Chapter 1185: Ancestral Worship

Ye Yaodong finally realized that raising a daughter is more troublesome than raising a son.

She wants everything she sees; if he scolds her, she cries, and if he tries to discipline her, he can't bring himself to do it. In the end, he can only let her return home grinning from ear to ear, fully loaded.

Then, since he can't bear to do anything to her, once they get home, her mother is going to hold him accountable.

"Why did you buy so much? Did you move their entire stall back here?"

Ye Yaodong felt very innocent too. Ye Xiaoxi pointed at this and wanted it, pointed at that and wanted it; she wouldn't accept missing even one, and if he objected, she would loudly say, "You promised, you promised," leaving him with no choice.

This also taught him a lesson: one shouldn't make promises to children so casually.

She really remembers them too well.

He had backhandedly trapped himself.

And since she is still young and doesn't understand, he is the only one who gets scolded.

Better a friend dies than I do; he still wanted to struggle a bit before the end.

Ye Yaodong pointed at Ye Xiaoxi and said indignantly, "You scold her. She wanted it; it has nothing to do with me. It was all her wanting it."

Ye Xiaoxi looked up at him, confused, and when she turned to see her mother glaring fiercely at her, she hurriedly hid behind Grandma, calling out in a pitiful, small voice, "Great-Grandma..."

"Bought is bought... It just so happens I can knit a sweater for Adong. The weather is getting cold, and he needs more clothes to change into while working on the boat. Otherwise, if they get wet all the time, he'll catch a cold when it gets chilly."

Lin Xiuqing couldn't help but rub her forehead; from the old to the young, none of them were worry-free, and they only cared about what they wanted to care about.

"You don't even look at how much you bought. She wants it, so you buy it. If she told you to eat sh*t, would you eat it?"

"I'd let you eat it; I wouldn't."

She was so angry she gave him two hard slaps; he still had to be a smart-aleck.

Ye Yaodong shrugged his shoulders and took it, "Alright, it's all bought back; it's already bought."

"You knit it."

"I don't know how. If I knew how, why would I need you?"

"Then why did you buy so much?"

"Like I said, she wanted it."

"But you can't buy this much! How many jin is this? There are dozens of bundles here, all sorts of colors. There's at least ten-plus jin. A normal adult only needs two jin to knit a sweater, a child at most one. I only need one and a half, and you at most two."

"Then we'll just knit a few more. Hehe, we'll arrange it for the whole family. It's cold in winter, so it's perfect to arrange it for everyone... Even if we have money, we shouldn't mistreat ourselves. Two sweaters for each adult in the house, plus the kids, that's about right, isn't it? Where is it too much? It's not too much at all; it might not even be enough. My daughter calculated it just right," Ye Yaodong said ingratiatingly.

Lin Xiuqing was so angry she didn't know where to start, "Still not enough? Can I finish knitting them? Can you change into a new sweater every year?"

"You have to wear new clothes for the New Year. There are many people in the family; starting now is about right. It's perfect for everyone to have new sweaters to wear for the New Year, right? No problem, that's how we'll do it. Later, let the old and the young help you out, roll all this yarn into balls so it's convenient for you to knit."

Ye Xiaoxi suddenly shouted, "Don't want Mom, want the sweater Dad knits."

Ye Yaodong gave her a rare glare, "Shut up, or I'll spank you if you keep nagging."

"I'm going to be angered to death by you all. Buying things is so troublesome, all day long it's rainbow sweaters, rainbow sweaters..."

After Lin Xiuqing finished speaking, she reached out and pointed at Ye Xiaoxi, "Come over here and tidy up and get to work."

Ye Xiaoxi dawdled and wouldn't move, looking at this and that, still hiding behind Grandma.

Grandma said with a smile, "I'll do it, I'll do it. How would she know how? She has to wait until she's a bit older."

Ye Yaodong hurriedly took the opportunity to slip out.

