Chapter 1070: Treating to a Meal

Before long, another smooth, shiny head was fresh out of the oven.

Upon hearing that it was done, Ye Xiaoxi immediately reached up to touch her own smooth little head, her face full of wonder.

"It's so cool~"

Pei Yu also stood curiously in front of her, tilting her head from side to side to look.

"Little sister, does it look good?"

Pei Yu immediately shook her head.

"Hmph hmph..."

Once the barber untied the cloth around her neck, she nimbly held onto the stool, used it for leverage, flipped herself over, climbed down, and excitedly ran toward the group of children holding sticks.

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm bald too..."

"Hahaha..."

"Stop running, go home and wash your hair..."

Lin Xiuqing hurriedly settled the bill and took the wild girl into the house to wash her hair and bathe, while the old lady took a broom to sweep the hair off the ground.

Ye Yaodong, having nothing to do, also sat on a reclining chair at the doorway to enjoy the cool air. Watching the children nearby playing and fighting with their sticks, he also reached up to touch his own smooth head from time to time, feeling it was quite novel.

In his previous life, during those last few years, he would also shave his head bald as soon as summer arrived. However, his hair had been thinner then, and his hairline had receded quite a bit, unlike how thick it was now.

Having been used to having hair, being bald now—plus the sea breeze blowing coolly—made him want to touch it several times a minute.

Before long, a few of the children in the open space in front ran off crying, but soon a large crowd came back, continuing to make noise. Not long after, a large group of them ran toward the village, moving further and further away, until even his own two children had disappeared without a trace.

At this moment, Ye Xiaoxi also finished her bath and ran out. Seeing that there was no one at the door, she ran to his side and asked, "Where's Dede?"

"They went to play." Ye Yaodong looked at her smooth little head, finding it funny no matter how he looked at it, and kept his hand on her head, rubbing it back and forth.

Ye Xiaoxi dodged a little and then ran outward again, "Don't leave me behind... I want to find Dede..."

"It's dark, don't go."

He hurriedly sat up, looked down for his slippers, then ran out to catch her, lifted her up, tucked her under his arm, and carried her back to the room.

It wasn't that he liked carrying children this way, but if he held her in his arms, she would struggle desperately, moving, twisting, and kicking wildly. With her current weight, she was hard to grab and would just slide to the ground.

Tucking her under his arm was convenient; she could scream for help to no avail, and could only kick her legs wildly in the air, making futile struggles.

"Want to find Dede... want to find Dede..."

"Isn't your little sister at home? Just play with her."

"No, want to find Dede..."

Lin Xiuqing had just finished dressing Pei Yu when she saw Ye Yaodong carrying the screaming child inside and tossing her onto the bed.

"It's already dark, it's so late, you can't go out, do you understand?"

Pei Yu immediately made a face and called out to scare Ye Xiaoxi, "There's a ghost... there's a ghost..."

Ye Xiaoxi immediately panicked and started screaming as she went to pull the quilt, "There's a ghost, the ghost is coming... the ghost is coming..."

Lin Xiuqing put on a stern face, "Don't talk nonsense in the middle of the night."

The two children ignored her, pulling the quilt and burrowing into the bedding together, shivering and screaming that the ghost was coming... the ghost was coming...

It even made her own hair stand on end.

"I'm going to beat Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang to death; what are they teaching them? In the middle of the night, don't you dare scream, or I'll eat you all up."

The two girls were even more terrified inside the quilt.

"Don't, don't, help..."

"So scary, so scary..."

Lin Xiuqing glared at the two little mounds arched under the quilt, then glared at Ye Yaodong in annoyance.

Ye Yaodong didn't wait for her to speak; he raised both hands to his ears in surrender, "It has nothing to do with me, don't look at me."

"I wanted you to watch the two children while I went to pour out the bathwater."

"Oh, that's fine."

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him again before carrying the two basins of water out.

Ye Yaodong took off his clothes and pants, climbed onto the bed, and pulled the two shivering little mounds into his arms, "The Big Bad Wolf is here, I'm going to eat you up!"

"Hahahahaha..."

"Help, help~"

The one big and two small figures on the bed laughed and played together. Lin Xiuqing took the opportunity to go out to the workshop to take a look, checking if the goods brought back at noon had fermented properly, if everything that needed covering was covered, and if everything that needed sealing was sealed...

After checking and finding no problems, she told the person in charge to watch the workshop.

Just as she stepped into the courtyard, the sky rumbled, and muffled thunder clapped one after another. She looked up at the ink-black sky; no wonder there wasn't a single star out tonight, and even the night was thicker than usual.

