
He looked at the old lady again, "You really need to get a pair of reading glasses, otherwise you won't be able to see clearly, right? I'll take you to town to get a pair in two days when you have some free."
"No, no, I can see. Who said I can't see? I'm not blind. Do you think I can't see normally?"
"Who just said that his eyesight is not good? As you get older, presbyopia is normal. A pair of glasses will only cost two or three dollars. You don't have to worry about the money."
"Two or three?" The old lady hesitated for a moment, "Well, I have it, then...then I'll get one..."
Ye Yaodong shook his head in amusement. How could he ask her to pay for the coffin
However, I can take her to take a photo.
"If the wind blows and we can't go out to sea, I'll take you there. That way you can do more work and help knit two sweaters."
"Hey, yes, yes, I can knit sweaters if I wear glasses."
The old lady discovered her own value again, became happy again, and no longer felt bad about spending money on glasses.
Lin Xiuqing came out of the house with a kitchen knife and a chopping board, and saw that Ye Yaodong had made the old lady happy again. It was obvious that the old lady was most distressed that he spent money.
She laughed and complained, "I coaxed you into working, and you're still so happy."
"This shows that an old man like me is still useful. I am not afraid of working, but I am afraid of not being able to work. At least doing some work can help me move around and exercise my body. So, don't always stop me from going to the fields. It's okay for me to grow some vegetables so that you can have something to eat."
"Everyone at home is busier than the others. Some are working, some are going out to sea, some are studying, and some are taking care of the children. I am the only one who is free, so of course I have to help out."
"Tomorrow we can sow the seeds of the radish, and use them to pickle some vegetables at the end of the year or in the beginning of spring, or cook radish rice on March 3rd to make it delicious..."
"The sweet potatoes will be ready to be dug out in a few days. Tomorrow we need to cut off all the vines and give them to your sister-in-law to feed the pigs..."
The old lady was muttering to herself as she rolled up the wool.
Ye Yaodong took the three baskets of fish off the board and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Let's cut the sweet potato vines later. We can pick some and stir-fry them tonight."
"Why eat that? That's for pigs. There's spinach in the field. Just pick a few and stir-fry them."
"Then I think sweet potato vines are delicious when fried."
This will be sold in the market later! How can I bear to feed this to pigs
Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes and said, "There's nothing delicious. Since you want to eat sweet potato vines, I'll fry you a bowl tonight."
"I'm easy to feed. I can eat anything that pigs eat."
Lin Xiuqing almost blurted out: Do you eat what dogs eat
She swallowed it back and changed the subject: "How much did you sell it for today?"
"42."
"That's okay?"
As far as she knows, if the villagers have a good trawl, they can only sell it for around 40 or 50 yuan, but usually it's around 30 or 40 yuan.
"Not bad?" Ye Yaodong raised his eyebrows. "I dragged two baskets of groceries with the trawl net, which are only worth about five or six dollars. I almost couldn't even make back the money for the gas."
"Did you catch a big fish? That's why you sold it for so much money?"
"I encountered a small group of bluefin bream when I was fishing with longlines, so I caught a lot of fish. Later, I encountered dolphins that drove away the fish, so I used three more nets to fill the gap, which is why I was able to sell so many."
"It's pretty good."
"Well, it's OK. The fish we caught are not worth much, so I only kept three baskets of bream."
"It's cold anyway, so if you come across a worthless fish, just bring it back and dry it in the sun for a while."
"Don't you always complain that you smell like fish? Every day you kill the fish that others would have to kill in their lifetime, and now you want to dry it a little more?"
"You can complain all you want, but who says you should follow your husband wherever he goes? If you marry a shoulder pole, you should carry it everywhere. If you marry a fisherman, you can only accept your fate of killing fish for the rest of your life."
"You're right. You have to accept your fate and kill fish for the rest of your life. Otherwise, if you marry into the mountains, you'll have to carry manure and farm the land. It won't be as easy as it is now."
Ye Yaodong squatted there to help, taking out the fish's gills along with the belly and internal organs, and then threw the fish to A Qing to chop off its head.
Ah Qing rolled his eyes at him, then chopped the fish head hard with a knife.
This time he felt that the force was a bit too strong, and he couldn't help but look at her a little longer. Don't imagine that he was chopped off like a fish head.
“Isn’t carrying manure a man’s job?”
"Women can do it, too. Aren't we advocating gender equality now?"
"That's ridiculous! Go take a shower right now. I'm getting angry just by hearing you talk."
"Tsk, you get angry when you can't win an argument, women are women~"
Lin Xiuqing glared at him and gestured with the kitchen knife. Ye Yaodong quickly took two steps to the side, then stepped back and stood up.
"Za-mou!"
Ye Chengyang kept turning his head to look at them, and he also shouted like his father, "Zamou!"
The old lady stopped rolling the wool in her hand, poked his forehead with a smile, and said, "Don't be unlearnable. If you learn from your father, you will be scolded."
Ye Chengyang laughed and said, "Mom is Zamou."
Ye Yaodong patted his little head and said, "Yes, your mother is Zamou! That's right."
The old lady smiled and patted Ye Yaodong's arm, "Go take a shower quickly, don't talk nonsense here, you're corrupting your son."
"Um."
"Dad, Mom also bought some apples. They look red and delicious."
"Okay, I'll reward you half later."
Ye Chengyang smiled proudly, "Mom just said she would reward me, and Dad will give me half of it, so I should have one."
Ye Yaodong flicked his forehead, "Smart guy."
“Hehe~”
"Help me take off my shoes and wash my feet, and I'll give you half of the reward..."
Ye Chengyang's facial features wrinkled instantly and he quickly refused, "No, that's enough..."