Chapter 1462: Outburst

"No, I'll just say I still need to help deliver goods occasionally. I don't drive the tractor much. It's your own tractor; you need to deliver goods too. How can you let me drive it around every single day?"

Ye Yaodong lay on the bed with his feet up, too lazy to respond.

"Did you hear that? Don't slip up. Hand over a little less next time."

"What you said is actually true. Mix a little lie with the truth. How much money you give her is up to you anyway."

"I'm just afraid she'll keep asking. I might contradict myself and slip up then."

"At the end of the year, I'll give you a wage here, and you'll hand over a sum there. What's there to ask? Her mouth will be grinning crooked. She'll have to praise you for being hardworking."

Ye Father heard this and grinned, "That makes sense."

Ye Yaodong asked curiously again, "Say, Dad, why do you spend all day trying to hide private money? What do you need private money for? I never saw you so eager to hide it before."

"Back then, I had to have money to hide. I had no money before, so how could I hide any?"

"What about now?"

"Now, more money passes through my hands, right? Which grown man keeps his pockets empty all day? It was just that the family conditions were poor before, and we couldn't earn much. Of course, I gave every penny to your mother to save up for the three of you to marry and raise children."

"Indeed."

"It's different now. Now that our family's conditions have improved, how can I give it all to her? Of course, I have to keep a little for myself."

"Indeed."

"Now I won't be afraid of losing money playing cards when we go home for the New Year!"

"That makes sense."

"I'll go check if the chickens and ducks are back in the coop, then have a meal." Ye Father happily went downstairs again.

Ye Yaodong was too lazy to climb up and down, so he just lay there.

The next day, he went to change the list of trainees, swapping his father out for someone else, picking a logistics staff member to send instead.

This wasn't a difficult matter. He had just paid the fees and finished the paperwork; the person hadn't even started classes yet, so making the change was simple.

In the afternoon, he went to the Chamber of Commerce, but there was no message he had been expecting, and he felt slightly disappointed.

After sending Chen Baoxing to record the quantities of goods the bosses wanted, he went to make a phone call first.

As soon as Lin Lin Xiuqing picked up the phone, she sounded excited, "Perfect, I was just planning to call and leave you a message. Yesterday was Monday, the postman came to deliver the newspaper and specifically reminded me that you were in the paper!"

"It's already in there? I was saying it's been half a month, thinking of calling to ask why there was no sign of it. Turns out it's already there."

"We've been waiting too. The villagers are all asking when the newspaper will arrive."

"Why didn't you call to leave a message yesterday?"

"I was busy searching around the village, thinking of finding more copies to mail to you, so I didn't rush to call. I wanted to wait until I mailed them to call and tell you everything at once; otherwise, you might not be able to answer if I call too frequently."

"Did you mail them?"

"Yes. I asked everywhere, and people were reluctant to give them up. In the end, I got five copies. The thick stack of envelopes wouldn't fit, so I had to mail them separately, adding an extra stamp. When the three children heard I was mailing you a letter, they each wrote one to you too, putting them all in one envelope to mail together."

"They wrote me a letter? What did they write?"

Ye Yaodong felt a little surprised and wanted to know what the three children could have written to him.

Lin Lin Xiuqing laughed on the other end of the line, "You'll know when you receive it."

"What you said has me looking forward to it now."

"Hehe. They said when you called back, they weren't home; they were all at school. Ye Chenghu said the teacher taught them how to write letters and how to stick on stamps, so he said he wanted to write to you. One said he wanted to write to you, and the other two immediately clamored that they wanted to write to you too."

"When I receive them, I'll see what they wrote. If they wrote well, I'll bring them gifts when I return and praise them."

"However, letters are slow to arrive, and it's across provinces. You might have to wait a good month. The post office in town said today is Tuesday; they don't deliver letters or packages to the county. They wait until Friday to send them all together."

"I know that. It wouldn't make sense to waste manpower and resources sending letters and packages to the county every day when there are only a few. They send them over on Friday and distribute the county's mail and newspapers to the townships on Monday."

"Mm. By the time you receive it, it will be next month."