By the time he ran to the courtyard, he could still hear Lin Xiuqing nagging there, "Running away in the blink of an eye. Knowing you did something wrong, you know to slip away first. The upper beam is crooked, so the lower ones are too... the two little ones..."

He quickened his pace, and he couldn't hear what was said after that.

He also felt a sense of relief in his heart.

It wasn't a question of money; it really was that he bought too much. At the time, after it was weighed and put in the basket, Ye Xiaoxi grabbed a huge pile, and then after it was weighed, there was more.

He couldn't say no, because since she kept grabbing it, some fell on the ground and got dirty, or it got messed up by her little hands and wasn't neat, so he could only bite the bullet and accept it.

Fortunately, he was clever later on, and when paying, he clamped her between his legs, otherwise, if he hadn't been careful, it would have been ruined by her again.

Next time, he wouldn't take her out.

He raised his hand to look at the watch on his wrist; it was only past 9 o'clock.

He got up early in the morning and went to town to buy yarn; pedaling the bicycle back and forth didn't take much effort. Now that he was free, it was a good time to go to the village committee and take a look.

However, most people work from dawn to dusk, so it was late when he went at this time; people had already gone out to sea to work and hadn't returned yet, so he had to wait until after lunch to follow them.

It was also fortunate that it was autumn now, and with the typhoon season not yet over, although they hadn't been affected, the sun wasn't that strong, and it was quite cool.

In the afternoon, he followed the workers hired by the village committee, along with two people from the village responsible for learning kelp farming, and they all rowed small boats together to the offshore base to take a look.

Because of the typhoon, they didn't dare to plant seedlings these past few days; they were just preparing in advance, waiting for the typhoon to pass before planting. It would only be two or three days, and everything was ready at sea.

There were no ready-made long seedlings now; they all had to take the seedlings to cultivate them first, and wait until they grew to a length of ten-plus centimeters before separating them and clipping them onto the ropes.

It was best to take seedlings of about 15 centimeters to clip. After separating and clipping the seedlings, they would only need to manage them.

For example, the seedling ropes needed to float on the sea surface and could not sink deep into the seawater; otherwise, without sunlight, the roots would rot and they wouldn't grow big.

Other than that, there were no special circumstances, and there was no need to do other cumbersome work. The most troublesome part was this early work.

Then, they could start harvesting one after another in April or May of the coming year. One mu of kelp could harvest about 5,000 jin, and when it was good, the yield could be even higher.

Ye Yaodong took a look. This was the first year, and there wasn't much testing. The village committee only took about ten mu of the offshore base for the first test.

Doing a little bit first could also reduce the risk. After all, they weren't counting on making money at the beginning; as long as they could successfully raise them, that would be enough.

He also helped with the work at sea, and it was two hours later when he returned from the sea. He didn't have the energy to go home, so he discussed it with everyone at the village committee.

After taking a look at the sea, he also had a good idea of what to do. They could plant seedlings soon, and once the seedlings were raised, separating and clipping them would be fast.

For the next two days, since he was idle at home anyway, and seeing that the sea was calm, he also participated in planting the seedlings.

Even his father became curious and followed along to take a look.

Ye's father sighed, saying that if this could be successfully farmed, the whole village could have an extra source of income, and they wouldn't all have to go out to do odd jobs, or just rely on that tiny bit of land to barely make a living.

Everyone could participate in farming together, and they could have an extra skill to make a living, and the whole village could make money together.

After all, there were only a few families with loose cash now; most were still living difficult lives, barely hovering above the subsistence line.

And many of the wealthy families who were living well now had also benefited from Ye Yaodong.

In the past few years, he had intermittently rented out more than a dozen boats, and hired many boatmen. For example, when running to Zhejiang Province, he would hire dozens of people at a time, and he had even sold a batch of small boats.

Some women in the workshop could also earn some money to subsidize their families.

This also stimulated the enthusiasm of some fishermen in the village to buy boats.

Now, most people would rather owe money than not have a boat, counting on being able to accumulate family wealth and get rich like Ye Yaodong.

