Chapter 903: The Damaged Motorcycle (Two Chapters Merged, 7000 Words)

One roll of film could take about 36 shots; his camera had already taken quite a few photos before, and now only a few shots remained, but fortunately, his own photos had been captured.

With no film left, he put the camera away, while Director Chen had people hoist the basking shark onto the big Da Jiefang truck and ordered Ah Cai and Ah Gui to bring out the remaining ice from their small shed, pouring it onto the Da Jiefang.

With the ice, the temperature would drop a bit and things would be better.

By the time they finished, the sky had darkened; several nearby households came out with flashlights to help illuminate the scene, and once Director Chen and his team had handled the matter, they expressed their gratitude and prepared to leave.

After all, it was already dark; they had arrived too late today, resulting in everything being done so late now.

The village cadres also helped disperse the villagers behind, as the excitement was over; they asked them to retreat in order, clearing the road for the two large vehicles to pass.

Although everyone still wanted to take another look at the large vehicles and touch them a few more times, it was indeed getting dark, so they could only retreat slowly, heading back toward the village first.

Once the lights in their homes were turned on, they could see the vehicles more clearly as they passed through the village later.

After watching the excitement, the villagers returned in small groups, while the two large vehicles followed slowly behind the pedestrians, one after the other.

Ye Yaodong walked alongside Secretary Chen, the two exchanging words as they walked, discussing the photos.

"The film is already used up; I'll take it to be developed tomorrow. It should be ready and mailed in two or three days. It seems the post office in the town only opens the mailbox for letters every Monday, so by the time it arrives, it might be next Tuesday or later? That would be about ten days in total."

"It doesn't matter whether I get it early or late; I'm not in a hurry. I can just wait patiently."

"So, where do you plan to send this basking shark? It's already dark, and the roads aren't very visible at night. Do you want to stay in the village overnight and leave when it's light?"

"No, I have work tomorrow. Besides, this needs to be sent to the newly established research institute in the provincial capital. The museum there wants it too; I expect that after the research is done, the materials from its body will be made into a specimen and displayed in the museum."

"Oh, the provincial capital? That's quite far."

"The journey will take seven or eight hours. Driving at night is slower, so it will take even longer. If we went during the day, we'd worry about it spoiling from the sun. Setting off at night, if we can arrive by tomorrow morning, that would be perfect."

Ye Yaodong nodded; with the weather so hot now, departing at night and arriving in the morning was better, allowing them to slice and study it while still fresh.

"Ah, yes. Taking advantage of the lower temperatures at night to send it overnight ensures it stays fresh in time."

"Mm, your village is indeed a place of good Feng Shui; large fish keep appearing one after another. And I just noticed there are quite a few large ships on the sea surface, far better than other villages."

The village chief immediately chimed in with a smile, "Director, you might not know yet? Half the boats in the village now belong to his family..."

Seeing Director Chen and Ye Yaodong chatting happily, he played to their interests, speaking endlessly to flatter Ye Yaodong and revealing details about his family's assets.

This truly surprised Director Chen; he had originally thought their family's living conditions were just a bit better than other fishermen in the village, never imagining this young man had acquired several more boats in just half a year.

So ambitious, so capable, so decisive; whatever he does, he gets involved. He'll surely become wealthy sooner or later, won't he?

"You're quite impressive; you think of something and just do it. That's pretty strong."

Seeing the village chief and the village secretary taking turns praising him, Ye Yaodong chuckled, but when it was time to be humble, he offered a few modest remarks.

"Isn't it true that if you have a goal, you must act on it? Otherwise, just thinking about it will make it disappear."

"That's true. A promising young man. Work hard, be diligent, and in the future, you might become the face of your village."

"That's hard to say; our village has many talented people!"

For instance, Lin Ji is a true talent; he hides so well that the whole village now thinks he's pulling rickshaws or shining shoes. The earlier rumors about him smuggling have already vanished.

The hidden richest man.

Director Chen nodded with a smile, "I have high hopes for you."

"Hehe..."

As they walked and talked, they reached the fork where the beach path split toward the village. Director Chen asked the two large vehicles to wait on the main road to avoid blocking the village, then followed Ye Yaodong to his home to get his car; the sidecar motorcycle was still in his courtyard.

The villagers had already returned to the village, turning on their lights, and were gathered by the roadside discussing the evening's events while waiting for the large vehicles to pass.

At this moment, besides the village cadres, only a few neighboring households and his own family and brothers accompanied them, as they all lived nearby and were heading the same way.

