Chapter 1071: Discussing at the Dinner Table

After the children were no longer making noise at home, the couple suddenly felt quiet and comfortable.

Only the old lady felt restless, habitually turning her head to look for them from time to time.

"Now that they've been sent away, you'll have to pick them up later. Why go to such trouble? Wouldn't it be better to find something for them to play with?"

"It's quieter."

After the old lady muttered a string of complaints, seeing that the couple ignored her, she sensibly closed her mouth, then changed the batteries in the radio, preparing to listen to it.

This one could be used with both electricity and batteries. Since the power was out and it couldn't be plugged in, changing to batteries allowed them to listen to it. Listening while working was also not bad.

"How many days until the new grave worship?"

Ye Yaodong got up to flip through the calendar hanging on the wall, "Seven more days."

"Oh, then there's no rush."

"When the time comes, I'll go to Fatty's father-in-law's place in advance and order a pig's head and tail."

"Alright, alright, when the time comes, just prepare a few more bowls of whatever chicken, duck, or fish and bring them up the mountain."

Lin Xiuqing interrupted to change the subject, "Do you want to go see if their circuits are fixed? Go wait early and invite them over..."

"Just go pull the light cord and you'll know if it's fixed. Dad is waiting there; if it's fixed, he'll lead them over. If it's not fixed, he'll bring them over when it's time."

"Oh, Dad is watching there, that's good."

Before long, Ye's mother also came over after work. Seeing his smooth, bald head, she was also taken aback.

When she came over for breakfast this morning, he had already gone out, and she didn't know he had shaved his head bald last night.

"Ah!" She widened her eyes, looking at him for a long time before recognizing it was her own son, "What are you doing? Why shave your head bald for no reason? People only shave their heads bald when they're released from prison. How unlucky..."

Ye Yaodong reached up to touch his head, "It's alright, it's cool."

"How are you going to face people walking out like this? Before, you were wearing a strange hat, covering your face so only your eyes were visible, like a ghost. Now you're shaving your head bald. I don't know what you're doing, just messing around..."

"Why care how others see it? I'll do whatever is comfortable for me."

"Comfortable... comfortable your head. Walking out onto the street, people will think you've been released from prison and will all avoid you."

Ye Yaodong slapped his forehead, his eyes lighting up, "Good idea! Let all the younger brothers in the family shave their heads bald before going to the city to deliver goods. Let's see who dares to have any ideas on the way. Tough guys just released from prison! Anyone who meets them on the road will have to avoid them!"

Ye's mother looked full of disgust, frowning, "What kind of ghost idea is that."

"This is a good idea, hahaha."

Lin Xiuqing also couldn't help but laugh and say, "Then when you all go to Zhejiang Province to catch jellyfish next month, let everyone shave their heads bald. By then, a large group of you will all be bald. If you walk onto the pier, everyone will have to avoid you. Where would the local hooligans dare to provoke you? It will also look safer."

Ye Yaodong laughed heartily, "A group of tough guys released from prison—that really would be quite intimidating on the pier. However, by then, with over a hundred people going, no hooligans would dare provoke us anyway, since there are so many of us and we have guns."

"Wouldn't being bald make it even more effective? Even more intimidating."

"That's right, that's right, hahaha... When the time comes, just let them all shave their heads bald. Anyway, after going for a month, it will grow into a buzz cut when they come back. Being bald is also cool, saving everyone from having hair that looks like it was fished out of a pickle jar every day, sour and smelly. Not having hair can also save trouble."

"You even stumbled into a benefit by shaving your head bald?" Ye's mother said unhappily.

"That's right."

He really felt that shaving his head bald was quite wise. When the time came, he would find a barber, and the night before they set off, he would have everyone shave their heads bald.

"Mom, did you call everyone yesterday? Supplement it for them. Before we set off next month, I'll call someone over to shave their heads bald. Save them from having hair like straw. Not having hair also saves trouble, and it's less trouble to wash hair outside."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. Don't make them pay; I'll pay for the haircut."

