Chapter 1061: Black Beans (10,000 characters, monthly ticket +28)

When the sharks were hauled ashore, the surrounding fishermen all gathered around to watch, pointing and commenting.

"Just now it was this whole school of sharks attacking…"

"Look at those teeth…"

"The blood dyed the whole shoreline red…"

"How much money can this one sell for?"

"One this big has to be a few dozen yuan, right…"

Old Hai, seeing them haul the sharks ashore, hurriedly stood up from the stool at his door, tossed aside his sunflower seeds, and ran over.

"Move aside, move aside, the cargo from these two boats needs to be carried to my place, don't block the way, move aside…"

"Make way, make way…"

Amid the crowd's chatter, the sharks from both boats were all carried in turn to the entrance of Old Hai's shop.

Ye Yaodong rolled his shoulders and looked at his desolate shop entrance, feeling puzzled—how could it be that after all this time he still had no goods to receive? He'd been at the dock for several months now, so why wasn't anyone selling to him?

He looked around at the neighboring small stalls—every one of them had baskets piled full at the door, baskets brimming with all kinds of fresh seafood, yet at his door there was nothing but sunflower seed shells scattered across the ground.

He asked in confusion, "Why is it so dead around here? You haven't had any goods to receive in so long? Those other places have lines, and yours is still empty?"

"You said it—they're all blind, don't mind them. Whatever goods you have, I'll have my brothers go carry them for you."

"I'll just have the boatmen carry them."

He still craned his neck to watch the bustle around them—the contrast was striking. The people nearby were pointing and commenting; just now they were pointing at the fish catch, now they were pointing at people.

Strange, very strange.

Last time it seemed to be the same, but last time there was too much croaker catch and everyone was gathered around watching, so he hadn't noticed the contrast.

"No, that's kind of weird—why would they rather line up over there and not come straight to you to sell?"

"Don't know, maybe they're more familiar with those places. I'm a new face, people don't want to deal with me."

"But it's been several months now. And being able to hold down a spot at the dock, making this kind of money—it can't be that easy. Why aren't you anxious?"

"Anxious? Of course I'm anxious to make money, but isn't it just that no one's selling to me? I went to their doors to hawk my wares and got chased off. Now that I have you, since you dock often, just look after my business and that's enough."

Ye Yaodong looked at his utterly nonchalant manner—where on earth did that look like anxiety?

"Did you lowball the prices too hard at the start, so everyone thinks you're shady and no one sells to you anymore?"

"How could I? I'm an honest man. Whatever price they offer, I offer the same. I've said it before—if you go ask around and find anyone paying higher than me, I'll make up the difference. They're all just blind, can't see how good my place is."

"Don't worry, brother. We're family—I could cheat anyone but you. Just rest easy. If you're not at ease, send the boatmen to ask prices at the other places, then come compare."

Ye Yaodong chuckled, "Well, that I can trust. I was just curious why no one's selling to you."

"Once I've been at it longer, I'll definitely be able to grow big and strong."

"Alright, I'll be watching for it."

The boatmen carried up all the cargo from the fish hold one after another, along with Father Pei's catch, and moved it all to the open ground. The cargo from the two fishing boats was piled separately.

Father Pei was a bit uneasy—after all, he wasn't familiar with Old Hai, and this sudden "relative" had nothing to do with him either. What he cared about most was the price; wherever the price was highest, of course that's where he'd sell.

While the others were moving cargo, he took advantage of Ye Yaodong chatting with Old Hai to first run over and ask the price of every type of catch. After all the cargo had been moved, he came back.

With people coming and going around him, a short, dark-skinned old fisherman like him didn't stand out. Everyone else was about the same dusty color; the only one who really stood out was Ye Yaodong.

Seeing him return, Ye Yaodong hurriedly asked about the price of every type of cargo.

"We're family, sure, but even blood brothers settle accounts clearly. We need to agree on the price of the goods first, so we don't have any unpleasantness later. Wouldn't you say?"

"The risk we fishermen face going out to sea is huge, and earning a little money isn't easy. Earlier we were chased by a whole school of sharks—you saw it too. If we hadn't had a few firearms on hand, we almost couldn't have made it back to shore."

