Chapter 1171: There's a Clue

No dreams all night until dawn.

After Ye Yaodong heard the movement beside him early in the morning, he also got up refreshed.

He finished washing, stood at the door twisting his neck and waist, looking at the little chickens in the courtyard catching bugs to eat leisurely, the dog lying on the ground wagging

Some faint, fragmented voices could be heard from the surroundings, along with people passing by his door carrying hoes or holding bedpans. He sighed and said a few words.

"People in this day and age really do have normal routines."

Unlike in the future, where there are so many entertainment activities that people can't bear to sleep; young people don't even have mornings anymore.

"Move aside, don't stand at the main entrance, you're blocking all the light. Why haven't you gone in to eat yet?"

"The little ones haven't gotten up yet. Let's eat together once they're up."

He felt like the whole family had almost never eaten breakfast together.

Even when he wasn't out at sea, he would sleep until he woke up naturally at home, and he rarely got to meet up with the children. In their house, breakfast was almost always cooked, and whoever got up first ate first; they rarely sat down together in an orderly fashion.

At the very least, he had almost never participated in it.

"Then go call them to get up. They need to get up, eat breakfast, and go to school."

"You go call your son, and I'll go call my daughter."

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him, "Anyone who didn't know better would think we were divorced, or that we were both remarried and brought children with us."

The old lady also glared at him, "What kind of talk is that? Aren't they all yours?"

Ye Yaodong rubbed his nose and walked straight toward the room. The old lady was still nagging behind him, "It hasn't even been that long, and you've already divided up which child belongs to whom. What kind of talk is that... if someone heard that, who knows what they'd say..."

The little piglet on the bed had already slept her way to the corner of the bed in a spread-eagled posture. Her clothes had been pushed up, revealing her belly, and her mouth was slightly open, moving a little as she slept soundly.

Watching her, he couldn't help but reveal a smile. He climbed onto the bed to grab her little feet, touching and kissing them, and then took the opportunity to rub them against his cheek.

The little baby's feet were white and tender, soft and squishy, exceptionally nice to touch, and they even smelled like milk...

But suddenly, the little feet in his hands became somewhat uncontrollable, and one gave a powerful kick to his nose...

"Ouch..."

Ye Yaodong let go of the feet and covered his nose. Tears and snot from the stinging pain flowed out involuntarily.

Ye Xiaoxi sat up with a blank expression, rubbing her eyes, "Dad? What's wrong with you?"

He reached out and poked her head, enduring the pain, and said irritably, "Get up."

"Ah! Why are you crying? Dad, why are you crying..."

She leaned in close to him with a face full of curiosity to look at the tears on his face, and even reached out with her little hand to touch them twice, "You're really crying?"

Then, in a milky voice still heavy with sleepiness, she coaxed him, "Don't cry, don't cry... why are you such a crybaby..."

Ye Yaodong was both annoyed and amused. He wanted to give her a spanking, but hearing her coax him like a little adult, he felt she was so cute he wanted to kiss and cuddle her.

At this moment, Lin Xiuqing also entered the room, "You're calling a child; why has it taken you so long? Hurry up and get up to eat. The porridge isn't hot anymore."

"Mom, Dad is crying, you coax him..."

"Crying?" She looked at Ye Yaodong in surprise.

Ye Yaodong was still sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand covering his nose, "Kicked by your daughter. She kicked my nose."

"I didn't..."

"You kicked while you were sleeping," he looked at Lin Xiuqing, "I just grabbed her feet, wanting to wake her up, and she gave me a forceful kick. It hurts like hell. Check for me, did I get a nosebleed?"

"No, how much strength could a child have? No nosebleed."

"A child's strength isn't small either..."

Ye Xiaoxi remained blank, not believing it was her doing.

Lin Xiuqing took a jacket and put it on her, then picked her up and walked out, "Go eat. No nosebleed, it'll be fine in a moment."

Ye Yaodong endured the stinging pain in his nose and went out to eat. The sense of happiness from the whole family eating together vanished instantly.

Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang were chattering away; how could they feel the warm atmosphere of the whole family eating breakfast together? The two agreed to go out together, one to herd sheep and the other to go to school, and then meet up at the school gate in the evening to come back together.

The two were winking and nudging each other; one could guess they wouldn't come back obediently.

None of the adults at the table paid them any mind; as long as they knew to come back for meals, that was fine.

Ye Yaodong sat there for a while to recover, and only started eating once it didn't feel so stinging and painful anymore.

After the meal, he sat there chatting with his father for a while. Once the sun had completely emerged and it was 8:30, he got up and walked toward the village committee.

"Where is Adong going?"

"Adong, did you really become an official?"

"Adong is very busy, we haven't seen you since you got back..."

"Adong..."

All the way to the village committee, people kept greeting him with smiles.

His face became stiff from smiling, so he simply kept a straight face and just nodded.

"Chairman Ye, so serious? You look very imposing..."

