Chapter 1210: Fooling around

A head poked out from the upstairs window, and another head poked out from the window of the old lady's room downstairs.

Two pairs of envious eyes and downturned corners of their mouths told the story of their current mood.

Ye Yaodong glanced upstairs, then glanced downstairs, before mounting his motorcycle and slowly heading out, completely ignoring the two boys.

Not until the shadow of the motorcycle was out of sight did the two heads remain where they were; only when the sound of the motorcycle had completely faded did the two little heads droop and retract.

He really wouldn't let them follow.

He'd rather let the dogs follow than let them follow.

Passing through the village and then out of it, all the children they saw were incredibly envious; the whole village knew that Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang's father had a motorcycle, and it was incredibly cool.

It was indeed too handsome, and he was even wearing sunglasses.

Why wasn't he their father!

A crowd of children felt a bit of "hate that iron doesn't become steel," and some ignorant ones turned back home to ask their fathers why they didn't buy a motorcycle, only to be welcomed by two slaps.

Ye Yaodong was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, his head and neck were wrapped tightly, he was wearing gloves on his hands, and he even had sunglasses on his face; he really hadn't been blown by a single bit of wind.

After Ye Xiaoxi had been shouting excitedly for a good while, the wind hitting her face made her eyes hurt. The scarf could only wrap around half of her little face, so she simply closed her eyes, bent her waist and lowered her head, grabbed a dog, and buried her head into the dog's body.

The dog she grabbed was almost suffocated by her hug. It barked twice, but was patted on the head twice by her, so it could only honestly let her hold it for now.

It wasn't that they brought all the dogs; three were squeezed into the sidecar. When the vehicle just drove out of the courtyard, a bunch of dogs were still chasing wildly behind.

These were the ones that had lost the fight and couldn't squeeze in, so they couldn't hitch a ride and could only rely on their four legs to run.

By the time they were out of the village, these dogs were still running around the motorcycle, as if they were escorting it.

Ye Yaodong suddenly stopped by the side of the road.

The dogs running beside the motorcycle were caught off guard. After rushing out directly, they braked urgently, turned their heads, and barked at him.

"Woof woof woof woof woof..."

Lin Xiuqing was also puzzled, "What for?"

"A whole bunch of dogs are running back and forth; didn't you see? It's one thing that I couldn't get them out of the sidecar, but there's still a bunch of dogs following around; what is this?"

"It is indeed a bit too many. When we came out earlier, I even heard the children excitedly calling you the Dog King..."

Ye Yaodong's face stiffened, "Damn it..."

He wore a stinking face and shouted at those dogs, "All of you go back! If you don't go back, you won't even know who gets left behind later. If you don't keep up, you'll be caught by someone on the road and stewed for dog meat."

That group of dogs all gathered over, barking wildly around the motorcycle.

Ye Yaodong kicked a dog that was close by, "Go back, why do you all have to follow?"

"Woof woo..."

The Dalmatian tilted its head, then let out a low whine, and leaned forward again to bite his pant leg.

"Go, go, go..."

The dog that had originally been tightly hugged in Ye Xiaoxi's arms also took the opportunity to break free from her and then jumped down, preferring to walk rather than ride in the car; it had almost lost its life.

The Dalmatian was biting Ye Yaodong's pant leg and took the opportunity to jump into the sidecar again. Seeing this, the other dogs also rushed forward, and in an instant, a group of dogs started fighting again.

"Ah ah ah... bad dog, stinky dog, go away..."

Ye Xiaoxi was about to be drowned by the dogs, and there were even dogs jumping onto her, clawing at her. She angrily waved her two hands to throw the dogs away.

"Dad, hurry up and go, go, go..."

Ye Yaodong looked at the restless group of dogs and also rubbed his forehead with a headache, "I shouldn't have raised so many dogs."

"Your 'shouldn't have' is too late. This is still because your daughter gave six or seven to Xiao Yu, otherwise there would be even more at home."

"They are too capable of giving birth; one litter at a time."

"Dad, go, go..."

Ye Xiaoxi was too busy pulling this dog and kicking that dog; she was so busy that she could only keep urging Ye Yaodong to leave quickly.

