Chapter 445: A Circle of Shells Along the Coastline

The fierce downpour outside the window was pouring as if turned upside down, the typhoon howling outside the house, growing more and more intense, like a wounded beast roaring loudly, darting about everywhere, doors and windows trembling all night.

The children were more excited than the last, none of them wanting to sleep.

Ye Ye Chengyang climbed onto a stool and played with the candle on the table inside the house, covering all ten fingers with little caps, hissing "sizzle sizzle" and saying it was hot, mumbling to himself no one knew what.

Once all ten fingers wore their wax caps, he kept flexing his fingers to crack them, then dipped them back into the candle wax, repeating the play endlessly — how could he ever get enough?

Meanwhile Ye Chenghu was sprawled at the window staring out into the pitch-black night, the wind whistling, and he too was hollering "whoosh whoosh whoosh," yelling, "The ghost is coming! The ghost is coming!"

And Lin Lin Guangyuan was happily tumbling nonstop on the bed, playing at handstands — he was far too excited.

"Cousin, your house is so nice, it doesn't even leak. At our place, whenever there's a typhoon and heavy rain, it's just like a sieve. When I was little I could only sleep on the table in the main room, and my mother sat beside the table watching over me all night. Now that I'm older, I can only give the spot to the youngest."

"We're the same! Whenever it rains, we have to take all the bowls out and put them on the bed to catch the water. This is a new house, that's why it doesn't leak. You can go back and tell your dad to build a new house, so from now on it won't leak when the wind blows and the rain falls."

"But we don't have money."

"Then go earn money! When you first came here you were very hardworking, even went to carry sandbags to earn money. But now you've changed — so lazy, eating and lazing around at home every day, not doing any work, running off all day without a trace…"

Ye Yaodong had just happened to push the door open carrying a tray of prepared malted milk, wanting to call them to drink it and go to sleep, but the moment he heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched and he looked at his eldest son speechlessly.

Weren't those exactly the words his own father and mother used to say to him?

They learn so fast — children really are easily influenced, picking up adult ways especially quickly.

The way he said it sounded strangely funny, the kind of thing that left you not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Lin Lin Guangyuan also looked at him speechlessly. "You think carrying sandbags is some kind of great job? And you say I've changed — I was forced to go, all because your dad was so heartless…"

"How am I heartless? Other people only went to carry sandbags at twenty, but you started at fifteen. If you'd stuck with it, you'd have earned five years more than them."

"Huh?" Lin Lin Guangyuan's brain instantly crashed. He somehow felt something wasn't quite right about what he'd said, but it also sounded pretty reasonable.

"Wow~ smells so good~"

Ye Ye Chengyang, like a cat stealing a taste, caught the scent and immediately scrambled down the stool on all fours, rushing over and hugging his leg.

Ye Chenghu also reacted quickly and ran over. "Malted milk~ Malted milk~"

One hugging each leg, the malted milk in his hands wobbled and a little spilled out. "Stop, stop, stop — it's going to spill, don't move. Lin Lin Guangyuan, yours is on the table, go get it yourself."

The two let go immediately upon hearing that.

Lin Lin Guangyuan leaned over the bed rail, delighted. "Uncle, can we eat it dry? I heard malted milk is delicious eaten dry — I want to try it dry."

"Suit yourselves, then tomorrow morning you can eat it dry."

"Can we just take one bite now?"

"Fine."

Such a simple wish — he could still grant that.

"Yay~"

Once their wish was granted, the children's faces all beamed with happy smiles. For them, happiness was really this simple.

The three of them held the malted milk and sipped it in tiny mouthfuls, wanting the flavor to linger in their mouths a little longer — just because they could eat it dry didn't mean they should dump the whole bowl in at once.

After they finished drinking, Ye Yaodong scooped another spoonful into each of their palms and let them chew it dry.

The malted milk granules were loose and crisp, crunching in their mouths, melting at a single chew, slowly dissolving on the tongue — sweetness and fragrance on lips and teeth, blissful beyond words.

"Uncle, it's so nice here at yours, I don't even want to go back."

"I don't need another son — once you've stayed long enough, back you go to wherever you came from."

"Sigh, why couldn't I have been born to my little aunt?"

"Dream on! Two sons are more than enough, I don't want a third one," Ye Yaodong said grumpily. "Once you've finished drinking, blow out the candle and go to sleep — don't dawdle and play around in there."

The replies all sounded very obedient, but the moment he turned and left, the three went right back to playing and bickering as before.

The noise was almost louder than the symphony outside — the roof hadn't been torn off by the typhoon, but it nearly got torn off by their racket first.

Hearing the commotion next door, they also hollered back in response, and the lot of them escalated, shouting and chatting loudly through the wall, thumping the wall so hard it went bang bang bang.

How could this be allowed?

Ye Mu came over first to scold them and tell them to sleep, and right behind her Lin Lin Xiuqing also came in with a whip and gave the table a few hard lashes. At the same time, next door rose wails of mercy, and only then did the lot of them instantly behave, each taking their proper place and lying down.

