Chapter 450: Hauling the Net (Two Chapters Combined into One)

"Bandits!" Ye Ye Chengyang chimed in with a baby voice, sounding rather cute.

Ye Yaodong reached out and pinched his cheek. "Those aren't called bandits, they're called locusts. Where locusts pass, nothing remains. Got it?"

"Little Uncle, I know, I know—those are grasshoppers. We used to roast grasshoppers to eat before, they were delicious, like shrimp."

"Let's go, let's go catch grasshoppers…"

Ye Ye Dasao unceremoniously slapped the back of Ye Ye Chenghai's head. "Catch Lin Mu? There's a pile of work waiting for you and you still dare to run? I'll break your legs. Day after day, running around everywhere, never helping with any work, always dragging your younger brothers and sisters off so no one can find you. Black as coal, I'll chop your legs off."

"You really are my mo—"

Ye Ye Chenghai rubbed the back of his head, cowed by his mother's tyranny, and only dared to mutter one line in a small, feeble voice.

Ye Ye Dasao's ears were sharp!

She flung a knife-like glare over. Ye Ye Chenghai immediately went soft and bolted into the house faster than a rabbit. "I'll go get the stools out to help right now."

With Ye Ye Chenghai's example fresh in mind, no one dared to make any rash moves at this point. They could only stand obediently in place, not daring to go anywhere.

Figuring more people meant more liveliness and easier conversation, they piled all the goods at the door of Ye Ye Yaopeng and Ye Ye Yaohua, just in different corners so they wouldn't get mixed together. The families had split, so each household sorting their own was fairer.

Ye Father's and Ye Mother's goods were all mixed in with Ye Yaodong's, so naturally they sat around with him. The old lady also brought over a stool to help.

Ye Yaodong pointed at the corner, at the half-bag leaning against his courtyard wall. "That half-bag is all scallops, all live ones I scooped from the sea. Don't dump those out to sort. Later I'll send them to the dock with the fish to sell first."

Ye Father hurriedly said, "Send them now. The fish have been sitting overnight, no ice, afraid they'll go bad if left too long. Should have sent them first thing in the morning, but sorting the shells delayed us."

"In a bit, I'll go pull in the two nets I set out in the sea too, see how many scallops are in them and sell them together."

The shells along the shore had all been swept clean, so leaving those two nets spread out there didn't make much sense. Besides, he'd set his nets higher up facing the sea to keep the scallops from escaping, and after the typhoon, the waves outside wouldn't easily wash seafood in either.

Also, the fishing nets had to be pulled in and returned—they weren't his. The bamboo fish traps could wait until the tide went out and the waves died down before collecting.

"I'll go with you to pull them in. Dump one bag on the ground here first, let them start sorting."

After Ye Father dumped an entire sack of shells onto the ground, he clapped his hands and followed Ye Yaodong, who was pushing the cart toward the beach.

The beach was still full of people everywhere at this time. Every household had bagged several sacks of shells and had to go back for a cart or borrow one from someone else to haul them away. Everyone was gathered in small groups chatting, waiting for family members to bring carts over.

Only the few households close to the beach had gotten theirs home this fast.

Ye Yaodong asked Ye Father as they walked, "How much per jin are scallops going for now?"

"Not sure. This stuff lives on the seabed, hard to catch. There aren't any in our stretch of sea either—rare sight. We'll have to ask at the dock later. Don't know where they all came from, surging in like this, and a lot of them are pretty big too."

"If few are caught, that means they grow for many years, so wouldn't they be bigger?"

"These things are something else—two or three hours and they cleaned out the whole beach."

"When there's money to be made, no amount is ever enough…"

Father and son chatted as they walked. But just as they reached the beach, they saw someone standing next to their spread-out fishing net.

Ye Yaodong sensed trouble and hurried forward. He found the man had placed a dustpan into his fishing net and was shaking scallops from the net into the dustpan.

Damn!

How dare he pluck hair from a tiger's head?

Ye Yaodong strode up, grabbed him by the back collar, then punched him in the face, sending him tumbling straight into the water.