Ye Yaodong had no choice but to restart the vehicle. Accompanied by the sound of the motor, the motorcycle rushed out with an "um~" sound.

It's just that this speed couldn't be considered very fast; they were all dirt roads, all covered in pebbles.

After the dogs behind reacted, they also scrambled to continue running forward wildly.

On this journey, Ye Yaodong didn't stop again, but he didn't drive very fast either, so the group of dogs could keep up while running.

People along the way also rarely saw such a bizarre landscape: a group of dogs running wildly around a motorcycle, with three still staying in the sidecar. The expression on their faces hadn't finished being envious before it was already hung with surprise again.

Ye Yaodong didn't care how passersby looked at it and headed straight for Anhe Township.

As soon as they entered the village, they were discovered by the children. One by one, the children were like they had been injected with chicken blood, howling and running wildly behind the motorcycle with those dogs.

The dogs were barking "woof woof woof" while running, and they were howling "motorcycle."

Not until the motorcycle stopped at the gate of Lin Fu's house did the children behind stop, panting.

"Little Auntie's husband, why did you ride so fast? I was shouting at you from behind, and you didn't react."

"I told you all, that's my little aunt and aunt's husband, and you didn't believe me... see it now, right?"

"I told you long ago, my little aunt's family has a motorcycle, and I've even sat on it..."

"See, my aunt's husband is so handsome, so cool, so majestic..."

"Where are the two cousins?"

"Little Auntie, why didn't Chenghu and Yang Yang come?"

The family of three hadn't even gotten off the motorcycle before they were surrounded by the excited children, asking in a jumble of voices.

Lin Xiuqing smiled and got off the vehicle first, then picked up Ye Xiaoxi. The dog in Ye Xiaoxi's arms had almost rolled its eyes, but fortunately, she let go in time.

As soon as she got off the sidecar, there were substitute dogs jumping in again.

"Those two were too disobedient yesterday and today, and they were beaten so they couldn't get out of bed, so we didn't bring them."

"Ah, that's too miserable. I thought I could play with them. I caught another turtle this morning..." said Lin Guangwen, who was about the same age as Ye Chenghe.

Ye Yaodong also smiled and got off the motorcycle, "That's perfect, let's kill a chicken and stew it together."

"No! Can't eat it. Chenghu has been raising that one for a long time, and he shows it off to me every day. I want to raise one too."

Lin Fu watched them being surrounded by a group of people, and there were also some neighbors who all surrounded them, looking at the motorcycle with envy. They had said a basketful of envious words and even reached out to touch it, and he couldn't even get a word in.

Lin Guangwen and the other little ones saw these neighbors reaching out to touch it without any sense of being outsiders, and one by one they were a bit unhappy. They hurriedly held hands to form a circle, separating the motorcycle, and kept shouting not to touch it, or it would be broken.

Only then did Lin Fu get a word in, smiling and scolding: "No manners, how can you be like this?"

"It will be broken if touched, can't touch it randomly!"

The adults just said it as a gesture and didn't manage their behavior.

Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing took down the things fixed on the vehicle and said to Lin Fu: "Today is the Little New Year. I originally planned to come tomorrow, but I was afraid I wouldn't have time later and would have to go out of town, so I came today."

"It doesn't matter if you don't have time, why be so particular? It's fine to come during the first lunar month, saving you from running back and forth."

"That's what should be done, how can sending off the year be saved."

Lin Fu and Lin Mu were all smiles, it gave them so much face.

The surrounding neighbors were envious to death.

"This son-in-law of yours is too good..."

"This son-in-law of yours takes your whole family to the city to make money, and doesn't miss the holidays either."

"Aqing is so good at finding one. Do you have any other good young men over there to introduce..."

Ye Xiaoxi was short and had short legs, and was almost drowned by the enthusiastic neighbors, "Oh my, I'm being squeezed to death..."

Lin Mu hurriedly picked her up, "Let's go, let's go inside and talk."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said to the group of children who were still holding hands and surrounding the motorcycle: "Watch my motorcycle well, there will be red envelopes later."

