Chapter 1758: Preparation

"If you're going back, then go back; might as well do it sooner and ship the goods back with the fresh catch boat. Everyone can just ride on your fresh catch boat to return."

Ye Yaodong nodded with no objection; that would be the most convenient and least troublesome way, and it wouldn't affect the operation of the other boats.

"First dock at the town to unload some cargo, then stay at home for two days, bring the family members along, then go to the city to unload. Finally, calculate the time to go to the provincial capital for the wedding banquet, return, stay at home for another two or three days, and then set off for Zhou City."

"You're going in circles; you're going to make me dizzy. Let's talk about it when the time comes."

"If we wait until the time comes, it will be too late. The cargo must be arranged in advance, and the salesmen must coordinate with the manufacturers in advance. Besides, we must go home a few days early so everyone can arrange the handover. Anyway, you don't need to worry; I'll have someone arrange the return itinerary. You just close your eyes and follow along."

"Alright, you calculate the time, but don't make it too tight."

"Mm."

Ye Father laughed cheerfully again, "I don't know what name Brother Brother Ahai's child has; have you thought of one yet?"

"It's only just been born; how can it be that fast? Thinking of a name takes a few days, and then we'll have a fortune teller help calculate it."

"You people are so particular. For us, as soon as they're born, just call them whatever. Zhang Dazhu, Dash, A Shan, A Shui; as long as it follows the generation order in the family tree, it's fine."

"Then why is yours so nice? You're called Ye Jianzhang?"

Ye Father said proudly, "When I was born, your grandfather happened to catch a bucket of octopus..."

Ye Yaodong spat out his tea in one go, almost spraying it on the person opposite.

Ye Father's eyes widened; he quickly grabbed a cloth to wipe the table. "Look at you, you've sprayed the whole table. Isn't that disgusting?"

"Hahaha... cough, cough, hahaha..." Ye Yaodong couldn't stop laughing.

"What's so funny? Is it that funny?"

"So 'Zhang' is the octopus 'Zhang'? I thought it was the seal 'Zhang'... Wow, I was thinking everyone's names were things like A Shan, A Shui, A Shi, Big Fish, and wondering why yours was so nice. Hahaha..."

He had thought too much.

So it was the octopus 'Zhang'. Wow...

"What's so funny? Isn't it quite nice?"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's quite nice. Then why weren't you called Ye Jianyu?"

"Isn't your eldest aunt called Ye Ayu?"

"Oh right, I forgot."

Laughing to death, then his name, Ye Yaodong, was also a good name.

Ye Father had no time to argue with him; he picked up the calendar and flipped through it. Born on the second day of the sixth lunar month, the full moon would be on the second day of the seventh lunar month, which was exactly August 29.

They had to go back early; they needed to return around the 20th.

"We have to go back around the 20th, right? We have to unload cargo, stay at home for a few days, go to the city, and then go to the provincial capital later."

"It should be about right."

Ye Father folded the date, "Then there aren't many days left; just over ten days."

"That's why I said we need to prepare early."

"Just right, several children are on summer break and haven't gone home; bringing them back, they can play for a few more days."

Ye Yaodong added, "Check these two days; if the fresh catch boat returns, have them tell Big Brother at sea that we're going to have a grandson again."

"Your second brother will be envious again, and that kid Ajiang will get scolded again."

Both grandsons were from the eldest brother's family; the second brother's family really wasn't promising, so getting scolded was what they deserved.

Ye Ye Chengjiang was lying in the dorm like a corpse. He woke up, and it was exactly lunchtime. He felt it was too hot; none of the four of them were willing to get up, so they all lay on their beds like corpses, seeing who could endure it longer.

The person who couldn't endure it would get up and naturally go help get the food.

The four were now competing: who was lazier than whom, who could lie down longer than whom, who could last longer than whom, and they were verbally insulting each other.

Ye Ye Chengjiang shouted the loudest, "Damn it, you guys get up and go get food now!"

"Why don't you go?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Then I'm not hungry either..."

"Someday you'll all die in bed."

"I won't die in bed; would I rather be exposed to the wilderness?"

"Hahaha..."

"Old rule: rock, paper, scissors. The loser gets up to get food!"

"No, we should take turns; that's fair. One person goes for a day!"

"Forget it, I'll wait for Yangyang to come back and have him get food for me."

"Me too."

"Have him get a portion for me as well."

Ye Ye Chengyang and Ye Ye Xiaoxi got off work, just finished eating in the cafeteria, and ran back covered in sweat. As soon as they entered the door, a task was waiting for them.

Seeing the four lying there with a straight face, wanting to order them around, both of them pretended not to hear and ran under the electric fan to cool off.

"I'm calling you two, did you hear? Go get food for your brothers quickly."

"Go get it yourselves." Ye Ye Chengyang said.

"Can't get you two to move?"

"That's right."

"Help me get a portion of food back, and I'll give you ten cents."

Ye Ye Chengyang rolled his eyes. "Brother Ajiang, do I look like someone who's short on ten cents? My monthly salary is 160 now!"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi chimed in, "Exactly! We don't lack your ten cents."

"Twenty cents?"

The two both turned their heads away; who did he think he was looking down on?

"Three mao, not a single cent more!"

Ye Ye Chengyang refused outright, "I'm not going!"

