We worked diligently at sea for only two days, but on the third day, cold air came and the temperature dropped again.
When sleeping at night, Ye Yaodong could hear the doors and windows banging in the wind and the whistling of the wind outside.
He pulled the quilt tighter and also pulled it towards his wife and daughter next to him, but he didn't touch the child for a while.
He stretched out his hand and felt around inside the bed several times, but felt nothing. He quickly sat up, but the room was pitch black and he couldn't see anything. He could only feel around the bed with his hand.
"What are you doing? It's late at night. Aren't you tired? It's already midnight..."
Ye Yaodong: “???”
“I’m touching the child!”
"Ah? A child?" Lin Xiuqing was confused for a moment, and reached out to touch the side, but didn't find it, so she sat up.
"Where did she go? This child is not a good sleeper. Ever since she learned to roll over, she has been just like her two brothers, rolling around non-stop. I have to look for her everywhere at night."
"She rolls around during the day and looks for them everywhere at midnight. The other two look for them everywhere during the day and roll around at midnight."
"Where did you sleep..."
The couple fumbled around on the bed, muttering to themselves, and searched almost the entire bed before they found the child in the hole in the railing at the end of the bed.
One of her feet was out and hanging on the edge of the bed, while her upper body and the other foot were still curled up on the bed.
"Why are you sleeping like this?" After Ye Yaodong touched the child, he picked her up and put her at the innermost part of the bed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"I slept so badly that my hands and feet are cold."
"I'm going to bed. It sounds like the wind is very strong outside. I don't think we can go out to sea tomorrow."
After covering the child with a blanket, he also returned to his seat and lay down.
Lin Xiuqing also lay down. "It's so cold, it's good to rest for two days. The yard is full of sunbathing areas, there's almost no place left to dry."
"I'm just worried about bad weather later."
"We'll know after we wait. If we dry it today, we should be able to get about 4,000 to 5,000 kilograms, enough for a few deliveries. Otherwise, there will be too much and no place to store it."
"It doesn't matter, as long as it doesn't rain."
"Crow's Mouth! Go to sleep."
"Why are you sleeping? I'm awake now. I probably won't be able to go out to sea tomorrow anyway."
Ye Yaodong was extremely awake at the moment, and it was difficult for him to fall asleep immediately. Since he couldn't sleep, he had to do something else, and his dirty hands couldn't help but reach out.
Lin Xiuqing clapped his hands twice and said, "Stop messing around. It's late. Go to bed."
"I can't sleep."
"I closed my eyes for a while and fell asleep."
"It's closed. I can't sleep."
"You can't sleep if your hands are moving around all the time."
"You'll sleep better after some exercise." After saying that, Ye Yaodong turned over and pressed on her.
Lin Xiuqing quickly pulled the quilt higher and covered him to prevent him from getting cold.
"Why is there still so much milk..." Ye Yaodong said with a smile.
"What will the child eat without milk? Be gentle..."
The cold wind was howling outside, but the bed was hot and the air was decadent.
On the next morning, the wind was still howling outside the house, but Ye Yaodong woke up early because of his biological clock. Lin Xiuqing beside him had disappeared long ago, and only Ye Xiaoxi was still curled up in the corner and sleeping soundly.
He lay down for a while but found that he couldn't lie still, so he simply got up and went out to take a look.
The old lady was wearing reading glasses and sitting in an armchair, crocheting woolen slippers with a crocheting hook. She had been crocheting for several days, and the slippers in her hands were taking shape.
Hearing the door open, she looked up and saw Ye Yaodong coming out. She said quickly, "It's getting colder today. The frost is very heavy. The roof is all white. There are strong winds and waves outside. We can't go out to sea. You should sleep a little longer."
"I know. When I heard the noise at night, I knew I couldn't go out to sea today. I just couldn't sleep, so I just got up."
"Then put on an extra layer of clothes and a scarf, and sit in front of the stove to warm up. There are rice dumplings in the pot, made with the mullet you caught yesterday. They are very fresh. You haven't eaten them yet, so you can have two more later."
When he came back last night, he saw several basketball baskets hanging on the porch. In such a cold day, putting them outside and covering them with cloth can serve as a natural refrigerator.
"Got it. Where's Qing?"
"I went to do the laundry and haven't come back yet."
"It's so cold and windy, why do you want to wash clothes?"
"What will you wear when you work if you don't wash it? And the child's diapers are so smelly. It's so convenient for you to say it. Even though Aqing stays at home all day, he has a lot of things to do. When he has some free time, he always has a sweater in his hands and knits it." The old lady said a few words to him for the first time.
Ye Yaodong touched his nose, said nothing, and went to wash his face and brush his teeth silently.
As soon as he opened the back door, the cold wind blew towards him, and he shivered instantly.
The sky looks gloomy. This kind of weather is suitable for staying in bed and sleeping. Why does he get up so early for no reason
As he brushed his teeth, he thought, since he couldn't go out to sea today, he might as well wait for another day. He would go directly to his father and they would go to the shipyard to take a look.
If he goes to see it early, he can make plans early, otherwise he might be worried that he won’t have time in two days.
Ye's father was pulling radishes at the back door early in the morning. It was a rare day with strong winds so he didn't have to work, and it wasn't raining, so he planned to pull all the radishes in the backyard vegetable garden and dry them in the sun.
Recently, the whole family has been busy drying fish, and has no time to take care of the radishes, cabbages and sweet potatoes in the fields. At this time of year in previous years, they would take advantage of their free time and good weather to dry radishes, dry sweet potato shreds or make sweet potato flour.
He was just bending over to pull a basket of radishes when Ye Yaodong came.
"father."