Old Hai hurriedly nodded with a smile, "I know, I know. I saw it all from shore earlier—truly dangerous. So I'm giving a very fair price. Don't worry, I've gone straight now. I want to build up this little shop too, and I don't want to just sit there swatting mosquitoes and cracking sunflower seeds while my brothers go hungry."

"I won't say my price is higher than theirs, but it definitely won't be lower. I know the daily prices at the dock very well—every day I'm bored, visiting this stall, visiting that stall. I've heard plenty, so I definitely know more clearly than you."

Ye Yaodong nearly got led astray by him—what did he mean by "gone straight"?

Was he supposed to have been doing something shady before coming to the dock??

He was baffled for a moment, but Father Pei had already started urging him to weigh the goods—the sky was nearly dark, and selling the catch quickly was the priority.

Seeing how decisively Father Pei was selling, he knew the prices he'd compared earlier were either the same or favorable, so he had no objections.

Old Hai immediately called over a group of men to haul the goods onto the scale and weigh them one by one. The cargo was already sorted, so stacking several baskets of the same type on the scale at once, recording the numbers, went quickly.

It was just that there was too much cargo and too many varieties—two days' worth added up to over 20,000 jin. After weighing, the calculating took a bit of time too.

Ye Yaodong waited on the side, observing the men shuttling back and forth in the little shop. After Father Pei finished weighing, he had his people carry the goods up to wait.

Most of the goods were only worth a few cents each; anything that could sell for 10 cents was already considered valuable. After all, this was wholesale—selling all this catch only brought in just over 1,700 yuan.

But there were also 4 big sharks, and just like last time they got a good price—60 yuan each, 240 for the 4. Altogether it came to about 2,000 yuan.

Father Pei's side earned a bit more this time, 200 yuan more than him.

Once the prices were settled and they had the money in hand, smiles broke out on everyone's faces and they all started exchanging polite words.

"Thanks much, pleasure doing business. Next time we dock, we'll bring it over again."

"Don't mention it, you good me good everyone good. Finally got some business again."

"Hahaha, it's getting dark now, we need to get back on the boat, gotta head home."

"Be careful on the way. It's dark now, not as safe as during the day. When you come ashore, keep an eye on both sides too. Though there aren't many people at the dock right now, so no need to worry like last time."

He immediately remembered again—last time Ye Yaodong and the others had been carrying a huge sum of money and gotten jostled at the dock.

"Oh right, I forgot to ask you last time—was the trip back safe? It's been almost a month since I saw you, and I forgot to ask. But seeing you all intact now, I suppose it was safe. You just didn't dock in the city, right?"

"Don't even mention it. Just after we left… oh, just an hour after we left, we accidentally hit a reef and damaged the boat. Luckily our two boats go in and out together, so we had backup. We just towed one to the repair shop and spent a few days fixing it. Then we happened to hit the cuttlefish fishing season, so we used the small boat at home to catch cuttlefish."

The matter of running into those pirates was better left unsaid—lest it spread everywhere, and if it got blown up in the province, their families coming to find them would be a hassle. For now, just act as if it had nothing to do with them. After all, what happened at sea, no one knows.

Better to have one less thing to worry about, and save themselves some trouble.

"Oh, that's why I haven't seen you in so long. You have quite a few boats—even a small one at home."

"Not bad. Well, we'll be heading off then."

It was already dark, and at some point a lamp had been lit in the small shack. Ye Yaodong was also in a hurry to get on the boat, afraid that the more he said, the easier it would be to give himself away.

When he came out of the buying station, the outside was pitch black. Only the buying stations nearby had their lights on bright, and the sea surface was dotted with the lights of fishing boats. Everyone had switched on their flashlights, the dock was wide open and empty, and most of the people were gone, leaving only a few stragglers who had come back late.

The buying stations on the side were also sorting their goods, and tractors and trucks were lined up one by one on the side, waiting to haul the cargo away.

Although they were packing ice, it could only be used for short-distance transport, and no one knew where it would end up.

