Chapter 1018: Where Did Ye Ye Xiaoxi Go?

After father and son ate a simple dinner, one went home, the other went to wash up.

After bathing, Ye Yaodong still wasn't at ease, so he went out and got a piece of nylon sheet, calling Lin Lin Xiuqing to help him cover those boxes, but he called twice and no one came running out of the house, so he called out to the old lady again, and still no response.

"They all ran off to the workshop? Gone in the blink of an eye."

He glanced at the brightly lit workshop in the distance—everyone crowded wherever the action was, even the old lady, at her age, was the same, heading over there when it was almost time for bed.

"Third Uncle, what are you doing?" Ye Ye Chenghai rushed out of the house in a hurry.

"Perfect timing, come help out."

"Okay~"

Ye Ye Chengjiang also hurriedly answered and ran over, "Third Uncle, I'll help you too~"

"Me too, me too, I just went to poop…" Ye Chenghe, holding up his pants, also hurriedly ran out of the house.

"Earlier I saw you all sneak inside without even greeting me, now I just shout once and you all come running out—what's going on? Don't want to do homework, is that it? As long as it's not homework, anything goes, right?"

Ye Ye Chenghai and Ye Ye Chengjiang, having been seen through, just giggled sheepishly.

Ye Yaodong turned to look at Ye Chenghe, who had come running over clutching his pants in a fluster, "Did you wash your hands? Did you wipe your butt clean?"

Looking at his pants, the waistband could fit another whole leg inside, and there was a string tied at the top—couldn't tell if it was one of Ye Ye Chenghai's hand-me-downs or his mother's, and the cuffs were folded up a big chunk, revealing the knitted pants underneath.

"It's barely been long since New Year's, what kind of raggedy clothes are you wearing? Going to school in that too? Won't people laugh you to death?"

"Third Uncle, he was chasing after that girl classmate to give her candied hawthorn after school, then he wasn't looking where he was going and fell into the ditch, his clothes got all torn up, the cotton was falling out, then he came home and got beaten by his mom, so he can only wear the ragged clothes and pants now." Ye Ye Chenghai said gleefully, not keeping any of it secret for him.

"Holy crap, which girl classmate? How old are you? Already have a little girlfriend?"

Ye Chenghe's face flushed bright red, "No way! What little girlfriend, don't talk nonsense, she's just a classmate…"

"Third Uncle, let me tell you, it's the same girl classmate whose hair he singed before, and now every day after school he follows behind her, you can scold him away and he still won't leave…"

"You're not allowed to say…"

Ye Chenghe was hopping mad, grabbing at Ye Ye Chenghai trying to stop him from going on, but Ye Ye Chenghai refused to play along, dodging with a grin and continuing to talk.

"…she's totally sick of him, but he still has to wait for her to come back to the village before going home, which means we all have to trail behind him…"

Ye Ye Chengjiang also refused to be outdone, exposing his secrets, "And also, and also…he gave all his little figurine heads to that girl classmate, and gave her all his marbles too…"

"Shut up…"

"When school started a few days ago he bought her pencils and erasers, she didn't want them, today he bought candied hawthorn and chased after her to give it to her, that's how he accidentally fell into the ditch…"

Ye Chenghe's dark face couldn't show the blush, but the tips of his ears were red; he chased after the two of them in embarrassed fury, and the two ran all over the yard dodging, then ducked behind Ye Yaodong.

"Come on then, there's more…"

"Wouldn't have expected it, Ye Chenghe, already planning ahead for a wife this early? Better than your older brother, huh?"

Ye Yaodong watched this dummy with great interest—who would've thought his IQ was offline but he sure woke up early in other ways, already knowing about puppy love, already planning ahead for a wife.

"I didn't, Third Uncle, don't talk nonsense, she's just my classmate…"

"Oh~classmate~then why don't you walk the other girl classmates home, why don't you buy the other girl classmates erasers, pens, candied hawthorn?"

"That's different, she's the one I made cut her hair short, once her hair grows long again, I won't bother with her anymore."

