Chapter 944: Finalizing the Plan

"Such a glorious mission—of course I'm excited."

Ye Yaodong could well imagine it.

"On the way here this morning, everyone was guessing how much you earned. They said one boat alone sold for just over ten thousand, and after deducting expenses and such, you could still make eight or nine thousand, and with luck, ten thousand."

"You've got three boats, plus a share from the in-laws' side, and you sold sea urchins too—you must have made five or six times that. Some even said more, saying that since you weren't home, your wife was drying fish to make money too, and the rumor going around is you made seventy or eighty thousand in two months."

"The more it spreads, the more exaggerated it gets, the more absurd—it's just people with nothing better to do after eating their fill."

Ye Yaodong had foreseen this long ago. "I only just got back yesterday, and today everyone's already talking about how much we all made, right? Don't bother with it. Wait until something new happens after a while, and naturally they'll move on to other gossip."

He turned his head to look at Lin Lin Xiuqing. "Why don't I see the old lady?"

"She went to Goddess Mazu Temple to fulfill a vow and hasn't come back yet. Early this morning she prepared a few vegetarian dishes and took paper ingots to burn incense. Quite a lot of people went—seems like they're still chanting sutras over there."

"Oh, then I'll go burn some incense in a bit too, bring her back along the way, and then head to the shipyard. Dad, have you burned incense yet?"

"Already went. We went first thing in the morning. Who'd be like you, sleeping till now?"

While they were talking, Ye Ye Yaopeng and Ye Ye Yaohua came over as well.

Hearing that he hadn't burned incense yet, they figured they'd just wait at the door—burning incense wouldn't take long, and if they could all go together, they would.

With Dongzi having so many boats, they felt he was experienced and seasoned, and good with words too. Having him and Ye Fu go along together put their minds at ease.

But when Ye Yaodong finished burning incense and came back with the old lady, he saw the village head, Chen Shuji, and his mother all sitting in the courtyard. The moment he stepped inside, he looked completely baffled.

He greeted them with a smile. "What wind blew the two big shots here? I should set off two strings of firecrackers to welcome you."

"Cut the nonsense. We're here to talk business with you." Chen Shuji stood up with a smile.

The village head also stood and said, "Your mother went to the village committee first thing this morning and said you wanted to put up some money to help children who can't afford school, and also set up a scholarship at the school to reward hardworking students and sponsor their studies."

"Right, you two figure out how to approach the school, how to arrange everything. I don't understand this stuff—you officials know more, just discuss it among yourselves, no need to tell me."

"How could we not tell you? You're the one who initiated it—you have to know." The village head disagreed.

"You made big money and want to do good deeds. Donating to help children from struggling families study is a fine thing. The villagers nearby all have to thank you, and the children you help will thank you when they grow up. But there's a hidden danger in this."

"If it's not handled well, it could bring some trouble to your family. Being too flashy isn't always a good thing, even if it earns you a good name." Chen Shuji spoke frankly and sincerely.

"Then if I don't donate, I'm still flashy, aren't I? Within ten or so villages nearby, who doesn't know I built a big workshop, and my dried fish business is doing well? People have been calling me Salty Fish Dong ages ago. And this trip to Zhejiang Province making big money—the whole village knows, and within a day or two, the whole region will know."

"All that's out in the open. Even if I do nothing, I'm still flashy. The spotlight's already been on me—everyone knows I've got money. But me having money and still caring about the villagers, caring about the children—that's a different matter."

"Makes it look like my getting rich is a good thing, that I can help the neighborhood. When the simple villagers find out, won't they praise me and give me a thumbs up?"

"Your thinking isn't wrong. Donating to help students is a good thing. We're just worried that if you do it under your own name, it'll easily bring unnecessary trouble for you. Before you know it, people from other villages with births, deaths, illnesses, or who can't put food on the table will all come begging at your door."

"If you don't help, people say you're hard-hearted—you were willing to help children, so why won't you help struggling families? If you do help, then it feels like, on what grounds? You're not their parents, not kin or kith."

