Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1885 Can't Stay Idle

Chapter 1885 Can't Stay Idle

After everything was arranged, Ye Yaodong boarded the ship home.

He's only been away from home for a little over a month, and he's already rushing back. He's quite busy, traveling back and forth.

Before he set off, Linji also replied that he could arrange for him to arrive in the provincial capital about a week before May Day, and at the latest, he would arrange for the delivery to be made before May Day.

Ye Yaodong did a quick calculation and realized that this time was not much different from the original time he was supposed to go to the provincial capital. He would have to wait a few more days at most. Anyway, he was already back in his hometown, so it wouldn't make a difference if he didn't have to wait a little longer.

He could simply stay in his hometown for a few more days to spend time with his elders and take a break. Once he received notification from Linji that he could pick up the car, he could then go to the provincial capital to take care of some business. Having a car would make traveling to and from the provincial capital much more convenient.

When he arrived home, it was the last day of the second month of the lunar calendar, which was already mid-April in the Gregorian calendar. It was also the time when the village was harvesting seaweed.

Before even entering the village, at the village entrance, he could smell the strong aroma of seaweed, damp and salty, as if the entire village was enveloped by this smell, permeating the whole village.

He took a deep breath and didn't find the smell unpleasant; it was the smell of the sea.

At this time of year, most villagers are either drying seaweed on the beach or harvesting seaweed at sea. He didn't see many people on his way into the village, not even many dogs, just elderly people sitting at their doorways guarding their homes.

In some homes, there are no elderly people sitting at the door to watch over the house, and the doors are all locked.

He guessed that his parents were probably not at home either, but were either at the seaside workshop or helping to dry seaweed.

But he figured the old lady should be home, so he decided to make a detour to his hometown first. He needed to go home, rest a bit, and have some tea.

Sure enough, the old lady sat in the shade by the door, reached into her pocket, took out a piece of candy, peeled off the wrapper, and then put it in her mouth, pursing her lips and happily eating the candy.

When passersby didn't know what to say to her, she smiled happily at them, reached into her pocket, and enthusiastically offered them candy.

Ye Yaodong called out to her, and her cloudy eyes lit up.

"Oh dear, my Dongzi is back! I can't talk to you anymore, my Dongzi is back..."

The old lady, leaning on her cane, got up and took a step toward him before being helped up. The neighbors nearby also greeted Ye Yaodong.

"When did Dongzi come back? Didn't he just leave last month? He's back again?"

"Just got back, I have something to take care of."

“Your parents, one helps harvest vegetables outside the dock, and the other helps dry vegetables on the beach.”

"Oh, okay, thank you."

After speaking with his neighbor, Ye Yaodong helped the old lady back into her house. The old lady kept smiling with her eyes narrowed.

"I said I'd be back yesterday, I didn't expect to get home so quickly."

It wasn't yesterday; the old lady had misremembered again, but he didn't correct her and just agreed with her.

"I came back right after making the call."

He went back inside and sat for a while, chatted for a bit, and then walked out of the dock to check on this year's seaweed harvest.

The ground was dry at first, but the further he walked towards the dock, the wetter it became, and then water accumulated. More and more people were wearing rain boots and rubber jumpsuits, and everyone greeted him warmly when they saw him.

"Ah Dong is back?"

"When did you get back?"

"We've been harvesting vegetables for days..."

"With this cement ground, it's much easier to walk on, and the cart is both stable and fast."

"The ground isn't too dirty anymore, it's much better than before..."

Several mounds of seaweed have already been piled up by the dock, dark green and glistening with seawater.

The small boats on the shore were also piled high with seaweed, and the men were helping to unload it and pile it up on the dock, waiting to be transported to the beach to dry.

Most of the women in the village were drying their clothes on the beach. Men and women worked together, and basically everyone in the village, young and old, who could help, came out to do so.

Harvesting seaweed is not much different from harvesting rice in the past; both require harvesting all the seaweed on a sunny day.

Looking at this year's yield, it's another bumper harvest. In recent years, the weather has been favorable, and the lives of farmers and fishermen have improved considerably.

Ye Yaodong also spotted his father's small figure on the small fishing boat. He was small in stature but quite old, yet very capable, carrying a bunch of seaweed and helping to unload it.

A piece of kelp is not small; a mature piece of kelp can be as big as a large quilt, thick, heavy, and covered with seawater.

After spotting Ye Yaodong, the workers on the shore called out to Ye's father, "Ye Laosan, Adong is back..."

"Ye Laosan, stop working and hurry upstairs, Adong is back..."

Upon hearing this, Ye's father straightened up, looked towards the shore, and then happily handed over the work to the others before going ashore himself.

