Chapter 150: Proposal

"Little" lit up at the mention of going to the isolated island to scavenge the sea. "Bro, count me in, A'zheng's definitely going too."

"Sure." Scattered small islands were everywhere anyway, and he alone could never strip them bare of their rich bounty. More people meant company too—otherwise he'd be bored stiff with not even a single person to chat with.

Fatty rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "This time I'll either go with you guys too, or just mooch some food back."

The three of them turned their heads at the same time and looked at him with contempt.

"You sure you won't just crash and sleep the whole time if you come?"

"Getting tired and resting a bit is perfectly normal, right? Then it's decided—happily!"

"Fine, bring your own tools. Don't blame me for not warning you earlier."

One more person, one less—he didn't care either way.

Fatty said eagerly, "Should we bring a pot too? Bring some food, we can cook it up. Otherwise our stomachs will be flat with hunger from morning to night, and all we can eat is live shrimp."

A'guang stared at him speechlessly. "Why not bring rice and seasonings too while you're at it?"

"That works too!" Fatty's eyes lit up. "We'll build a fire right there."

"All you think about is eating. You think we're going on a house-moving trip, bringing rice and seasonings? Not afraid of the hassle?"

But Ye Yaodong was quite tempted. The Double Ninth Festival was coming up—he could arrange a hike and a picnic with taro rice. He grinned wickedly at Fatty and said, "I actually think it's doable. You bring the rice, the pot, the bowls and chopsticks, and you're in charge of cooking while we handle the eating?"

"Ooh～that works!"

"I think it's fine too!"

Little and A'guang caught on immediately and quickly nodded in agreement!

"Damn…you're treating Laozi as the logistics crew?" Fatty glared at them.

Ye Yaodong said with a smile, "Wasn't this your idea? None of us can cook either!"

"Hmph…we'll talk about it then. Everyone go home, Laozi needs to sleep."

"Oh right, it's late. Everyone head home and sleep. Lend me the basin to hold the goods first, I'll bring it back tomorrow."

"Just use the bucket. It's easier to carry in a bucket. It's not our bucket anyway—just take one home with you, no need to return it. Who cares." Fatty said as he picked up an empty bucket from the ground and handed it to him, telling him to pour the goods into it.

"Works."

Everyone packed up their goods, exchanged goodbyes, and went their separate ways home.

Ye Yaodong looked up at the moon in the sky, feeling it was almost at the zenith. He'd really dawdled too late today. He couldn't help but quicken his pace and took the shortcut directly.

The fishing village was truly quiet at night when the wind was still, but any little sound carried very clearly. He had just walked not far from his front door when he heard the faint, shuffling footsteps behind him, mixed with quiet murmuring voices.

He stood at the door for a moment and saw several figures appear on the path. Exactly how many, he couldn't tell from the distance.

He stood there watching curiously for a while and saw them walking toward the outside of the dock. He didn't know if they were Lin Ji's group. Occasionally at night, fishing boats would come into their dock. It was the season when Rosy Lizardfish were swarming, and many boats went out to catch them and docked at night.

He shook his head—mind your own business—and then gently pushed the door open and went in.

He first took out the green crabs and put them in a bamboo basket, then took a soup bowl to cover them, to keep the mosquitoes from biting them to death. Green crabs feared mosquito bites the most—one bite and they'd die. The other goods didn't need attention; there was no fridge anyway, so he'd deal with them tomorrow.

Just as he turned around, he heard the bedroom door open. Without looking, he knew it had to be his wife, woken by the noise.

"Why are you up?"

"I haven't slept at all. Why are you back so late?"

"Caught a thief, so it dragged on till now. Leave the fish in the bucket for me to clean tomorrow morning."

Lin Lin Xiuqing asked curiously, "A thief stealing the cage catch? Who? Someone from our village?"

"Yeah, it's Xu Laifu, Uncle Uncle Awei's brother-in-law. I just handed him over to Secretary Chen to deal with. Don't worry about it, let's go inside to sleep." As he spoke, he stepped forward and put his arm around his wife's waist, heading toward the room.

Lin Lin Xiuqing pushed at his chest. "Mm～you smell terrible, all smoke and alcohol."

He raised his sleeve and sniffed—indeed pretty smelly.

"Fine, I'll take a shower then. You go in and sleep first."

"There's hot water in the thermos. It's gotten cold—don't try to save trouble and wash with cold water at the back door. Just wash with hot water inside the room."

His steps, which had been heading toward the back door, stopped. He smiled. "Okay, got it."

Watching him pour hot water into the washbasin, Lin Lin Xiuqing finally went inside satisfied.

After a shower and lying down to hold his wife, Ye Yaodong finally felt comfortable.

