To celebrate Ye Yaodong's upcoming purchase of a big ship, the brothers drank particularly happily. The alcohol content of the rice wine was not low, about ten degrees, and everyone drank it in big gulps.
Lin Xiuqing wanted to remind Ye Yaodong several times to finish his work early and go to bed early because he still had to deliver goods at night.
But they seemed to be in particularly high spirits. When it was almost nine o'clock, their faces turned red and their speech was slurred, so she had to remind them.
"It's late now, and we're almost done. We may have to work tomorrow, so we should go back to bed early. A-Dong needs to deliver the goods to the city at 6 or 7 tomorrow, so we have to leave at 2 or 3. Should we stop here today?"
"Ah! Yes, Dongzi, we have to deliver the goods tomorrow, so let's do this, let's do this today."
"Okay, okay, it's over, it's over, let's go back to our homes."
"Then let's go home. That's all for today..."
Seeing them staggering and about to fall, Lin Xiuqing simply went next door to call Big Brother Ye and Second Brother Ye, and asked them to give the three of them a ride to prevent them from falling on the road. It was so cold, and if they fell on the side of the road they would have to freeze all night.
Ye Yaodong also went back to his room by himself, and snoring sounds could be heard from inside the room.
She shook her head, cleaned up the mess on the table, then picked up the child in the cage and went back to the house.
But when she was taking off her clothes, she saw Ye Xiaoxi climbing onto Ye Yaodong, and kept going up until she sat on his face and twisted her body.
She couldn't help but smile knowingly and wanted to pick up the child, but she saw Ye Yaodong seemed to have difficulty breathing, his snoring stopped and he woke up. She picked up the child and held him in her arms, then fell asleep again.
The child was pinned down by his arms, kicking his legs, screaming with his eyes wide open, but unable to break free.
Lin Xiuqing smiled tenderly, and covered them with quilts first, then folded his clothes and pants for tomorrow, and put his hat and scarf away, and then turned off the lights and went to bed.
At night, Ye Yaodong really couldn't get up. Lin Xiuqing pushed him several times before he woke up in a daze.
"I told you not to drink so much, but you didn't listen. Look, now you can't even get up. You still have to make deliveries today, remember?"
"Ah? Oh!"
Ye Yaodong sat up and rubbed his aching head. "What time is it?"
"It's 2:10. Uncle Zhou should be here soon."
Seeing that he was in real pain, Lin Xiuqing reached out and rubbed him a few times.
"Well, my wife is still the best!"
"if not?"
"I love you!"
"You're sober now."
In the darkness, where you couldn't see your hand in front of you, Lin Xiuqing's mouth curled up slightly.
"It's only true when you're sober!"
"Don't they say that when you're drunk, you tell the truth?"
"Not necessarily. Usually they are just pretending to be crazy because of alcohol! Because alcohol makes cowards brave. People who are brave and confident don't need to tell the truth when they are drunk."
"Are you praising yourself in disguise?"
Ye Yaodong smiled and reached out to grab her cold little hand. "Okay, go back to sleep. I'm leaving."
"I've put my clothes aside for you. The old lady seems to have gotten up early. I heard the noise. Look, if the porridge is ready, eat some before you leave."
"knew."
He got up one by one, put on his clothes and pants, took his hat and scarf and went out. Sure enough, the old lady got up so early again.
"The porridge has been left there and has gotten cold. Eat some before you leave. You drank so much last night. Eating some porridge in the morning will make your mouth feel better and better for your stomach. Don't think that you are young and don't take it seriously. You need to take good care of your stomach."
The old lady stood in front of the stove, chattering, and took out the pickled mustard and scrambled eggs that were warm in the pot. She didn't even use a rag to pad her hands, but just reached out to take them.
"Let me do it!"
"No, no, go brush your teeth and wash your face. This has been in the pot and it's very hot. Your hands are delicate."
Her hands were covered with calluses and wrinkles, and her skin was loose and peeling, showing all the signs of aging.
Ye Yaodong shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay then."
The dried fish has been traded twice, and this is the third time. It went smoothly as usual. I got the goods with one hand and the money with the other.
However, this time he also sent one or two half bags of oranges and two and a half bags of grapefruits, which he specially separated out.
"Team Leader Zhao, these four bags are for you and Captain Chen. You two can each take half. Please help me pass them to him."
"Why are you so polite? Where's the dried fish? Didn't you just send me 20 kilograms more? We eat in the cafeteria every day, so we don't need to send it. We are all alone in the dormitory, without cooking or family members. You can take it back or sell it, you don't have to give it to me."
Team Leader Zhao turned it down without saying a word. If it was a gift to the army, he would have accepted it directly. But now that it was given to him personally, he decided to just forget it.
"No, Team Leader Zhao, this bag contains oranges, and this bag contains grapefruits. They are not dried fish. They are for you to taste. They are all grown at home. They are not for sale." Ye Yaodong quickly opened the bag and showed it to him.
