Chapter 1405: Earthquake

The group returned home and sat down at the doorways of their respective rooms to talk.

With several hundred people gathered in such a grand display, they were struck with trepidation again upon seeing the workers building houses.

However, after a short while, everyone ran back out again.

Since they couldn't leave, they could only stay for another day or two. Now that they were idle and bored, they decided to wander around. It just so happened that they had received their wages last night and hadn't gone out to spend any yet.

On the way, Ye Fu had also asked about the situation at home; everything was fine, so he didn't dwell on it further.

"Tell me, why would those prayer beads break for no reason?"

"You're asking me, but who should I ask? Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe the event hasn't happened yet. Anyway, it's better to believe it than not; let's hold off for two days. If you want to go out and wander, you can follow them; I'm not going."

He was already out and about all day long, so there was nothing worth going out for now.

Since the prayer beads had broken, there might be some bad luck coming. If he went out wandering and some bad event actually happened, he would be finished.

After all, those were the prayer beads he had been wearing on his wrist.

He could go wandering anytime; for these two days, he wouldn't go anywhere and would just stay at home.

"Then I'll go out and take a look with everyone. I've been on the sea the whole time and haven't really wandered around much..."

"Go ahead."

Ye Yaodong sat on the doorstep, biting on a straw and watching the workers across the way. He was bored and didn't want to work.

Watching the two dogs wandering back and forth in the courtyard, he could only find ways to pester them.

He waved at the dogs, "Come, come, come..."

The two dogs heard him and immediately ran toward him with joy. Then, they put their front paws on his legs, their tongues wanting to lick his face. He slapped each of them once.

"Get lost, get lost, get lost! Isn't that disgusting?"

After hitting them, he patted their heads and pointed to a large pot on the side, saying, "See that? I'm about to set up the pot and boil water..."

The two dogs were so scared they immediately jumped off him, barked a few times, and then retreated while barking...

"Cowards, scared just because I mentioned boiling water?"

Ye Yaodong stood up and really walked toward the large pot. He stuffed the straw he was biting into the stove, grabbed another handful of straw to start a fire, and added water to the pot.

The dogs saw the roaring fire and ran even further away.

They felt like this time it was for real!

"Useless things, running away just like that? Get back here, I'm going to give you a bath..."

He shouted while chasing the two dogs, but they kept dodging him, running wildly all over the courtyard.

They were truly worried about ending up in the pot.

If it weren't for the fact that the two mother dogs who had just given birth and their puppies couldn't be washed, he wouldn't have been fixated on the two running around the yard.

He was panting from the chase, but the two dogs refused to come near him, even though they usually wanted to jump on him the moment they saw him.

Ye Yaodong was so tired he slumped down by the pot, too lazy to move.

Once he stopped moving and ignored them, after a while, the two dogs actually took the initiative to approach him.

He immediately caught one and hugged its head, "Caught yourself in the trap, didn't you?"

He turned his head and ordered someone to bring a bucket of cold water to mix in, then used a ladle to wet the dog. As a result, it shook its fur, and water droplets splashed all over his body and face.

"Damn! Stupid dog, don't you dare move around! If you move again, I'll chop your dog head off and put it in the pot!"

Since Ye Yaodong was already dirty and wet anyway, he simply hugged the dog, soaped it up, and scrubbed its fur back and forth.

This time, the dog sat obediently and let him scrub. Once it was covered in bubbles from head to toe, he rinsed it clean with warm water.

Then he used a rag to dry it off, let it walk to the side to shake off the water droplets, and squat in the sun.

The weather wasn't very cold yet, and the sun was bright, so he wasn't worried about the dog getting sick.

Having solved one, the other was simple.

By the time he was halfway through washing, the people who had gone out to shop returned one after another, because it was mealtime.

"Yo, giving the dog a bath? Wouldn't it be enough to let it swim in the river twice?"

"I was bored and didn't go out, so I just messed around with them," he said while scrubbing bubbles on the dog.

"Why didn't you go out?"

"Dong Ge's prayer beads broke, and he was worried about an accident, so he didn't go out."

"Then it's better to just stay at home."

"Dongzi, do you think it has anything to do with meeting Chen Jianian?" The one asking was Aguang.

"I don't know. At the time, it was said to be on the way. That cargo ship happened to be going to the provincial capital. It was a cargo ship, not his own boat. Cargo ships carry people and goods; they leave whenever they are scheduled to leave."

"Out of the blue, I didn't expect to meet this person. I thought I'd never see him again in this lifetime."

"Who knows."

"Do you think he might hold a grudge against us?"

"How would I know? We were in a rush earlier, so we just chatted a few words. He asked about the situation in the town, and didn't say anything else."

"It's best if we never see him again."

"I hope so," Ye Yaodong said while rinsing the dog, "I hope everyone I know makes a fortune, has a happy family and career, and everyone is satisfied."

"Heh, wishful thinking. Everyone has their own destiny."

Ye Yaodong didn't respond, but Ye Fu chimed in.

"You're saving up your own bath and don't want to wash, yet you're giving the dog a bath?"

"If I don't wash the dog, should I wash you instead?"