The old lady also hurriedly ran out of the house and stood at the door looking at the sky, "It's thundering, the two children haven't come back yet, they're still playing outside."

Lin Xiuqing pulled on a few nylon sheets in the courtyard to cover the chicken and duck coops, not worried at all, "Since it's thundering, they'll naturally know to run home."

"There was still light just a moment ago, I just went inside to wash up and came out, and the sky is already... ah, the power's out again..."

With a 'pop', the lights in the surrounding houses all went dark. Standing at their doorway, they could hear the shouts coming from the neighbors.

"I'll go light a candle and get a flashlight. You stay where you are and don't move, so you don't trip because you can't see the road."

"Remember to pull the light switches to turn them off, and unplug the TV power cord too, otherwise it will burn out."

Lin Xiuqing acknowledged, then slowly moved her feet, reaching her hands out in front to feel her way through the darkness. It was truly pitch black, you couldn't even see your own fingers—that was no exaggeration—and it was thundering, with not a single ray of moonlight or starlight.

However, when she felt her way to the main hall, a faint candlelight lit up in the room, temporarily dispelling the darkness and making it barely visible.

She lit the candles in the main hall before going to unplug the power cords.

Ye Yaodong also walked out and looked at them, "The two sons haven't come back yet, should I go out and look for them?"

"Take a flashlight and go look. The power is out, bring them back early. It might rain heavily in a while; right now it's just thunder."

"Alright."

However, before he could walk out, a group of children came running from the distance, holding sticks and yelling, dancing like demons as they ran, waving their sticks and shouting "Kill, kill, kill..."

Ye Yaodong: "..."

"The power is out, it's thundering, let's call it a day for now. We'll meet again in the pugilistic world, until we meet again!"

"Until we meet again!"

Ye Yaodong: "..."

Each of them holding their sticks and bowing with such flair—it looked so ridiculous. Where did so many 'chuunibyou' teenagers come from?

"Dad, we're back!"

"Mom, we put our sticks behind the door, don't use them for firewood..."

He stood where he was, turning his head to watch the two of them rush into the house one after the other.

It seemed he had never seen these two walk properly.

They were either running or jumping, bustling about all day long, as if they were afraid of missing out on something.

He shook his head, locked the courtyard gate, and then headed into the house.

Inside, Lin Xiuqing was already lecturing them and making them stand in the corner.

"Day in and day out, you're busier than your father. Summer vacation is only half a month away; will I even be able to see you then?"

The two children stood there, eyes fixed on their noses, noses fixed on their hearts.

"It's thundering and the power is out, and you only know to come back now? You come back all day, and in the blink of an eye, you're gone again. Look at the clothes on your bodies, and look at how sweaty you are..."

"How many sets of clothes do you have to change into a day? You just finished bathing, and you've made yourselves a mess again..."

It was the calm before the storm, and the air was stifling. Even though their doors and windows were open, it was sweltering. The two children had been covered in sweat since they ran back, and now the sweat was streaming down like water.

Before they had stood for long, they lifted their collars to wipe their faces.

Lin Xiuqing was also annoyed by their casual movements and casually picked up the whip from on top of the TV to lash their calves.

The two didn't dare run; they just jumped on the spot, not crying, just biting their lower lips.

"Look at your faces, red as monkey butts. You're so good at running, but you're never obedient..."

"Summer vacation is coming soon. If you score sixty or seventy points, see if I don't peel your skin off..."

The old lady stood to the side, watching them endure the pain with tears in their eyes, not daring to make a sound, and felt heartbroken. She hurriedly ran over to hug the two children.

"Alright, alright, since you've lectured them, taught them, and hit them, that's enough, right? Don't hit the children in the middle of the night, it's not good. Save it for later, if they're disobedient again, hit them all at once."

Ye Yaodong crossed his arms over his chest, looking at their stubborn expressions, "It's rare that they didn't talk back or cry today."

"We want to be heroes, we can't cry!"

"..."

Lin Xiuqing almost couldn't hold back her laughter. She turned her head away and put the whip back on the TV before she could compose her expression.

Ye Yaodong, however, laughed heartily without reservation, "You guys want to be heroes? How about 'Big Shrimp'? Little white shrimp or big tiger prawn? No, you guys are little red shrimp, hahahahaha..."

Ye Chenghu said solemnly, "Dad, don't laugh. When I return from learning at the Shaolin Temple, I can be a hero."

"Hahahahaha..."

The old lady couldn't help but laugh too, "Go take a bath and sleep first. You can only be a hero when you grow up. You have to sleep to grow fast."

"Hahahaha, you guys want to be heroes? If you went into a TV show, you wouldn't even last three minutes. Do you know why? You'd be laughed to death!"