After there were more boats, the amount of goods collected by Acai and the others at the pier also increased, and naturally, they earned more money.

Although the fishing boats in their village couldn't compare to the number in town, they couldn't be underestimated. The nearby villages combined didn't have as many boats as their village.

Standing at his front door looking at the pier, he could see a beautiful landscape. Fishing boats were swaying in the wind at the pier. In the past, there were only a few scattered small boats, but now it looked much more spectacular.

"Whether it can succeed depends on next year. It's a bit early to say these things now. If it succeeds, of course, the whole village will benefit."

"I hope it succeeds. When the time comes, our village will farm on a large scale, and the level of all villagers will be raised, becoming a wealthy village in the area. Then it will definitely be rated as a model, and that will be glorious."

"Don't talk about these things. Anyway, it has nothing to do with you. You don't need to do these things; just help me steer the boat. When you're older and can't go out to sea, you can still watch the workshop for me."

Ye's father nodded happily, "That's good. When the time comes, I'll watch the workshop for you and sit at the door to bask in the sun."

"Go back and prepare, and tell Uncle and Ye Erbo. We'll sail to the provincial capital tomorrow morning."

"What time?"

"4 o'clock? A bit earlier, so we can get there sooner."

"That works."

He was thinking of arriving early so he could find Lao Hai and chat about the machine, but he didn't know if he had returned early.

It was very likely that they would arrive tomorrow and find no one there, and would have to ask for directions all the way.

Thinking of this, he thought he should immediately go to the village committee to make a phone call; it would be best if he could get someone to wait.

"Let's tentatively set this time. I'll go to the village committee to make a call and ask. It's best to discuss a time to go with Lao Hai, so someone can lead the way, and we won't have to ask everywhere and waste time."

"That would be best. You go quickly."

"I don't know if it will be too late. They might leave early, who knows."

"Ask first. After all, they are juniors, it's nothing, no need to go so early."

Ye Yaodong responded and went to the village committee again.

Fortunately, he made the call in time. They were originally planning to go home tomorrow noon, but now they agreed with him to wait until they arrived before leaving together, probably at 2 PM, which wasn't too late.

Ye Yaohai also immediately agreed to wait for them.

After he came out of the village committee, he ran to the old house to tell his father, and then went home to prepare.

Lin Xiuqing listened to his instructions and knew he would be gone for several days, so she took out all his clothes and put them in the suitcase.

When Ye Yaodong looked through them, he was extremely satisfied. They were all newly made, and he didn't even know when she had made so many.

"So thoughtful. When did you make so many new clothes?"

"When you weren't home, it would be strange if you knew."

"Then you didn't ask me to try them on when I came back."

"You're never home all day long, and I don't see you except when you're eating or sleeping. I've been busy too. These clothes were made long ago. Two or three months ago, when I knew you were going to worship the ancestors, I bought the fabric and made new clothes for you. It's been a long time, and I forgot. Anyway, I compared them with your old clothes, and there's no difference, so there's no need to ask you to try them on."

"Fine, take one set out to wear tomorrow, and put the others away."

"I've already taken out the one you're going to wear and put it on the table."

He turned his head and saw that there was indeed a neatly folded set on the table.

"You made so many?"

"No, this set is the newer-looking one among your old ones. Anyway, we're only going to the provincial capital tomorrow. Half the road is at sea, and the other half you have to take a car, so it will definitely get dirty. You can wear the new clothes the day after tomorrow."

"I was wondering how you could have made so many new clothes for me; it turns out there were only two sets."

Lin Xiuqing glared at him, "Don't you have any idea at all? What's the difference between the clothes you usually wear and the ones you work in? You wear them and wear them until you're at sea, so what clothes can you wear that are presentable?"

"It's not bad that I can give you these two sets. Tomorrow you'll still be wearing them and wearing them until you're at sea."

"If it weren't for the fear that you wouldn't have decent clothes to go out and see people and would lose face, I wouldn't make them for you."