Hearing Ye Yaodong being praised by the leaders in various ways, everyone felt envious, and unconsciously, his status in their hearts rose.

After the leaders entered Ye Yaodong's home, no one could bear to return to their own houses; they continued standing at the courtyard gate, watching.

Only when the two sidecar motorcycles were pushed out, started, and drove off did everyone follow behind the motorcycles back into the village.

The event had just ended, and everyone was still full of enthusiasm; no one wanted to go straight to bed. They had to talk until they were satisfied; it was rare for such a grand event to happen in the village again.

Ye Yaodong stood at the door, watching the motorcycle disappear into the distance, and sighed softly, "Sigh, when will I be able to afford a motorcycle?"

"Dream on! Don't dream!"

Ye's mother bluntly dashed his hopes, "A bicycle is enough. With that money for a motorcycle, what couldn't you buy? You could buy several boats! It's not practical at all; what would you use it for?"

"How many days a month do you go out? You spend more than half the month drifting at sea; a bicycle is enough. Do you want to ride to Jingcheng? Stop thinking about this and that, earn money steadily, and don't keep thinking about spending."

"If I don't spend money, what motivation do I have to earn it, Mother? With a motorcycle, wouldn't you have more face when you go out?"

"Doesn't it cost money? I already have plenty of face when I go out; I'm already very glorious."

Ye's father also nodded in agreement, "Your mother is right. With this money, it's better to buy a boat. Many people still can't bear to buy a bicycle, yet you're already eyeing a motorcycle. That's not practical."

"I was just saying it casually, venting a bit. Why are you taking it so seriously?"

"Because every time you mention something like Hui, not long after, the house ends up with another big item," Lin Lin Xiuqing couldn't help but interject.

"Not really? This time I was just saying it casually. One thing is that I can't afford it; another is that we have no connections to buy one. These are surplus from the army, allocated to local areas; they don't reach us."

"Mm, just think about it."

The old lady stood at the door calling out, interrupting their conversation, "Are you still eating? You left halfway through earlier, and more than half the food on the table is still left. It's a waste to throw it away; it'll spoil by tomorrow. I've even reheated the soup..."

"Yes, we weren't full last night, and it's been two hours. Let's eat a bit more before sleeping," Ye Yaodong replied, turning back toward the house.

Everyone followed inside, planning to eat a little more to avoid wasting the food, but Ye's mother hesitated. The motorcycle was gone, the big Da Jiefang and the engineering vehicle were gone, but everyone was still talking.

If they went inside to eat now, they wouldn't get the first scoop of the gossip.

She stood at the door, thought for a moment, and decided against it. Anyway, when they returned later, people would still gather around her to chat and gossip. The food couldn't be wasted; if they threw away such a good meal tonight, thunder would strike.

The family sat down together again to eat in harmony, but only the adults were present; no children were there. Except for Ye Ye Xiaoxi, who was locked inside and forbidden to go out, everyone else had disappeared since the afternoon.

Just as they finished the remaining food and were full and satisfied, the sound of a motorcycle came from the door again, which surprised them all.

"Didn't they leave? Why are they back?"

"Go out and take a look?"

The whole family ran out in surprise, and even the nearby neighbors, hearing the motorcycle sound, curiously ran out to see.

Before Ye Yaodong even reached the courtyard gate, he saw Director Chen's anxious face. "Where's the nearest health clinic?"

"What happened?"

"Jiang Jiang Zhicheng was just now riding on the mountain road. At a bend, he didn't see the road clearly, drove to the edge, the tire slipped, and he rolled down the slope with the bike."

"Ah? Is it heavy?"

"He was wearing a helmet, so he's okay, but his leg might have a laceration or fracture. We need to take him to the clinic to have a look. Where's the nearest health center?"

"Then we'd have to go to town. Our countryside doesn't have a health center, but there's a pharmacy in the village, and that barefoot doctor also knows how to set bones and put on a cast. Why not just have him examined here in the village first?"

"That works too. Take us there."

Ye Yaodong got on his bicycle, let them follow on the motorcycle behind him, and led them to find the barefoot doctor in the village.

After seeing the doctor and getting bandaged up, two hours had already passed.

During that time, he also asked Director Chen about the accident—just a difficult night road. There were no street lamps on the road, and the headlight beam was too poor, which was why he'd rolled down the slope.

Fortunately they were all wearing helmets, and the slope wasn't very high—only about ten-plus meters. If it had been any higher, even if they didn't die, they'd have been skinned alive.

The one called Jiang Jiang Zhicheng under his hand mostly had abrasions, with the more serious ones being fractures in his hands and feet.

