Although Ye Yaodong envied A Guang and the others for being able to rest for the entire winter, and he also wanted to give up, he was also afraid that if he rested for too long, his laziness would come out.
This is not even his ideal retirement age of 40, but now that he has set the goal, he still needs to work harder.
Moreover, there is not much time to go out to sea in winter. He can only continue to work by fishing for three days and drying the nets for two days. Only by earning more money can he buy a few more boats, become a boat owner, and retire early.
This boat is really hard to find and buy.
His father spent a month asking around but couldn't find a place to buy it. The 30-meter-long boat that the salvage team had rented was later heard to be bought by several people.
However, even if it was still there, he couldn't buy it. It was too expensive and the cost was too high. He would have to spend all his family's savings to buy it, and it would be difficult to resell it if something happened.
He didn't have such big ambitions to begin with, so he decided to be safe and take small steps at a time, as he couldn't become a big fat man in one bite.
If there is no suitable boat by the end of the year, he might ask two craftsmen to build a boat, or order one from a shipyard. The new boat can be larger in size and have a larger cabin for sleeping. This way, he can also sail in the deep sea for a few days instead of staying near the coast to fish.
Nowadays, individuals do not have strong financial capabilities, shipbuilding technology is limited, there are few ships sailing in the deep sea, and the few that exist are all official salvage teams. Moreover, the resources of the deep sea are not comparable to those of the near-shore areas. Now the resources in the near-shore areas are still quite sufficient, and the deep sea is even more so.
He doesn't have such great ambitions to go on ocean voyages, at least not now. Ocean-going ships weigh hundreds or thousands of tons, so he doesn't dare to dream about it, and the technology is not mature yet. But he still has some ideas about the deep sea.
He travels back and forth every few days, and he doesn't have to worry about his wife and children staying at home and taking care of the family.
It’s a good idea in my mind, but I still have to take care of the present first.
The next day, taking advantage of the wind, he took the old lady to the town to get her a pair of reading glasses and some white thread for making a sticky net. He took it home and asked someone to make it.
It’s just right to do it these few days. After the wind and waves pass in two days, we can go out to sea to cast the nets.
The old lady took her reading glasses, put them on and took them off, kept blowing on them, and then wiped them with a lens cloth.
"Don't wipe it, it's clean enough. Put it away first to avoid people coming and going and letting it fall to the ground and get stepped on. That would be a waste of money."
"Okay, I'll try it on when I get it back." The old lady smiled and squinted her eyes. "When I looked in the mirror just now, I thought it looked pretty good, didn't I?"
"Of course. Like father, like son. I'm so handsome, which means I have good genes. I'm your grandson, which means you have a good foundation."
"Are you praising yourself or me? You just try to make me happy, but I have white hair all over my head and my face is more wrinkled than tree bark."
"Beauty lies in the bones, not in the skin. Praising me is the same as praising you, and praising you is the same as praising me. This is a win-win situation for both of us."
The old lady was so happy with his coaxing that she felt that he was becoming more and more educated. "If I had known that when you were young, I shouldn't have indulged you and let you drop out of school. Look at you, you have only been in literacy classes for a few days, but you speak so educatedly. If you had studied for a few more years, you might have graduated from college and been an official for many years."
"That is to say, why didn't you stop me at that time? Oh ~ maybe I wouldn't have to work so hard to fish."
The old lady shook her head. "You are just a bad person. You were only ten years old at the time, but you acted like a devil. You didn't listen to anyone and didn't go to class all day. You and your friends were always in the mountains and seas. Your mother was so angry that she asked to refund the tuition."
Ye Yaodong touched his nose. He had long forgotten his childhood and only remembered the vicissitudes of middle-aged and old age. After all, it wasn't long, so the old lady's memory was quite good.
"I don't remember. Let's go. We're just about to reach the entrance of the photo studio. Let's go in and take a couple of pictures, both with and without glasses."
Speaking of taking photos, the old lady didn't object. Looking at the door of the old photo studio in front of her which was covered with photos, she nodded happily and followed him in.
"Just take a picture, and then you can hang it on the wall as a portrait. When I'm gone, you can take a look at it when you occasionally burn incense for me."
"What are you talking about? Taking photos is to record your beautiful moments. When you look back at them years later, they will be filled with memories."
"Okay, okay..."
The old lady also knew that what she said subconsciously was a bit unlucky, so she quickly said something nice, "Take the photo now, and when I am 100 years old, take it out and look at it to see if there is any difference. When I am 100 years old, take me here to take the photo again and keep it as a souvenir."
Ye Yaodong was satisfied and said, "Yes, we need to take some photos for the 100th birthday. During the Chinese New Year, we will take a family photo and have it all together."
"good."
The old lady was leaning on a cane, smiling brightly, her face was rosy, and she looked very energetic. Even the owner of the photo studio thought she was in good spirits and said with a smile: "When the old lady is 100 years old, bring her here to take a photo. I won't charge you and will take a few photos for free."
