Chapter 1808: Game Console

Ye Ye Chengyang and Ye Ye Xiaoxi slept straight through until early the next morning.

When she woke up, Ye Ye Xiaoxi leaned against the window and called out to Ye Mu first thing.

Ye Mu happened to be picking eggplants at the back door. Hearing the shout, she quickly looked up with a smile and beckoned to her, "You're awake, hurry down and eat breakfast."

"Coming."

Once she's awake, no one else can sleep.

After leaving her own room, she started calling for Ye Ye Erge and her dad.

The others were all woken up by her too, but after she'd finished calling everyone, she went to wash up. Then, while everyone else was dawdling and just getting up, she was already trotting happily downstairs to eat.

"You slept straight through from yesterday afternoon till now? That good a sleep?" Ye Mu said with a smile, carrying a basket of vegetables into the house.

"Slept so well, Grandma's house is too comfortable to sleep in and nice and cool."

"Then don't leave, just stay home. I'll let your dad go on his own."

"Then my mom will call and scold me, and I'll hand the phone to you when she does."

"Then forget it. When the time comes and you can't study, you'll still blame me. Is Ye Chengyang still not awake?"

"I called him."

"I heard you gave the old lady a glasses chain. Why didn't you buy me a gift?"

This stumped Ye Ye Xiaoxi. At the time, she'd purely seen that the principal's grandma wore a chain on her glasses and figured it was convenient so the old lady wouldn't have to look for her glasses everywhere, so she'd chased one down.

Seeing Ye Mu, she really didn't know what to buy.

She stared blankly at Ye Mu, her brain racing.

"Because... because... because you don't wear glasses! If you wore glasses, I would've bought an extra one for you."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi added pitifully, "I never even go out. Every day I go to school, and on weekends my mom won't let me run around. I can't buy anything. I can only buy stationery at the school gate."

"And you have your own money, you have lots of money. Grandpa's money is all with you, you have everything, you can buy it yourself. My mom even sent you a big bundle of clothes, but Great-Grandma didn't get any, Great-Grandma has nothing."

Ye Mu rolled her eyes. "I say one sentence, and you give me back a pile."

That's because she's guilty.

She lowered her head and silently ate her porridge.

After a while, the people who'd been woken up upstairs also came down one after another.

Ye Yaodong tapped her head. "If you're getting up, just get up. Why all the yelling? Don't let anyone else sleep?"

"Dad, did you buy gifts for Great-Grandma and Grandma?"

"No, why would I suddenly buy gifts? It's not a holiday, it's not the first time going on a long trip, and it's not the first time coming back from Zhou City."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi glanced at Ye Mu with a sneaky look and whispered, "I only bought for the old lady. Grandma said I didn't buy her anything."

"She was joking with you. What doesn't she have? She's the most fashionable middle-aged woman in the whole village."

She nodded vigorously. "Right, Grandma was the first to perm her hair, so fashionable. Now everyone in the village is copying her perm and copying how she dresses."

Ye Mu came out of the kitchen. "The moment you got back you slept like a log, slept till the next day at dawn without even stepping outside the door, and you already know everyone's copying me?"

"Didn't you say so on the phone? You even told Dad to buy you more clothes when he went to Yangcheng. Dad told Mom, I overheard."

"You know everything, don't you." Ye Mu shot the father and daughter a glance, told them to eat quickly, and said she had to go out and get busy too.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi also quickly scraped her bowl clean, then dashed off to find her little friends.

Ye Yaodong also had things to do. He was going to town to check on the unloading of the fishing boat. A whole boat's cargo had to be unloaded, then loaded onto trucks for delivery, so it wouldn't be that quick.

After finishing his meal, he rode his motorcycle to town.

Don't be fooled by Ye Yaodong bringing the two kids back — all three of them were busy. After eating early in the morning, they all brushed off their bums and left, each to their own business. Whether they came home or not made no difference at all.

Apart from mealtimes, when you could still see them, the rest of the time it was still the old lady watching the house as usual.

Later on, Ye Yaodong couldn't even be seen at dinner. Only Ye Ye Chengyang and Ye Ye Xiaoxi showed up right on time at mealtimes, dripping with sweat.

