The next day, Ye Yaodong slept until dawn, which was a rare occasion, because he had to go out to set up sticky nets. He didn't have to go out in the early morning to set up the sticky nets, he could just sleep until he woke up naturally and then go. He would collect them the next day anyway.
He planned to put out 50 sticky nets and ground traps today, and not put them out for Yanshen fishing. It would be too late to collect them the next day, and it would take him until dark just to collect and put out the sticky nets.
Brother A Sheng also told him that he would go out to sea to work the day after tomorrow and asked him to make time.
After breakfast, Ye Yaodong followed his father to pile 50 sticky nets on the cart, stacking them high. After completing a trip and loading them onto the boat, he came back to pull the bamboo baskets and buckets.
There were too many of these things, and the small cart couldn't carry them all away at once.
After sending the people away, A Qing started sitting at the door again, basking in the sun and knitting.
Today was the weekend, and Ye Chenghu didn't have to get up early to go to school. He was so happy that he ran to the neighbor's doorstep early in the morning to play marbles. Lin Xiuqing called him several times, but he didn't have time to answer her, which almost made her angry to death.
"Do you still want new clothes? Come back here!"
"Ah? Almost there, almost there."
This one waited for another five minutes. When Lin Xiuqing could no longer bear it and was about to take the whip, he hurried back and almost failed to brake and hit the door.
"What's up, mom? Today is the weekend, so you can do your homework tomorrow... No, I just took the test yesterday, so I don't have any homework today..."
Lin Xiuqing was so angry when she saw that his knees and sleeves were covered with dirt that she slapped him hard a few times to wipe off the mud.
"Who told you to lie on the ground? Look at your knees and sleeves. If I wear a hole in them, I'll beat you to death. I just made this cotton-padded jacket last year and haven't worn it many times..."
"Hey, little one, be gentle, be gentle, it hurts, mom... Don't you always lie prone when playing marbles..."
"It's a waste to give you new clothes. You should wear your brother and sister's worn-out clothes..."
"Then I'm going to play marbles!"
He just left without any hesitation, as if it didn't matter. Lin Xiuqing was almost mad at this brat.
"Come back here! Did I let you go?"
Ye Chenghu was puzzled. "Didn't they say there were no new clothes? We can only wear old clothes? What else is there?"
Lin Xiuqing was upset and glared at him fiercely. Then she pulled him closer, took a similar sweater that she had knitted nearby, and tried to knit it on his back.
"I really owed you in my previous life..."
"Hey, is this sweater knitted for me? It's really pretty, and it's blue."
"Go, go, go away. There's nothing for you to do now."
"Let me see. When will it be finished? I saw that my father has a scarf of this color. Do I have one too?"
Ye Chenghu was reluctant to leave this time. He didn't expect that the sweater his mother had knitted these two days was for him.
"That's wishful thinking. We need to see if the line is enough."
"Mom, does Yangyang have any? He's smaller, so he must have more yarn. Can you use the yarn from his sweater to knit me a scarf? Anyway, I'll give him all the clothes I can't wear in the future."
"Are you still being merciful? Go away, don't get in the way here. I will give you what you deserve."
"Oh," Ye Chenghu was reluctant to play marbles, "When will you be able to finish knitting the sweater you are working on?"
Lin Xiuqing glanced at him and said, "Happy New Year!"
"So when is the New Year?"
"There is still a month and a half left, just wait!"
Ye Chenghu stretched out his fingers and counted for a long time but couldn't figure out how many days there were in a month and a half. He turned his head and looked to the side, where an old lady was looking at him with a smile.
"Atai, how long is one and a half months?"
"When you don't have to go to class and have a holiday, the village will start slaughtering pigs, and it will be almost the New Year."
He said "oh" as if he understood, but still couldn't figure it out.
At this moment, his friend next door happened to call him to hurry over, and he immediately forgot about when to wear new clothes during the New Year.
Lin Xiuqing looked at his fast-running back and shook her head, "He's like a monkey, running around everywhere all day long."
"Haha, all children are like this. If they just sit there quietly without moving, you would suspect that they are sick or a fool. It's better for them to run and jump like this."
Lin Xiuqing also laughed.
"Please help me go into the room and see if the child is awake. I will finish the remaining collar..."
"Ye Yaodong's phone call, Ye Yaodong's phone call..."
Before Lin Xiuqing could finish her words, she heard a middle-aged man riding a bicycle outside, shouting and yelling, with the bicycle bell ringing.
She was puzzled for a moment, then instantly remembered what Adong had said yesterday. She stood up immediately in surprise, and the knitting needle in her hand accidentally poked her forehead.
"Hey, be careful, don't be so excited, you almost poked your eye..."
"it's okay no problem… "
She touched her forehead casually and excitedly put down the sweater she was about to finish and trotted towards the gate of the courtyard.
"Uncle, does the village committee have Adong's phone number?"
"Yes, there's a call from Ye Yaodong. He said he'll call back in ten minutes. Tell him to go over and wait."
"Well, he's out to sea. He's not home. I'll go and wait for him."
"Then come on up, I'll take you there, so you don't have to walk for half a day."
"It's okay, it's okay. The road is uneven and full of potholes. It's hard to carry people. I can just walk. Young people are fast, so it's okay to walk a few steps."