"Anything is fine at home, but of course, you have to be a bit presentable when you go out, especially for a big event like ancestor worship."

Ye Yaodong watched her chatter on and on, not caring what she said, just nodding was the right thing to do.

"Yes, yes, yes, everything you say is right."

"I've also polished your leather shoes, wrapped them in cloth, and put them in the suitcase. You can wear them the day after tomorrow. Wear your liberation shoes tomorrow; don't wear rain boots."

"I know. Although we're taking a boat, we're not fishing, so no need to wear rain boots. Rain boots are too smelly."

"Hmm."

After the matter was settled, he leaned his head over and shamelessly boasted, "My wife is so thoughtful and virtuous."

"Go away..."

He laughed heartily.

Early the next morning, when he went to the pier, his father was already there, but half the people hadn't arrived yet, so they waited a little while.

At this time, the fishing boats that should have gone out to sea had already left, and only a few of them were still waiting there.

Just when he was getting impatient and wanted to leave, the light of a flashlight flickered in the distance as someone came over.

Ye's father hurriedly shouted, "If you don't walk faster, we're leaving directly. So slow."

"Let's get on the boat first." Ye Yaodong took the lead and walked toward the small boat on the shore.

"Hurry up..."

It was hard for the people behind to trot over, and just as they got on the boat and hadn't stood steady, the boat moved.

"Ouch, you guys be a bit slower, my new clothes are going to get dirty."

Ye Yaodong shone his flashlight on his Ye Erbo, and then on his cousins; it turned out that several of them had already put on their new clothes first.

When Ye's father saw it, he also said, "What new clothes are you wearing in the middle of the night? Who are you showing them to?"

"Isn't it because there are no decent clothes at home? It's just autumn, except for the one newly made set, everything at home is mended from previous years. If this ancestor worship were during the New Year, there would still be the cotton-padded jacket from last year that could be taken out and worn first."

"That's right, the old clothes at home are only for working, and they're all patched. It's not very good to wear them to the provincial capital, so we just put on the new clothes first. After all, we have to see people when we get there."

"Yes, there's nothing at home except broken clothes for working. We only made a new set a while ago, just to wear when going to the provincial capital, so we put them on at night."

Having said that, Ye Yaodong had nothing to say.

It was indeed the truth.

They were all working people, so where would they get good clothes? Daily work clothes were easily damaged, and he was the same.

Except for the clothes not having patches, there was no difference between wearing them in the village and wearing them at sea. No one could laugh at anyone; everyone was the same. The one he was wearing that hadn't been mended could already be considered good.

Everyone discussed the matter of clothes again, and the topic didn't stop until the small boat rowed to the side of the Dongsheng, and everyone changed to the Dongsheng.

The new topic revolved around the Dongsheng again, and also revolved around Ye Yaodong.

They told Ye Yaodong not to forget his roots, not to forget that the character "Ye" cannot be written in two strokes, that they were all one family, and should help each other...

Ye Yaodong was surrounded by them, and Ye's father, fearing delay, ran to steer the boat.

After he responded casually a few times, he turned and climbed up to the wheelhouse, wanting to switch with his father and let his father deal with them.

Except for the first two years when his aunt loved to come over and ask them to help more, later, seeing that he was impervious to reason, and every time she came over she didn't get any good, either being retorted by his mother or chased for debts by his two sisters-in-law, losing both face and substance, she didn't like to come over anymore.

They had actually been at peace for quite a long time.

And his second cousin Ye Yaofan was also honest, and the family had calmed down a lot.

The people in the village only came to collect debts frequently in the year he was just released. Later, when they couldn't get it, they had no choice. Seeing that people were working diligently, they could only come to remind him every few days, but it didn't get particularly ugly.

And as for his Ye Erbo's family, his aunt specifically tormented Ye Yaosheng, just staring at the fact that he didn't have a wife and kept tossing.

Later, when he had a wife, because he didn't have a son, she kept tossing.

She sang several big dramas.