"Having your own relatives come to the door crying poor is already annoying enough. Add strangers on top of that—how could anyone stand it?"

Ye Mu also said, "Exactly. The village head and secretary have a point. Who has the patience to deal with these people at home every day? Some people just have no shame. If we open this door, then anyone in difficulty from nearby villages will come begging. We're not making money to spend on outsiders—who doesn't work hard for their money?"

Ye Yaodong had a headache. Didn't he just want to do a little good? Accumulate merit and virtue, add to his own merit, give thanks for the chance to start over—and yet it's turned into such a hassle.

It was clearly a pretty simple thing, yet it's been made into something so timid and overcautious.

It's just doing something at the nearby school—it's not like he's making a huge splash.

"Then what do we do? Just don't donate."

"Hey, you can still donate—it's a good thing!" The village head hurriedly stopped him from taking back the idea.

"In our village, I've also heard there's a girl who didn't go to school this semester. Heard her grades were pretty good too. The teacher couldn't bear to lose a good seedling and even came to her home to invite her. Her parents both think it's useless for a girl to study—just stay home doing chores for a few years and get married. No need for school."

"If you set up a scholarship, some older kids with good grades will aim for that scholarship and have a chance to go back to school."

"Then what should we do?" Ye Yaodong stared straight at the village head and secretary, wanting them to come up with a plan.

He was an uneducated fisherman—what did he know about this stuff? Leave it to them.

The village head said with a smile, "That's what we want to discuss with you. We talked it over first thing this morning and figured you could donate the money to Goddess Mazu Temple as a vow fulfillment."

"Then we use Goddess Mazu's name to help the children go to school. This way we can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble. Plus the villagers will all know you donated a big sum to Goddess Mazu Temple, that you're Goddess Mazu's most devout follower—it won't waste your being carved first on the merit stele."

"But our Tianhou Palace was only just built this year, and there's nothing that needs repairs, so it's perfect to take this money to help the students. It's good for you, good for our village, and good for those children."

Chen Shuji added, "This way everyone knows it's your money, just under Goddess Mazu Temple's name. If anything comes up, Goddess Mazu takes the heat. Right—and it also helps promote our village's Tianhou Palace. One move, many gains!"

Ye Yaodong clapped his hands once. "Brilliant!"

He gave a thumbs up again. "Indeed, the older the ginger, the spicier—you two really know how to plan."

Old foxes are old foxes.

Donating to Goddess Mazu Temple, he could rack up another wave of merit. Then using Tianhou Palace's name to help those children, he could passively rack up another wave of reputation.

Everyone knows it's his good deed anyway, but this also avoids shameless strangers coming to morally blackmail him. As for his own shameless relatives—well, that's unavoidable no matter what.

His goal was just to do good, accumulate virtue, give back to the hometown. Whether it's done in his own name doesn't matter—doing it in Goddess Mazu's name is even better.

It can also make Goddess Mazu Temple's incense offerings even more prosperous.

"So you're saying you have no objections?" Chen Shuji said with a smile.

"No objections. What objections could I have? This idea couldn't be better—pays respects to Goddess Mazu and helps the children."

The village head said, "After you take the lead and donate a sum to Goddess Mazu Temple, others who made big money might follow suit and donate a little, as a token of their regard. We're already in the second half of this year, so let's just do it this way for now."

"Then, we were thinking Goddess Mazu Temple could also set up a merit box. From now on, we'll keep using the money in the merit box to help the children, so even when no one donates, it doesn't stop."

"If it's not enough, we'll ask you well-off folks to chip in a little—not much, just a bit from each household—and this good deed can be passed on."

"Anyway, the ones who benefit are the children nearby, and it lets our Tianhou Palace's good name spread far and wide."

Ye Yaodong nodded as he listened. "Sure, sure, that works. Village head, you've thought this through so thoroughly—so wise."

"Heh heh heh, isn't this me being afraid of good intentions turning into bad results? It's beneficial for our village to begin with, so I just wanted to minimize the negative impact while maximizing the benefits. This is what we all discussed together."

