Chapter 1560

"Stop teasing them, or they'll really cry and want to go back later, and you'll be the one who has to coax them."

Ye Huimei looked at them, feeling both amused and troubled.

"I don't want to. I haven't even seriously coaxed my own two sons, and you want me to coax yours? Keep dreaming. Don't you need to feed these two a little?" Ye Yaodong pointed at the two still squatting on the ground.

"Just feed them a little of whatever is left over," Ah Guang said.

"Why don't you just mix the vegetable soup with rice and put it on the ground for them to eat?"

Ah Guang lowered his head and glanced at his two sons. "That works too."

"'Dog sons'—the ancients really didn't use that term wrongly."

"What do you mean?"

Ye Huimei reacted first. "He's calling your sons dogs."

"It's clearly you who are raising them like dogs, even mixing vegetable soup with rice and putting it on the ground for them to eat."

Ah Guang laughed. "Isn't it just because I saw them squatting there? Once the food is served, wouldn't it be fine for them to just squat on the ground and eat?"

"Raising a daughter like a princess and sons like dogs—you really have a way."

You really can't deny it; Pei Yu had her hair tied into two buns, with red hair clips tucked in, and she was wearing new red clothes and sleeve covers, looking absolutely adorable.

The twins, however, looked a bit disheveled. Because they were young, their clothes easily got dirty and torn when they played, so Ye Huimei put anti-stain smocks on them, which made them look a bit odd, and the smocks were also dirty.

"Isn't it because these two aren't well-behaved? They kept making a fuss on the boat, which is why they're so messy. I didn't even have time to coax them this afternoon, let alone clean them up. It doesn't matter anyway; once we settle down at the processing plant later, I'll wash their faces, hands, and feet."

"Hurry up and feed them a few bites so we can leave once they're full."

"Mm."

The two children were old enough to eat by themselves, but they were very curious outside, and they had just had milk, so the couple didn't worry about them first, filling their own stomachs before tending to them.

Once they were full and satisfied, they headed to the processing plant.

Ah Guang took Ye Huimei and the twins to pick out rooms with their luggage, while Ye Yaodong took Pei Yu to make a phone call.

Pei Yu was also curiously looking around. "Uncle, is this the factory you just built? It's so big, so amazing."

"Do you like it here?"

"I like it. It's so big here, and what's inside there? It's so big."

"Those are machines. Children aren't allowed to touch them, or you'll get hurt, you know? Also, children aren't allowed to run into the workshop. If you need anything, go to the office to find me or your mother, understand?"

"I understand."

"Uncle, you're so amazing."

"Of course. Am I more amazing, or is your father more amazing?"

"You're amazing! Everything here is yours, and the place where we sleep in the afternoon is also yours. My father doesn't have any of this; my father is quite poor, and our family is too poor."

Ye Yaodong laughed. "How is your family poor? Don't talk nonsense."

"I asked Mom why I always have to wear my sister's clothes, and Mom said our family is poor."

"Xiao Jiu and your two cousins also wear clothes from other cousins. It's always the older ones passing down clothes to the younger ones. Everyone is like that, don't listen to your mother's nonsense."

Adults nowadays are habitually used to brushing off children with a few perfunctory words; they wouldn't seriously explain the reasoning or the cause to a child, just saying whatever comes to mind to brush them off.

This isn't very good; it's better to answer seriously. Don't think they don't know anything just because they're small.

Ye Yaodong led her to the office and then called home.

It hadn't rung many times before the old lady picked it up.

He hadn't spoken to the old lady for long, just finished reporting that they were safe, when he heard a clamorous sound coming from the other end of the line.

"Great-grandma, Great-grandma, I heard the home phone ringing at the door..."

"Great-grandma, is it Dad's call..."

"Is it? Ask him..."

The old lady happily held the phone to her ear. "It's your dad's call."

"Dad, you're too much! You secretly took Little Sister away. We agreed that Little Sister would stay at home to keep me company and live at our house. How can you go back on your word? You're too much, I hate you..."

"Little Sister also agreed to stay at our house. How could you do this? You didn't even tell me, and you deliberately lied to me, taking Little Sister away while I was sleeping."

