Chapter 817: A Virtuous Wife Brings Few Disasters to Her Husband

Ye Yaodong had just finished bathing and was sitting on a stool, head lowered, picking at blisters on his feet while trimming his toenails. He asked casually, "I saw that the open ground by the small workshop has started construction. When I passed by just now, I saw a long ditch had already been dug along the edge, and quite a few big stones piled up beside it."

Lin Lin Xiuqing said between bites, "Started this morning. Hired sixteen people — some digging ditches, some quarrying stones on the mountain, some carrying pebbles from the river. Tomorrow we can fill in the foundation along the edge with stones first, so it won't sink or be unstable later."

After thinking a moment she added, "When they were digging the ditch this morning, Mother specifically told the workers to shift it outward by twenty centimeters. Ahem… anyway, no one's going to say anything about it."

"Mm."

If no one measures the land now, then in a few decades when there's demolition or land certificates to deal with, they'll re-measure everything. In a few decades there definitely won't be any records left.

Just as some were eating and some were fussing with their feet, they saw several brats from next door running over one after another, squatting in front of his family's television.

"Have you finished your homework?"

"Finished! We did it as soon as we got back — absolutely won't delay watching TV!"

What a rare sight — the sun rising from the west. The TV actually has such charm that it made them rush to finish their homework the moment they got home.

"Chenghu, did you do yours?"

"Did mine too — I did my homework as soon as I got back." Ye Chenghu answered with rice still in his mouth.

So enthusiastic — looks like there's hope for scoring 100 on the test!

"Wow, rare indeed — buying a TV actually motivates you kids to study?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing said with a smile, "They're afraid of getting beaten if they don't do their homework, and they won't get to come watch TV. When they get back from school I don't let them watch — I tell them to do homework first, then after eating and bathing, the TV goes on at seven sharp. That gives them plenty of time to finish homework, bathe, and eat."

"Mm, that's the way to do it."

"Third Aunt, we've all finished our homework, bathed, and eaten — can we turn it on now?"

Ye Chenghu said domineeringly, "It's my family's TV — you have to wait until I finish eating!"

"Are you stupid? If you turn it on now you can watch too!"

Ye Chenghu froze with his chopsticks in his mouth, then thought — she's right. If they turn it on now he can watch right away; if he waits until after eating, he'll have to wait a while longer.

He turned to look at his mother…

Lin Lin Xiuqing didn't wait for him to speak and said directly, "I said seven o'clock, and seven o'clock it is — can't open it early. Besides, you haven't even finished eating. Hurry up and eat."

If they opened it early, these kids would definitely rush through their homework sloppily just to watch TV sooner. With plenty of time now, at least they'll do it properly.

The truth was — ahem… they'd been watching all day at home again, and the TV was a bit hot…

Better to let it cool a while in case it burns out, since once it's turned on it'll be running until nine or ten o'clock.

The TV was really too good — some time slots even played TV dramas, and the women at home were all glued to it.

Ye Yaodong looked at Lin Lin Xiuqing and raised an eyebrow. "The TV's pretty good, huh?"

"It's great, it's great — how many times have you asked now and you're still asking?"

He smiled and shook his head.

No stubbornness — just admit it's good!

He'd been exhausted for three days, his shoulders all bruised purple. He figured he wouldn't go out to sea tonight — rest one day first.

Just as he was lying on the bed dozing off, Lin Lin Xiuqing came in and said, "The weather forecast just said our city will be cloudy turning to light rain tomorrow. It's not raining yet, but we should bring the dried fish inside, just in case it rains tonight."

Ye Yaodong woke up a bit. "My shoulders hurt — I can't raise my arms. Get Dad and Mom to help bring them in. Are they not dry enough yet?"

"Not dry enough. It's been overcast, no big sun, and it's not the dry autumn or winter. Just hanging them out like this, they won't get that dry."

"Then we can only bring them inside or hang them under the eaves for now. Get the kids to help too."

"Each one of them has been waiting all evening, just hoping to watch for a bit now. I won't call them — it's not raining anyway. Dad, Mom, and I can slowly bring them in. Who knows when it'll clear up."

"Hard to say — we'll just have to wait. Anyway, they need ventilation once brought inside."

"Mm."

It rained — perfect excuse to rest legitimately. Just didn't know when it'd clear up. As long as it could be sunny for one day, it should dry. Thinking this, he dozed off again.

It wasn't until the next day, when sunlight streamed through the window onto him, that he squinted awake, opening one eye and closing the other to peek outside.

He thought — didn't they say yesterday it would be cloudy turning to light rain today? What's with the sun suddenly popping out?

This damn weather forecast is way too inaccurate.

He turned his head to the side, dozed a while longer, lounged in bed a bit, then slowly got up.

After a night, his shoulders hurt even more. When pulling on his pants, the pain made him grimace. Luckily he was wearing a small vest — no need to put on anything else.

Just as he opened the bedroom door and went out, he saw Ah Qing and the old lady moving the dried fish.

"The sun's out today — have to move them back out to dry."

"Yeah, yesterday's forecast even said it'd rain today. It was still overcast this morning, and now suddenly the sun's out — and pretty strong too. Hurry and bring them out to dry. If it stays this sunny all day, one day should be enough to dry them. Get them stored early so we don't have to keep hauling them back and forth…"

Lin Lin Xiuqing answered him while carrying things, then told him, "The porridge is in the pot — we've all eaten. Get it yourself."

"Got it. Where's Dad?"

"Dad's outside drying things. We'll carry these out to him."

"Did Eldest Brother and Second Brother go out to sea last night?"

"They went. Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao said a little rain is fine — if the wind and rain get heavy, they'll come back then. No time to chat — I'm heading out first."