"Hehe~it's her who won't bother with you, right?" Ye Ye Chenghai splashed cold water on him without any burden, exposing his weak spot.

"When Chenghe fell into the river, Chen Xiuni didn't just walk away, she stood by the side and helped pull him up," Ye Ye Chengjiang poked his head out from behind Ye Yaodong with a grin, "I think she's starting to pay attention to you."

"Then should I give her the pens and erasers again tomorrow?"

A simp's a simp, the more they simp the more they get.

Ye Yaodong laughed and patted his head, "Look at you go, the old lady was still saying at night that we should have five generations under one roof—you better work hard, aim to have one by the time you're eighteen."

Ye Chenghe scratched the back of his head, tilted his face up and grinned at him, not understanding what he meant.

"Did you wash your hands?"

"No…"

"Then why aren't you off washing them? Lazy people always have a lot of pee and poop, the moment you mention homework, all sorts of things come up. I've got a pile of work waiting for help in the workshop, and you lot are still dawdling around, haven't even finished your homework, and you don't know how to seize the chance to make money."

Ye Ye Chenghai and Ye Ye Chengjiang immediately looked at him with shining eyes, "Is there money for helping out?"

Ye Chenghe, who had already run out of the yard to wash his hands, immediately braked and turned back, "Is there money, Third Uncle? Me me me, I'll go help in a bit, wait for me…"

"Go wash your hands, quick."

"Then wait for me, I'll be right there."

Sweet-talking girls costs money, sweet-talking little girls costs money too—from the old lady down to Ye Ye Xiaoxi, sweet-talking any of them costs money.

The other two pairs of eyes were still watching him, sparkling.

Ye Yaodong knocked each of them on the head, "So money-crazy? The moment money's mentioned, your eyes shine brighter than light bulbs."

"Hehe, who doesn't like money…"

"Third Uncle, you called us over—was it to get us to help kill fish in the workshop?" Ye Ye Chengjiang grinned ingratiatingly, rubbing his hands together.

"I didn't call you, you heard the commotion and came out on your own. First help me spread out the nylon sheet, wrap up all these boxes in the corner and cover them. It's fine if it's too long, tuck the edges into the gaps, then go outside and pick up a few big rocks to weigh down the corners, don't let the wind blow it away."

"Okay."

With a carrot dangling in front of them, the two were incredibly eager.

Ye Chenghe also ran over while shaking his wet hands, immediately joining in, afraid he'd done a bit less work than the others.

After finishing, three pairs of eyes stared at him.

"The work's done, why are you still staring at me? Get inside and do your homework, now."

"Third Uncle, does your workshop still need people to help out? We can help, we're really strong."

"Then have you finished your homework?"

"We'll go do it right now."

"It's already past eight, you'll be going to bed soon—if you want to make money, hurry up and finish your homework, we'll do it tomorrow. The goods in the workshop will take several days to deal with, when you come help out then, I'll pay you wages, by the hour, ten cents an hour."

The three immediately stopped in their tracks, then huddled their three heads together, counting on their fingers, muttering away.

"School's out at 3:30, finish homework by 4 and go to work, work till 9 and we'll have 5 mao…"

"5 mao a day, two days is one yuan! Wow~"

"Wow~ so much, let's go, let's go, hurry up and do homework…"

These three weren't that young either, all in their teens, every day they only worked when scolded, wouldn't lift a finger without being yelled at, and after meals they ran off faster than anyone.

Anyway, their families had no land, and besides stopping to cut pigweed on the way back from school each day, there wasn't really any work for them to do—that tiny private plot wasn't even enough for my lord to work for two minutes.

Those dozens of tons of goods hauled back these past two days needed hands anyway. At their age they could already do a lot of work and be a big help. Toss them into the workshop to put in more hours, give them a chance to earn money, keep them from growing up lazy and slack.

Also let them understand the importance of money, instill the concept of working hard to earn it early—labor creates wealth.

No one was home right now, only him. He was tempted to go have a look at the workshop, but worried there'd be no one to watch the house. Even the dogs had gone wherever the action was, all of them running off to the workshop, not guarding the house anymore.