"What the hell—I'm right at home and you still dare steal my net? Tired of living?"

"Ahhh, my mistake, my mistake, I just came over to see how much the net caught…"

It was a middle-aged man about his father's age, plain-looking, also from their village. The age gap meant Ye Yaodong didn't recognize who he was, but Ye Father did.

"Look at my ass—your dustpan's in my fishing net and you call that 'looking'? Shameless old fart, still making excuses…" Ye Yaodong said as he moved in, planning to kick him a couple times.

The middle-aged man, drenched from head to toe by the seawater, scrambled and rolled in the sea dodging. "Don't hit, don't hit… we're all family here, I really was just looking… don't hit… Ye Lao San… we're all family…"

"Family my ass, Laozi doesn't know you." Saying they were family made him want to hit him even more.

Seeing Ye Yaodong raise his fist again, the middle-aged man panicked and shouted toward Ye Father, "Ye Lao San, Ye Lao San, we're all family—I'm Li Li Laoer's in-law…"

Only then did Ye Father unhurriedly hold Ye Yaodong back. "He's the father of that woman at your Ye Ye Erbo's place—Brother Brother Asheng's older cousin's—the one who came to be a helpmate but isn't married yet."

This complicated? Ye Yaodong ran the relationship through his head before realizing—wasn't this just that woman's Laozi from earlier?

What kind of "family" is that?

What does it have to do with him?

They aren't even married yet. Even if they were, they still wouldn't be his relatives.

If you really counted it that way, anyone with the slightest connection would be family, and the whole village would be his relatives.

"What's it got to do with me? He's not my Laozi and he's not my father-in-law." Ye Yaodong grabbed him by the front of his clothes and hauled him up out of the water.

The man was short. With his arm strength having surged recently, Ye Yaodong could lift the little old man up effortlessly.

"If you don't want another punch, then own up honestly—how many of my scallops did you steal?"

People on the shore noticed the commotion, and some ran over curiously to watch the show.

"What's going on?"

"Looks like Old Wang stole Ye Lao San's scallops?"

"Ooh, serves him right! There were so many on the shore just now, which family didn't rake in a few hundred jin? And he still went to steal?"

"Who knows?"

"Just jealous—there's people like that everywhere…"

Old Wang grabbed Ye Yaodong's arm in a panic. "No, really no, I really just came over, really just looking, didn't steal anything…"

"Yeah right—if you were just looking, why bring a dustpan?"

"Really didn't, I didn't steal anything…"

Old Wang's children immediately gathered around too. The Ye family had plenty of relatives present, and the scene instantly turned chaotic again.

"Everyone else was on shore, but you, an old fart, ran over to my fishing net, dumped the catch from my net into your dustpan, and you say you didn't steal? Think I'm blind? Or think my dad's blind?"

Being watched by so many people, losing both face and dignity, Old Wang was nearly in tears. "Really didn't steal…"

"Really didn't steal, or didn't have time to steal?" Being watched by so many people, Ye Father also asked gloomily.

With that, Old Wang fell silent!

His son spoke up: "If he didn't have time to steal, then he didn't steal. You suffered no loss anyway, so let it go. My father is already old; don't hold it against him..."

Ye Yaodong was speechless. Attempted rape doesn't count as rape? Kissing, looking, and touching don't count?

Still don't hold it against him? Is it okay to use public opinion to forcibly take someone else's fish just because he's pitiful? Is it okay to steal from others just because he's old?

What kind of dogshit logic is this?

This is how bad people are spoiled.

"Who said I suffered no loss? Who knows how long he lingered here, or how many baskets he scooped up? Everything he scooped away is money. Whose money grows on trees?"

Can he just clack his lips, rely on his age, and make me swallow a bitter loss?

Besides, where does forty or fifty count as old? He hasn't even reached seventy or eighty yet; does he want to play the 'old card' already?

"So what do you want? We already said he didn't steal. You're just clacking your lips and saying he did. Where's the evidence..."

