Chapter 1360: Finishing the Squid Strips

It was only fresh at the very beginning, and they kept eating it non-stop, but it couldn't really be eaten as a meal. After eating it for a long time, it would also be salty. After all, it was something from the sea; it had no additives, but it also had a natural sea flavor.

After eating it for a few days, at most they would just take a couple of bites when they had a craving; later on, even if you gave it to them, they wouldn't want to eat it.

Preventing pilfering was definitely necessary. The human heart is a bottomless pit; one must take precautions against the unexpected. Only by having awe in one's heart can one control one's own greed.

The couple walked to the entrance of the machine room. The machines inside had already stopped, and there was no sound.

Ye Yaodong opened the box door, and another wave of rich squid fragrance wafted out. This time, it didn't carry any moisture, and the squid scent was even stronger.

"It should be ready."

He tore off a piece; it was still hot in his hand. He tore it into small strips, and the inside was quite dry.

He handed a small strip to Lin Xiuqing's lips, tried a small strip himself, and said.

"It's okay, just like this. Next time, roast it for 4 hours. We didn't add any additives, so there's no need to take it out halfway and roast it twice."

"Alright, then that's it. This time, let them add a bit more to the amount sent into the roasting oven."

Ye Yaodong nodded, "Arrange them more densely and see how many jin can be roasted at most at one time. Calculate how many jin of fresh squid go in and how many jin come out in a batch."

"Mm, alright. Collect these and wrap them in clean nylon bags first. Wait until tomorrow when the quantity accumulates a bit more before having people tear them into small strips. The amount coming out at once isn't that large, so there's no need for so many people."

"Call the old lady over to do it first. She happens to be idle, saving her from holding a hoe every day to tidy up that little bit of land."

It would be just right for her to sit there and tear the squid strips. He would also be at ease and wouldn't have to watch her hobbling back and forth with a cane.

Lin Xiuqing wanted to say something but stopped, then swallowed her words back.

She only said to talk about it after they carried it back, then went to find clean baskets to load them in first to air them out and ventilate.

Otherwise, if they were sealed in nylon bags while still carrying heat, there would be water vapor later.

After the couple finished packing, they carried them to be weighed so they would have an idea of how many jin were roasted, and only then did they carry the two large baskets back home.

This stuff is expensive, after all; one jin can sell for several yuan. He planned to let the old lady and the children busy themselves with it slowly tonight, which would also save them from running around blindly.

As soon as the machines were emptied, someone immediately carried fresh goods to fill them. Then, after waiting for Lin Xiuqing to check that there were no problems, they closed them and started them up.

At home, Ye Yaodong had already put the old lady to work.

The old lady was a bit hesitant, "Let me handle this? This thing can be sold for so much money..."

He felt a bit baffled. Wasn't she usually very willing to work?

"Mm, you tear them first. I'll go grab the little rascals back and find them something to do, so they don't run around blindly outside after dark."

"Then just let the children do it. I'd better not touch it, lest others see it and think it's unclean."

"Why would it be unclean? Wash your hands before doing it, how would it be unclean? I even complain that this smell is too strong, making my hands full of squid smell."

"I'm already at my age, with one foot in the coffin. If I reach out, others won't dare to eat it, and they'll be gossiping later. I'd better not touch it, lest others see it and affect your reputation."

Once she said this, he reacted too.

It was indeed the case...

After all, for elderly people who are getting on in years, most people feel they have an "old person smell," and they would be disgusted by anything the elderly have touched.

He didn't mind, but that didn't mean others didn't.

No wonder Aqing was hesitant earlier but didn't say anything, only saying to talk about it after getting home.

"That's fine then. You can just be the supervisor, supervise them not to steal bites, just watch them."

The old lady laughed, "Ai, alright. They're all children, how could they not steal bites? Just let them eat."

"That won't do, they can't just gorge themselves. Eating too much late at night, how will they sleep? Control them so they don't eat too much."

"Alright then, I'll watch them for you."

When Ye Yaodong brought the three children back, they were all drenched in sweat, their faces flushed red; they had been playing too wildly.

Qingming hadn't arrived yet, and the temperature had only just risen a little, yet they were still wearing sweaters and could play until they were drenched in sweat.

"You all must be stinking. How many days has it been since you bathed? Your heads are full of sweat, and this hair is all clumped together..."

He looked at them and felt they weren't even as clean as the old lady.

"We only bathed yesterday, how could we be stinking? We can hold out for another two days." Ye Chenghu's clothes were being held, so he could only walk in front passively.

Ye Yaodong had Ye Chenghu in his left hand and Ye Xiaoxi in his right; these two were the best at running, while Ye Chengyang followed behind.

