Chapter 690

Ye Yaodong listened to him speak so earnestly, asking only for money and not for things, and didn't find it surprising at all. How could he not know what kind of scheme was running through his mind?

This was his own son; he knew exactly what kind of shit he was going to drop the moment he stuck his butt out!

"Fine, I'll calculate the money for you. As for the others, I'll buy them instant noodles and soda whenever I find the time, but don't you even think about it."

Ye Chenghu nodded his head with a radiant smile, like a chick pecking at rice; he already had his own plan anyway.

Seeing the crafty look on his face, Ye Yaodong dug into his pocket and pulled out a large handful of coins. The children in front of him stared with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Wow, Third Uncle, you brought so much money!"

"So many coins!"

"Don't drool, you guys don't get a share." Ye Yaodong picked through them in his palm, took out four five-cent coins, and put the rest back into his pocket.

Then, he took two five-cent coins and handed them to Ye Chenghu, and took the other two five-cent coins for Ye Chengyang.

Ye Chengyang was so happy his eyes squinted into slits and his mouth stretched wide. He asked joyfully, "Do I have some too, Dad?"

"Of course. The bottles and jars your brother put away have half your share in them, and you caught a small white octopus just now too. Since we're splitting the money, of course you two get half each!"

Ye Chenghu held the money in his hand, the smile on his face freezing over.

Huh? He had to split it half-and-half with Yangyang?

"Since your brother wants money and not food, then I'll give you money too, half each. That way, I won't have to buy you two instant noodles and soda later."

"Okay, okay! I'm happy just drinking malted milk!"

Ye Chengyang was very happy. He had thought it all belonged to his brother; he hadn't expected to have half of it. This was great.

Ye Chenghu couldn't be happy anymore. Not only was there no food to eat, but the money had also been cut in half!

"Dad..."

"What? Not satisfied? Then go carry them to the pier and sell them yourself. If you sell them to me, I'm definitely going to take a discount."

Despicable!

Ye Chenghu pouted, clutching the ten cents in his hand tightly. He wanted to protest, but looking at his tall and burly father, he knew any protest would be ineffective.

When one is under another's roof, one has no choice but to bow one's head.

Ye Yaodong looked at his sullen expression and felt great. He picked up the bucket by his feet and signaled for them to catch their respective white octopuses and throw them into the bucket first.

"Gather them all in my bucket so it'll be easier for you to say you didn't catch anything today when we get back."

"Got it~"

They scrambled to grab the small white octopuses into their own buckets. After emptying them, they poured out all the water, leaving only one red octopus weighing just under a jin in each of the two girls' buckets.

Ye Xiuxiu hesitated for a moment, then put her red octopus into his bucket too. "Third Uncle, I don't want this red octopus either. I'll give it all to you. When we get back, I'll just say I didn't catch anything."

Ye Jingjing thought about it and also took the one out of her bucket. "Then mine is for you too."

The two of them were quite sensible. Two red octopuses could be stir-fried into a bowl tonight to treat his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

Ye Yaodong felt his pocket and counted out another twenty cents from the pile of coins.

The children's gazes remained fixed on him, following his hands, their eyes shining as they watched.

Ye Chenghu also looked on expectantly, thinking his father had a change of heart and was going to give him a little more.

But to his surprise, his gaze followed his father's hand only to see it handed to his two older sisters—ten cents each—having nothing to do with him.

"Here, I'm not taking them for nothing. Keep them safe and use them to buy paper, pens, and school supplies. You'll still get your instant noodles and soda in a few days."

The two girls took them excitedly. "Third Uncle is the best!"

The others were incredibly envious. If they had known, they would have asked for money. How great it would be to have solid cash in their hands! They could buy whatever they wanted; there were so many things at the school gate...

Ye Yaodong looked at the children, whose eyes were glowing like wolves, and casually tapped two of their heads. "Alright, stop looking. Even if you look, it won't end up in your hands. Study hard so you can earn big money in the future. It's time to go back now."

He picked up the heaviest bucket and started walking back first, intending to put it in the pot as soon as he got it home.

The group of children behind him hurriedly picked up their empty buckets and followed.

"Third Uncle, when you take them back, you must not let our moms see..."

"Yeah, if they don't see, they won't suspect anything."

"That way we won't get beaten..."

Ye Yaodong cooperated perfectly. "No problem. You guys run home first in a little while to attract your moms' attention. I'll carry the buckets and walk back slowly; they won't come to my house to check the buckets."

The group of big and small radish heads all nodded together.

If they could avoid a beating, of course they didn't want to get beaten.

After reaching a consensus, they were incomparably happy. Excitedly carrying their empty buckets, they ran along the beach, shouting and yelling. Ye Chenghu had to cast his earlier sullenness to the back of his mind and run and shout along with everyone else.

"Let's have a race to see who gets home first, and whoever wins, wins?"

"Okay, okay! You guys aren't allowed to run yet, everyone stand together..."

"Ready, run~"

"Wow, they ran before we finished talking..."

The world of children is just this happy, just this simple.

Ye Yaodong, carrying a bucket of octopuses and a bucket of small seafood, also quickened his pace.

In the courtyard, there was one more person cleaning fish; Ye Mu had also finished work and returned.

The two pairs of parents were affectionate, cleaning fish together and chatting, looking incredibly harmonious with smiles on their faces.

Seeing Ye Yaodong return, Ye Mu hurriedly said with a smile, "I wasn't here, and you didn't know to call your aunt over to clean fish. The two in-laws came from so far away, and they sat down to work before they even caught their breath. It'll be a laughingstock if word gets out."

