Chapter 681: Shelter

Lin Lin Xiuqing also glared reproachfully at Ye Yaodong. "I told you to watch the children, not let them go to the seaside, and not let them step in the water. And what do you do? You specifically took them to the beach to play, and they're soaked from head to toe."

"Ah? Are you framing me? I did everything you asked. I didn't bring out the two from our family. The ones I brought out aren't ours. It doesn't matter!"

"Uh..."

Lin Lin Xiuqing paused, then looked at the several figures running and playing in the distance. It seemed there really weren't any from her family?

The two were actually so well-behaved? Everyone else ran out, yet only they stayed at home?

Why did she find it so hard to believe?

"What were the two of them doing at home? Could they really stay put? Has the sun risen from the west?"

Ye Yaodong smirked wickedly and handed over Ye Ye Xiaoxi, who had been leaning forward in his arms, to her. "You'll know once you go back and see."

After speaking, he rolled the opening of the large hemp sack on the ground into a bundle, then turned his body and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

So heavy?!

Fortunately, he had been training for nearly two years; otherwise, he would have been outshone by his wife.

For the water buckets on the left, he carried three in one hand, leaving the remaining two for A-Qing to take.

Puzzled, Lin Lin Xiuqing held the child in one arm and carried a bucket in the other, following behind him as they returned together.

Their family really had more water buckets than anyone else's. Some were subsidies from the village before, distributed along with washbasins; others were snatched from others on the boat...

Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao had already shouldered their hemp sacks earlier and gone chasing after the children.

When they reached the doorway, Lin Lin Xiuqing finally realized why the two brothers could behave so well and not join the main group heading to the seaside to play.

"This... what is this? Why are the three of them tied to the pillar?"

Ye Ye Dasao suddenly noticed too. One tied with his back against the pillar was from her family. She was puzzled. What had Ye Chenghe done now?

That rascal was itching for a beating. One day without a beating and he'd fly to the sky. No doubt he was being mischievous again, which is why he got tied up.

"The two of them argued non-stop all morning, fighting, neither willing to yield. Even after separating them, they were still kicking and reaching out. So I thought, better to settle it once and for all, punish them, and have some peace. No need to act like a great judge deciding cases anymore."

"What about the other one?"

"Oh... that one also voluntarily came forward asking to be tied..."

"Ah?"

There's such a thing?

Ye Ye Dasao was speechless. This idiot was actually her own child. Voluntarily asking to be tied was worse than being tied for being mischievous. At least being mischievous made one look a bit smarter...

Idiot!

Seeing his mother return, Ye Chenghe happily shouted immediately, "Mother, you're finally back! The older brothers snuck off to the beach to play with Third Uncle..."

The first thing was to tattle. No problem there.

"Shut up. If you speak again, I'll tell your Third Uncle not to let you down. Tied up all night like that thief, standing guard here. You'd probably work better than a dog, and wouldn't be bribed with bones..."

Everyone: "..."

Ye Yaodong placed the large sack of bamboo shoots he had been carrying on his shoulder into the courtyard and said, "Wrong. This person's alertness isn't even as good as a dog's. At best, he's just a scarecrow, scaring away whoever comes—whether human, ghost, or thing—and making them leave voluntarily."

Ye Ye Chenghai shivered. "It's broad daylight, Third Uncle. Why are you speaking so terrifyingly?"

"I'm stating facts. Humans aren't as good as dogs!"

In many aspects, in every aspect...

"What do you mean human or dog? Ye Ye Chenghai, Ye Ye Jingjing, you two get back here right now! If you don't return, I'll beat you into dead dogs." Ye Ye Dasao roared like a lioness from the He River, shouting toward the doorway.

The two looked at Ye Yaodong as if begging for help.

Ye Yaodong, however, put his hands on his hips and looked at them coolly. "What did you just say? Did you forget?"

They had just dumped all the blame on his head, and now they were thinking of him for salvation? No way.

The two slumped their shoulders, hearing the scolding from next door, and had to shuffle forward, looking back every few steps.

Meanwhile, Ye Ye Ersao had already rushed over to catch them, grabbing one daughter's ear with each hand and dragging them toward her own home.

Ye Ye Chengjiang, on the other hand, followed leisurely behind. Who else but him, the male heir, the future pillar of the family? Mother must have thought so, which is why she didn't grab his ear.

He was full of confidence, but soon joy would turn to sorrow. Being a pillar, a male heir, was merely an illusion.

The future pillar is only for the future. Right now, if he deserves a beating, he must be beaten. Otherwise, when he grows up, you won't be able to beat him. Besides, boys are tougher than girls, so they need even more beatings, or they won't learn fear.

Watching the three taking pleasure in others' misfortune while leaning against the pillar, Lin Lin Xiuqing untied them and said, "Consider yourselves lucky to have escaped this time."