Ye Yaodong, flashlight in hand, hurried aboard with the others. This time he didn't have that much cash on him, and the repeat offenders had all been caught, so they boarded the boat without any fuss and steered it away from the shore, towing the Harvest as usual.

However, before long—just as he had finished putting the money away—his father had someone call him up to the wheelhouse.

"What is it?"

"Our in-law just got on the boat and called me on the radio."

"What did he say? About the red envelope? Asking how much would be appropriate to give?"

"No, what's the rush about that? Let's see how he wants to handle it. He got on the radio to tell us to have less contact with that Old Hai, saying he's not a good sort."

Ye Yaodong frowned. "Did he notice something?"

"He said that when he was weaving through the crowd earlier asking about prices, he overheard people talking, saying that what this guy had done before wasn't anything good, and they all said not to sell goods to him, not to deal with him. Our in-law said that next time, if we can avoid docking at the provincial capital, we should just go straight back and dock at the city. After all, the city has wholesale markets too. If we can't, we'll talk about it then."

"I was wondering about that too. He said he'd only just started working at the dock this year, so it was normal not to have business at first. But a few months have passed, surely he could have scraped together some goods, even if only a little. Yet it was completely empty—no matter how you looked at it, it was strange."

"I thought the same."

"When I asked him earlier, he just kept playing it off. Let's just leave him be for now. Anyway, we only dock in emergencies, or when we have too much cargo and have to dock to sell a batch at a good price before heading back out. If we can go back to the city, then of course we'd choose to go back to our own city first. I can also settle a score with my father-in-law while I'm at it and bring the money back."

"Mm, as long as you have it figured out."

"Now that all the goods are sold, we're heading straight back, not passing through the city. Next time we go to the city, we'll settle the accounts."

"Oh no, is it raining again?"

Pat-pat—the raindrops landed on the windshield in front of the cockpit, instantly blurring their view.

Ye Yaodong, standing outside, also felt raindrops falling on his head.

"We're done for—can't dry the goods again. Luckily, the goods stored up over the past few months are plenty, and the dried cuttlefish from the Fishing season are all stored intact. We didn't ask Uncle Pei to hold any goods today, only sundries. There's really no weather for it, so we'll just ferment all of it."

"Dry less from now on. Who knows what the weather will do? When there's weather, dry more. You've already stored tens of thousands of jin there. The city shop is packed full, and so is the house. It doesn't matter if we don't dry more—we can sell for a few months anyway. Let's sell what we have first."

"Mm, we'll see. I'm heading down first."

On the way back, aside from the gradually increasing rain, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, but they didn't cast their nets again.

The afternoon's incident had scared everyone; now wasn't the time to keep working—who would have the mood for it?

Besides, all the goods had been sold, and with a big sum of money in their pockets, everyone wanted to rush back as fast as possible. If they had to keep working along the way, it would delay them until the next morning.

If they hadn't run into the shark school in the afternoon, they would definitely have worked their way back while heading home, until they docked at the city, sold the goods in the early hours of the morning, and then rushed back first thing in the morning.

But in the end, plans could never keep up with changes.

They hurried home the whole way, and it wasn't until around two in the morning that the two fishing boats successfully docked directly at the village.

And because the dock lights were flickering and the flashlight beams were swaying, the people who had gone out to sea at night had all arrived at the dock one after another. Their fishing boats had only just returned when they were spotted.

No sooner had they dropped anchor than fishing boats came over to meet them—and not just one.

You should know he currently had four boats out. At this hour, every one of them was hardworking and had arrived outside the dock one after another.

After they started unloading the cargo, more boats came alongside, but they didn't need that many boats to help. He directly told them to go about their own business—one boat helping with the unloading was enough.

Father Pei's side also had their own boat come over to pick up the goods, so they didn't need his help there. Each could mind their own business.

That boat of his was broken, so it would have to wait until the next day to be towed to the factory for repairs. It wasn't appropriate in the middle of the night, so they towed it straight back first.

Originally, when they were still at sea, the rain had been coming down harder and harder with a pitter-patter, but once they entered the city limits, the rain had eased up, and by the time they reached the county town, it had stopped completely.