"It doesn't matter. As long as it's mailed out, it's fine. Anyway, I can't see it immediately. Whether I see it early or late is the same; as long as everyone in the city can see it, that's enough."

Anyway, since everyone has already seen him on TV, appearing in the newspaper is just icing on the cake. Keeping a copy will make it even more glorious.

Lin Lin Xiuqing suddenly remembered something, "By the way, Godfather saw the newspaper and called. I told him a few things. You should call him back a little later."

"Okay."

"Mom also asked why Dad hasn't called back recently. She said when you aren't with him, he doesn't know to call back either?"

"He's busy earning private money. When would he have time? He's also afraid Mom will find out, so he dares not call, worried that the more he speaks, the more mistakes he makes."

"Hehehe. Mom is saying that too. She says she doesn't know how much money Dad is making driving the tractor these days. She says he doesn't even know to call back and tell her."

"If he said it, wouldn't he slip up?"

"Mom also said that after going out, his cunningness has increased."

"Seeing more of the world helps. Going out more does have some use."

Lin Lin Xiuqing asked again about how the two brothers, Ye Ye Chengjiang and the other, were doing.

Hearing that their father had already bought a tractor, she was somewhat surprised; he was quite decisive.

Earning ten or twenty yuan a day, working until the middle of the night, this income made her heart flutter even to hear about it. Splitting it fifty-fifty, they still got a good share. It was indeed better than working a job.

"No wonder Dad was so eager to get them on board."

"Mm."

"When will you come back next time? Will it be Dad's turn to return?"

"My dad definitely won't want to go back. Most people are here. He has plenty to brag about, plenty to earn, and plenty of face. Why would he go home?"

"Then it's your turn to come back..."

"I'll see."

Ye Yaodong told her about what he had done these past few days, such as spending 40,000 to buy two shops and spending over a hundred yuan to send three people to training.

He also said that once things settled down recently, he would visit the shipyard and, by the way, ask Factory Director Shen about the location of the Jiangnan Shipyard so he could visit Shanghai.

As for the Jiangnan Shipyard, he only knew the general location, not the specific one.

Lin Lin Xiuqing only urged him to be extremely careful when going out, advising that if he could avoid wandering unnecessarily, he should; even if he must go out, he should not go alone but bring at least two others.

After he finished speaking here, he went to speak with the old lady, who, as always, offered nothing but caring words and repeated admonitions.

By the time the phone had grown hot from the call, he judged it was enough and hung up.

It had lasted twenty minutes, costing over thirty yuan; long-distance calls were incredibly expensive.

After returning, Ye Yaodong also told his father about it; his mother remarked that he was becoming more cunning, having gone so long without calling home.

Only then did Ye's father realize his behavior had been improper.

However, since Ye Yaodong had just made a call today, he decided not to make another, thinking he would wait a couple of days.

Feeling a bit guilty, Ye's father thought at that moment that when he did call, he would honestly report how much money he had earned and hand it all over.

An honest man.

After entering June, temperatures gradually rose; although not yet as scorching and unbearable as midsummer, the temperature difference between morning and evening was significant.

Rainfall was not as dense as in spring, but it came suddenly and intensely; often, one moment the sky was clear and cloudless, and the next, dark clouds gathered, immediately followed by a torrential downpour.

Ye Yaodong stood under the eaves, gazing at the cloud-filled sky, pondering that another heavy rain was coming.

With summer arrived, thunderstorms would gradually increase; by July, August, September, and October, typhoons would become even more frequent, sometimes even occurring in November.

The weather in June was still manageable, except for the frequent thunderstorms; the family's workshop would certainly be unable to operate for these few months and would have to shut down.

Fortunately, they had ample stock; when he returned before the New Year, he had loaded a ship with goods, and now they had accumulated quite a bit, so he would have to wait until some future time to take it back.

Lin Ji had been up for nearly a month; it seemed the office had opened, and presumably, the first route was about to be arranged?

Once arranged, it shouldn't take long before operations began.

Ye Yaodong pondered waiting until mealtime to see if anyone had returned; if not, he would ask again in the evening, as they surely had to return to sleep.