"If you could wash me when I'm old, I'd wake up laughing in my dreams, and I could lie down in peace even after I die."

"Your wish is really simple! If you can go after my mother, when there's no one to wash you, I can do even better and call a young girl to wash you!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

The expression on Ye Fu's face changed again and again, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence, "Nonsense."

"Haha~" Ye Yaodong laughed, patted the dog's head, and let it go to the side to shake off the water and sun itself.

After lunch, everyone went out to wander again. It was rare to not have to work, and they were relaxed and had money, so everyone was very happy.

He didn't forget to instruct his father to go to the pier in the afternoon to check the cargo on the boat, and by the way, arrange for two people to stay on the boat so no one would pick the lock and steal the goods.

Although it probably wouldn't happen, there were so many fishing boats docked at the pier.

But it is also necessary to be prepared for any eventuality; wait until evening to arrange for two or three people to go to the boat to sleep, then rotate shifts tomorrow—morning, afternoon, and evening. While rotating shifts, it won't delay them from going out to stroll around.

By the next night, when it was time to depart, everyone had a lot more luggage in their hands; these were all the spoils from the past two days.

"Nothing happened in these two days..." Ye Fu muttered, feeling like they had been tricked.

"Isn't it good that nothing happened? No one tricked us; it was just us being vigilant."

In itself, this kind of thing is better to believe than not.

"It's best if nothing happens. Anyway, it only delayed us for a day or two," Ye Yaopeng said.

"Yes, we're just hoping for peace and safety. Let's go quickly."

Everyone quickened their pace.

The luggage and cargo were moved onto the boat. Everyone traveled light, and they didn't need to take a car; walking on their own two legs was fine.

When they approached the pier, the scene ahead formed a stark contrast with the surroundings. Ahead, it was as bright as day, with people coming and going, just like a busy market.

And around them, it was pitch black, quiet enough that only the sound of their own voices could be heard.

When they walked onto the pier, everyone felt that there were unusually many people on the pier tonight—a sea of people, the kind of feeling where you couldn't even squeeze in.

In the past, no matter how many people there were, it was still possible to move around.

"Why are there so many people tonight?"

"Is today some special day? Why are there so many people at the pier?"

"Don't these people need to go out to sea? Why are they still standing there chatting? Don't they usually prepare to board the boat?"

Once this was said, everyone felt it was strange.

In the past, at this hour, people were either boarding the boats or unloading cargo at the dock; everyone was busy, so how would they have the leisure to stand there chatting?

But tonight, everyone was gathered in groups of three or five, talking, and not many people were busy.

"What are they talking about? Tsunami? What about the fishing boats?"

Someone heard a slightly different sound; among a pile of dialects, there were a few scattered sentences in Mandarin.

Just those few scattered sentences in Mandarin gave them a big fright.

Ye Yaodong's heart also skipped a beat, "No, what are those people saying? What tsunami?"

Ye Fu also had a look of shock and confusion, "I heard it too. It seems to be talking about a tsunami or an earthquake?"

"I'll go ask."

Ye Yaodong walked toward a group of people who were chatting happily, distributed a few cigarettes, and asked them about it. His face turned pale, and he felt terrible.

There were also other people asking those around them. Their group also more or less knew what had happened, and people in the crowd were also starting to discuss it in groups of three or five.

"Dad, yesterday afternoon, in the East China Sea, near the Taiwan Strait, there was a magnitude 5 earthquake."

Ye Fu's eyes widened, "Earthquake!"

"Yes, the Taiwan Strait area is also a earthquake-prone area. There was actually an earthquake yesterday afternoon. It's too terrifying. Things like earthquakes have no warning signs at all."

"Why didn't we hear it on the radio? We even listened to the radio specifically last night, wanting to hear today's weather so it would be convenient to go back."

"It only happened yesterday afternoon. It's so far away, the reaction certainly wouldn't be that fast. I heard that people are already being sought on the pier to record the broadcast. Just now, someone was holding a loudspeaker, riding a bike and shouting all the way in the local dialect, and everyone passed it on by word of mouth. This reaction can be considered fast; it's only been ten-plus hours."

As soon as Ye Yaodong finished speaking, the loudspeaker tied to the pillar at the very front started playing, and it was playing on a loop.

It was just that they were far away, so they couldn't hear it clearly, and these locals spoke Mandarin with an accent, making it even harder to understand.

Ye Fu didn't hear clearly what was said after listening.

"Dongzi, what is this saying?"

"I don't know. I only heard 'earthquake'. What I heard wasn't as clear as what the people around us were saying just now."

"Out of the blue, why was there an earthquake? I said the prayer beads definitely wouldn't break for no reason. What about the fishing boats? What about the fishing boats at sea?"

"I don't know. When I asked just now, everyone didn't know if any fishing boats at sea had met with disaster. Let's walk forward and listen to the broadcast to see?"

The father and son squeezed forward first, letting the workers walk toward the fishing boats on their own. Once they arrived, they would wait there first. With so many people on the pier now, they couldn't walk together; they would definitely get separated.

The two walked together, listening to the people around them talking while walking forward. ===== CHAPTER 1406 =====