When Director Chen brought the man back to find him, he'd already let the big liberation truck and the engineering vehicle go on ahead, and the other people he'd brought had also gone back to Huicheng with the liberation truck.

"Then why don't you two stay the night? It's already quite late, and the night road is hard to travel. It's already this hour—waiting until daylight to leave won't be too late."

"There's still room at my house. My two sons can sleep with me at night, or with the old lady at home. We can clear out a room. Make do for one night, don't trouble yourselves further."

Ye Fu nodded along in agreement. "Right, you're all still carrying injuries, and there was already an accident tonight. If you rush out on the night road again, we won't feel at ease. There's room at home, and it won't be cramped."

Ye Mu also chimed in to urge them to stay. "Yes, it's safer to leave after daylight. There used to be bandits on the road near us. You should stay the night."

"If Adong's place can't put you up, we have rooms we can clear out at ours too. Don't go tonight…"

"That's right, it's too dangerous…"

Several village cadres also spoke up to urge them to stay. After the motorcycle entered the village again, many people knew about it. While the injuries were being looked at, several village cadres had come over one after another upon hearing the news.

After Director Chen brought the man back to have his injuries seen, he hadn't originally insisted on leaving that very night. As long as the big truck and the engineering vehicle had already gone on ahead, that was fine.

He nodded. "Then we won't trouble ourselves tonight. We'll borrow a room at Comrade Ye Yaodong's house for one night. Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all. It's an honor for our house to have a leader stay. How could it be trouble? We can't welcome you enough. We'd love for you to stay—even a few more days would be fine." Ye Mu said happily, jumping in.

"Alright, there's also the motorcycle. Later we'll still need to trouble you to help push it back…"

"That's a small matter. After we go back and settle Comrade Jiang down, I'll immediately call a few friends to go push it back together."

"Alright. I don't even know what shape it's in. Just now I was only thinking of getting the man back first to see to his injuries, didn't bother with the bike."

Ye Yaodong hurried to flatter him. "Director Chen is a good leader who cares about his subordinates. At a critical moment, of course the person is more important."

Director Chen smiled and nodded. "Of course. Things are dead, people are alive. No matter how important things are, they're not as important as people. After seeing to the injuries, going back to find it is still in time."

"Yes, but some people wouldn't think that way. Director Chen has seen more people than I've eaten salt. I won't give examples. Let's go to my house now and let Comrade Jiang lie down and rest first."

"Alright, alright."

Ye Yaodong helped lift the man back into the sidecar. Others helped disperse the villagers gathered at the door watching. Then one rode the bicycle, one rode the motorcycle, and they headed home one behind the other.

There weren't many onlookers. At first there were a few more, but no one had the patience to stand at the side for two whole hours. Most just stopped to watch the excitement for a bit, stood around, and went home.

At this hour, many had to go back to sleep. They still had to go out to sea tonight.

After delivering the injured man to the house, he called his two older brothers, along with the villagers who had been following along watching the excitement. He also called a few familiar ones to go help together.

There were also some other curious men and women who tagged along, planning to go see the excitement and have something to talk about tomorrow.

Each of them brought a flashlight. Led by Director Chen, they walked for twenty minutes before reaching the accident site and found the motorcycle that had rolled down the slope.

Ye Yaodong and several other young strong men looked at the terrain nearby and found a small path to climb down, while the people on the slope all held flashlights to light the way for them.

"Be careful, Dongzi…"

"Watch the path, take it slow…"

"Later just push the bike straight down the slope. Loop around the fields and push it to the main road over there. I'll carry the person and walk toward the fields over there first…"

"Got it…"

Ye Yaodong and several young strong men, borrowing the light of the flashlights, carefully made their way down.

Each of them also wore a headlamp on top. With so many lights gathered there, the illumination was decent. They walked and slid down as they went, and before long they were beside the motorcycle.

After rolling down such a high slope, with the surrounding trees and bushes blocking the way, both rearview mirrors of the motorcycle were cracked and bent, the front headlight was shattered, the sidecar was dented and flattened, one of the tires under the sidecar had flown off, and the iron plate fender at the front was cracked and twisted.

A perfectly fine motorcycle, from its originally imposing and handsome appearance, had turned into a miserable wreck—dented everywhere, covered in scratches, broken into pieces.

"Ah, it's all banged up like this… what a pity…"

"The tire flew off. Look around, where did it roll to?"