Ye Chenghu was so angry he looked like a bull, "Don't look down on people."

After Lin Xiuqing got over her laughing fit, she couldn't laugh anymore. She shouted at the two children with a stern face, "Are you still not going to take another bath? Why are you standing there with your necks stiff? Do you want another beating?"

The two immediately hung their heads and dejectedly took their basins to wash again.

"Can we wash with cold water? I'm so hot..."

Ye Chengyang hadn't said a word the whole time, and only now did he look at Lin Xiuqing with pleading eyes.

They had been running too much, playing and fighting the whole time. Being covered in sweat was one thing, but their faces were bright red, looking just like Ye's father when he was drunk.

"I feel like I'm almost cooked, there's fire coming out of my body."

"Who told you to run so hard? Use warm water, otherwise you'll easily catch a cold. It's not truly hot yet, you two behave yourselves."

"Oh..."

The two hung their heads and honestly went to get hot water, with the old lady following them to help scoop it.

Ye Yaodong also returned to the room to accompany the two girls.

However, when he entered the room, he found that Ye Xiaoxi had wrapped herself in the quilt and fallen asleep, with only Pei Yu sitting there playing with a doll out of boredom.

"Un-cle~"

One was in the third tone, the other in the fourth, sounding exceptionally milky.

"Is big sister asleep?"

She nodded.

"Sleeping so early today? Did she not sleep at your house at noon?"

She sat there blankly, as if she didn't know how to answer.

Ye Yaodong hadn't expected her to answer anyway. It was better that she was asleep; he was saved from having to coax her or play with her. She had only slept for two or three hours in the afternoon, so she hadn't slept enough at all.

He was tired too, so he lay down beside them.

Before long, he started snoring, completely unaware of when the shouting and fighting outside, or the noise next door, had ceased, or when his wife had come in to sleep.

He slept soundly.

When he woke up, the rain outside was still pitter-pattering, and the people beside him were still lying there fast asleep. Only Ye Xiaoxi had woken up and sat up when he turned his head, rubbing her eyes, then looking left and right.

"Dad..."

"Shh, if you're awake, play by yourself, be quiet."

Hearing movement, Lin Xiuqing also woke up, with only Pei Yu still curled up and sleeping.

The three of them got out of bed lightly. The first thing Ye Yaodong did upon getting up was habitually pull the light cord, wanting to see if the power was back on.

"Still no power, and a whole night has passed."

"It's been raining the whole time, how could the power come back so fast? The thunder was rumbling all night last night, surely the power is out everywhere. They're probably repairing the circuits. If this rain doesn't stop, who knows if there will be power tonight."

"The efficiency is really poor."

People in this era had only had electricity for a few years, so their tolerance was high. If it was out for a day or two, everyone could accept it.

If it were in the future, let alone a day or two, if it wasn't fixed in an hour or two, people would be complaining, and even a minute or two would have people cursing the unstable voltage.

It was already irritable in the middle of summer; having no power could be fatal.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. You don't need electricity in the middle of the day, and there's nothing to do at night. Just light a candle, as long as you can see, it's fine. Anyway, as long as there's no typhoon, it doesn't matter. If there's no power, just go to sleep early."

"Hmm."

Ye Yaodong saw that the thunderstorm outside had been going on all night, and it was still raining when he got up early in the morning. The tide on the sea outside was fuller than ever.

Under the corridor at the entrance of the house, a group of chickens was hiding on the left, and a group of ducks was hiding on the right. The large ones were followed by a group of small ones that had hatched not long ago, all shivering from the rain, their feathers drooping.

The old lady probably got up early this morning and let them out to feed them rice bran. There was chicken and duck excrement everywhere on the ground, making him not know where to step.

The courtyard wasn't much better; it had accumulated quite a few puddles, and even the mud from the vegetable patch had been washed into the courtyard, along with fallen leaves from who knows where. It looked like it had been ravaged by the thunderstorm all night.

Now that it was still raining outside, it wasn't convenient to go out and clean, so he could only let the courtyard remain dirty.

The vegetables in the small patch were green and lush, looking fresh and tender.

He stood at the door, twisted his neck and waist, then went to wash up, ate breakfast, put on his rain boots, and took an umbrella.

"I'm going to the workshop to take a look, and then go to the village committee to make a phone call first."

The rain hadn't stopped, and everything was wet, making it inconvenient to do anything. If the rain didn't stop by the afternoon, don't even think about harvesting any kelp; he'd have to wait until the weather cleared up. Fortunately, he wasn't in a hurry, and the farming business wasn't something that had to be done in a split second.

