Chapter 519: Report

There's no child who doesn't like holidays. Long before the day arrived, every child in the village had already started looking forward to it. Some even asked the elders eight times a day when Mid-Autumn Festival was, when they'd get a holiday, when they could finally eat mooncakes.

When the day of Mid-Autumn Festival actually came, one by one they put on their new clothes and ran around everywhere, over the moon with joy.

Only during New Year and festivals did they get the chance to wear new clothes; the rest of the time they could only wear whatever their older brothers and sisters had outgrown.

Still, this year could be called the happiest year the children at home had ever felt, because apart from mooncakes there was just too much to eat. The children could stuff their pockets full and go around showing off.

The adults were all in high spirits too — they'd made a killing, and it happened to fall right on a holiday.

Ye Father peeled a crab and asked, "After the holiday tomorrow we get a day off. Tomorrow evening, head out to sea?"

"Sure," Ye Yaodong thought for a moment, then added, "Dad, get someone to keep an eye out for me — see if there's another boat for sale somewhere. I want to buy one more."

Ye Father's hands paused mid-peel. He asked, puzzled, "What's up? Why do you need to buy another boat?"

Ye Mother also set down her chopsticks, baffled. "Don't we already have one boat? It's perfectly fine — why buy another? The money you earned was already pretty good for buying two shops. Whatever's left plus the thousand-odd you made these past two days, at least let it warm up in your pocket a bit!"

"No family's kid is as restless as you. You want to buy everything — money just can't stay in your pocket. It hasn't even warmed up yet and you already want to spend it again?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing was puzzled for a moment too, but then suddenly connected it with Aguang's two boats. Inspiration struck. "Are you trying to copy Aguang? Buy a boat and rent it out?"

Once she reminded him, Ye Father thought of it too. You couldn't really blame him for not thinking of it — not long after Aguang bought his second boat, they went to the Zhejiang-Fujian border to fish for jellyfish, so he had no idea at all that after Aguang bought his second boat, he'd rented it out.

Ye Mother had a rough idea. She knew Aguang's earnings had been decent these past two months, but she preferred stability and wouldn't let her mind wander. For the moment she hadn't thought along those lines either.

Ye Yaodong saw everyone looking at him. He looked back, all innocent, then spoke honestly. "I do have that idea. The suggestion to rent the boat out was mine too. But we still have to be able to find a boat. If we can't, I'm thinking either wait till year's end and save up a bit more, then order one."

"Wouldn't you be stretched too thin?" the old lady asked, concerned.

"When there's money to be made, what's there to be stretched thin about? Money sitting in your pocket won't grow. Buy a boat, let it make money — only then does money grow. Money begets money."

Ye Father thought it over. If it were about buying a shop, he'd definitely have something to say. But a boat… this was the tool their coastal people depended on for survival. If it could earn money, of course he wouldn't oppose it.

He looked at Ye Mother. "How has Aguang done these past two months? How much did he make?"

Ye Mother glared at him. "How would I know how much he made? You think I'd be tactless enough to ask him every day how much he sold? Though I did hear Ye Ye Huimei mention a few times — on good days they sell fifty or sixty, sixty or seventy; on bad days, thirty or forty."

"As long as they go out to sea, the income's decent. But this is living off the weather — how many trips you can make in a month, there's no fixed number…"

"Doesn't matter. When they don't go out, we don't pay wages. The more they sell, the more we split; the less they sell, the less we split. No trips, no expenses. A boat's a big purchase — it can last decades. We'll recoup the cost eventually."

Put that way, Ye Mother felt there was something to it.

"Then after I finish eating I'll go check on Ye Ye Huimei, and ask her on the way how much that rented-out boat of Aguang's has earned these two months."

"Sure, go ask first. No harm in a quick word," Ye Father looked at Ye Yaodong. "Or you could go ask Aguang yourself — it'd be easier to bring up. You're friends, and he's your brother-in-law. Once it's clear and there's something to it, then make your plans."

"Alright. The day before yesterday when I came back I happened to be at the dock, so I helped him collect a shipment on the way. I roughly have an idea. But like Mother said, there's no fixed number of trips per month — hard to calculate. Still, every trip out earns money, just more or less. We'll recoup the cost eventually, one way or another."

In his past life he'd watched people do it — it did make money. As for how much, that depended on luck. Living off the weather, living off the sea — nothing was ever certain.

Ye Mother shot him a look. "Ask first. What's the rush? Can't you hold on to money?"

"Look at you. I'm using my brain to make money."

"Haven't read many days of books, but your brain's plenty quick."

"That means I'm smart."

"Smart? Then what were your first twenty-six years — lived in a dog's belly? Why are you only getting smart now?"

Ye Yaodong felt glum. Getting his mother to praise him felt harder than asking for her life. She couldn't say a single nice word. The day before yesterday was the rare occasion he'd heard her praise him in front of others.

And her way of praising was pretty unusual too — the kind where she proudly said cutting words, letting others argue back, drawing them in to praise him.

"Men mature late, didn't you know? And I'm the youngest son. Don't they say the youngest son and the eldest grandson are the old lady's lifeblood? I'm the youngest son, the youngest grandson — the whole family's lifeblood."

