Chapter 1591

Ye Yaodong and his group got a free lunch, and now he was picking his teeth while walking among a crowd, collecting money; after collecting half the payment for Aicai's goods, he collected payment for his own factory's goods, his backpack stuffed to the brim.

He had no time to linger, merely glanced at the final balance in the ledger, collected the money, and left.

The ledger can be checked whenever Lin Lin Xiuqing has time.

The system here is now fairly mature, everyone has their role, Lin Fu is overseeing things, and Lin Lin Xiuqing regularly audits the accounts—they're all quite confident.

As for his adoptive father, he had no time to go see him yet—he needed to transport the goods back first, and he stank; he'd visit in a couple of days.

Lin Fu had also asked Lin Lin Xiangyang to drive the tractor to take them to the dock, saving them the trouble of taking another vehicle.

After disembarking, everyone rested, ate, and drank their fill; they'd be home soon, and all were especially excited, their moods bright.

When they reached the town dock, they all felt eager to return home, handling the cargo absentmindedly, glancing repeatedly toward the distance to see if their family's tractor had arrived yet.

The moment Ye Yaodong stepped ashore, he called Hong Hong Wenle first to send a truck for the goods, then called home to ask Lin Lin Xiuqing to send the tractor too, so they could be picked up.

To his surprise, the tractor arrived—but two big boys jumped off it.

Both stood by the shore shouting at him nonstop.

"Dad~"

"Alright, alright, I heard you—don't get too close, or you'll fall in."

They pushed through the crowd trying to board the boat, but he stopped them.

"Stay put—I'm coming up."

After stepping ashore, Ye Yaodong was immediately surrounded by the two excited boys.

He smiled, patted both their heads, then gestured in front of himself, "You've both grown taller."

"Of course, Dad—you told me to play basketball to grow taller, so I play every day; I've moved from the third row to the second-to-last row."

"Can you even see from way back there? Can you hear the teacher?"

"Who else is to blame for being so tall? Sitting up front blocks the others—it's unavoidable. The teacher comes to the back anyway."

Ye Yaodong had only said it offhand and didn't dwell on it; instead, he smiled and asked, "How'd you two end up here?"

"We just got home from school when Mom came running out happily saying you were back, and she was sending the tractor to the town dock to pick you up."

"So we tossed our schoolbags to her and came along to meet you."

"Dad, you've been gone so long."

"Yeah, yeah, we missed you so much—how long are you staying this time?"

The two brothers chattered excitedly, one after the other.

"I've got to leave in three or five days, or Grandpa'll flip out."

Ye Chenghu asked: "Why?"

"Because I'm not here—he has to watch everything. He's under pressure."

Ye Ye Chengyang chimed in: "Grandma says he should do more work now, or he won't have anything left to do when he's old."

Ye Chenghu burst out laughing, "Grandpa's gonna be furious when he hears that."

Ye Yaodong smiled, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a yuan for each, "Go buy something to eat—don't crowd me, I still have work to do."

"Holy crap, a whole yuan!"

"Awesome, let's go buy something to eat."

"Come on, hurry up—buy some fried dough, I'm starving."

"We saw it on the way here—it smelled amazing."

Ye Yaodong watched the two bolt off with the money, not even glancing back—he suspected they didn't miss him at all, just his gifts, his money, and the chance to show off for pocket cash.

"Two little brats!"

He scolded the two brothers racing each other to run off, but inside he was thrilled—they'd come all this way to meet him.

"Oh, I forgot to ask—why didn't they bring their sister along?"

As Ye Yaodong watched the unloading, he kept turning to see when the two would return.

When they finally trudged over, sucking on ice packs, he asked.

Ye Chenghu: "We ran back ahead—we got here early. Sister was walking behind, picking wildflowers, moving so slow we just left her."

Ye Ye Chengyang handed him a popsicle, then said: "When we got on the tractor and passed the village entrance, we saw her walking in—but she didn't see us."

"Oh no, she's definitely drawing circles and cursing you right now, wishing you dead."

"Hehe, who's to blame for her being slow?" Ye Chenghu crunched the ice loudly, "Let her fume."

"We can just buy her a popsicle when we get back." Ye Ye Chengyang offered generously.

"You buy it."

"You buy it—this popsicle was bought with my money. You'll buy one for her when we get back, and you pay."

"You didn't say that earlier."

"If I'd bought it then, it'd be melted by now."

Ye Yaodong shook his head, "Fine, I'll buy it—wait until we're about to leave, or it'll melt."

Ye Ye Chengyang stuck his tongue out at Ye Chenghu, "See? Dad says wait till we get back."

"Finish eating and hurry over to help unload—then we can get home sooner."

"Got it."