They immediately became spirited and shouted loudly: "Aunt's husband, don't worry, we will definitely watch it well."

"Right, no one is allowed to touch it."

The room was full of joy, and there were quite a few people surrounding the outside to watch the fun.

Lin Fu's family was now famous throughout the village. Everyone knew that their whole family had been taken by their son-in-law to the city to make money.

Along with them, this whole string of children in the Lin family also had extra face among the children, and all the children in the village envied them.

Regardless of whether they were working in the city or doing whatever, anyway, they had been to places that everyone else hadn't been to.

After Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing, the couple, arrived, they were well entertained. All the relatives of the Lin family, as long as they were related, all came upon hearing the news.

So much so that the room couldn't even seat them, and a large group of people were standing, all with smiling faces, flattering Ye Yaodong in various ways.

And they praised Lin Xiuqing for having a good life, marrying a good husband.

Ye Yaodong almost couldn't handle their enthusiasm, his face was stiff from smiling.

He had the heart to go out to bask in the sun and escape the encirclement of everyone, but he couldn't leave, so he could only bite the bullet and listen to everyone's various praises.

In his whole life, he had never heard so many praises openly like this trip. A large group of people took turns saying them, and in the past, what he heard was just listening to a couple of sentences while passing by.

However, when everyone was praising him, they didn't forget to promote themselves or their own children, asking him to help pull them along if he had work, all wanting to entrust their own children to him so he could take them out to make money.

Ye Yaodong stayed at the Lin house for most of the day and was surrounded by a bunch of people for most of the day, only able to escape for a few minutes by going to the bathroom.

Even his dogs received enthusiastic hospitality from the Lin family and the neighbors, and their lunch was even better.

When it was time to leave, Ye Yaodong couldn't wait to escape, while the dogs were still lingering and wandering around, circling the people a few times before running wildly to catch up.

Ye Yaodong deliberately slowed down to let those dogs keep up, otherwise, with that stupid look, they would definitely be put into someone's pot.

"Tired me to death. Feels even more tired than being at sea for a day, my face is stiff from smiling."

Lin Xiuqing felt the same, "Yeah, feels even more tired than working at home for a day. People are so enthusiastic, we have to keep a smiling face too, they are all relatives."

"It's good that we came today, we can still find an excuse to say we have to go home to worship the kitchen god, otherwise there would be no reason to leave early tomorrow."

Lin Xiuqing agreed deeply.

"Count if any of those dogs are missing? Don't really let them be put into someone's pot."

"None are missing, I just counted them. Those children at home were all surrounding those dogs playing, and they were all watching, so they weren't stolen by anyone."

"That's fine, I was just afraid they would be tricked away by a little food."

The couple slowed down and said a few words. After the dogs caught up, they also got on the main road and accelerated.

Worshiping the kitchen god for the Little New Year doesn't need to be so early. When eating dinner, you can arrange to worship the kitchen god and burn incense, and after eating dinner, you can burn the gold ingots.

They arrived home just in time. The old lady had already cooked the food and had also cleaned the offerings for the kitchen god that Lin Xiuqing bought in the morning and set them up, just waiting for them to return.

When they returned, they didn't need to do anything, just light incense and set off firecrackers.

Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang were still lying on the bed, one upstairs and one downstairs, without showing their faces.

As soon as Ye Xiaoxi entered the door, she excitedly looked for her brothers.

"Brother, I have red envelopes, I have many red envelopes..."

"Brother, where are you?"

"Where is brother?"

The old lady smiled and pointed to her room and upstairs, and she immediately ran to the room.

"Brother, look at my red envelopes, my pockets are full..."

"There are still many candies here, and peanut beans..."

"Brother, why aren't you talking?"

"Brother, look! You hurry up and look!"

"Brother, why are you angry..."

"Brother, why didn't you go with us today..."

"Brother, look, look, red red envelopes, lots of money..."

Ye Chengyang was very depressed and didn't want to pay attention, but she insisted on taking them in front of him to show him.

"You are so annoying, hurry up and go upstairs to find your big brother!"

"Fine, I don't like you anymore, and I won't share with you either. I'll go find big brother and give it to big brother to eat."