"Little Aunt's whole family left too, and Little Aunt lied to me, saying they didn't leave, wuwuwu... You're all big liars... Everyone is a liar, Little Sister is a liar too..."

After Ye Xiaoxi gripped the phone, she let out a barrage of complaints. By the end, her voice was filled with a crying tone, and then she started wailing.

She was clearly angry and righteous in her accusations at the beginning, but by the end, she felt wronged.

Ye Yaodong hurriedly coaxed her. "It wasn't me who secretly took Little Sister away; it was your Little Aunt who came to pick her up. Their whole family is coming over to stay for a while, so of course Little Sister was taken along."

"If it were you, would you want to follow Dad, Mom, and your brothers, or would you want to go live at Little Aunt's house alone?"

Ye Xiaoxi just cried and didn't answer the question.

Ye Yaodong continued, "Little Sister must be thinking about being with her own mom and dad."

She sniffled. "But she said she wasn't leaving."

"Then her mom and dad must miss her too, and she must miss her mom and dad. If it were you, if you couldn't see your mom, would you miss her?"

She sobbed softly and said aggrievedly, "I would miss her."

"There you go, a family must be together."

"Then why aren't you with us?"

"Because I need to earn money. I can't earn money at home; I can only earn money by coming out. If I don't earn money, how can I support you? How can I let you live in a Western-style house and buy you dolls?"

"But you left secretly without telling me. I only saw that Little Sister was gone after I woke up."

"Who told you to sleep so soundly? You were like a pig and couldn't be woken up. We all tried to wake you."

"Ah? You all tried to wake me?" She stopped sobbing. "When did you try to wake me? Why didn't you call me loudly?"

"We did call you, but you just wouldn't wake up. Think about it, you usually fall off the bed and can still keep sleeping. Even with that much pain, you can still sleep; you didn't have any reaction at all."

Ye Xiaoxi was half-believing.

Pei Yu had been waiting anxiously on the side, circling the table here and there, but she just couldn't hear the voice on the phone.

"Uncle, Uncle, can I talk to my sister?"

Ye Yaodong glanced at her. "Little Sister says she wants to talk to you."

Then he covered the phone's mouthpiece with his hand and whispered to Pei Yu, "Don't tell your sister that we didn't call her."

She widened her eyes, nodded, and then took the phone.

"Hello, Sister, don't cry anymore. My dad said I can write you letters, call you, and send you packages."

"Liar, you don't even know how to read."

"When I start school in the second half of the year, I'll know how to read. By then, I'll buy you lots of fun things and send them back to you."

"Okay, okay, then you have to keep your word. You can't lie anymore; you already lied to me and left secretly."

"I didn't know either. I was still sleeping when your mom took me away."

"Ah! My mom took you away? Then why didn't she take me along?"

"I don't know."

"My mom is a big liar... She said your dad took you away, and she was sleeping and didn't know..."

Pei Yu covered her mouth and looked innocently at Ye Yaodong.

Ye Yaodong let her chat freely; anyway, two days had already passed, and whatever crying needed to be done had been done, so she could talk as she pleased.

The two sisters went back and forth, chattering endlessly, until Lin Xiuqing came back and took the phone; only then did they reluctantly interrupt.

Ye Xiaoxi was still accusing Lin Xiuqing on the other end of the line. "You're a liar. Little Sister said it was you who carried her downstairs, but you said it was Little Aunt's husband."

"I said she was taken away by your Little Aunt's husband, but I didn't say it was him who carried her down. Who told you to sleep so soundly? Her dad came looking for her, so I had no choice but to carry her to her dad."

After Lin Xiuqing finished speaking, she said into the phone, "My goodness, that morning when I woke up and couldn't see Little Sister, and found out she had left, the sky felt like it had collapsed, and I cried to death."

"How long did you cry?"

"I cried for about an hour. I didn't even go to school in the morning; every time I thought of it, I would howl a few times in sadness."

"It's good you didn't go; otherwise, you wouldn't have been studying properly and would have ended up doing manual labor weeding instead."

"Isn't it always like that? That day we weeded all day, and when we came back, we were covered in bites, and the two brothers were the same; their hands were cut by the grass into several bloody streaks."

