Chapter 968

Lin Xiuqing pulled Ye Xiaoxi over, preparing to take off her clothes and coax her to sleep early, but she was still bouncing around on the bed.

"Stop jumping, you're going to jump the bed to pieces."

"Want a doll, want a doll~"

Ye Yaodong lifted his chin, "Isn't the doll on the bed? You've dragged it all over the floor until it's pitch black, and you still don't want to wash it."

"Little doll, want a little doll?"

"Where would a little doll come from? Tell your mother to give birth to one for you?"

Lin Xiuqing gave him a playful, reproachful glare, "Talking nonsense. She was just playing with a few older sisters next door, and Xiuxiu and the others were making clothes for their dolls, so she saw that and wanted a doll too."

"Isn't this big one of yours better? It can replace dozens of theirs!"

"No, want a little doll!"

After saying that, she started bouncing on the bed again, "Want a little doll, little doll~"

Lin Xiuqing reached out to grab her, but she kept dodging to the very back of the bed, "Hehe, can't catch me, can't catch me~"

"Come here quickly, I'll buy you a little doll!"

Ye Xiaoxi listened and happily ran over.

Lin Xiuqing took the opportunity to take off her clothes, "Go and make her some malted milk."

"So much trouble, just feed her breast milk."

"How old is she, still eating my milk? After the new year, she'll be three. In a few more months, she'll be two years old. I have to wean her."

"Breast milk is good for her. Anyway, you're plump, and you have plenty of milk. Other people wean early because they don't have milk to feed them. You have it, why not give it to her?"

"Can I feed her until she's old? Whose child drinks milk until she's this big?"

"If you have it, just give it to her. It saves the trouble of making milk. Malted milk is expensive, and your milk doesn't cost anything."

"If I have milk, can I keep feeding her until she's several years old..."

Although Lin Xiuqing said she wasn't willing, she had already started unbuttoning her clothes.

Malted milk was indeed not cheap. The two boys in the family had to eat it morning and night. As for the old lady... she claimed she ate it every day even when she didn't, but this really cost several yuan every month, so it was better to save where they could. Let's see if she can drink it until she's two.

When she gave birth to her, she ate well, and in the year or two after giving birth, she ate even better. She drank plenty of soups and broths, so even now, more than a year later, her milk supply was still plentiful. Every day, her chest was full; she had plenty of capital.

When she gave birth to the two boys, they ate less, and after a few months, there was no milk left. Both sons were raised on little bits of rice soup.

Otherwise, why would people always say Ye Xiaoxi is blessed? When she was born, it just happened to be when the family's conditions improved. Since she was born, she never lacked food or drink, had whatever she wanted, and even drank more milk than others.

Her stature looked taller than the average child, and she was very sturdy, tall and strong. Some two-year-olds didn't even look as tall as her.

"Other people want to feed their children more milk but don't have any. You have it and won't give her more. Just feed her until she's two. I heard Empress Dowager Cixi was still drinking human milk at her age. It just means human milk is nutritious, even if it doesn't have much taste."

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes at him. Who knew if he was just looking for benefits for himself?

"Who knows if that's true or not? The person is long dead; can you go and ask her?"

"Why are you talking like that?"

"It's eight o'clock. You go to the workshop and check. If there's nothing, we'll close the door and go to sleep. It's freezing cold, hurry up and tuck yourself into the quilt."

"I already checked the workshop earlier and told them to close the door and keep a good watch. I'm going to check on the two boys. They climbed upstairs; they want to sleep upstairs tonight."

"Then you go check, and by the way, turn off the lights in the room. I'll coax our daughter to sleep first."

"Got it."

Ye Yaodong first turned off the lights in the room, then pulled the door shut, and went to the courtyard to check if all the dogs had returned. Finally, he closed the courtyard gate and entered the house. By this time, the surroundings were already pitch black.

It was cold in winter, and with the Winter Solstice approaching, it was almost the time of year with the longest nights. The village was already quiet and deserted as soon as dusk fell. Every household went to bed early after dinner, which was warm and saved on electricity bills.

Only the lights in their three brothers' houses were still on. The children in the two houses next door were still running around upstairs, and the sound of their voices could be heard downstairs. The newly built houses were all still fresh to them, and they were extremely excited.

His own two boys had just been punished by standing in the corner earlier that evening, so they were relatively well-behaved and quiet, but the lights were on upstairs, showing they hadn't gone to sleep yet.

After Ye Yaodong locked the house door, he headed upstairs first.

The wooden staircase had clear grain; it had just been installed and still carried a scent of wood, which was quite fresh.

"Mom's coming, Mom's coming..."