Ye Xiaoxi felt that Yang Yang was very boring. She had taken the initiative to share, but he didn't pay attention to her.

Pouting her mouth, she grumbled and put the red envelopes back into her pockets one by one, and also grabbed all the candies and peanut beans back into her pockets, not leaving him a single one.

Then she climbed upstairs happily to continue sharing her joy and happiness with Ye Chenghu, but she didn't expect her big brother to be even more excessive, directly roaring at her.

"Are you annoying or not? I don't have any."

"Then give yours to me, and I'll be happy..."

"Get out, get out, get out..."

Ye Xiaoxi was so angry that she ran downstairs with a "bang bang bang," and then went to complain.

"Dad, big brother scolded me! He told me to get out, and he even wanted my red envelopes."

"Then he won't get dinner tonight. Those fruits and candies on the table can be taken down later and given to you."

Ye Xiaoxi nodded heavily, satisfied.

"Go wash your hands and eat."

The whole family sat down to eat, only Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang were missing.

The old lady even specially took a bowl and dish to put food in, intending to take it to the two brothers to eat, but it was snatched away by Ye Yaodong.

"They are spoiled. Whether they want to eat or not, if they want to eat, they can crawl out themselves. If they don't eat, forget it. Do I still have to send it to the bedside? They aren't missing arms or legs, why are they so delicate?"

"They say it hurts when they move, you all shouldn't have beaten them so hard..."

"It's good enough that they weren't hung up and beaten. Eat your meal, don't worry about them."

The old lady stood for a while, but she wasn't at ease sitting down to eat like this, so she had to go back to her room and bring Ye Chengyang out to eat.

Ye Chengyang had a face full of grievance. His butt hurt, but he didn't dare to sit, so he could only stand there and eat, tears falling into the bowl with a "pitter-patter."

"Brother, why are you crying? Do you not want to eat?"

Ye Chengyang turned his head to look at the unkind gazes of his own father and mother, and hurriedly held back his tears. He still wanted to eat.

Just now Ye Xiaoxi complained, causing Ye Chenghu to have no food to eat. He heard it, and he didn't want to have no food to eat either.

Ye Yaodong patted Ye Xiaoxi's head, "Eat your meal."

"I know, brother likes tears with his meal."

"Only you know how to talk."

Ye Xiaoxi shook her head, feeling that she was extremely smart.

However, when she wasn't paying attention, Lin Xiuqing secretly took away all the red envelopes in her pockets.

When they were at the Lin house earlier, she wanted to collect them, but this little girl wasn't so easy to fool after growing a year older.

She held the red envelopes tightly and wouldn't give them up. Outside, she couldn't make the child cry because she wanted to take the child's red envelopes, so she could only let her keep them first and then keep a close eye on her.

This time, she took advantage of the meal to secretly take them and collect them.

She knew that this year, because of her father and mother, and her big brother and second brother all going to the city to make money, everyone gave very large red envelopes.

What child holds so many red envelopes in their hands?

Ye Xiaoxi didn't expect that just after eating a meal, her red envelopes had disappeared without a trace.

After eating, she ran out happily, wanting to run to the neighbor's house to show off her red envelopes. She had finished showing off at home, but hadn't shown off outside yet.

But she felt her pockets, and there was nothing.

"Where are my red envelopes?"

"Where did my red envelopes go? So many red envelopes..."

Her flushed face instantly turned pale, and she immediately burst into tears, tears falling down with a "whoosh."

"My red envelopes are gone... wa woo woo... my red envelopes are gone, Mom is going to beat me to death..."

A large group of brothers and sisters surrounded her, comforting her and saying they would help her find them, and only then did she stop her tears.

But the doorway was only that big, and she didn't dare let Lin Xiuqing know. She searched everywhere but couldn't find them. She was panicking, sad, and scared, and ran home crying.

"Mom, the red envelopes are gone, the red envelopes were dropped..."

"Mom, don't beat me... I'll give them all to you next time..."

"Don't beat me to death... don't beat me to death..."

Ye Xiaoxi's tears and snot were falling, she was crying so sadly, and she was trembling while hugging Lin Xiuqing's leg, afraid of being beaten to death.

