Chapter 572: Wanting to get his father-in-law on board

Lin Xiuqing looked over in confusion, only to see Ye Chenghu run to the side of the firewood pile behind her and pull one out from a gunny sack.

She poked his arm twice with the tree branch in her hand. "No sneaking snacks. Do your homework properly."

"I know, I'm giving it to Dad."

Lin Xiuqing watched his attentive actions with suspicion. Seeing that he was indeed giving it to Ye Yaodong, she withdrew her gaze and stopped paying attention to him.

Ye Chenghu's small eyes kept stealing glances at his mother, then looking at his father with a fawning expression.

Ye Yaodong pursed his lips and said irritably, "Write quickly, don't be lazy."

"Mm-hmm." Ye Chenghu nodded like a chick pecking at rice, letting out a sigh of relief.

Only then did Ye Yaodong notice that what he held in his hand was a bitter orange, not a tangerine.

He asked Lin Xiuqing, who was busy tending the fire, "Did Dad send bitter oranges over today? Didn't I say I'd ride over to pick them up when I was free in the next couple of days?"

"He said he saw that tangerines sold quite well yesterday, so he thought about making a bit more money. He plans to push a cart of tangerines every day from now on, peddling as he goes. He just dropped these off for us while he was at it today; anyway, these bitter oranges can keep for ten days or half a month without any issues."

"Dad's ability to peddle through the streets and alleys isn't bad at all!"

Lin Xiuqing smiled. "Isn't it all just to earn a little more money? It's Hukou, after all."

"He's getting on in years; he should just let Big Brother and Second Brother handle it."

"How could he sit still? When he hurt his foot last year, we told him not to go down to the fields, but he wouldn't listen to anyone. Even limping, he still insisted on carrying his hoe to work in the fields."

"Otherwise, next year, let's have him go to the city to look after the shop for us. Sitting there, not having to work the fields, it would be easy."

Ye Yaodong had originally just said it offhandedly, but upon thinking about it, it suddenly seemed feasible?

It just so happened that he didn't know who to find to watch the shop in the city. He didn't trust outsiders, and he was planning to collect more dried fish to sell at the city shop once he got his hands on it.

It didn't matter if he couldn't speak Mandarin; as long as he could understand it, gesturing and using sign language would work too. There were plenty of people who couldn't speak Mandarin nowadays.

Lin Xiuqing's mouth fell open in surprise when she heard this. "The furthest my father has ever been in his life is the county seat, and he's only been there once. How is it appropriate for you to ask him to watch a shop in the city? He can't even speak Mandarin."

"Why isn't it appropriate? He can already peddle through the streets and alleys. At the very least, dealing with strangers and selling things shouldn't be a problem, right? Anyway, once the price is set, if people want it, he weighs it out; if they don't, then so be it. Open the door on time, close the door on time."

"But he can't speak Mandarin. The dialect spoken in the city is different from the one we speak here."

"That's not an issue; gesturing will do. Besides, who really can't speak it? It's just that he can't bring himself to open his mouth for now; he'll get used to it with practice. I'll get a radio for him to keep in the shop so he can listen and learn, and it'll help pass the time too."

Lin Xiuqing was completely bewildered by his sudden idea. He actually thought of letting her father watch the shop in the city?

He really dared to think it; she wouldn't even dare to imagine it.

The more Ye Yaodong talked, the more feasible he thought it was. Anyway, his father-in-law was almost 60; the mountain and field work could be left to his two brothers-in-law. Or, he could even ask his mother-in-law to go to the city to watch the shop together, so she could take care of his father-in-law's daily needs.

"Mm, I think it works. When I go over to deliver goods, I can just replace them, and then they can take the return tractor back to rest for two days."

Lin Xiuqing was stunned. "You've already thought all this through?"

"I just thought of it! Isn't it just one thing leading to another? It feels like it could work, right? Before, we were worried about whether we needed to hire someone for the shop and who to hire. We were thinking that if no one rented it, we'd just keep it closed and I'd go over to sell a few times occasionally. Now it's perfect; your father is a ready-made candidate!"

She blinked twice. "Why do I feel like your train of thought is jumping so wildly? My father just peddled tangerines for a few days, and you've already thought of... asking him to watch a shop in the city? He's someone who has never traveled far from home..."

"Never traveled far, so what? A 60-year-old man has eaten more salt than I have rice. If he can peddle through the streets and alleys, is he afraid of dealing with people?"