"Really?" The old lady was very happy. She didn't expect that she could still take photos for free at the age of 100.
"Then I have to work hard and live as hard as I can. Then I'll come back to take pictures with you."
"Okay, okay."
Ye Yaodong was also very happy that the boss was a good person, and couldn't help asking: "Can I invite you to come over to take pictures?"
"Okay, living to be a hundred is a happy event."
"No, I mean can I invite you to come over and take family photos at the end of the year?"
"Sure, but you have to pay more."
"That's easy to say. It should be so."
By paying a little more, you don’t have to bring the whole family out for photo taking, which can save you a lot of trouble.
After taking the photos and agreeing on when to pick them up, Ye Yaodong asked the old lady to wait at the door while he went to the fishing tackle shop to get the white nylon line for making fishing nets.
Just send the items you buy to the store first to avoid the inconvenience of carrying them around all the time.
He carried two full sacks on a shoulder pole. Although the nylon rope was light, the sacks were very heavy due to the large amount of rope.
The old lady watched him approach and quickly gave him the hot fried dough cake she had just bought. "It's almost noon, and we don't know how long we'll have to wait for the bus. Come on, eat one to fill your stomach. I specially asked the boss to add oyster filling. It's hot and delicious."
"Then we have to give him an extra two cents, right?"
I really am willing to do that!
"Yes, your mother hasn't had time to catch oysters in the past six months, and your wife hasn't had time either. You haven't had them for a long time."
Ye Yaodong smiled and took a bite from her hand. "Two months ago, when we were fishing for jellyfish in Zhejiang Province, my second sister-in-law dug them every day and we ate them every day."
"Hey, that's good."
He thought the old lady probably wanted to eat too.
"I'll be working on the nets in the next few days, but there's not enough fish so I don't plan to go out to sea. Which island should I go to and get some shells to dig up and dry?"
"Making money is the most important thing. I can do these things when I am not busy anymore and have some free time. There is no shortage of food for the family."
"Um."
While he was responding, he was thinking in his heart that there seemed to be not many dry goods left at home. Although he didn't eat them every day, they were still consumed. Occasionally he would stir-fry a bowl of food or sprinkle some on noodles, and they would almost be finished.
Autumn and winter are suitable for drying goods, so you can prepare more and eat them slowly. Fish and seafood are indispensable to the daily taste of people living by the sea.
The grandparents and grandchildren were waiting for the car on the roadside, chatting casually. Ye Yaodong kept asking her if she wanted to buy anything else. It was just right for them to buy something together. It was a rare trip to the town.
The old lady just kept shaking her head and saying no.
He didn't force it. If he didn't have it, then he didn't have it. Anyway, he had food and clothes now, and the old man didn't have any other needs.
I just forgot to bring food for the kids, and today is the weekend, so we were all at home. When I got home, they made such a fuss that I almost had to whip them both.
They have gotten used to it, and whenever he goes out, they would wonder if he has brought anything back for them, and if so, they would beat him up.
However, he seemed to have no authority in front of these children. By the time he took out the whip, they had already scattered like birds and beasts and ran away.
"You little bastard, luckily you ran fast, otherwise I would have beaten your butt. You are becoming more and more disrespectful. Why do you need weekends off? You should work 28 days a month and have two days off. It's just that life is too comfortable now."
"When I was a kid, I had to go to the mountains to collect grass for pigs and do production during the day, and I had to go to school at night. I couldn't have had such a comfortable life like them now."
Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him and said, "Are you sure you've been working hard to create production? Did you go to class at night?"
She hooked a thread on her right little finger, and the two long iron hairpins in her hands kept moving back and forth. The wool that was rolled up yesterday afternoon had been knitted into a thread that was almost seven or eight centimeters long by early this morning.
She didn't need to look down, her technique was very skillful. She only looked down occasionally, or stopped to look when she finished knitting a row and was about to switch ends.
The busyness of her hands did not affect her chatting at all.
"Tsk~ Anyway, they don't have to help earn work points now, they can just play and have fun."
"It's the same thing, so let's not talk about them. Who should we ask to weave the fishing net? Why not go next door and ask the eldest and second sisters-in-law if they want us to weave it? They have nothing to do anyway, and they weave nets all day long. If they don't want to do it, why not ask someone else?"
As she spoke, she finished knitting another row, scratched her hair with an iron hairpin, and then switched to the other side and continued.
"also."
Ye Yaodong even reached out and touched a small section of the sweater she had knitted. It felt quite soft. "When will you knit me one?"
"You already have two, right? Why are you knitting them? Don't waste them. You're already a grown-up, and you won't grow taller, and they won't break either."
"Last year I saw one that looked like a hole had been gnawed by a rat."
"It has been mended and can be worn again. Go ask your elder and second sisters-in-law. The sooner it is done, the sooner we can go out to sea to cast the nets."
Ye Yaodong reluctantly withdrew his hand. He had to earn money and wear out his clothes.