Ye Yaodong laughed somewhat unkindly.

When he was burning the gold ingots at the door, he heard her crying loudly, and knew she had discovered the red envelopes were missing. He didn't say a word, watching a group of people looking for the red envelopes with ease.

Appreciating her expression of both shock and fear.

Now there was no other way, she couldn't find them, and she ran back crying; it was really too funny.

Lin Xiuqing was washing the dishes, and hurriedly wiped her hands, holding back her laughter, touched her head, and comforted her.

"Alright, stop crying. If they're dropped, they're dropped. Remember to give the red envelopes to me next time, don't take them yourself, you know? Look at you, you dropped them yourself, so much money."

"I won't beat you today, save it for now. If you're not obedient later, I'll beat you to death, just like your brothers who can't get out of bed."

Ye Xiaoxi was extremely sad, nodded aggrievedly, and tears still fell down.

"Um, how could they not be dropped? They were just there a moment ago... woo woo..."

Ye Yaodong walked in smiling, felt his pockets, and took out a two-cent coin to give to her, "Alright, don't cry. If the red envelopes are dropped, they're dropped. I'll give you this here. Anyway, there's so much food today, you don't need to go buy things."

She immediately took it, then wiped away her tears, and obediently handed it to Lin Xiuqing, "Mom, keep it for me."

Lin Xiuqing almost couldn't hold back her laughter, "Fine, keep it with me."

Ye Yaodong laughed to death.

Lin Xiuqing glared at him, then grabbed a handful of candies and put them back into the empty pocket where she originally put the red envelopes, "Alright, it's full again, go out and play."

Ye Xiaoxi looked at her two bulging pockets, and was immediately satisfied again, running out happily.

"Is it good to lie to a child like this? My daughter is so pure, you fooled her into being stunned. She was clearly very smart, but suddenly became stupid."

Lin Xiuqing was happy now, "Only when she's this young can she be fooled. Look at those two big ones, can they still be fooled?"

"Saved a sum of New Year's money this year!"

"Three sums."

"No, what my daughter receives later will still have to go into your pocket."

The smile on Lin Xiuqing's face couldn't be held back.

After the couple finished laughing at Ye Xiaoxi, they talked about business.

"Have you finished paying all the wages?"

"The day before yesterday when you came back, it was just the 31st. I settled the wages for them, but the workshop worked for another day yesterday, and it's not working today. I'll settle the wages for that day tomorrow."

"There are also the wages for Wang Guangliang and the others who are fixedly hired. When it's New Year's Eve, I'll give out another red envelope, and the same goes for the boat workers."

"I know. Wait for two days when the fishing boats don't go to sea, and then we'll have to settle everything. How many days are you going to Zhejiang Province?"

"The road there and back will take two days, and stay for another day, three days. I'll go tomorrow morning and arrive home on the evening of the 27th of the lunar calendar. By the way, I'll also bring some local New Year goods back to give to people."

Lin Xiuqing counted with her fingers, arriving home on the evening of the 27th, just in time for the 28th to start resting, and they could still rest for two days before New Year's Eve.

"That's just about right. On the 28th, we'll go to the bank to exchange money. It's estimated that it will take a day."

"Indeed, we'll exchange some new banknotes to give out red envelopes to everyone."

"Right, new banknotes, everyone likes new banknotes."

"I'll go out and set off firecrackers, and then I'll go notify the boat workers that we'll set off at four tomorrow morning."

"Good."

Ye Yaodong walked towards the village while strolling. At this time, the sky was getting a bit dark. Every household had finished worshiping the kitchen god, and firecracker sounds came one after another, some far and some near.

After worshiping the kitchen god and burning the gold ingots, you have to set off a string of firecrackers.

He passed by household after household in the village, and every family had a broken iron pot or a broken washbasin placed at the door.

Some had firelight flickering inside, some had already burned into ashes, some families were still burning there, and some were still worshiping in front of the incense sticks inserted at the door.

The road was full of red paper left over from firecrackers, and there were happy figures of children picking up firecrackers. The whole village was filled with the joyful atmosphere of the New Year.

