Chapter 1145: Lecture

Ye Yaodong picked out the stationery, swept it into a pile, and simply handed it over to Lin Lin Xiuqing to distribute, then lay down and fell fast asleep with loud snores.

He had slept on the ground last night, getting no rest at all; it was stuffy and hot. Now back home with his spirits relaxed, he had been sleepy long ago.

By evening, he was still woken up by the noise of children outside.

Stretching his arms, he went out and saw Lin Lin Xiuqing stirring vegetables around the stove.

"Finished cooking already, so fast? What's all that commotion outside?"

"Seeing the sun about to set and the heat easing, I took the stationery next door to a few families, so they were all excitedly exchanging and looking at them, making a fuss right there."

"Did you hand out the harmonicas too? So noisy."

"It really sounds like ghosts wailing and wolves howling, they keep blowing them."

When Ye Yaodong walked out the door to catch the breeze, he heard it even more clearly.

Besides blowing harmonicas, they were discussing what stationery each had received, then showing off to some neighboring children around them; nearly twenty or thirty kids of all sizes had gathered in the empty space outside the neighbor's door, making endless noise, no wonder he was woken up.

"Your third uncle is so good; giving you food to eat every other day is one thing, but buying you stationery from the provincial city is too awesome."

"Yeah, why don't I have a third uncle like that? You guys are too lucky."

Ye Chenghu shouted emphatically, "That's my father."

"My father said your father is the richest in the whole village and knows so many people."

"Unlike my family, which is poor; my mother says every day she'll sell me for money."

"My mother says she'll send me to be a child bride in exchange for a bag of rice..."

Ye Yaodong listened to the childish chatter next door for quite a while, finding each story funnier than the last.

When Ye's father entered the door, he took a few steps and glanced at the wall; the noise next door had not stopped.

"What did you buy them again? The whole village is going to brag about it."

"School starts soon, so I bought some school supplies to give them and encourage them to study hard."

"Nonsense; they'll just use them openly to play in class instead."

Ye Yaodong changed the subject. "Come with me to the county tomorrow to sail the boat; we'll also rent the boat out these two days, then set off on the 2nd."

"Decided?"

"Family matters are nearly settled; only need to sail those boats back and arrange them. There are so many boats now, time is tight, and it's not that convenient; just sail a few back and set off some firecrackers."

"Hmm, that works. How did things go with Ah Guang in the provincial city? Did you ask about the ancestral hall?"

"Asked..."

Ye Yaodong briefly explained to his father.

"After we return from Zhejiang Province and settle the family, it should be about right."

"Hmm, then setting off on the 2nd is about right; go for a month, return around National Day."

"What about Ah Guo and the others for the later arrangements?"

"What else can be said? A bunch of people argued for two days, then the villagers also spoke up, saying everyone is covered by the public; how can someone work, get caught, and still have to pay their own ransom? The boat captain is supposed to be responsible, otherwise who would go so far with you?"

"Oh, so it's resolved?"

"It was obvious from the start; they insisted on arguing for two days, then reluctantly paid up. Everyone finds it easy to take money in but hard to pay out."

"Who wants to pay out? They'll keep whatever they can grab in their hands; only when they have no choice will they spit the money out."

"Also, your friend Ah Zheng's relatives, plus one from Old Zheng's village, bought two boats from the town, and it seems the news has spread. This afternoon, a big crowd from the town headed to Dongqiao Village and Great Qingshan Village. I just heard about it on the road when I came over; it seems the trouble has erupted."

Ye Yaodong was surprised. "That's terrible. There's no such thing as a wall without cracks; besides, once boats are bought, the boatmen and others on board will know. The town's trouble was so big, so many were caught; once people buy someone's boats, it will spread. By then, no matter whose boats were bought, anyone in the town with boats or who went there will come knocking to seize them. With the people gone and now hope of getting the boats back, they won't just give up."

