Chapter 1007: To Roll It Round

"Let me tell you, the eyes of the masses are sharp. What they brag about has factual basis — otherwise why wouldn't they brag about someone else and only brag about me?"

"Don't bother me while I'm washing dishes. Whatever it is, wait till I finish the dishes and tidy up the stove, then we'll talk slowly."

"I can wash them too."

Lin Lin Xiuqing handed him the dishcloth directly.

Ye Yaodong blinked at the dishcloth twice and added deliberately, "As long as you agree to let me buy a fresh-fish collection boat…"

She lifted her backside and shoved him to the side. "Get lost. All day long you only have that one mouth — only that mouth of yours is any good."

"If my mouth weren't good, how would I coax you into being happy?"

"Pull the other one. Your son secretly told me this afternoon that you were smiling very happily at the female teacher, being all attentive — and the female teacher even gave him a handful of candy."

"Damn it, that brat — wait till I catch him later, I'll beat him to death, spreading fake news like that. The teacher gave him books, and I took them with both hands and said thank you to her. It was clearly only two pieces of candy, but by the time it reached you it turned into a handful — what nonsense, talking rubbish!"

Lin Lin Xiuqing glanced at him, said nothing, and planned to finish the work in her hands first before having a proper talk with him about the boat.

Was she really that bored? Let him smile at whoever he wanted — the financial power was in her hands anyway. At most he had a few coins jingling in his pocket for buying cigarettes.

"Wife, let's get back to the main topic — the boat. We can deal with the kid later… I really think ordering a fresh-fish collection boat is feasible…"

Ye Yaodong poured out all his previous ideas to her in an unbroken stream, making his case sound perfectly logical.

"If we order one now, with luck we'll get it in a year or two. Otherwise we could go ask the shipyard in the city — we might even get it faster than the boat our three brothers have. Or if we have the means, we could order two more. Then the fresh-fish collection boat would serve only our own boats — guaranteed profit, no need to find trawlers to partner with."

Lin Lin Xiuqing had been listening quietly and was somewhat persuaded, but hearing the later part — the more he talked the more he said, and he even wanted to order two more?

"Do you have to take such a huge step? Ordering one is already incredible, and you still want two more? We've still got the balance payments on seven boats unpaid, and those aren't even sorted out yet, and you already want something else. One would be enough, but you want three? You really think our family is landlords?"

"Isn't this just striking while the iron is hot? Running one collection boat paired with three boats — sure, it keeps the odds and ends and absolutely won't lose money, but the profit definitely won't be as much as pairing it with five…"

"Only one, not three. You can't just look at having a few ten-thousand yuan in hand and want to put it all to use. If you really order three, the money we have on hand still won't be enough to cover the balance payments."

"You can't just think that paying a deposit is enough all day. Nothing is guaranteed profit. We have to leave ourselves some room — we can't block off our own path completely. Rice has to be eaten one mouthful at a time, steps have to be taken one at a time." Lin Lin Xiuqing set down the bowl and said seriously.

Ye Yaodong's face was full of difficulty. "Isn't this just thinking about earning a bit more? Time cost is also a cost. If we order now, we'll get rich in two years. If we wait till we see results before ordering, we won't even know when that would be."

"It's not like being late means there's no money to be made. Order one first, and we'll go out to sea a few more times ourselves, do the math in our heads a few times. That way, if we feel it's not feasible, we can still change plans at the last minute. You've only gone out to sea once — you haven't seen enough. If it works out, then order two more, or wait till we have more breathing room."

"Alright then. In a few days when we have more free time, we'll go to the factory and take another look, and order one first."

Lin Lin Xiuqing relaxed a little, nodded, then turned back to continue tidying the dishes and the stove.

Little did she know that when she turned around, Ye Yaodong was grinning with the look of a scheme well executed.

They say that when you want to achieve a goal, you should aim as high as possible, make it as big as possible. After being blocked and strongly opposed, then you lower your goal — once the other party has the comparison, they'll accept it easily.

It really works.

"My wife is still the best."

"Cut the lip. If you're free, go to the door and watch the kids for me. Don't let them roll around on the ground all day. Washing their clothes every day — I'm going to wash myself silly. Filthy as hell, and the water's freezing in the middle of winter."