"Hurry, hide it..."

Just as Ye Yaodong stood at the doorway, he saw the two boys scrambling to stuff things into their quilt, then looking at him with fawning expressions.

"Dad? Aren't you asleep? Why did you come?"

"Who told you I was asleep?"

"We heard the sound of your bedboard creaking earlier, we thought you were asleep."

"Ahem! I wasn't asleep. I couldn't sleep, so I got up to see if you were being good. What are you doing? What are you hiding in the quilt? Being all secretive."

"Nothing!"

"Nothing at all."

Both of them denied it in unison.

Ye Yaodong was very suspicious; he could clearly see them hiding things in the quilt.

"What did you hide? Take it out, or I'll search for it, and it'll be confiscated."

The two brothers looked at each other. Ye Chenghu pouted, and aggrievedly reached his hand into the quilt, pulling out a tin car.

"Just this? When did you steal this from under my bed?"

"When you weren't at home."

"You've got some nerve. What else is there? Let me see."

The two couldn't stop him in time, and the quilt was directly lifted.

"Ah!"

"Dad, you can't confiscate them!"

Ye Yaodong's mouth twitched as he looked at the toys filling the quilt: small cars, picture books, tin frogs, spinning tops, slingshots, feather shuttlecocks, and various paper cutouts of characters, etc. All the toys he had bought for them were here, stuffed into a full quilt. They didn't even care that it was dirty.

"Are you planning to sleep like this tonight?"

Both nodded like chickens pecking at rice.

"Can we, Dad? We promise to sleep obediently and get up on time."

"What's in these two little jars? Hey, quite a lot of money, huh?"

"This is mine!"

"This one is mine!"

Both of them hugged a jar to their chests, the coins inside clinking loudly.

"You've saved up quite a bit of private money, haven't you?"

Both looked up at him vigilantly.

"Don't worry, I'm not your mother; I won't take it away."

"You keep your word."

"Of course," Ye Yaodong squatted down and looked at them, smiling, "But whenever I'm out of money, you have to lend me some."

Ye Chenghu hesitated, "Can't you ask Mom for money?"

"Don't I have to make up excuses every day?"

"Then you have to wait until we save up a bit more," Ye Chengyang said.

"Fine. Since you're so sensible, I won't confiscate it. Go to sleep early. No playing with toys. Sweep all those toys onto the floor; don't leave them in the quilt, or you'll crush them in the night and have nothing to play with."

"Okay." Both immediately responded happily.

"I'm turning off the light. The point is, if you can't get up tomorrow, you'll be scolded, and I'll have to confiscate your toys again."

"Got it."

The wind picked up in the night, and the windows rattled from the cold gusts. The sound of the wind came in waves, one louder than the next.

Ye Yaodong was also woken up by the sound of the wind outside the window. After getting up to go pee, he went upstairs to check on the two children, feeling uneasy. The two were sleeping with their feet crossed over each other, both propped up on the quilt.

He pulled the quilt over them to cover them up before going back downstairs to the room to continue sleeping.

He always said his sons weren't important, complained about them, and was always scolding or punishing them, but in his heart, he still loved his two children very much.

The next day felt even colder. The cold wind blew down his collar, making him shiver.

Ye Yaodong tucked his hands into his sleeves, went back into the room to tie on a scarf, and then headed to the workshop.

The older aunties had come over early again to work on killing fish and filtering fish sauce.

The workshop was open-air and didn't block the wind, so recently he hadn't let those aunties kill fish overnight, to avoid freezing them. Anyway, fresh sea fish could sit for a night, and it was the same to kill them early the next morning.

Even so, he saw that those people's cheeks and noses were red from the cold.

On a cold day, even if the sun came out in the morning, the sunlight was still very weak, not comparable to noon. The sea breeze blew directly, and without shelter, it was still quite cold.

It just so happened that that little room was also piled full of dried fish, only enough to put one bed for the boys who took shifts, otherwise, they could have moved the fish into the room to kill them.

He thought, if the fish sauce sold well in these two months, once the outer wall was finished, he would let those workers continue to build a row of warehouses and a slaughter workshop along the edge of the wall.

Since they were going to do it, they should do it all at once, to avoid doing it like last year, where they stopped after building the workshop, and not long after, called people over to add a small room for the old lady, and then a few months later, added a building, and then built a workshop.

It was always done bit by bit, which seemed very fragmented and troublesome.

If they built the workshop and the warehouse together, that would be a one-time effort, and they wouldn't need to change anything for years.

The money for the house had already been split anyway. A few nights ago, they calculated the accounts, and each person split about a thousand yuan, which wasn't expensive. The labor and materials for the workshop were calculated from scratch again, including the leftover bricks and sand from building the house here, which were all cheaply bundled and sold to him.