Ye Yaodong let the man go, reached into the fishing net, and pulled out that basket. Damn it, it was actually heavy, filled to the brim.

What a cruel heart!

He didn't dump out the contents; instead, he carried it in front of Old Wang's family, found a mark, and pointed it out to them. "Laozi can read. Isn't this red 'Wang' on it yours?"

In the countryside, people habitually mark their own belongings to avoid mixing them up with others' when taking them out, or having them borrowed and never returned.

"That still doesn't prove anything."

Still arguing? Ye Yaodong was so angry he laughed. "Is there shit in your brains? Don't tell me all the scallops inside belong to your family. Did your old man specifically pick out a basket of scallops from a pile of shells, carry them, and put them in my net to give to me as a gift?"

The surrounding villagers chimed in, "Did someone get their head stuck in a door? Who believes that?"

"Exactly. Everyone just finished packing the shells into bags; wouldn't you take them back to sort them out first?"

"These were obviously scooped from the fishing net. Quite a few were escaping just now; they must have all ended up in the net."

"Just admit you stole someone's things. You were caught red-handed and still arguing."

Ye Yaodong held up the basket for the villagers on the shore to see. "Everyone look. This basket full of scallops—if I had come a bit later, it would have been stolen. One basket like this can sell for several yuan. That's not a small amount of money."

"That's quite a lot..."

"It's completely full, yet you still say you didn't steal..."

The villagers murmured among themselves. Old Wang's face turned red. "I didn't succeed in stealing, and I was still..."

"So attempted rape didn't succeed, you stripped her and pinned her at the door, but that doesn't count either? Since it wasn't completed, you should just let him go?" Ah Zheng arrived late, pushed through the crowd, and mocked them with filthy words.

"He says he didn't succeed, so he didn't succeed? Who knows if he already scooped up several baskets repeatedly?" Ah Guang also waded into the water.

They had been quite far away but came over out of curiosity after seeing a large crowd gathering here.

"No..."

Old Wang hurriedly waved his hands to refute. His son also said, "The goods are still here, and you even hit people. That counts as even."

"Regarding the theft of my things, I can let that be even, but what about my losses? Shouldn't you return what you stole from me?"

"We already said he didn't succeed and was still..."

"That's what you said. I'm saying you scooped up several baskets."

"What do you want?"

"Fill two baskets with shells to compensate me. Mine are definitely scallops, but who knows how many scallops are actually in your shells? I'd still be at a loss."

It wasn't that he wanted to nitpick over these things, but if he let it go so casually, people might think he was too soft and easy to talk to.

Knowing full well it was his net, they still bullied him. If he let it slide lightly, what if petty thieves thought getting caught stealing from him wasn't a big deal? What if they started breaking into his house, visiting every other day?

Kind people get bullied; good horses get ridden.

Hearing he had to compensate with two baskets, Old Wang's eyes widened as he shouted, "I didn't succeed in stealing! Why should I compensate? I won't pay. Let's go..."

Ye Yaodong grabbed him to stop him from leaving. Other relatives and friends who knew them also helped block the way. "Debts must be repaid; it's the law of heaven. If you stole from me and won't pay, you aren't going anywhere."

The two sides immediately began shoving, pulling, and cursing at each other.

The peacemakers in the village all stepped in, telling them not to be impulsive, to speak calmly, and to discuss the matter reasonably...

Ye Ye Yaosheng was also pulled in by Wang Wang Lizhen at this moment. Frowning as he watched the two families arguing, he helplessly grabbed Ye Yaodong's arm and addressed the crowd loudly: "Everyone, stop arguing. Whatever the issue, let's talk it out. We are all from the same village..."

Then he looked at Ye Yaodong. "Adong, look, with so many people watching, it's not good. For my sake, let's both take a step back? Making a scene won't look good. We are all neighbors; we see each other every day..."

Ye Yaodong looked at this cousin with whom he had only a casual relationship. Their age gap was large; when he was very young, they had moved away, and they rarely visited each other.