"I'll buy you a washing machine later, so you won't have to wash by hand, and you won't have to worry about your hands being cold in winter or getting chilblains."

Lin Lin Xiuqing looked down at her own hands, swollen and red from washing bedding for a whole week straight. "Forget it, washing by hand is fine. Washing machines are so expensive — one costs several hundred, over a thousand yuan. With that money, what couldn't you do? It's just washing clothes, how hard can it be? Even a TV isn't that expensive — totally impractical."

"Whether something is good or not — you can't compare it to other things. They're not the same thing, how can you compare them? Besides, whether something is a good value isn't about its price, but about what use it brings to people."

"The function this washing machine brings isn't worse than a TV. At least you'd suffer less — no need to squat there washing clothes all day till your hands are about to fall apart."

"And it saves time too. With the kids wetting the bed every day, and you washing bedding every day — if you had a washing machine, you wouldn't have to scrub and wash there all day. Just toss it in the machine, pour in two buckets of water yourself, and you're done. No need to keep at it, keep watching over it."

"With all that time saved, what couldn't you do? You could work an extra hour at the workshop, or lie down and rest — wouldn't that be nice?"

Although washing machines aren't cheap now, the quality is good — they can last till the year 2000. It doesn't matter if it's not fully automatic; someone carries water for the house now, so as long as you pour in two buckets of water yourself, you can machine-wash. It's still pretty convenient.

Her heart stirred for a moment, but she still shook her head firmly. "Still no. Too expensive. It's just washing clothes — which woman doesn't wash clothes? Everyone's gotten through it the same way."

"Don't buy any washing machine, it's a waste of money. With that money saved, when it's time to pay the balance, we could pay off one more boat."

"Money has to be spent where it counts most, on necessities. This isn't a necessity — stop thinking about it. It's only a bit of trouble washing bedding in winter; the rest of the time it's easy enough."

Ye Yaodong touched her somewhat chilly hands — he had clearly seen her ladle hot water from the small round hole in the stove to wash with when she was doing the dishes.

But after tidying up the stove, her hands were icy cold again, and possibly because of chilblains, her swollen fingers were almost as thick as a King of Kings sausage — red and chubby.

"For example, a washing machine is a thousand yuan each. Use it for ten years, that's a hundred a year, eight yuan a month. Use it for more than ten years, the monthly cost is even lower, isn't it? A few yuan a month — can we not even afford that?"

"That's not how you calculate it… don't twist things like that to mislead me. We still have plenty of places to spend money. Just because we have a few ten-thousand yuan on hand doesn't mean we should buy this and that. If it's not necessary, don't spend the money."

She pulled her hand back. "I'll go inside and rub some clam oil on."

Ye Yaodong hurriedly followed behind her, into the house.

"You woman — why won't you ever listen? I want to spend money on you, and you can't bear to part with this, can't bear to part with that — then who am I earning money to spend it on?"

"You earn money so the family's life gets better and better. You don't have to spend it on me. I don't want that washing machine."

"When I bought the TV, you were the same way. After I brought the TV home, you watched it fiercer than anyone."

Lin Lin Xiuqing turned her head and glared at him. "Well, once it's bought, don't you have to watch it?"

Then once it's bought, you have to use it too, right?

Ye Yaodong figured he should act first and report later again, didn't he?

If he'd known he'd earn this much on this trip, he should have reported a thousand less. No one could tell anyway, and there was no other boat to compare with. How much he earned was all up to him — it was his Yiyantang, whatever he said he earned was what he earned.

Looks like next he had to skim a bit off, then go to Lin Ji to get a washing machine.

"Oh? Speaking of which, Lin Ji came by before the new year, and after that we haven't seen him in the village. Have you seen him?"

"No. I'm not idle all day wandering around the village. Why are you asking? Going to act first and report later again?"

"No, you mentioning the TV just reminded me — it's been a while since I've seen him. He said earlier he'd think about it, then asked me to cover for him while he sold a few days' worth of dried fish for me. That's been a month and we haven't seen him, right?"

