Chapter 1073: Confirming Farming

The old lady patted him, "Don't say it next time. Isn't Huimei doing quite well like this? Now she's going to have two children, and she's right by our side. People in the military are away all year round, it's not necessarily very good."

"It changed really fast. Just a moment ago, you were all saying Captain Chen was good."

Lin Xiuqing smiled, "It's not our own family member, so just looking at the fact that they are soldiers, of course, we think it's good. Of course, we still want our own younger sister to stay by our side, so we can see her. Besides, isn't A-Guang quite good?"

The old lady also told the truth, "Everything is afraid of comparison. After comparison, you know which one is good. Soldiers are also compared with the two people she met before. Of course, the soldier is better, but if people can't bring their family, that's not good either."

"See, it doesn't have much to do with us, don't worry about others. Everyone has their own creation. The power is out, so go to sleep early. Do you hear me? Ye Chenghu, Ye Chengyang."

"Hiss..."

Ye Chenghu heard his name being called, his hand shook, and he burned himself directly on the candle wick. The candlelight also dimmed for a moment.

"I know, I know."

Lin Xiuqing saw his clumsy appearance, so she went to the window, took the iron box of fish cans, welded the candle onto the iron box, and then took it upstairs to give it to them.

Ye Yaodong also prepared to light one for the old lady, but she waved her hand and said no need. She lay down as soon as she returned to the room, no need to waste candles.

It was raining and there was no power, so everyone returned to their own rooms early.

Outside, the rain was pitter-pattering, getting heavier and heavier, pouring down like a hole had been leaked, only there was no thunder like last night.

However, the wind and rain outside didn't affect the warmth in the room at all. Under the dim candlelight, there was the laughter of children and adults.

"Big bald head... little bald head..."

"Touch it, touch it..."

"Go away..."

Lin Xiuqing thought it was still early, so she didn't urge them to sleep, and she herself took out the account book and flipped through it.

It was Ye Yaodong who was annoyed by the two children. The four little hands kept touching his head, endlessly. He couldn't stand it anymore and urged her not to look at it in the middle of the night without power, it would hurt her eyes.

She closed the account book, made malted milk for them, and urged them to sleep and not to play around.

Only after she coaxed the children to sleep did she herself couldn't help but reach out and touch the bald head.

Yesterday, they all slept early, and she was asleep when she entered the room, so she didn't reach out for fear of waking the father and daughter.

Now that she had touched the small one, she couldn't help but touch the big one.

"You're doing it too! After touching the small one, you touch the big one. You guys are endless."

Lin Xiuqing couldn't help but laugh, "I really have to say, this round head is quite good to touch, just like a peeled egg."

"I think so too. This is soft and tender, just like a big steamed bun, and it's quite good to touch, and it's soft and fragrant."

"Where are you touching..."

"You touch my round one, I touch your round one, it's very fair."

"Hehehe, your round one is much bigger than mine..."

"Then you compensate me with another one, add the bun below, it's almost enough to offset it."

"Indecent..."

Not to mention, in the end, she really could only hold his round head.

Outside the house, the rain poured down endlessly. The sound of rain hitting the leaves, hitting the roof, hitting the green grass, the sound went from slow to fast.

Sometimes with the help of the wind, it could sweep from left to right, a piece of sound sweeping past, and the movement became louder and louder.

Inside the house, it also cooperated with the movement outside, and it didn't stop for a long time, becoming more and more intense.

The heavy rain continued until the next day. Such heavy rain really meant they couldn't go out, and they didn't have to go to school. The happiest one was Ye Chenghu.

And Ye Chengyang couldn't laugh. He got up early in the morning and started to squat at the front door with worry, looking at the rain outside, and then, taking advantage of the adults not paying attention, secretly took an umbrella, carried a basket, and ran outside.

When he ran back all wet, the adults discovered that he had picked a large basket of weeds.

Lin Xiuqing held a whip and was about to attack, but he said, "I want to feed the little sheep. It's raining, the little sheep have no grass to eat."

Ye Yaodong laughed, "The silly boy actually has a sense of responsibility. You're really taking it to heart to raise it. In this weather, you still run out to pull grass."

Seeing that he was still quite obedient, Lin Xiuqing reluctantly let him stretch out his hand and hit him twice as a punishment.

The rain went on endlessly. This heavy rain continued for three days without stopping, and the village was also without power for three consecutive days. It was simply inconvenient to come in for inspection in the heavy rain.

And the children at home were locked up for three days. However, they weren't afraid of having nothing to play with. There were a bunch of treasure toys at home, and there were a group of brothers and sisters next door. The rain didn't affect them running back and forth, they just got scolded twice.

