Chapter 16: Recalling Regrets from Many Years Ago

Watching the two flee in panic, everyone inside the house was still furious, continuing to scold them!

People by the sea most taboo such unlucky words; as long as someone in the family goes out to sea, they won't even flip the fish while eating. Call them superstitious if you like, but they simply value these things.

The risk of going out to sea is extremely high; every year people fall into the sea and are lost. No one wants an accident to happen to their own family.

"Alright, go do what you need to do. They won't try to target the boat again. Before you go out to sea, check the boat carefully; only set sail if there are no problems. Safety must be prioritized; money is never more important than life."

"I know, Mother. I have checked everything. For the first launch, I even invited an old master to inspect it; we only set sail after confirming there were no issues." Ye's father would never joke about his own and his sons' safety.

"As long as you have it in mind, that's enough."

Ye's father nodded, then took his two sons out to buy bricks and sand. After Ye's mother picked an auspicious date, they would hire people to start building the house.

Ye Yaodong was legitimately left behind by his father.

He never does anything proper in daily life; who dares to order him around?

He stood to the side, raising an eyebrow, watching his father and two brothers leave, and was happy to stay silent.

It was midday in June, how hot! Since he wasn't called to go, he could take a nap and recall what big or small events happened in the family at this time, after all, it had been 40 years, too long ago.

Just waking up in the morning, still in a dazed state, he was disturbed by the commotion of his eldest and second uncles arriving at the door; he had no choice but to go out and see what was happening without thinking carefully.

After the three sisters-in-law cleaned the inside and outside of the house, they started making fishing nets again in the cool shade at the doorway, cursing Ye Ye Dabo and Ye Ye Erbo as wicked ghosts and so on while they worked.

The room was stuffy and hot, so Ye Yaodong lay on a lounge chair at the doorway to cool off and take a nap. From the moment he lay down until now, his ears had not had a moment of peace.

The three sisters-in-law kept cursing until they started talking to the neighbors beside them, even bringing up village gossip, and the more they talked, the more excited they got. The key point was that their shuttle needles didn't stop; they continued to weave the nets rapidly.

Ye Yaodong just felt these women could really talk; making a fishing net was all they were doing, yet they could pull out anything to discuss when they gathered together.

He couldn't lie there anymore; one woman equals five hundred ducks, and a group of women chattering endlessly meant he couldn't even take a nap on the lounge chair.

Irritated, he scratched his head and decided to go back inside; today there was wind, so opening the window should be fine.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he saw his youngest son standing alone by a water bucket playing with water and digging for sand clams; his whole body was leaning over the bucket, almost falling in, and he was soaked through.

"Damn it, you rascal! I didn't see you for a second, and you're already causing trouble, sneaking here to play in the water."

He quickly lifted his son up and shouted toward the doorway at Lin Lin Xiuqing: "Aqing, your son stole a swim in the water and got wet all over again!"

Hearing this, Lin Lin Xiuqing frowned tightly, quickly got up and came in. Seeing her son's face covered in water, his big black eyes looking at her innocently, she instantly lost her temper and just patted his bottom twice.

"Why can't you be a little more obedient? You've played with sand all morning and it's still not enough, now you want to play in the water too? You're about to run out of clothes to change into; how many outfits do you change in a day?"

Ye Ye Chengyang thought his mother was playing with him, smiled to reveal two small rice-grain teeth, and even hugged her neck.

Lin Lin Xiuqing, with a helpless expression, picked him up. "You're soaking wet and still sticking to me! Go to the room and change your clothes!"

Ye Yaodong followed them slowly into the room, then lay down on the frame bed, propping his hands behind his head and crossing his legs while watching his wife change the child's clothes.

For decades, the woman in his memory had always looked exhausted, a middle-aged figure worn out by overwork. He had long forgotten that she was once this fresh and tender in her youth.

Feeling his unblinking gaze, Lin Lin Xiuqing felt slightly uncomfortable, her earlobes turning slightly red. After finishing changing the child's clothes, she turned and glared at him. "In broad daylight, why are you looking at me like that?"

Then, as if fleeing, she carried the child out again...

He immediately felt it was inexplicable; she was his wife, wasn't he allowed to look at her a couple more times?

He just thought she looked quite good when she was young!

Did she have to glare at him for that?

Ye Yaodong lay there for a moment before realizing: Damn... could she think he wanted to do something to her right now?

Was that reason enough to flee?

He originally wanted to tell her to put the child in the room so he could watch him for a while.

Forget it; he would just take a nap alone in peace for now.

With his legs crossed, looking at the mosquito net on top of the frame bed, he recalled that his family's life had always been quite peaceful. Except for building the house and dividing the family, nothing significant happened in the following decades, and the whole family remained safe and sound.

Wait, he instantly remembered an important matter he had forgotten for many years!

It seemed his wife would conceive a third child in the next two years, but the policy did not allow it. She hid at her maiden home, but while climbing the mountain to pick tea with a seven or eight-month belly, she slipped. Before she could be sent to the hospital, she gave birth, and the child died less than half an hour after being born!

I heard it was a daughter!

His wife was so sad and blamed herself, crying for several days!

As for why it was "I heard," it was naturally because he wasn't at his father-in-law's house; his wife was only sent back to sit the small confinement the day after the child died, and that was when he found out.

Although he felt it was a pity, the child was never born anyway. He was away from home all day and had little affection for that child. After time passed, he had long forgotten it; only now, thinking seriously, did he remember this event.

Thinking of this, he instantly sat up. In what year did his wife conceive the third child?

He vaguely remembered that her belly only started growing when they moved into the new house; what year was that?

Tea picking was in March, right?

Counting back seven or eight months of pregnancy, that means conception was in July or August? Was it conceived this year, next year, or the year after?

"Damn it, how could I forget which year such an important thing happened?"

Ye Yaodong recalled with deep regret but couldn't remember, only recalling that her belly grew large after moving into the new house and couldn't be hidden anymore; to evade the policy, she returned to her maiden home after the New Year to wait for delivery.

After thinking for a long time without success, he shook his head. "Forget it; whenever she gets pregnant, we'll know. It's best if she doesn't get pregnant at all; who knows if the child can be successfully born? Better to avoid the suffering!"

Having figured it out, he lay back down. Apart from this matter, the only other major event for him in the coming years was the death of his grandmother.

He still remembered how sad he was back then. The old lady fell while watering vegetables in the vegetable patch at the back door, stepping on a green stone slab. She stubbornly refused to go to the hospital, saying she was fine, then lay in bed for a few days and didn't make it.

If it were possible, he wanted his grandmother to live a few more years. If she hadn't accidentally fallen, her body was still quite strong.

Not having properly filial piety toward her was also a regret of his for many years.

As he thought and thought, listening to the cicadas outside, Ye Yaodong unknowingly fell asleep.