"Where's Little Nine?"

"Yangyang took her out to play."

The old lady also loaded up a pile of dried cuttlefish in a sieve and headed out.

He couldn't help but remind her, "Be careful — walk slowly, carry less, watch your step."

"I know, I know — my legs are fine."

The whole family was bustling in and out with work, while he had just gotten up with nothing to do. Suddenly he felt like he was back to before — doing nothing, just lying around like a useless lump.

He shook his head, went to wash up first, ate breakfast, then looked around for somewhere to lend a hand.

If this last batch of dried cuttlefish could be sun-dried and stored, that would be one major thing off the list.

Because construction had started at the small workshop and there was worry about sand and dust flying everywhere, Ye's father arranged to temporarily dry the dried fish and other dried goods on other open ground. With today's strong sun, drying for one day should be enough to get them dry and stored.

Ye Yaodong spent the whole morning wandering here and there. Once the cuttlefish and dried fish were laid out to dry, he went over to the small workshop to watch the workers, and even made a special trip to burn a stick of incense at the Goddess Mazu Temple and take a look at the merit stele.

When the red silk was unveiled yesterday, he had only glanced at it roughly and hadn't looked closely.

Early in the morning there weren't many people around; whoever wanted to see it had probably already seen it. After burning his incense, he stood alone in front of the merit stele, happily admiring it for quite a while.

After all, it would stand there forever, so there was no need to bring a camera over to take a photo.

"Goddess Mazu's blessing—may everything go smoothly for me, great luck and great fortune, boundless good fortune~"

Although he had already made a wish to Goddess Mazu once when he burned incense inside earlier, seeing his own conspicuous name on the stone tablet now, he couldn't help muttering it again before slowly strolling back.

But just as he sat under a big tree, watching the workers in the distance, he saw Haozi suddenly appear right in front of him, nearly giving him a fright.

"Oh, what are you doing here?"

"Heh, saw a lot of people working here so I came over to look, and happened to run into you."

Haozi was also a bit awkward. They hadn't spoken for a while; if they bumped into each other on the road, at most they'd exchange a look. Coming over to make conversation this time had taken him a long mental buildup.

It was also because he'd seen how grand Ye Yaodong looked at the Goddess Mazu Temple gate yesterday, and after going back he'd felt itching with envy—after all, they were childhood friends who'd grown up together.

Although Haozi was a bit of a loser, there had never been any real conflict between them. Any small friction was with Aguang, not with Dongzi.

"Oh." Ye Yaodong replied flatly, not bothering to start a conversation.

"Why aren't you going out to sea today?"

"My shoulder hurts, so I'm taking a day off. The weather forecast said rain yesterday too—who knew it'd be sunny today."

"The weather forecast is never accurate. It's been wrong several times already—every day they say rain and it never rains."

"Mm."

Seeing the conversation going cold, Haozi thought for a moment and simply said outright: "I see your site here is pretty big. Are you still short on workers? I can carry and do labor too."

"Huh? No work lately?"

He'd thought Haozi was after his boat again, but it turned out he wanted to come work as a laborer.

"Hard to find work. There are plenty of people waiting for jobs outside the town dock, all fighting for them. The more you work the more you earn; work less and the pay is less. After a whole day you don't make much money. I saw your construction site started up and thought I'd come ask if you need people."

"My mom already lined up the workers a while ago. I've been busy and haven't been managing it. There are already fifteen or sixteen of them…"

"With more people, the work goes faster too, so it won't hold up your fish drying. I saw you drying them on other empty plots today—it's fine during the day. But at night, with so much of it and the surroundings all empty, if it's not fenced in it doesn't look secure."

Ye Yaodong looked at his eager manner and sighed inwardly. There's always a hateful side to the pitiable—stuck with a wife and in-laws like bloodsuckers, he'll never get ahead. He can only figure it out and turn things around himself.

Just don't know if in this lifetime he'll ever see the day Haozi stands on his own two feet. In the past life, after all, he watched him stay poor till old age.

"If you've got no work, then come work here tomorrow too. One more person, one more pair of hands, and we can finish sooner…"

One more of him doesn't make much difference, but one more person can also carry back more materials, and the project can be done sooner.

This time the workshop is entirely his own private property, unlike building a house. His family members all have their own jobs now, and not a single one can spare a hand to help—everything has to be handed off to outsiders.

At most, when they occasionally don't go out to sea, they'll come by to supervise. The rest of the time they can only count on Ah Qing to keep an eye on things, and the cooking has to be overseen by Ah Qing too.

Luckily the foreman is from the same village and is his father's friend, so he can rest a little easier.

"I can start right now. Just count it as half a day's pay." Haozi also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright then. Whatever wage the others get, you get the same. Today counts as half a day."

"Great, great, thanks a lot."

"No need to thank me. Just don't slack off on the work you're supposed to do—everyone's keeping an eye on each other."

No need to say the ugly part out loud. Anyone with sense gets it. When it comes to actual work, he can be trusted.

He hurriedly said: "I know, I know, I won't mess things up this time."

"Mm, alright."

Ye Yaodong took him to find the foreman and gave the word, then watched as Haozi eagerly picked up a carrying pole and went off with the others to haul gravel.

He went back under the big tree, propped one foot up against the trunk, shook his head, and lit a cigarette.

In just two years, a whole bunch of childhood friends had already pulled apart from the starting line. He didn't even know what to say.

Maybe it's true that a virtuous wife brings fewer troubles to the husband—marrying a good wife really matters. Not to mention his own little sister, at least Ah Zheng, Little Fatty, and the others all have pretty decent wives.

As for Chen Wei and Haozi's wives… it's a long story…

Pillow talk is pretty powerful.