But they were still cousins, and there was no conflict between them. He softened his tone and asked, "Their old man stole my scallops. Do you think compensation is appropriate?"

"It should be. Petty theft is wrong to begin with."

"Ye Ye Yaosheng, whose side are you on?" Wang Wang Lizhen said unhappily.

Ye Ye Yaosheng also looked down on petty theft. Although he was forced to act as a peacemaker, it didn't mean he had to take sides.

He turned unhappily to Old Wang's family and said, "I heard the crackdown is severe right now. Stealing a tire alone can lead to a ten-year prison sentence. Stealing things is already unreasonable. If you are unhappy about compensating, then you deal with it yourselves."

"Ten... ten years..."

Old Wang's voice trembled. If sentenced to ten years, he might not even survive to get out of prison...

"You... you're bluffing, right? You're all one family; you're definitely speaking for them." Wang Wang Lizhen also felt timid. They were just country folk; who isn't afraid of the Gongan Bureau?

"I am stating the facts. You stole Adong's things; compensating him is only right."

"But my father was beaten too..."

"If you get caught stealing, shouldn't you get beaten?" Ye Ye Yaosheng could still distinguish right from wrong.

"Exactly..." The onlooking villagers chimed in again.

Old Wang's family was speechless, looking at Ye Ye Yaosheng with some dissatisfaction.

Ye Ye Yaosheng sighed inwardly. He supported reason, not kin. He looked at Ye Yaodong. "How do you want them to compensate?"

"I don't know how much he stole from me. I'm just asking him to compensate me with two baskets of shells. That's not too much, right? Barely enough for some mental comfort. I'm not even asking him to compensate me with two baskets of actual scallops."

"You wish…"

"I really didn't steal it, didn't get the chance…" Old Wang was both angry and embarrassed.

"Even if you really did steal it, you still wouldn't admit it."

Ye Ye Yaosheng said, "Whether you really stole it or not, two winnowing baskets isn't that much…"

The villagers also chimed in, "Just pay up…"

"Consider it a lesson learned…"

"Right, who told you to get crooked ideas?"

"Stole or didn't steal, who knows? Nobody saw it either, we were all happily chatting over there, didn't pay attention to this side…"

Wang Wang Lizhen heard her brothers and sisters saying two winnowing baskets was too much, and glared angrily at Ye Ye Yaosheng, "Less, I didn't manage to steal it in the first place, and I just got beaten too."

Ye Ye Yaosheng looked at Ye Yaodong in a difficult spot, "Adong…"

Feeling he was hard to talk to, and without waiting for Ye Yaodong to respond, Ye Ye Yaosheng looked at Ye's father again, "Third Uncle…"

Ye's father watched the noisy crowd and felt a headache coming on. He waved his hand, "Sigh, forget it, forget it, pay one winnowing basket as a token and that'll be enough. Dragging this out forever isn't going to work either. Don't do this kind of petty thieving stuff in the future, you're all old enough, how embarrassing to get caught…"

"Yes, yes, yes…"

Ye Yaodong also said, "Since my dad said so, then out of respect for you, I'll take a small loss and just let it be a token gesture."

"Good, good…" Ye Ye Yaosheng breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly urged Old Wang's family to go pack it up.

The Wang family members stiffened their necks and glared at him, "The winnowing basket has to be returned to us."

Who wants it?

Ye Yaodong poured all the shells from one winnowing basket back into the fishing net, then handed it to Ye Ye Yaosheng.

Only then did they take the winnowing basket, and unwillingly went back up the shore to pack.

Who knew this family was still trying to fool him, they only brought it over after waiting a while.

Ye Yaodong didn't even take it, he just saw that the winnowing basket was full of shells on top, which clearly showed they had roughly sorted through it just now and picked out the shells for him.

He snorted coldly, "Are you taking me for a blind man?"

Ye Ye Yaosheng also felt they had gone too far, they had already conceded, and after agreeing they still tried to fool people.

A'zheng, quite the loyal one, rolled up his sleeves, snatched the winnowing basket, "You don't know how to pack it, I'll go pack it."