"That's the logic. Fortunately, you were sensible back then and didn't buy those people's boats from the town; even if their boats are gone, it has nothing to do with you. You bought from locals."

"And then?"

"Then it seems the trouble got quite fierce; they even started fighting. Later, their own villagers united and drove them out. It will probably flare up again tomorrow."

"They definitely won't stop until something happens."

Ye's father sighed. "Now there's going to be a lot of trouble. Those two families won't have any peace going forward; even selling the boats won't help."

"The boats from those town people are a hot potato; whoever takes them over will be unlucky. Don't look at the low price; they're actually sources of disaster. They can only be exchanged for purchase; otherwise, why would the locals be so reasonable and allow us to buy boats? Why not keep all the boats for their town? It could even create benefits for the locals."

Ye Yaodong thought that after dinner he should go to Ah Zheng's house to take a look and ask a few questions.

"Fortunately, you reminded your second brother back then to switch to another one."

"Let's go in and eat; we'll talk while eating. When mother arrives, we'll ask her; she probably knows even more."

"Isn't she the one who knows the most? It's this late and she still hasn't come to eat; she's probably tied up with these messy matters again, chatting with people."

The family didn't wait for Ye's mother; they all knew her ways.

At the dinner table, the adults talked about this matter while the children secretly played with their newly acquired stationery, making faces at each other.

After the meal, Ye Yaodong went straight to Ah Zheng's house, treating it as a walk to aid digestion.

Ah Zheng's house was gloomy and bleak. When he arrived, their stove and pots were cold; no fire had been lit yet. In fact, the ones who had been besieged were his brother-in-law's family; the whole family had rushed over this afternoon and had only just returned.

By the time he arrived, Xiao Xiao and Ah Guang were already there, and even Fatty had made a rare appearance.

"That bad?"

Ah Zheng smoked, looking worried. "It's pretty bad. Quite a few household items were smashed; they even fought. When they were driven away, they made vicious threats. This won't settle down easily."

Fatty said, "How much money did your brother-in-law earn on this trip? If he earned a lot, just return that boat to them. Say you don't know whose boat it was, give it back, let them figure it out themselves. Let dogs bite dogs; if they fight, let their human brains get beaten into dog brains."

Xiao Xiao: "Fatty's idea works too. Although we'll lose some money, at least it'll settle down, and we can enjoy a good show. Otherwise, it definitely won't end peacefully; those people have lost their homes and families; those with nothing to lose fear nothing."

Ah Guang: "Yes, they've lost their homes and families; they have nowhere to vent their emotions and can't go cause trouble at the Gongan Bureau. That boat is exactly the outlet for their venting; they'll definitely torment your brother-in-law's family to death."

Ah Zheng helplessly said, "I've been at my brother-in-law's house just now; a big group discussed it but couldn't find a better idea. With no other choice, we can only lose money to avert disaster; treat it as poverty alleviation. Let them see how they distribute it; let dogs bite dogs."

Ye Yaodong spread his hands. "A big crowd making trouble; indeed, there's no way to target one or two families specifically. It's impossible to call the Gongan Bureau when they come knocking; the Gongan Bureau won't come at a moment's notice. Knowing those people have nothing to lose, they'll definitely be too lazy to handle such trivial matters and will tell each village committee to manage it. With everyone in such a sorry state, how can the village committees handle it?"

Ye Yaodong: "So, the mentality of leaving things to chance must not be entertained."

Aguang: "Is his boat currently docked at the pier, or has it been sent to the shipyard?"

A'zheng: "He plans to refurbish and repaint it himself. It's already been beached and dried. He was going to paint it today, but who knew that right after he bought the paint, this whole ruckus happened."

Ye Yaodong: "Then that's perfect. Most boats don't have any markings. When the time comes, just toss it out there — let him say his side, her say hers, let them beat each other's brains out, it's none of your business."

A'zheng: "Let's talk about it tomorrow. If they come causing trouble again and we still can't come up with a plan, then we can only do this. It's still better than being harassed every day and having our own lives delayed."

