Chapter 1677

"You need a car to talk business?" Ye Mu was skeptical. "What kind of business requires a car worth over a hundred thousand to drive out? Isn't a motorcycle impressive enough?"

"If you don't understand, don't nag. I know what I'm doing."

"It's just too expensive. If it were a few thousand, who would say anything? Buy it or not, but this is a car worth over a hundred thousand. I don't even know if that small Western-style house we built is worth more than that car. Just that tiny little car actually costs over a hundred thousand. Damn it, you could buy several houses for that."

"There's no comparison here. I can afford it now. Getting a car to save face is good, too. It'll be more presentable when hosting guests or picking them up, and it's also an opportunity to show off our strength."

"What kind of guest is so precious that you have to pick them up in a car?"

"A guest who can make me millions—should I pick them up in a car or not?"

"What?!!"

Ye Mu widened her eyes. Once she recovered, she immediately changed her tune.

"Pick them up, pick them up, pick them up! You definitely have to pick them up. You absolutely must buy one. As such a big boss, it's only right to ride in a car."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes; he was already a big boss now.

"It would be good to let your father learn to drive. Otherwise, he's not willing to go out to sea anymore. He just wanders around the factory like an idler, putting on airs. That's not good either."

"My father is even going to literacy classes. He already knows hundreds of characters. He doesn't know fewer characters than you do now; he's very motivated."

"What? That's too much! If he comes back, won't he show off? No, I have to continue learning characters tomorrow, too. I need to know more, or I'll be outdone by him."

Lin Xiuqing chuckled when she heard this. "As long as Mother can read a newspaper from beginning to end, you'll definitely be better than Father."

"For sure. Could I be outdone by him?"

Ye Yaodong looked around. "Where are the little ones? Why haven't I heard a peep from them?"

"They ran out early in the morning and haven't come back yet. I don't know whose house they went to play at. Call them when it's time to eat, and they'll come back naturally."

"Tell our son that we're leaving the night after tomorrow."

"I told him this morning and asked him not to play too much."

"I'm hungry. Let's eat. The morning porridge is gone after one pee."

"Then let's start eating. The food is all ready. Just stir-fry two green vegetables. You go get the rice yourself, and let Mother stir-fry the vegetables. I have to go call the children."

Ye Yaodong nodded and headed into the house.

Lin Xiuqing raised her voice, cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone. "Ye Chenghu, Ye Chengyang, time to eat..."

"Ye Xiaoxi, Pei Yu, time to eat..."

She called out while walking outside. She searched the whole village but heard no response. After asking around and finding no one had seen them, she returned home in a huff.

"Those little brats just came back yesterday, and today they've vanished without a trace. I can't even call them back. I don't know where they died."

Ye Yaodong gestured for her to sit down and eat. "Then don't worry about them. We'll eat our meal. When they get hungry, they'll come back naturally. We'll give them a beating then. School is starting soon; we need to tighten their hides."

"In such a hot sun, I don't know where they died."

"Don't worry about them. When they're hungry, they'll know to come back."

Just as they were eating, people nearby also began calling for their own children one after another. People in the village were also calling out and searching in their direction, scolding as they called.

Some got responses, others did not.

By the time they had almost finished eating and were clearing the bowls, Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang finally came back excitedly, carrying a bucket.

"Mother, Mother..."

"Mother, come quickly, come quickly, we caught so many sea worms..."

Lin Xiuqing heard the commotion, put down her bowl and chopsticks, and came out. "You just came back and went to the beach again? I called for ages and got no response. You don't even know to come back for dinner..."

Ye Chenghu interrupted her. "Mother, stop talking for a second. Look, look, we caught so many. There are still more on that beach over there. This one is already full and can't hold any more. You go dig over there quickly."

Lin Xiuqing didn't nag anymore when she heard there were more. "Where?"

"Just over by the reef on the west side. There are some all around there."

Ye Mu ran out, took one look, and stopped eating. "So many? I'll go take a look."

After saying that, she grabbed an empty bucket and headed to the beach.

Gathering seafood was one of Ye Mu's few pleasures. Mainly, she had been doing it for decades and was used to it. Whenever she saw where she could pick up free goods, her hands would itch, and she'd want to rush over immediately. Things that cost no money were the best.

Lin Xiuqing wanted to go too, but she held back. "No wonder I didn't see you; you were blocked by the rocks. Where's your sister?"

The two were stunned when they heard this. "There's no sister. It was just us and our friends. Sister is so small, and she doesn't play with us."

"Then where did they go?"

Ye Chengyang said blankly, "I don't know. I saw them playing with Xiao Hong, A Yue, Dou Dou, Xiao Qing, and Xiao Lan this morning. They all went home, so I didn't pay attention to them."

"Those two dead girls are so good at running off. They don't even come back at mealtime. Let them starve to death."

Ye Chenghu said, "Mother, we're going back to catch more. We'll eat after we're done, or it'll be too late and they'll all be caught by others."

The two wanted to run out again after speaking, but Lin Xiuqing grabbed their arms. "You are not allowed to go. Both of you come inside and eat. I'm going."

"We're not hungry. Many hands make light work..."

The two broke free and rushed back to the beach, preparing to catch up with Ye Mu. Lin Xiuqing couldn't stop them even by calling out; she had wanted to tell them to eat first and let her go.

Ye Yaodong finished eating, put down his chopsticks, and came out to take a look. "So many? Is that over 20 jin? The two of them have pretty good luck. On such a large beach, they were still able to find them in that corner."

"It does look like a lot. If we kill them later and dry them, there won't be much left. We should dig as much as we can while we can. We can dry more, too. The weather is good, and it's easy to store once dried. Dried ones sold outside are very expensive, and you might not even be able to buy them. We'll dry some for ourselves."

He nodded, looked into the distance, and then asked, "Hey? Where are the two girls?"

"They aren't with them. I don't know where they died."

"So good at running..."

Just then, a noisy sound came from far to near, and a large group of children ran over, shouting.

"Wow, Xiao Yu, you're really amazing..."

"Oh my... it looked at me, so scary..."

The couple heard the commotion and looked at the door. Pei Yu and Ye Xiaoxi were surrounded by a bunch of children of similar age, moving toward the door like stars surrounding the moon.

Lin Xiuqing shouted, "Where did you die? Come back quickly."

The two heard this and started jogging over.

They also saw the mud below the girls' chests, especially those two legs, covered in dried mud.

The scariest part was that Pei Yu had a snake in her left hand and a snake in her right hand. She was pinching the snake heads with both hands, and the snake bodies were wrapped around her arms. She was still grinning happily.

The couple's eyes rounded in shock, and they gasped, their hearts trembling.

"Snake..."

Ps: Too sleepy. Came back late from dinner with friends. I'll make up for it tomorrow.