"Thank you for your hard work, aunties, coming over so early to kill fish."

"What hard work? What's hard about earning money? So many people want to find work but can't find any. What kind of hard work is this for us?"

"That's right, what's hard or not hard about earning money? You have to do it. Isn't it the same doing it at home? Busy at home, and there's no money. Busy here, and there's money, hehe."

"It's alright. Now that the sun is out, it's not that cold, much better than killing fish in the middle of the night."

The older aunties all answered with smiles while killing the fish.

"It's cold here, you hurry back to the room. We'll get it done well for you."

"It's fine, I just came over to take a look."

Yesterday, Acai delivered three thousand jin or so. He asked him to deliver five thousand jin this evening. He estimated that he would have to find two more people tomorrow, otherwise, they might not be able to finish killing them.

After all, once killed, they had to be salted, and once salted, they had to be dried. It all required manpower.

The women at the row of wooden barrels in the corner were also busy and enthusiastic. His mother was also there supervising. Just as a vat was filtered, the twins would seal it and move it to the corner.

They had also just come over to take over the shift. There were many people during the day, so they didn't need to watch the site much; they just went wherever they were needed to help.

There were already eight or nine full ones in the corner. These filtered fish sauces had to be stored in a cool place. Fortunately, the weather was cold now, and the sun wasn't strong.

"Dongzi, filtering a bit more today will be enough for a truckload. You can deliver a truckload to the city tomorrow first. These big vats are easily broken if they collide while bumping on the road. Tomorrow, you have to take some straw to stuff and cushion them."

"That's what I was thinking too. I'll let Aqing go and scavenge for some in a while."

"Yeah, these big vats just aren't as convenient as wooden barrels. If you don't cushion them, they bump and collide on the road, and all the work is wasted."

"You should go to work."

Ye's mother looked at the electronic watch on her wrist, "Still early, it's fine, I'm very free. Recently, your friend Haozi's family has almost finished arguing, and it's quite peaceful."

"Did they divorce?"

"No, how could it be so easy to divorce? There are still two children in the family. Just make do and live on. Where is it so easy to find someone else after divorcing?"

"They've been making a scene every other day for these two months. I thought they would divorce."

The woman next to her chimed in, "We were just talking about it earlier. His wife hadn't even stayed at her maiden home for a week before her family sent her back. How could she dare to divorce? If she divorced, wouldn't she be homeless?"

"Oh my, everyone advises reconciliation, not divorce. How many people divorce these days? Doesn't it cost money to find someone again? Just make do, each person takes a step back, and life goes on."

"I heard Haozi has some dirt on his wife. Two days ago, he originally wanted to kick her out again, but he was threatened by his wife, and then he calmed down. It's rare that it's been peaceful these past two days."

"Threatened with what? Did he do something shameful? Is it something that can't be seen in public?"

"Who knows? If you do something shameful and have a guilty conscience, how can you hide it from the person sleeping beside you? Anyway, neither of them was any good before they got married. Just make do and live on. They've already lived together for so many years."

"Anyway, there's really no end to the excitement recently. It's almost more lively than the New Year. That relative of yours, Asheng's family, is the same. They're putting on a big show every day. Wang Lizhen's mother comes to the door every day, wanting to stuff her daughter to him. It's annoying their family to death."

The women had endless topics. Just pick a topic, and they could chatter away, gossiping while working until they got off work.

The group killing fish earlier was the same. When he didn't speak up to greet them, they were all there with their heads down gossiping, not delaying their work at all.

Ye Yaodong was a bit curious. What kind of dirt could Haozi have? To be so easily manipulated and captured without a fight.

But then again, it was normal. It wasn't easy to divorce these days; there were more widowed people than divorced ones.

Just make do, make do, and life goes on. Anyway, as long as they didn't come to annoy him, it was fine. Let them do whatever they wanted.

He strolled around, seeing that the women on both sides were working in an orderly manner, and then turned to the side where they were building the wall, chatting with the foreman about the construction period. It would be almost New Year by the time they finished leveling the ground.

Ye Yaodong felt that this date was about right. Finish building the wall and leveling the ground before the New Year, then rest for the New Year, and after the fifteenth of the first lunar month, consider calling them to start building the workshop and warehouse.

After having a plan in mind, he tucked his hands into his sleeves and prepared to go back, to avoid blowing in the wind outside. However, when he turned his head, he saw the cherry seedlings on the small dirt slope growing well.

After thinking about it, he went back and picked two buckets of water to pour on them.

