Chapter 1133: Magical

It was just that it got dark late in the summer, and he was exceptionally familiar with the road from the city to the village, having run it I don't know how many times. Thinking of getting back early before dark, he accelerated on all the main roads, except for the curves and mountain roads.

By the time he reached the village entrance, it had just turned dark, with only a faint glimmer of light left.

"We're here, Little Uncle-in-law. The sound of this motorcycle sounds really majestic, 'hmm hmm'~"

"You drive fast too, it's so stylish, the wind blows forcefully right past my ears..."

"It's just very bumpy. My butt bounced up several times, luckily I held on tight, otherwise I would have been thrown off..."

"The wind is strong, and there's a lot of sand and dust, I can't even open my mouth..."

"Little Uncle-in-law, Ah Hai and the others will probably be stunned when they see me, right? Haha, if they know I can learn to ride a motorcycle from you, they'll probably be envious to death, haha..."

Lin Guangyuan had been exceptionally excited the whole way. Having held it in for the whole journey, he now felt he had a lot to say.

Ye Yaodong ignored him and turned from the village entrance to drive home. By the time he drove to the entrance of his house, it had turned completely dark. In just that short stretch, there had still been a little light when he reached the village entrance.

Really, the transition between light and dark happens in an instant.

As soon as the motorcycle stopped, the family's dogs came running out, barking "wang wang wang" and circling the motorcycle. Even the little puppy was rubbing against the motorcycle.

Before Lin Guangyuan had even gotten out of the sidecar, the dogs jumped in one after another, surprising him so much that he hurriedly hugged the tattered cotton quilt and got down.

"Little Uncle-in-law, your family's dogs have such good lives, right? They can even sit on a motorcycle."

"That's not all. At night, they even sleep inside, and they have to fight; only the winner gets to sleep."

"People aren't as well off as dogs."

"Cousin Ah Yuan..."

The surprised shouts of the children behind rose one after another.

"Ah Yuan, why are you here? Don't you need to help your family work?"

"Cousin Ah Yuan, is the city fun?"

In the blink of an eye, they were all surrounding them, affectionately calling Lin Guangyuan, forgetting about him, a living person. Only Ye Xiaoxi hugged his leg and called him "Daddy" sweetly.

Ye Yaodong smiled and lifted the child up. "You're the only one with a conscience. The others have no conscience. I, a big living person, am standing here and no one sees me or calls me."

Reminded by his words, the others hurriedly turned their heads to call him.

"Go, go, go, I don't care. Open the quilt and get an ice bag first."

Lin Guangyuan then remembered the bag of popsicles he was holding.

"Are these melting fast?"

"It's alright, it's alright, it's only melted a little, it's still edible, you can lick it..."

"Ah... there are popsicles... that's great, Daddy, did you specifically bring them back for us?"

"Popsicles... popsicles... there are so many..."

"One for each."

"That's great, what is this bag by bag thing? Is it water inside?"

"It's ice water. It's melted a little more than half now, just right for drinking."

Ye Yaodong explained, then randomly picked an orange-flavored one, bit a small hole in it, and handed it to Ye Xiaoxi, who had been shouting "I want, I want" and was about to pounce to get it.

"What's the rush? Others don't have it, are you afraid you won't have it?"

She widened her eyes, held it with both hands, and sucked hard. After one suck, she took it away. "Ha~ it's so cold~"

"Is it good?"

She nodded heavily.

Lin Xiuqing came out of the house and said with a smile, "Why are you back so late? I thought you were just going to collect accounts and deliver things today, so you should have been back very quickly. Why did you bring Ah Yuan back too?"

"Little Aunt!" Lin Guangyuan shouted loudly.

"Ran into some things, so I was delayed a bit. You guys, move aside."

Ye Yaodong put Ye Xiaoxi on the motorcycle, told her to hold on tight and not just focus on eating, and pushed the motorcycle into the courtyard first.

Lin Xiuqing was afraid that she would fall if she only focused on eating, so she stood by the side to support her. "Just put her down."