Ye Chenghe grinned. "Who told him not to listen and run to the beach? He deserved the beating. Third Auntie, hurry over and untie me. My mother is back, no need to tie me anymore."

Before Lin Lin Xiuqing could step up to untie them, Ye Yaodong had already unbound them first.

"Dad, what did you all pick up? Was there a lot?"

"Third Uncle, did you intentionally tie me up so you could take them to the beach?"

Ye Yaodong glanced down at him. "Is your face that big? Tie you up specifically? Didn't you come forward yourself asking to be tied? Go back, go back, get the hell back. Just looking at you is annoying."

As he spoke, he kicked him twice, driving him away.

"I don't want to. It's fun here."

Ye Chenghe squatted there, grinning, shamelessly shuffling only a few steps to the side, unwilling to return, simply stretching his neck to peek into every bucket.

"So many clams, and so many little fish~"

Ye Chenghu squatted there, his eyes sparkling as he looked at his father. "Dad, are we going again later? Can we go by ourselves? I'll just take a quick look, won't go near the water."

The other two also looked at him expectantly.

"No. It just rained, the water level rose. No one is allowed to go. You can only go after the tide recedes."

Which child can resist playing in the water? They all agree well with their mouths, then secretly run off to play.

Ye Yaodong pointed again at the corner, at the hemp sack he had just carried back. "If you're bored and have nothing to do, go peel the bamboo shoots for me."

"Peel bamboo shoots? Great, great~"

Ye Chenghu immediately changed his position, ran over, and pulled the bamboo shoots out of that sack. They were all small enough for children to carry.

Just didn't know how long his enthusiasm would last.

Just then, from next door came wails and pleas for mercy, mixed with cries of, "It's all Third Uncle's fault, it's all Third Uncle's fault..."

Ye Yaodong's mouth twitched. "You little rascals, none of you are any good; just beat them to death!"

Ye Chenghe stood up, tiptoed, and wore a face full of excitement. "I'm going home."

His face clearly read, 'I'm going home to watch the fun.'

Only, once he returned, what awaited him would be an equal, all-in-one beating, a group thrashing.

No sooner had he entered the house than his mother grabbed a cluster of palm leaves and, treating them all the same, started beating them; the three siblings ran around the room like ants on a hot pan, dodging.

"Mother, you're hitting the wrong one. I wasn't disobedient; I was very well-behaved today. You should be hitting Big Brother and my older sister."

"I'm hitting you because I'm your mother! How could I have given birth to such a fool?"

"No, I wasn't."

"Not yet? You idiot..."

Not only Ye Ye Dasao; next door, Ye Ye Ersao began no less fiercely, saying things like, "You've been treating my words as wind in your ears," and so on...

It was a scene of great commotion.

By the time the children broke through the siege and ran out of the house, another round of chaos erupted at the doorway.

The group of children, fleeing as if from danger, all rushed over to him, then quickly barred the courtyard gate to keep their mothers from entering.

"Wait, wait, there's still me..."

One had been left behind, so they quickly cracked the door open a slit, let the person in, and then locked it again.

Outside, only Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao remained; one held a stick, the other palm leaves, standing there with hands on hips, cursing a couple of times.

"If you have the guts, don't come out."

They huddled like quails, heads drooping, saying not a word.

Ye Yaodong sat there shelling bamboo shoots, glancing sideways at them. "You're treating this place as a shelter? I charge rent. Hurry over and help with the work; pay by labor."

"Ah~"

Instantly, they were happy again; all of them leaped over excitedly, squatting there, each scraping several shoots toward themselves, afraid that if they only shelled two, there would be none left.

This wasn't work; this was clearly a reward.

Seeing that someone had taken over the shelling, Ye Yaodong went inside to fetch a cleaver and a cutting board; once shelled, the shoots would need to be sliced and blanched, perfect for stir-frying with pickled vegetables at noon.

"Third Uncle, do we just tie the clay jar to a rope and throw it into the sea?"

Ye Ye Chenghai's mind was fixed on his bottles and jars for catching octopuses; having just learned this new knowledge, he wanted to put it into practice immediately, his heart itching like a cat scratching, wishing he could tie up the jar and throw it into the water right now.

"Then can we throw them outside the dock?"

Ye Yaodong instantly grew serious. "No! Children are not allowed to go outside the dock; the rocks there are very slippery."

Except on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month during the spring tides, no sandbar is exposed outside the dock; the tide is always high.

If you accidentally fall in, you might not drown, but you'll be scraped bloody by the rocks above.

"If you want to play, wait for the ebb tide, drag the bottles and jars to the lowest point on the beach, and since the tide rises and falls every day, just stick a stick into the sand and secure the bottles and jars on it; then go collect them the next day when the tide ebbs."

"Great, great!"

As long as there's a place for them to put them.