They'd just tasted the sweet reward—now was the time to earn it.

Watching the workers lift cargo, they both grew eager, still sucking on their ice packs, ready to jump in.

Ye Yaodong grabbed them both, "I'll take you to the cold storage—you just pick up any dropped goods. You're lighter than the cargo—was I just joking? You actually think you'll carry it? You're never this diligent—never even picked up a broom when it fell."

"Dad, you work so hard—we want to help share the load!" Ye Chenghu said, unusually eloquent.

"Even if I work harder, I don't carry cargo. The cold storage is perfect—it'll cool you off."

"Good, good."

Both of them grew excited.

"Dad, is the freezer the same as a refrigerator?"

"You even know what a refrigerator is?"

"The school store has one—it's so cool, ice pops inside never melt."

"I'll buy one soon and put it at home to chill watermelon for you."

Both their eyes lit up instantly, shining with excitement; they spoke in unison, "Really, Dad?"

"Really."

"Then we can freeze our own ice pops!"

"We can freeze water too."

"I'm putting my soda in there to chill!"

"Me too! When are you going to buy it?"

They chattered excitedly.

"In a few days, once I'm done with my work."

"Dad, I'll help you…"

"I'll help too—call us if you need anything."

Ye Yaodong smiled and led them into the cold storage, helping pick up fallen goods.

After unloading all the goods, he had everyone ride the tractor back first, while he followed the truck to the fish canning factory to oversee the weighing and paperwork of the returned goods.

The two children stubbornly refused to return on the tractor—they wanted to wait for him—so he took them along; after all, there was only one last task left.

Later, Hong Hong Wenle lent him a bicycle, and the three of them didn't reach home until the sky was completely dark.

As soon as they stopped at the front gate, a deafening wail erupted.

"Dad… Dad… Dad～"

The cries rose and fell dramatically; anyone hearing it might think he had died, so heart-wrenching and dramatic.

"Why are you crying like this?"

"Brother didn't wait for me—he went to meet you himself and didn't wait for me…" Ye Ye Xiaoxi's tears streamed down as she wailed loudly in protest.

Lin Lin Xiuqing stepped out from the house, smiling, "She's already cried like this several times."

"Waaahhh, they sneaked off to meet you without me—I wanted to go too…"

"When she came home from school and didn't see her brother, the neighbor girl told her the two of them had already boarded the tractor to go to town to meet you. She burst into tears right away and demanded to go too. We finally calmed her down, but when the tractor returned and she didn't see you yet, she started wailing again. When the tractor turned out to be empty, she cried for a while, then stopped. Now, hearing your voices, she ran out and started crying again."

"Haha, you've got so many tears you can cry multiple acts? Were the first two just practice?"

Ye Yaodong laughed as he wiped her tears, teasing her.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi slapped his hand away angrily, sobbing, "Brother didn't wait for me—he wouldn't let me come with him!"

"That's your brother being naughty. I bought you ice pops." Ye Yaodong looked at the two beside him, "Where are the ice pops?"

"Dad, they already melted."

"Yeah, you stayed too long at the factory—the ice pops melted."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi cried even louder.

"Melted? Then we'll have to buy some tomorrow."

"No, no…" She cried even more pitifully—she wouldn't even get to eat an ice pop.

Lin Lin Xiuqing frowned, "Ignore her. She'll stop crying in a bit. If she won't, give her a beating—who cries like this? Keeps going nonstop? Your dad just got back and is exhausted—he doesn't have time to soothe you."

"It's fine. It's natural she's upset. Both of them went to town, ate good food, drank good drinks, and didn't take her—of course she's hurt."

Ye Yaodong patted his pocket and pulled out a yuan, "Here, go to the store and buy yourself something to eat—anything you want."

She looked at the bill through tear-blurred eyes, still streaming, but her crying stopped. Still, she'd cried too hard—her shoulders heaved, her nose sniffed continuously, unable to catch her breath.

"Stop crying. In a few days, I'll bring home a big refrigerator—you can eat as many ice pops as you want, and we'll buy plenty to store inside."

Her shoulders still heaved, tears still clinging to her eyelashes, but her eyes sparkled with surprise, "Really?"

"Really."

Ye Chenghu quickly told her, "It's true—Dad already told us. We can freeze soda, watermelon, anything."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi cried and laughed at once, quickly wiping her tears with the back of her hand, "Then I'm going to freeze my soda rock-hard and bite into it."

Ye Ye Chengyang: "Eat it however you like."

Lin Lin Xiuqing paid no attention to the three children, only smiling warmly at Ye Yaodong, "Why did you get home so late? I thought you'd be back by morning."

"I first unloaded goods in the city, then came to town."

(End of Chapter)