Chapter 1331: New Year's Eve

He woke up and it was already New Year's Eve.

Ye Yaodong was woken up by Lin Lin Xiuqing, who called him to get up and paste the couplets.

Early in the morning, the outside was already buzzing with voices—various chatter and children's laughter.

"Stop sleeping, the sun's about to come up. Get up and paste the couplets."

"Okay…"

He answered groggily, paused for only a minute, then hurried to get up.

The couplets had been written in advance by the village's old Mr., red paper with black characters.

He didn't wash up first, but went out to paste the couplets. Last year's couplets on the front door had long since faded, so he tore them down and burned them.

Lin Lin Xiuqing brushed paste on the back of the red paper and handed it to him.

He was tall, didn't need a stool—just rose on his tiptoes. Following last year's marks, he gestured for Lin Lin Xiuqing to step back and check if it was level.

The edges of the old marks were always a bit blurry and not very accurate.

After pasting the front door, he went to paste the back door.

Once done, he went to wash up and eat, and along the way called his father inside to talk.

Ye Fu had come over early that morning to help kill chickens and ducks, and was now so busy he couldn't spare a hand.

"What? If you've got something, come out here yourself. Can't you see how busy I am?"

Ye Yaodong had no choice but to carry his porridge and squat beside him, watching him pluck the chicken.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi had originally been squatting nearby watching Ye Fu work, eyes full of curiosity. Now she shuffled her little feet over and scooted up next to Ye Yaodong.

"Daddy… is it good?"

Ye Yaodong looked at the bowl of sweet potato shred porridge—how could that be good or not?

But seeing her bright, expectant eyes fixed on him, he still picked up a small piece of dried shrimp skin and gave it to her.

After Ye Ye Xiaoxi put it in her mouth, her face was full of satisfaction. "It's good, I want more…"

"Go inside and find your mom, ask her to grab a handful for you to put in your pocket."

She looked at her own pockets—candy on the left, beans on the right—and felt it was such a hard choice, so torn, she wanted both.

Ye Yaodong saw right through it. "Use your hand to grab a handful and eat it from your palm."

"Oh, right."

She happily ran straight into the house.

Ye Yaodong also brought up the real business with his father. "Have you been to Lin Shu's side?"

"Went. It's all set. But you weren't home the past couple of days, so I went with your Uncle Lin to his friend's place and had a round of drinks…"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi suddenly ran back out, grabbed a small pinch of dried shrimp skin, and stuffed it into Ye Fu's mouth.

Ye Fu had to pause and eat it first.

"…It's also settled. When the time comes, your boat will go out to sea together with theirs. After the New Year we'll visit them in person to nail down when to set sail…"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi kept feeding him whenever he talked, causing Ye Fu to speak in broken, halting sentences.

"…He's actually partnering with his own brothers, and there's also a boat from an acquaintance in town. Two boats going together. If you want to go, you're welcome to join."

That put Ye Yaodong at ease.

These days, navigation technology was underdeveloped. Ocean-going vessels were very rare—mostly state-owned, or fishing companies, or smuggling boats heading to international waters.

In coastal waters you could still spot ships, but in the deep sea you might go months without seeing any.

His boat was top-of-the-line, unafraid of ordinary storms, and the risk was relatively low. But having a familiar boat around meant there was someone to look out for each other.

Otherwise, on the vast open sea, just thinking about being the only boat out there would inevitably fill you with dread.

Whether you'd run into another ship was one thing; whether there even was one out there was another.

Ye Fu looked at Ye Ye Xiaoxi with a face full of smiles. "You eat, you eat."

"It fell on the ground. Eat, eat…"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi stuffed everything from her little palm into Ye Fu's mouth.

Ye Fu couldn't refuse at all. He squatted there, one hand gripping chicken feathers, the other gripping the chicken, and was nearly pushed over by that tiny palm pressing against his mouth.

Luckily he curled his toes hard, increasing his grip, and didn't fall.

After she finished feeding Ye Fu the bits that had fallen on the ground, she ran back into the house again.

Ye Yaodong stood there chuckling. "Not a single bit wasted."

"This stinky kid… I thought she was being so filial…" Ye Fu complained with his mouth, but his mouth didn't stop moving—he chewed it all up and swallowed it down.

"She's not being filial to me, she's being filial to you—means she likes you more."

"The ones she doesn't like, she usually feeds to the dogs. Today she didn't feed the dogs—she actually knew to give it to me."

Ye Yaodong couldn't hold it in and nearly burst out laughing. His father always got bullied by his mother and the old lady—there was a reason for it.

"Then you go on killing your chicken. Save the feathers for the little ones."

He laughed and hurried outside. Two more sentences with his father and he'd die laughing.

Lin Lin Xiuqing called from inside the house, "Come back earlier to help out. Later we still have to kill Spanish mackerel and make dozens of jin of fish balls…"

"Got it." Ye Yaodong answered without looking back.

He walked through the village. Every household was either killing chickens and ducks or killing fish. The fishing nets and dried fish that had been hanging everywhere had long been put away, and the fishy smell had faded quite a bit.

The main road was strung with small colorful flags arranged by the village committee, interwoven with the power lines, looking very festive.

Some children gathered around the base of the telephone poles, secretly grabbing the little colorful flags that hung down—bright and multicolored, especially appealing to kids.