And by the time they had moved all the goods ashore, the ground was still dry—not a trace of rain to be seen.

But that didn't change the fact that they had to ferment all the goods. Since it had rained outside, there was no telling whether it would rain here in the next couple of days. Even if it didn't rain, it wouldn't be sunny either.

There was no scale in the middle of the night, and they couldn't be bothered to fuss. They were all tired and just wanted to hurry back and rest. After loading the goods onto the tractor and hauling them to the workshop, each of them took the shock-soothing red envelope Father Pei gave out, and hurried home to rest.

Ye Yaodong hadn't brought his keys when he went out to sea. Afraid that calling out at the front door would wake everyone, he went around to the back door to knock on the window.

Lin Lin Xiuqing was very alert. Hearing the noise, she woke up immediately and lowered her voice, "Who's there?"

"Your man. Come open the door."

"Coming."

She hurried out to open the door and let him in.

After Ye Yaodong entered the courtyard, he tossed her the bag of money, then walked while taking off his clothes and tossed those to her too.

"Why did you come back at night today? Don't you usually come back during the day? Isn't this the perfect time to be selling goods in the city?"

"Something came up, so we came back early. Help me make a bowl of noodles first, I'll tell you while I shower."

"What happened? I was thinking you'd be back tomorrow. Eldest brother's boat needs to be brought back the morning after tomorrow, so if you come back tomorrow you can rest for a day, then go together the day after to push the boat into the water."

Ye Yaodong listened to her chatter and told her about what happened at sea, which gave her a fright too.

"That sounds too dangerous. How many guns do you have on the boat now? Otherwise, bring another one from the tractor…"

"No need, we already have six, that's enough. I'll find time tomorrow to go to the village committee to replenish the ammo. It's normal to run into big fish at sea occasionally, it's fine. The fishing boat breaking down suddenly is just one of those things."

"So we'll drive it together to get it repaired tomorrow?"

"Right."

"Then before the Harvest is repaired, let's not go out to sea. You drifting around on the sea alone isn't safe, with no one to back you up. You never know what'll happen at sea. Let's wait until it's fixed and then go together. We won't lose much by waiting a few days—safety first. Just consider it a rest at home."

"Mm, that works. On the way back, it rained in the city and the provincial capital, but not here. There's no guarantee of good weather coming up either, so I'll just stay home and rest for a bit."

The old lady's door opened at that moment. "I knew it was you again this time—always in the middle of the night."

Ye Yaodong smiled. "Next time you hear movement outside in the middle of the night, just keep the door shut and don't come out, whether it's me or someone else. If it's someone else, or some petty thief, you won't be any help—you'll just cause trouble. If it's me, then there's nothing to worry about, and you don't need to come out and check."

"I pressed my ear to the door and listened for a while before coming out. Well, finish your food and shower and get to sleep. Whatever you two have to say, save it for tomorrow—don't delay your rest."

"Mm."

The old lady went back and closed her door properly.

Lin Lin Xiuqing started muttering again at this point: "While you guys were away these past few days, the village has been full of gossip about Aguang's older sister again. I don't even know where it started spreading from. If she doesn't get married soon, her reputation will be ruined."

"Looks like the marriage probably won't work out. The family Mother helped introduce is decent enough, it's just that the old woman of the house has a vicious mouth — it's probably that old woman who spread it."

Ye Yaodong hadn't planned to bring up what Aguang told him that day, but since she brought it up now, he'd tell her about it too.

Lin Lin Xiuqing was furious when she heard it. "Isn't this humiliating people? She's a young maiden — if they really need to send a midwife to the door to verify, won't that become a laughingstock once it gets out? Have they no shame? Aren't they just trampling Aguang's family's dignity into the dirt?"

"So they've just left the matter hanging for now, planning to wait and see. After all, it's just one old woman with a foul mouth, and she doesn't look like she'll live much longer either. The elders of the family still seem fairly decent. Sigh, I don't know either. Anyway, let's just wait and see — it's not my sister."

"But your sister is part of the Pei family, and now there's another Ma Auntie. Who knows what the household will turn into once she gives birth and comes back."

