Chapter 146: A Sense of Urgency (Monthly Ticket Bonus Update 3)

They waited until evening, when Father Ye and Ye Ye Yaopeng returned, before heading together to the old house to sit down and settle the accounts.

The banquet had six tables; each household would keep the gifts received from their own natal family and friends, while the gifts from the family's relatives were pooled to cover the expenses.

Because they had kept a portion of the seafood for themselves and didn't need to buy too much, plus the cost of ingredients, the wages for the cook and helpers, and the rental fee for the tables and bowls and chopsticks, altogether it came to just over 80 yuan.

The gifts received from the family's relatives came to about 50 yuan, so in the end Ye Mu only asked each person to chip in another ten yuan.

They had come prepared with money in hand, so once Ye Mu finished the accounts, the three daughters-in-law happily paid up everything they owed.

Each person only had to split 10 yuan—very economical—and they still had the gifts received from their natal families and friends, so they hadn't lost a cent; in fact, they'd come out ahead.

Once the accounts were settled, they each went their own way. The dried goods the family had stockpiled had already been divided among them by Ye Mu that morning—one sack of rice per person, no more. The household's grain had long been eaten up during the house-building, and even this rice had all been bought from the neighbors. Once it was finished, each household would have to fend for themselves.

Once the family was divided and everyone moved out, Ye Mu was happy to have it easier—no longer having to arrange meals for a whole crowd every day, which saved her a lot of trouble.

After leaving the old house, Ye Yaodong first sent his wife and kids back to the new house, then headed over to A'Zheng's place—this guy was getting married tomorrow, and tonight they were holding the engagement wine.

Just yesterday they'd finished eating his housewarming wine, today they were eating again, and tomorrow there was still the main wedding banquet.

The engagement wine wasn't anything special—just a table of seafood, though the ingredients weren't as fancy as the main banquet, but it was still very generous.

After delivering the red envelope, Ye Yaodong sat at a table with the other friends, then dug in heartily, raising cup after cup.

In the middle of it, Fatty asked, quite out of place, "Uncle Awei and Haozi didn't come again?"

Everyone immediately stopped their chopsticks, looked at each other, then started discussing it among themselves.

The close friends were just the few of them, but there were other familiar friends too—they just hadn't all hung out together.

Yesterday at Ye Yaodong's housewarming, they hadn't seen them either; they'd only had someone deliver the red envelope in advance. Someone had asked about it then, but someone else had helped cover by saying they were probably busy.

A'Zheng said indifferently, "The red envelope was sent over by someone else yesterday, saying they were busy and didn't have time, so they didn't come in person."

It's such a big event—a brother's wedding—and they still deliberately don't show up to drink? Fatty said, disgruntled, "Are they out of their minds? What could they possibly be busy with? Holding such a grudge? It's been so long already."

Just show up, have a few drinks with everyone, chat a bit, and that's that—it's not that big a deal. Is this guy's brain growing out of his ass?

The others found it a bit baffling. "What's up? Did you guys have a fight or something?"

"It's nothing. If they say they're too busy to come, then they're too busy to come." Ye Yaodong said, indifferent.

He figured Uncle Uncle Awei was the quiet, brooding type—usually silent, possibly having built up grievances over time from always being overlooked, so once a trigger set him off, it all exploded at once and became completely unmanageable.

Haozi had always been close to him, listened to him, and their two houses weren't far apart. If one didn't come, the other wouldn't come either.

Forget it—life is but a few hurried decades. If you get along, you come together; if not, you part ways. It's a pity, sure, but the world doesn't revolve around any one person.

The others were also saying they'd go back and ask around—why didn't they come?

The matter was set aside for the time being.

After three rounds of drinks and they'd pretty much eaten their fill, everyone left arm in arm, having agreed on what time to show up tomorrow, and went their separate ways home.

Ye Yaodong walked home with unsteady steps. A'Zheng's house was still quite a distance from his new place. Once night fell, the village went dead quiet—the further he walked, the fewer people there were, and there weren't even a few streetlamps. Only the wind rustling the treetops swayed back and forth, and a faint, elusive shushing sound drifted into his ears, but he wasn't afraid.

Just as he reached the beach road junction, he heard a bunch of hushed voices. Following the sound, he looked toward the house with the light on—wasn't that the piece of land he'd sold to Lin Ji's relative?

Are they using this place as their base of operations?

Just as he was debating whether to pretend he didn't know anything and head straight home, he saw a figure emerge from another small path, carrying two buckets. His reflexes were faster than his brain—he ducked straight into the narrow alley between two houses.

As that person drew closer, Ye Yaodong recognized him at a glance—wasn't this Chen Wei's brother-in-law? Damn it—he'd even stolen his saury before.

