Chapter 590: Reminders

Ye Yaodong felt a flock of crows fly over his head.

At their age, still talking about cutting ties — how childish!

"Fine then, now you two have company. You two just rest up here for a bit. Ah Guang and I will head off first."

Ah Guang also beamed at the two of them. "Then you two squat here and rest up. Once you've recovered, you can hit the road. Dongzi and I will head off first. Coincidentally, Xiao Xiao still has a bike here. You two can ride it back later."

Perfect — those two idiots paired off together. The two of them, feeling light as a feather, hurried on ahead.

"No, don't—…"

"No way, I'm not giving him a piggyback!"

"Up to you!"

"I'm fine now, it barely hurts anymore…" Ah Zheng hurriedly cupped his crotch and chased after Ye Yaodong.

Ye Yaodong looked at him, a dark line crossing his brow. "You still want me to give you a ride? I seriously suspect this is a ploy to gain sympathy! You just want to slack off and avoid doing any work."

"Earlier you told me to be quick on my feet and jump onto their cart!"

"Get lost. I told you afterwards to ride back to the city and pick me up!"

"I don't care. Bottom line is, you're the one who told me to jump onto their cart. Now my balls hurt — are you going to take responsibility or not?"

Ah Zheng had the look of a dead pig unbothered by boiling water, leaving everyone a bit helpless.

Ye Yaodong looked at him speechlessly and shook his head. "Get on."

"Ayy, alright, alright~"

"Holy crap, wait for me! If I'm left alone and run into bandits on the road, what then?"

One by one they all left, and Xiao Xiao grew anxious too.

"Isn't that perfect? You bring up the rear…"

That's what they said, but they were all still waiting there and hadn't left.

"Are you okay or not? If not, just go in together and sit for a while?" Ah Guang asked with concern.

"After resting a bit, it feels a little better, but I don't dare ride right now. Give me a lift."

"No problem, but what about your bicycle?"

Xiao Xiao glared fiercely at Ah Zheng. "Get off. Ride my bike back for me!"

Ah Zheng knew he was in the wrong, and somehow his crotch didn't hurt anymore either. He pouted. "If I'm riding, then I'm riding!"

After a bout of fussing at the doorway, the four of them got back on their bicycles and set off again. Factory Director Wu had actually been standing at the entrance the whole time, watching from not far away, and in his heart he only felt that youth was wonderful.

These young fellows all looked full of energy.

Ye Yaodong didn't have to carry anyone, so his legs pedaled nimbly. But there was a stick tied to the front basket, which was a bit in the way.

The others felt the same way.

"Toss it? Everyone's pockets are empty, no money anyway, and it doesn't seem like we'll need it. Leaving it stuck up front is pretty annoying."

"Why toss it? Just in case. Whether you've got money or not, if we run into trouble, it's still a beating. I don't want to get hit. If we really don't use it, we can take it back and burn it as firewood."

"If you find it in the way, just hand it all to Xiao Xiao to hold. He happens to be sitting in the back with both hands free — let him carry it."

"Fair point. You'd even hold in your shit to go back home, let alone a stick. Bringing it back will still come in handy."

"Come in handy? A shit-stirring stick?"

"Haha, holy crap~"

"What the hell kind of shit-stirring stick~ hahaha~"

"Hahaha~"

Three bicycles rode side by side, chatting as they went. One person, one line, all laughing so hard their handlebars wobbled. Luckily this time they all kept steady, and no one's crotch got caught on the crossbar again.

It had been quite a while since everyone had gathered to go out and have fun together. These past year or two, everyone had been busy making money, and they rarely got together. When they did, it was just for drinks — no time to go out and play.

It was a cold day, the freezing wind pouring straight in, but everyone chatted happily enough.

Although yesterday there were rumors everywhere about bandits on the road, luckily none of them ran into any. Racing and chasing each other along the way, everyone made it home safely.

Lin Lin Xiuqing saw them return smoothly and felt relieved.

The New Year was approaching — not just bandits, even thieves were more active. Their little fishing village even had more beggars.

One came yesterday, two came today, all carrying cloth bags and begging at the door. She could only scoop each of them a small bowl of rice and send them on their way.

Actually, if she hadn't come out, they wouldn't have lingered. The big dog and little dog at the door were all gathered there barking, nearly scaring the beggars to death. It was the old lady who stopped them and told her to go scoop a small bowl of rice.

In these times, people whose lives weren't going well were everywhere. The beggars knew to be content — getting a small bowl of rice, they left gratefully.

Lin Lin Xiuqing was relieved to see Ye Yaodong ride back safely on his bicycle.

"Did you sign the contract? Did you get the money?"

"Mm, everything's settled. Just drop by to check on the progress when you have time. Keep the order safe and lock it up."

Ye Yaodong unzipped his padded jacket, lifted up his clothes, and took the order contract out from the cloth bag next to his body to hand to her.

"It's good that everything's done. Oh, this morning the neighbors came by and asked us if we could take their dried fish tonight. They've been collecting the dried ones these past two days, and by evening they'll basically all be sun-dried."

Ye Yaodong nodded. "Sure, then bring them all back and store them at home. Leave Ye Ye Erge's and the others' for now — collect them later. Let them pack them up and store them at home first."