"What a pity. It used to be so impressive… I wonder if it can still be repaired…"

"I heard this bike costs over ten thousand? Aiyo, such a fall is really a pity…"

"That expensive? One bike equals one ten-thousand-yuan household? It shouldn't be that much, right? This one looks pretty old too…"

"Old? It's so flashy. If I could have one, I'd laugh myself awake in my dreams. Too bad even if they sold me I couldn't afford an old one."

"Shut your trap. Even if they sold you, you couldn't afford this scrap iron."

"True. Forget an old bike—even if they sold me I wouldn't be worth the price of this scrap iron."

"It's not that you're not worth the scrap iron's price—it's just that no one would buy you."

Ye Yaodong, steadying the motorcycle as he went, cut off their chatter. "You're exaggerating. The leader already said it—things are dead, people are alive. Things are all created by people. Stay alive and earn money well. Why fear not being able to afford these things? When the time comes, you'll have everything. You might even turn your nose up at them."

"Haha, Adong's talking about himself, right? How could we afford it, let alone turn our noses up…"

"Enough talk. Hurry up and right the bike and push it down. It's the middle of the night. Once we're done, we won't need to go out to sea tonight…"

"Where did that tire go? Can't find it…"

"Can't find it or not, we still have to look. Spread out and search. We'll push this bike down the slope first, otherwise it'll keep getting stuck halfway down the hill."

"Then let's push this bike down first… steady now, slowly…"

"Hold the front of the cart steady… otherwise it'll keep rolling downhill, oh……"

With a loud clang, the cart toppled over again……

The cart, already in pieces and covered in scars, felt even more battered and broken than before.

"Don't look for the tire yet, help push the cart first. It keeps rolling downhill, someone needs to steady the front……"

Ye Yaodong shouted once, and the others all ran back, then steadily and carefully, slowly pushed the cart downhill.

They left two people to hold the cart steady, while the others continued up the slope to search for the tire.

The people watching from the slope were frantic with worry—how could it take so long to find it? They also grabbed flashlights and shone them around haphazardly.

After quite a while, someone finally shouted, "Found it, it's here!"

"Good thing you found it."

"I don't even know if we can patch it back together once we bring it back. Within ten or eight villages around here, I bet there's not a single person who can fix a motorcycle."

"You're joking—even if you go to the town or the county seat, you might not find one who can fix it."

"Then isn't this cart scrapped for good?"

"Push it back first, who cares if it's scrapped—it's not ours anyway."

On flat ground it was obviously much easier to push than going downhill on the slope. Although the sidecar was bent and a tire was missing underneath, with someone behind helping to keep it upright, pushing it along was still very simple.

They followed the path between the fields, carefully and slowly pushing it along. It really was heavy, but there were many of them, so taking turns pushing made it manageable.

Director Chen looked at the cart, already smashed to pieces, and felt deeply regretful. "It crashed too badly……"

"Nothing we could do. It flipped all the way down the slope, and only one tire came off—that's already not bad. Good thing we were wearing helmets, otherwise who knows how badly the people would have been hurt."

"Yeah, you make a fair point. Good thing the people are fine, just fractures and scrapes."

Ye Fu cut in, "Push it back first, we'll talk after we push it back."

"Right, push it back first. It's almost midnight now, already the middle of the night. Thanks for your hard work. If you go out to sea at night, you wouldn't even get to rest at this hour……"

"It's nothing, just rest one night to recharge."

Ye Fu couldn't help glancing at him repeatedly, muttering inwardly: Recharge? You've already recharged for a whole day, and you still need to recharge? Before that you recharged for half a month, and now you've only been out to sea one day, yet you want to rest two more days in a row?

Everyone chatted as they walked, pushing the cart all the way back to Ye Yaodong's house, then, under Director Chen's thanks, each went their own way home.

And after Ye Yaodong pushed the cart into the courtyard, he took the tire and stood there gesturing and studying it, figuring out how to repair it.

Although he had never learned how to fix a motorcycle, a man's innate sensitivity toward machinery meant he always wanted to tinker and figure things out.

"Stop looking, come inside and sleep first. It's crashed this badly, we can only wait until tomorrow to take another look and inspect it."

"Director Chen, this motorcycle is smashed this badly—can we just report it as scrapped?"

"We have to file a report, and also submit a repair report, and go through the procedures. This is public property. If it's scrapped and sold as scrap iron, every cent it sells for has to be written down clearly."

"Then can I buy the scrap iron?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing had heard them coming back and came out to watch from the side. But Ye Yaodong's words nearly scared her to death—she heard this and her mouth fell open.

