With 743 yuan and 80 fen in hand all at once, Ye Yaodong and A-Guang split it on the spot. Each happily tucked his hefty share of over 300 yuan into his clothes and headed home.
As for the remaining sales slips, they could settle those in a few days.
Father Ye and Mother Ye had not known at first that Ye Yaodong had gone out to sea. He used to disappear for half a day or more quite often; it was only these past two months that he had worked diligently every day. They thought he had slipped back into his old ways as soon as he had some free time.
When lunchtime came and there was still no sign of him, Mother Ye casually asked about him. Only then did the whole family learn that he had actually gone out to sea despite the typhoon.
Father Ye angrily cursed him for being reckless, then went on about how enormous the waves offshore would be with a typhoon forming at sea...
He talked until he could no longer eat his lunch, fretting the whole time. Only when he saw Ye Yaodong return safely after two in the afternoon did he breathe a sigh of relief-but the rolling pin used for making dumplings also came swinging down on Ye Yaodong's legs.
Caught completely off guard, Ye Yaodong cried out in pain. "Ah! Dad, why are you hitting me out of nowhere?"
"Where the hell have you been? Don't you know a typhoon's coming in a couple of days?"
"You said it yourself-a couple of days! Ow, ow, Dad! Can't we talk this out, Dad?"
He hopped and darted about, dodging. How could he have imagined that he would come home so happily only to be greeted by a rolling pin?