"Is this a question of money? Forget it, a large group of people shaving together will have company, so it won't be that embarrassing. Once the rain stops, I'll go door-to-door to tell them."

"They're all from the same village, everyone knows each other, so there's nothing to laugh about, and no one will misunderstand anything. If we go out, it's even less of a matter; no one knows anyone, so just do whatever is convenient. By the time we come back, it will have grown out."

"Hmm... day in and day out, your head is full of ghost ideas..."

After Ye's mother muttered, she planned to check if the food was ready, only to find the table full of dishes.

She was surprised, "What, are you not living your lives anymore? Preparing such a large table of dishes, are you inviting the whole village to eat?"

"We're inviting Captain Chen and his team who are repairing the circuits to eat, and incidentally calling all the village cadres to talk about the kelp farming."

"Are you really going to farm it? Does anyone want it? What did they say on the phone this morning?"

Knowing they were inviting people to eat, Ye's mother also rolled up her sleeves to help organize, asking while she organized.

Ye Yaodong told her roughly, letting her spread the word in the village if she was free in the afternoon. Once it cleared up, they would send it to the workshop. Collect as much as there is, and it's still six cents a jin.

"Collect as much as there is? What if people bring their relatives' over?"

"Collect it all. I've already asked; even over ten thousand jin isn't too much. The more, the better."

Getting a tractor would at most be five tons. If the number was larger than that, then he would hire another tractor to transport it.

"That much, huh? Five tons... then you really have to spread the word further to be able to collect it. Otherwise, who would be idle enough to dry that much? Are you sure you can sell it?"

"Hmm."

Collecting five tons would only cost six hundred yuan, and he could sell it for fifteen hundred. Turning it around, he could earn eight or nine hundred. The profit was very high, much faster than earning a few cents or dimes in the shop.

Selling fish sauce for half a year only earned sixty-five hundred yuan, which barely broke even. Selling kelp was much faster, but unfortunately, he could only do this batch now and would have to wait until next year.

It's no wonder the other party said to have as much quantity as possible, even over ten thousand jin wasn't too much. After all, it was seasonal, with only one or two months of harvest a year. Dried goods wouldn't spoil if stored, and he could hoard them and sell them slowly. Not to mention, the other party was probably taking them for wholesale.

"It's dried fish, it's boats, and now it's kelp... so good at messing around, you can't find anyone in the whole village who can mess around more than you..."

Ye Yaodong didn't want to listen to his mother's nagging, "You help here, I'll go out and see if they're almost done."

After finishing his words, he walked out the door.

At this time, there wasn't much rain, just a few drops, so he didn't hold an umbrella or wear a straw cape. Anyway, he was bald.

Big head, big head, no worries about rain. Others have umbrellas, he has a big head.

When he walked halfway, he saw his father leading a bunch of people toward him from a distance, everyone laughing and talking.

He walked up to meet them.

"Is it fixed?"

Ye's father said, "Not yet, we're missing cables, so we sent someone to buy them. It's also mealtime now, so we asked them to come over to eat first. It's not too late to work after eating."

"Then go eat first. The food is almost ready. I was afraid it wouldn't be that fast, so I planned to go over and call you to eat before working."

"Hehe, we'll have to shamelessly go to your house to eat again. Once the cables are bought back, it'll be fixed and have power very soon."

"What's shameless about it? We're all old acquaintances, everyone is so familiar. It's rare for you to come to our village, and you're here to help, so we should treat you well. You can even stay at my place for a few days."

"Hahaha, staying is out of the question. Once the rain stops and the circuits here are fixed, I have another mission."

They walked toward the seaside laughing and talking. People nearby heard the movement; some ran to the door to look, while others opened windows to peek.

As they talked, they all mentioned his bald head. Such a conspicuous big bald head, how could they not see it? It's just that everyone was polite and didn't ask right away.