So late at night, where was he going with those buckets?

Ye Yaodong stood in the corner watching him saunter off toward the beach, casually swinging the two buckets. Suddenly, the light in Lin Ji's relative's house went out, and the door was flung open, giving him a real fright.

The group of people inside were also startled...

People with guilty consciences are easily spooked by every little thing.

The people inside thought it over—shutting the door now wouldn't look right—so two of them simply walked out. One of them was Lin Lin Jishang. They gave him an awkward smile. "You're Xu Laifu? Where are you headed this late at night?"

"None of your business where I'm going." Xu Laifu, feeling guilty, clutched his buckets and slipped away quickly.

Lin Lin Jishang frowned, watching his back for a good while, until he could no longer see him. Only then did he turn and head back inside. The door shut at once, the light inside came back on, then after a short while it went out again, and everything went quiet.

Ye Yaodong stood in the corner and watched this whole scene. His buzz was mostly gone, but he hadn't sorted out his thoughts yet. Just as he was about to head home, he saw Xu Laifu sneakily come back with his buckets, poking his head around the doorway. The leg he'd just stepped out with had to be pulled back in.

He lingered for a moment, then picked up his buckets and headed back, muttering under his breath, "Bad luck—can't get anything done."

Ye Yaodong frowned at his retreating back. This guy, carrying buckets late at night—could he be heading out to steal nets from the sea?

Damn... it's really very likely him!

He cursed him in his heart for a while, holding back the urge to go up and beat him up.

Damn it—tomorrow night, get a few friends to ambush him at the dock or out at sea!

Otherwise, if he catches him now and the guy denies it, saying he was just going to scavenge the shallows, there's nothing you can do about it.

He stood there for a while longer, waiting until there was absolutely no more movement, before heading home again.

That bunch with Lin Lin Jishang had probably been scared too, so they didn't dare go out now either. He wondered when they'd actually started their operation.

What nerve!

He mulled it over as he walked. Once he got home, he put the matter out of his mind—after all, it had nothing to do with him. He was a law-abiding citizen.

The house was pitch black, not a sound to be heard. Ye Yaodong assumed they were all asleep, so he quietly closed the door and tiptoed inside.

But then—wah! —with two thuds, the two kids sprang straight up from the bed, giving him a fright.

"Why are you still up so late?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing pulled the bedside lamp on. "They said they wanted to wait for you to come back and scare you—absolutely refused to sleep."

"A good beating would fix that," Ye Yaodong said, digging into his pocket as he spoke, and pulled out a handful of large dates he'd grabbed from the back kitchen earlier. He handed them over. "Eat up quick, then go to sleep."

"Ye Yeye~ there's something to eat!"

The two happily split the dates, and only then, fully content, were they willing to lie down and sleep.

Ye Yaodong leaned against the headboard. Once he was sure both were asleep, he conjured up another trick—pulling another handful from a different pocket—and patted Lin Lin Xiuqing. "This one's for you."

"Huh? How did you grab so many?"

"Might as well take them—after the banquet, there'd be none left anyway. These are good for you women to eat. Next time we go to town, let's buy more to keep at home, alright?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing took it with a smile, "Okay."

"Did you stew the green crab and eat it?"

"I ate it. The roe was really full, such a big chunk. The two of us almost came to blows over it—one bite each and we still couldn't split it fairly, both fighting over the big claw. It gave me a real headache."

"Good that you ate it. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get another one-legged one and save it back for you to eat."

She glared at him with a smile. "Everyone else hopes to catch ones that are big and good so they can sell them for money, but you're fixated on wanting the one-legged ones. I won't eat it—crab is cold in nature, you can't eat too much of it."

"Green crab is fine. Just don't eat the gills, intestines, or stomach and the like—only eating the meat is fine. Stew it with rice wine, and the broth is good for you."

"Then I still won't eat it. If you can sell it for money, just sell it."

"Don't be so reluctant to part with this and reluctant to part with that—it's just a bite of food. Money can be earned slowly, it doesn't matter." He had long wanted to say this. Now that he'd moved out to be his own master of the house, he could decide for himself what stock to keep.

"We still need to save a bit more, put away more money. If the one in my belly is safely born, it'll definitely cost a pretty penny."

【Honestly, I've been using Wild Fruit Reading to read books and catch up on updates lately. Switch sources at will, plenty of reading voices.. yeguoyuedu works on both Android and iPhone.】

That's true—plenty of people got fined into bankruptcy, borrowing money everywhere, even the pig at home was led away.

Prompted by her reminder, he felt again that the family's money was still too little. Any random fine would run over a thousand yuan, and some people got hit with several thousand.

A renewed sense of urgency to earn more money welled up inside him!