"I'm not going either, I've got plenty of money! I don't want your lousy three mao, it's sweltering out there—one trip and I'd only earn enough to buy a popsicle."

Ye Ye Chengjiang sat straight up and glared at the two of them. Younger siblings having too much money wasn't a good thing either; he couldn't even get them to move, money held no appeal for them anymore.

"How about five mao?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi suddenly spoke up, "You're still in the mood to eat?"

Ye Ye Chengjiang was baffled, "Why wouldn't I be in the mood to eat? I'm in a great mood."

"Brother Brother Ahai had a son too!"

"Ah! When did he have it?"

Ye Chenghe also sat up in surprise, "My sister-in-law had one too?"

"They said it was just as dawn broke this morning, the phone call came through not long ago. My dad told my grandpa to wait until the fresh-catch boat comes back so he can tell Ye Ye Dabo who's out at sea."

"Damn, another bloodbath for my wallet."

Ye Ye Chengyang said, "So that's all you care about? Grandpa's already over there cursing at people, saying you're the only useless one."

Ye Chenghe laughed out loud, "True that—by the time my son can run, yours probably won't even be a glimmer yet. Still think you can have more kids than me?"

Ye Ye Chengjiang flopped right back down, pulled the blanket up over his head. Let him die, he's not going out.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi ran over and patted him, "Don't worry, Brother Ajiang, my dad said the factory's going to hold a mixer with the textile mill, there'll definitely be lots of pretty older girls. You just pick the prettiest one to be your girlfriend, and by next year you'll have a son too."

Ye Ye Chengjiang pretended he hadn't heard. Get married? He hadn't even had enough fun yet, he was still a kid.

Being bossed around by his old lady was already more than enough. He'd only just had a few years of freedom, he wasn't about to jump back into the frying pan.

"Brother Ajiang, when the time comes just tell me which older girl you like, I'll go put in a word for you, that way you won't have to be shy, and neither will the older girl."

Lin Guang asked, "When are we holding the mixer?"

"Seems like it'll be Mid-Autumn or New Year's, they said Qixi Festival was too rushed, they couldn't pull it together in time."

"That's soon then, Mid-Autumn and National Day are right next to each other, just two months away."

"Cousin, you need to hurry up and find a girlfriend too. My aunt keeps calling my mom, asking her to introduce more girls to you, to put in a good word."

Lin Guang lay straight back down again, "Enough, the old folks are nagging about marriage, and now even a little tike like you is nagging about marriage?"

"I'm just looking out for you guys! Granddad's even talking about chopping down the jujube tree by the door, that just won't do."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi's little mouth kept blabbing on, "Wouldn't it be nice if you found girlfriends sooner? Then there'd be someone to take care of you, wash your clothes, cook your meals, and have your babies."

"What do you little punk know, babies too."

"Of course I know! You sleep in one bed, then kiss and hug and you can have a baby."

"You even know that?"

"Of course!"

Ye Ye Chengyang quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, afraid she'd blurt out something earth-shattering, "Come on, go find your older cousin to play with."

Lin Guang said, "Your older cousin doesn't have a girlfriend either, go over there and nag her about marriage."

"Great, then I'll go tell her, I've got another little nephew."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi went to Lin Lin Dongxue's place and blabbed on nonstop too, nagging her to get married as well—she'd learned the grown-ups' tricks to a T.

Lin Lin Dongxue looked at her acting like a little adult and said with a smile, "Why would I get married early? Find a husband to wash his clothes and cook for him, have babies and raise them? Aren't those all perks for men?"

"Whenever they nag a man to marry, it's always: find a wife, so someone can take care of you, so you don't live in a total mess, and someone to have your babies, help look after the house, look after the elderly—marry a wife and all the work gets done by the wife."

"Nagging a woman to marry is about having someone to rely on in the future. Rely on what ghost—nothing but endless chores and endless complaints, and they might not even be reliable."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi was completely dumbfounded after hearing all that, her brain crashed.

It did seem to be true?

When her mom was on the phone with her aunt, wasn't that exactly what she'd been saying?

Telling the cousins to marry a wife so someone could take care of them? Telling the older cousin to marry out so she'd have someone to rely on?

"You little punk sure worry about a lot, just go play your own games."

"Oh, older cousin, you make so much sense. My two older cousins and my two older male cousins are all still lying around like corpses in the dorm, none of them will go get the food and they still boss me around to go get it, saying they'll give me one mao or two mao. I'm not going. Let them laze to death. No wonder people say they need to find a wife to take care of them—don't go for lazy bums like them."

Lin Lin Dongxue laughed and laughed, what a way to throw them under the bus.

"And they're so stingy they only upped it to three mao for me. I'm not doing it, let them find a wife, let the wife do it."

"Go on and play."

From then on, Ye Ye Chengjiang lived in misery every single day—anyone from the village who bumped into him had to ask a couple of questions.

"Heard Brother Brother Ahai had a son? Chenghe seems to have a son too, when's it your turn?"

"All three of you brothers are doing well, the other two already have sons, you're the only one left."

"Brother Brother Ahai even has a son now, aren't you anxious? Do you have a girlfriend? When are you getting married? Better hurry up!"

"My niece doesn't have a boyfriend either, want me to introduce her to you…"

Ye Ye Chengjiang had a splitting headache.