Before Ye Yaodong could reply, Lin Mu hurriedly said politely, "Why would we need to invite anyone? We were idle anyway, what does it matter to clean a few fish? If we really just sat there idly, we'd feel uncomfortable all over. It's just right to have something to do to pass the time; otherwise, the old man was already prepared to carry a hoe and go take a look at your fields."

Ye Fu said with a smile, "You've also been working hard in the city. How could we be embarrassed to ask you to work when you've rarely come back? Dongzi just doesn't know any better..."

Ye Yaodong: "???"

Clearly, when he went out, he had just seen his father-in-law and mother-in-law cleaning fish in the courtyard, and his father was already in the courtyard.

The first person to see them didn't stop them, but instead blamed it on him?

Adults are just like this; they love to casually dump the blame on the younger generation.

"Then should I go call Auntie now?"

Ye Mu glared at him. "It's almost all cleaned, what are you going to call her for?"

"Then it's none of my business, I'm going inside..."

Ye Yaodong carried the two buckets and headed into the house. Staying with the elders made it especially easy to be brought up as a topic of conversation; if he didn't hear it, he could pretend he didn't know.

"Hey? How many octopuses did you catch today? I just heard the little ones next door shouting that there wasn't even one. What's going on? Were they stolen by someone?"

"Who knows? There are quite a lot of people on the beach."

"Then you have to go earlier tomorrow. If you can't catch the low tide, let your sister-in-law and second sister-in-law go take a turn, so they don't get stolen by others..."

Ye Yaodong ignored his mother's nagging behind him and carried them into the house first.

Lin Xiuqing was cooking after counting the money. Seeing him return with two buckets, she hurriedly stepped forward to take them. She was just about to speak when he made a 'shh' gesture.

"The little ones asked me to keep it a secret; they sold them to me!"

She knew it. Her Third Uncle didn't have the heart for it; he still had to spend money.

"Then take them to the corner to keep them alive for the night, and cook them tomorrow."

"Yeah, steam this bucket of miscellaneous small seafood tonight. Send a bowl to the sister-in-law and second sister-in-law's side later; they were all picked by the little ones."

"Okay."

Today's episode could be considered a successful deception. When Lin Xiuqing sent over the cooked small seafood, the little ones were all sitting safely at the dining table eating. They only exchanged glances from time to time, looking very crafty, which made people a bit puzzled, but she knew it in her heart.

Adong really is a child king; he's such a grown man, yet he still accompanies this group of children in their nonsense.

Early the next morning, Lin's two brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law arrived early with new clothes and tiger-head shoes. This was something Lin Mu had instructed beforehand; she hadn't had time to prepare them in the city, so she told the two daughters-in-law to prepare them and send them over.

Ye Xiaoxi was also specially dressed up today, with two little buns tied up and two bright red hair clips on her head, which Ye Yaodong had brought back from Zhejiang Province when he was catching jellyfish last year.

Matching her chubby little face, she looked exceptionally festive. She was also wearing a new red outfit, like a lucky doll in a painting, especially endearing.

From the moment she changed into her new clothes, the two sisters-in-law kept praising her incessantly.

"I've never seen a baby girl as cute as our little Nine. This little face, you just want to touch it again after touching it once."

"No one else's baby girl is as well-raised as yours. These little arms feel so sturdy when you touch them..."

"Can she walk yet? Can she call people?"

"Occasionally she calls Dad and Mom, occasionally she calls Papa, Mama, and Brother, all mumbled. She can't really walk yet, but she stands quite steadily. She can walk a few steps if she holds onto the edge of the bed."

"Give her a chicken foot to gnaw on later, then her legs and feet will have strength."

A room full of women were chattering away there. Ye Yaodong took a peek at the doorway but didn't feel embarrassed to go in, so he went to see how the two sisters-in-law's dishes were coming along.

Instead, he was surrounded by a group of children. "Didn't Ayuan come?"

"Third Uncle, didn't Ayuan and the others come?"

"No, they all have to go to school, how would they have time to come over? You guys hurry up and go to school too, stop dawdling there."

Ye Chenghai was reluctant to leave. "I thought he would come today; I wanted to take him to the beach to catch octopuses..."

"Stop thinking about it..."

"Is this bucket of white octopuses Adong left back yesterday, or did he buy them? The quantity is quite large..."

Seeing Ye Dasao just pulling over a bucket of white octopuses from the corner and muttering while scooping them, the group of children were so scared they hurriedly carried their schoolbags and ran away, not daring to stay and talk nonsense anymore.

"Little brats!"

After Ye Yaodong scolded them with a laugh, he pulled up his pant legs and squatted down, asking his two sisters-in-law, "Do you need help? Is there anything that needs doing?"

"No, no, we'll just call your brother if there's anything. You go inside and keep the in-laws company."

"Alright then."

This was the third child; they didn't hold a full-month celebration, and of course, they weren't planning to make a fuss for the first birthday either. The two families would just eat a meal together; they didn't invite any outsiders.

It was simple, but the necessary sense of ritual wasn't missing.

Ye Xiaoxi was wearing red clothes embroidered with tiger heads, wearing tiger-head shoes, and wearing bracelets and anklets, standing in the playpen. Raising her hands and feet, she sounded jingle-jangle, incomparably cute.

Ye Huimei and A Guang's daughter were also brought over today. The two baby girls, one standing and one sitting, had company. The two of them communicated with 'ah-ah' sounds, also without any obstacles.

The adults would turn their heads to look at them from time to time while eating lunch, and then smile knowingly.

"These two are the same age, just a few months apart. They'll have company in the future and can play together."

"That's how it is..."