"What could it turn into? Just a stepmother. As long as everyone's polite, it's fine. After all, they've been living right next to each other, so they must all know each other well. The two elders have been in touch for a long time, so she must have a sense of it in her heart — there's nothing she can't accept."

"Oh, and your friend Uncle Uncle Awei came back a couple of days ago, wearing a shirt and little leather shoes, looking quite prosperous. He even bought a TV set for the family — who knows how he made his fortune."

"For real? He didn't become a gigolo, did he? Or did he really shine shoes until he found a rich person?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing couldn't help but laugh, thinking of what the villagers said about Lin Ji shining shoes and finding a rich person.

"Why is your mouth so mean? You even dragged Lin Ji into it on purpose."

"How is that on purpose? It's what other people said."

"Hurry up and wash up and eat the noodles, don't let them get mushy. Nobody knows how he made his money — when people asked his wife, she couldn't say either."

"Then let's not worry about him."

"But when he left, he took Haozi with him. The kid had just been able to get out of bed, still bruised and swollen, and off he went to get rich with Uncle Uncle Awei."

Ye Yaodong listened with great astonishment, clicking his tongue. "They're really loyal to each other, huh? Once he made something of himself, he still remembered to pull his brother up? How come I never noticed he was so loyal and righteous before?"

"Who knows. Anyway, they stayed two days and both left."

"What a weird pair — they've gotten together again, truly birds of a feather. The rest of us are all bursting with ambition, we're really not suited to stick together. After all, none of us are suited for shining shoes."

Lin Lin Xiuqing listened to him running people down again, just smiled and shook her head, poured out his bathwater, and urged him to hurry up and eat his noodles.

"Speaking of Lin Ji, hasn't it been a long time since we saw him again?"

"Mm, what do you want him for now?"

"He still owes me a telescope, I'm waiting for him to make good on it. Besides, you have to sell the whole act. He only bought goods from me once — how is that enough? He has to come by every few days to buy more, that's what makes it look real."

"You just want to make money off him."

"Of course. He's made plenty of money off me, so naturally I have to make some back from him too."

"Hurry up and finish eating and go to sleep, it's the middle of the night."

Ye Yaodong lowered his head and started slurping too. Late at night like this, it's just one thing leading to another — otherwise, where would there be so much to say.

By the next day, after he slept until he woke naturally, his father had already taken the boat, towed the Harvest back to the shipyard, and returned.

It was gloomy today, looking like bad weather. Luckily Ah Qing had listened to him and had already started fermenting all the goods brought back last night this morning, only salting part of them to dry in the sun.

His father was next door, talking with his eldest brother at the doorway. Seeing that, he went over to join them.

"Your eldest brother didn't go out to sea this morning either, so he's coming with us to the shipyard to inspect the boat and settle the accounts. Since we're all here, we can all take a look. Tomorrow's appointment is fairly early too — if we go, we'll do a launch trial and then just sail it back."

"Then since none of us are working today and it's not raining, should we beach the old boat and push it ashore for maintenance?"

Ye Fu immediately agreed in one breath. "Right, it's been over a year — we do need to scrape off the barnacles on the bottom. Since they all have to be returned to me anyway, and the Harvest is being repaired there, we probably won't be able to go out to sea for a few days. So let's fix it up and put on a few fresh coats of paint."

"Then let's take advantage of the high tide now. Eldest brother, first sail the boat onto the beach, and when it beaches in the afternoon, we'll use wooden poles to roll and push it ashore."

Ye Ye Yaopeng agreed in one breath and headed off to the dock.

Ye Yaodong, with the matter of replenishing ammunition on his mind, hurried off to the village committee again, while Ye Fu, seeing there was nothing else to do, headed back up the mountain.

Only when he went to the village committee did he hear a piece of news — because their town was on the most outlying stretch of coastline, the islands off the town were said to be getting a lighthouse built, and he'd heard that before long, the navy would be dispatched to come help.

That was good news, a sign of development, but it was none of his business. He just listened with half an ear, then stated his purpose, swept up 300 rounds of bullets from stock, and left.