Outside the wind raged, the rain clattered, the waves rolled and thundered, the mingled din rising wave after wave — yet none of this affected the children's sweet sleep in the slightest.

Even the adults had originally been on edge, worried the wind and waves were too strong, but the environment was just too comfortable — lying there, by the second half of the night they too had fallen asleep.

It wasn't until the early hours of the next morning, when the wind had stopped and only the pouring rain remained, that the whole family jolted awake and realized they had actually slept soundly through the night, not even knowing when the typhoon had passed.

When Ye Fu and Ye Mu got up, the old lady was already there stoking the fire and cooking porridge. She smiled and said, "The typhoon's already stopped. It's rare — we didn't leak yesterday, and we even got a little sleep."

Ye Fu looked at the rain still falling outside, took down the straw raincoat hanging behind the door and put it on. "I'll go out first and check the tide."

"I'll go with you to have a look too." Ye Mu hadn't been able to go out last night, so now she hurriedly threw on her straw raincoat, put on her bamboo hat, and followed him out.

"What are you butting in for — it's pouring rain and you still want to come…"

"So I can't even look? You look at your waves, I look at my fish. The wind blew so hard yesterday, who knows what got washed up overnight…"

The couple bickering as they went, one behind the other, opened the door and went out, their voices cut off behind the door.

The old lady still sat by the stove tending the fire, steady as a mountain. At her age, she wasn't about to go out and worry people — earning money was the young folks' job.

But the moment Ye Mu stepped out of the house, she hurriedly slapped the door panel and yelled for them to open up.

The old lady thought something had happened and anxiously scrambled up to open the door. "What? What happened? Why the rush? It's still pouring out there…"

"Oh, never mind — just go wake them up, there are tons of scallops on the beach." Ye Mu, impatient, cut straight through the old lady's fuss, hurried inside, and started banging on Ye Yaodong and his wife's bedroom door.

He had been worried the wind and waves were too strong and hadn't really slept all night, and now he was sleeping soundly holding his wife. Ye Mu's urgent banging on the door startled the couple awake — they thought the typhoon had blown the house away.

Ye Yaodong didn't bother putting on clothes, just pulled on a pair of shorts, grabbed a vest, and rushed to open the door. "What's wrong? Has the tide come in?"

He spoke hurriedly while pulling the vest over his head.

"Hurry up and go pick up scallops — piles and piles of scallops all over the beach, like rice. You guys hurry up! Bring your wife along too… I'll go call your eldest brother and second brother…"

"Oh my, really just like rice — people are already on the beach scooping them up with dustpans… hurry…"

Ye Mu, nimble on her feet, spoke as she hurried back out, her face alight with joy and urgency, as if she wished she could strap fire wheels to her feet.

Ye Yaodong watched his mother come and go in such a flurry, then hurried inside to pull on his pants. "I'll go out first and see what's going on. I don't even know how many scallops there are, getting this worked up."

Lin Lin Xiuqing also hurriedly got up and put on her clothes and pants. "There should be quite a few, right? Otherwise Mother wouldn't be so excited, rushing over to bang on the door like that. It must be that the typhoon blew a lot of scallops ashore yesterday."

"Let's go out and look first. It's still raining outside, and the sky is still grey."

"It's only 5:50. The rain doesn't look as heavy as yesterday, and there's no wind either. The typhoon should have passed."

"Mm, take your time. I'll go out and take a look first."

The rain boots that had gotten wet last night hadn't dried yet. Once he stuck his feet in, a cold, damp feeling washed over him, but there was no choice—this was his only pair of rain boots, so he had to wear them even wet. It was raining; he couldn't exactly wear his liberation shoes to the beach.

After going out, Ye Yaodong couldn't be bothered with washing up. He grabbed his straw raincoat first and stood at the doorway, putting it on while glancing toward the not-too-far distance.

The morning rain had already eased into a fine drizzle, pattering down from the eaves. There was no wind either, just a slight chill in the air.

In the distance, the sky was still overcast, the sea and sky one colour, everything dim and murky.

The courtyard gate was wide open. He could see a few people squatting by the beach, but he couldn't tell exactly how many scallops there were—only that the shoreline seemed to have gained a new curve. His second brother Ye Ye Erge and second sister-in-law Ye Ye Ersao next door were just then rushing out in a hurry, and nearby neighbours were also running toward the beach.

After putting it on, he also donned his bamboo hat and jogged out into the light rain.

Without the wind's resistance, running felt much smoother.

Just as he ran out of the house, he saw quite a few fish, shrimp, and crabs scattered on the ground. They didn't look in great shape, and the fish were on the small side—not as good as the haul they had picked up braving the wind and rain last night. He wondered if the early risers had already sorted through them once.

When there's really nothing to eat, these are still worth picking up—they're all edible.

But right now he didn't give them a second glance, walking right past as if they weren't there.

At other times, if he had nothing to do, he might have picked a few up to use as fish bait. But now, forget it.

When he jogged closer, he saw clusters upon clusters of clams, scallops, baby shellfish, laver, and all sorts of shelled molluscs lining the shore in a small arc. He was utterly astonished.

Just one night had passed, and these shells already wrapped a small loop around the coastline.