The whole village was steeped in the atmosphere of the New Year.

In the past, wherever he went, a bunch of people would enthusiastically greet him and crowd around to chat. Today, everywhere he looked, people were busy with their heads down.

He was heading to A-Zheng's house. He had absolutely no desire to go to A-Guang's house now—whatever the matter was, asking A-Zheng worked just as well.

That bastard was still as leisurely as ever—his old man, his mother, his wife were all busy at home, either killing chickens or fish, or frying things, while he alone sat at the door with his legs crossed, basking in the sun and cracking sunflower seeds.

Ye Yaodong walked up from behind him, grabbed the backrest of the reclining chair, and then yanked it down...

"Ouch... who the hell..."

Ye Yaodong held onto the chair without letting go; after giving him a fright he steadied himself, then set the chair upright and back on the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing? Scared me to death."

"Saw you sitting around with nothing to do after eating your fill, just messing with you."

"Mess with my ass—you're the one with nothing to do after eating your fill. Almost fell over."

"You're really living the life, man. The whole family's working their asses off, busy with New Year's, and there you are cracking sunflower seeds."

"Who says so? Am I not watching that little runt?"

He pointed at his tiny son, who was chasing after a group of older kids running ahead.

"I think you're the one having a good time, wandering around everywhere, and you still have the nerve to talk about me."

Ye Yaodong also dragged over a reclining chair and sat down next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

"Just finished being busy. Got back only after it was pitch black last night, so today I can finally rest. Been busy as a dog, running all over the place. Living the life my ass."

"There's money to be made, what's there to fear about being busy?"

"Money my ass, it's all busywork for nothing. I've also been away for a few days—how's that loan thing coming along for you guys?"

"Submitted the paperwork, waiting for review. They said if it gets approved, they'll call the village committee to notify us to go sign and release the funds."

"How long has it been?"

"A little over a week? It's not that fast—probably won't be until after the fifteenth of the first month."

"Just in time for New Year's, so the efficiency probably won't be that fast either."

Ye Yaodong silently calculated in his mind—Hong Hong Wenle's was only about two or three days off from theirs, and his amount was larger, so the review might be even slower, and it had to go through several procedures, even more tedious.

There definitely wouldn't be any news before the fifteenth of the first month; he'd just have to wait patiently.

"Yeah, I'm not in any rush anyway, just wait patiently. I won't be leaving home in the first half of this year. Once the loan comes through, we can go order another boat."

"Borrow ten thousand or twenty thousand?"

"Applied for twenty thousand, don't know how much they'll approve."

"That's fine too—might as well grab the wool while you can."

"Play some cards for a bit? We're free anyway."

"You're the one who's free—Laozi's plenty busy, still have to go home and help out." Ye Yaodong stood up.

He had only come over to ask a couple of questions; once he was done asking, he had to go home and help out too.

"Help with what? Your family has so many people—aren't your dad and mom living with you? So many people, and the kids are already that big, you don't even need to mind them."

"My wife told me to come home and help make fish balls—women don't have much grip strength. She also said we should make more, so we can give them to relatives during New Year. I'm heading off first."

"Leaving already? Haven't even warmed the seat..."

Ye Yaodong waved at him with his back turned and headed back home.

But halfway there, someone patted him on the shoulder.

He turned his head and saw it was Lin Ji, and was surprised for a moment.

"Huh? It's you. You're back for New Year's? When did you get back?"

"Got home by boat last night. Brought a New Year's gift, was just about to send it to your house, and ran right into you."

Ye Yaodong looked at the basket in his hand, took it with a smile, and said, "So polite. Where'd you go make your fortune these past six months or so?"

"Didn't go anywhere, just around the provincial capital and the Guangdong area, back and forth, earning some hard-earned money."

"Pretty good—freight hauling?"

"More or less."

"Looks like you're going to become a shipping tycoon."

"What tycoon—I'm just doing some transport work, making a living, that's all."

"That doesn't have to be the case. Get a few more boats, and when the time comes you'll take on more jobs—won't that be a dedicated transport fleet? The provincial capital is big and vast, there must be plenty of people who need things shipped between the two places. Setting up an office to take jobs would be even better."

Lin Ji frowned and thought for a moment.

Ye Yaodong didn't interrupt his train of thought either, and the two of them slowly walked forward.

He was also thinking that Lin Ji had actually said he was running a boat back and forth hauling goods now—he didn't know if it was true or just talk to make himself sound good.

But while helping people transport goods, he could also resell on the side—that counted as a perfectly legitimate cover.

He had only mentioned it in passing; he himself didn't know much, was just a half-baked amateur, and didn't know if it could help Lin Ji figure something out.

Anyway, he wasn't short on money—if he got him to set up a shipping operation, that would really be badass.

"The kind of office you mentioned does exist. A shipping transport office—that's worth mulling over."

"Then take your time mulling it over. I was just throwing it out there—I don't know what you're doing, you figure it out yourself."

"Mm, thanks."

"Then I'll head off first," Ye Yaodong said, picking up the basket. "Thanks for the New Year's gift. Later I'll have the kid return the basket to you."

"No worries."

Ye Yaodong hummed a tune, basket in hand, heading home, without even looking at what was inside the basket.