Ye Yaodong joined in the fun and recounted the words he had said to his mother in the room earlier, which made everyone admire his ghost ideas.

Even Chen Shuji said that they could let all the other fishing boats that were going shave their heads bald for convenience, and also to make the team look larger and make outsiders more wary.

He nodded repeatedly in agreement, and they chatted harmoniously.

After arriving home and sitting at the table, the atmosphere became even more enthusiastic. He also called his older brother and second brother over to accompany the guests.

As for the children who returned from school, Lin Xiuqing had already left food for them in advance, letting them carry it to the door or upstairs to eat as they pleased.

They were also happy to do so, each holding a rice bowl and running out to visit neighbors.

As for Ye Xiaoxi and Pei Yu, no one in the house thought about picking them up, and the Pei family didn't specifically send the children back.

Having eaten their own family's food until they were tired of it, eating someone else's food felt exceptionally fragrant. Ye Xiaoxi was also exceptionally happy staying at the Pei family, eating her meal fragrantly, and didn't clamor to come back.

After three rounds of wine, when the atmosphere was lively, Ye Yaodong told the village chief and the village secretary about wanting to farm kelp.

"You want to farm kelp?" Both of them were surprised and said in unison.

"It's not me farming it; I want to ask you to organize the villagers to farm it. You can call four or five people, just a small scale to try it out and see."

"How do you farm this? And, does anyone want kelp? Nobody here wants kelp. You can just pick it up on the sea when the season comes. Why would you need to buy it?"

"I want it. As long as it can be grown, I want as much as there is. Now that the rain has stopped, after the meal, I'll ask my mother to spread the word in the village. I want all the kelp everyone has on hand right now."

The village chief and Chen Shuji looked at each other, feeling their brains weren't working well, not understanding his intention.

Ye Yaodong continued to supplement, talking about the prospects of kelp farming they had discussed at their dinner table yesterday, and also about "individual prosperity driving collective prosperity."

Before the village cadres and Chen Shuji could speak, Captain Chen nodded in appreciation.

"This idea of yours is good, your awareness is too high. After individual prosperity, you don't forget the collective, and you want to lead the whole village to prosperity. Your moral character is too good."

Other naval officers also followed suit.

"That's right, this idea of yours is too good. You have your own shop and don't have to worry about sales. As long as it can be grown, after the village has income, won't the collective be able to slowly become prosperous?"

"Now, let alone in the countryside, it's not easy for people in the city to earn money. A bunch of returning educated youth can't find work. Some families even have old people specifically retire from the factory to let their children inherit the job, just so they don't idle around, while they themselves stay at home pasting matchboxes."

"Yes, if you can let the people of the whole village have an income, that's the hope of the whole village."

Captain Chen continued to smile and say, "I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful, concerned about the villagers of the whole village, and wanting to lead the whole village out of poverty. Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, it's worth a try."

"If it succeeds, your village will definitely be able to be brought out as a model. If it doesn't succeed, it's no loss; it's just the labor of a few people."

"It only requires a small amount of labor, but you can gamble on something big. No matter how you look at it, it's worth it."

Others continued to echo.

"Rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains, rely on the sea to eat from the sea. This kelp farming is also on the sea, it's very suitable. Comrade Ye Yaodong's brain really works well, no wonder he's so famous now."

"Anyway, as long as it can be grown, Comrade Ye Yaodong will sell it, right?"

Ye Yaodong nodded hurriedly, "Yes, as long as it can be grown, I don't have to worry about sales. Selling it out is an income for all the villagers. After all, in the whole village of over four hundred households, not even one-tenth have boats. Everyone is just barely making ends meet, saving a little money. How can that compare to workers in the city who have a stable salary every month?"

With them saying his awareness was high in one sentence and his moral character was good in another, his old face was about to turn red, and he didn't dare to answer.

He didn't have any awareness, didn't have any moral character; it was entirely driven by profit.