But Lin Lin Xiuqing was uncomfortable again. "Either sleep on the other end tonight, or don't snuggle up to me."

"Why would I sleep on the other end? Isn't the eldest already sleeping in the little iron bed next to us? The bed's this wide, and I've already showered. I can't even hug my own wife?"

"But your hair still smells terrible, all smoke and alcohol. It makes me feel sick smelling it."

"So fussy! It's the middle of the night, how do you expect me to wash my hair?" He felt her flat belly. "This one's definitely a girl, being so dramatic."

After saying that, he sat up and tossed his pillow to the other end.

Lin Lin Xiuqing laughed. "And how would you know? What if it's a boy again?"

"Please no, two are already enough of a headache."

"Everyone else hopes for more and more sons. And you're complaining?"

"Enough. Rich families with big businesses hope for more sons. We have two who can help with work—that's enough. If we have another daughter, we'll at least have pig's feet to eat."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It hasn't even been born yet and you're already thinking about pig's feet."

Ye Yaodong smiled. "I'm just saying. Don't you want a daughter too?"

"I think so, but thinking doesn't make it so! Let's sleep, it's very late. Don't wake the other two up."

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong's biological clock was very punctual now—he woke up on his own at 6, even though he'd only gone to sleep past midnight last night. He still woke at the same time this morning.

Lin Lin Xiuqing, meanwhile, was facing the inside, unusually sleeping in. Usually when he woke, she was already up cooking breakfast—probably because she'd slept too late last night.

Afraid of waking her, he moved quietly, carrying his clothes and pants out of the bedroom before starting to get dressed.

Rarely up before her, he checked that the green crabs were still alive, and thought about cooking the porridge first.

He scooped a bowl of rice with a rice bowl, then poured it into a water dipper. He felt the amount should be about right. After washing it once, he poured it directly into the pot, added a lot of water, and then sat down in front of the stove to start the fire.

Although in two lifetimes combined he had never cooked on an earthen stove, after watching for the past two months he figured he had picked it up.

He first grabbed a handful of straw from the straw corner, rolled it into a bundle, then took a box of matches by the stove, struck one, and once it caught fire tossed it into the stove chamber.

After using the straw to kindle the fire, he broke the tree branches into pieces and slowly tossed them in to burn — these were ones he had taken the chance to gather on the mountain during his free days a few days earlier.

He felt that since splitting the household and living on their own, there were especially many chores at home — chopping firewood, carrying water — and before the split none of these tasks ever fell to him, nor did he have to worry about them.

As for his past life, there was even less to say; that wretched past was not worth mentioning.

Thinking this way, his heart grew even more guilty, and he wanted all the more to prove himself.

He rummaged in a basket nearby and pulled out a small bag of dried fish, then simply sliced two pieces of ginger, smashed two cloves of garlic, poured a little vinegar over it, sprinkled a tiny bit of white sugar, then laid four chopsticks in a tic-tac-toe pattern on top of the porridge, and only then set the plate on top to steam over water.

Then he immediately took yesterday's bucket of fish catch to the back door to clean, and while cleaning he went back into the house from time to time to add firewood to the stove chamber.

By the time Lin Lin Xiuqing woke up and got out of bed, the meal was ready and the fish were cleaned; he had also taken the chance to scramble two eggs.

She looked at the food neatly laid out on the table, and suddenly felt a sting in her nose, as if something in her heart had been filled to the brim.

"Why did you get up so early?"

"Don't I always get up this early now?"

The two children followed Lin Lin Xiuqing out of the room, and nimbly climbed straight up onto the table.

The eldest stared wide-eyed at the bowl of eggs on the table. "Scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, I want to eat eggs!"

The younger one was parroting him too. "Eggs, eggs."

Seeing the two of them reaching out to grab the food, Lin Lin Xiuqing didn't bother asking questions and gave each of them a slap on the back of the hand. "Go brush your teeth and wash your face first."

"Bleh bleh bleh~"

The eldest made a face, jumped off the table, and ran toward the back door; Li Li Laoer copied him. Actually, he was so young — Lin Lin Xiuqing hadn't required him to brush his teeth — but seeing his older brother brush, he had cried and fussed until he could brush too, tagging along like a little shadow every day.

"How come you scrambled eggs too? A little dried fish or pickled mustard greens in the morning would have been plenty."

"Just once in a while. Eggs are nutritious — you should eat more, and eat less of the pickled stuff."

Lin Lin Xiuqing felt sweet inside, but still couldn't help saying: "Nonsense, pickled vegetables and mustard greens go perfectly with porridge."

Ye Yaodong didn't call out the gap between her words and her heart.

After the family happily finished breakfast, he picked up the bucket and headed out again. Now he basically collected the catch from the fish traps every other day.