It was almost the end of May. Ye Yaodong looked at the mountain slopes where peach blossoms had once covered the hills — now they had all withered, with only the azaleas still standing firm, a fiery red expanse, though they too would begin to wither before long.

He swung the cloth bundle as he walked, swaying side to side, humming a little tune along the country lane, when he heard a burst of urgent shouting in his ear.

"Slow down, slow down…"

"Slow down… wait for me…"

He turned his head and saw it was his son, with three little goats tied to one hand going down the slope, and a bunch of azaleas cradled in the other.

Ye Ye Chengyang was dragged by the goats, running and sliding down the slope on his bottom. Finally, the little goats saw the green grass by the road and stopped to graze. He put the flowers down by the road and wiped hard at his sweat — only to smear himself head to face with dust.

He hurried over and helped untie the rope from his wrist. Being yanked around by the little goats, his dark-skinned wrist had a whole ring of marks on it, all red.

"Dad? Why are you here?" Ye Ye Chengyang said happily, looking at his father.

"Just happened to be passing by on some business. Are you done grazing the goats and heading home?"

"Yeah! I'm so hungry, I want to go home and eat. There's nothing to eat on the mountain, and I can't catch any pheasants either."

"You saw pheasants?"

"I did, Dad. Let me tell you, those pheasants are so pretty, all different colors, really beautiful. But they can fly — from this slope to that slope. I tied the little goats by the road and went to catch them, but I couldn't catch any."

"I'll catch one for you tonight."

He got excited immediately. "Really? Then can we use the chicken feathers to make a fan?"

"I don't know how. Don't ask me for this kind of thing — ask your grandpa. Let's go, it's just about mealtime."

Ye Yaodong gripped the three ropes in his hand, ruffled the boy's straw-like hair — there were still quite a few blades of grass stuck in it, who knew how long he'd been crawling through the bushes just now? Way too wild.

"Wait for me, Dad, my flowers…"

He turned and saw Ye Ye Chengyang, treating the flowers on the ground like treasures, hugging them to his chest again, picking up the fallen blossoms and sticking them back onto the branch.

"They're pretty nice. Give them to me, let me take them home and give them to your mother."

Ye Ye Chengyang tilted his body away. "No, I can't give them to you. These are for Brother Chenghe."

"What's he want them for? A waste. Give them to me to give your mother — she'd be happier, and life would be easier for all of you."

"I'll pick some for Mom this afternoon. These are what Brother Chenghe asked me to pick — one cent!" As soon as he finished, he quickly covered his mouth. "I didn't say anything."

Ye Yaodong was surprised, then couldn't help laughing. "He gave you one cent to pick him a bouquet of flowers, and then take them to school to give to his little girlfriend?"

"I don't know who he wants to give them to. He told me to pick a bunch of pretty flowers for him, and he'd give me one cent. Dad, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Good lad, you've got money and you're showing off now, huh?"

"Hehe, I've been picking for several days now, earned a lot of money."

"Alright, if the money's that easy to earn, then go ahead and sell to him. But do it secretly, don't let your aunt find out, otherwise he'll get a beating and you'll lose your earnings."

"I know, Brother Chenghe told me not to say anything too."

"Impressive, quite the little flatterer, already learned to reserve a wife early."

He chuckled to himself as he walked—the little fool was opening up to the world pretty early.

"Dad, are you going to give some to Mom too?"

"Sure."

"One cent, okay? I'll pick a bunch for you when I take the sheep up the mountain this afternoon."

Ye Yaodong turned his head and glared at him. "You want to earn my money too?"

"It's all one cent. He already gave me one cent, so of course you have to pay too."

"Shouldn't you pick a bunch and give it to your mother?"

"But you're the one who said you wanted to give it. Just one cent, Dad. Mom will be happy—aren't you happy?"

He tapped his son's head. "Earning money off me now? Fine, I'll let you earn it."

"Dad, then I'll pick for you for ten days. Ten days is one mao. When you go back, just give me one mao straight up."

"Who taught you to count like that?"

"Because I've already been picking for Brother Chenghe for ten days. I counted—ten one-cent coins. I asked Mom how much ten one-cent coins is. She said one mao."