Ye Xiaoxi also shouted on the other end of the phone, "Dad, besides weeding the playground, we also went to weed the school's vegetable plot."

"So diligent?"

"It's not that they're diligent; it's the teacher who called them to the vegetable plot to pull weeds. Your son in the higher grade even had to use a hoe to turn the soil and sow seeds."

"Damn it, they're using them as free labor. We don't even have land at home for them to farm, and they have to go outside to farm."

"It's normal. After school starts, weeding for the school, and incidentally pulling weeds for the teachers' small vegetable plots."

"Laboring is good too, so they won't be thinking about crying."

"Today they've already started classes normally, but your daughter asks if you've called back the first thing every day when she gets home, saying she wants to cry for you to see. She finally waited for it."

Ye Xiaoxi protested on the side, "When did I say I wanted to cry for Dad to see? I just wanted him to take me along too."

Ye Yaodong responded, "Wait until summer vacation, and I'll take you all up. For now, study obediently."

Lin Xiuqing said, "Don't say that now. School just started, and they're already thinking about vacation. By then, they'll be asking me every day when vacation is and when they can go to your place."

"You just look and lie to them a bit."

Ye Yaodong was talking on the phone, and Pei Yu, bored, had already run out.

But she ran back not long after running out, and then sat bored on the side, waiting for him to finish the call.

He looked at her bored appearance and didn't say how long it would be; anyway, it was fine once he reported they were safe.

"Why did you run out and then run back?"

"It's too dark, I'm scared..."

"Then let's go. I'll take you to find your mom and dad and see which room they're in."

She nodded obediently, then took his hand and followed him out.

After Ye Yaodong sent her to her parents, he took another turn around the dormitory building. Hearing the voices of Lin Dongxue and her two younger siblings, he stepped forward to knock on the door and asked about their settlement situation.

Anyway, wherever there were rooms, they could just pick and live in them; girls in one room, and the other two boys in another.

He didn't have many people in the factory now, and many were locals who didn't need accommodation, so the rooms were very empty, and they could live a bit more spaciously.

As for those demobilized soldiers, the time he set for them to start work hadn't arrived yet. He set the start date for the factory workers for the 20th of the lunar calendar, and he estimated that people wouldn't come to report until the 19th of the lunar calendar.

Or maybe tomorrow, the 18th of the lunar calendar, people might come one after another.

After asking and understanding, Ye Yaodong told them to rest early.

There was no work tomorrow either, so they could have a day for the two brothers to take Lin Dongxue around to familiarize themselves.

Coming out of the dormitory building, he chatted with the guard for a few words before driving the tractor back to the base camp.

It was quite late by now, and the night weather was cold. The temperature here was several degrees lower than at home, and being near the port, the night wind was even stronger.

Many people had already rested, and many who hadn't rested during the day had already laid down early at night; only a few houses still had lights on.

He was frozen from running back and forth, and after locking the main gate, he headed straight for the third-floor room.

Ye's father moved to the warehouse to sleep, and he didn't have anyone to chat with, so after returning, he just laid down in the quilt to sleep.

It was also fortunate that the old man wasn't addicted to mobile phones; he wouldn't feel empty without anything in his hands, and he could sleep once he laid down.

The next morning, he was woken up by the talking downstairs.

How could a place where five or six hundred people gathered not be noisy? Many people were also habitually early risers.

And he was also thinking about whether any demobilized soldiers would come to report early. Hearing the commotion downstairs, he immediately climbed up, preparing to tidy up early and go over to take a look.

Incidentally, he also had to visit various factories to arrange for the subsequent delivery of goods.

Only after negotiating the supply volume could he arrange for the fishing boats to go to sea, and only then could there be goods coming back tomorrow.

Those people talking downstairs early in the morning were the ones who were going to sea today; those small boats that returned the same day were the most urgent.

In the past, they would also rush to sea the second day after arriving.

After this wave of early risers went to sea, the base camp became quiet, and the rest were those who hadn't gotten up yet.

After he washed up and had breakfast, he packed a few steamed buns and went over on his motorcycle, bringing his small assistant Chen Baoxing along.

It was indeed too early in the morning. He handed the packed steamed buns to the guard and gave the guard a few instructions.