"It's fine."

"Go into the house and eat first. It's so late, you haven't eaten yet, right? I didn't know Ah Yuan was coming back too, so I didn't save any extra food. I'll go cook a bowl of noodles."

"Cook him some instant noodles."

Lin Guangyuan responded excitedly, "Alright, I want to eat instant noodles. That's great, Little Uncle-in-law's house is still the best, it's so refreshing."

"Mother, I want to eat too..."

Ye Yaodong said, "Then buy a few more packs and cook more."

"You just finished eating your fill, and now you want to eat instant noodles when you hear about them. Is your stomach a bottomless pit? You're still eating a popsicle in your mouth, and holding a bag in your hand, and now you're thinking about instant noodles. Can you eat it all?"

"We can eat it!"

Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang said in unison.

Ye Yaodong said with a smile, "Go buy them, I'll eat first."

"Mother, eating instant noodles with soda is even better!" Ye Chenghu said with a giggle.

"Do you want to eat a whip?"

"Hehe~"

Once Lin Guangyuan came over, it was as if a handful of firewood had been added to the pot. The children became even more lively, chattering and arguing without stopping. Ye Yaodong could hear the noisy commotion outside even while sitting in the house eating.

Not having seen each other for a while, this sudden arrival made them feel even closer. Originally, the group of children were all about the same age.

Lin Xiuqing went to the shop to buy instant noodles, and the howling sound at the entrance became even louder.

Ye Chenghu was so excited he did two somersaults on the ground. "It's good that Daddy is back..."

"You still have to count on me to cook it for you!"

"Hehe, Mother is good too."

Lin Xiuqing glanced at him sideways before entering the house.

Ye Xiaoxi followed behind her into the house, then moved to the front of the stove, squatted next to the old lady, supported her chin with both hands, and watched the roaring fire in the stove.

The old lady had already boiled the water in advance. Once the instant noodles were brought into the house, they could be put into the pot immediately. They could be eaten as soon as they were scalded.

She sniffed her nose and smacked her lips a few times. "So fragrant~"

After speaking, she immediately stood up again and moved to Lin Xiuqing's feet, stood on tiptoe, but couldn't see the stove no matter what. She was instantly uncomfortable, scratching her head and ears, circling around Lin Xiuqing's feet, and from time to time, she wanted to reach the stove with both hands, busy without stopping.

Ye Yaodong sat by the table watching her circle back and forth, anxious, and walked over with a smile to pick her up. "Now you can see."

"Mm-hmm, so fragrant, so fragrant~ Instant noodles are so fragrant~"

She repeated these few sentences over and over. One listen and you knew she was greedy too.

Ye Yaodong touched her bulging belly. "Can you still eat?"

"So hungry~ didn't eat enough~"

Lin Xiuqing turned her head and looked at her amusedly. "You just finished eating your meal, speak with a conscience. How can you be so greedy?"

The old lady said with a smile, "What child isn't greedy? Give her a small bowl to taste."

The smell of the instant noodles was fragrant and rich. As soon as they were put into the pot and the seasoning was added, the fragrance immediately drifted for miles, and several children all ran in while shouting.

"The instant noodles are ready..."

"Wash your hands. You've all eaten, so there's only a small bowl for each of you. Ah Yuan hasn't eaten yet."

Ye Chenghu stretched his neck excitedly and looked into the pot. "We can just drink the soup."

Ye Chengyang also said, "The soup is better to drink."

The other children ran in to take a look, felt envious for a moment, and then pushed and shoved each other as they ran out to play.

Lin Guangyuan sat by the table happily. "I'm really smart. Coming to Little Uncle-in-law's house is too wise. You even have a television to watch!"

Ye Chenghu ran eagerly to turn on the television to show off. "You can watch it whenever you want at our house. We can watch while we eat."

Ye Yaodong didn't pay attention to their noisy commotion. After finishing his meal, he took the cloth bag on the table and called Lin Xiuqing into the room to count the money.

"Counting money again..."