"I'll go with him for two or three days. He doesn't need to be glib-tongued to help me solicit business or anything. He just needs to sit there and watch the shop. At worst, I'll write out a few price tags and stand them up there. If people ask how much, he just shows them the tag; he doesn't even need to gesture. Even if people don't know how to read, they surely know their coins and cents, right?"

"I'm just afraid my father is an honest man and won't know how to talk..."

"He doesn't speak Mandarin, so what does he need to say? As long as he knows how to use the scale and sell things, that's enough. Furthermore, when you sell goods, if people want you to lower the price, that's them talking nicely. If you can sell, you sell; if you can't, you just shake your head and don't sell. You don't need to be good at talking; you're not begging them to buy, are you?"

Listening to this, Lin Xiuqing felt that what he said actually made quite a bit of sense.

"This... this is too sudden. Let's talk about it in a few days. He might still be selling tangerines and pomelos for a long time. When he sent them over today, there was only that one gunny sack of bitter oranges left that he specifically saved for us; everything else was sold out."

"No rush. Let's wait until the shop is handed over. By then, he won't need to push a cart around peddling; he can just bring the pomelos and tangerines to the city shop to sell. Things sell very well around the market."

"We'll see! Who knows if my father will be willing? It's a strange place where he doesn't know anyone. If he stays in the city, he'll probably feel uncomfortable all over. He hasn't even been to the city a few times in his whole life."

"Uh..."

If he feels uncomfortable all over, then that's hard to say!

An old person's attachment to the land is indeed very strong...

"Then let's talk about it in a few days. If I happen to run into him, or if we go over there, I'll ask him and chat with him about it."

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him. "With that mouth of yours, you could talk a dead man back to life. My father probably won't be able to hold out."

"What kind of talk is that? If you want to praise me, do it properly. Could I possibly force your father?"

"You can't force him, but my father will definitely find it hard to refuse you and might just bite the bullet and do it."

"We'll see! Let your father sell tangerines for a few more days; who knows, he might be able to train himself to a higher level. By then, when I bring it up, he might feel that even at his age, he's found a place to be useful, and he might happily agree on the spot?"

Lin Xiuqing was amused by him.

"That's my own father!"

"He's my father too!"

"What father or not," Ye Mu said, having just called the two aunts over. "Where's the fish? Why isn't it in the courtyard?"

Lin Xiuqing's eyes crinkled with a smile. "I moved it to the back door. The front door is already full; it's not easy to dry. Today, I'll just dry it at the back door."

"In the middle of the night, hanging outside, will it be stolen? There are so many petty thieves; there's nothing they don't want. It's safer to hang it in the courtyard."

"The courtyard is already full..."

"It's fine to hang them lower later. Hang one layer high, and one layer low."

"That works too. Then let's keep killing them at the back door for now, and move them to the front to hang later. Otherwise, the front open space will only have one path left, and it won't be convenient to kill them."

"Mm." After Ye Mu responded, she called her two sisters to the back door to kill the fish.

Charity begins at home. Ever since Ye Dasao and Ye Ersao also started killing their own fish and couldn't spare the hands to earn the wages here, Ye Mu gave the work to her own sisters.

Seeing her aunt and second aunt arrive with their own cutting boards, Lin Xiuqing quickly took two bitter oranges from the gunny sack by the firewood pile with each hand and stuffed them into their arms. Seeing they had no extra hands to hold them, she stuffed them into their cotton-padded jacket pockets.

"Aunts, have a taste. My father grew them himself."

"Hehe, no need to give them to us. We don't have time to eat; we're about to start killing fish."

"That's right, we don't have time to eat. You keep them for the two children at home; no need to be so polite."

"They have plenty to eat. You eat yours before you start working."

Ye Mu also said with a smile, "Have a taste. They were all grown by my in-law. They're quite sweet and refreshing, and very juicy."

"Oh, alright..."

Although they agreed with their mouths, how could they bear to eat them? They didn't even move them in their pockets. As soon as they got to the back door, they sat down to kill the fish, all planning to save them to take home for their grandchildren.

After everyone had gone to the back, Ye Yaodong said, "I was serious just now. If your father comes over tomorrow, talk to him and see if he's willing?"

"He probably won't peddle this way tomorrow. He'll likely walk to other villages. He's sold this way for two consecutive days; he'll probably change his route tomorrow."

"That's true. Then I'll wait until I have time in a few days to ask. By the way, did you give your father money? 100 jin is quite a bit of money; it's several yuan."

"I gave it to him, but he insisted on not taking it. I stuffed it to him, and he threw it back before he left."

"Then in a few days, keep a gunny sack of dried fish and carry it over to him."

"That's what I was thinking too."