"Why worry about him? Without him, aren't our dried fish selling just fine?"

"Mm, I just thought of it and asked in passing."

Better save up some money first.

Sigh, a wife who's too understanding also makes things hard.

Lin Lin Xiuqing ignored him, closed the lid of the clam oil, rubbed her two hands together, and headed out of the house.

Ye Yaodong immediately spread both hands and blocked her way, "Where are you going?"

"Go see where the kids are, what else? You think I'm going to look for a lover?" Lin Lin Xiuqing swatted him twice in annoyance, but he pulled her straight into his arms.

"Oh, so you've really learned bad habits from those women, now you keep saying 'lover' this and 'lover' that. Let me check—while I wasn't home these past few days, did you find yourself a lover?"

"Check my head, get lost, stop fooling around, the three kids will be running back any minute."

She laughed as she swatted his arm, tilting her head to dodge the light kisses he was planting on her cheek.

"Your son won't come in…"

"You can't be sure. Last time he just charged right in and pushed the door so hard dust fell from the top. You don't want your son to see you naked, do you?"

"Damn! I'll go lock the door."

"Then they'll definitely keep knocking and knocking until we open the door, and it'll definitely be loud. The neighbors will definitely hear it. You won't be embarrassed?"

Ye Yaodong thought of how his two sons sometimes called for their mother with stubborn insistence, refusing to stop until she answered, and if she didn't, they'd keep calling, getting louder and louder.

He figured that at a critical moment, if they started yelling like that, he'd definitely go soft.

Lin Lin Xiuqing swatted him again and easily broke free from his hold.

Ye Yaodong followed behind her with a sigh, walking out.

"Always got that on your mind all day…"

"If young people don't do that, should we wait until we're old and can't move, then do it?"

"Keep your voice down."

He gave a light snort through his nose, his face full of unfulfilled desire.

Lin Lin Xiuqing ignored him, opened the door and went straight out to find what the kids were doing. After seeing them playing obediently, she gave them a few reminders, then went to check on the workshop.

After the sun set, the workshop knocked off, leaving only two boys on shift duty, plus two or three dogs to keep watch.

They'd be going to sleep soon, and she wanted to come out and check, uneasy. Ye Yaodong kept tagging along, following right behind her.

Wherever she went, he followed.

When she checked the remaining stock, he looked too; when she flipped through the drying fish, he reached out and touched them too; when she went next door, he went too.

After a round, they went home, and he followed her home too, dragging along their two sons who were playing happily.

"School tomorrow, got it? Still playing here? Get home and go to sleep early."

"It's still early, Dad. We just finished eating not long ago."

"It's already dark, you know? Once we're home, you two will still roll around on the bed playing for a while. Hurry up and get back. And Ye Chenghu, I haven't even settled the score with you yet—what kind of complaint did you file?"

Ye Chenghu immediately slinked off, pulling Ye Ye Chengyang as he ran home.

Only then did he contentedly pick up Ye Ye Xiaoxi and head home.

Lin Lin Xiuqing had just stepped inside when she saw them all coming home one after another behind her. Seeing Ye Yaodong bringing up the rear, she knew exactly what was going on but didn't call him out.

"Tomorrow's the first day of school. Go to bed early tonight, get up early tomorrow. I'll have Great-Grandma boil two eggs for you, and I bought a piece of steamed sponge cake this afternoon for you to eat tomorrow morning."

Ye Chenghu immediately agreed happily, then pulled Ye Ye Chengyang and hurried upstairs.

"I'll go to sleep right now."

Although their family's conditions were better now, it wasn't like they could have pastries whenever they wanted.

Ye Yaodong handed the child in his arms to Lin Lin Xiuqing. "You mix her some malted milk, coax her to sleep. I'll go close the doors and windows and check if all the dogs are back."

Lin Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him before taking the child and setting her on a stool to sit.

After he finished checking inside and out, locked the door, turned off the lights, and went back to the room, the whole room was pitch black.

He quietly locked the door, took off his clothes, then tiptoed onto the bed, wanting to see if the child was asleep—but instead she was staring at him with big, round eyes wide open.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?"