Fortunately, the family was all used to it — as long as his presence was felt at home, that was enough.

Anyway, the old lady stayed home all day, no matter what time he got up, the old lady would always be able to see him.

Only when the three father and children didn't run into each other.

But the two siblings were having the time of their lives playing. How could they remember their own dad? Every day when they came back to eat, they were in a whirlwind, and once done they ran off again.

Coming home to eat was just to refuel — just a task.

Ye Yaodong ran to town for three days before he showed up at home again. He slept until noon, just in time to combine breakfast and lunch.

It was only then he noticed — how had his two kids, who were still fairly fair-skinned, turned into charcoal?

Watching the two of them dash in from outside, he almost didn't recognize them.

"How did you two get so tanned!"

"Huh?"

The two glanced at him without a care, then each pulled out their own stool — the rice had already been served.

"Go wash your hands and face first. Look how red your faces are, dripping with sweat. What were you running around for? What have you been playing?"

"We were just playing with friends." Ye Ye Xiaoxi tossed out that line before going to wash her hands.

Ye Ye Chengyang played invisible.

Generally, during this kind of interrogation, or when answering was likely to go wrong, he played invisible to reduce his presence.

"Where did you go play? I haven't seen you for just two or three days and you've darkened several shades? Studying for most of a year didn't tan you this much. Two or three days back and you're already this dark. In a few more days when you go back, your mom won't even recognize you."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi touched her own face with wet hands. "Really?"

"Still asking 'really'? When you came back you were wearing a pretty princess dress, picked and picked, saying you wanted to show your little friends. Look at you now — whose clothes are you wearing?"

She tugged at her own hem and pants, looking down, and saw her feet had tanned into two different shades. She really had gotten darker.

She felt a bit guilty. "Grandma dug out the older sisters' old clothes for me to wear."

In just a few days, she'd gone straight from a pretty puffy princess dress to a washed-out, yellowed, misshapen little tank top and floral shorts.

Her knees were a large patch of green and purple, with red bumps here and there, her shoulders and arms already tanned with vest-mark lines, and her hair was damp, plastered against her forehead and temples.

Ye Yaodong looked at her with an expression that said it all.

After staying at the factory for over a month, she had actually gotten a bit fairer, but now she'd gone from a little princess to a wild girl.

She'd only been back three days.

"Then what's the point of you deliberately picking out all those pretty little dresses to bring back and wear? Come here."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi squirmed as she spoke, shuffling her feet over. "Dresses aren't convenient for playing. Anyway, everyone has already seen me wear a dress, so that's enough."

Ye Yaodong tugged at the vest on her shoulder that had already started to fray at the edges, then tapped the two contrasting colors on her shoulders.

"Look at your shoulders, two different colors. Once we go back, will you still be able to wear a white puffy dress?"

"Then I just won't wear one."

"So you're planning to go back to Modu wearing exactly what's on you right now?"

"It's not like it won't work. It's cool anyway, and everyone dresses like this."

"Back two days and you've already given up on yourself?"

She closed her mouth and twisted a small section of her hem into a rope.

"Stop twisting it, the clothes are already losing their shape. If you twist off another little strip, it'll stretch again."

Her fingers quickly let go.

"Go back to your seat and eat first."

"Oh."

Ye Yaodong turned his head to look at the other one.

Ye Ye Chengyang was staring at his nose, his nose at his heart, quietly eating his own meal, trying not to make a single sound, hoping his father wouldn't bother with him.

"What have you been up to now? Look at your hair—anyone who didn't know would think you'd just been fished out of the water."

"Ye Erge really did just get fished out of the water…"

Ye Ye Chengyang hadn't managed to tug her back in time; she'd already spilled half of it.

Ye Yaodong's brows knit tight, his eyes dangerous as he looked at him. "You went swimming? Where did you swim?"

"We went to the little river to play. It was too hot, so I got in the water for a bit, just a little bit. The water was very shallow, not deep at all, really."

Ye Ye Chengyang hurriedly confessed honestly, relieved that he was almost done eating.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi also quickly pleaded, "Dad, really, that river water wasn't deep at all, it only came up to Ye Erge's chest. Ye Erge just got in the water to play for a bit and then got right out."

