Chapter 1388: Arrangements

The newly built house had no doors or windows, but it didn't matter in summer; with everything open for ventilation, it was cool.

Anyway, as long as there was an iron gate at the main entrance, that was fine.

The only problem was the lack of soundproofing; half the people were lying in the corridor, some snoring so loudly it seemed to shake the sky.

Ye Yaodong regretted it; he should have gone to sleep earlier so he wouldn't have heard the snoring.

The next morning, as soon as dawn broke with no shade at all, some people got up; sparse sounds of various activities and conversations began, causing everyone to gradually climb out of bed.

"There are ready-made red bricks; just stack them up, set a large pot on top, and you can cook right away..."

"Come on, come on, help lift this..."

"Go get some straw from the straw pile to start the fire..."

"The plot of land Adong bought is really huge, yet he's only building such a small house..."

"Do you know how much this little bit cost? Building a random house in the family would cost two or three thousand yuan; look at this row, how many houses are there..."

"Oh my god, this must be tens of thousands..."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Adong is getting richer and bolder; wherever he goes, he buys houses and land; here he just casually spent tens of thousands..."

"Too amazing, too awesome..."

Early in the morning, everyone had nothing much to do, at most cooking a meal, so they all gathered together, looking around and chatting.

It was only five or six o'clock, not yet time for the workers to arrive for work; there were just this group of three or four hundred people.

Ye Yaodong stretched and got up to see the corridor filled with people, and a row of large pots set up on the empty ground at the entrance; it really looked exactly like a construction site.

"Good morning; having no doors or windows really won't work; we need to call a carpenter over to install them."

"Yes, as soon as dawn breaks it's blinding, so there's no way to sleep; those inside are better off, at least the walls block some of it..."

"At night, just cover your head with a piece of clothing when sleeping."

"That just means you aren't tired enough..."

Ye Yaodong said, "When the foreman arrives later, have him call a carpenter over to make the doors and windows first."

The rice porridge in the pot bubbled gurglingly; he stepped forward and stirred it with a spatula.

Someone nearby dragged a sack of sweet potato strips over; he grabbed a handful from each of the several large pots in front of him and tossed them in.

Since he had so many workers, naturally he had to bring along several more large iron pots.

Ye's father said, "This land is too empty; if you have nothing to do today, turn over the soil, pick out the big stones, then go over there and carry some soil back; at least we can plant some vegetables to eat over these few months."

"Alright."

Ye Yaodong said, "Later, have the foreman help call someone over to dig a well... You all check if you want to go out today to find housing and move, since this place isn't finished yet. If you don't want to move, that's fine too; just make do and stay here for now, as long as it blocks the rain."

"It's fine; where can't we sleep? As long as there's a place to lie down..."

"Yes, changing places still means seven or eight people sleeping on the floor squeezed into one room; it's not much better; staying here is at least safer and more reassuring."

"Right; renting makes you worry about safety; you have to sleep with one eye open, listening for sounds."

"Just stay here; anyway, it's almost finished; with so many people, at most a week or so; everyone lend a hand, and it should be done in a few days."

Hearing them all say this, Ye Yaodong nodded, "Alright, then you decide; anyway, since it's not finished, if everyone stays here, we definitely won't charge you rent."

"Hahaha, then we'll pay after it's finished."

"We'll talk after it's finished."

After the porridge was cooked, everyone held a bowl and sat under the eaves eating when more than a dozen people entered through the main gate.

Those people stared at them in shock, completely dumbfounded.

And they, each holding a rice bowl, drank their porridge while looking at them; everyone was somewhat indifferent, eating on their own, because they knew these people had come to build the house.

The people at the entrance pointed and chattered without coming in; only then did Ye Yaodong feel they might have misunderstood, so he ordered Chen Zhihua, who had been on duty last night, to go over and explain.

The dozen or so workers finally breathed a sigh of relief, then entered and headed upstairs, cautiously avoiding this group of theirs while doing their own work.

"Adong, they said they were terrified just now and didn't dare come in."

"They thought some migrant workers from somewhere had taken it over."

"Migrant workers? Haha, we are fishery workers; they thought some bunch of vagrants from somewhere had occupied this land and didn't know what to do."

"Mm."

"Once they knew the boss had brought people over, they breathed a sigh of relief, but were still a bit panicked; they didn't expect hundreds of us to arrive at once and were a bit afraid to come in. I even comforted them a bit, telling them to work freely and not to worry, that we wouldn't do anything to them."

Ye Yaodong hummed again.

Three or four hundred burly men were all shirtless, sitting under the eaves, looking straight at the entrance; it was normal for those dozen local workers to be too timid to come in.

A single spit from any one of them would be enough to drown them.

This was the power of numbers.

"Has the foreman not arrived yet?"

"Yes, the foreman will only arrive a bit later."