She blinked twice, said nothing, then held up the red doll lying side by side next to her for him to see.

When the red doll was lifted up, its dark eyes suddenly opened, nearly scaring the soul right out of him, making him jerk backward in fright.

The doll had always looked a bit eerie—two bright red cheeks—and no matter how he looked at it, it seemed strange, yet it was the most fashionable and expensive doll of the moment.

During the day, he already found it pretty creepy; at night, suddenly having it held up to his face with eyes that popped open all of a sudden was even scarier.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi saw him get scared and thought it was hilarious, laughing out loud, and excitedly sat up, deliberately holding the doll up to him again and again to scare him.

"Look…look…giggle giggle…look…look…"

Lin Lin Xiuqing quickly picked her up and tucked her back into the blankets. "Wrap up, or you'll catch cold. If you get sick you'll need a shot, are you scared? Stop playing."

"Fun~ Coward~ Bite you~ Bite you~"

Lin Lin Xiuqing snatched the doll from her and stuffed it into the blankets. Only then did she lie back down and hug the doll. "Sleep, quick."

"Getting naughtier by the day, she's going to need a spanking…" Ye Yaodong sulkily felt his way back to his spot and lay down.

"Spank you~"

"Spank you!"

"Spank you~"

"Alright, didn't you want her to sleep? Still arguing with her, still fooling around with her?"

Ye Yaodong immediately shut up, pressed himself up against her, and grabbed a good handful, letting his roving hand have some fun first.

"Hiss~ What are you doing~ So cold~"

After being rebuffed, he stuck his hand out and rubbed it against his clothes to warm it up first.

"Hurry up and coax your daughter to sleep."

"You stop talking."

He closed his eyes, fiddling around as he waited for the child to fall asleep, and worked himself into the mood too.

But he waited and waited, a good long while, and still got no response—though the patting sounds kept coming one after another.

"Is the child asleep?"

"Not yet."

It didn't matter — he could play with his however he wanted, running his hands all over, without it affecting anything.

When he could barely hold it in any longer, he asked again, "Is the kid asleep yet?"

"No."

He himself lifted his head to take a look — those black, shiny eyes were so wide they were nearly as big as copper bells.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep, now."

She was about to pull the doll out from under the covers again, but Lin Lin Xiuqing stopped her in time. "No squirming. Close your eyes and go to sleep, right now."

In an instant, she obediently closed her eyes again.

Ye Yaodong could only helplessly keep rubbing and rubbing against her, and Lin Lin Xiuqing passively went along with it, quietly cooperating under the covers.

Until he got what he wanted, but he still wasn't satisfied with such small movements, so he continued asking in a low voice.

"Is the kid asleep yet?"

This time it was Ye Ye Xiaoxi's soft, childish voice that answered, "No!"

"Why aren't you asleep yet!" Ye Yaodong was getting a bit exasperated.

"I don't want to!"

Lin Lin Xiuqing also answered while holding back, "She took a nap this afternoon. It's this early — how do you expect her to fall asleep?"

"Then what should I do?"

"Just leave it like this."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi stared wide-eyed, looked at the two heads beside her, and asked softly, "What?"

"Nothing. You go to sleep, close your eyes."

Ever since the couple had gone back to their room earlier, the words they had said most often were "close your eyes."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi obediently closed her eyes as usual. She couldn't fall asleep at all, so after lying still for a while she burrowed back under the covers to play.

Lin Lin Xiuqing had no choice but to distractedly drag her back out.

It was fortunate that the child was still young and understood nothing—only then could the couple be so unrestrained.

Ye Yaodong was busy for quite a while before he finished, but Ye Ye Xiaoxi hadn't slept at all — she was still tossing and turning, kicking her legs as she played, showing absolutely no sign of cooperating.

The two of them didn't dare to move around, and could only helplessly remain stuck there.

"Is the kid asleep yet?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing leaned her head in closer to take a look, but unexpectedly Ye Ye Xiaoxi suddenly flung open the blanket, let out a "Wah!", and then giggled and called out, "No!"

"Holy crap!"

"You've been lying there for ages — how are you still not asleep!"

"I don't want to sleep."

"You little ancestor!"

"Mm!"