He went back inside to lock the back door, checked again, made sure the chickens, ducks, and geese in the yard were all penned up, then locked all the doors and windows, locked the courtyard gate too, before heading to the workshop. The lights hadn't been turned off—they were all still on.

Most of the neighbors nearby had already turned off their lights and gone to bed, even the whole village was dim and dark. Everyone still had work tomorrow, and those who could sleep early were basically already in bed, except for their rented place, which was bustling with people.

His family's three little rascals were also running around inside the workshop. They probably knew it was their family's place—the two boys even knew to come over and help, and were helping with the drying.

When he came by earlier he'd only taken a quick glance at the goods, then went back to eat, didn't bother with the kids. Now it looked like they were all doing a proper job.

The girls were all squatting beside the oversized washbasins helping wash the fish, while Ye Ye Xiaoxi was just playing with the water nonstop, no one paying her any mind.

He hurried over with big strides and lifted her up. The front of her clothes was already soaked through a large patch, the sleeve covers on both hands were dripping wet—squeeze the sleeve and water would wring right out. Even her pants were wet from the thighs down, and the cotton shoes on both feet were completely soaked.

"Wanna play, wanna play, let go… put me down, put me down… bad guy… bad guy…"

"No one watching you, having the time of your life? You're soaked all over and you're still playing in there?"

"Bad guy… bad guy…"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi was held up dangling in mid-air by him, limbs flailing nonstop, calling him names in a milky little voice.

"Still this feisty?"

"Daddy, I love you~ I love you~ put me down~"

Ye Yaodong burst out laughing. "You really know how to bend and stretch, don't you? Just now you were calling me a bad guy, and now you love me? You stinky little girl~"

He laughed and gave her little bottom a pat.

"Daddy~ I have candy, I'll give you candy~"

"Damn, she's even trying to bribe me now? No use, let me tell you—I'm going to carry you straight to your mother and let her spank you. Still dare to play in the water so enthusiastically? You're soaked through."

He grabbed her little hand and took a look. "Look at your hands, who knows how long you soaked them, all wrinkly like dried radish. Just wait till your mother sees you, she won't half kill you—pants off for the spanking."

"No, bad guy, you're a bad guy~ put me down~"

She started flailing and struggling and cursing again.

Ye Yaodong let her curse away as he pleased, carrying the child to find Lin Lin Xiuqing, who was sorting the fish cargo.

She and two other sisters-in-law were all there sorting the mixed goods and chatting along the way.

The 30,000-plus jin of goods Old Pei brought back—besides the nearly 20,000 jin of fish cargo that needed to be weighed and paid for, which had been sorted, the other 10,000-plus jin of mixed goods hadn't been sorted at all. One basket was a jumbled mess, everything thrown together, piled up in every corner.

These mixed goods had to be sorted—the small ones could all go for fermentation, the big ones that could be picked out for drying had to be picked out and dried, dried ones were worth more.

There were also some small shrimp and mantis shrimp that needed to be picked out and boiled and shelled—this was quite a big job too.

These mixed goods had been piling up since after New Year. They were all ones he'd set aside two or three days early himself, and had also told Old Pei's side to set some aside. This month's accounts hadn't been settled yet, and they hadn't discussed how much extra to pay for this much cargo either.

Last year it was just a little bit set aside, three or four thousand jin, four or five thousand jin brought back as a token, and he also just gave a token 10 yuan. When settling accounts this month they'd definitely have to add more.

And now with so much mixed goods set aside and brought back, the crew on the boat of course didn't have time to sort these mixed goods. Apart from the useless bulky stuff like jellyfish that got thrown back into the sea, everything else was just swept into a basket with a broom, dumped in a corner, brought back for them to sort themselves.

So the demand for hands was even greater now.

The neighbors next door were also waiting for these small mixed fish to be sorted out before they could be carried over for fermentation. They sorted all afternoon, and only when there were no more baskets to fill at night did they start carrying them over basket by basket to dump.

