Chapter 651: Seeking help

The old lady smiled, revealing her toothless gums, and after handing the child to Aqing, she stood by the bed and watched Ye Yaodong count the money.

"You haven't eaten lunch yet. I thought you were discussing something earlier, so I didn't dare to come and knock on the door to disturb you. I'll go cook something for you to eat first."

"Not hungry," Ye Yaodong replied during a gap. "Finish counting first."

Lin Xiuqing sat on a stool nearby holding the child and feeding him, but her attention was always on them. Hearing the old lady's words, she felt a bit embarrassed.

"Then I'll help you count together, it'll be faster." The old lady also sat on the edge of the bed to help organize the paper money.

"Didn't Dad tell you after he finished counting?"

Ye Yaodong nodded and then shook his head.

He was counting silently; where would he have time to answer her questions? It was a bit late to ask now, wasn't it?

"Nodding and shaking your head, what does that mean?"

"Don't be noisy! You just told me not to count out loud, and now you're sitting there nagging without counting yourself."

Lin Xiuqing was speechless.

The old lady smiled, took the money she was holding, and patted him. "Answer him, it won't take much of your time? And he hasn't been pestering you, has he?"

Ye Yaodong happened to count to a round number, so he mercifully stopped. "Dad only knows the approximate total. He remembers how much comes in every day, but he doesn't add it up every day. He thinks adding is troublesome and easy to forget, so he only remembers the income."

After getting the answer, Lin Xiuqing didn't bother him anymore.

Ye Yaodong would take out one bill after counting 100 to avoid messing them up, then stack them in small piles.

By the time Aqing finished feeding the baby, he and the old lady were almost done counting, with only the coins left.

There weren't many large bills; almost all were small change. He really experienced what it meant to count money until his hands cramped.

"Let's use this small change for payments tomorrow too, to save having a pile of it; we're almost out of space. Next time, we need to make a box to put it in."

The old lady also nodded solemnly. "Yes, we need to make a box and lock it."

"And then when a thief visits, they can just take the box away..."

"What kind of talk is that?" the old lady said with a smile.

"Just joking. If we buy a box, we'll have to nail it inside the wardrobe, nail it shut."

"Shh, can't let it out."

"That's for sure, only to you."

Ye Yaodong continued to count the pile of paper money that covered the bed. After having a rough idea in his mind, he handed the coins to Aqing to count and had to go out for a bit.

He could just ask for the number when he got back.

The old lady called out from behind, "Eat before you go out?"

"You cook first, I'll be right back."

Lin Xiuqing added for him, "He's going to Uncle Pei's friend's house. He promised to collect the dried lizardfish, but we don't have space at home. We'll have space tomorrow, so he's going over to tell them."

"Oh, oh, that's right, he should tell them to put their minds at ease."

Ye Yaodong rode his bicycle and went back and forth quickly, not taking much time. But when he returned, he happened to run into his eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law.

It turned out it had become windy, so they came back early. The eldest brother and second brother were still selling goods at the pier, and the two sisters-in-law were pushing a cart of goods back first.

"The harvest today doesn't look bad either."

The eldest sister-in-law smiled. "It's okay. We also dug up some kelp, but it's not very long. It'll probably take another two months to grow big. I'll let Aqing take two sheets back to stir-fry later."

The second sister-in-law couldn't wait to lift a bucket from the cart and ran to him. "Adong, look at this small bucket we dug today. Is this the sea chicken feet you took to town to sell a few days ago?"

"Oh?"

"I see its feet are very long, longer than the usual Buddha's hand." She looked at Ye Yaodong with expectation.

The eldest sister-in-law also hurriedly stopped the cart and walked over; she had been thinking of asking when they got home.

Ye Yaodong hurriedly stopped the bicycle, put down the kickstand, and reached into the bucket to grab a few at random.

Hey? It really was!

"You guys are quite lucky."

"Really?"

The two sisters-in-law were instantly happy. These things had slightly longer feet, but they were very expensive.

They had been beachcombing for the past few days, and the harvest was great~

If they weren't catching some stranded fish, they were digging up razor clams, and they could occasionally pick up one or two blue crabs. Not to mention the shelled ones they dug up and dried, just picking up things on the island by luck was better than sitting at home weaving nets all day.

Although luck played a big part, it was obvious that their luck had been okay these past two days. Today, they even encountered an unexpected surprise, finding some of the sea chicken feet Adong mentioned in the crevices of the rocks.

Ye Yaodong nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, when I went to sell them the day before yesterday, a dozen jin sold for 200 yuan. You guys should have five or six jin here; it should be able to sell for a few dozen, right?"

The two were even happier.

"Then Adong, can we trouble you to take them to sell for us this afternoon while they're fresh?"

"Ah? Me? I just got back, I might not have time. You guys can go yourselves."

His house was piled with goods in several rooms, waiting for him to weigh them. How would he have time to help them deliver them to town to sell?