After holding his umbrella and going to the workshop to check, he found no problems and headed toward the village committee.

However, he unexpectedly saw a familiar face.

"Captain Chen!"

It was the captain of the small naval squad that had stayed at their house two years ago. At that time, they had stayed in their village for a whole month to salvage bronze artifacts underwater, and they had all stayed in their old house.

Lin Guangyuan had even received a navy-style shirt as a gift from him, and he still folded it neatly like a treasure every day, placing it by his pillow every night and touching it even when he went to sleep.

It was only after encountering him that he had been able to connect the supply of his dried fish to the military.

However, the original squad of people had been replaced. Of the ones he met now, only Captain Chen was familiar; the few young soldiers beside him looked quite unfamiliar.

Captain Chen looked at the bald head in front of him in surprise, carefully identifying him before realizing it was Ye Yaodong.

"Comrade Ye Yaodong, what a coincidence. I was just saying that I would definitely run into you when I entered the village."

"Hehe, I didn't expect to see you in the village either. Good luck, what a coincidence. Do you have a mission coming here this time?"

"A lighthouse is being built in the sea area outside the town, and we've been dispatched with a squad to help support it. It just so happened that there was thunder and lightning yesterday, and heavy rain and power outages this morning, so it's not suitable for construction. All the villages around the town that have electricity are out, and some mountain villages that don't have electricity are also making a fuss about wanting it, so we were incidentally dispatched to help repair the circuits."

"The Navy can repair circuits???"

"No, no, just a few individuals know how. I happen to know, so I was dispatched. Thinking that I was familiar with your village, I specifically requested to come here."

"Oh, I see. It really is: wherever there are difficulties, there you are."

"Hehe, we are the People's Liberation Army."

"If A-Yuan saw you in the village, he would probably be overjoyed."

"Let's not talk about that for now. We need to go to the village committee first, and then have the village cadres take us to repair the circuits."

"Let's go together, I happen to be going to the village committee to make a phone call too."

"That's just right, we're going the same way..."

Ye Yaodong walked over to join them, chatting as they walked, and incidentally invited them all to his house for lunch.

Captain Chen was already very familiar with him, so he smiled and accepted, without pretending to be polite.

"We didn't come earlier. I heard that your village is very lively during Mazu's birthday these past two years. The Tianhou Palace was only built after we left, with both opera performances and deity processions."

"Yes, if you missed it this year, you can wait for next year. It should be like this every year from now on."

"That depends on the situation."

"After your lighthouse is built, you'll definitely have to leave people stationed there, right? If you're stationed there, won't you be able to see it next year?"

"That has to be arranged; it's not something we can decide."

Ye Yaodong didn't continue this topic. Being stationed there didn't sound like a good job anyway.

After arriving at the village committee, everyone went their separate ways. They went to find the village cadres, while he went to make his phone call.

Having traded for so long, he was familiar with Boss Zhou and knew they had a large Jiefang truck. Being able to sell goods across the country meant they had backing, and his dried fish only accounted for a very small proportion of their business.

As soon as he asked if they were accepting kelp, the other party immediately nodded and said yes, saying it was selling very well this year. However, they didn't have any large quantities to collect in their city area.

Ye Yaodong immediately perked up, asking if the price could be fifteen cents. When they nodded, he hurriedly agreed, saying he would collect a batch in the next two days and send it over. The quantity might not be very large, just a few thousand jin.

The other party indicated that it would be best to have over ten thousand jin; a few thousand jin was too little and wouldn't even cover the travel expenses.

He could only say he would try his best.

After hanging up the phone, he immediately started pondering. After the rain stopped, he would first collect from the village. After collecting from the village, he would see the quantity. By then, word would spread, and he would attract the surrounding villages to see if he could collect a bit more.

If other villages weren't near the sea, they probably wouldn't have much quantity, so he could only leave it to luck. Villages near the sea would probably have quite a bit.

He held his umbrella and pondered as he walked home.

At this time, the rain had become lighter, just a drizzle. Around the location of the village's power box, a large crowd of villagers had already gathered, all wearing straw capes, curiously standing in front of the box, surrounding Captain Chen and his team, watching them repair it and incidentally asking one after another if it had been burned out by the thunder.

Everyone was relatively concerned about whether there would be electricity, as life had become much more convenient after the power was turned on.

Plus, they were idle on a rainy day anyway.

Ye Yaodong saw them from afar and walked over to take a look. After listening to the villagers' discussions for a while and knowing it wouldn't be fixed so quickly, he went back first.

He had to go tell A-Qing to cook more food for lunch to entertain the guests.