Dumping them in was fast, sorting was what took time.

The old aunties all started killing fish on this side first, and only after a certain amount had been picked out did they carry them over to sprinkle salt and ferment—not a bit of labor wasted.

Lin Lin Xiuqing, by the faint light of her headlamp, kept picking and sorting, occasionally cupping her hand into a hollow to gently pound her lower back, chatting and laughing with the sisters-in-law.

Hearing them point behind her, she turned to look.

"What's up?"

"Come closer and take a look, feel her sleeves, pants, shoes, and check her palms while you're at it."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi instantly wilted and hung there limp, a look of utter despair on her face, jaw set, hands still clenched into fists, trying to tuck them into her sleeves.

But Lin Lin Xiuqing, afraid her clothes wouldn't stay clean, had put sleeve covers on her, so her little hands couldn't burrow into the sleeves.

Lin Lin Xiuqing felt her sleeve and her face darkened, glaring at Ye Ye Xiaoxi, who was guiltily hanging her head low.

"I told you not to play in the water, just play in here, just watching is fine. How did you end up playing in the water? Is your skin itching? Pants are wet, shoes are wet, let me see your hands."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi clenched her fists tight, tucked them against her chest, just wouldn't let her pry them open.

Lin Lin Xiuqing angrily slapped the back of her hands several times. "Still hiding, still hiding, now you know to be scared?"

She didn't make a sound, still tucked her head and hands in. The back of her hands, whitened from soaking in water, were slapped red. Once she felt the pain, she hurriedly grabbed Ye Yaodong's clothes and turned around to hide in his arms.

Even her feet, still dangling in mid-air from being carried, desperately clamped onto him.

Both hands still tucked against her chest, clutching her daddy's clothes, using her back to shield herself, trying to keep her mother from hitting her.

"Still hiding… your skin's getting thicker and thicker, getting hit and not even crying…"

Ye Yaodong had just finished playing the bad guy and now wanted to play the good guy, hurriedly switching from carrying her to holding her. "Alright, alright, stop just hitting and scolding, take her back first and change her into a dry set of clothes. Wet and sticking to her body, she'll catch cold. Who knows how long she soaked, her hands are like ice."

"You take her back and change her, why are you carrying her to me? Am I not busy right now? You change her clothes and put her to sleep while you're at it, it's late, she should be sleeping. And the two boys, take them home too, tell them to go to sleep."

"I don't know where her clothes are kept?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing was both angry and exasperated. "There's only one cabinet and two trunks in the house, you still can't find them? Rummage through the trunk, grab any piece of clothing for her, as long as she can wear it to sleep it's fine."

"Oh." He answered obediently.

"Remember to wash her face, wash her hands and feet."

"Oh."

"Go on, hurry."

"Oh."

Ye Yaodong carried Ye Ye Xiaoxi, who was still curled up in his arms like a quail, and walked outside, patting his two sons on the shoulder as he went and telling them to follow him home to sleep.

Only after they were out the workshop's main gate did the little one in his arms stir, poking her head out to look left and right, then stretching up onto his shoulder to peer behind them, before finally relaxing.

"Scared now? Bet you don't dare anymore, do you?"

"Bad guy!"

"Keep on cursing! Keep on cursing, and I'll carry you right back to your mother and let her change your clothes — see if she doesn't leave a few good slaps on your bottom."

She pouted her little mouth, switched to clinging tightly around his neck, and didn't dare make a sound.

"So cold, your sleeves are all wet and you're pressing them against my neck — take them away."

"No, cold you~ cold you~"

"Hiss~"

She played for a bit, watched her dad craning his neck to dodge, found it funny too, and started giggling, her two hands constantly reaching inside his collar.

"Cold you~ cold you~"

Just now she'd had that look of being about to cry, and now she was laughing and playing again.

The two sons, once out of the workshop gate, had already run ahead home and were waiting at the door for him to open it.

"Hurry up, Dad, dawdling — open the door already."