The two looked at each other and laughed dryly. The second sister-in-law said bluntly, "We've never been there, and we're nervous. How would we dare to deliver them to someone's hotel? The eldest brother and second brother are the same; what if we get kicked out? You've been there a few times, you must be familiar..."

The eldest sister-in-law also hurriedly nodded in agreement. "Right, right, right, you've sold them twice, you're more familiar... It won't take long if you ride your bicycle. You can ask your two brothers to help with the work at home; it won't delay anything at all."

Ye Yaodong frowned.

The two sisters-in-law continued, "It definitely won't take up too much of your time. You're familiar with it anyway, you can go and come back."

"It's only 1 o'clock now, weighing dried fish won't take much time. The whole afternoon and evening, there's plenty of time. Just consider it doing your brother and sister-in-law a favor..."

Sigh~ If he didn't go, he had to go.

Ye Yaodong nodded. "Fine, when the eldest brother and second brother come back, let one of them come with me. Next time you dig them up, you can deliver them yourselves."

"Hey, hey, good. When your eldest brother and second brother come back, we'll tell them."

"Hmm, I'm going back first."

"Good, good."

Ye Yaodong pushed the bicycle and left first. It was just a short distance, so he didn't ride it, saving his butt from being jolted.

In the house, the old lady had already stir-fried rice cakes and also made a shrimp skin soup to go with it. Everything was covered with a plate to prevent it from getting cold in the freezing weather.

Seeing him return, she hurriedly beckoned to him, removed the plate covering it, and handed the chopsticks to him.

"Hurry up and eat, so it doesn't get cold. I didn't know when you'd be back, and I was afraid the noodles would get soggy, so I stir-fried rice cakes for you and made a shrimp skin soy sauce soup."

"Good."

It was crab stir-fried rice cakes, with small shrimp, oysters opened by the two sisters-in-law yesterday, eggs, and cabbage. It was still steaming, making his appetite increase greatly.

Soy sauce was dripped into the shrimp skin soup on the side, with green scallions and white shrimp skin floating on top, along with a bit of oil. It looked like a bit of scallion oil had been added, and it smelled like lard, extremely fragrant.

The old lady loved him!

He first stirred the shrimp skin soup with a spoon, drank two mouthfuls to warm his stomach, and then picked up his chopsticks and ate in big mouthfuls.

"Hmm, delicious, really fragrant!"

The old lady smiled kindly. "You must be starving. What did you eat in the city this morning?"

"Meat buns and porridge. My father-in-law and the others cooked porridge, so I bought a few meat buns and ate them together."

"It's good that you ate; I was just afraid you didn't."

"How is that possible? I'm someone who wants to taste two mouthfuls of everything I see. How could I let myself go hungry?"

"Good, good, good, eat quickly, scoop up the soup to go with it. Where did this basket of shrimp skin come from? You brought back a basket two days ago, and you brought another today. I'll hang it up for you."

The old lady picked up the basket of shrimp skin he had just taken off the bicycle and placed on the table, intending to put it away and hang it on the wall.

"No need to hang it!" Ye Yaodong's mouth was stuffed full. He mumbled a sentence, then chewed it up, swallowed it, and said.

"This was given by someone just now. I intend to take it to Uncle Zhou. I trouble him to come and go every day. Although the fare is calculated, it doesn't fall into his hands, so I thought I'd give this basket of shrimp skin to him."

The old lady nodded. "That's what should be done. We don't have anything else at home besides dried fish."

"Hmm."

Lin Xiuqing came out of the room after finishing counting the money. "Do you want me to help you deliver it later? You still have to weigh the goods."

"No need, weigh the goods later. The eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law dug up some sea chicken feet and asked me to help them deliver them to town to sell. I'll deliver them on the way later, it's just right."

"Ah? They're that lucky?"

"Hmm, they really are quite lucky."

At this moment, everyone was thinking very well, not knowing that accidents would come unexpectedly.

"Then you eat quickly. Weighing 3,000 jin of goods will take a while, and it has to be moved back and forth. I'll go ask Dad to move the goods to the courtyard later so it's convenient for you to weigh them directly when you get back."

"That works too."

The old lady didn't know they had sold another 3,000 jin today and asked in surprise, "Weighing 3,000 jin all at once, is there someone who wants it?"

"Yes."

Ye Yaodong repeated it to the old lady again, and the old lady was happy.

She had heard them say earlier that they could clear up space today and collect those thousands of jin of dried lizardfish tomorrow. She thought Dongzi was going to deliver a truckload to the city at night to clear the house. She didn't expect they had sold such a large amount again. No wonder he was so excited to pull Aqing into the room as soon as he got back.

"Then you must thank them properly. They bought so much all at once," the old lady said, worrying for him. "We don't seem to have anything at home to give away... besides dried fish, it's just dried fish..."

"It's fine. The shellfish meat dried by the two sisters-in-law should be dry too. We'll weigh theirs over later, and tomorrow we'll take some to give away. By the way, we'll promote it; maybe we can expand the business."

"Hey, right, right, right, your brain is still flexible, you know how to think. Eat, eat, don't just talk..."