"Then we'll wait until he arrives; later, show me their attendance ledger; since it's almost finished, we need to settle their wages."

"Okay, I'll go get it right away."

"No rush; eat first."

After finishing the porridge, the three or four hundred people still sat under the eaves; once rested enough, those who needed to tidy up tidied up, and those who needed to prepare the land prepared the land.

Taking advantage of the sun just rising and not yet too hot, it was the perfect time to work.

Although this was Ye Yaodong's land and had nothing to do with the others.

But don't forget, among them were dozens of his own workers, plus seventeen boat captains who rented his boats, and beneath those boat captains were another batch of workers.

Then his friends, his brothers, his neighbors, his father's friends...

No one could just sit there watching, seeing him lead people to work without helping at all.

The current lodging was provided by him anyway.

When the foreman came over and saw so many of them, he got quite a fright too, and was flustered as hell.

A worker nearby reminded Ye Yaodong, and only then did Ye Yaodong notice the foreman at the door, with two strangers beside him.

He walked over to greet them, and only then did the foreman breathe a sigh of relief.

"So it's Boss Ye who's arrived. Gave me a fright — thought where did so many people come from."

"Brought the workers up yesterday. Looking at the progress, it should be almost done."

"Pretty much. These two are carpenters. We'll put up the ridge beam, lay some tiles, then do the doors and windows — basically done after that."

"Good, just go ahead and do your work, don't mind us, and don't worry. Tonight or tomorrow they'll be heading out to sea, so there won't be this many people here. They'll just come back in the evening to rest."

"That's good. Just now seeing so many people, we all panicked. Boss Ye, turns out you have this many people under you? That's really impressive. No wonder you bought such a big plot to build a house and settle the workers."

The foreman's gaze at him now carried a touch of respect — before, he'd been quite casual.

"Not all of them are mine. You all just go on with your work. If you need any materials, tell me, work out the quantities, and I'll go buy them."

"Alright, alright…"

Ye Yaodong exchanged a few pleasantries with them, and after laying out his requirements and asking them to speed up, they finally put their hearts back at ease and went on with their tasks.

He also handed over the supervision of the construction site to his father — he had to go out to the tile factory to buy tiles, and other timber as well.

He didn't know if he could get all the materials sorted today.

He also had to find time to buy some things and visit Jin Laixi at the trade guild to thank him — the man had actually come by to take a look.

He also had to go to the processing plant to find Su Ren, see if he was home. If not, he'd have to leave a message saying he'd come up.

Then he had to go to the shipyard again to check on the fishing boat's progress. If there wasn't enough time, he'd just have to wait until tomorrow.

He'd just arrived, and already had a pile of things to do — terribly busy.

Luckily the others also needed to settle in, so he took the chance to learn about the current situation at the dock and the prices of fish goods.

It wasn't just him running around outside all day — the other boat captains were also wandering around the dock, getting the lay of the land.

Only the workers were helping out at the construction site, taking orders from his father.

Ye Yaodong spent the whole day outside buying materials. By the afternoon, the things he'd bought were being carted over, load after load.

The others, after wandering around outside today, had also gotten up to speed. By the afternoon they were all chatting together, discussing plans to head out to sea that night.

Out on the road, costs were steep — every boat had hired hands, and each worker cost four or five yuan a day.

The boat captains couldn't just leave their workers here, working for Ye Yaodong day after day without going out to sea. At most they'd take today to rest and reorganize, letting the workers lend a hand.

When they saw Ye Yaodong come back, everyone greeted him and filled him in.

"Alright, then you all go ahead and arrange to head out to sea. The fresh-fish boats still go out every other day to collect goods as usual. We won't go too far from here — I can use the VHF from the shore too."

"Good, if you have time to go out and collect goods, that's best."

"I do have time for that. The materials are all arranged. Tomorrow I'll handle some other things, and the day after I can definitely go out to collect goods."

After saying that, he looked at his father again.

"Dad, take the Ocean-1 out for trawling. The fishing grounds here are rich, and we don't need to go far. I think the fresh-fish boats can also go a bit farther out and pick up some of the catch from your boat too."

"That works too. You just collect however much you can. When my hold is full I'll come back and sell a batch for you. We're close by anyway, so fuel costs will be lower. Staying out ten days or half a month before a round trip back to sell the catch is still worth it."

"Mm, I was thinking the same. Just as well I haven't finished the shore-side business, so let you go out during this period. Once I'm mostly done, we can take turns."

At this point, Ye Yaodong thought for a moment and said: "By the way, Dad, take a look — who's experienced and steady enough on the boat to take over the boat captain's duties."

"Anyway, you'll be back every ten days or half a month. During this time, train someone to take over your duties. Then you can rest too — no need to stay out at sea the whole time."

Ye Fu laughed: "Oh-ho, willing to let me rest now?"