Ye Yaodong at the table was still eating and talking.
"Those kids aren't young anymore. Ah Hai is already 13, and the others are only one or two years older than each other. They are taller than the stove, so can they cook for themselves? They are so grown up, and they still need to be taken care of? Children of poor families grow up early, so whose child...is already standing on a stool to cook before he is even ten years old..."
"How can it be the same? They have been in school for a long time, and they have to light a fire and cook for themselves after school. Let's not talk about whether it looks good or not. How long will it take to finish cooking? Don't burn down the house."
Besides, there was no adult around, so as an aunt, shouldn't she go over and take care of them? Otherwise, it would be unreasonable. The children would have to deal with it on their own, and they would still need her help in the end.
This was a thankless job, which was likely to be long-term, and she didn't want to agree to it.
"Just give it to your grandparents. They're so close, not that far away," Ye's father concluded, and then immediately changed the subject. "Hurry up and eat. After you finish eating, ride your bike to tell your brother, Asheng, that we'll go out to sea around 5am."
Mother Ye turned around and asked, "So late?"
"It's just sticky nets. There's no trawling. There's only about 40 nets now. It's okay to go out later. It can be collected in one day. Going out later can also allow me to sleep a little longer."
"Then if we go earlier, we can come back earlier, which will give us more time to kill fish, so we don't have to kill fish in the dark every day."
The old lady interrupted, "It doesn't matter if you kill the fish a little later. If you stay up late every night and get up early every day, you won't be able to bear it for a long time."
"It costs a lot of money to keep the lights on until late every day."
"Well, what's there to say? I didn't ask you to pay for the electricity. You're just worrying about it all the time. Hurry up and wash the two dishes and go to the next door to help kill the fish. Why are you still talking here?"
Ye's father stood up and muttered something, put the bowl in the pot for Ye's mother to wash together, and urged her to work more and talk less.
"You want me to do the work, but you don't let me speak..."
"What you said doesn't make sense. If it made sense, who would think you were nagging? You have to prick up your ears and listen carefully."
Mother Ye glared at him, washed the bowl casually and put it on the stove, scratched her apron with her wet hands, and went out with the chopping board and knife.
"I'm just a worker..."
"Who doesn't work?" Father Ye heard her mutter before she left, and followed her and said the same thing.
Ye Yaodong also added, "What kind of work do you do?"
Everyone at the table looked at him in confusion.
"Dad, what are you talking about?"
"Don't be so curious, kid. Hurry up and eat and do your homework. You are going to get two perfect scores on the test, but you are still dawdling for so long without eating a single bite."
"It's not just one bite, there's so much rice..." He muttered, then stiffened his neck and said proudly, "Besides, I've finished my homework a long time ago!"
"Have you memorized the book?"
"The teacher didn't say to memorize it."
"So if your mother doesn't call you to eat, do you not have to eat? Why don't you memorize more lessons? How can you pretend to be cool in school? Think about it, if the teacher reads a sentence randomly during class and you can continue it, and it's correct, and all the classmates look at you in admiration, wouldn't you feel a sense of accomplishment?"
Ye Chenghu blinked and looked at him. After thinking for a while, it seemed to make sense. However, "It's useless to memorize it. Everyone will think I'm just reading it from a book, so they won't look at me with admiration. I don't want to memorize it."
As he said this, he quickly put the bowl on the table and ran away.
Lin Xiuqing looked at Ye Yaodong with amusement, "How can you be so easily fooled? You are already that old, and you are not a fool. I don't think you will believe a few random words."
"You little brat, with your character, if you can get two perfect scores, the sun will rise in the west."
Ye Chengyang was so anxious watching Ye Chenghu running away that he ate the food quickly with the spoon in his hand, threw it away quickly and chased after him.
The two brothers are inseparable. When they are on good terms, they are like one person.
After dinner, Ye Yaodong went next door to watch his two sisters-in-law killing fish, and then walked to the houses of several neighbors nearby. The women from these families were also busy killing fish there. He could hear the voices from far away, and it sounded quite lively. Even in such a cold day, their passion was unabated.
It was only when he got closer that he heard that they were talking about the sea monster that was donated before the New Year, and the reward was only delivered by the village committee today.
Not to mention what the reward is, the efficiency alone has made everyone dissatisfied, and everyone is complaining and condemning.
Almost two months!
The reason given was that it was the Chinese New Year and there were a lot of things to do, so it had been put on hold and not approved. After the Chinese New Year, there were important things to deal with first. Then, it rained intermittently, which also affected the speed of mailing, so it was not delivered until today, and the village committee only delivered it to the door in the afternoon.
Several sisters-in-law of the Zhou family had already complained in the afternoon. Now several women gathered together to kill fish and chat, and they started talking again and cursing.
"It's just 50 yuan and a piece of paper. I don't even know what's written on it. They are so stingy that they can't even give me a flag. With such a small amount of money, they can still delay it for two months. I am convinced."
"It's good that I can still give. After so much time, I thought it was gone and my donation was in vain."
"At least there's still 50 yuan left, you can still share it, be content, otherwise you'll be giving away that ugly thing and no one will want it, and all your work will be in vain."
Mrs. Zhou pouted, "I just waited too long, I thought it was gone..."
"It's good to have something in hand..."