Captain Chen looked at the village chief and the village secretary, "Since it can bring benefits, it should be worth spending the effort to study it, right?"

Everything had been said by them, what else could they say?

After the two cadres were surprised, they pricked up their ears to listen to this one talk and that one talk, and they were also pondering in their hearts.

The village chief pondered for a moment and asked, "A-Dong, the kelp you're talking about collecting, is it collected directly after it clears up? Do you want all of it that the villagers have on hand?"

Chen Shuji also asked with concern, "How much are you collecting it for? How much can it sell for a jin?"

"I plan to collect it at six cents. Collect as much as there is. If other villages have picked it up and dried it in the past few days, I want that too. It's not too much; tens of thousands of jin is fine."

The two old men immediately widened their eyes, "Tens of thousands of jin?"

Captain Chen and the others were also surprised, "That much? Is it that easy to sell?"

"I don't have to worry about sales here. Look at my dried fish, basically every once in a while, a truckload is taken away. That's why I want our village to study how to grow it. As long as it can be grown, it's a good thing for everyone. All the fellow villagers can have an income, instead of relying on doing odd jobs every day to subsidize the family. All year round, some families can't even save a few hundred yuan."

"Nobody knows how to grow this either. Everyone has no experience, and that kelp grows on rocks... it grows naturally. When the season comes, everyone digs a little if they want to eat, or picks up some that wash up on the sea."

"I know a little bit. I heard that some places have already started farming, and they don't just farm kelp; they also farm sea cucumbers and abalone. How high is the value of these two things? And they grow in the sea. Wild ones are hard to get; you have to dive into the water to catch them. The price has always been high."

"If there's a price, naturally there's a market. Correspondingly, in these few years, the problem of food and clothing has been solved, everyone has some quality pursuits, and naturally there are laboratories specifically studying the farming of these."

"So, relatively speaking, there are people farming kelp. This can be sold as feed for sea cucumbers and abalone, right? Otherwise, what do sea cucumbers and abalone eat? And this kelp can be dried and stored. It can be kept, it's not afraid of spoiling, and it's easy to transport. It can also be transported to inland areas."

The village chief and the village secretary were surprised again.

"There are people farming sea cucumbers and abalone?"

"Yes, I heard there are research institutes specifically studying it."

"You know so much?"

"I heard it from the leaders."

The two nodded immediately, knowing he had a good relationship with the leaders, so it was normal for him to know more.

"So, I thought that some of the islands around us have kelp growing on them, so the environment is probably quite suitable for production, so I also thought our village could follow suit and farm it."

"We have to ponder this."

"Yes, we have to ponder it. This isn't something you can just farm if you want to, we don't understand either..."

"That's why I'm asking you to organize people. I don't have this free time, otherwise I would have called people to do it myself."

Actually, he could call people to do it himself. Anyway, he would have to tell them how to collect seedlings, cultivate seedlings, and clamp seedlings, and at what temperature it was suitable.

But after he grew it, if he could get considerable benefits, surely a bunch of people in the village would want to come to ask for advice and follow suit. He couldn't not teach them, and by then he would definitely make himself very troublesome.

He didn't rely on farming to earn money anyway. What he thought about was earning money by collecting vegetables. It was really unnecessary to spend his own effort to call people to do it.

So it was very necessary for the village committee to come forward directly, directly let the village committee organize the manpower, and slowly expand it to the whole village, letting the village committee worry about it. At most, he would tell them how to do it in the early stages.

It was better for the village committee to take the lead on everything, and he would just give ideas.

If it was really grown, it was impossible to leave him out and give the goods to others to collect. It would definitely be prioritized for him.

Once it developed from collective to individual, then it would depend on each family's own choice of who to give the goods to. By then, he would have long since made a fortune.

"Then we have to go back and discuss it. After all, this is a new thing. Like you said, it's very likely to lead the village to get rich. We also have to discuss who it's appropriate to call to do it."

"Is this kelp farmed in winter? I see that there's a lot floating on the sea in April or May, and it grows quite large on the islands."

