Chapter 49: Forced Broadcast

The Village Chief's door was smashed again with a bang, and the dog inside kept barking.

"Who is it? Who is it? Courting death, no rules at all." Chen Jinhai stormed out angrily, wondering if his authority had recently weakened, Ye Cheng had rebelled, and now someone was smashing the door again; damn it, he had to teach them a lesson.

As soon as the door opened, Chen Jinhai's face changed drastically; he instinctively stepped back, and outside stood an anxious Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu—again these two idiots, rule‑breaking idiots.

Last time he actually dared to point a shovel at himself, which really frightened Chen Jinhai.

"Lao Er, what are you doing? The door's smashed to pieces." Chen Jinhai raised his voice, trying to bolster himself.

"Uncle, I got word that at 4 o'clock there will be big waves at sea; please quickly notify the villagers, tell anyone with family out at sea to return now—it's already 2:40." Ye Cheng quickly stated his purpose.

"Big waves at sea? How do you know? Can you calculate it?" Chen Jinhai gave him a sideways glance.

No one can predict heavenly affairs; what are you, a little brat, yelling about here?

"Uncle, believe me, I know people in the city; someone at the Meteorological Bureau told me." Ye Cheng trotted out the same line again.

"Cut the crap—just you, claiming to know people in the city, Lao Er—it's not that I don't believe you, but who would look out for someone like you?"

Besides, look at the sky—based on my years of experience, it's fine weather; all this talk of big waves is nonsense.

Ye Cheng being a bit of a fool is something Chen Jinhai can tolerate, but to claim Ye Cheng knows people—he wouldn't believe it even if beaten to death.

And you claim to know people in the city and at the Meteorological Bureau—what, do you think you can fly?

Ye Cheng had no time to argue about being looked down on; he just wanted to notify everyone quickly and be done with it.

But no matter what he said, Chen Jinhai just gave him a 'don't cause trouble' look.

"Listen, Lao Er, every fishing trip has a cost; if you call people back now they'll lose money and blame you—this kind of thing that harms collective interests is something the Village Committee won't do."

Ye Cheng checked the time—2:45; if he didn't notify them soon, someone might not make it back in time.

"Uncle, then I'll have to offend you." Ye Cheng clasped his fists.

Chen Jinhai's face changed, and he hurriedly shouted, "What do you want to do? Hitting me won't help."

Ye Cheng had a black line across his face, "Uncle, why would I hit you? I'll use the village broadcast."

Chen Jinhai's eyes widened as he pointed at Ye Cheng, "You're crazy! The village broadcast is only for major events—where did you hear this nonsense to just use the broadcast?"

Ye Cheng didn't care what he said, shoved Chen Jinhai aside, and went straight up to his second floor.

The village has a broadcast station—actually just a big loudspeaker—with its equipment on the second floor of the Village Chief's house.

Seeing Ye Cheng really intend to go up, Chen Jinhai wasn't in a hurry; anyway, if anything came up later, they'd say it was Ye Cheng's doing.

After Ye Cheng went up, he opened the microphone.

{Hey, hey. }

Ye Cheng tested the mic; the sound of his "hey, hey" came from the large loudspeaker installed at the village entrance, and the whole village could hear it.

Villagers who were still at home came out one by one, curious; hearing the loudspeaker, they guessed something was up—maybe a villagers' meeting.

{Hello everyone, I'm Ye Cheng. }

{Now broadcasting an important message, important message, important message. }

Important things should be said three times.

{At 4 p. m., that is one hour from now, there will be big waves at sea; please each household notify those out at sea to return immediately, must return now. }

Ye Cheng repeated it several times to make sure everyone heard, then after thinking added:

{This is the Village Committee's decision; please hurry and notify, hurry and notify, or if something happens the Village Committee won't take responsibility. }

Chen Jinhai didn't care about the earlier part, but hearing this he jumped up, pointed at Ye Cheng downstairs and started cursing,

"Ye Cheng, who said this was the Village Committee's decision? Don't spout nonsense—I never agreed to you saying that."

Ye Cheng glanced at the time—2:50—gave Chen Jinhai a cold look, and said solemnly,

"Uncle, you can go up and tell them it wasn't your decision, but if anything happens you'll bear the responsibility; I'm going now to fetch my older brother, do as you please."

Having said that, under Chen Jinhai's shocked gaze, Ye Cheng grabbed Xiao Hu and walked off.

Chen Jinhai stood there dumbfounded; he could go up and say the broadcast was canceled, but what if…

After weighing it, Chen Jinhai still decided to stand by; if it were true, then it was the Village Committee's decision; if it was false alarm, then it was Ye Cheng's fault.

Fine, let's do that—that's wisdom.

Ye Cheng took Xiao Hu's hand and ran straight for the village entrance.

Along the way, several villagers saw them, all puzzled, unsure whether the earlier broadcast was true or false.

Upon reaching the village entrance, he finally saw the villagers gathered together, chatting away.

"Hey, Ye Cheng's here—he said there were big waves; hurry and ask him, is it true or false?"

"Right, right, we must make it clear."

A crowd surged forward and surrounded Ye Cheng before he could speak; he first called out loudly,

"Folks, I have contacts at the city Meteorological Bureau who told me; you don't have to believe me, but I'm going to call my older brother back, and I've also called Xiao Hu's uncle—do as you please."

Having said that, Ye Cheng flicked the bike's handlebars, left the stunned villagers behind, and rode straight off.

"What the heck does Ye Cheng mean? Is it true or false?"

"He says he knows people, but I don't believe it."

"But he's made good money from recent fishing—maybe he really does have connections."

"He's just a village loafer—what connections could he have? Who would bother with him?"

"But lately Lao Er has really changed a lot—who knows?" This was said by Zhang Guafu; her household has no one going out to sea, she just came to join the fun.

"The change is quite big—he even dared to talk back to the Village Chief."

"For matters like this, it's truly a case of 'better safe than sorry'; I have to call my family back."

Once the first person made the call, other villagers also began to waver, rushing home to phone.

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu hurried to the dock, arriving at 3:15.

Ye Guowei was actually still unloading cargo on the boat; Ye Cheng rushed over and grabbed him, "Brother, didn't I tell you big waves are coming—don't unload?"

Ye Guowei's face showed a rare hint of embarrassment, he scratched his head, "They all say it's definitely fake, the weather is so nice now."

"Brother, believe me, leave the dock immediately, your boss will love to die." Ye Cheng was very serious.