Ye Yaodong chuckled, "Don't make fun of me, Chen Shuji. I only have a title here; how could I have the nerve to let you all call me that?"

"You've been back for two days and we haven't seen you. You're a busy man, aren't you?"

"Didn't I run over to report for duty today? I went to the city yesterday to take care of urgent matters first."

He felt his pockets again; fortunately, he had brought some more lighters back yesterday. He gave one to Chen Shuji, then put his arm around his shoulder as they walked inside, and gave one to each of the village committee cadres.

"So generous. This thing is very expensive, but the one you brought back is actually quite cheap. I heard people saying yesterday that you brought a lot back, and even one costs several yuan."

"I brought quite a lot back. It just so happens to be locally produced, so I brought them for everyone to play with."

"Thank you. This thing looks high-end..."

"This is much more convenient than a matchbox, and it's decent to hold in your hand..."

Their old faces all bloomed with smiles; they were happy to death.

Ye Yaodong finished exchanging pleasantries with them before asking about the kelp.

They said that in about 10 days, starting in November, they would begin harvesting seedlings. The few old ones only asked about it; they didn't understand this and left it to the two workers they had hired to arrange, along with Chen Shuji's son and two villagers who were helping out.

At this time, they had all rowed their small boats out to sea and were doing preparatory work on the water.

He learned about it, and the difference from his own understanding wasn't too great. Some small details were just relatively old-fashioned, so he didn't specifically mention them. Anyway, even if he said it, these village cadres wouldn't know. He would just continue to communicate with the workers after they returned.

After sitting and chatting casually for a while, he went to call Ye Yaohai.

It just took time to call someone, so he hung up and sat there waiting for quite a while before the phone rang.

"Comrade Ye Yaodong? You're back?"

"Yeah, I called you as soon as I got back. Fortunately, I didn't make a wasted trip, otherwise I would have had to go to the provincial capital to find you."

"I'm much easier to find than you. You're a busy man with important affairs; as for me, an idler, you can find me whenever you want."

"What are you talking about? I'm just poor and have to work hard to make money. You're different; if you have something to do, just order your subordinates to do it."

"You make it sound like I'm some kind of capitalist. Let's not talk about that. The filling machine you asked me to inquire about two months ago has some leads. Do you want me to introduce a simple semi-automatic one for you? It's only a few thousand yuan, not expensive."

"Is it that cheap? What does 'a few thousand' mean? One or two thousand is a few thousand, and eight or nine thousand is also a few thousand."

He didn't know if this price was expensive or cheap. He felt a bit uncertain, and he hadn't seen the item, so he didn't know what it looked like.

"They say it's a simple version. Including travel expenses and everything, it should be about seven or eight thousand. The size isn't big either, and I heard it's quite easy to handle."

"How long will it take?"

"A month or two? If you want it, I'll contact someone to arrange a ship to send it over."

"Let me think about it. I'll call you back tomorrow. I just got back today and there are many things to do..."

"No problem. Seven or eight thousand isn't a small amount of money; you should discuss it with your family."

Ye Yaodong asked about the ancestral worship.

"Is the ancestral hall repaired? Two months ago you said it would take about two months, and now it's been a little over two months."

"It's repaired. The date is set for half a month from now. I was thinking of calling you a few days ago, but I wasn't sure if you were home, so I mailed it to you first. I estimate the invitation will arrive in a week."

"Alright. Once I receive the invitation, I'll call you again to set the time for me to go over."

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong said a few more polite words and hung up first.

He remembered that before he went to find Ye Yaohai, he had also gone to find Lin Ji, but Lin Ji wasn't home, so he left a message with his wife. Yesterday, when he returned, he hadn't heard Ah Qing mention that Lin Ji had come to look for him.

He didn't know if this person had returned in the last two months. He really was like a dragon that showed its head but not its tail; it was becoming harder and harder to see him, and he didn't know what he was up to.

He planned to go to Lin Ji's side first to find out more. Several thousand yuan wasn't a small amount; it was best to have a comparison. If there wasn't one, then he would just let Ye Yaohai arrange it. If he could get it sooner, he could put it on the market sooner.

By the end of the year, the ship he was partnering on with his eldest and second brothers would be in his hands. The fish sauce workshop at home would definitely have to increase the quantity of fermentation and scale up in the second half of the year. The quantity his small trawlers brought back every day could now be sporadically put into fermentation.

And the Zhou brothers next door had also partnered on a large ship, saying it would also be in the second half of the year. At that time, he could also spend money to collect the miscellaneous goods.

Taking advantage of the time before the end of the year, he would get the machine back and try it out. He would first bag the existing fish sauce. It was estimated that by the time it was fully put on the market, it would be the New Year.

It just so happened that the warehouse on the vacant lot in the city was being built. At that time, everything could be pulled to the warehouse for storage. That piece of land could be put to good use; otherwise, as production increased, he wouldn't even have a proper warehouse.

Just after hanging up the phone, his thoughts had already turned a hundred times in his mind.