Chapter 747: The Camera Is in Hand (Extra Chapter Two for Alliance Leader Shi Yi)

"Ah? No relation is fine, just met a few times."

The young officer was skeptical — no relation, just met a few times, yet Director Tang had specifically spoken up to reserve one for him?

Who'd believe that?

Some of them couldn't even get one for their friends and family.

Probably afraid that if people found out about the backdoor deal, it would be awkward to explain, so they were being evasive.

The young officer filled in the blanks with his own self-satisfied imagination.

Ye Yaodong was too embarrassed to throw his weight around, so he didn't say anything about having a good relationship with Director Chen or anything like that. Actually, as he put it, their relationship wasn't that great to begin with.

The two men's positions were worlds apart — how could he shamelessly use the other's name to get things done? If it got back to him, it would leave a bad impression, and that would be more loss than gain. Better to just let them make up their own minds.

Besides, telling a young officer that he had a good relationship with Director Chen wouldn't do any good — the man didn't have that kind of authority, and he'd probably just think you were bragging.

Anyway, once their deputy director arrived, he'd see if he could ask and whether the other man would show Director Chen some face.

After all, when you help someone, you help them all the way — send Buddha off to the Western Heaven and all that. He'd already given them the boat at a low price, so he probably wouldn't mind throwing in a few smuggled goods too, right? Probably?

Ye Yaodong didn't chat much more with the young officer. Watching people come in one after another, he kept looking around, trying to spot Director Tang — only that man's word carried any weight.

But as it turned out, the big boss always makes the last entrance. After looking for a long time, he didn't see the man arrive, but the person handling his paperwork did show up.

It was simple and efficient — sign a paper form, pay 1,500 yuan, and the other party handed over a crank handle with a small paper slip stuck to it.

The small slip had the boat's markings written on it, stuck on with transparent tape, probably to distinguish the cranks of the several boats.

After taking the crank, Ye Yaodong asked, "About when will your Director Tang be coming over?"

"He's here, right behind you."

"Ah!"

He turned around quickly and just happened to see Director Tang walking toward him, while his crank handle was pointing right at the man — hahaha…

Ye Yaodong gave an awkward laugh and quickly lowered his hand. "Morning, Director Tang."

"Mm, you're here pretty early too."

After exchanging a word, the man walked toward his own office.

Ye Yaodong quickly handed the crank in his hand to his father and hurried to follow.

He was still thinking about the confiscated smuggled goods, wondering if he could buy some at a bargain.

The others had brought money too — even if they couldn't get a boat, they could look at other things. That way the trip wouldn't be wasted, otherwise he'd feel bad about it.

Ye Fu took the crank and went out first to give the others a heads-up, so they wouldn't keep waiting at the door with their hopes up.

The four of them heard that the boats had all been dealt with, none left — some had disappointed expressions, some had knowing looks.

"Still, Dongzi's luckier, knowing big shots. I figured us little fishermen wanting to buy would be tough — who doesn't know to come grab a bargain?" Xiao Xiao shrugged and said, "Today we just came to look around, try our luck."

Ye Ye Yaopeng was a bit unwilling to give up. "Didn't even check the bulletin board, see if there's any notice…"

A Zheng said, "How could they post it? If they did, a whole crowd would come running. It must be people with connections who just took them, same as Dongzi."

"Too bad, we don't have that luck. Forget it, the boat at home still works." Ye Ye Yaohua was rather easygoing about it.

"If you really want another boat, just order a new one from the shipyard — new ones last longer than old ones anyway." Ye Fu also said.

Xiao Xiao: "We'll see, earn more money first."

A Zheng: "So Dongzi's boat is all set, right? He already got the crank. Can we take the boat back now? Why hasn't he come out yet?"

"The deputy director came by just now, Dongzi followed him into the office — probably to thank him. Let's just wait here."

"Oh, then let's wait, it's not like we're in a rush."

With nothing to look forward to, everyone got a bit restless and wandered around the area, until Ye Yaodong came out with a beaming face, calling them and waving them in.

Everyone was puzzled — it was already a done deal, why call them in?

"What for?"

"Take you to see something good, keep quiet about it."

"What?"

Curious, they followed him in. Seeing the simple office desks and people coming and going, they all found it rather novel — it was everyone's first time at the border defense station.

Most ordinary people, upon hearing they had to go into the border defense station, would resist strongly — an instinctive mix of awe and fear. Going into a place like that never meant anything good; who would want to go?

A young officer led them to the back courtyard, warning them as they walked not to touch or handle things randomly.

Ye Yaodong also whispered to them that he was taking them to the confiscated smuggled goods warehouse to see if there was anything they wanted to buy — they could get it cheap. It was all internal disposal anyway, and the internal connections were all tangled up in knots.

Just now in the office, he'd briefly thanked the man, made small talk, repeatedly promised not to go blabbing outside. He'd already gotten a boat, he didn't need anything else…

Director Tang probably found him annoying, holding up work, and waved him off, telling someone to take them there.