"Dongzi just got home?"

"I see you're quite capable, coming over to help harvest seaweed, why would you need to retire?"

"Oh dear... I'm really getting old, I'm no good anymore, my back can't take it after just two days of work... I can hardly straighten my back anymore."

Ye Yaodong helped him up, saying, "I saw you working so hard, I thought it was a piece of cake for you."

"This is no small job, it's incredibly tough, no wonder the pay is so high..."

"Are you going there to earn wages?"

"If I don't go and earn wages, am I supposed to work for free?"

Ye Yaodong was speechless. "Do I lack food or drink from you? Why do I need you to work so hard to collect seaweed?"

"That's not how it is. I'm just sitting around all day anyway, it's so boring. The village is harvesting seaweed these days, everyone's so busy they don't even have time to play cards. I can't stand sitting here doing nothing. They all need help, so I'm here to earn some wages."

How much do you get paid per day?

Mr. Ye held up two fingers. “15, not bad, right? You’d make 450 yuan a month doing this.”

"My mother is going to earn money too?"

“Women earn cheap work drying clothes, only 12 yuan a day, but they can earn 360 yuan a month. If your mother and I work for a month, we can earn more than 800 yuan, which is quite a lot.”

"You two really are..."

He didn't know what to say. Why not enjoy the good life instead of working such a grueling job?

This drying work is anything but easy. Each piece of kelp weighs dozens or even hundreds of kilograms. After a day's work, your arms will be exhausted. It's not an easy job to earn money like this; it's all physical labor.

At the end of last year, he gave them 2 yuan, which, when divided among them, amounted to more than 1000 yuan per month, more than they earned doing this exhausting work.

Seeing the displeasure on his face, Ye's father smiled and said, "Although your mother and I are not short of money, the whole village is busy there, and we can't just stand there and watch. We still have to do our part. People older than me are all vying to do this work, so I'll join in for a few days."

"Are you only working for a few days? You've already calculated how much you'll earn in a month."

"If you can manage, then help out. It's okay to work a few more days; you can earn wages. It's also nice to chat while everyone is working. Otherwise, if I just stand there watching others work, I won't feel comfortable."

"Both you and my mother have a lot of problems..."

"We're taking our medicine, it's fine. We can even earn more money for the medicine."

"To earn more money for medical treatment and medicine, how can you even say that?"

Ye's father followed him back with a smile. "Isn't that all there is to it? We're short of workers these days, so we're coming to work for a few days too. I didn't dare tell you on the phone. Your mother said she goes to help out every year around this time and earns quite a bit of money in a month. We're still able to work, so we'll earn a little bit too. Everyone in the village is busy, it wouldn't be good if we were the only ones sitting idle."

"The workshop isn't enough to keep you busy..."

“There are other people doing that, so we don’t need to. We can earn some wages, and when the seaweed is dried and ready to be sold, we’ll arrange to buy it.”

"It's a good thing we don't have to pay your salaries, otherwise you would have to use your earnings to pay salaries."

"Let's not talk about that. Hehe, let's go call your mother back. We only need to work half a day today, and then rest for the other half. Let her go back and prepare some food for you."

"I ate in town before I came back, so don't bother arranging anything for me."

Mr. Ye stopped and tentatively said, "Is it alright? I'll go back and continue working?"

Ye Yaodong grabbed his father's shoulders, "What are you busy with? Go back and rest. If you work yourself to death, the little money you earn won't even be enough for your medical treatment. Call my mother back too."

"Alright, alright, I knew you'd come back and talk about it. We can only go back and be clay idols."

As they walked, Ye's father continued to talk to him about going to the provincial capital.

Mother Ye was busy moving through the seaweed thickets, and the other women, though separated by the seaweed clumps, could still chat and gossip.

"...Her daughter-in-law is a real jerk. The old woman doesn't care about anything herself, and she won't let her son care either..."

“My son is a good-for-nothing, a spineless coward. He’s completely at your mercy and doesn’t care about his own parents. What’s the point of having a son like that? If my son were like that, I would have kicked him out long ago.”

"Have you heard? Zhida's wife is over 40 and has never been able to have children. Three years ago, she brought home a daughter and raised her for three years. Last year, she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son yesterday. The whole family is overjoyed and is burning incense to thank their ancestors today."

"Damn it, she gave birth to a son for him. Now he has both a son and a daughter. That daughter is so lovely to hold."

"It was meant to be; I saw the red eggs in the house this morning."

"They're so happy they've gone mad! Normally, red eggs don't appear this quickly, haha, they can't wait to tell the whole village they have a son..."

"It's all good, it's all perfect..."