In case any demobilized soldiers came to report, let them put their luggage down first and they could go around for a stroll. He would come over at lunch and dinner time, and only then would he arrange things after verifying their identities.

Thinking about it, he felt it was too troublesome, and it wasn't good to let people wait around. He had many things to do himself, and who knew how long he would be busy.

It was also his fault for lacking experience; he didn't notify people to report a day late. Normally, the factory should be working before calling new people to report, to avoid coming early when no one was working.

Now he could only hold the Buddha's feet in a hurry. Thinking about it, he simply left Chen Baoxing behind, handed him the list of demobilized personnel, and let him sit in the factory directly.

Incidentally, he could also check the machines in advance and arrange things needed for starting work.

Chen Baoxing followed him every day and knew things a bit more clearly; he would have a sense of what to do and how to arrange things.

It was mainly because there were too many things to be busy with today, and the preparation work before starting work was too complicated. Many things had to be arranged in advance before the fishing boats could go to sea.

Only after the fishing boats went to sea could the subsequent things gradually get on the right track and operate normally.

After Ye Yaodong arranged things properly, he rode his motorcycle out. He ran back and forth non-stop all day, visiting various processing plants and recording the delivery volume and varieties of each family.

As for Ye Huimei and Lin Dongxue and the others, he couldn't care about them anymore; anyway, one had a husband, and the other had younger brothers to arrange things, so he didn't need to worry.

The things he had to be busy with were far more important than accompanying them.

From morning to night, he didn't even drink a sip of water, always running in the wind and rain, and he didn't even step into his own factory again.

Only after finishing recording all the orders for the processing plants could he catch his breath and go back to notify his father that the fishing boats could all go to sea at night.

Then he brought some local specialties to report to the Chamber of Commerce, fraternizing with people to maintain relationships and continue the subsequent ordering volume.

That night, he directly treated a large group of people to dinner, massage, and singing.

Don't look at him smiling at those bosses; in fact, he was exhausted. He hadn't been idle all day, and he still had to accompany guests, smile, and drink.

By the time he got home, it was already early morning. He hadn't even laid down in the quilt when he heard the commotion of everyone getting up downstairs.

Money is really not easy to earn.

Getting up earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs.

He hadn't even slept yet, and others had already gotten up.

He covered his head with the quilt, wanting to sigh but holding it back; sighing affects luck.

At least today, the beginning things had been successfully busy. It was also because he usually maintained good customer relationships, was polite, and gave gifts; even the guard's cigarettes hadn't been missed. It was much easier to continue orders after returning from the New Year.

Thinking wildly, he also entered dreamland.

Getting up from 6 AM and busy until 1 or 2 AM before returning to lay down, this day also exhausted him. He drank some alcohol and directly slept soundly until 10 AM the next day.

Waking up and looking at his watch, he sat up in shock.

"Damn... finished, finished... slept until noon..."

He got up nimbly, didn't even care about eating, and headed straight for the processing plant.

When he arrived at the processing plant and saw the orderly appearance from the workshop door, he was also dumbfounded.

The machines were all rumbling, and the workers in the workshop were all busy processing squid, and there were many new faces.

He was stunned for a moment, then turned to the back to take a look. The squid piled into mountains were being carried to be cleaned basket by basket, and the cleaned ones were also carried into the workshop for processing.

"What's going on? Where did the goods come from?"

A passing worker stopped.

"Boss, these were just delivered. When we came to report in the morning, the processing plant was empty, nothing at all. Then Baoxing said to let Manager Qi go to the pier to purchase, and tell you when you come, otherwise everyone would just be staring at each other there."

Ye Yaodong breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, I know, go get busy."

Worthy of being someone who had followed him for two years; he knew how to adapt to circumstances even when he wasn't there.

Who told him he lacked experience? It was also his first time running a factory, and the people recruited in the factory were all newcomers; everyone needed to grind with each other.

He was really too busy yesterday, busy from morning until early morning, before finishing things and notifying the fishing boats to go to sea. He couldn't take care of the processing plant side.

Next time he would have experience; the start time could be moved back or he would have to start early, reserving preparation time.

?? Updates have been a bit few these two days, I'll make up a chapter later.

? (End of chapter)