Lin Xiuqing happily followed the bicycle and trotted to the village committee. She didn't expect that Adong would call her so soon today, just after he had instructed her yesterday
She thought that the call at this time should be from the army!
Otherwise, the couple rarely called each other. This year, there was a call for the first time, and it was because his father fell down while going up the mountain.
Often his parents would ask someone else to deliver messages to him, because phone calls were expensive, and they would have to make two calls at a time.
First of all, I often can't answer the call myself and need someone to pass it on. Important calls are charged in both directions, so people usually don't call unless it's something important.
Lin Xiuqing had hope in her heart. It would be great if the army called and asked for dried fish. That way, Adong wouldn't have to go through so much trouble and just sell it bit by bit.
After running to the village committee, she looked at the time and saw that only three minutes had passed. Based on the round trip, it should be about three or four minutes before the call came in.
She took a breath, then slowly walked towards the office, and waited patiently for the phone to ring again.
With anticipation, she felt that time passed particularly slowly. She kept looking down at her watch frequently. Fortunately, she only waited for three minutes before the phone rang.
Lin Xiuqing did not rush to answer the phone, but waited for the uncle to answer it first, and after confirming that it was for Ye Yaodong, she handed it to her.
"Hello, I'm Ye Yaodong's wife. Ah Dong is out at sea. If you have anything to say, just tell me directly. I'll tell him when he comes back."
The other party was silent for a while, and then asked: "She is Ye Yaodong's wife, right?"
When Lin Xiuqing heard the other party speaking unstandard Mandarin, she realized that he couldn't understand her local dialect, so she quickly switched back to Mandarin and repeated it more politely.
The dialects in different places here are a little different. Besides, who knows where the person on the other side is from? Of course, I can't understand her local dialect.
"My name is Zhao Weimin. It doesn't matter if he's not here. Please tell him to deliver 1,000 kilograms of dried fish to the same place tomorrow morning, at the same time as yesterday."
Zhao Weimin might also be worried that what he said about the army would cause trouble for them. After all, there might be other people present when he answered the phone, so he didn't point it out directly.
Anyway, he said his name, and as long as Ye Yaodong's wife told Ye Yaodong honestly, he would know it.
The surprise came too suddenly, but it was within her expectations.
Lin Xiuqing widened her eyes and nodded happily, but she immediately realized that the other party couldn't see her nodding at all.
She immediately said into the phone, "Okay, thank you very much. I will tell him when he comes back. He should be back in the afternoon, and we will definitely deliver it on time."
"Yes, okay, thank you. Your dried fish is very good, not salty and very fresh and fragrant. Everyone likes it very much."
"Thank you, I hope everyone likes it."
"goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
Lin Xiuqing waited until the other party hung up the phone, then she heard the voice of "dududu" in her ears, and then she hung up the phone excitedly.
The uncle opposite asked curiously: "What are you talking about? Why are you so happy?"
"Nothing, haha, just calculate the phone bill for me."
"Is there some happy event? Take ten cents!"
"OK."
After Lin Xiuqing paid the phone bill, she excitedly rushed home.
The old lady was watching the child in the house. When she heard the noise outside, she went out to take a look and saw Ah Qing standing by the stove, pouring tea, panting.
"Why are you running so fast? I just finished running and can't drink water. I need to catch my breath first."
"Why!"
"You can't sit down either. You have to stand and catch your breath first."
Before Lin Xiuqing's buttocks touched the stool, she immediately stood up again.
"You look so happy. Is there any good news? Did your parents call?"
Lin Xiuqing took a moment to calm down and said, "It wasn't my mother's call. It was a man named Zhao Weimin who called to find Adong. He asked Adong to deliver another 1,000 kilograms of dried fish to the same place tomorrow morning, at the same time."
The old lady was also delighted immediately. "Hey, you delivered it to the same place as yesterday. Isn't it the army? Ah Dong also delivered dried fish to the army yesterday. I didn't expect that after just one delivery yesterday, he immediately asked us to deliver another 1,000 kilograms today."
"Yeah, I didn't expect that they would call me so soon. It's only been a day, and the other party asked for 1,000 kilograms. When I heard him say he wanted 1,000 kilograms, I thought it was the army."
"Shhhhh, why don't you speak a little more quietly? Don't let anyone hear us."
"Why!"
Lin Xiuqing was overjoyed.
But after a while, she began to hesitate again. She looked at the old lady and said, "Do you think I should help Adong collect all the dried fish in advance? We only have more than 300 kilograms at home, and we are still far from enough."
"Well... let's put it aside for now. They are just going out to cast the net today and will be back in the afternoon. Let him and his father take care of it then, right? Anyway, they won't leave until two or three in the morning, so it's still in time to start collecting in the afternoon. During this period, the villagers have taken advantage of the good weather to dry a lot of fish. If they hear that they can be sold for money, who wouldn't rush to send them over?"
"Right."
Lin Xiuqing was no longer anxious.
If he was going to receive the goods, he would definitely have to pick them out. She didn't understand how he was going to receive them, and she also didn't know whether the price that Adong would pay for the goods was the same as what he had agreed with his eldest and second brothers yesterday
Not knowing what his plan was, she'd better not act on her own and wait until he came back; there was still time.