After moving them over a few months ago, he hadn't paid much attention to them, handing full responsibility to the children.

They were also very diligent. In the month they were just planted, they were very attentive, going to water them every day before school, and the first thing they did when they came back from school was to water them again.

It was only after Aqing told them not to water them morning and evening every day that they stopped, but several saplings still died. After they felt heartbroken, they wanted to come over eight hundred times a day.

It wasn't until the next month, after the novelty wore off, that they stopped, but they would still remember to come over and water them every other day.

It was also quite good to have something for them to do.

In two or three years, if they bore fruit, they would probably have an even greater sense of accomplishment.

A few months passed until now, and several had died, but fortunately, the survival rate was greater than fifty percent. Now they looked to be a meter tall, and they would probably grow rapidly after the spring of next year.

Around each sapling planted, there were three bamboo strips inserted, which were still there now, helping them stabilize their shape. Now that the cold wind was blowing, although they swayed left and right, the small trunks still hadn't bent.

Ye Yaodong inserted the bamboo strips that were a bit loose deeper and re-tied them before clapping his hands, taking the carrying pole and empty water buckets back.

"Why are you suddenly so diligent, even watering the cherry seedlings?"

"I just happened to stroll around there and saw them. The soil was also dry, so I just picked two buckets of water to pour on them. They look like they're growing quite well. In two years, I hope to eat the cherries the children planted."

"When you bought the land, you should have bought that piece of dirt slope too..."

"Buy what? It's wasteland that nobody wants. If I plant things, it's naturally mine. Why spend money? Isn't it all like this? Aren't the surrounding barren hills and dirt slopes all like this? Whoever clears the wasteland and plants some things, if the time they've planted is long, that small piece of land is naturally his. What's more, we didn't occupy a very large piece, just this small piece, only about a hundred square meters."

"Alright, the big vats for today haven't been delivered yet?"

"No, maybe it's not that early. Anyway, what was delivered today and yesterday is enough to use. I'll transport a load to the city tomorrow. I'll go pull a cart of straw back to cushion them and prevent collisions in a while..."

"Is Dongzi at home?"

The couple was talking in the room when they heard shouting from outside again.

"Someone is looking for you again."

"I'll go take a look."

Usually, people coming to the door to climb relationships and find work called for Aqing. Calling him was quite rare, after all, he wasn't often at home.

"Brother Asheng? Have you eaten?"

"I've eaten. Is Third Aunt here?"

"You're looking for my mother? I thought you were looking for me. She's over at the workshop watching the fish sauce filter."

Ye Yaosheng rubbed his hands a bit embarrassedly, hesitating, "Can you help call her over?"

Lin Xiuqing hurriedly said, "I'll go call her."

"What are you looking for my mother for?" Ye Yaodong asked.

"Uh... this... hehe... I'll ask her to help me inquire about finding a wife first..." He said with a face full of embarrassment, feeling awkward.

Ye Yaodong was surprised, "Why do you need my mother to find you a wife? Can't you just ask your mother to help you inquire about it?"

He frowned, his face full of entanglement, "My mother is too unreliable, messing things up time and time again. Third Aunt looks more reliable, and she is more familiar with the situation in the nearby villages. I just want her to find me someone who knows how to live a life; I have no other requirements."

Indeed, compared to the two aunts, his mother was relatively more reliable.

At the very least, his two sisters-in-law were also people who knew how to live a life. Living close by, there were inevitably some frictions and a bit more petty thoughts, but in the big picture, neither of them was bad; they were both people who could live a life with peace of mind.

Unlike the second aunt, who either messed things up or had her eyes set on the sky.

Fortunately, he didn't end up with such a mother. His mother was at most a bit bad-mouthed, but she was incredibly reliable in doing things and had a clear head.

Thank his old mother for finding him a good wife who could support him.

"Indeed, my mother looks more reliable than yours. Then you can ask her in a while."

Ye Yaosheng nodded.

Ye Yaodong had just strolled around the workshop and also heard about the farce in his family recently.

After Wang Lizhen's mother found out that he now had a boat and a stable income, in the last two months, she had come to the door every other day, asking him to consider old feelings and marry Wang Lizhen directly. It just so happened that she had also been widowed for a few months.

How could Ye Yaosheng be willing? He wasn't a sucker.

Before, when they broke off the engagement, he had already paid two hundred yuan. Only a fool would tie himself to that woman again. She wasn't a fairy, so why did he have to hang himself on one tree?

It would be better to marry a wife early and have some peace. He could also go out to sea to earn money with peace of mind, to avoid facing his old mother every day and feeling annoyed.

