Who Has He Done Right By?

Ye Yuan found the manager.

He explained that he wanted to go home.

The manager's surname was Wang. Everyone privately called him Fatty Wang. Fatty Wang was a decent guy, though he liked taking small advantages.

The amusement park belonged to his brother-in-law, and he worked there as the manager. He got along well with everyone and only took advantage in minor matters.

After hearing about Ye Yuan's family situation, Fatty Wang readily approved his resignation. He even thoughtfully told Ye Yuan that if he ever wanted to work there again, the amusement park would still welcome him.

Ye Yuan thanked him, then bought Fatty Wang a carton of cigarettes and asked if he could receive this month's wages in advance.

The amusement park had a policy: when employees resigned, their wages for the current month would be settled together with the next month's payroll. Ye Yuan did not plan to come back after leaving this time, so he wanted Fatty Wang to settle it early.

Fatty Wang glanced at the carton of cigarettes on the desk and readily told accounting to pay Ye Yuan. That was why Fatty Wang was so popular.

As long as you gave him a little something, he would turn a blind eye to anything that did not affect the company's major interests.

That was also why many employees knew he skimmed money from procurement but never reported him.

Ye Yuan sat on the bus back to Pinghai County.

Blue Island City was more than 180 kilometers from Pinghai County, and the bus ride took just over an hour.

Looking at the scenery outside the window, Ye Yuan felt deeply guilty. He had not gone home for four months. The last time had been during the Spring Festival. I really am an unfilial son.

This time, with the cheat-like Water Control Art in his possession, he did not plan to return to the big city.

He was better off becoming a fisherman again. There were two kinds of coastal fishing villages: one relied entirely on going out to sea to fish, but such fishermen were becoming fewer and fewer. There were no fish left in nearshore waters, while deep-sea fishing could be profitable but required enormous capital investments, often tens of millions. Few people could afford that. The other kind was marine aquaculture.

The second kind was marine aquaculture, including shallow-sea farming, tidal-flat farming, and harbor farming.

This time, when he went home, he needed to solve his parents' relocation problem and secure his own startup capital.

Whether he went out to sea to fish or engaged in marine aquaculture, he would need money. Right now, he only had a pitiful fifty thousand yuan or so in his bank account.

He had often heard the village elders say that the closer one got to home, the more timid one became. He had not understood it when he was in college, but this trip home made him truly understand the meaning of those words.

Pinghai County was a county town with a long coastline.

After getting off the bus, Ye Yuan headed to a building materials market several kilometers from the pier.

There were two children in Ye Yuan's family. He also had an older sister named Ye Hui.

His sister was three years older than him. Because the family had not been well-off, their parents still held somewhat traditional preferences for sons. After Ye Hui graduated from high school, she did not continue her studies and instead went straight to work in the county town.

Later, she met and married a salesman from a building materials company. Her husband had a little reputation in the county's building materials industry, but because his family was of ordinary means and had little capital, he had always worked for someone else.

Ye Yuan remembered that when he was in his third year of college, his brother-in-law and sister came home for the Spring Festival and wanted to borrow several tens of thousands of yuan from their parents to start a business. Their parents wanted to save that money for Ye Yuan after graduation, so they refused.

At the time, his brother-in-law had already scraped together one hundred thousand yuan. If he could borrow a few tens of thousands more, he could start on his own. Since their parents would not lend him the money, his brother-in-law ultimately used the hundred thousand yuan to open a small supermarket beside the building materials market for his sister, while he continued working elsewhere.

After that incident, his sister and brother-in-law rarely came to his home.

They used to come home at least once a month, but now they only returned for major holidays such as the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

Seeing the shabby supermarket in the distance, with the words "Huihui Supermarket" painted on the wall, Ye Yuan felt an inexplicable ache in his heart.

He looked at the little girl sitting beneath the wall, her hair tied in twin ponytails as she read an animal picture book.

Ye Yuan happily called out, "Niuniu, come here. Look who's back!"

