Chapter 257

After the villagers asked clearly what to do, they happily ran around, telling each other the news.

The large cart was also repositioned in the open space of the threshing floor. The villagers who had been waiting nearby for a long time, carrying small stools and round winnowing baskets, immediately swarmed over, fearing that if they were a step late, there would be no goods left for them to pick.

Ye Yaodong also took a look and planned to go to the old house to tell his mother; his mother usually couldn't miss out on this kind of thing.

Unexpectedly, halfway there, he saw his mother and his younger sister each holding a stool and a round winnowing basket, running in a hurry.

The news traveled really fast!

"What's the rush? There's a whole cart of dried shrimp; the whole village can pick for a day."

"I'm afraid there won't be a spot if I go late. Since you're free, go call your eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law over too. Otherwise, they live far away and no one will tell them."

Ye Mu ran off in a hurry as she spoke, not even waiting for him to respond.

He shook his head and had no choice but to head home to tell his two sisters-in-law. Unexpectedly, his wife was also quite tempted.

"I'll go too; it's not tiring to sit there and pick..."

Ye Yaodong looked at her with gloomy eyes, and she glared at him, "You can't even tell, why are you like this? When I gave birth to the first two, I didn't see you being this nervous."

"That's different. You stood up last night and your vision went black, you almost fell, did you forget?"

"I won't if I sit down, I'll be careful." As she spoke, she went to find a round winnowing basket and whispered, "Some people still go up the mountain to chop wood when they are seven or eight months pregnant. I'm only four months along, my belly is only a little bit big. Once I wrap myself in a cotton jacket, who can see..."

She chattered for a while and was ready to go out with her stool. Ye Yaodong had no choice but to go up and help her carry it, "Then just pick for a while and come back."

"Mm-hmm."

The children also followed like little tails, running in front, hopping and skipping.

By the time they ran to the threshing floor, good heavens, it was already packed with people. Basically, it was the village women, the elderly, and some half-grown children doing the picking; there were very few young and middle-aged men, as most had gone to work.

In the field, everyone had a round winnowing basket on their knees, holding either a water ladle or a small basket in their hands, while the other hand fiddled with the dried shrimp.

Some people were picking with both hands directly, then placing them in the corner of the basket, waiting to grab them and put them into the water ladle in a moment.

Just then, the truck driver glared directly at a woman, "Take out all the dried shrimp in your pocket. You can't pick anymore. Weigh these small fish and you can go."

"Ah... I... I didn't..."

"I saw you grab a big handful of dried shrimp and put them in your pocket. I invited you here to pick, not to eat. Tasting one or two is fine, but you're stuffing big handfuls into your pocket. Take them all out, weigh the small miscellaneous fish in your basket, and we don't need you anymore."

That woman was exposed for hiding them in public, and her face instantly turned bright red. They were all from the same village, everyone knew everyone; she felt like she had lost all her face in an instant...

Others who had also stuffed them in their pockets were also embarrassed and quietly took them out. If they were caught, they would lose all their face and dignity, and would become the talk of the entire village. Not everyone could be thick-skinned and indifferent.

With an embarrassed, red face, listening to others whispering and hearing her mother-in-law scolding her for being a disgrace, she couldn't take it anymore. Without even taking her things, she covered her face with both hands and ran away in embarrassment.

The truck driver shouted to everyone again, "No one is allowed to steal or eat them. Take out all the dried shrimp in your pockets, otherwise, if you are caught, you will have to pay compensation..."

Only then did the crowd behave, one after another finding opportunities to take out the dried shrimp in their pockets. Some people didn't dare to move their cheeks anymore either.

Having just watched a scene of excitement upon arriving, Ye Yaodong said to Lin Xiuqing, "Dried shrimp are good for calcium. Let's buy some to take back in a while."

Lin Xiuqing nodded and grabbed her son, who was about to reach into Ye Mu's basket, "You are not allowed to eat now. You can only eat after we buy them, otherwise, you'll be treated as a thief and your hands will be chopped off. Are you afraid?"

"But the others..."

Ye Mu secretly took a little bit and stuffed it into Ye Chenghu's mouth, and he immediately started chewing...

The couple instantly frowned; when teaching children, they feared such "pig teammates" the most.

At this time, the truck driver shouted at the top of his lungs again, "Adults must also watch their children, otherwise, money will be deducted when weighing the count. We have two people patrolling, and we will remember who stole and ate. If this happens again, we will leave and not let you pick anymore..."

Suddenly, scolding and the crying of children rang out at the same time...

Lin Xiuqing couldn't say anything to Ye Mu, so she could only glare at her eldest son, "Did you see that? You can't just take other people's things to eat. Everything costs money. You can only eat after your father and mother buy them."

"Alright then."

Ye Chengyang didn't get to eat and didn't dare to reach out, so he could only watch eagerly. After calling for his father, he called for his mother, and after calling for his mother, he called for his grandmother. With that drooling look, everyone knew he was greedy.

Ye Yaodong patted his head, "I'll go buy some for you, follow me."

The truck driver didn't expect someone to be so sensible, actually willing to take the initiative to pay for them instead of stealing them, so he happily weighed the goods.