Ye Yaodong's dangerous gaze turned to her.

She sensed the danger and quickly distanced herself from it. "I didn't swim, I just played in the water at the riverbank catching river shrimp. Only below my knees got wet!"

"It's only been a few days and you're already this wild. Today you dare go swim at the river, tomorrow you'll dare go swim in the sea. I'll break your legs."

"We won't. When we go to the seaside we just pick up fish, shrimp, and crabs, then play house. None of us got in the water to swim."

Ye Ye Chengyang also quickly followed up with assurances. "Dad, don't worry, everything you say I've taken to heart. I won't go play in dangerous places. Besides, I'm with my sister, so I definitely won't take her somewhere dangerous. We just went to that little river not far from the village entrance, the big road, the place where Brother Ajiang had set traps before."

"We only went today. The two days before, we ran to the beach to play after the tide went out, which is why we got this tanned."

Ye Yaodong's expression softened. "You need to listen to what I tell you. You can't play where you shouldn't. Tomorrow, come with me to the city."

A few days without keeping an eye on them, and they'd gone completely wild.

The village children were all unsupervised—fathers went out to earn money, mothers were busy at home earning money or doing chores, and the elderly only cared that the kids had full stomachs and came home on time. Beyond that, they didn't care what the kids got up to outside.

Those who grew up safe and didn't go astray afterward were all blessed by heaven, with good roots.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi asked curiously, "What are we going to the city for? Oh, I know, to see Grandpa and Grandma and Great-Grandpa?"

Crisis averted, Ye Ye Chengyang breathed a sigh of relief and continued playing invisible. Whatever his father told him to do, he'd just do it. That was the right move.

"I also need to go check the accounts. I'll take you along so you won't be running around all day at home. Look at the two of you—when you were bathing, didn't you notice you'd gotten tanned into two different colors?"

"Hehe, by the time we finish eating and bathe, it's already dark. We just rinse off and we're clean, didn't look closely."

"Take off these clothes—your arms and belly are two different colors—and you still didn't look closely?"

"I looked, I looked, but the sun's going to tan me anyway, there's nothing I can do about it."

"If you ran around in the sun less, could you get this dark? Look how dark you are, I'm embarrassed to take you out."

"It's fine, it's summer break now, everyone's definitely just as dark. By New Year I'll be fair again."

"Hurry up and eat your food, so many words."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi lowered her head and shoveled rice into her mouth, grumbling inside: Isn't it because you keep asking that I keep answering? Ye Erge isn't talking, so if you ask and no one answers, you'll definitely get mad again.

"After you finish eating, go take a bath, then stay home and watch TV. Don't go anywhere, and no matter who comes to call you, you're not allowed to go."

"Oh."

The old lady waited until he finished lecturing the children before speaking. "How many days are you going to the city tomorrow?"

"Two or three days, probably."

"Then once you're back from the city, you'll be setting off?"

"Not necessarily. I'll stay another day or two after getting back. Watching them all day, there's nothing urgent anyway."

"Oh, that's good then."

Turning her head, she looked at the two little ones again. "It's even hotter outside at noon, so staying home to watch TV is just right. With the fan blowing, it's nice and cool too."

Both Ye Ye Chengyang and Ye Ye Xiaoxi nodded vigorously.

At this meal, besides the four of them, there was also Ye Ye Tingting from Ye Ye Yaohua's family, who had been watching with wide curious eyes as Ye Yaodong lectured. She was helping out at the workshop during summer break and had come back to eat first.

The other two older girls worked at the fish cannery and ate there too, not coming back—they only came home for dinner.

As for Ye Mu and Ye Ye Ersao, they were still at the workshop and hadn't come over yet.

They didn't need everyone present to eat now. It wasn't a festival or holiday—when the kids got back from school or from outside and were hungry, they ate first. The adults never knew how long they'd be tied up with work before they could spare the time, so there was no way to wait.

After the siblings finished eating, they obediently went upstairs one after another to bathe, then settled down on the sofa to watch TV as told.

Although he was also itching to go out—after all, when he came back, he'd made plans with his little friends about where to play in the afternoon—staying home with the electric fan blowing and eating chilled jelly was genuinely comfortable.