He agreed in one breath. "Let's do it that way. Anyway, you all just handle the arrangements out front. On the surface, I'll directly donate six hundred yuan to Tianhou Palace for the vow fulfillment, and then you guys will be responsible for approaching the school and arranging the scholarship."

"The scholarship money isn't much. When the time comes, please have the Women's Federation do the legwork—visit and confirm the list—and let Ah Qing hand out the money."

"This small loose change doesn't need to be brought out into the open. As long as we help out under Goddess Mazu's name, that's fine."

The village head beamed. "Good, since you have no problem, then that's that. We'll call two suona players a bit later to get ready. Tell us when you want to go to Goddess Mazu Temple to donate. After you donate, burn some incense, and let the suona players escort you home—make it a grand occasion."

"Huh?"

Ye Yaodong was dumbfounded. He only donated six hundred yuan, and they still wanted to hire a trumpet-and-drum band to see him home?

"No, no, no, that's really not necessary…"

"You donated such a large sum to the Tianhou Temple. Our village committee definitely has to publicize it. It's required—don't try to wriggle out of it."

"No, no, no, I'll just donate and that's that. If you want to publicize it, go ahead and publicize it. Just don't let the suona players follow me home—how awkward would that be."

It's not like he donated six million.

This whole thing was way too over the top.

"Really not doing it? How about a little ceremony at least?"

"No, no."

The village chief glanced at Chen Shuji. "Then let's not force him?"

Chen Shuji also said, "If he doesn't want to, then don't force him."

"Alright then, we'll do our own publicity."

Chen Shuji looked at Dongzi. "So when are you going to the Goddess Mazu Temple to donate?"

Ye Yaodong turned to look at his older brother and Ye Ye Erge. "Are you in a rush to get to the shipyard?"

"It's not that urgent. If your side will be quick, we'll wait a bit."

When the village chief and the secretary had just come over, the two of them already knew Dongzi was going to donate money to the school—something about a study fund and scholarships.

In their hearts they couldn't help but admire his grand vision, but, putting themselves in his shoes, they definitely wouldn't be willing. The money they earned themselves wasn't even enough for them to spend—how could they donate it to others?

Still, they had no standing to speak up, so they stayed silent the whole time and listened to the others negotiate.

"You two brothers heading to the shipyard now? Buying another boat? Your family already has so many boats, and you still want to buy?" the village chief asked in surprise.

"Heh heh, isn't the boat our dad set us up with pretty old too? My brother and I plan to go order two first. Once the big boat comes in a year or two, we can rent it out anyway and make money."

Ye Ye Yaohua chimed in as well, "Right. Dongzi always says keeping money in your hands is useless—you've got to put it out there to make more. My brother and I don't really know how to make money, so we figured buying boats can't go wrong."

"That's right, that's the logic. Money sitting there won't grow—you've got to put it out to make money."

"Adding a few more members to the association is fine too—think of it as saving money."

The two brothers gave an awkward smile after hearing the village chief's words. Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of a rope—how would they dare start an association now? Better to follow Dongzi and buy boats.

"Ah Dong's planning to donate six hundred yuan to the Tianhou Temple to fulfill a vow. How about you two brothers—want to donate a little too?" the village chief asked enthusiastically.

"Uh…"

The two brothers looked at each other.

"We'll have to go back and discuss it before we say anything. Besides, we're planning to buy boats, so even if we do donate to fulfill a vow, it won't be much."

"That's fine, it's not mandatory. Whether it's a lot or a little, it's the thought that counts. Donating even a mao is still a meritorious deed."

The two nodded.

Seeing the two of them in a bind, Ye Yaodong quickly steered the conversation away. "Today's the best chance—better than picking another day. I came back yesterday, and fulfilling the vow today is just right. I'll donate now. Lin Lin Xiuqing, go inside and count out six hundred yuan for me."

"We just finished burning incense, so we'll head back over to pay respects and donate the money. The rest of it you can handle yourselves—I'm not going to worry about it, alright?"