After Ye Yaodong filled the pockets of the two children with dried shrimp, he also pulled out two cigarettes and started chatting with him.

It turned out that this cart of dried shrimp was brought back from Shenjia Men by the fishing boat. There were several other carts also pulled to nearby villages to find people to pick them, as there were too many impurities and small fish inside that needed to be picked out before they could be boxed.

Thinking that A Guang had gone to Shenjia Men with his father to get dried shrimp in his previous life, and only made some money after changing his name in his forties, he couldn't help but pull out two cigarettes and chat with the driver.

"The dried shrimp in the Shenjia Men sea area are overflowing, but our fishing boats are small and can only fish near the shore, so the yield isn't high, the efficiency is poor, and we don't have the equipment. Fresh shrimp can't be dried directly on the boat, so it's just so-so..."

A Guang also walked over at this time, and hearing this, he smiled and said, "Trawling at home is also quite good. My father was thinking about going to Shenjia Men with friends a few months ago, it's a good thing he didn't go."

Hmph... if you had gone, you wouldn't have become my brother-in-law, you would have only been a widower in middle age.

"Why didn't you go out to sea today?"

"The machine broke, and we had to rush back halfway. It's just as well to rest for two days."

After the two chatted for a few sentences, they also went to help pick the dried shrimp. Ye Yaodong helped his wife pick, and A Guang, of course, helped Ye Huimei pick.

It was just that not long after the farce ended, the children running and jumping around saw that Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang had their pockets full of dried shrimp, so they also ran to tell the adults in their families, saying that their pockets were full of dried shrimp and they wanted some too.

The adults were annoyed by the noise, so they quietly grabbed a handful for their pockets, thinking that if others could do it, then they could too.

Who knew they would be caught on the spot again.

"Weigh the dried small fish in your bag, we don't need you to work anymore."

"Why? They can fill their children's pockets, so they shouldn't be allowed to work either."

Ye Yaodong heard the noise, looked up, and saw Uncle Awei's wife pointing her index finger at them, speaking with her neck stiff.

They were all from the Xu family; no wonder they could still be thick-skinned and righteous enough to drag others into it even after being caught.

"Because they bought them themselves. Take out the dried shrimp in the children's pockets, weigh the miscellaneous goods, and you can leave. We don't need you anymore."

"How is that possible..."

"How is it impossible? Do you think everyone loves to take advantage? They paid for them themselves. Go, go, go, no need to weigh them, these small miscellaneous fish will offset what you just stole and ate, as well as what's in the children's pockets."

Uncle Awei's wife was a bit unconvinced and wanted to argue, but was pulled back and scolded by Uncle Awei, who felt it was too embarrassing.

Uncle Awei's wife didn't feel it at all, shook off his hand, and started packing up her things while scolding, "It's all because of that friend of yours, filling the children's pockets with dried shrimp to tempt people for no reason, he has too much money to burn..."

"Shut up..."

His wife held her round winnowing basket and stool, and while walking, she turned her head and glared fiercely at Ye Yaodong and his wife.

Ye Yaodong watched from afar and cursed, "Damn it, I'm happy to do it."

Lin Xiuqing tugged at his sleeve, "Stop worrying about other people."

Adding a layer of blockage to his heart for no reason, he felt depressed and went directly to the driver to make a suggestion.

"You won't be able to stop them from stealing and eating like this. I suggest you take back all the dried shrimp first, and then weigh ten jin for each person. After they finish picking, bring the dried shrimp and small fish together to be weighed. If the total isn't ten jin, deduct the missing amount directly from their wages. The quantity can be recorded in the notebook."

The driver's eyes lit up upon hearing this, "This is good, it saves us from having to stare at them to see if they're stealing and eating."

After Ye Yaodong returned to his original position, not long after, the two of them discussed it and directly asked everyone to come over to weigh, and then implemented his method.

Now, no one dared to steal and eat too much; it was a once-and-for-all solution.

Occasionally, he could still hear some scolding and the sound of children crying.

Ye Yaodong chatted with A Guang while picking, and also felt it was quite interesting. Sitting like this for two or three hours, the couple picked quite a lot, and when they went home for lunch, they weighed in at 6 mao.

This job couldn't make big money, it could only be said to be for fun, but for the women and elderly in the village, it was quite good and easy. After all, weaving nets for a day couldn't even earn one yuan, and they could steal a few bites to eat, which wasn't a big problem.

After lunch, Lin Xiuqing went to pick dried shrimp again. Ye Yaodong flipped the dried fish and planned to go out to sea to collect the ground cages. He couldn't go out in the morning because of the low tide, but the tide was just right in the afternoon, so he could go out to sea.

Ever since he collected them once before the earthquake, he hadn't gone to collect them again after the earthquake.

That night when he killed the toadfish, he told his eldest brother and second brother to help him collect them when they came back, but they came back late the next day, so they didn't collect them.

When he went to collect them yesterday, they said they couldn't find them. He was a bit puzzled for a moment; could they be gone? He planned to go out and see for himself when the tide rose in the afternoon.