"Huh? Why do I feel like you don't sound happy about this? There's actually someone who doesn't like counting money, and it's their own money at that."

Lin Xiuqing laughed out loud. "Not at all, I just feel that we are counting money too frequently now. Every three days or two, we have to count a sum of money. This month, I've been sitting in the room counting money every few days."

"Isn't this good? This shows that our family has been earning big money. Only when there is money coming in can we count it every few days."

"Mm, it's a good thing. Let's count together. We haven't gone to the city to collect accounts for a month. This trip should be seven or eight thousand or ten thousand."

Ye Yaodong thought for a while, hesitated, and told her about the filling machine.

Although there was no sign of it yet, it was very necessary to order more fermentation wooden barrels and large vats in advance. Now there were more fishing boats, and just the trawlers alone numbered 17. Having these boats send all the miscellaneous goods to the workshop every day added up to quite a lot.

When several large boats were received one after another next year, and the fresh-collecting boats were received, the catch brought back and forth would be even more astonishing.

He definitely had to prepare early, order the containers early, so that production could keep up. Introducing that filling and plastic sealing equipment was also inevitable.

Telling her in advance and preparing early was very necessary.

Lin Xiuqing was sorting the money and preparing to start counting when she heard him talk about this, so she had to stop and speak first.

"I was wondering why you came back late today. What does that ice water bag look like? I didn't look closely just now."

"I'll go out and pick one up for you."

He immediately went out and picked up an empty bag that had been drained of water from the ground at the entrance. Everyone threw them on the ground after eating.

Originally, there were only ten or twenty brought back. With so many children in the family, each divided one or two, and they were gone in two or three bites.

Lin Xiuqing looked at the plastic bag he picked up, holding it in her hand and examining it back and forth. "It looks like it won't leak, and it feels quite thick. The popsicles and such still use paper pasted on them, but this is thicker than those instant noodle bags."

"Right? If it can hold ice water, it can definitely hold fish sauce. They are both liquids. If we can get this kind of machine for production, then our transportation will be convenient in the future, and distribution will also be convenient. We won't have to rely on those large vats to transport back and forth, which are also easily damaged."

"Moreover, this kind of bag packaging is also convenient for transporting to places further away. Otherwise, our large vat transportation can at most reach surrounding towns, and the transport volume at one time is limited."

"This kind of small bag can hold a hundred jin in any wooden box, and can be stacked continuously, making it easy to take. Even if a few are damaged, it doesn't matter. Anyway, we'll make it a one-jin pack. That's much better than a large vat breaking and losing over a hundred jin; the loss is reduced quite a bit."

"Moreover, when people come to buy, they don't have to bring bottles to fill. They can just take a small bag home, take scissors to cut it, and pour it into a bottle. It's much more convenient."

Lin Xiuqing nodded repeatedly as she listened, feeling that what he said made a lot of sense. "Using this kind of small bag to divide and pack it one jin at a time is indeed quite convenient, and you don't have to go out with a bottle. It's also convenient for small shops to take 100 jin to sell. Small vendors can also carry it on a shoulder pole. Before, we were selling it in whole vats in small shops."

"Exactly."

"Then how much does this machine cost? Does this kind of bag cost money too?"

"Definitely. I don't know how much it costs. I went to ask today but didn't find out, and I was even kicked out."

"Ah, we aren't selling ice water, we are just asking where the machine was bought. They won't even say that?"

"Isn't that right? I went straight to the door and asked where the machine was bought, and they kicked me out. I told them I wasn't a competitor, but they didn't pay any attention to me. Empty words probably wouldn't be believed by anyone. Anyway, I'm not that anxious for the moment. Let people ask around first, and we'll prepare more containers in advance. Anyway, after there are more boats next year, the fermentation quantity will definitely have to rise. Preparing in advance is not wrong."