If the first route began operations in Lin Ji, it would certainly be the ship that had come up that would be arranged to transport goods back; this would also coincide with handling freight in the provincial city, since it had been a month since he left.

And he could hitch a ride on that same ship to return; when he needed to come up again, he could continue to hitch a ride back up.

Since the local office had just opened, in the short term, Lin Ji would certainly need to travel back and forth to handle affairs, meaning the cargo ship's transport schedule would be quite frequent.

This would also conveniently facilitate his return home!

He thought he would wait until he asked Lin Ji, confirmed the date freight operations would begin, or the return date, and then make his own plans.

He was still eager to visit the Jiangnan Shipyard and go to Shanghai; he needed to check the return date to decide whether to go to Shanghai first or return home first.

Going to Shanghai would certainly take at least a week; he wasn't exactly in a rush, but he felt restless and unable to sit still.

Just as he rested his chin on his hand, huge raindrops instantly began to pitter-patter down; the chickens and ducks wandering leisurely outside immediately panicked and sprinted frantically toward the eaves.

Meanwhile, someone from outside the main gate came running back, shouting, "Uncle Dong, our fishing boats have returned."

Ye Yaodong stood up. "They're back? Didn't they say tomorrow?"

"The wind and rain at sea were very heavy, so they returned and just docked. I ran back first to notify you; let's quickly start the tractor to receive the cargo."

"Oh no, my father and those two boys took the tractor out."

They had assumed the boats would return tomorrow, so they had driven it out.

He had been saying that, no matter what, they should have left one tractor at home as a backup; they shouldn't have driven it out, or they would be in a bind if an emergency arose.

"Go to the dock and see if you can find my father and the others; I'll put on a raincoat and be right there."

Amidst the vast downpour, pedestrians hurried along the dock, vehicles came and went swiftly; many fishing boats were returning one after another, and the vehicles couldn't keep up with receiving the cargo; business was incredibly good.

Ye Yaodong sent people to search the dock for two hours before finally finding his father and the others.

He was furious and immediately unleashed a torrent of abuse at his father.

"Dozens of people are waiting in the rain for a vehicle, and you, of all people, with so many fishing boats docking, didn't even realize I urgently needed a vehicle?"

Ye's father wiped the rainwater from his face, looking quite innocent. "At first, I didn't know so many fishing boats were docking; I didn't go to check the berths, so I took any available work and kept running outside..."

"Tomorrow, you are not allowed to drive it out again."

"I thought the boats would return tomorrow..."

"How can everything be calculated perfectly?"

Ye's father, rebuked by him, dared not utter a sound, feeling deeply at fault.

The two brothers dared not speak either, silently hurrying to help unload the cargo.

Ye Yaodong worked until late at night before finally arranging all the temporarily returned cargo.

Ye's father now lacked confidence in front of him and spoke softly, "From now on, we'll always leave one vehicle at home; we won't drive both out."

He shot a glare at his father and said nothing.

Although he had readily agreed when they borrowed it, the premise was that he wasn't using it; if they wanted to drive it out to earn extra money, of course, that was fine.

If he hadn't lent it, it would have made him, as the third uncle, look stingy for letting it sit idle without lending it.

But anyone who stood in the rain for two hours, soaked for two hours, would have a temper.

Moreover, it was people from several boats who were waiting.

The key point was that in this kind of weather, finding a vehicle to transport cargo was difficult, and one was easily subject to exorbitant prices, getting ripped off like a pig.

He had said long ago that they needed to leave one vehicle at home for emergencies.

When there was no business, of course, everything was fine; but when there was business, it was naturally unpleasant.

"Ajiang and the other two have worked for nearly half a month; tomorrow is their rest day. Once their new tractor can be driven back from the factory in a few days, I'll let them go out to take jobs again."

"Mm."

"The other day, they were still saying that once they got their new tractor, they would return yours, and by then, they would buy you a few packs of cigarettes and a few bottles of wine to properly show their respect."

"Do I lack such things?"

"Of course you don't lack them, but this is their intention; it's different. They also remember your kindness."

"Let's talk about it after they've earned some money."