"Yes, kelp germinates through spores to produce seedlings, then attaches the seedlings to a seedling device, then puts the seedling device into the seawater for temporary farming, waits for the seedlings to grow to a certain specification, and then carries out seedling division and farming. Now that the kelp is mature, its base band will become deep and thick, just slice it."

Everyone was listening in a fog, when suddenly Chen Shuji grasped the point.

"Farming on the sea requires boats, right? And you need to get ropes, floats, and so on, right? You said it grows on ropes, so the cost input shouldn't be small."

"Yes, we can talk about this in more detail later. Everyone eat now, don't let it affect everyone's meal, hahaha."

Anyway, he had already started it, letting them know. After they went back, they would still have to digest it, then discuss it, and they would have to watch him collect the kelp process, let them be convinced that it wasn't hard to sell, and give them some motivation.

Then talk about input costs and his donation of two boats to sponsor it. This had to be discussed after the village committee had the intention. Buying and selling shouldn't be rushed; there was no reason to chase after donating money.

No matter what, it had to be after they were tempted, and then they would take the initiative to discuss it with him.

And there were others at the dinner table, so it was better to eat and treat the naval officers well first.

The village chief also immediately smiled and took the conversation, "Yes, yes, yes, this is about the village's development, let's discuss it slowly later. It sounds like your original intention is not bad."

"Of course, I'm also a member of our Bai Sha Village, and I also want our village to become more and more prosperous and wealthy."

Chen Shuji also said, "You are really becoming more and more promising. No one in the whole village can compare to you, and your brain is really powerful. You can think of anything, and you have so many ideas."

"We'll hold a meeting later, let's discuss it together. If this kelp can really sell for a good price, the idea is not bad."

Ye's mother immediately took the conversation, "I'll go to the small shop to talk about it after eating later. When the time comes, you can watch us collect the goods."

Ye's father also said, "If it can't be sold, it's equivalent to Dongzi paying for it. He definitely won't do things that make him pay, and it's not like money is too hot to handle."

"Originally, he went out to sea to fish, sell dried fish, and so on, and he was doing well. He has shops in the city, and so many boats in his hands, with stable income every month. Kelp doesn't matter to him. He actually doesn't need to mess around with this."

"He is just thinking for our village, that's why he thought about letting the village committee organize the farming. He is also thinking about letting our village become better and better, otherwise he wouldn't have to do this thankless job."

Everyone at the dinner table couldn't help but nod.

Captain Chen also said, "Comrade Ye Yaodong really has high awareness, no wonder he is becoming more and more powerful."

"Oh, stop praising, stop praising. My face is thin, and I'm blushing from the praise. Eat, eat, eat, don't be polite. We've been chatting here for a long time, will it affect your meal..."

"No, eating should be lively like this. We are also this lively when we eat at home."

"Do you want to have two cups? We have homemade rice wine, this is good to drink..."

Ye's mother glanced at Ye's father, then also smiled and greeted everyone, "Eat more, don't be polite, just treat it like your own home. I'll go get you the rice wine."

"No, no, no, we still have work to do. Why drink alcohol in the middle of the day? It delays things."

"Yes, there's still work to be done, how can we drink alcohol? We still have to go back to report in the afternoon, what's the point of drinking alcohol."

Ye's father immediately greeted the village chief and the secretary again, "Then you have two cups..."

"No, no, we still have to go to work in the afternoon. How can we go to work after drinking alcohol? The circuits aren't even fixed yet."

"There will be opportunities to drink next time, you can't drink in the middle of the day."

"Hehehe, then eat more..."

Ye's mother took the wine out and placed it on the stove, then smiled and sat down again.

The atmosphere at the dinner table became intense again. Everyone chatted about everything, but they chatted most about the naval comrades, chatting about their recent lighthouse project.

Just as the table was eating lively, Pei's father and A-Guang's older sister each brought a mud monkey over.