It wasn't until the 4th day that the rain eased a bit. It wasn't until the afternoon that it turned into a drizzle. After being gloomy for three or four days, the sky finally brightened up.

It wasn't until three or four o'clock in the afternoon that the rain stopped completely and cleared up.

"Rainbow! There's a rainbow!"

"There's a rainbow, there's a rainbow in the sky..."

As soon as the rain stopped outside, the children couldn't wait to run out. They were also the first to discover a rainbow in the sky, jumping and shouting excitedly.

After so many days of heavy rain, who knows what the houses in the village had leaked into. After the rain stopped, Ye Yaodong told his older brother and second brother and went to the old house together to take a look.

The rural dirt roads were full of mud and puddles. After a few days of rain, some puddles were higher than his lower legs when stepped into. Every household also ran out to sweep and organize their doors. Some families couldn't wait to move their quilts and clothes out to dry.

Just as he walked halfway, he met the gatekeeper of the village committee.

As soon as the man saw him, he immediately pulled him and said, "A-Guang called to find you two days ago. It was raining too hard outside, and it wasn't convenient to run back and forth, so I told him to call again after the rain stopped, or wait until the rain stopped, and I would go to your house to call you, so you could call him back."

"Ah, then I'll go call A-Guang back."

Ye Yaodong looked at his older brother and second brother and let them go to the old house first. He went to call A-Guang back. Who knows if it would rain heavily again at night.

The phone call A-Guang called back should be about the fishing boat in the city. If it was about Huimei giving birth, it should also be calling his mother to answer the phone.

It just so happened that he also wanted to tell him about the jellyfish, letting him pay attention to contacting more in the near future.

After telling his older brother and second brother, he took a detour and followed them to the village committee.

After a few days of rain, the village committee was empty and there was no one. It looked like a mess everywhere, and no one had come to sweep it yet.

After he finished the phone call for nearly half an hour, he saw Captain Chen and the others coming again, and the village chief and the village secretary also sent people to call them.

Looking at their mud-covered feet, and the shoes that couldn't see their original color, he knew they had walked in on two legs.

"Coming to repair the circuits again?"

"Yes, it rained heavily for several days, and nothing could be done. We couldn't even go out, so we could only wait until the rain stopped before coming over."

"It's already this time, it will be dark by the time it's repaired. Go to my place for dinner tonight."

"Hehe..."

"Good, good..."

"That's troubling Comrade Ye Yaodong..."

Captain Chen smiled and didn't answer, but the comrades-in-arms beside him were excited and started teasing.

"You guys are really not polite!" Captain Chen glared at the people beside him speechlessly.

"Not polite, in the future, we're all our own people, hahahahaha..."

"Take advantage of it in advance, the captain will pay it back slowly in the future."

"Nonsense!"

Ye Yaodong laughed heartily. Looking at them like this, they hadn't chatted less or teased Captain Chen less in private these few days.

And looking at Captain Chen's appearance, he didn't say to forbid it. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't dare to joke about it casually. He probably had a count in his heart.

After the village chief and the village secretary came to greet them and take them to the power box, he took a detour to Pei's house, preparing to call Pei's father to his house for dinner at night, and incidentally said that Captain Chen and the others had just come over.

Pei's father was surprised and immediately walked toward the power box.

Ye Yaodong went to find A-Zheng, called him to go to Xiao Xiao's house together, and told them about the process of calling A-Guang back just now.

"A-Guang said that it's 18,000 to 20,000 in the city, and the delivery date can be set at the end of next year, which is better than the county. The county doesn't accept it at all now. As for the provincial capital, I have to wait until I go out to sea, and then go to the provincial capital to ask. However, I'm not familiar with the provincial capital, so I have to inquire about it."

"Then wait until after inquiring to decide."

"Did A-Guang say he wanted to participate?"

"He just said that if we don't have enough people to share, he can share it."

Probably he was also embarrassed to say directly that he wanted to join in.

"Then share it together, everyone pay a little less." A-Zheng said.

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at him, "Are you stupid? You don't have to pay the full amount at the beginning, just pay a deposit. What's not enough to share? Everyone together, order two boats, and divide one when it arrives. When the second one arrives, divide it together. Whether it's two people sharing one boat or four people sharing two boats, wait until the time comes to see. With so many people, we definitely have to get two boats. What's one boat enough for?"

Xiao Xiao was also a bit worried, "That is, two boats, the cost is too big. Two boats would be around 40,000, right? If we divide it equally, then each person has to pay 10,000 yuan. That's a bit much, all the family assets have to be pasted in. One boat is fine."