"You really know how to torture people. Your dad's leaving again tomorrow night, you know that?"

Ye Yaodong muttered a couple more curses in the local dialect, then could only turn on his side and fumble in the dark for a handkerchief.

Lin Lin Xiuqing once again pressed the child back under the covers and could only keep coaxing her.

Who told the two of them to be so impatient, sneaking around doing mischief — now that they were done, they could only hold it in for now.

Another hour passed. In the couple's back-and-forth of one asking and one answering, endlessly repeating the same content, with Ye Ye Xiaoxi's voice occasionally mixed in, they finally managed to wait until she fell asleep.

"Damn! She's finally asleep!"

"It's all because you were in such a rush. What's the hurry? We had the whole night — you just had to do it while the kid wasn't asleep."

"I couldn't hold it in anymore, it was about to spill over — what could I do?"

"Let me get up first…"

"Did it spill out?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing gave him two hard slaps.

"That hurts…"

"Shut up, or you'll wake the kid again in a bit."

"Wring me out a towel too — I was fumbling around just now and couldn't find the handkerchief at all."

"Your handkerchief can also be used to wipe your mouth and blow your nose?"

Ye Yaodong: "…"

"You really didn't have to remind me."

He had already used it that way many times — at most, after using it he'd toss it to her to wash, then keep using it once it was washed: wiping his hands when it was time to wipe hands, wiping his mouth when it was time to wipe his mouth, wiping his nose when it was time to wipe his nose.

Who could blame him — there weren't any tissues to use back then. His family had only started using that extra-rough toilet paper in the past two years; before that, his dad had even used shaved wood chips.

If he had a handy handkerchief, wouldn't he just grab it to wipe whatever needed wiping?

"Buy me a new handkerchief tomorrow. Keep the old one by the bed… you could buy a few more…"

"You really think you can go through several in one night?"

"Of course."

Lin Lin Xiuqing shot him a look — she couldn't even be bothered to scold him.

By the time the two of them had finished tidying up and lying down again, quite a while had already passed.

Ye Yaodong had been on edge the whole time, so for once he didn't fall asleep immediately — right now he was wide awake.

"Dad was talking to me this afternoon about repairing the grave. He said there's less than a month until Qingming."

"Didn't we bring it up the year before last? Ye Ye Dabo and Ye Ye Erbo said they didn't have the money."

"What Father means is, let me talk to the cousins, persuade them, and get them to go do the ideological work on their own fathers."

"That works too. Get this matter settled early, and the big stone in our hearts can finally drop. Building a tomb is the number one big event for us country folk."

"Mm, we'll see how things stand when the time comes. I think our family's feng shui is really not bad. When the time really comes to build the tomb, we'll hire a Mr. to go up the mountain and take a look. If the current feng shui is fine, we'll just build the tomb right here on the spot. The current location has actually been pretty good for us."

"But it's not friendly for Ye Ye Dabo's family. Both cousins were sent in, and only one has come out so far; the other is still inside. Ye Ye Dabo and his wife were already difficult to deal with to begin with. Even if they really get persuaded, they'd definitely have opinions about the address again."

"That's exactly why we need to hire a Mr. who knows feng shui to go look at the site. Whatever the feng shui Mr. says, you'd have to believe it, right?"

"You say you'll believe it, but still—it's the current location. They'd definitely not agree no matter what. He'd probably think about shifting the spot, changing the feng shui or something."

"So annoying. The more people, the more opinions, and every single one of them is so difficult. Damn it, we'll talk about it when the time comes."

He had just relaxed a moment, his mood still good, but now it soured again.

Better stop mulling over this. The boat will straighten out at the bridgehead. Wait until I'm free, gather the people to chat, and then we'll see.

"Go to sleep early. It's almost ten. This child really knows how to fuss—she only now begrudges sleeping."

"During the day you can just not let her sleep, then she'll go to bed early at night."

"If you don't let her sleep, she'll cry and fuss and throw a tantrum about it."

"That doll is so creepy, yet she carries it around to sleep all day…"

"I look at it and think it's quite nice, quite festive, quite cute. I don't know what your taste is."

"Sleep."