"Alright then, I'll see tomorrow and order more large wooden barrels. Wooden barrels have a larger capacity; large water vats only hold a few hundred jin, which can't compare to large wooden barrels. But we should order more large water vats too. Anyway, the empty land over there is large. This month, all the fishing boats went to salvage jellyfish, and the remaining vats were enough, so I didn't go to order more."

"You handle it and order more. Anyway, they can all be used. I'll tell you when I get someone to ask around. Anyway, we have more than enough money on hand to do anything."

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him. "You just feel like you have a lot of money on hand and always want to spend it."

"I want to spend it, spend it in useful places, so that it can be reasonably utilized and grow more and more."

Lin Xiuqing looked at him with hope. "I feel like we are already quite good now, and we have enough money. You don't have to worry too much, tossing and turning so much, spreading the business too big is also quite troublesome."

Ye Yaodong touched her head, full of tenderness. "We have less than 200,000 on hand. You feel it's a lot now, but you won't feel it's a lot later. Although our other things can make money, our country is also developing at a high speed. Later, it really won't count for anything, and the things on hand will all have to be eliminated."

"Alright."

"Don't worry, what I'm tossing and turning is definitely something I know. Look at me these past few years, when have I been unreliable, and when have I made you lose money?"

"Alright, then you handle it. Just give me a heads-up if there's anything."

"Mm, let's count the money and see if adding these is enough for 200,000."

"Maybe a little short. These scattered coins, a few cents, aren't counted now. They are all picked out separately and thrown into a jar. We only count those above a few dimes. There's no way to count every single one so clearly. Anyway, just record the approximate amount in the account book."

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong also sat by the bed with her, counting silently. Outside the house, there was also constant laughter.

After they finished counting the money and went out, the old lady had long since cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, and the main room was neat and tidy.

The entrance was filled with the sound of children shouting and calling.

"Ah Yuan, we'll go to the workshop to play ball tomorrow. Third Uncle said playing basketball can make you grow taller. That workshop has been empty for the whole month, it's so refreshing..."

"Yeah, yeah, let's go to the workshop to play tomorrow. The ground there is flat, there aren't so many sand and stones, it's so convenient to play anything, and we can also play marbles."

"If only it stayed empty forever..."

"No, if it stays empty, our family won't be able to earn money."

"Then we can go to school to play, take our roller skates..."

"Alright, alright..."

Lin Guangyuan's arrival was welcomed by all the children in the family, and even the neighboring children were exceptionally welcoming because they knew he came from the city, so they all gathered at their entrance to make noise.

It wasn't until the parents of each family finished cooling off and went home to sleep that they called their own children back to bathe and sleep.

Several of their family members were also called back to bathe. However, because Lin Guangyuan had just arrived tonight, Lin Xiuqing didn't urge them to sleep early. Instead, she let them watch television for a while longer, and only drove them upstairs to sleep after 10 o'clock.

Ye Yaodong was playing with the fragrant Ye Xiaoxi in the room. Seeing her lock the doors and windows and come in, he said, "Isn't the other room downstairs always empty? Now there's no dried fish, and no smell of salted fish. Why do the three of them have to squeeze together to sleep? There's no other bed upstairs, and Ah Yuan is already so tall."

"If they want to squeeze together, let them squeeze. Anyway, there's a floor mat laid on the ground. Whoever falls off at night sleeps on the floor mat."

"Oh."

Ye Yaodong patted Ye Xiaoxi's butt. "Roll in."

Ye Xiaoxi giggled and really rolled. She rolled twice, raised her feet, and stood them against the wall. "Rolled well."

Lin Xiuqing took off her clothes and pants, turned off the light, and climbed into the middle with a smile. She immediately leaned over again. "Want to drink neinei..."

"Didn't you just drink malted milk?"

"Still want to eat neinei..."

She went to lift Lin Xiuqing's clothes herself.

Ye Yaodong propped up his upper body and looked over. "You can wean her. She's so big, and it's not like there's nothing for her to eat."

"I want to too, but we haven't weaned for two days, and in the middle of the night, she calls to lift my clothes to eat herself. It's happened several times."

"Like this, I'll help you protect it, and she won't be able to bite."