Team leader Zhao stretched his head and said, "Young? Really, you're so polite! Do you have any fruit there?"
"My father-in-law grew them. He sent me two bags. I'll give them to you to try. They're all grown at home. They're not worth much. You can take them back to try or share them with the soldiers."
"Okay, since you grow them yourself, I won't be polite to you."
"There is another copy for Captain Chen. I'd like you to pass it on."
"No problem."
Seeing Team Leader Zhao ordering the young soldiers to move the things, Ye Yaodong smiled and asked Team Leader Zhao where the shipyard in the city was.
"What's the matter? You want to go to the shipyard to look at the ships? You've asked the right person."
"Just take a look around. We're already in the city now."
"I'll write you an address, and you can just ask along the way."
Although their base is located on the edge of a remote village, it is not far from the seaside. They also need to conduct water training, and of course they know where the shipyard in the city is.
It's just a little far away and not in the same area.
Team leader Zhao simply wrote him an address and told him to drive into the city and ask for directions as he went.
After expressing his gratitude, Ye Yaodong got into the car and asked Uncle Zhou to help take him there.
Fortunately, he didn't have the task of transporting sand today, so he could run around freely.
The two asked along the way and it took them more than two hours to find the place.
But after the tour, contrary to his original expectation and curiosity, his heart felt gloomy.
For the same configuration, the shipyard in the city quoted a price that was 1,500 yuan higher!
1,500 yuan!
He could add a little more and buy a boat like the one he had at home.
However, the boats being built in the city looked more beautiful and advanced. I don’t know if they had already been painted when he saw them.
The city shipyard can also be equipped with a marine radio, but this will cost an extra 2,000 yuan! It depends on personal choice.
He originally thought that he would have to buy another maritime walkie-talkie by then. After all, he had to contact the fresh water collection ship and the supply ship to do anything else at sea.
Occasionally, I have to communicate with my peers to find out which dock or market has higher fish prices, and where the fish caught at sea can be docked in the city.
In many cases, goods are usually sold near the nearest shore. After all, the price after docking is definitely more expensive than that of the fresh goods collected by the ship at sea.
The price of the fresh-catch ship is one-third to one-half lower than the purchase price at the dock, unless it is far away from the shore and there is a lot of cargo, or the cargo has been stored for a long time and must be sold while it is fresh. Otherwise, it is generally more cost-effective to sell it near the shore.
After learning the details, he turned around and left. However, this trip was not without gain. When he passed the county town on his way back, he directly asked Uncle Zhou to go to the shipyard.
It's on the way anyway. Otherwise, I would have to ride a bike here the next day, which would be more troublesome.
If you can solve the problem in one trip, it is better not to make a second trip. Who knows if you will be free tomorrow or if you will have to go out to sea again.
Once at the shipyard, ask directly about the marine radio station.
Director Wu nodded and smiled, "It can be equipped, but it will cost an additional 2,000 yuan. Many people think it is too expensive. They think that as long as we increase the fresh water warehouse and cold storage room, store more fresh water and supplies, and dock once every three or four days to sell goods and replenish them, there is no need to spend this money. After all, fresh water ships are cheap, and supply ships sell supplies and oil at a high price."
"That makes sense, but without this equipment, it's easy to lose contact, unless you don't go very far."
Equipped with a radio station, it is not only for contacting the fish collecting ship and the supply ship, but most importantly, in case anything happens and rescue help is needed, we can still make contact.
"How far can the current boats go? They don't go very far. They fish in the coastal areas. I heard that sometimes you can see more than a dozen boats operating in the same sea area."
"We do have very few of them here. We mainly build trawlers that are more than 10 meters long. There are very few trawlers that are more than 20 meters long. In the past two years, the factory has only received one order, which is the boat I introduced to you before."
"That ship is still hesitating whether to add it. I suggested that they add a radio station, but they hesitated and said they would reply when the delivery date is approaching next year."
"Then I'll equip myself too, just in case!"
Of course money is not as important as life!
"Okay, add 2,000 yuan!"
Ye Yaodong felt a little heartache when he heard the price. It was too damn expensive!
The boat already costs 11,000 yuan, and with this it costs 13,000 yuan. No wonder there are so many people sharing a big boat. It is really too much for him to bear alone!
It’s so heartbreaking!
Assets have shrunk severely!
He was now desperate to make money, and if he built this ship, he would be directly in debt.
Originally, the total cash in the family was just over 15,000 yuan. After deducting the 5,000 yuan to be paid to the store, there was only 10,000 yuan left. In addition, he could earn about 2,000 yuan from selling dried fish. In total, all the family assets were just over 12,000 yuan, and this boat cost 13,000 yuan!
Ah! Just thinking about it makes me so sad. This is like going back to the time before liberation.