Fatty: "These people can't get by these days, so they definitely won't let your brother-in-law have it easy. Listen to me, I'm not wrong. Every extra day you drag this out is another day of lost earnings — that's a loss too."

Ye Yaodong draped his arm over Fatty's shoulder and teased, "Boss Fatty, pretty eager to make money these days, huh? Can't spare a single day. Haven't seen you in months — busier than the president. How much have you raked in? When are you treating us to drinks?"

"Bullshit. If I keep at it a few more months, I'll be lying down with a white sheet over me. You might as well just come eat my funeral banquet."

"I heard you bought a plot of land and are going to open a little restaurant?"

"Yeah, wasn't that you egging me on? Telling me to buy more land, so I just went ahead and bought a whole mu of land, built a little restaurant, put up a house for living next to it, and the leftover space I can grow some vegetables. Anyway, you said buying land wouldn't lose money, and I'm a local. My dad and father-in-law both said it was good, so I bought it."

"Smart."

A mu of land isn't exactly big, but it's not small either. In the future, you can do whatever you want with it. Once you've made the big bucks, knocking down the little restaurant to build a hotel is no problem — you can build it a bit taller too.

He's a local, the land is his. If you cultivate the relationship well in the future, wealth will roll in endlessly.

"Sigh, at least I don't have to get up early anymore. Waking up early is killing me. I just listened to your lies and got completely duped."

As Fatty spoke, he got so worked up he gave his own thigh a hard slap — nearly killing himself with the pain.

"Hiss… you bastard, biting the hand that feeds you. Look at other people — do you think I'd give them advice? I've already made you rich, and now you're retaliating against me."

"Actually, I feel like the money I'm making now is already enough. I can support myself through retirement. No need to fuss around buying land and whatnot. It's enough. Living comfortably is what matters most."

Ye Yaodong gave his belly a pat. "Look at how small your ambitions are. Go big or go home, get it? Only with money can life be comfortable. With the little money you have, is it enough to buy your wife a big gold bangle, yourself a thick gold necklace? Enough to buy a house, land, a shop, a little sedan or motorcycle?"

"Uh…"

The others were dumbfounded too.

"Do we need to buy that much?"

"You don't need to buy that much, but you need to have the ability and savings to buy that much. Only then can you guarantee a prosperous and comfortable life in the future."

"Forget it. We're not you — making money is as easy as drinking water."

"Laozi also fought his way up. You guys just put in a little effort now, aren't you doing pretty well? Who in the village doesn't know you're all ten-thousand-yuan households? But ten-thousand-yuan households don't mean much anymore these past couple of years — haven't you noticed? It's only been a few years. Wait another ten or twenty years and it'll mean even less…"

Seeing that everyone was getting busier these days and it was rare for them to gather, Ye Yaodong simply gave them a little lecture.

He chatted on and on, constantly drilling into them the concept that money depreciates, telling them to buy land whenever they could — though it had to be land in a big area, forget about the village, since their village didn't have much land to begin with.

Then if you can buy shops, buy shops. Pour it all into buying boats for rent, even pour it all into buying gold — whatever. As long as it can be put into production and bring returns, spend the money quickly. Don't sit on it.

At the very least, once it becomes an appreciating asset, if you need money later you can cash it out. But if you sit on the money waiting for retirement, and the money depreciates, then what you can buy with it will be less.

After all, retirement is still decades away. Money sitting in your hands won't grow. Put it into production and it will. Who would complain about having too much money? Supplies are scarce now, demand is high. As long as it's in a field you're familiar with, dare to do it and you'll make money.

Armchair strategizing — talking a good game, he could still manage that.

As for what they do after hearing it, how much they digest, whether they believe him — that's up to them. Who knows if they've secretly been picking up some skills behind his back, or what they might become familiar with.