As he said this, he reached in and held the other one.

Ye Xiaoxi widened her eyes, unable to speak while eating her rations, so she reached out to pat his hand.

It was just that after patting it a few times and not being able to knock it off, she tried hard to pry it.

Ye Yaodong raised his head and leaned over to take a look, just meeting her round eyes. "One for each, fair, right?"

Ye Xiaoxi continued to pat his hand angrily.

Lin Xiuqing also helplessly pulled his hand down. "Why are you teasing her? Let her sleep."

"Let's wean her tomorrow."

"No," she said vaguely while biting.

Lin Xiuqing patted Ye Yaodong behind her twice. "Stop making noise, let her sleep."

Ye Yaodong hugged her waist, then took advantage of the situation to go down, patted her butt twice, and didn't say anything else.

After a long time, when Lin Xiuqing lay straight and pulled her clothes down, she asked him, "Nothing else tomorrow, right?"

"For the time being, there's nothing. No need to run outside, can rest well at home for two days."

After coaxing the child, it was time to coax him.

Round and round also belonged to him.

"When will the six newly bought boats be sailed back?"

"I don't know. I've been busy with things early and late these two days, where would I have time to pay attention to this? They were only just brought back and put in the factory, so they definitely won't be that fast. I'll ask Ah Hai to help me ask when he goes to the factory tomorrow."

"Today, many people asked me when the newly bought fishing boats would be back. They all want to rent them."

"Don't agree to anything yet. Wait until the boats are sailed back before talking. Anyway, looking at the fishing boats that went on this trip, they all earned several thousand, so there's absolutely no worry about no one wanting them."

Lin Xiuqing watched her vest being pulled higher and higher and patted his hand away. "Oh my, time to sleep."

"I've been away for a month, and just after I came back, you're like this. You don't even know how to feel sorry for me."

"Aren't you tired?"

"A young man in his 20s, why would I be tired? Even being a groom every night wouldn't be a problem."

Ye Yaodong continued to rub and flatten.

"Counting money at night, we counted over 10,000, and it was all given to you. Don't you want to perform well, to be worthy of me working so hard?"

"Work your head, stop putting gold on your own face, this is the shop's."

"Alright, work your head!"

Lin Xiuqing bit her lower lip, her face completely red.

After finishing all the work, Ye Yaodong was rarely leisurely. When he woke up naturally, there was no shadow of any other children in the house except for Ye Xiaoxi.

He also sat leisurely at the entrance, listening to the radio with the old lady to cool off.

The old lady was peeling corn husks in her hand. There were quite a few ants crawling on some of the unpeeled corn, each looking like black sesame seeds. Ye Xiaoxi squatted at her feet, holding a tree branch and poking those ants to play.

"Where are the brothers?"

"Brothers won't play with me!" Ye Xiaoxi complained aggrievedly.

The old lady said with a smile, "They are all playing over at the workshop, running after them. Just fell down and was carried back by them."

"No wonder."

Ye Yaodong sat at the entrance for a while, then went to the workshop to take a look. Even from dozens of meters away, he could hear their shouting and yelling inside.

"Your family has a bicycle too... my turn..."

"Stingy ghost..."

"You push your family's out..."

As soon as he walked in, he saw Ye Chenghu with his body drilled under the front bar, riding the bicycle sideways, crookedly, and the pedals were only being stepped back and forth at a 90-degree angle.

However, it didn't fall over either.

"If you break the bicycle, I'll beat you to death."

"I won't, Daddy. Look, I already know how to ride."

Lin Guangyuan immediately ran over. "Little Uncle-in-law, are you awake? Can you teach me to ride a motorcycle now?"

"Daddy, I want to too, I want to learn too..."

"Third Uncle, can you teach us?"

One by one, they stopped staring at the bicycle and all ran over to look at him with eager eyes.

"You are too young, too short, your legs aren't long enough, you can't learn. Wait a few years until your legs are long enough, then I'll teach you."