"Your expression and gaze this afternoon scared them terribly; they dared not approach you, only daring to quickly help with the work."

"Good that you know fear; I thought they feared nothing in heaven or on earth."

"They say even your own father isn't as scary as you looked this afternoon."

"Standing in the rain for two hours waiting for nothing—try it and see if you don't get furious?"

Ye's father gave an awkward smile. "Who could have known the boat would return suddenly? That was beyond anyone's control."

Ye Yaodong flung the towel over his shoulder, grabbed the washbasin, and went out.

Early the next morning, Ye Ye Chengjiang and Ye Chenghe, heads bowed, cautiously crept up to him.

"Third Uncle, are you no longer angry?"

"If I'm not angry, do you want to beat me to vent your anger?"

"Heh heh..."

"Third Uncle..."

"Get lost." Ye Yaodong saw Lin Ji coming out and quickly called out to him.

Since the other man was also heading to the canteen, he went along with him.

They had returned too late yesterday; it wouldn't do to disturb others' sleep in the dead of night.

Now that they had met, he could ask.

The matter had indeed turned out as he predicted: the first route for Lin Ji had already been arranged, heading toward the provincial capital of Fujian Province. The office had even installed a telephone and was now preparing to take on cargo, having posted a notice to accept jobs.

The cargo ship's departure date was set for the 16th of this month. About half a month had been reserved to gather cargo; whether the ship was full or not, it would depart on schedule.

"Just save me a spot; I need to go home and check on things too."

The last time he went home was April 20th; he arrived here again on May 8th.

This trip, returning in mid-June, would allow him to come back up by the end of the month.

"You're going back far too often. There are so many ships here..."

"I have factories at home too. I need to manage both ends just like you, so I must go back more often to check. My father is here, and many matters are now on the right track, so there's no need for excessive worry."

"Alright then. Anyway, the ship will stop at the town anyway."

"Really? That would be incredibly convenient."

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong was overjoyed; wouldn't going home be even more convenient for him from now on? One ship per month, arriving directly at the town, with round trips taking about half a month.

"You've arranged this route perfectly; it suits us exactly."

"Of course, the first route is arranged according to our own convenient schedule, and naturally, this route must be the one we know best."

He smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

"For the second route, I plan to head to Shanghai. It's nearby; much of the cargo here is also bound for Shanghai. The route is short and safe, with plenty of goods to ship and easy to secure contracts."

His eyes lit up. "That's great! When will this route open?"

"Next month. After I return from this trip, I'll arrange for two new ships to come up."

"Once the Shanghai route is finalized, call me; I want to go."

With a favorable ship to ride, it would naturally be even more convenient.

He didn't mind losing this bit of time; he could go to Shanghai after returning home and coming back up.

Lin Ji, curious, asked, "What are you going there for?"

"To visit the Jiangnan Shipyard and also see a big city. Shanghai is certainly beyond comparison with our place; it will broaden my horizons."

"That's true. I've heard the Jiangnan Shipyard is very famous."

"I heard they specialize in building warships."

"For the first run of the route, I'll definitely accompany you; we can go take a look together then."

"Alright, then we'll be good companions."

Ye Yaodong didn't mind an extra person; he could ask his brother and his friends later whether they wanted to join, whether they could take a few days off, and just go out to see and experience things.

He figured they would be reluctant to leave, at most finding someone to take their place.

Ye Ye Chengjiang and Ye Chenghe followed like shadow puppies; having heard everything, they immediately spoke up eagerly once the other man was gone.

"Third Uncle, you're going to Shanghai? That's a big city..."

"Third Uncle, you're so awesome; you're actually going to Shanghai?"

"Going to Shanghai makes me awesome?"

"Of course. That's Shanghai; it's incredibly famous. I've even heard about it." Ye Chenghe sounded somewhat excited.

"If even someone as foolish as you has heard of it, then it must indeed be quite famous."

"Why are you insulting me?"

"I could even hit you; do you believe me?"

Ye Chenghe quickly stepped back and hid behind Ye Ye Chengjiang.