"Alright, alright, we'll handle the rest."

Lin Lin Xiuqing brought out a stack of money, very considerately wrapped in a sheet of red paper.

When donating to the Goddess Mazu Temple, the money has to be placed before the Goddess Mazu statue for an offering first, so wrapping it in red paper is more appropriate.

Ye Yaodong took the money and went with the village chief and Chen Shuji to the Goddess Mazu Temple. Ye Fu and Ye Mu followed along behind them as well.

The two older brothers, idle anyway, tagged along to have a look.

The donation was simple. He placed the money before the Goddess Mazu statue as an offering, and the old man who looked after the temple lit three more sticks of incense and handed them to him.

Ye Yaodong muttered softly to Goddess Mazu about the donation, letting Goddess Mazu know, and how to handle it also had to be told to Goddess Mazu. Then he planted the incense into the incense burner in front of him.

"Alright, I'm done. The rest is up to you. Once the offering's done, take the money and go talk it over with the school."

"Got it. You go ahead and handle your things—we'll take care of the rest."

What Ye Yaodong didn't expect was that he had only gone to the shipyard for one trip, and by the time he came back in the afternoon, he learned the village broadcast had been looping all day.

And he heard that in the afternoon the village committee had even taken a loudspeaker, had someone ride a bicycle, and had them pedaling back and forth through the village making announcements.

That embarrassed him to no end—thankfully he wasn't around.

But during the whole day he was away, quite a few people did come by—all kinds of distant relatives barely connected by a few sticks of the family tree.

None of them opened their mouths to borrow money, though—they just came by to congratulate him, say some nice words, or stood around for a while chatting, looking for a sense of presence.

Lin Lin Xiuqing was worn out after dealing with it all day. When he got home, he saw her sweeping sunflower seed shells all over the yard.

"Did your older brother and Ye Ye Erge's boats get ordered?"

"Mm, they said the earliest delivery would be next year, around mid-year."

"Both boats delivered together?"

"Yeah, otherwise if one boat comes early and the other late, those two would fight over it, maybe even come to blows. The factory has several teams producing at the same time. As long as nothing goes wrong, they should be able to deliver them together—or if there's a difference, it shouldn't be by much."

"The main thing is demand keeps growing year by year. Their factory hires more people every year. Other factories are laying people off, but theirs is doing pretty well," Ye Yaodong said as he pushed his bicycle into the house.

Lin Lin Xiuqing followed close behind him. "Good, then it's settled. When the big boat arrives, we can rent it out too."

"Mm."

"So are you going into the city tomorrow?"

"Mm, going into the city tomorrow. I'll ship a batch of the dried fish from home, and settle the accounts with our dad for the past two months while I'm at it. It should have piled up into quite a sum by now."

"Our dad already sent a batch back last month. This month's should be around seven or eight thousand yuan too. These past two months Boss Zhou and the military side haven't placed orders. Our dad said there were just a few scattered orders of one or two hundred jin each."

"That's fine too. Selling two or three hundred a day, the ones we sun-dry ourselves net at least a third profit. Wait until tomorrow when I collect the money—you figure out how much our family has in total."

"Okay."

Ye Yaodong actually had a rough idea in his head. Before he left, the family still had nearly twenty thousand yuan.

During that period, he paid the balance on Uncle Pei's big boat, and also paid the deposit for the partnership on his eldest brother's and Ye Ye Erge's big boat, and additionally collected a few payments back, which made up a bit of the expenses.

These past two months he earned another fifty thousand yuan, and his father-in-law's side collected one month's payment, which was roughly equivalent to offsetting the expenses of having Brother Brother Ahai collect fresh fish goods these two months.

Last night Lin Lin Xiuqing finished calculating what he'd earned in the recent two months, and he already roughly knew the family finances, so he didn't have her take the money out separately to count it again.

Once he goes to the city tomorrow to collect the payment for the goods, he can take his time calculating then—it's not too late.

This year really is a good year, a year of getting rich.