The reason was sufficient and full, and everyone could only regret and feel sorry that they were too young.

Lin Guangyuan happily pulled him to walk home immediately. Ye Yaodong let him go play by himself first. "Woke up too late today, it's too hot. Wait until the sun sets in the evening, then I'll teach you."

"Alright, then when will Little Uncle-in-law take me to town to find Captain Chen?"

"A bit later. It's working hours now, going there will only disturb people at work."

Neither of the two goals was achieved, so he could only regretfully continue to play with the others.

Ye Yaodong, having nothing to do, also sat at the entrance, gathered with Wang Guangliang and the others to talk, and watched these people play by the way.

He also asked by the way if they had any family members who wanted to rent boats. If they did, he would give them priority. There were quite a few boats back on this trip. Adding the 002 boat, there were 7 boats waiting to be rented, and it seemed like the factory would be able to hand over a 003 boat before long.

If they were all gathered together, then eight boats would be rented out at once. Renting them all out would be another sum of income by the end of the month.

The others weren't there either. Anyway, the few of them hung out together, and they knew what each other's thoughts were. It made no difference for him to ask Wang Guangliang directly.

Wang Guangliang said directly that the twins wanted to rent one for their family's brothers. The others didn't have this need; their families were just farming, and going to sea wouldn't work. If there were other jobs, that would be best.

Apart from those going to sea, he didn't need any manpower here, so he could only say to keep an eye out and ask them first if there were any jobs.

"Ye Yaodong... Ye Yaodong... there's a phone call for you..."

Ye Yaodong was chatting with them when he heard someone run over to say there was a phone call for him, so he immediately stood up.

"Where is it from?"

"It's from the city. They left a number for you to call back, saying they'll wait for you for 5 minutes."

"Right away!"

He hurriedly ran to the workshop to wave the children away, rode his bicycle, and headed to the village committee.

Since it was from the city, his first reaction was that it was the vendor he had entrusted yesterday to ask about the filling equipment; he didn't think about other possibilities.

When he got there and looked at the unfamiliar phone number, he called it, but didn't expect it to be Ye Yao Hai.

When he heard the voice, he was blank for a moment, and then the other party identified himself, which instantly surprised him.

"Ah? Big Brother? What's the matter?"

"A while ago, a few overseas Chinese from our clan returned to their hometown, and I went back once too. Then I mentioned you to my father, and discovered that your grandfather is my grandfather's cousin. Then when we were offering sacrifices to our ancestors, we checked the genealogy and confirmed it."

Ye Yaodong thought about it with a muddled head, sorted it out, and then understood. This was a relative within the five degrees of mourning, a cousin of the same great-grandfather. That meant a relative of the fourth degree?

"Ah? Like this? Such a coincidence?"

"Yes, and then several overseas Chinese donated money to repair the ancestral hall. There might be an ancestral worship activity for the completion of the ancestral hall in two months. My father knows, and wants to invite you back. Also, those whose names aren't on your genealogy will have to be recorded. Other branch relatives from outside will also come back."

"Oh oh, alright, alright, I'll convey it to my father later."

Ancestral hall activities are a big deal, and recording names on the genealogy is also a big deal. Although his branch was considered to have separated from his grandfather's, his father would probably be very happy to be able to recognize his ancestors and return to the clan.

After hanging up the phone, Ye Yaodong was still in a daze when he came out of the village committee.

This matter had already exceeded his cognitive scope. In his previous life, where were these things? In his previous life, he didn't know Ye Yao Hai either.

They just honestly stayed in this fishing village, didn't go anywhere, and there was no such thing as being on a genealogy.

In this life, everything had changed, and they even had an ancestral hall?

After he came out of the village committee, he walked all the way to his old home, digesting this matter as he walked. When he mentioned it to his father, his father was still in a daze.

"Ah? So we are to recognize our ancestors and return to the clan?"

"It seems that's what it means."

"Then we have to go tell your Big Uncle and Second Uncle... Magical... actually popped out a bunch of relatives in the provincial capital?"