When the two stood at the courtyard gate and saw the liveliness in the room, they were stunned and hesitated about whether to enter.

It was Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang who saw them while eating at someone else's door, immediately carrying their rice bowls over to kick the dog away, letting them in, and also running home to shout.

"Mom, little sister is back, little sister is so dirty..."

Then he put the empty bowl on the stove and ran outside like a gust of wind again.

Ye Chengyang followed suit, putting his bowl and chopsticks on the stove, and also ran out with a 'whoosh'.

Everyone in the room looked at the door, and Lin Xiuqing also immediately stood up.

With so many people there, she couldn't scold the child, so she just smiled and took Ye Xiaoxi, asking, "How did you get so dirty?"

Pei's father smiled and said, "The two were playing hide-and-seek. A small grass snake crawled into the house. Little Yu caught the snake and went to find Little Jiu, but it scared Little Jiu. She ran out screaming and fell down. Little Yu also followed behind her and stepped into the mud, getting all wet."

"There are no clothes for the two girls at home, so I brought them over to change."

Everyone widened their eyes in surprise, looking at Pei Yu in Pei's father's arms.

You can't judge a book by its cover!

Seeing so many people looking at her, Pei Yu also shyly burrowed into Pei's father's arms, burying her head in his neck to hide.

"So small and so bold. A while ago, she didn't even dare to catch earthworms," Ye Yaodong said incredulously.

The old lady laughed, "Later, she followed Little Jiu every day to dig earthworms to feed the chickens, and got addicted to playing."

"That works too?"

"Dad caught it..." Pei Yu turned her head and said in a low voice, "Said to catch the head..."

"I just said it, how could she be so small and know how to catch snakes? It turns out A-Guang taught her. Like father, like daughter, amazing."

Ye Yaodong clicked his tongue in wonder. Originally, looking at Pei Yu, he felt she was gentle and well-behaved, and the little girl was easily shy. He didn't expect that she really didn't hesitate to catch snakes.

At this time, Ye Xiaoxi also hugged Lin Xiuqing's thigh and cried loudly, "Wa wa wa~ scared scared scared scared~ old snake scared~ little sister is bad~ don't play with her~ bad little sister~"

"Why did you shave your head bald!" Ye's mother exclaimed in surprise.

Just now, Ye Xiaoxi was being carried horizontally in the back, and her line of sight was blocked by Pei's father. Neither Ye's father nor Ye's mother noticed that Ye Xiaoxi had become bald. Only now that she cried out did they look down and see the little bald head on the ground, and were surprised.

Ye's father was also surprised, "Why would a little girl shave her head bald..."

"Your whole family is bald! The two sons who just ran out are also bald..." Captain Chen also laughed and said in surprise, "Four bald heads? Hahahaha..."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "The hair was too long, and it's easy to sweat in the summer. To save trouble, I shaved my head bald, and incidentally let the two sons in the family shave too. I didn't expect this girl to cry and make a fuss about wanting to shave her head bald too, so I shaved it for her. Anyway, she's still young, so it doesn't matter."

Pei's father looked curiously at the table full of people, "Are there guests today?"

"They are Navy, just here to repair the circuits. Didn't the power go out after the thunder yesterday? It just so happens that the lighthouse outside the town can't start construction, so they were dispatched to repair the circuits."

Ye's father added, "Captain Chen also came to our village to salvage that shipwreck two years ago and stayed at our house, so we are quite familiar, so we invited him back for a meal. Come, in-law, sit down and eat a bit."

"No, no, I've eaten..."

"It doesn't matter, you can sit down and chat even if you've eaten. Anyway, we're not outsiders."

Ye's mother also immediately stood up, took a rag, and wiped the mess on the table, clearing a space and adding a set of bowls and chopsticks for Pei's father to sit.

As for Lin Xiuqing and A-Guang's older sister, they took the two children back to the room to bathe and change clothes first. ===== CHAPTER 1072 =====