"Your face is pretty thick, huh? The whole family's lifeblood? Why not say you're the whole family's ancestor? Only your grandmother would take weeds for treasure. Otherwise, do you think I'd have waited for you to mature? Not kicking you out of the house was already decent of me."

"Hmph~ You'll have to count on me to let you enjoy the good life later."

"Fine, then I'll wait and see how much good fortune I get."

The old lady watched the mother and son bicker, shook her head, and couldn't help saying to Ye Mother, "You've already enjoyed his good fortune…"

Ye Mother pouted.

Ye Father spoke up too. "With all this food and you still can't shut your mouths — still muttering away."

He looked at Ye Mother again. "Two bites of rice and a basketful of words. Hurry up and eat a few bites, then go check on Ye Ye Huimei and her daughter. Stop nagging endlessly here."

"Father and son are now breathing through the same nostril."

"Just eat."

Ye Mother huffed and puffed as she picked up food and ate quickly. Aguang had no mother, and his two younger sisters weren't married — they wouldn't know how to change diapers and such. The baby had just been born; she had to go over and teach them more.

How to bathe the baby and change diapers? What could and couldn't be eaten during confinement? She had to teach Aguang's two sisters-in-law all of it.

Otherwise, when she got off work she could still help, but during the day she had to work and couldn't stay there. She'd have to count on the two sisters-in-law or Aguang to look after things.

A home without a mother had this one downside — where there's gain, there's loss; where there's good, there's bad.

After Ye Mother quickly shoveled a few bites, she hurried back again.

Ye Yaodong watched her bustling figure and said to Ye Father, "From now on, just eat here at my place. Lin Lin Xiuqing has to cook anyway — just two more portions. Mother looks pretty busy too. During the day she works, and after work she still has to go look after little sister."

Ye Father nodded. "Fine. The past two days we took turns eating at your eldest brother's and Ye Ye Erge's place. Tomorrow I'll just carry the rice over and eat here — saves the constant rotation."

Lin Lin Xiuqing said nothing. She didn't think Ye Yaodong was wrong to do this, nor did she feel he was piling work on her.

In her view, she had to cook every day anyway — just two more pairs of chopsticks. Besides, Ye Father had said he'd bring the rice over, so it wasn't like they were eating theirs.

The family finished their meal in a lively bustle, then all sat at the doorway to enjoy the cool breeze. The children kept looking up at the sky, muttering nonstop, "Why isn't it dark yet? Why isn't it dark yet?" Impatient as could be.

Just then, Ye Mother came hurrying back, "A'peng… A'hua… Dongzi… bad news, bad news…"

"What's bad?"

Ye Yaodong was sitting in a recliner enjoying the breeze when he heard his mother calling the three brothers' names from the other side of a wall, repeating "bad news, bad news." He frowned and quickly stood up.

Ye Mother slapped her thigh, fuming. "Aiya~ I don't know which son-of-a-bitch Wang Ba wrote a letter to report you, saying you were smuggling."

"What!?"

Ye Yaodong was so startled he immediately walked out the courtyard gate and ran next door. "What did you say? Who reported me for smuggling? Are they sick? Laozi's a law-abiding fisherman — who the hell is smuggling?"

You couldn't blame him for the sudden fright. This was smuggling — if the charge stuck, he had no idea how many years he'd be locked up.

"Who knows? Some black-hearted, gut-rotted bastard — they should rip out his tongue, chop off his hands and feet, and throw him into the eighteenth level of hell. Something that isn't even real, and he actually went and wrote a letter to report it..." Ye Mu cursed as she spoke.

"Damned bastard, which son-of-a-bitch without an asshole did this? Doing something that harms others without benefiting yourself..."

"Our family hasn't offended anyone either..."

Ye Yaodong frowned. "Our family hasn't offended anyone, but that doesn't stop people with sour grapes. Mom, how did you find out? Didn't you go to Ye Ye Huimei's place?"

"I went home to get eggs — Ye Ye Huimei's household had run out. I said I'd bring them over today, but I kept forgetting. On the way back, I happened to run into Chen Shuji, and he told me."

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Ye Mu said the three words "Chen Shuji" very softly, and as she spoke, she glanced at the neighbors walking toward them not far away.

Ye Ye Yaopeng frowned and said, "Is it because we brought back a lot of goods and sold them at our doorstep the day before yesterday?"

Ye Ye Yaohua's heart also rose. "Who are we in the way of? And they actually went to report us. Was it someone from our village who reported us?"

Ye Yaodong, however, said, "It should be anonymous, right? Was the letter intercepted? That's why it was seen and they told you on the way?"

Ye Mu was stunned for a moment — she hadn't asked that carefully. After hearing it, she had anxiously rushed back.

"I forgot to ask whether it was intercepted."

Having just heard Ye Mu speaking in a hurried voice, as if something had happened, and faintly catching the word "report," the neighbors also curiously came over to ask, "What happened?"

"I think I just heard something about a report?"

"Who reported what? In this day and age, things have been stable for years, and someone still pulls this reporting stunt? That's truly inhuman, isn't it?"