Ye Ye Chengjiang, whose clothes he had grabbed and tugged twice, didn't care about him; instead, he turned and smiled ingratiatingly at Ye Yaodong.

"Third Uncle, may I go with you?"

"Then I want to go too!"

"What do you want to go for?"

"To broaden our horizons."

"Hee hee. After we go, we can brag at home. If others find out I've been to Shanghai, they'll be insanely envious."

Ye Yaodong crossed his arms over his chest. "I haven't even settled accounts with you yet, and now you're hatching new schemes?"

"Heh heh, Third Uncle, our tractor will arrive in a few days."

"If I go, I'll need a week. You earn over ten or twenty yuan a day; a week means a loss of one hundred yuan!"

The two instantly felt a pang of heartache.

Ye Chenghe immediately shook his head. "Then I'm not going!"

Ye Ye Chengjiang was delighted. "That's great! If you're not going, you can stay home and drive the tractor. I'll go with him!"

"On what grounds?"

"You said yourself you weren't going."

"No way. If one goes, we both go. Otherwise, neither of us goes. Don't expect me to work for you."

"We'll take turns... This time, I'll go out with Third Uncle while you stay behind. Next time, you can go home to see your partner, and I'll stay behind..."

Ye Yaodong thought Ye Chenghe was about to be talked into a corner by Ye Ye Chengjiang.

He didn't care how the two brothers negotiated or who would lose out; he first picked up today's newspaper to take a look.

Ajiang's letter had been sent out a week ago; he didn't know when it would arrive.

It was quite possible that by the time he got home, the letter still wouldn't have arrived.

Delivering letters was just this slow nowadays.

It would be even faster if he went home and checked it himself.

After finishing the morning paper, Ye Yaodong glanced at the two brothers again; Ye Chenghe was now reduced to nothing but constant nodding.

His second brother was clearly honest and clumsy with words, yet Ye Ye Chengjiang happened to be quite eloquent and quick-witted; it seemed there was someone to carry on the legacy.

Taking the two children out to see the world would be good for them.

His own two sons were too young, still in elementary school; if they were this old, he would definitely take them out to see more as well.

Is reading a pile of books not as good as traveling ten thousand li?

He remembered there was a saying with that very meaning.

Even his father had improved after coming out; how much more so for adolescents with greater potential for growth.

"Hey? Third Uncle? Where are you going?"

The two hurriedly followed behind.

"Third Uncle, what are you doing?"

"Where are you going?"

Ye Yaodong walked toward the calendar hanging by the canteen door, wanting to see what day of the week the 16th was.

"Today is the 4th. What are you looking at?"

"Don't make noise."

It was only about ten days away; he needed to check the date.

"The 18th is the Dragon Boat Festival? That means we can make it back in time to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival?"

"Hey? The 18th is the Dragon Boat Festival?" Ye Chenghe was pleasantly surprised, and his brain suddenly turned a corner.

"Ajiang! Didn't you say we'd take turns? This way, we won't lose out on making money, and we can still take turns resting!"

Ye Ye Chengjiang suddenly had a bad feeling...

"Next month, you go with Third Uncle to Shanghai, and I'll stay home making money driving the tractor with Grandpa. Right now, either I go home with Third Uncle first, or you stay here and work?"

Ye Ye Chengjiang: "..."

Ye Chenghe's face was full of excitement. "This is great! I can go home without losing out on making money! Taking turns like this is perfect. Ajiang, you're so smart. Anyway, with Grandpa there, you just said I wouldn't be afraid being alone, so you won't be afraid being alone either."

Ye Ye Chengjiang chuckled...

Ye Yaodong watched, laughing outright.

What do you call this?

Lifting a stone only to drop it on one's own foot!

The words he had just used to trick someone were now thrown back at him, with no room for rebuttal.

"We just got here, and you're going back already? That doesn't seem right, does it?" Ye Ye Chengjiang wanted to struggle a bit.

"What's not right about it? You've been up here since last month; by the time you go back, it'll still be over ten days! That's a whole month."

Ye Chenghe felt delighted, thinking he was truly brilliant.

"Third Uncle never said he wanted to take you..."

(End of this chapter)