Ye Yaodong stood aside and listened to their discussion. Then he stroked his chin and thought, what he got at that time was actually considered a lot
There were glorious banners, subsidies from the county, subsidies from the village, and other miscellaneous things that were far better than theirs, although what he handed in was also extraordinary.
Thinking about it this way, he felt a lot more relieved. Although the value of the thing was far inferior to that of the tripod, it was still better than any other, and Mazu also benefited from it.
If it hadn't been for the New Year and the rain, the construction of the Mazu Temple next door would have been suspended for almost a month and it would have probably been completed by now.
I heard that the day for raising the beam had been chosen after the New Year, which was his birthday. That day was also a good day for raising the beam, and they would prepare to set up a hundred tables for the feast.
The village is already making arrangements and preparations. I heard that the opera troupe has been invited in advance and is going to perform for seven days and seven nights to celebrate.
After listening for a while, Ye Yaodong felt that he didn't hear any useful information, so he went to his second uncle's house to find Brother Asheng.
Their whole family lived together, but they were separated in name only. They didn't have the money to build their own houses, so they still lived together.
Apart from his own family, he was quite indifferent to other relatives. They had never been close in his previous life, so he couldn't be very close to them. Moreover, he didn't like his second uncle very much. Apart from normal social interactions, he wouldn't say hello when he met him on the road.
Unexpectedly, the first time he visited their home after his rebirth, he was warmly welcomed by his second uncle.
He had just sat down at Brother Asheng's house when his second uncle came out in a hurry, without even putting on his clothes. When he came to him, he was still putting on his cotton-padded jacket.
"You are a very busy person now. How can you still come here so late? It's very cold outside, and it's even colder at night. If you have anything to say, just talk to me during the day, so you don't have to walk around at night and catch a cold. That will delay your earning money."
The smiling face and enthusiastic tone almost made him think that he had a good relationship with his second uncle's family.
It turns out that old ginger is still spicy!
"No, I just came back from the sea. I had a meal and came here. I want to invite Brother Sheng to go out to sea with me at five in the morning tomorrow."
"Okay, okay, he must be free and will definitely go with you."
Ye Yaosheng looked at Uncle Ye helplessly, "I have already agreed to go to Wang's house to help build the pigpen tomorrow..."
Ye Erbo turned around and glared at him, "The Wang family has no men? They still want you to work? How many people are needed to build a pigpen? Can't they do it themselves? What does it matter to you? You are not married yet. You might as well work harder to save some money and let Dongzi help you. Do you still need to wait to marry that woman from the Wang family?"
"That family has a lot of troubles. I shouldn't have agreed at the time. It's not like they can guarantee a son. I was just fooled by the matchmaker at the time. They said I would definitely have a son in the future...
"Tomorrow I will ask the person who introduced me to them to come to their house and explain it clearly. Don't try to make them into a gang. We don't believe in that. It's better to marry a widow than that woman. You've spent a lot of money before you even marry her. They're just sucking your blood. You can't be a sucker..."
"You went back on your word..."
"So what if I regret it? We're not engaged or married, and we can still get divorced even if we're married..."
Ye Yaodong sat there, frowning and forced to listen to the father and son talking. He came to invite people, not to listen to them talk about their family affairs.
"Hey wait, Brother Sheng is not free tomorrow, right? If not, then I will call someone else."
"When I'm free, I'll definitely go with you. It's rare that you think of him as a brother and want to help him, so he will definitely put you first." After saying that, he turned around and glared at Ye Yaosheng again.
Ye Yaosheng thought about it and nodded in agreement, "I will definitely go there on time tomorrow."
Uncle Ye was satisfied. "That's right. Dongzi is a big moneymaker now. He has a lot of work to do. His brothers at home can't help him. You cousins are also brothers and relatives. We are connected by bones and tendons. You should help when it is necessary."
Ye Yaosheng nodded.
Ye Yaodong was also in a state of confusion after hearing this. His second uncle was indeed very good at calculating, but it was a pity that he was old and illiterate, so his talent was wasted. Otherwise, he might have been able to achieve something great.
Uncle Ye continued to smile at him and said, "Your brother Asheng is too honest. He has not had a good life in recent years. With you thinking about him, his life will be better in the future, and we won't have to worry about him at our age..."
"If I can earn more money in the future, marry a wife and have a big fat boy, I can die with my eyes closed. Now I am worried about him. His life is not easy. For so long, there has been no woman in his family who can take care of him..."
Ye Erbo caught him chattering on and on, and Ye Yaodong felt overwhelmed listening to him.
How come this guy has no sense of boundaries? He is also quite forgetful. The unpleasant things must have been deleted from his mind long ago.
Ye Yaodong stood up directly without listening to his nagging. He was not here to give away his wife, he was here to hire someone to do a job, so he would do whatever he had to do.
Ye Yaosheng knew from his expression that he was getting a little impatient with the nagging, so he quickly pulled his father who wanted to speak again.
"Since it's settled, I'll go back first. I have things to do at home. Brother Asheng, just remember to come on time tomorrow."
Ye Yaosheng nodded, "Okay, I will go there on time tomorrow morning. It's quite dark outside, you should go back early too. Do you have a flashlight? I'll have one..."
"I have it. I'm leaving now."
Ye Yaodong stretched his hand out from his sleeve and turned on the flashlight in his hand.
It was cold, so he put his hands into his sleeves. Only the light of the flashlight shone through his cuffs, illuminating the road one or two meters ahead.