The little girl looked up. When she saw Ye Yuan, an innocent smile bloomed on her face. She quickly got to her feet, spread her arms, and ran toward him, calling in her sweet childish voice as she ran, "Mama, Mama, Uncle's here! Uncle's here!"

Ye Yuan crouched down and scooped Niuniu into his arms, rubbing his stubbled chin against her neck and making her giggle.

At that moment, Ye Hui came out the door. Seeing Ye Yuan, she asked in surprise, "Xiao Yuan, you're back? Why did you come back at this time?"

The moment Ye Yuan heard his sister's tone, he knew their parents had not told her about the relocation.

Holding Niuniu, Ye Yuan walked up to his sister and looked at her face. Though she was only twenty-eight, she already looked no different from a middle-aged woman.

His sister took Ye Yuan's hand and led him into the supermarket.

The tiny supermarket was divided into two rooms. The outer room was the shop itself, about ten square meters in size.

The inner room served as both a bedroom and a storeroom. A single double bed housed all three members of the family, while the floor was piled with drinks, snacks, and other goods.

His sister brought over a stool for Ye Yuan, then took a bottle of cola from the refrigerator, opened it, and handed it to him.

Ye Yuan accepted the cola. Then Niuniu said to Ye Hui in her distinctive childish voice, "Mama, I want some too. I want some too."

"Children can't drink soda. It's not good for you. If you're thirsty, Mama will get you some water." As she spoke, she went to get water.

Ye Yuan hurriedly stopped Ye Hui. "Sis, I'm not that thirsty either. I can't finish a whole bottle. Pour Niuniu a cup. It's fine as long as she doesn't drink it often."

Ye Hui shot Ye Yuan a look before getting up to fetch a cup.

"Uncle's the best! Uncle's the best!" Niuniu's little eyes curved into crescents.

Ye Yuan looked at Niuniu, then took a princess dress and a Barbie doll from the suitcase he had brought with him and handed them to the little girl.

When she saw the pink princess dress and the beautifully packaged Barbie doll, Niuniu's eyes sparkled like they were filled with stars.

Just then, his sister came out carrying a cup. When she saw the gifts Ye Yuan had given Niuniu, she said, "Xiao Yuan, you're not getting any younger. You need to learn to save money. You'll have to get married someday."

Ye Yuan only smiled and said nothing. He knew his sister truly cared about him.

He took out another set of cosmetics and an exquisite Fishing Rod from the suitcase.

Ye Yuan's brother-in-law had no hobbies in particular. Whenever he had time, he went fishing by the sea.

His sister often argued with her husband over the price of fishing rods, so this time Ye Yuan had specifically bought him a sea rod worth around five thousand yuan.

The ten thousand yuan Ye Yuan had earned from salvaging the bracelet had all been spent on his sister's family.

Although his sister did not know how much the Fishing Rod cost, she could still tell it was expensive.

Just as she was about to lecture Ye Yuan, he saw what was coming and quickly spoke first. "Sis, don't scold me. I'm not planning to go back this time. I'm going to develop my career here at home."

Ye Hui froze when she heard that. Then, with tears in her voice, she pointed at Ye Yuan and said, "How much have Mom and Dad sacrificed for you? How much have I sacrificed? And in the end, you come back to develop yourself in this poor county town?"

Ye Yuan was also somewhat surprised to see his sister react so strongly.

Just as he was wondering how to persuade her, his brother-in-law came in from outside.

He was startled when he saw Ye Hui crying and Ye Yuan standing there at a loss.

The moment Ye Hui saw her husband, it was as though she had found someone to lean on.

She threw herself into his arms and began to cry. Like a child complaining to an adult, she sobbed, "Talk some sense into Xiao Yuan. Mom and Dad have scrimped and saved for him. So I could let him attend a good university, I even stopped going to school myself. Yet after graduating from college, he wants to come back and develop himself in this poor county town. What do we even have here now? Who has he done right by?"