Ye Yaodong went to wash up feeling pleased with himself. He'd been out the whole day and was covered in dust, and it would still be several more years before the road would be paved.

The old lady sat in front of the Zaotang watching the fire. Seeing the couple talking, she didn't come over. The pot was already giving off the distinctive fragrant smell of rice—once he finished his bath and rested a bit, they could eat right away.

He said he'd come back and rest for a few days, but in fact he hadn't rested at all. Today he went to the shipyard, tomorrow he has to go to the city, the day after he was thinking of sending the motorcycle to the provincial capital to get it repaired, and the day after that is Mid-Autumn Festival again.

He can't just be a workhorse all the time; he needs to rest a bit more too.

When Lin Lin Xiuqing finished sweeping and went inside, she suddenly remembered there was something she'd forgotten to tell Ye Yaodong.

"Ah-Guang came by our house looking for you. You weren't in, so he asked me about the donation."

"He heard it from the loudspeaker?"

"Yes, I just told him a bit about it. He said he'd go back and ask his dad. I'm guessing he'll donate too?"

"He's earned quite a bit these past two months too—one person earning more than a whole boat. He should also consider adding some incense-offering money to the Goddess Mazu Temple. The village committee's merit box is even being planned to be set up. This batch of people who've made money should all be willing to donate a little to the Tianhou Temple to fulfill their vows, more or less."

"Right, when the loudspeaker was playing this afternoon, it also said you were doing it to fulfill a vow, add merit, and pray to Goddess Mazu to bless you with an even smoother year ahead."

"It's a good thing. The more people donate, the more funds there are. Next year we earn more, donate more; earn less, donate less—no pressure. Otherwise, this kind of scholarship and student aid, having it one year and not the next, isn't great either."

"If more people donate, we won't have to pay for the student aid ourselves either. Once they pass the review, having the Goddess Mazu Temple give it out directly works just the same."

"Either way is fine. The student aid doesn't cost much, and tuition isn't much either."

Lin Lin Xiuqing now had a large sum of money in hand and didn't care about that little bit of student aid—she just thought of it and mentioned it in passing.

"It's already five o'clock. Why hasn't your son come back yet? We're about to eat. Yangyang too—haven't seen him all afternoon. Where the hell did he go?"

"Normally school lets out at three-thirty?"

"Right, dawdling on the way, at most he'd be home by four-thirty. I don't know if the teacher kept him after."

"Did he bring toys to school to play and not want to come back? Oh! The roller skates—did they bring the roller skates to school?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing paused, then remembered the roller skates too. "Let me go inside and check. When they left in the morning, I checked and they hadn't brought them, and I didn't let them bring the toy cars either. In the afternoon I was busy entertaining the relatives who came by to chat, and I don't know when they left."

She talked as she went inside, wandered around for a bit, then came back out.

"They're really gone. These two little brats must have snuck the roller skates to school when I wasn't looking, that's why they haven't come back yet. They're going to get a beating."

"I haven't seen Brother Brother Ahai and the others come back either. I'll ride the bike to the school and take a look."

These playful kids had most likely brought the roller skates to school to show off, and skated around while they were at it, which is why they hadn't come home yet.

Brand-new gear they'd just gotten—if they didn't bring it out to show off and skate a bit, how could they possibly feel at ease?

Just as he was riding his bicycle out, his Ye Ye Erge also rode his bicycle out.

"Ye Chenghu hasn't come back either?"

"No, I was just about to go to the school to take a look."

"Me too, let's go together."

Ye Ye Yaopeng was also shouting at the door, telling them to bring his three back along the way.

Calling the kids home didn't require all of them to go out.

However, while the other kids really had brought their roller skates to school to play and fall around, Ye Chenghe had been kept after by the teacher. The teacher told his older brother Ye Ye Chenghai to go home and call a parent.

Ye Ye Chenghai turned around and immediately forgot, only caring about his own skating.

When the two of them had just walked into the school, they saw on the playground—a small flat patch of open ground—kids especially numerous, each one carrying their backpack, reluctant to go home, gathered around watching their family's group of kids skate.