His old mother had been fed soul-stirring soup by Wang Lizhen's mother during this period, and her attitude had softened. She could even go from cursing loudly to letting people into the door to sit down and chat. The situation looked a bit bad.

He felt it would be better for him to marry a wife early.

Lin Xiuqing didn't know why he came to the door, so she didn't tell Ye's mother in detail.

It wasn't until Ye's mother entered the door that she knew he wanted her to help inquire and find him a wife.

"Then how can I intervene in this matter? You're not my son. If you want to entrust me to inquire and introduce a matchmaker, then your mother should come over to say it. Otherwise, if I directly introduce a wife to you without her consent and without letting her know, she'll scold me to death."

"What if you quarrel in the future and life doesn't go well, and you still have to blame me? Wouldn't I be doing a bad thing with good intentions, and be wronged to death? You go back and discuss it with your mother first. After discussing it, come over to say it, or just let your mother inquire about someone more reliable for you."

"It's precisely because she's unreliable that I want to ask Third Aunt for help."

"Then I have no position to make decisions for you. You still have to discuss it with your mother. After discussing it, if there's no problem and she agrees, then I'll help you inquire and find you someone reliable, someone who is peaceful and knows how to live a life."

"That's fine. Inquiring definitely requires Third Aunt's help. The wives Third Aunt found for Dongzi and the others are all reliable, all people who know how to live a life. I trust Third Aunt's vision more."

Ye's mother was pleased by what he said.

"Finding a wife naturally requires finding someone who knows how to live a life. Whether she looks good or not is secondary. Knowing how to live a life is the most important thing. You talk to your mother first, and come after you've talked it over well. If you really want me to find one for you, I will definitely find you someone who can control your mother, watch over the house, and know how to live a life."

Ye Yaosheng nodded repeatedly. That was exactly what he wanted.

It would be best if she could control his parents. This touched his heart.

"Then I'll go back and discuss it with my mother first, and come over later."

"Hey, alright."

Ye's mother stretched her neck to watch the person walk out before saying, "It's good to marry a wife early. If you don't have money to marry, just borrow some and pay it back slowly. Only when there's a woman in the house does it look like a home. It also saves you from being entangled by some unsavory people."

"Didn't Wang Lizhen say last month that she was going to marry into Xishan Village?"

"People didn't want her anymore, disliking that she wanted to bring her son along to marry over, and having to help others raise a son. And then, she heard that Asheng rented Dongzi's boat to work and is now earning quite a lot of money, so she entangled Asheng again. Fortunately, he goes out to sea every day and isn't often at home, otherwise, who knows when he would have been clung to."

"Really troublesome."

"Who says it isn't? It's urgent to marry a decent wife quickly. His mother is really something, arranging for half a year without even a shadow. I don't know what she's doing; she's really unreliable."

"Maybe she's still waiting for Aguang's eldest sister?"

Lin Xiuqing hurriedly patted him, "Don't talk nonsense."

"I was just making a joke."

"Alright, I'm going to work. Aqing, go to the workshop and watch over them a bit, watch them work more."

"Alright, I'll go over. Adong, watch Xiaojiu. I don't know where Yangyang died again; he disappeared early in the morning."

"Let the old lady watch. I'm going to pull a cart of straw."

Ye Yaodong followed them out and saw Ye Xiaoxi imitating the old lady, with both hands tucked into her sleeves, then squatting on the ground watching the turtle.

"Why did you bring the turtle egg out?"

"Yangyang brought it out to let it sunbathe, and then told Xiaojiu to watch it."

"Egg! Egg! Dad, egg!"

Ye Yaodong was surprised, "The turtle laid an egg! Turtle egg!"

"Turtle egg? Dad, turtle egg!"

"No, you can't call me a turtle egg. It's strange, can a single turtle lay an egg?"

The old lady said with a smile, "Of course it can, it's just that there's no male, so this egg can't be hatched."

"Oh my, if I had known, I wouldn't have eaten the other turtle two years ago. That way, who knows, maybe I could have hatched a few more."

"Dad, turtle egg!"

Ye Xiaoxi was extremely happy. She watched this turtle lay an egg with her own eyes.

"Stinky girl, you can't say it together."

"Turtle egg, Dad!"

The old lady was extremely happy, "I was just saying why she was so obediently squatting there watching without moving her butt. So it turns out she discovered this turtle was about to lay an egg."

"Turtle egg, Dad, take take..."

"Don't call it a turtle egg, call it egg egg."

"Turtle egg!"

"Egg egg!"

"Turtle egg, take take..."

"Don't use your hand, be careful it bites you," Ye Yaodong hurriedly grabbed her hand, "I'll take it for you in a while."