His Ye Erbo was quite flexible. After seeing him get rich, he occasionally came over a few times, wanting to repair the relationship and curry favor.

However, knowing that it was hard to talk to him, he usually just chatted with his father to maintain brotherly feelings.

It was not much different from his aunt, but his aunt made people feel more disgusted.

In general, there were not many disagreements later. Although they were jealous and wanted a piece of the pie, they wouldn't harm their own family.

Knowing that they couldn't get any advantage, and that the one who got rich was him, not his father, at most they would come over to chat, repair the relationship, and show their faces.

He didn't have much interest in them. Everyone has their own little thoughts. Who doesn't want to be friends with rich people, especially when they are their own family? Anyway, they are all relatives, so normal interaction is fine.

And he wasn't home often; Lin Xiuqing dealt with everything.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and proximity makes it stink. Keeping a distance that is neither too far nor too close, it was quite harmonious now.

And his older brother, second brother, and the cousins from his Ye Erbo's family, after the previous jellyfish incident, after discussing it properly, they opened up, and there were no contradictions.

Now when they met, they all greeted each other politely and could chat a few words. The disagreements were also between a few cousins and others regarding uneven distribution.

It is actually best for relatives and friends to have fewer conflicts of interest; otherwise, even the best relationship can easily turn into enmity.

But it's easy to say, hard to do.

Chinese people pay the most attention to human feelings.

Ye Yaodong steered the boat, keeping an eye on the time, and turned the horsepower to the maximum. Being dragged by them, he was also worried about making people wait too long.

From dark to dawn, and then to the sun rising high, he switched to his father steering, and went to the cabin to catch up on sleep.

The others had been sitting on the boat all night, and were long since mentally exhausted. There was nothing left to talk about, and they were all very silent, which was just right for him to doze off and sleep.

When they arrived, it was just past noon, not exceeding the expected time, and he was called up.

"Arrived?"

"Arrived, hurry up and take your luggage, get ready to get off the boat."

Ye Yaodong carried the briefcase to the deck. Everyone looked at the cloth bags in their hands and cast envious glances.

"Dongzi's suitcase is really good-looking, so stylish. He looks like a big boss."

"Dongzi is a big boss, with boats, shops, and cars. Now he's even called President Ye by people."

"Yes, how much is this briefcase? We haven't seen anyone carry one in our place..."

Ye Yaodong just wanted to say that he hadn't put on his sunglasses yet, and he hadn't put on his leather shoes either.

He was only halfway through showing off.

"Not much money, only a few dozen yuan, everyone can afford it."

"Then who can bear it? Being able to afford it is one thing, but spending dozens of yuan on this thing is like digging out my heart and liver."

"Hehe, Dongzi is also a person of status now, he has to carry a briefcase when he goes out."

Hehe...

Ye Yaodong casually put the briefcase on a stool and then prepared for the fishing boat to dock.

It was just that when the fishing boat swayed, the briefcase fell onto the deck. He just glanced at it and didn't care, because he had to be busy.

The others were heartbroken. It clearly wasn't theirs, but they were even more heartbroken than him.

They hurriedly ran over to pick up his suitcase, blew off the dust, and took a cloth to wipe it clean for him.

"I'll help you carry it, it's not stable sitting there."

He nodded.

The one helping to carry it was Ye Erbo. After he held it in his hand, he stood up straight very consciously, feeling confident.

After Ye Yaodong docked the boat and wanted to take it over, Ye Erbo pulled his hand back and apologized with a smile, "I'll help you carry it. You have things to do at any time, it's not good to put it down anywhere. It's a valuable thing anyway, what a pity if it's corroded by seawater?"

Ye Yaodong was a bit dumbfounded.

His Ye Erbo was also a talent, actually quite able to bend and stretch, able to carry a bag for his nephew.

"This isn't very appropriate, you're my Ye Erbo, helping me carry a suitcase, how is this..."

"It's okay, what is it? We're all one family, what's wrong with helping to carry it?"