"What's the rush…"

The moment the two boys got inside, they went thump-thump-thumping up to their room upstairs. Ye Yaodong told them to wash their hands, but they acted as if they hadn't heard. He decided to leave them be — one daughter was already more than he could handle.

If they thought their hands smelled later, they'd naturally come down to wash them.

After Ye Yaodong carried the child back into the room, he hurried out to boil hot water, planning to follow Lin Lin Xiuqing's instructions and wipe her down first. But when he came back carrying a basin of warm water, the bed was already empty — no one anywhere in the room, and the cabinet was open with nothing inside either.

"Ye Ye Xiaoxi! Ye Ye Xiaoxi! Where did you go?"

He called out as he ran out to look for her.

He'd just been right by the stove filling hot water and hadn't seen anyone walk past him, so she definitely wasn't outside. He headed toward the stairs.

A little person in a flowered cotton-padded jacket was there on all fours, bottom in the air, climbing nimbly with hands and feet.

"Ye Ye Xiaoxi!"

She scrambled up faster on all fours — just two steps from the top.

Ye Yaodong slipped off his shoes at the bottom of the stairs and quickly took them two at a time. Just as she crawled up the last step and was scooting across the floor on her belly, he immediately grabbed her by the back of her collar and hauled her up.

"Why are you running? The more I call you, the more you run? Want a spanking?"

"Don't wanna sleep!"

He irritably smacked her bottom again. "Behave for me. One blink and you're gone — so good at running, no one knows where you got it from, so naughty."

"Hmph…"

Ye Yaodong carried the child and hurried back downstairs. He was already exhausted to death, and now he still had to watch this one — too torturous.

After taking off her clothes and pants, he wanted to put her top and pants back on first, then wash her hands and feet. But the moment he reached for the clothes, she slipped away again and burrowed into the quilt, wrapping herself up tight.

He was still holding her little clothes in his hand, and the person was already gone from sight again.

"Get out here, or it'll be even easier to spank you when you're stark naked."

It was only because he'd never taken care of a child before — too careless and inexperienced — otherwise he should have changed the top first, then the bottom, and wouldn't have ended up stripping her naked and letting her burrow away again.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi popped a grinning head out from the quilt. "Hehe~"

"Come here quick and put on your clothes and pants, let me wipe your hands and feet, then I'll make you some malted milk to drink. Your hands and feet haven't been washed — they smell like fish and you're burrowing into the quilt, getting fish smell everywhere, it'll stink to high heaven tonight."

The moment she heard there was malted milk to drink, she immediately nimbly crawled out of the quilt and stood obediently still to let him dress her.

"Oh ancestor, when will I ever get to wait for you to wait on me?"

She grinned and giggled. After he finished dressing her and wiped her face, hands, and feet, she immediately burrowed back into the quilt again, wrapping herself up tight.

"I really must have owed you in my past life."

That grumble was not wrong at all.

When Ye Yaodong carried the water out, he still turned back uneasily to warn her: "Don't run out again, don't climb the stairs again, or I'll give the malted milk to the dogs."

"Got it."

A muffled, babyish voice came from the quilt. Only then did he feel reassured enough to go dump the water and make her some malted milk.

Only then did he remember — hadn't the old lady come back yet? Was she still at the workshop?

He felt the watch in his pocket — it was already 9 o'clock.

"At her age, she's getting more and more fond of a good time — wherever there are people, that's where she burrows. Still can't bear to come back to sleep."

After a glance at the courtyard gate, he hurried to make the malted milk and coax the child to sleep. He himself had been sleepy long ago, wishing he could just lie down and sleep right then.

The moment he urged Ye Ye Xiaoxi to finish her malted milk, he hurriedly turned off the light and lay down. All was quiet, utterly silent — tonight there wasn't even the sound of wind. The instant he closed his eyes, the sound of snoring began.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi beside him had her eyes wide open, rolling around on the bed — rolling from left to right, from the headboard to the foot, rolling all over him in a big circle, sitting on him and squirming, pinching his face, pulling his hair.

After a great fuss, she herself had tired out from playing, yet he was still sleeping like a dead pig, not reacting at all.