"Didn't I say it? Pay a deposit first, and the delivery of the boat is also a matter for next year. No matter what, it won't make you unable to eat. In the next month, jellyfish fishing will probably earn a sum. It's just that it definitely won't compare to last year. Accumulate this year, accumulate next year, what is 10,000 yuan? It won't make you go bankrupt to gamble."

The two looked at each other and hesitated.

"Do it or not? Be active in earning money. If you don't give up the child, you can't catch the wolf. Think about the speed at which fishing boats have risen in price in the past two years. At first, it was so cheap, and in the past two years, it has risen in price before it even arrived."

A-Zheng said fiercely, "Do it! You look at it, A-Guang and you have no opinion, then I have no opinion."

"How about waiting until the jellyfish earns money in the next month to decide?"

Ye Yaodong patted Xiao Xiao on the shoulder, "Then you wait until next month to decide how many shares to invest. Anyway, we will directly order two boats in advance. As for how to divide it, wait until next month to decide? If you feel the pressure is great and want to share less, that's fine."

He nodded, "That's fine, then you decide first. When the time comes, we'll discuss how to divide it. If there's money, share more; if there's less money, share less."

In this way, A-Zheng had no opinion, and they could be considered to have agreed like this.

"Alright, then later, when we've looked at it, we'll directly order two boats first. As for how to divide it, let's talk about it next month."

Partnership is so troublesome. Everything has to be discussed with others before it can be decided, which adds an extra process for no reason and requires running a few more trips.

The most critical thing is that communication is inconvenient, and everything has to rely on manpower running back and forth to discuss and talk. If he wants to make a phone call, they have to be at home to discuss it. With his unfixed time of dragging nets and docking, where is there such a coincidence?

He made himself like a messenger, but he didn't trust handing it over to them.

"I'm going back first."

"Hey, wait, do you still want kelp? My wife's relatives also have kelp. My mother asked a few days ago, but it was a coincidence, it rained, so it wasn't sent over. Now it's cleared up, I estimate it will be brought over later. Do you still want it?"

"Yes, want as much as there is. Whether it's sent over in the afternoon or tomorrow, it's fine."

"Alright, then I'll tell my mother."

Ye Yaodong also thought about going to the old house to take a look and tell his mother that he still wanted to collect kelp. It was still far from the 10,000 jin he expected. No matter what, he had to gather a full truckload for him to pull away.

It was delayed because of the rain in the past few days, otherwise, after a few days of publicity and fermentation, even if it couldn't gather 10,000 jin, it could gather eight or nine thousand jin.

After the three finished talking, they went back to their own homes.

After the heavy rain, although they didn't have to organize the work of washing clothes and drying quilts, they also had to help the family do other chores.

Because the old house had been repaired diligently in the past two years, and the doors and windows had been replaced again last year, the impact of this heavy rain was not great. Only a few rooms had a little small leakage, which was unavoidable. There was nothing else, and his older brother and second brother went back after turning around.

He came over to take a look, told his mother that he still wanted to collect kelp, and incidentally asked his mother to come over to help cook in the evening, as he still had to invite Captain Chen and the others to dinner.

Ye's mother thought that there was nothing to do now, so she went back with him. Inviting people to dinner had to be prepared early for the dishes that should be prepared. It was already 3 o'clock, which was not early, and she had to buy a few more meat dishes.

It had been raining heavily for several days, and no fishing boats had gone out to sea. If it weren't for their family having dried fish, they would have only been able to eat vegetarian food. Now inviting people to dinner couldn't let them just eat vegetarian food.

It was also fortunate that Ye's mother came over to get busy and organize the dinner. Otherwise, Lin Xiuqing wouldn't have been able to spare her hands to prepare dinner for the guests.

Not long after the rain stopped, she started collecting kelp one after another again.

It was really because it had rained for several days, and everyone was anxious in their hearts, afraid that their family wouldn't want it anymore. As soon as the rain stopped, people from several nearby villages, as long as they had kelp at home, all ran over to ask, without them having to publicize it again.

Ye Yaodong was also helping Lin Xiuqing weigh and collect kelp in the workshop. In just this half afternoon after it cleared up, they collected another 2,000 jin.

Adding the ones collected in the past few days, there were nearly 6,000 jin. It wasn't much to say, but it wasn't little either.

Everyone in the workshop was also busy until they were sweating, even the big bald head Ye Yaodong had water droplets on his forehead.

