Chapter 928: Negotiation

Listening to the voice spilling from the other end of the phone, Ye Yaodong's smile deepened.

Ye Ye Yaohua sensibly handed the phone over to Ye Yaodong.

"Hello, which ancestor is this?"

"Little ancestor!"

A milky, childish voice came through the phone, immediately amusing him.

He usually called the old lady the Old Ancestor and her the Little Ancestor—he hadn't expected the child to remember and suddenly throw "Little Ancestor" right back at him!

He chuckled softly, "Oh, so it's my little ancestor. My little ancestor is so impressive now—she can make phone calls?"

She hummed a heavy "mm," but said nothing more. Ye Yaodong only patiently coaxed the child through the phone—he missed the kids at home too.

"Do you miss Daddy?"

"Miss Baba!"

This child usually mixed up her terms of address. "Baba" was easier to say, easier on the mouth, but when the other kids called him "Die," she called him "Die" too; ever since she could talk, she'd been switching back and forth.

He wasn't sure if it was because, back when she still couldn't talk, he'd often used the two words "Die" and "Baba" interchangeably while teaching her to speak, which was why she still mixed them up now.

"Have you been good? Have you been obedient?"

"I'm good! Brother's not good!"

"Oh, you've learned to tattle?"

"Mm, brother wants to hit!"

"Do you want to hit?"

"No!"

Ye Yaodong beamed with fatherly affection as he coaxed the child through the phone, chatting with her, while Ye Ye Chengyang's voice kept coming through from the other end too.

"Give it to me, give it to me, I want to answer the phone too…"

"You're the one who's not good—chasing chickens and shooing dogs every day. The chickens shake and hide when they see you. You're the one who needs a spanking…"

"Great-great-grandma even said the chickens are so scared by you they don't lay eggs anymore…"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi, still holding the phone, argued back, "No I don't, I fed them earthworms…"

Ye Yaodong listened to the two kids bickering on the other end of the line, grinning from ear to ear, until Lin Lin Xiuqing snatched the phone away and wouldn't let them talk anymore.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi, still unwilling to give up, shouted loudly, "I still want the phone… I want Baba…"

The child refused to give in—after being put down on the floor she went on tiptoe, stretching both hands up high to reach the table, so Lin Lin Xiuqing had no choice but to push the phone further back.

Ye Yaodong only briefly told Lin Lin Xiuqing about the money transfer, said nothing at all about the matters at sea, then only asked about the situation at home, saying to wait a moment, whether it had rained today and they hadn't worked.

"Ah, then it hasn't rained here."

"Then the rain probably hasn't drifted over to you yet. Don't dry fish for the next couple of days—you can pause for two days, so it doesn't start raining on your side."

"Mm, alright."

Lin Lin Xiuqing also told him everything at home was fine, nothing out of the ordinary. After all, nearly a hundred young and middle-aged men had left the village, and it had suddenly become a lot quieter.

Fewer people sat at the doorway in the evening to enjoy the cool air, and these past few days everyone loved coming over to their beach, sitting at Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao's doorsteps to chat. If her house didn't have a courtyard wall and several dogs, they'd probably be sitting right at her doorstep.

She urged him a couple more times to be careful out there, then asked after him a few more times. Amid the children's shouts of "phone, phone" beside her, the two of them had said about all they needed to say and hung up.

One phone call, passed from the first person to the last, was never hung up.

Still, none of them begrudged the few yuan—each transfer fee alone cost fifty yuan per person, and Aguang, being tactful, settled the phone bill on the spot.

Everyone present was either his father, his father-in-law, or his brother-in-law—he had the lowest status of them all, and besides, taking someone's money makes you short-handed, so of course he paid.

"Where are we headed now?"

"Back. It's raining—what else is there to do?"

"Not going to look around?"

"Nothing worth seeing. On rainy days a lot of the vendors don't set up their stalls, it's not lively at all. We wandered around last year too."

"Then let's head back."

Aguang had been wandering around all day and had long since seen everything—he wasn't curious in the slightest.

"We could've just transferred everything to one person to collect. That way we could've saved a hundred yuan in transfer fees."

"Don't you think that'd be too messy? Several boats, all with different partners—if the money all goes to one place, when the family receives it, just sorting out the accounts later would be confusing. Each transferring to their own family's hands is clear and straightforward."

"And the amount would be too large—it's all women at home. When they go to withdraw the money, no matter whose hands it's in, no one would feel at ease. Whoever collects it bears the responsibility—if anything goes wrong, no one can shoulder it. Besides, it's not like we're only transferring this one sum today."

"Anyway, we're all making money. Next time we can save up a bit more and transfer it all at once—the cap is only fifty yuan, split it among everyone publicly, it's not much."

Aguang nodded, "That's true. With only women at home, it's not appropriate for just anyone to go withdraw. Whoever's money it is, their family withdraws it—that's fine."

"Then later, if they say wait till we're home and have me settle the accounts for them, I can't just agree to it just to help them save on the transfer fees."