Ye Ye Chengyang hopped and skipped happily.

Ye Yaodong clicked his tongue in amazement. The kid had already earned one mao, and seeing that his side was richer and easier to earn from, he was preparing to bundle it all up and earn another mao in one go.

"Fine, seeing as you're so good at earning money, I'll let you earn a little."

"Hahaha, then my piggy bank will have lots of money again~" he shouted happily as he ran, "Definitely more than big brother~"

It was just mealtime. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the village, and students were trickling back from school one after another. The road was full of running, jumping children.

As soon as Ye Ye Chengyang got home, he put the flowers on the windowsill at Ye Ye Dabo's wife's doorway. These flowers were all over the mountain, just that they grew quite tall. The adults were used to them and no one touched them when left there.

Ye Yaodong led the little lamb to the back door to tie it up. When he came out, he saw Ye Ye Chengyang had already carried over a small stool and was sitting at their own courtyard gate, waiting for them to come home from school.

"You have to collect the money right now? Can't you go home and wash your hands and face first?"

"If Aunt finds out, there won't be any money to take. I have to keep watch."

He flicked the child's forehead and left him be, going inside first to put the slingshot away properly, then washing his hands.

Lin Lin Xiuqing was stir-frying by the stove. She turned her head and asked, "Why did it take so long?"

"The village committee was chatting about things, so I sat and listened for a while. Where's my daughter? And Xiaoyu?"

"No idea where they've run off to play. Go look by the neighbor's door—probably at someone's house playing. You can call them back to eat."

"Oh."

Anyway, he was free anyway, so he went out to look again. Ye Ye Chengyang was still sitting at the courtyard gate, drawing on the ground with a twig.

"Little Nine, Little Jade~"

"Little Nine, Little Jade~ time to come home for dinner~"

He called out as he walked. Only then did the two little rascals crawl out from the grass beside them, along with two other little boys who were also crouching there, god knew doing what.

"Daddy~ time to eat, little sister, time to eat~"

The four little ones all ran over to him, and everyone headed home together.

"What were you all doing crawling in the grass?"

"Picking black beans."

Ye Yaodong: "??"

"What black beans?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi pinched a round, shiny black thing that looked like a black bean, waved it in front of him, then put it back in the pocket in front of her. "For Mommy to cook vegetables."

"Huh?"

The boy beside them then fished one out of his pocket and put it in his mouth.

"Huh?"

He wasn't sure what black beans they had picked anymore.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi saw her dad looking at the boy beside them in surprise, his face full of heartache. She then waved her dad over, gesturing for him to squat down.

Ye Yaodong squatted down in confusion, then curiously looked at the "black beans" in their pockets.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi frowned, took one out of her pocket with a heartache expression, and was about to stuff it into his mouth. "You can only eat one, okay?"

At this moment, Pei Yu also filial fished one out of her pocket. "Uncle, ah~"

He looked at the black beans in their hands with suspicion and uncertainty, tilted his head back, and saw the boy beside them grab two more and stuff them in his mouth. He became uncertain again.

"Daddy, ah, can't eat too many, okay? Have to cook vegetables~"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi saw her dad hadn't opened his mouth for ages, hurriedly stepped forward to stuff the black bean in her hand into his mouth.

Pei Yu also took two steps forward.

Two little hands each pinched a black bean, almost at his mouth. He grabbed one with each hand, then held them up under his eyelids to take a look.

"Where did you get these?"

"Picked them, over there..." Ye Ye Xiaoxi pointed at the grass beside them.

"Holy crap, these are sheep droppings. Oh my goodness, throw them away, throw them away."

"No, give them to Mommy to cook vegetables."

Ye Yaodong, his forehead crisscrossed with black lines, finally understood what they had just been talking about.

Cook these with this?

The boy beside him, still looking utterly ignorant, tried to shove another one into his mouth; Ye Yaodong quickly slapped it away. The other one he couldn't reach in time had already been stuffed into his mouth, so he hurriedly reached in to dig it out.

Although they had been right under his nose and he had seen them eat quite a few, he didn't know how many they had eaten when he wasn't looking, but...