The food's been brought right up to their mouths — how much they eat is up to them. He was just a very ordinary fisherman to begin with, a latecomer at that. All he had was a bit more experience from a previous life, and there was plenty he didn't know much about either.

He spoke earnestly, and the others listened in a daze, all squatting together with their heads pressed close. Anyone who didn't know would think they were cooking up some scheme.

"So what you're saying is, don't sit on the money — spend it?"

"How to spend it also takes skill. Take me — I bought shops, then bought a bunch of boats, and now I've bought a large plot of land in the city. If I can sell it again like before, it'll definitely fetch an even higher price later. You figure it out yourselves. Anyway, the lecture's been given."

"I think Dongzi makes sense. He got rich by buying land, building workshops, buying boats — now it's all lined up into one chain. He catches fish, dries them, makes fish sauce, then hauls it to the city to sell."

A'zheng strongly agreed. He scratched his head, wanting to express some thoughts, but not knowing how, so he could only put it simply with his limited vocabulary.

Hearing Xiao Xiao slapped his thigh. "Alright, then let's do as you say. Last time, the four of us partnered on two big boats. You kept saying A'zheng and I should take sixty percent, you and Aguang take forty. When the time comes, let us control the boats. Then it's settled."

A'zheng immediately nodded. "Right, no more hesitation. It's settled then."

Ye Yaodong looked at them speechlessly, stood up and looked down, nearly cursing. "You f***ers are bringing this up NOW? You two idiots — still agonizing over it?"

The others quickly stood up too.

Hearing Xiao Xiao explained, "Spending that much money, you've got to think it over. Even though we know it'll make money, having to fork out that much at the start — of course there's hesitation?"

"Fine, then it's settled. Don't agonize over it next time. This trip you guys each made a few thousand — that's enough."

"Then my land purchase is perfect timing. From here on out, I just sit and wait to get rich." Fatty rubbed his hands together, grinning lecherously.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Sit and wait to get rich? You think money falls from the sky? It's just one mu of land in town. If you want to go big, you've got to buy in the county, then the city, then the provincial capital, then Shanghai, then franchise nationwide."

Fatty's eyes went wide. "Holy crap, you really dare to think big. I wouldn't even dare dream that big. Before, I was thinking opening a bun shop would at least let me hear people call me 'boss' — not bad, and I could barely drag myself up early every day."

"Look at how small your ambitions are. Work hard. If you go hungry in the future, I'll be counting on mooching off you."

"Easy. As long as I make the big bucks, I'll feed you for life."

"Those are your words, everyone's witness. When the time comes, I'll show up at your restaurant every day — don't you cry about it."

"No problem. Feeding just you, I can still manage."

"Pfft, who goes to a restaurant alone to eat? I thought in the future I could just flash my face — with this mug of mine, I'd get in for free."

"Then I'll give you twenty percent off."

"Cheapskate." Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, then looked at Hearing Xiao Xiao. "You still owe us a full-month banquet, you know. You did have a son."

"I want to treat you too, but aren't you always busy? Running here, running there, never see hide nor hair of you. How about this — Aguang also had twins, so today he treats, tomorrow he treats again, the day after I'll treat."

Aguang glared at him. "Damn, you don't take a single loss. You have to eat back two meals before treating once."

Ye Yaodong laughed. "Two sons, two meals. Nothing wrong with that."

The others chimed in — nothing wrong with that.

"If I had twins at once, I wouldn't just treat two meals — I'd treat three, treat for a whole month."

"Alright, let's go. Head to my place now. You don't need to eat dinner either — I just cooked and don't know when it'll be ready anyway. Just drink and call it dinner."

A'zheng slapped his backside. "Alright, let's go. Let's chat about our grand plan to get rich."

He went inside to say goodbye, then followed the three of them toward Aguang's house.

Ye Yaodong arrived at A Guang's house, and after drinking some wine, he continued to chat away, and the whole of A Guang's family curiously gathered around the table listening intently.