"Dad, I heard from my classmates that their family has a Little Tyrant game console, and it has lots of fun games in it, the kind that can play screens like the arcade machines on the street. Can we buy one too? That way my sister and I won't run out into the sun during the holidays, we'll just stay home and play games!"

Ye Ye Chengyang looked at Ye Yaodong, who had sat down beside him, his face full of longing.

Actually, he wanted to buy one himself. He had the money and knew where to buy it, but he worried his parents wouldn't agree—after all, indulging in playthings ruins the will, and it was a game console.

He was afraid that if he bought it, they'd throw it away, and then he'd be heartbroken and the money would be wasted.

"Little Tyrant game console?"

"Yes yes yes, it's super popular, all my classmates are talking about it. They say it's really fun. Can we buy one, Dad?"

"Buy it and you probably won't bother studying either—school's out and you'd be crowding around the console. You think I don't know? Those arcade machines on the street are all you students hanging around after school, not going home."

"That's them, but we always come home on time. Dad, you can have Mom supervise us to finish our homework before we play."

After speaking, Ye Ye Chengyang shot a wink at Ye Ye Xiaoxi.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi caught the signal and quickly stepped forward to hook her arm around Ye Yaodong's. "Dad, aren't you afraid we'll go out and get all tanned? Then if we buy a Little Tyrant game console, we won't go get tanned, we'll definitely just stay home and play games."

"So this 'family bond' thing actually has its uses—it can keep you at home?"

"Buy it, Dad, it's not even expensive, it definitely won't affect our studies. If Mom won't let us play, we definitely can't play either."

Ye Ye Chengyang added, "Dad, you can play too after we buy it. It doesn't matter what age, adults and kids can both play. I heard there are lots of fun ones."

"Dad, aren't you curious what a Little Tyrant game console looks like?"

"Not curious."

"I'm curious… buy it, buy it." Ye Ye Xiaoxi clung to his arm, cooing nonstop.

"Your big brother is going into his final year of high school next semester, he's taking the college entrance exam next year. If we buy one, he won't have to read books either—that would be ruining him."

"Then just don't let big brother play it, okay?"

Ye Yaodong chuckled, "You think he'd accept that? Bring it home and the three of you not fighting over it, not having a free-for-all, would already be a miracle."

Ye Ye Chengyang said, "Dad, big brother can't just bury his head in studying either, the pressure would be too much. He needs a balance of work and rest, right? On weekends he could play a bit too, right? Otherwise if the pressure gets too much and he goes bad, runs off to the street to play, wouldn't that be even worse?"

"Right right right, exactly. The teacher also said you need a balance of work and rest, that's how you get twice the result with half the effort."

Ye Yaodong stared at the TV, said nothing, but his heart had already softened—he tacitly agreed.

But the two of them today insisted on getting an answer from him, chattering away taking turns.

Right now only their dad was here. As long as their dad agreed and they bought it, their mom wouldn't say anything. Otherwise once they got back, they'd have to deal with not just their dad but their mom too—doubling the difficulty.

If they could settle it now, of course settle it now. Best to go to the city tomorrow and buy one directly.

Then if they could still play here for two more days before taking it with them.

Here there's no one to fight them for it, they could play to their heart's content at home.

If they went to Modu, there was still big brother.

"Dad, are you even listening to us? Buy buy buy! We want to buy buy buy!"

"Dad, can we use our own money to buy it?"

Ye Yaodong turned to look at him. "Saved up quite a bit, huh?"

"As long as you agree, we'll use our own money to buy it. We definitely won't fall behind in our studies. If we do, just take it away."

"Fine then. Tomorrow I'll go to the city, I'll find time to take a look. If it affects your studies, I'll smash it."

The siblings completely ignored that last sentence and cheered excitedly.

"Great, then we'll buy it and play here for two days first."

"Once we're back in Zhou City, we can plug it into that black-and-white TV in your room and play."

"Then we'll stay until September 1st for registration before heading back to Modu."

Ye Ye Chengyang nodded happily, the plan was perfect.

"When your big brother finds out, he'll be furious."

Ye Ye Chengyang: "Big brother should focus on his studies!"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi: "Right!"