Ye's father also laughed, "I'll do it, what's it like for you to carry it."

"Alright."

Ye Yaodong followed everyone ashore.

Except for him and his father, no one else here had been to the provincial capital. One by one, their necks were stretched long, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, exceptionally novel, eyes looking around, as if they couldn't see enough, and their mouths were still chattering excitedly.

He didn't care about these people, just let them wait in place at the pier and not run around. He went to find Lao Hai first.

Ye Yaohai also kept his promise and waited at the pier. Seeing him come ashore, he also walked toward him. After the two met, they both greeted each other with a smile.

"Is it okay to steer the boat all the way? You still have to take a car later, can you handle it?"

"Small matter, it's like this every three days. How can children of the sea not handle it? It's all daily routine."

"Okay, then your uncles and brothers are all here, right? Did they all come together?"

"Yes, they all came and are waiting over there."

"That's good, then let's go early. We can still catch dinner when we arrive. I've already prepared the car, we'll take a tractor."

Ye Yaodong took him and walked toward his group of people, "Good, it's too rushed. If I had known, I would have come a day earlier, and we could have chatted about the machine and plastic bags."

"Chatting on the road is the same, or find time to chat when we get to the village. Anyway, we can stay for a few more days. The flowing banquet will be set for three days. If we don't eat enough and go back, wouldn't that be a wasted trip? Hahaha."

"Hahaha, eating is secondary, we must worship the ancestors properly. How many years has it been since we worshipped the ancestors? We must worship enough at once, so that the ancestors can bless me in the future, otherwise our branch would have been forgotten long ago."

"Okay, then you guys take all the time for eating to worship more."

The two talked as they walked to the crowd. Ye's father said with a smile, "What worship, worship the ancestors?"

"Adong said he wants to worship the ancestors more, and begged the ancestors for blessings, saying he won't eat the flowing banquet, and will kneel for a long time."

Ye Yaodong was happy.

"Nonsense, this is what he said. We must worship the ancestors more, and of course, we must eat, eat more, and the ancestors will bless us more. This is a rare good day."

"Let me introduce you..."

"Too late, let's talk and introduce as we walk."

"That works, let's talk as we walk."

The tractor was parked on the side. Except for the driver sitting in front, there was no one else.

Ye Yaohai also followed them and sat in the car bucket. Everyone naturally took their bundles and put them on the ground, and sat on the cushions.

This suffered Ye Yaodong, who could only squat.

However, Ye Yaohai pressed his luggage and shared half of it for him to sit on, just right for the two to whisper.

Ye Yaodong first introduced everyone in the car to him, and then asked him about the machine.

"Everything is arranged, just waiting to be shipped over. Later I went to ask about the packaging bags for you, and found out that there is a place in the provincial capital that sells that equipment, but there is only one, and it is quite expensive. I heard it costs ten thousand yuan."

"But if you have a plan in your heart and know what you want to do with it, then it's profitable. Like those ice bags, you don't know how many tens of thousands of bags are sold a day, and people from all over the towns come to wholesale them."

"I also found out after asking around. Those ice bags are only for two months, and they are everywhere. They won't be hard, and even if they are slightly cool, people will buy them, and no one will dislike them."

"Don't look at the cheap things, but you don't even need two months to get your money back."

He nodded, "I'm not doing this. Anyway, it can be cheaper, and it doesn't matter if I wait slowly. I'm not that anxious. It's just that after the ancestor worship is over and I return to the city, I'll have to trouble you to take me to see the plastic bag factory. I also have to order the bags."

"No problem, I'm familiar with the provincial capital anyway."

"How long does it take to get to the village by tractor?"

"It depends on the situation, three hours, it should be about time for dinner."

"Does the ancestral hall provide dinner?"

"Yes, it just happens to provide dinner starting today, because we have to do things tomorrow, and we have to prepare today, so we start providing meals today, and the flowing banquet starts tomorrow."

"Okay." ===== CHAPTER 1186 =====