They entered a place that looked like a warehouse and saw the floor piled with a jumble of stuff — everything imaginable.

Big items like refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, sewing machines, bicycles — all there. Small items too — umbrellas, shoes, silk scarves, yarn — even more complete than a department store.

Their eyes weren't enough to take it all in — walking in, they'd touch this, tap that, ask the price of this, the price of that.

The warehouse attendant grew quite impatient, and only then did each of them pick out a few items.

Even Ye Ye Yaohua gritted his teeth and bought a sewing machine, while Ye Ye Yaopeng bought a bicycle. The bigger items — TV, washing machine, refrigerator — none of them thought to buy, at most they'd look a few extra times.

Ye Yaodong was the same. Though his eyes lingered a bit, he didn't think to buy either. A washing machine would get him scolded, and this season it wasn't really needed; a refrigerator wasn't practical either, afraid of frequent power outages; a black-and-white TV was even more useless — it wasn't like he hadn't watched TV before, and besides, there weren't many channels now anyway.

He was already sick of TV dramas, and in a few years color TVs would be out. A black-and-white TV was such a big lump, taking up space and getting in the way. The family already had a radio for broadcasts, and that was enough.

So he only bought a camera and two rolls of film, plus two nylon umbrellas.

There were no umbrellas at home — too inconvenient. The kids coming home from school often had to use lotus leaves or wild taro leaves to shield themselves.

There wasn't anything else they particularly needed. Though cheap, some small things were easy to buy in the alleys outside.

Better to buy as needed rather than stock up in advance and get scolded for bringing home useless stuff.

A Zheng and Xiao Xiao circled around and around, each coming out with a radio. He thought that was all they wanted, but when they came out they also said they each wanted a sewing machine.

The "three turns and one sound" all dealt with here — everything for just 100 yuan, cheaper than what was sold in the alleys outside. They wanted everything they saw, but with great restraint only bought two big items.

Only his father — looking at this, touching that, but buying nothing — was probably afraid that if he went back, his mother would never let him hear the end of it.

They carried everything out from inside, moved it into the courtyard, and then each settled their own bill.

They also borrowed a flatbed cart from the logistics unit, planning to haul the goods to the dock, load them straight onto the boat, and head back.

The young officer they'd bumped into when opening the door also accompanied them, leading the way up front and taking them to find a boat.

After they had loaded everything onto the boat, he would also push the flatbed cart back to the station.

The deck was piled with all sorts of small appliances they had bought, and their faces were all beaming with happy smiles — every one of them satisfied, and it could be said they hadn't come back empty-handed.

"At least the trip wasn't wasted. This sewing machine would cost 130 even without a coupon outside, and this radio — I heard this brand is also over 100. They're all good stuff."

"My bicycle too — it was all worth buying."

"That television looked really nice, only 350 bucks, outside you'd pay 450 to buy one. I almost steeled myself and bought it, but I was afraid I couldn't explain it when I got home, so I could only buy the radio."

"Hahaha, just mooch off someone else's television. You guys work every day and aren't home anyway — when would you have time to watch?"

"Exactly what I mean. Those people love to show off — in this hot weather they even love to carry it to the door to flaunt it."

"Dongzi, buying a camera is totally useless — might as well buy a television. The village already has two televisions; you could buy one and bring it back too." A'Zheng looked at his camera with disdain.

"No, it's a waste of money. Having a radio is enough for now."

With a camera, he could record his children's growth, record the passing of years, record the old face of the fishing village, and bring it out to sea — if he happened to come across something unusual, he could take photos and document it.

Like the sardine storm before, the manta ray dragging the boat, feeding the whale shark when it got tangled in the fishing net — all of these were worth recording, and in the future one might not necessarily get to see them again.

For him, the camera's uses were far broader than the television's or any other small appliance's — second only to the lazy man's bicycle!

"Tsk tsk tsk, no need for a television — you just steer this boat back to the dock and the whole village will go wild. The dock still has your family's two boats moored today; add this one sailing back, and the neighbors could swallow eggs whole with their mouths."

"The second boat just got a fresh coat of paint and the firecrackers haven't been set off yet — this boat sailing back right after means we can set off the firecrackers together."

"The only one in the whole village — no, the only one for miles around. Boss Dong, shouldn't you treat us to a proper feast?"

"Exactly, you're about to make a fortune again — if you don't treat us to drinks, that's just not right!"

A'Zheng and Xiao Xiao played off each other in a back-and-forth.

Ye Yaodong, having gotten his fishing boat, was in a great mood. With a grand wave of his hand, he said, "My treat — I'll treat you at noon! When the boat docks in a bit, we'll go buy some seafood from A'Cai's place, have a good drink at noon, eat and drink our fill, and an afternoon nap won't affect the night fishing trip."

"That's our Boss Dong for you — so thoughtful! Drink up and it won't hold up making money."