He felt like he suddenly had the feeling of an expert giving a lecture, with so many people listening to him speak.

"Of course, what a teacher likes most is students listening attentively."

"So, never think that just because you have ten or twenty thousand on hand you can retire. Just leaving the money there won't make it grow, but if you invest in property, you can slowly make the money grow, and when you're short on cash, you can swap the property out. It's much better than clutching that bit of money to your death."

"As long as you're working on things within your own knowledge, it's definitely better than messing around blindly. You've got to hustle to get rich; if you don't hustle, you'll just stay where you are forever — ten thousand yuan will still be ten thousand yuan."

"Makes sense."

"As for right now, I just feel hustling is better than not hustling. Look at me — I've been hustling all along. At first, my old man, my old lady, my wife — they all despised it, thought I was messing around, opposed this, opposed that. Now look — they've all been proven wrong, all shut their mouths tight."

"So you're pretty proud of yourself now, huh? This afternoon you bought such expensive chocolate for Third Sister-in-law — what was her reaction?" A Guang teased with a mischievous grin.

"She was practically crying her eyes out, tears streaming down, completely moved. The way she looked at me could stretch into strings."

"Yue~"

Everyone made a retching gesture, very doubtful of what he said.

Xiao Xiao, full of curiosity, asked: "What does 'eyes pulling strings' mean?"

"It means the way she looked at me was all sticky and gooey, like she wanted to glue herself onto me."

"Number one at bragging."

"Third Sister-in-law is here..." A Guang looked toward the door and immediately stood up.

Ye Yaodong got nervous too, hurriedly looked toward the door, and the wine bowl in his hand he quickly put down, spilling all over the back of his hand.

As a result, there was nothing at the door.

"Hahahahaha..."

"Hahaha, serves you right for bragging without a draft!!"

"You've got the nerve to say that in front of your wife."

"What's there not to say? I'm stating facts." He kept talking tough, and even licked clean the wine spilled on the back of his hand.

"Look how your hand was shaking just now, spilling the wine."

"It was just not set down steadily."

"Stubborn as a dead duck, no wonder your daughter says she's born in the year of the duck — it's hereditary."

A Guang's other brothers and sisters were also amused by their antics.

A Zheng asked curiously: "What chocolate?"

Clearly none of them knew anything, only catching half of every sentence, but that didn't stop them from reacting.

"That imported stuff sold at the Friendship Store, ridiculously expensive — a box costs four or five yuan, and inside there are only 12 pieces of brown chocolate the size of dried longans."

"What kind of miracle elixir is that? That expensive?"

While the others were asking off-topic questions, A Guang pulled the topic back, smiling as he asked him, "So when is Third Sister-in-law's birthday?"

Ye Yaodong stubbornly replied, "It's my wife — why would I tell you?"

"We're all relatives."

"You just said we're only relatives, so why don't you know how to keep some distance?"

"So after eight years of marriage, you don't even know when Third Sister-in-law's birthday is."

"Bullshit."

"Hahaha..."

A few cut-ups gathered together, talking and laughing, incredibly joyful, and the wine went extra hard to their heads.

Fatty had to get up in the wee hours to sell steamed buns, so he headed back to town early.

The others waited until the sound of the night watchman rang out from outside before they finally wrapped up, drunk as skunks.

Ye Yaodong staggered to his feet, looking blankly outside, "Since when does the village have a night watchman? I heard it in a daze a few nights ago."

Auntie Ma explained while clearing the table: "I heard some village nearby was reluctant to light lamps or candles at night, and accidentally set the house on fire. In the middle of the night they couldn't react in time, and one whole row burned down. Add to that plenty of petty thieves, so the village committee hired an old bachelor to do the night watch — it's also giving the man a job so he can feed himself."

"That Wang Wang Laowu family in the village who learned to sell dried fish from you — I heard they've been earning pretty well these past six months. These last few months they've been drying more and more, spreading them out all over the open ground in the village. I heard they take turns keeping watch at night, but a lot still got stolen, and they couldn't catch anyone."