So he really wasn't just talking about it last night!

He really had set his mind to it!

But, if he could really buy it as scrap iron, then it wouldn't be a loss—it'd be a bargain. She didn't dare make a sound, biting her lower lip tightly to hold back, afraid she'd be a hindrance, that saying the wrong thing would be bad.

"Huh? You really want it? It's not certain it can be fixed, it's crashed this badly."

Originally, when he had mentioned it back in the county seat, Ye Yaodong had only said it in passing, and Director Chen had thought he was just saying it casually—he hadn't expected him to really have his heart set on it.

"I'll buy it and give it a try. If I can't fix it, selling it as scrap iron won't be a loss. Otherwise I have no way to buy one—this is military-issue, I can't afford it anyway."

When he found this cart, seeing its smashed-up, battered state, Ye Yaodong knew his chance had come.

Sure enough, Ah Qing's mouth was blessed—as soon as she said he wanted something, it wouldn't be long before a big item appeared at home.

He had only just said it last night, and now the cart had been delivered right to their door.

This was an ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra big item!

Ordinary people couldn't buy one. If he could get his hands on it as scrap iron, he'd make a killing.

As for whether he could fix it, that was another matter. Miss this village and there's no more shop—get it in hand first, and we'll figure it out. The boat will straighten out when it reaches the bridge.

Even if he couldn't fix it, he could study it, learn it, or ask Zhou Shu, who drove tractors, to help. The principles of machines should all be interconnected.

Usually, all the tractor's little problems were fixed by Zhou Shu himself. He had been driving tractors for over ten years and had been sent out to study repairs before.

Give him a motorcycle to tinker with and fix, and he'd probably fight for the job even without pay.

The chance to buy one was probably only this once. If he didn't buy it this time, he'd probably have to wait many years, earn a lot of money, and then spend a fortune to buy a brand-new motorcycle himself.

He still preferred this sidecar style—it looked more impressive, and this one was military-issue, all military green, looking even more dashing.

Director Chen stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "Selling it as scrap iron isn't something that can be transferred to just anyone so easily. After all, it's military supplies, they all have serial numbers. Let me think about it, mull it over tonight, and we'll talk tomorrow."

"Alright, no rush. I just thought of it and asked casually. See how you can arrange it most reasonably? If it really won't work then forget it, I can't make things difficult for you."

"Mm, then let's go inside and sleep. We've been busy for so long, it's very late now."

Ye Yaodong responded, then set the tire upright in the corner of the wall, checked that the courtyard gate was locked, and went inside together.

After everyone went inside, Lin Lin Xiuqing couldn't wait and pulled him aside: "You really weren't just saying it."

"Hehe, no, I really was just saying it. Selling it as scrap iron would only be about ten-something or twenty-something yuan anyway. If I can get my hands on it, then I'd make a killing. It's already broken this badly anyway."

"You don't know how to fix it."

"Underestimating me, aren't you? I can fix bicycles."

She rolled her eyes, and listened as he continued.

"Anyway, if I can get my hands on this, I'll grab it first, then find time to slowly study it. We can't afford a new one, and we have no way to buy one. Even buying a second-hand one that's been retired like this isn't easy."

"Didn't I already say? This is military supplies. The only way we could get it is to buy it as scrap iron now, then fix it and assemble it ourselves—only then is it possible."

If he could really buy it, of course she wouldn't object either. It wasn't much money, there was no way it could be a loss. And if he could fix it, that would really be a huge gain.

"Then let's see tomorrow. I don't know if Director Chen will sell it."

It should be, since it's already this broken, it's just a word from him—write up today's accident in detail in the report, and for disposal and recycling, just fiddle with it a bit. Otherwise, tomorrow I'll get a new roll of film, take a picture of this broken motorcycle, and develop it together next time to send it to him; solid evidence will make it easier to argue.

Do as you see fit; it's so late, better get some sleep. Tomorrow's matters can wait until tomorrow.

Mm.

Ye Yaodong climbed into bed, his anticipation rising; he thought he would most likely get it tomorrow.

Director Chen wasn't that heartless; since it was already this broken, he might as well go along with it and make a favor—most likely he'd just give it to him outright, since he wouldn't miss a few dozen yuan anyway.

It was a trivial matter to him.

So you won't go out to sea tonight?

Of course not; I'm not made of iron—you can't treat me like a slave.

You're the ancestor—who'd dare treat you like a slave? Sleep.

Ye Yaodong pulled his wife close, closed his eyes, and already began dreaming of riding his motorcycle through the streets in triumph.