The others also followed up the shore, and the warm-hearted villagers even specially pointed out to them which pile of bags of shells on the shore belonged to Old Wang's family.

Now Old Wang's family got anxious too, and hurriedly followed, "Don't mess around, our family has several households, they're not the same, you can't mix them up."

"We'll do it ourselves…"

Those few of them didn't care whose they were scooping up, as long as it was Old Wang's family it was fine.

They sent a lot of people, any sack with meat on top was picked out for them, only later did they grab randomly, but most of those also had meat. Now Old Wang's family had truly grabbed a loss instead of a profit, regretting it to their guts.

Treating people like fools — if they had honestly poured out one winnowing basket, the matter would have been settled long ago.

Nobody sympathized with them either.

Ye Yaodong took the winnowing basket they brought back, contentedly poured it onto the cart, emptied the winnowing basket and handed it to Ye Ye Yaosheng, and those people left him alone.

"Dongzi, you're planning to pull up the nets now? Not planning to leave them another day or so?" A'guang asked from the side.

"There are no scallops left on the beach either, they've all been carried away by everyone. There's no point in staying gathered there, just pull them back directly. Otherwise if they stay outside too long, what if they attract thieves again? Besides, the nets aren't mine, pulling them back works out perfectly to return them."

"True, you're still the fast one, putting the nets down early. Wonder how much you'll catch?"

"We'll know once we pull them up." Xiao Xiao rolled up his sleeves, rubbing his fists in anticipation, and waded into the water, planning to help pull them in and see — they were also curious how much could be caught.

"Sure, then help me with that one, here my dad and I can handle it."

The villagers gathered on the shore didn't disperse either, they also wanted to see how many scallops could be caught from the two nets laid out here.

Ye Yaodong and Ye's father each stood at one side, untied the ropes tied to the bamboo pole and the stick, then pinched the corners of the fishing net in their hands, before moving on to untie the next one.

After untying them all, he pinched one end of the fishing net in his hand and walked toward the shore.

Ye's father's side had lower water level and smaller waves, easier to untie, and he had already finished untying his side first, gathered it in his hands, and gone ashore, waiting for him to finish gathering and come over.

At this time, the villagers on the shore had been discussing, "It was only put down this morning not long ago, there shouldn't be much, right?"

"The net wasn't spread far, only a few meters, shouldn't catch much."

"Right, it's only been down for two or three hours, right? Everyone was still on the shore picking the whole time, it's all been thinned out…"

"There should be at least one winnowing basket, wasn't one winnowing basket just poured into the fishing net? One winnowing basket of these shells weighs over 20 jin, right?"

"He didn't put the net down for nothing. Wait until it's pulled up and we'll see, at least it saves trouble, catch whatever you can, otherwise they'd just run back to the sea. I heard these scallops aren't easy to catch…"

……

Where there are many people, gossip is unavoidable. Ye's father listened but didn't respond, only saying they'd know once it was pulled up.

After Ye Yaodong also came ashore, father and son put in some effort and lifted the fishing net in the sea upward.

The moment the fishing net was lifted into the air, water dripped down from the bottom with a splashing sound, the inside of the net was heavy and sagging, the bottom touching the shore.

The villagers on the shore were surprised, "Oh my, there's really quite a lot."

"Caught quite a lot?"

"This with shells on is really heavy, seventy or eighty jin, right? Oh my, can sell for twenty or thirty yuan? And this is just one net, there's still another one over there…"

Surprised sounds also came from the side, also saying quite a lot had been caught.

"One net sells for twenty or thirty, so two nets together wouldn't sell for fifty or sixty? My goodness… that's so much…"

"Ah! Quite a lot of scallops escaped, could it be that all the live ones with meat ran away?"

At this moment someone slapped their thigh, "Oh my, could it be that all we dug up were shells? The live ones got washed by the seawater, and the ones that could run just ran off?"

"Not that bad, not that bad…"

"Just one net of his caught this much…"