It was raining heavily in the morning, but after the rain stopped and the rainbow appeared in the afternoon, the temperature also rose directly. Clearly, it was still cool in the air when it was raining, but now it was five degrees higher. As a result, they were moving goods back and forth, and they were also sweating.

Lin Xiuqing held a jar in one hand, grabbed coins in it with the other hand to play, and watched others tying kelp on the bench.

Because it had just rained, everything was wet, so they specifically pushed a cart over and received the goods directly onto the cart, which also avoided the sacks coming into contact with the ground and getting damp.

Ye Yaodong took the hemp rope and tightly tied the mouth of the sack, and told Wang Guangliang and the others to tie it tightly.

"Tie it tightly to avoid dampness. It's been very damp these two days of rain."

Lin Xiuqing grabbed the coins and made them jingle, "After tying it, weigh it together, calculate the total, and I'll record it here to see how much you're still short."

"Alright, I estimate we can collect a bit more in pieces tomorrow."

"Hmm, let's see. In total, we only collected less than 6,000 jin in the past two days, which is much less than you expected. Is it okay? Or do we have to wait two more days?"

"Wait two more days to see, gather a bit more. I estimate someone will come tomorrow. Anyway, there's no rush. Just collect it in these two days, and when the time comes, gather a truckload and pull it away. After that, we won't collect it."

"If I had known, you should have fished more when you were at sea a few days ago."

"Don't think about 'if I had known'. When working at sea, how can you specifically stop the boat to fish for those worthless kelp? At most, when sailing, if it drifts to the side of the fishing boat, you can fish it up by the way. If it were according to what you said, 'if I had known', then if you had said you wanted to collect kelp a month in advance, wouldn't it be easy to collect one or two ten thousand jin?"

"Dong-ge, here is 468 jin, sister-in-law, record it."

Wang Guangliang carried a few sacks from the cart and put them on the scale to weigh them, then shouted to the couple to record it, and after finishing, continued to move them away, continuing to weigh the ones on the cart.

After weighing several times, the weight of the whole cart was weighed, and then it was moved home in two trips.

Lin Xiuqing also recorded the total of today on the paper, "2,651 jin, plus the previous days, a total of 5,923 jin, just a little bit short of 6,000 jin."

"Hmm, go back first, talk about it tomorrow. I estimate we can still collect a bit in pieces tomorrow. Anyway, Captain Chen and the others will come over for dinner later."

"Ah!"

Lin Xiuqing was startled, "Why didn't you say so earlier? I haven't prepared the food. I've been busy until now, and there are no meat dishes at home..."

"I've already asked Mom to organize it, and I also asked her to buy meat in the afternoon. Anyway, we're not short of squid dried, fish dried, shrimp dried at home. Buy a few meat dishes, and you can make a large table with whatever you make."

"That's good... I thought you were suddenly inviting guests, but there was nothing at home, that would be so embarrassing."

Ye Yaodong put his hand on her shoulder, hugged her, and walked forward, "Go home and eat."

"Don't hug and hold, it's so bad for people to see..."

"What are you afraid of? We are legal, it's fine to kiss on the street."

Lin Xiuqing smiled and patted him, "Nonsense."

"Hey, there's an afterglow!"

The sky had experienced a hearty baptism, and there was actually a sky full of afterglow, reflecting half of the sky red. Golden yellow, orange red, and dark purple blended with each other, like a flowing ink painting, colorful.

Clearly it was evening, but it was brighter than the day against the sky, reflected on the sea surface, reflecting the large and small fishing boats floating on the sea, giving a feeling of fishing boats singing in the evening.

"It's quite good-looking."

"The waves are quite big, and the tide is higher than before."

"It just so happens that you also have to arrange for kelp shipment in two days, so you don't have time to go out to sea."

"By the way, go to the city to collect the accounts again. I estimate that there has been heavy rain recently, and there shouldn't be much business in the shop."

"Rainy days are just so annoying..."

The couple chatted as they walked, laughing and returning home. Wang Guangliang and the others had already unloaded the goods, and were also planning to push the cart back to the workshop.

Ye Yaodong simply called them over to have dinner together at night. Anyway, a table had been organized, and it didn't matter if there were two more pairs of chopsticks.

Wang Guangliang was surprised, "Will it be inconvenient?"

"No, there are many people eating at night, there are village chiefs and secretaries, and several naval officers, sit down and eat together, it'll be more lively."

"Ah, such a high specification!"

"What's this, it's just a meal, what specification or not."

Wang Guangliang was so happy that he couldn't find north, and he felt that his social status had risen again.

"Oh, oh..."