Just now they were playing a game of tag on one foot, and their laughter was deafening.

He shouted once, and Ye Chengyang came over honestly, but the other two turned a deaf ear and kept running wildly, especially energetically.

After he brought them home, he reached into the back of Ye Chenghu's neck and touched his back, which was full of sweat. He rubbed it casually and felt a small strip of unknown substance being rubbed off...

"What is this? Tell me..."

Ye Yaodong held the grey-black strip of stuff in front of Ye Chenghu for him to see.

Ye Chenghu chuckled awkwardly, "I can't reach my back, hehe..."

"Eat it!"

Ye Yaodong held that small strip and made a gesture to throw it into his mouth. He hurriedly reached out to close his mouth, hid to the side, and muttered: "I don't want it, you eat it."

"You're really disgusting."

"Hmph."

"Hurry up and go wash your hands for me, use soap to scrub them once, and come back to work after washing them clean."

Ye Chengyang asked obediently: "Dad, what work do you want us to do?"

Ye Yaodong pointed to the two baskets of roasted dried squid on the ground and kicked them twice, along with the few dogs sniffing around the baskets.

"Tear these into strips for me. This is your task for tonight."

"Ah? So many."

"What do you mean so many? It's only two baskets. The three of you work together, and the old lady will accompany you."

Ye Chengyang bargained, "Then can we watch TV while we work?"

"Yes."

He was happy and immediately took Ye Xiaoxi to wash their hands.

Ye Chenghu was still muttering there, "I've eaten until I'm sick of it, I don't want to eat anymore."

"I'm telling you to work, not telling you to eat."

"Oh."

After assigning the work to the three little ones, Ye Yaodong headed back to the workshop.

Lin Xiuqing was also having people arrange the second batch to be roasted.

"How many jin are being roasted this time?"

"1200 jin."

Fresh squid undergoes cleaning, removal of internal organs, moisture loss after boiling, and drying, which causes its weight to decrease significantly.

About 2 jin of cooked squid can make 1 jin of squid strips. Fresh to cooked squid probably also cuts in half. This isn't precise either, but in any case, one can only estimate an approximate amount.

"That can reduce the amount of drying quite a bit. Tomorrow we can start shipping to the city to bridge the gap."

"Right, it bridges the gap perfectly. Otherwise, if we waited for it to be sun-dried, it would be a week before we could send it to the city. My dad said that right now, these squid strips sell the best."

She turned on the machine while answering.

The temperature and dehumidification functions had already been adjusted, so they could just follow the data from the last trip. Or, if the quantity of this batch was too large, they could add at most half an hour.

She said again: "Let's take a look after the next trip is roasted. If there are no problems, we'll hand it over to others to do at night."

"Mm, I'll watch here. You go back and give the three of them a bath first. They were all drenched in sweat from shouting just now. I rubbed Ye Chenghu's back casually and rubbed off a long strip of grime. If they can't reach it to bathe every day, they don't have to bathe; it's filthy."

"That's fine too. It's been two or three days since they bathed. These two just fool around when they bathe."

"Two or three days? That little rascal Ye Chenghu even told me he bathed yesterday."

"Listen to his nonsense. He bathed the night before last. Today is already the 3rd day. I told him to bathe early and sleep after finishing dinner tonight."

Ye Yaodong's mouth twitched. This stinky brat.

"At night, he should be made to sleep with the dogs, sleep in the doghouse. He even lied to me saying he bathed yesterday. He's covered in sweat and wants to wait another two days to bathe. It's obvious his cuffs are black."

Lin Xiuqing also shook her head speechlessly, "Then I'll go back and give them all a bath first."

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong was bored, wandering around the entrance of the machine room. He still had a handful of squid strips in his pocket, gnawing on them while watching everyone carry them in basket by basket and hang them up with ropes in the open space to dry.

Several layers were hung above the workshop, a pile up and down, and the air was full of sea flavor.

"Dong Ge..."

"Mm."

"Adong..."

"Mm, you do your work, don't worry about me."

He felt that perhaps he needed to arrange for someone to be a dedicated gatekeeper, sitting at the entrance of the machine room to supervise.

It wouldn't do to have no one guarding the entrance of this machine room. Workers were coming and going, and if someone damaged the machine casually, it wouldn't be enough to pay for it, and they might not even know who had come in and out.

Someone had to guard this place and watch the people coming in and out to be at ease.

He would talk to Aqing later and let Aqing arrange it.

Right now, she was managing all these matters of the family workshop, while he only managed going out to sea and external affairs; the division of labor was clear.

Ye Yaodong strolled back and forth between the two workshops, and a few dogs followed at his feet, also following in and out.