Now that you've seen it, do you know what they were eating?

"Are you two stupid? Picking up anything and shoving it into your mouths? This is sheep dung."

"Black beans."

"Do you know what sheep dung is? It's what the little sheep poops, do you know? It's just like the poop that comes out from under your butt, stinky, do you know?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi immediately stuck out her tongue and gagged, "Stinky~"

"This is what the little sheep pooped, do you want to eat it?"

She immediately shook her head like a rattle drum, but then felt it was a pity; she had worked so hard to pick them up, how could she bear to just throw them away? Seeing the boy beside her standing there dumbfounded, she quickly stuffed the ones she had picked from her pocket into his arms, and even pulled out his hem to wrap them up properly.

"If you like them, here."

Pei Yu was still dazed, so Ye Ye Xiaoxi made the decision for her too, took out everything from her pocket and stuffed it into the other little boy's arms.

"Giving it to you, let's go home~"

Having said that, she happily took Ye Yaodong's hand and pulled him, wanting to head home.

"No, daughter, this is sheep dung, why are you giving it to them?"

"It's a pity to throw it away, Great-Grandma said not to waste."

"Throwing this away isn't wasting."

"It is wasting, we cannot waste."

Ye Yaodong was at a loss between laughter and tears, and could only urge the two boys, "You two hurry up and throw it away, this isn't edible, it's sheep dung."

These two boys looked younger than Ye Ye Xiaoxi, about the same age as Pei Yu, and were still wearing split-crotch pants; he didn't know if they had understood.

It felt like they hadn't understood; they were still clutching their hems in their hands before running home.

He could only instruct his own children, who were each holding one of his hands, "You can't pick up anything and bring it home, and you can't shove anything into your mouths. Eating things you don't know will make you mute, do you know? If you become mute, you won't be able to speak, do you know?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi nodded.

Seeing her nod, Pei Yu nodded along too.

"Did you two eat any just now? How many did you eat?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi shook her head, "To cook for Mother."

"Auntie's vegetables..."

"Good that you didn't eat any..."

He felt relieved.

Children these days really eat anything; there's nothing they won't eat. Things dug from the fields, things picked up off the ground, things stolen from the mountains, as long as it looks edible, there's nothing they won't eat.

No wonder parents these days lie to their children every day, calling that one a mute, this one a mute, telling them not to shove anything that looks like a fruit into their mouths, lying every day that eating it will make them mute.

He couldn't help but join in the lie; although it wouldn't hurt them, it was sheep dung after all.

When he got home with the two children and told Ah Qing about it, Ah Qing was also at a loss between laughter and tears.

"There's a whole pile at the back door, why didn't you two go pick them up at the back door?"

"Bai Bai is bad, don't go."

"Did you fight with the big goose, and now you hate it after the fight?"

"Mm, Bai Bai is hated."

"Then let's stew it tomorrow."

"No!" Ye Ye Xiaoxi immediately shouted in protest, "Can't eat it."

"Didn't you say you hated them?"

"Great-Grandma said they will give birth to little Bai Bai, I want little Bai Bai, and also little chicks and little ducklings."

The old lady smiled and patted her little head, "In a couple of days the little chicks and ducklings will hatch; tonight I'll use a candle to shine on the eggs and check."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi happily hugged the old lady's leg, "Great, great, I like Great-Grandma."

The old lady also happily took one hand each and led them to wash their hands.

"Time to eat, where are the two sons?"

"As soon as they got back, they ran upstairs; don't know what they're doing, so secretive, grinning sneakily."

As soon as he returned, he didn't see Ye Ye Chengyang sitting at the entrance; the neighbors were already eating, so he knew Ye Ye Chengyang must have earned money, and was probably right now holding his piggy bank and shaking it to listen to the sound of coins.

He couldn't help but smile, then shouted a few times to call them down for dinner.

"Coming, coming..."

The sound of thumping footsteps coming down the stairs.

"You two be a little quieter, running up and down the stairs like this all day..."

Ye Ye Chengyang ran up to him and even winked and made faces at him.

Ye Yaodong couldn't help but flick his forehead again.