"You decide for yourself. If it's done that way, the responsibility on you and Ye Ye Huimei is too heavy. One boat, five or six hundred a day, over a dozen boats—every day you'd have to transfer several thousand, and Ye Ye Huimei would have to trek back and forth to the post and telecom office to withdraw money every day, and the daily transfer fees would definitely fall on you."

Fifty a day, twenty days a month comes to a thousand, and over two months, conservatively, that's another thousand or two—the total adds up.

Although he earned the middleman's fee from everyone, there was no need for him to chip in that much of his profit.

Settling on the spot was the friendliest—collect the goods, take the money, and pass the responsibility right along, letting those people worry about it themselves.

Old Pei also said, "You can settle with them every two or three days. Waiting till we're home to settle is too much."

"I know."

The few of them walked and chatted, and the rain grew heavier and heavier. They deliberately kept to the side, walking under the eaves of the houses.

On rainy days everything was damp and there was nothing to do—only suitable for sleeping in.

After they got home, it wasn't long before the others drifted back one by one. Everywhere was cold and quiet, and there really wasn't anything worth seeing.

The group returned to the rented house and, bored, started playing cards again.

Ye Yaodong was no exception.

Before long, the rain had knocked out the power. As usual, rain, wind, and blackouts couldn't stop them—they lit candles and kept on playing cards.

Rain and power outages were routine; at home he was used to it, especially since they hadn't had electricity for years anyway.

Outsiders weren't as lucky as them — drenched to the bone and still couldn't find a place to stay.

It wasn't until evening, after asking around the entire surrounding area, that an old man was willing to rent out his small house, but they still had to wait for the rain to stop before they could move in.

Those people had no choice but to go back to the boat first, take shelter under the nylon tarp, and wait for the rain to stop.

But the rain just went on with a steady patter, never letting up. Although the nylon tarp could keep the rain off for now, it always dripped through, leaving the deck wet everywhere. There was simply no way to lie down and sleep — they could only sit or stand, and nothing was convenient to do.

So they only held out for one day. When they saw no sign of the rain easing, by the next afternoon they couldn't take it anymore, and everyone went to stay at the guesthouse.

As a result, they ended up staying another three days. It was actually a good thing they'd moved to the guesthouse — otherwise they might have had to sit and sleep on the boat for three or four days, and a few of them would surely have fallen ill.

As soon as the weather cleared, they didn't bother with fishing and hurried to sort out the lodging problem right away, so that if it rained again, they wouldn't have to go back to the guesthouse.

Chen Jianian only showed up when it was time to collect the goods, and only then learned what had happened over the past few days — and as a result got a thorough earful of complaints and cursing.

However, Ye Yaodong and the others didn't know that — the moment the weather cleared, they had immediately seized the time to go fishing.

This little interlude had bought them another two days.

They fished hard for two days, and today they even deliberately postponed the delivery time. Moreover, the goods from their fellow villagers had all been collected by A Guang over these two days once the weather cleared.

Chen Jianian received no goods on the first day, and on the second day the amount dropped sharply to just two boats' worth that he'd brought along himself. Ye Yaodong could tell he could barely sit still, his face looking worse by the day.

He heard from A Guang that when they were splitting the money on the first evening, Chen Jianian had spoken in a sarcastic tone, saying he was immoral.

A Guang was also annoyed, and went straight ahead and brought up the matter of Chen Jianian having two fishing boats tail them that day, leaving him speechless. The next day Chen Jianian behaved himself and didn't say anything.

But he had come out to make money, and whether it was him or the two fishing boats he'd brought along, they'd stay quiet for at most two days. Seeing such a huge gap in earnings, they would surely not be able to sit still.

Even if Chen Jianian no longer had those two boats tail them, within a few days those people would definitely go to the dock to waylay them first thing in the morning.

Being able to fish two extra days and earn two thousand more than the others was passable, barely acceptable. Besides, the villagers kept asking him every day where he'd been fishing, how he had so much catch.

Sooner or later it couldn't be kept secret. Telling Chen Jianian now meant the initiative was in his own hands, and he could directly cancel out the favor owed, while also letting the villagers remember his good graces.

So, after they finished selling their catch in the evening, Ye Yaodong sent the boatmen back first. After A Guang reluctantly finished splitting the money with Chen Jianian, he laid the matter out openly with Chen Jianian.

"Everyone has their own thoughts now. No matter how much we try to stick together, there'll always be a grudge. You even had people tail us — that doesn't sit well with us either."

"We came out here to make money. Harmony brings wealth. If we fall out, it won't do us any good either — all this suspicion back and forth is pointless."

"So let's sit down and talk this over peacefully. I'll tell you the fishing spot, so you can earn a bit more in commission from your own fishing boats. Next year, however many boats you want to bring along is none of my business."

"In return, A Guang's side won't split half the commission with you anymore. Originally, the connection was his doing, and the villagers were all brought out by me. He only went along with this trip out of respect for the fact that you were the one who tipped me off — he remembers that favor."

"Now I'm telling you the fishing spot and sharing it with you — that counts as repaying that favor. How about it? After all, this fishing spot is a long-term one. One favor for one favor, each does his own thing, no interfering with the other."

Chen Jianian fell silent, saying nothing for a long while.

Presumably he was thinking it over.

A Guang also said nothing.