"Don't 'oh' anymore, go to the village's power box area to see if their circuits are fixed, and tell my father, let him bring people over for dinner early."

"Alright, I'll go right away."

Ye Yaodong also went to pull the light cord, but there was no response, probably not that fast.

And his mother's food had already been organized into a large table, only a few vegetarian dishes hadn't been stir-fried, and she was also

"Stop saying 'oh', go to the power box in the village and check if they've finished fixing the circuit. Tell my father to bring people over for a meal early."

"Alright, I'll go right away."

Ye Yaodong also went to pull the light switch, but there was no response; it probably wouldn't be that fast.

Meanwhile, his mother had already prepared a large table of food, with only a few vegetable dishes left to stir-fry. She was sitting there playing, having just directed her youngest son to move some goods.

"When are you sending the kelp to the city? I'll go with you," Ye Mu said.

"Huh? What are you going there for?"

"It's already the middle of the month, and your sister is due to give birth in about half a month. I'm a bit worried, so I want to go over and take a look, and while I'm at it, deliver the baby clothes I prepared in advance."

"Oh, alright."

"I haven't seen her in over half a year, and I don't know how she's doing. It's quite a bother for your mother-in-law's family to have to help look after her, and they'll have to help when she gives birth too, since we can't be by her side."

"Mm."

"I don't even know how we'll bring her back after she gives birth. A golden nest or a silver nest is not as good as one's own dog kennel; we still have to bring her back. It doesn't look right to be out there..."

Ye Mu rambled on, while Ye Yaodong just casually echoed her a few times before going off to play with the two children.

Ye Fu and the others only arrived fashionably late after the sky had turned completely dark, and the lights in the house had also come on after dark.

This seemed to be a signal; Ye Mu, who had been sitting there idly swatting mosquitoes, immediately stood up to stir-fry the remaining vegetable dishes.

"It's a good thing we waited there, otherwise Captain Chen would have left as soon as he finished fixing the circuit; we almost couldn't hold him back."

"How can we keep coming over for meals every other day? It's fine to visit once after a long time apart..."

"Oh, we're all family, just sit down. A few days ago was a reunion meal, today is a thank-you meal; you are my benefactor."

"You're too kind."

"Sit, sit, sit, don't be so formal..."

The whole house was bustling with people urging them to sit. They found it hard to refuse such hospitality; they had intended to leave after fixing the circuit, but were held back by a crowd of people, so they could only brazenly stay for the meal.

Pei Fu was also there. This time at the dinner table, he put in all his effort to inquire about the family background and address of the others, planning to have Ah Guang and Adong ask around when they go to the provincial capital to look for a shipyard later.

Having been burned once or twice, he was cautious and didn't dare to be reckless. Moreover, given the distance, he had to first understand their family background and verify if they were lying.

Fortunately, they weren't completely ignorant country folk; they had been to the city a few times and visited the provincial capital, so they had seen the world and wouldn't be timid about traveling a bit further.

The village cadres also brought up the topic of kelp farming at the dinner table again.

"We discussed it at a meeting two days ago. We can find four or five people to give it a try. If it succeeds, a portion of the collective earnings will be distributed as dividends; if it doesn't, the village committee will provide a small subsidy for their hard work."

"After all, this concerns the village's future development prospects. Everyone has discussed it, and it's worth spending some energy to research it. It's just that we might need to ask you for advice later."

Ye Yaodong was happy. He knew these two old men weren't stupid. Even though he hadn't directly said he would donate a boat to the village committee, they realized that the future income from kelp could make the whole village prosperous, so they were willing to give it a shot.

After all, it really could be sold for money, and he had been buying it for the past two days. He had also promised that as long as they could grow it, he would buy it.

No one would do something that harms others without benefiting themselves, especially in a village where they had watched him grow up. The two old men had also personally witnessed him building his fortune bit by bit over the past two years.

The fact that he had turned over a new leaf and saved up such a substantial family fortune was also why they were willing to believe him a little.

"Alright, that's easy to say. This also concerns the development prospects of our entire village. I am also very willing to see our village become more prosperous and wealthy, and the villagers' standard of living rise steadily. Otherwise, I wouldn't have proposed that the village committee organize the farming."

"Mm, let's discuss how to farm it in detail tomorrow. We need to have a good discussion."

"Sure. The waves are high these two days, so it's not suitable to go out to sea. I happen to be free, so let's have a good chat tomorrow. Also, since the village is interested in developing farming, and I proposed it, to show my support, in two months, after I return from catching jellyfish, I will donate two small wooden boats to our kelp research group. It's not convenient to farm at sea without boats."