The old lady came back to sleep not long after he returned.

Lin Lin Xiuqing waited until the moon was high at midnight before she could no longer hold on, supported her waist, and came back first, leaving the work to her two sisters-in-law.

She had to come back again first thing tomorrow morning — she definitely had to keep an eye on things at the workshop. If she pulled an all-nighter tonight, she'd have to sleep tomorrow morning, wouldn't be able to come over, and would be listless the whole day.

Mother Ye had additionally called in another batch of women to take over the morning shift tomorrow. She definitely had to be there, definitely had to watch over things just in case — she was destined not to be able to stay up with them, so she could only hand it over to others to watch, letting them be conscientious on their own and supervise each other.

But when she dragged her exhausted body home, washed up a bit and got into bed, and habitually reached for the child, she realized she hadn't felt the child.

She wasn't surprised — she just kept reaching.

This child often slept from the headboard to the foot of the bed, then to the very edge, sometimes even hanging off the side of the bed with both feet on the ground, sleeping on her belly.

She felt around her, top and bottom, inside and out, and only after not finding the child did she finally perk up, muttering softly, "Where did she roll off to?"

She had only felt around on top of the blanket a moment ago, and now, unwilling to give up, she reached under the blanket, thinking she had missed her earlier.

Ye Yaodong was roused a little by the cold wind that came in, and mumbled drowsily, "What are you doing? What's the rush? Stop feeling around, let me rest a bit first, so sleepy, so tired…"

"Feel around your head! Do you think I'm feeling around on you? I'm feeling around for the child. Where did this child sleep off to? I couldn't find her after all this time?"

"Don't know, stop making a fuss…" He pulled the blanket over and rolled himself up again, pinning the blanket under his legs.

"Is the child in the bed?"

Hearing his snoring start up again, Lin Lin Xiuqing's frustration flared. She raised her hand, wanting to smack him a couple of times, but then remembered he had just come back from the sea that night, so she had to lower her hand, not wanting to argue with him, and kept feeling around herself.

Only after feeling around two more times and confirming the child wasn't on the bed did she start to get a little anxious.

Afraid of disturbing Ye Yaodong's sleep, she didn't turn on the light, hurriedly threw on her outer clothes again, and ran out to get a flashlight.

Though anxious, she wasn't that worried—at worst the child had fallen off the bed in her sleep and was curled up in some corner of the room; it wasn't possible for her to be gone.

But when she came back in with the flashlight and shone it all around the room, the child was still nowhere to be found, and only then did she start to worry.

Unwilling to give up, she shone the light over the bed once more, even flipping open Ye Yaodong's blanket and checking everywhere, but still didn't see her. Only then did she become certain the child was gone?

Ye Yaodong, with no blanket covering him, shivered from the cold and woke up again. Having his sleep disturbed repeatedly, he was annoyed too.

"What are you doing? What are you fussing about in the middle of the night? You're not tired, but I am! I told you tomorrow, tomorrow! Do you still have to torment me at night? Can it wait until early tomorrow morning? In the middle of the night like this, aren't you trying to kill me?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing nearly jumped with anger at him. "What kind of hooligan talk is that? What kind of garbage is filling your head? Your daughter is gone, got it? Where did you put the child?"

"Huh? Ah?"

Ye Yaodong, who had been sleeping in a daze, cleared his head a little. "What's gone?"

"Your daughter is gone!"

"My daughter is gone? Ye Ye Xiaoxi is gone? How could she be gone? Where did she go? Where did you put her?"

"That's what I should be asking you—where did you put our daughter?"

"When I went to sleep, wasn't she sleeping just fine on the bed?" He was bare-chested but no longer felt cold. He scratched his messy hair, his face a picture of utter bewilderment.

Lin Lin Xiuqing almost laughed from sheer exasperation at him. "Then where did she go sleep?"

"Don't know! Hurry, look for her…"

He was completely muddled himself—how would he know if you asked him?

"Hurry, look for her… hurry, look for her… where did she go sleep?"

Ye Yaodong immediately sobered up and scrambled to his feet.