Ye Yaodong's spirits lifted, sobering up a bit, "Good thing I fenced off a plot of land. Everyone knows I put dogs around it and hired people, watching it 24 hours a day."

"People pick the soft persimmons to squeeze — yours looks hard to steal from."

He checked the time — exactly 10 o'clock. The night watch should start at 9, right? Probably finished patrolling the village before getting here.

"Well, having a night watchman patrolling back and forth can also deter those petty thieves, keep them from acting up."

"Let's go, heading home."

The few of them staggered out as they walked, singing as they went — off-key wails like ghosts and wolves howling.

"Don't pick the wildflowers by the road~

Remember my affection,

Remember my love,

Remember I'm here waiting for you every day."

……

"Sweet as honey~ your smile is sweet as honey,

Like a flower blooming in the spring breeze,

Blooming in the spring breeze,

Where, where have I seen you before?

Your smile is so familiar,

I can't recall for the moment,

Ah~~

"In a dream~"

"A moment of lost will inevitably brings complaints and sighs~"

"A moment of falling on hard times inevitably brings fear~"

Even if hope is lost

Drunk and dazed every day

A body without a soul, just like a scarecrow

Life~ is like waves~ on the sea

Sometimes rising~ sometimes falling

Good luck~ bad luck~ must all be faced by working hard~ and moving forward~

Three parts fate, seven parts hard work!

Only by fighting~ can you win~"

"Dongzi, what song are you singing? It sounds so good?"

"Did I sing? I didn't sing, did I?"

Their question sobered him up; suddenly he realized this song hadn't been released yet, and what was popular now was Deng Lijun's, with her tapes everywhere.

"You didn't sing?"

"You didn't sing? Then who was singing?"

Azheng and Hearing Xiao Xiao immediately stopped in their tracks, turning their heads in terror to look at him, scanning left and right. Their bodies, which had been so dazed they were nearly falling to the ground, straightened up, and most of the alcohol in their systems sobered up.

"Holy crap, wasn't that your voice just now behind us?"

Ye Yaodong denied it. "No, I didn't sing. I thought you two were singing ahead of us."

"I'm singing Deng Lijun's..."

"I'm singing Deng Lijun's too..."

"I'm listening to you two sing Deng Lijun's..."

"Ah~ Ghost! ~" After letting out a loud scream, Azheng took off running.

"Ah, Mom, wait for me, there's a ghost! ~"

Hearing Xiao Xiao also scrambled forward, rolling and crawling.

As it turned out, both had drunk too much; they were already drunk and not sober to begin with, unable to walk steadily, let alone run. In the dead of night, there were no streetlights. Ye Yaodong stood there bewildered, watching them scream and run, only to hear two screams of agony, one after the other.

"Ah~"

"Ah!"

"F***, f***... There's a ghost... My leg... My leg is being grabbed by a ghost... Help, there's a ghost..." Azheng screamed and howled like a ghost.

"Shut the f*** up..."

"Ah! The ghost is Hearing Xiao Xiao... It hurts, stop hitting..."

"Don't kick me, f***... It's me... Your Laozi..."

"What f***ing ghost? Daring to impersonate my Laozi, I'll kick you to death..."

"Ouch..."

Hearing the commotion ahead, Ye Yaodong stumbled forward and saw two figures in the stinking ditch nearby, nearly wrestling each other to the ground, still fighting and cursing as they went.

One thought the other was a ghost; the other, drunk and being beaten, instinctively fought back.

"Wake up, you two, get up quickly..."

Shouting didn't work; he ran down to pull them, but they shoved him aside and landed two punches on him. He had no choice but to scramble up and crawl onto the road.

"F***, good intentions met with bad returns; I almost got beaten to death by you two."

Holding his sore eye socket, he cursed and hurried back, planning to go to Ah Guang's house to get help, leaving the two of them to fight it out for now.