"You're just in time. Please wash all the radishes for me and slice them and dry them in the sun later."
"What's the point of drying in a bad weather? There's no sun at all."
"It's okay. It can be done by just blowing. The sun might come out at noon."
"Come on, let's stop busying ourselves with this. Let's take advantage of today's free time to go to the shipyard and have a look."
"Today?" Father Ye straightened up in surprise and looked at him, "Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you say you would wait until you delivered the goods before going?"
"I thought since we have nothing to do today and we got up early, why don't we go and have a look together? We can go early and come back early so we don't have to worry about it all the time."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? I've already pulled out half of the carrots."
"Who knew you would be so full when you had nothing to do and get up early in the morning to pick carrots? Couldn't you wait until the boys got out of school in the evening and call them to come over to work? Go wash your hands and leave. Don't bother."
"Then...just leave it here." Father Ye was a little reluctant to leave the work halfway done. It would take most of the day and a whole day to be gone, which would be too time-consuming.
"Let's go. If you don't go, I'll go by myself."
"Ah? That's fine, I'll go with you." Father Ye didn't hesitate, "Help me carry this basket of radishes up to the house first."
"trouble."
Ye Yaodong muttered something, then he and his father pushed a basket of radishes into the house, and then the two of them pushed their bicycles out.
"Why didn't you call a tractor today? You pushed a bicycle instead. That's rare."
"No money! Money must be spent wisely!"
"you know too?"
Father Ye looked at him in surprise and suspicion. Doesn't it feel guilty to say this so confidently
Ye Yaodong recovered his true colors in just a moment, and said with a playful smile: "The tractor went to the west to pull stones today, so it's busy."
Father Ye rolled his eyes at him and said unhappily, "I thought you had changed your personality. Your precious feet must be tired from riding a bicycle, right?"
"You have to exercise occasionally. Cycling is great and can help you get some exercise. It's just that there's nowhere to borrow a bicycle, so you treat them like heirlooms. Otherwise, I'd lend you one and let you get some exercise."
"Come on! You must have thought that carrying a person would be more tiring, so you wanted to lend me one."
Ye Yaodong just laughed and didn't refute.
"Oh, by the way, we can borrow one from A Guang. He has one at home. Let's go to his house first. I don't think he will refuse to lend it to us."
"Don't bother him. After all, it's a bicycle, and it's a big thing. It's a long way, don't let it get damaged. One will do, and we can take turns carrying it."
"What's the matter? He's a son-in-law, not to mention he's my brother, not a stranger. What's wrong with borrowing a bicycle? Why are you so cautious?"
As Ye Yaodong spoke, he pushed his bicycle and took a detour, heading towards A Guang first, and Ye's father had no choice but to follow him.
But what they didn't expect was that when Guang heard that they were going to the shipyard, he immediately said that he wanted to go too. He was just sitting around at home doing nothing anyway, and he was almost going moldy from being idle, so it was a rare opportunity for him to join in the fun.
Just like that, the original group of two people instantly became three people, and Ye Yaodong was destined to carry one person.
"Why are you so heavy? You're about to knock my bicycle chain off."
Ye Yaodong pedaled his bicycle hard. The north wind was whistling and made his hair stand up. His voice broke when he opened his mouth to speak, and his mouth was full of dirt.
He spat several times, but the saliva splashed all over his face.
"Fuck~"
"Hey, hey, hey, please step steady and don't turn the front of the bike around! It's okay if you fall, but please don't fall me."
He wiped his face, then quickly steadied the car, "Get lost! You've been sitting around at home eating and drinking all day, and your face has gotten bigger, like a dish. Do you know how much you weigh now?"
"No way! I just ate some of the soup my wife left behind."
"I'm almost like a pig! I'm so tired, it's your turn to ride me."
He put on a mask by the way. Because he was riding a bicycle, the wind blew in his face, blocking the mask tightly. He felt a little uncomfortable breathing, so he pulled the mask down.
Ah Guang was dissatisfied and said, "I'm here for you to share so many opinions. Why are you wearing a mask? A grown man wearing a mask all day long is too embarrassed to see people!"
"What do you know? After 30 years, I will still look like this, but you will be as old as my father."
"Come on, stop flattering yourself. Sooner or later you will become as wrinkled as old tree bark..."
"What are you doing?"
Father Ye rode for a while before he noticed that they had not kept up with him and were even stopping there, muttering to themselves and bickering with each other. He was speechless.
"It's more important to get down to business. What are you guys still talking about? You have so much to say that you have to stop in the middle of the road to talk."
Ah Guang quickly complained, "Dad, Dongzi said that you look very old and haggard. He will definitely be more handsome than you when he is old."
"Nonsense, I clearly said that you looked old and haggard. Dad, he said that you were as wrinkled as old tree bark."
"I say you!"
"Go back, I won't take you with me..."
Father Ye's mouth twitched when he heard this. Why was he so desperate that he listened to Dongzi and borrowed a bicycle, letting these two ancestors get together
"What are you talking about? If you don't want to go, then don't go. Go home."
"Go ahead, you have to go!" Ye Yaodong glared at Ah Guang, "It's all your fault! Ride faster."
Ah Guang also glared at him before taking a step forward.
When Father Ye saw that they had calmed down, he turned around and continued riding his bike, but in case the two of them stopped to argue again, he rode beside them.
Although he didn't stop halfway, his ears were always ringing along the way.
"Fuck, it's heavier than me. How dare you say I'm heavy? I can't even push..."
"Bullshit, you are useless and you still have the nerve to say that. Hurry up, pedal faster, don't pedal until dark, I didn't bring your share of food."
“You want the donkey to run but don’t give it grass to eat?”
“Are you a donkey?”
"roll… "