From time to time, he would step on one, then kick it, and still have to curse a few times for being in the way.

Even so, those few dogs still followed him around, never leaving his side.

Only after Lin Xiuqing finished tidying up the three children did he swap with her to go home and rest.

Having rushed around all day, if it weren't for the fact that the workshop machines had just started working today and he wanted to see the roasting situation, he would have eaten his fill and rested long ago.

The three little ones at home had all bathed by this time, sitting in front of the TV with their hair half-dry, staring at the TV without blinking, working while watching.

Ye Xiaoxi was stuffing her mouth while watching, her cheeks bulging.

He had already come in and sat at the table for a while, but he hadn't seen this little girl tear any and put it into the bamboo basket.

"Still haven't eaten enough?"

"Not tasty."

"Not tasty, and you keep eating?"

"My mouth is itchy."

The old lady laughed, "She hasn't eaten much, let her eat. She can sleep well after eating her fill."

"Sleeping with your Great-Grandma tonight?"

Ye Xiaoxi shook her head like a rattle-drum, "No... you sleep with Great-Grandma, I'll sleep with Mom."

"I slept with your Great-Grandma when I was little."

"No..."

"I'll give you 2 cents, will you sleep with Great-Grandma?"

Ye Xiaoxi hesitated for a moment.

Ye Chenghu hurriedly said: "Dad, I'll sleep with Great-Grandma, will you give me two cents?"

Ye Xiaoxi hurriedly grabbed and said: "No, it's for me, I'll sleep with Great-Grandma!"

"I can too."

"No, I'll sleep with Great-Grandma, you go away." She even stood up, hands on her hips, shouting very loudly.

"You just said you didn't want to."

"I want to, I want to sleep with Great-Grandma, Great-Grandma is mine, bad brother."

Ye Yaodong was satisfied, patted her head, "Mm, Great-Grandma is yours, then you sleep with Great-Grandma."

She was happy and hurriedly opened her hand, "Dad."

Ye Yaodong felt in his pocket, took out a two-cent coin, and placed it in her palm.

"If you sleep with Great-Grandma every night, I'll reward you with two cents every night, you can buy candy."

"Alright, alright."

She smiled until her eyes disappeared, extremely happy; she had earned money again.

After receiving the money, she immediately ran back to the room to get her own piggy bank, then put the money in, shaking it non-stop to hear the sound, her face full of satisfaction.

"So much money."

"Hurry up and work, once you've done enough, go to the room and sleep with Great-Grandma."

She nodded heavily.

Ye Yaodong patted her head, and he also got up and went back to the room to sleep.

Now the room belonged to the couple.

They were already this big, almost 4 years old, they could be separated to sleep.

When he returned to the room, he still heard Ye Chenghu talking behind him.

"Stupid, Dad just doesn't want you to sleep with them, he doesn't want you anymore..."

"Ye Chenghu!"

"Ah! I'll shut up!"

"Deduct your pocket money for tomorrow."

"Don't..."

Ye Yaodong closed the door.

Lin Xiuqing waited until the second batch of dried squid was successfully roasted before she felt at ease handing the subsequent work to other workers, and picked two to teach them how to operate it.

She wasn't there at night, having gone home to sleep, so naturally, she handed it over to the workers to take over.

The goods had just arrived today, and the machines had just been obtained, so they definitely couldn't stop for 24 hours; they had to hurry to ship.

After she assigned the work and finished, she checked again before going home. By this time, it was already past 12 o'clock, and she was yawning repeatedly.

She didn't sleep immediately after returning home, but checked the squid strips the children had torn at night again.

Only then did she wash her hands clean, close the doors and windows, and return to the room to sleep.

When she got into bed and felt for the children, she discovered there was nothing to touch, and Ye Yaodong was also woken up by the movement of her returning to the room.

"I coaxed her to go sleep with the old lady, and she'll sleep with the old lady from now on."

"She's willing?"

"Of course, there's nothing money can't buy."

"I was wondering how she was willing." Lin Xiuqing also lay down at ease.

"She's so big, what's it like sleeping with us all day? Let her sleep with the old lady for a while, and after she gets used to not having you, she'll be able to sleep alone by herself later."

"We'll see, she's still small."

"That's also in the way, she's not restless sleeping every night."

Lin Xiuqing laughed: "Isn't that your favorite little baby? And you still think she's in the way..."

"That's not it, the big baby is the favorite." Ye Yaodong said while hugging her.

"Old married couple still being glib, just coaxing me. Sleep, it's very late, so tired."

Ye Yaodong rubbed her waist, "What time is it?"

"Past 12, maybe almost 1."

"Mm, sleep, thank you for your hard work." ===== CHAPTER 1361 =====