"Otherwise, even if we weigh them and bring them to our place, there's nowhere to put them. They'd just have to be piled at their houses. Better to wait until we've made a few trips, cleared some space at home, then weigh and bring over the goods from their side. They're family — Ye Ye Erge and the others won't say anything."

Ye Ye Erge and the others wouldn't say anything, but the worry was that Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao would nag.

Still, giving them a heads-up in advance — even if they weren't thrilled about stock piling up in their hands — they wouldn't go around gossiping.

"Alright, then you go eat first. I'll go door to door and notify them to bring the goods over later. If we finish in an afternoon, that's perfect — saves us working until dark again."

"Do as you see fit."

Their house actually wasn't built very large — the floor area was just under 100 square meters. And that was only because the old lady's room had been added on at the back; otherwise it wouldn't even be that big.

Like Ye Ye Yaopeng's and Ye Ye Yaohua's houses — they didn't have a courtyard, just two rooms and a main hall, making them look even smaller.

And Ye Ye Yaohua's house in the middle was hemmed in on both sides, with no extra open ground. If they wanted to add rooms, they could only build upward.

After an afternoon of busy work, the wall-facing side of Ye Yaodong's main hall was already stacked with burlap sacks as tall as a person, and the hall now only had enough space left to walk through.

The remaining goods that had been collected back could only be piled into the two children's and the old lady's rooms, but fortunately, they could still barely fit.

Leaving the goods at the two elder brothers' houses for now without collecting them was a wise decision.

Ye Ye Yaopeng and Ye Ye Yaohua were also easy to talk to. Ye Yaodong casually mentioned it, and the two agreed without a second word, saying whenever he needed it he could just have them weighed and brought over, not worried at all about being stood up.

"So if the weather lets us go out to sea in the coming days, we can keep drying them, right? You still want them, right?" Ye Ye Dasao asked.

They had all tasted the sweetness and didn't want to give it up lightly — it was just a bit more effort, that's all.

"I want them. Other people may not, but you two families, however much you dry, I'll take it all."

Then they were relieved, and with so much stock piled up in the house, they just left it stacked for now.

Just as they finished their busy work and were about to eat, Ye Mother got off work, came back, let out a long sigh, and brought them another piece of gossip.

"You know what? Turns out one of the highway robbers from yesterday's rumor is from our neighboring Dongqiao Village. He teamed up with a friend from the village, plus a few young guys from town, and started pulling off highway robbery."

"Originally they were robbing around town, but later everyone got cautious — absolutely no one traveling alone, all moving in big groups. So recently they switched to the road heading to the county seat."

"Guess what happened now?"

"There was a tractor that had just left town, heading to the county seat, passing near Chishui Village, and these guys — clueless as they were — actually tried to block the tractor, shouting and yelling behind it the whole time, and even got into a fight with the driver operating it."

"Guess what happened?"

Ye Mother reached the climax of her story and at the exciting moment gave her thigh a hard slap. "That's truly karma catching up with the wicked."

"That driver gripped the handle and wouldn't let go, no matter how they hit him — he just drove faster and took sharper turns, trying to shake them off."

"In the end the tractor flipped right into the ditch, and the big side tire crushed one guy's leg — the bone shattered on the spot…"

"Hiss—" Ye Yaodong sucked in a cold breath. "Highway robbers are this fierce? Trying to rob something as big as a tractor?"

"I heard this tractor was carrying several crates of stuff in the back. Originally the driver, seeing someone blocking the road ahead, thought they wanted a lift and was about to stop."

"But then he saw them each holding sticks with unfriendly looks, so the driver didn't stop — he planned to just run them over, didn't care about them. Who knew those guys actually climbed onto the tractor as it charged past."

"Oh my, what a tragedy — an entire leg just a mess of flesh and blood. The village committee spent the whole afternoon talking about this."

Ye Mother turned to Ye Yaodong with concern: "You've got to be extra careful when you go out lately. With the New Year approaching, nowhere is peaceful — those hooligans and thieves, no matter how many they catch, they never finish."

"Your eldest brother and second brother, I'm not worried about them — they barely go out, honestly staying home doing work. It's only you who's running around outside all day."

"Also, the kids at home need to be watched closely too. Recently there are more beggars around — one careless moment and a child could be snatched away. If a child really got kidnapped, there'd be nowhere to even look." This remark Ye Mother directed at Lin Lin Xiuqing.

"I'll keep it in mind. Let's eat first, Mother. I'll go serve you a bowl."

"Mm," Ye Mother looked at Ye Chenghu with lingering worry. "Come straight home after school. Don't wander around outside after school all day — come home first."

"Got it."

In the dead of winter, cold and windy, with no sun they didn't even step out of the house, just holed up at home.

Ye Yaodong also, which was rare, spent a few leisurely days — eat, sleep, sleep, eat, wrapped in his quilt all day, not going anywhere.

It wasn't until New Year's Day, when he had to go to the shop in the city to make a payment, that he carpooled with his eldest brother, second brother, and Ah Cai and the others, riding the tractor together.

The next day was the agreed time to deliver the dried fish. He had originally agonized over whether to deliver a day early, but after thinking it over he gave up on the idea.

First, it wasn't yet the agreed delivery time — delivering early didn't seem quite right, would make him look too eager.

Second, he was also afraid of exposing that he was delivering to the military. The army camp wasn't exactly something you could let just anyone know about.