The father and son walked into the seaweed patch where seaweed was drying, and all they could hear was a bunch of gossip, but they didn't see many people.

Mr. Ye even stood on tiptoe, but he still couldn't see anyone, only colorful hats. He didn't know where Mrs. Ye was.

"Hey you, have you seen your mother?"

Ye Yaodong was tall, so he could see the heads of the people, but they were all wearing hats, covering their faces so that only their eyes were visible. How could he find his mother like that?

"Just call out to me, I don't know where I am."

“Lixiang, Lixiang, Dongzi’s mother, Dongzi is back… Please call out to Dongzi’s mother, Dongzi is back…” Ye’s father shouted at the top of his lungs.

The women who were nearby immediately raised their voices and relayed the message inside.

Finally, after hearing Ye's mother's loud reply, word by word, we heard it.

"They're here, they're here..."

Mother Ye weaved through the seaweed, and after a while she finally reached them, then took off her hat with a big smile on her face.

"Dongzi's back. Come on, come on, let's go home and get you something to eat."

"He's already eaten, so there's no need to bother."

"You've already eaten? Then I don't need to worry about you. I still have to finish my work. It's already 2 o'clock. I can go home after three more hours."

Ye Yaodong put one arm around his father's shoulder and the other around his mother's, not allowing either of them to run away.

"What are you doing? Go home and rest."

"You've already eaten and you're fine, so go home and rest. We'll finish this little bit."

"Why are you two so eager? You won't even take a break."

"It's a waste to rest now!" Mother Ye slapped her thigh and said unwillingly, "If I rest now, I'll only get half a day's work. If I work three more hours, I'll finish today's work."

"I'll make it up for you."

“That’s different. If you don’t have anything else to do, you can go home first. I’ll go home and cook for you when I’m done with this.”

Ye's father nodded in agreement, "That's right, I can still go back and do it now."

"Stop arguing. If you keep going on and on, I'll tell the villagers that no one is allowed to hire you to work. If you get sick from overwork, I'll make trouble for them."

Mr. Ye reacted strongly, “You can’t do that! How can you do that? People are paying you to do the work, and you’re causing them trouble. You’ll ruin your reputation.”

"Exactly, who would dare to make us work if you act like this?"

"Then go home and rest for a while."

Mother Ye said again, "If you're back, then come back. Go and do your own thing. Don't worry about us. We know what we're doing. We'll only work for a few days. This work won't last long. The seaweed harvest will only last about a month."

"Let's go home and stew two eggs for me, I'm hungry."

"Ok."

Mr. Ye rubbed his stomach and said, "I'm a little hungry too. It's all hard work. Let's go back and have some snacks together. Let's skip half a day today and come back tomorrow."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Ye Yaodong and said, "It's okay for your mother and me to work a few more days. When you go to the provincial capital, I will go with you. Then you'll have some rest."

"You're so capable, why don't you come with me to Zhoushan and go out to sea? The salary is higher, and the work isn't as strenuous."

"No, I'll just stay at home. It's comfortable at home. I can do whatever I want, or just relax at home. There are people everywhere to walk around and talk to. It's more comfortable than anything else."

Mother Ye asked with concern, "You've come back to handle some business. Is it alright to leave maritime affairs to others?"

"No problem, what problem could there be? They are all experienced captains. I'll go back to sea after I've finished my business."

"So you're going to the provincial capital tomorrow?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? You can't wait for me to leave, can you? Are you getting in the way of making money?"

"Aren't you back on business? Aren't you in a hurry to go to the provincial capital?"

"I'm not in a hurry. I'll stay a few more days and go to the provincial capital later."

Mr. and Mrs. Ye exchanged a glance, realizing they wouldn't be able to earn money for the next few days and would be under their control.

It's rare for a couple to be of one mind and want to work and earn money.

"Then you can stay as long as you like. I'll come back and cook for you when it's time to eat," Mother Ye said tentatively.

Ye Yaodong felt that nothing could stop their desire to make money; neither of them could stay idle.

If we don't let them do it now, they'll still have to do it after he leaves.

He wasn't preventing them from working; he thought it would be good for them to do some work, but they shouldn't be overworked.

Both of them have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar, as well as diabetes and high cholesterol, and they are both over 60 years old.

"Take good care of yourselves, and rest if you're tired."

"know."

The two were happy, which was tantamount to agreeing to allow them to go back to work collecting and drying seaweed.

"Work half a day and rest half a day. Go in the morning and come back at noon to rest."

"Well... that's fine too."

The couple did the math in their heads and figured that they could make 13.5 yuan in half a day's work, which was barely enough.

P.S.: Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Horse! May you have peace, health, happiness, and great wealth!

(End of this chapter)