Lin Xiuqing was also surprised when she heard, "We can run into them again? That's really fate. I'll go see if I can buy some meat. They might not be used to eating the shelled and spiky seafood we have here."

The old lady also actively said she would go kill a chicken to stew.

"Oh, right, didn't you go to make a phone call? Are you collecting kelp? How much is it?" Lin Xiuqing also remembered to ask him while changing into her rain boots.

"Yes, we're collecting. Tell Mom at lunch. Once the rain stops, go to the workshop to collect it. Collect as much as there is. Just like we said last night, collect it at six cents a jin."

"Then how much can we sell it for?"

"I won't tell you yet, but it's profitable. Anyway, we still have to account for the travel expenses to send it to the city; the travel expenses will add another cent per jin."

"Alright, as long as you've thought it through. I'll go buy meat first, I'm afraid I won't be able to buy good meat if I'm late."

"Hmm, get a bit more. I'm thinking about whether to just invite all the village cadres over, have a meal at one table, and then talk about the matter."

People are soft-handed when they take things and soft-mouthed when they eat things. It's always easier to talk at the dinner table than in the office. Once the wine goes to their heads, everyone is brothers, and everything is easy to agree to.

"Alright."

Lin Xiuqing put on her rain boots and went out, only to see a bunch of chickens and ducks already hiding under the umbrella he had just casually placed at the door. She picked up the umbrella and walked out.

Ye Yaodong stayed at home to help the old lady kill chickens and ducks. With so many people, one wouldn't be enough to eat.

After finishing the killing, he went to the village's power box area to take a look again. They were still repairing it, and the village cadres were also accompanying them on the side. The number of people around hadn't decreased; everyone was very idle.

He pulled the village chief and the village secretary aside to chat for a while and also invited them to his house for lunch at noon.

"I've already agreed with Captain Chen that we'll all go to my place to eat at noon, it'll be a bit more lively."

The village chief smiled and said, "You really know how to handle things, organizing it early and inviting everyone to your home."

"Of course, everyone is an old acquaintance. It's rare for them to come to our village, so we must treat them well."

Secretary Chen also smiled and said, "A-Dong has always been thoughtful in his affairs. We'll also shamelessly go over for a meal later."

"I've long wanted to invite the leaders for a meal, but I just couldn't find the time, being busy every day. It just so happens that we're resting, so let's all go to my place to liven things up."

"Alright. I don't know when it will be fixed and when the power will come back. After getting used to having electricity, suddenly having none feels really inconvenient. I tripped and fell last night in the dark, and my knee is swollen."

"Yes, it's better to have electricity..."

Ye Yaodong stood where he was and chatted with them for a while. After setting it, he left first. He still had to go to his old home to tell his father, so his father would come over early for lunch and not keep people waiting.

Upon hearing that they were inviting the village cadres and Captain Chen, who had stayed at their house before, for lunch, Ye's father immediately put down the work of weaving bamboo baskets, put on his rain boots and straw cape, and headed toward the power box.

He prepared to wait there and invite the people home when the time came.

The whole family started getting busy early, preparing the food for the guests at noon. The two little ones at home were left unattended and were causing trouble everywhere.

The pile of chickens and ducks under the corridor at the door were bullied by them until they fled everywhere, flying into the rain and hiding all over the courtyard. The clucking and quacking sounds never stopped.

That was one thing, but Ye Yaodong also saw Ye Xiaoxi secretly run into the house and take a spoon out. He thought she was going to do something, so he followed her out and took a look.

Pei Yu was using a tree branch to stir chicken and duck excrement, and she was holding the spoon, calling the dog over, and then hugging the dog's head, wanting to feed the dog the excrement.

"Ah~ open your mouth, be good~ eat your fill~"

"Eat your fill quickly, grow tall~"

"Be good, eat... eat... eat..."

Ye Yaodong had a headache and hurriedly stopped them, rescuing the dog.

This group of dogs was fierce toward outsiders, but they had absolutely no resistance toward the children in the family, allowing them to knead and squash them. They would be ruined by them sooner or later.

"Aren't you two disgusting? You can play with anything, and then you'll use this spoon to eat!"

Ye Xiaoxi threw it away in disgust and shook her head desperately, "No."

"How about I send you to Little Yu's house to play?"

"Okay, okay~"

The two immediately clapped their hands happily. They were bored to death at home, and changing to another house would be more fun.

Ye Huimei's belly was too big; she was already at her due date, and would be giving birth in about half a month. A-Guang didn't dare to be careless, so when they finished selling goods in the city yesterday, he didn't follow them back.

Now the busier the adults were, the naughtier they became. Ye Yaodong couldn't stand it and hurriedly sent them away first. ===== CHAPTER 1071 =====