Ye Yaodong notified household by household, and as a result, his own pockets also harvested a large pile of candies and fried goods.

Everyone greeted him with extra enthusiasm, stuffing candies and fried goods into his pockets, asking him to take them back for the children at home to eat, and he couldn't push them away.

He had no choice but to fill them up, and started eating while walking.

"Dongzi, Dongzi..."

"Yo ho, Fatty."

"When are you going to the city again?"

"Usually I can't see you, but now that you have something, I can see you everywhere."

"Isn't it Little New Year's Eve, coming back to worship the kitchen god? I wanted to find you right after setting off firecrackers, and just happened to bump into you. Where are you coming from?"

"Going to Wenzhou tomorrow, just going to notify the boat workers."

Fatty's eyes lit up, "Take me, take me, I'll go with you."

"No, this trip is too far, not taking you."

"Take me, I was scolded to death by my wife yesterday, saying I only know how to eat and drink, and didn't do a single thing she entrusted to me. It just so happens I've never been out of the province, let me follow."

"No, wait a few days when I go to the city again, I'll call you."

He was scared by Lin Guangyuan and didn't dare to take inexperienced people on the boat for sightseeing casually.

"I'll rent your shop, is that okay?"

"Sure, that's fine, finally enlightened."

"Good, then it's settled. What time are we setting off tomorrow morning?"

"What thing?" Ye Yaodong didn't react.

"I'll rent your shop, you take me, I asked you if it's okay, you just said it's okay."

"Holy crap, are you setting me up?"

"Stop talking nonsense, you promised me, what time tomorrow?"

"Get out, get out, get out..."

Fatty stuck to him shamelessly, followed him all the way home, and even refused to leave. Ye Yaodong had no choice but to let him follow.

As a result, that big mouth of his went for a stroll, and the next day at dawn, there were several more familiar figures on the beach.

Ye Yaodong glared at Fatty, Xiao Xiao, A Zheng, and A Guang, "Why are you all here?"

"Fatty called us all. We thought it's almost New Year, so we have to buy something to give to people."

"Why are you so shameless?"

Fatty was like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water, smiling, "What's shameless about it? Isn't it lively with more people? Besides, it's not like they haven't been there."

The others grabbed Ye Yaodong's arms one by one and dragged him to the boat.

"Let's go, so much nonsense, what's so difficult about taking us along."

"Exactly!"

"Wait, wait, I have to have you sign a life-and-death agreement..."

"What kind of life-and-death agreement?"

Everyone dragged him onto the boat without saying a word. Ye Yaodong could only glare at this one and that one, having no choice.

But after getting on the big boat, he told others to drive the boat, and he took out paper and pen to fiddle with it, writing "swish swish swish."

"What kind of crap are you writing?"

Ye Yaodong didn't even lift his head, "Everyone press a handprint for me later."

"I voluntarily follow Ye Yaodong to sea to Wenzhou... I promise, all consequences caused by me and others on the road... what is this..."

"What are you writing?"

Everyone looked at the dog-crawling characters on his paper with confusion.

"The characters are so ugly."

"Didn't you say you were practicing calligraphy?"

"What do you care if my characters are ugly? At least I can write them, can you write them?"

"Che, what's so great about it, I'm not taking a college entrance exam."

"You couldn't write good characters even if you were given eight hundred years."

"What are you doing?"

Ye Yaodong finished writing the last few strokes, took the paper, blew on it, and shook it.

"I'll read it to you, I voluntarily follow Ye Yaodong to sea to Wenzhou... all consequences are borne by myself, I and my family members shall not pursue any responsibility of the activity organizer and participants..."

"What kind of crap..."

Ye Yaodong also wrote it as a joke to tease them.

He told them about Lin Guangyuan falling into the sea.

"Crap, this piece of paper is worth a fart..."

"Are you signing or not? If not, I'll turn around and send you back."

"Sign, sign, sign! You have so many things."

"Isn't it simple for you to just pay ten thousand or eight thousand?"

"If I have to pay, I have to pay! When the time comes, I'll have my whole family go to your house to eat."

"Can I jump into the sea now?"