"Later pack a couple of your clothes into your schoolbags. Tomorrow morning, come with me."

Ye Yaodong stared again at the ragged clothes on Ye Ye Xiaoxi, reached out and tugged at them. "Wear the ones you brought back yourself tomorrow. Where did these tacky rags come from again? There's even a hole burned by a mosquito coil here?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi looked down at the clothes she'd just changed into after her bath. "Grandma gave these to me to wear. She said I run around and crawl into everything all day, so wearing ragged clothes is just right."

"You really don't pick, you wear anything, even the junk they hand you."

"It doesn't matter, everyone's the same anyway."

"Wear something nicer when we go to the city tomorrow."

"Got it."

Ye Ye Tingting quietly asked Ye Ye Xiaoxi, "What's a Little Tyrant game console?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi happily explained to her, "It's a game console with a keyboard, and you can plug in game cartridges. I heard it's super fun. Once we buy it in a couple of days, we'll let you have a turn."

She nodded happily. "I can't play at work, just let me play a bit when I get off shift."

"No problem."

The siblings were immersed in the joy of going to the city tomorrow to buy the game console, and behaved themselves today, didn't go anywhere.

Several groups of little friends came by to call them out, but they refused no matter how much they were pestered.

Ye Yaodong also rarely got half a day off, and didn't go anywhere.

A few days ago, he went to the factory to inspect, shared his experience at the Canton Fair with Hong Hong Wenle, and also guided him on how to apply, what procedures to handle, and how to leverage financial influence at key moments.

He also had several evenings of socializing in a row, and was worn out. Today he had even specially turned them down, saying he had to go to the city to handle some matters and check accounts, and only then did he dodge it.

He'd been back three days, and only today did he finally get to lie down and watch some TV in peace.

Ye Mu and Ye Ye Ersao came back a step later, and seeing him still sitting in the living room, they were both a bit surprised.

"Why are you still here today?"

"Not going out today. It's way too hot and I'm exhausted. I'll rest a bit and head into the city tomorrow."

"How are you planning to get there? The boat's already gone back, right?"

"The boat finished unloading two days ago, and I already had them pull a load of cargo from Lin Ji back first. I'm planning to ride the motorcycle—faster, and anyway I'm just bringing the two kids, it'll fit and be more convenient."

"Then ride carefully on the road."

"Don't worry about that."

Ye Ye Xiaoxi muttered to Ye Ye Chengyang, "Riding the motorcycle is cool."

"But you'll eat dust."

"Ye Ye Erge, how much money do you have? Can we afford a Subor game console?"

"I've only got a little over 100. What about you? Shall we pool it together?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi was surprised. "You brought that much money?"

Ye Ye Chengyang pressed down the corners of his mouth, nodding as if calm. "What about you?"

"I've got a little over 100 too."

"How come you brought so much money? Didn't you say you weren't bringing any?" Ye Ye Chengyang was also a bit surprised—normally having two yuan in her pocket counted as a lot for her.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi said, a little guilty: "I snuck some in. Took a bit of my wages, just in case I needed to spend money."

Ye Ye Chengyang didn't think much of it; the three siblings had always had plenty of pocket money between them.

"Then if we pool it together we've got over 200. We'll see how much it costs when the time comes. If it's not enough, we'll have Dad chip in. Then the game console will be the one we bought—big brother can't snatch it from us!"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi nodded in agreement. "Right. If big brother wants to play, he needs both of us to agree. When we want to play, he can't—he has to wait until we're done."

"Exactly. We bought it, we make the rules."

"We'll just let him watch. Anyway, he's got the college entrance exam coming up—studying has to come first."

"Then later give me all your money first. We're each putting in half anyway, and if it's not enough we'll have Dad front the rest."

"Okay, we'll sweet-talk Dad into covering whatever's short, and when we get back we won't give it back to him. Dad forgets everything the moment he turns around anyway, hehehe…" Ye Ye Xiaoxi laughed slyly.

"Then you do the sweet-talking."

The two of them, sneaky and whispering, settled the whole thing between them.

Ps: Updating as usual today. Said I'd make up one chapter—I'll make it up tomorrow.