"These little brats really did sneak the roller skates to school to skate."

"Heh, bringing them home means a beating. It's so late and they still don't know to come home."

The two pushed through the crowd and shouted a couple of times.

"Ye Chenghu!"

"Ye Ye Chengjiang!"

"Thud thud thud…"

"Oww…"

The few wearing roller skates on the open ground were walking slowly. Hearing the shouts, with a thud they all fell down, accompanied by a great chorus of wailing rising up.

Ye Yaodong walked over and nudged Ye Chenghu with his foot. "School's been out for so long and you still don't know to go back. If I hadn't come, would you only have gone back once it was dark?"

"Ah, what time is it? Isn't the sun still up?"

"The sun sets at six—are you also going to come back at six?"

"I'll change my shoes right away."

"Why is Yangyang here too?"

Ye Ye Chengyang just laughed sheepishly and didn't say a word.

"He came to school with me this afternoon."

"If you like school so much, come together again tomorrow."

"Nooo, I'm still little. I just came to skate with my brother."

At this point, Ye Ye Yaohua also noticed that Ye Chenghe was missing. He asked Ye Ye Chenghai about it.

"Oh no, terrible! He told me the teacher wants me to go home and call a parent over. Second Uncle, Third Uncle, you guys go quickly."

"What did he do that they need to call a parent?" Ye Yaodong asked curiously.

"I don't know. He gets kept after by the teacher every other day."

"Let's go, lead me there to take a look. You guys wait here."

"Second Uncle, Third Uncle, hurry up, I forgot."

Ye Yaodong knocked his head. "Did you eat shit for memory? You can forget this? There's fun to be had, and you don't even want your brother anymore?"

"It's not the first time he's been kept after school by the teacher, so I didn't take it to heart. I don't know what he did today either—he actually needs to call his parents. Good thing you two came, Third Uncle."

Ye Ye Chenghai jogged ahead to lead the way, while Ye Yaodong and Ye Ye Yaohua followed behind with long strides.

The school wasn't very big—just three rows of low houses.

When Ye Ye Chenghai led them to the classroom, the teacher was still bent over grading homework. A little girl stood beside her, her eyes red, while Ye Chenghe was squatting in the corner, bored out of his mind.

Hearing them coming, Ye Chenghe jumped up excitedly. "Second Uncle, Third Uncle, you're finally here!"

Good thing it wasn't his parents who came.

The teacher looked up. "Are you Ye Chenghe's family?"

"Yes, teacher. What did this child do wrong?"

"He burned the hair of the girl sitting in front of him. So vicious, so naughty…"

Ye Yaodong was dumbfounded when he heard that. He glanced at the little girl standing beside the teacher—the ponytail at the back was already singed and curled, with only a tiny bit left held by a hair tie, like a rabbit's short tail.

The collar of the shirt on her back had a hole burned through it too, and it was scorched?

Ye Ye Yaohua had already started nodding repeatedly and apologizing.

"When you go back, you need to tell Ye Chenghe's parents to discipline this child properly. This isn't the first time."

"Before, this child deliberately used matches to burn the hair on other little girls' arms, and already made other female classmates cry. This time the fire actually caught—I was terrified during class."

"Yes, yes, the child is naughty. Teacher, feel free to hit him, feel free to scold him. I'll tell his parents when we get back and have them discipline him properly."

"It's so late today, so let's call it done for now. If he's too vicious and naughty, the school will expel him."

"Oh, alright, we'll definitely discipline him properly."

The two brothers apologized to the teacher repeatedly, then had Ye Chenghe apologize to the little girl, and only then led Ye Chenghe out.

Ye Yaodong draped his arm over Ye Chenghe's drooping-head shoulder. "Good boy, you're something else. Picking on a girl classmate at such a young age?"

He said dejectedly, "I didn't know the fire would catch. It never did before."

Ye Yaodong knocked his head. "Go home and wait to get beaten. I'll swell your butt up."

Ye Chenghe felt even worse.