Who Didn't Have a Few Good-for-Nothing Friends?

When he woke again, it was the sound of the door opening that roused him. The wooden door creaked the moment it was pushed open.

Apart from Grandma and his mother, the only person who would come into his room was his wife. Ye Yaodong kept his eyes closed, planning to doze a little longer. Spring brought drowsiness, autumn fatigue, and winter lethargy; summer was just right for sleeping.

Soft footsteps drew closer, then someone climbed onto the bed from the foot, making the frame creak. He opened his eyes and saw his younger son asleep in his wife's arms.

"He's asleep?"

"Mm."

Lin Xiuqing carefully laid the child beside him, then slowly slipped her arm out from behind his head. She glanced at him and said hesitantly, "Since you're not going out anyway, could you watch him for a bit? Don't let him fall off the bed."

"Sure."

It was rare for him to be so agreeable instead of refusing, and Lin Xiuqing breathed a sigh of relief. "Call me if he wakes up. I'll come get him."

"Aren't you going to nap too?"

"No, I'm not sleepy."

He watched her cover their younger son with a green sheet printed with red peonies, then quietly climb down from the foot of the bed. Ye Yaodong left her to it.

If she wanted to work and earn money, he couldn't stop her.

"Where's Ye Chenghu?"

He hadn't seen his older son since lunch. With the sun blazing like this, who knew where the boy had run off to play?

Lin Xiuqing lowered the mosquito net. "No idea. Who knows where all seven of them have gone running around? They'll come back when it's time to eat. I'm heading out."

The door closed gently, and the boy beside him thrust out both legs and kicked off the sheet. Ye Yaodong covered him again without thinking. Less than ten minutes later, he kicked it off again. Ye Yaodong put it back!

A little while later, he kicked it off again!

Then he kicked out a foot and twisted his body sideways!

Forget him. This brat never gave me a friendly look after he grew up anyway!

With a clear conscience, he closed his eyes again, ready to doze a little longer. Just as he was about to drift off, a little pig's trotter landed squarely on his face, instantly driving away every trace of sleepiness.

Ye Yaodong glared at his son, who was still sleeping soundly. So you're not going to let me sleep, huh?

In the brief moment he spent glaring, the boy changed positions again, rolling over onto his belly and sleeping with his bottom stuck up!

How am I supposed to sleep like this? What if he lets out a fart in his sleep? That'd be the last straw!

No longer sleepy, Ye Yaodong sat up, planning to step outside and have a look.

But the moment he opened the bedroom door, he heard his wife speaking sharply to someone, with both his sisters-in-law chiming in.

"He's sleeping. Go find someone else to hang out with. Stop coming over to call him out all day."

Lin Xiuqing was thoroughly sick of these people constantly dragging her husband out, keeping him away from home day after day. For once, he hadn't gone out today, yet this bunch of good-for-nothing friends had actually come knocking. It infuriated her.

"Exactly. Every one of you has a wife and kids, but you never think to look after your families or help with the chores. All you do is roam around having fun."

"Why don't you lot just live together? What did you get married for?"

A man answered with a laugh, "I'd like to, but they can't cook or have babies. They're completely useless. My parents would beat me to death if we set up house together."

Was that A-Zheng's voice?

"So you know you're completely useless?" Ye Second Sister-in-Law said bluntly.

"Ha, come on, don't say that. When something really needs doing, we work hard and stand by our friends!"

Ye Second Sister-in-Law rolled her eyes. What good was loyalty compared with knowing how to earn money? Thank goodness she had married the second brother.

"Go home. Dong isn't going out today," Lin Xiuqing said impatiently.

"I'm here! I'm right here!" Ye Yaodong hurriedly called out. If he didn't show himself now, his wife would chase them away.

How could anyone go through life without a few friends they could talk to? Although he had been something of a failure as a son, husband, and father, he had been a very successful friend. These friends were all loyal and willing to stand by one another; none of them had amounted to much, that was all.

Birds of a feather flocked together!

Although he planned to turn over a new leaf, there was no need to cut ties with his friends.

"Dong, how come you haven't come out today? Where did you go this morning? We came over and couldn't find you. We asked your dad and nearly got thrown out!"

"I went to the shore to gather oysters and sea snails. How come it's just you two?"

"What's so fun about that? We got tricked into doing that work as kids. We're sick of it already. Come on, A-Guang caught a cobra this morning. We've cleaned it, and we're just waiting for you before putting it in the pot."

The one speaking now was Lin Jianyao. They all called him Xiao Xiao, a nickname that often made him protest. He would shamelessly insist that he was big, but when they challenged him to have a piss together and compare, he said only his wife was allowed to look!

The one who had spoken earlier was A-Zheng, Li Xiaozheng. The two of them had come to find him together.

Ye Yaodong grew a little excited as memories of his youth sprang to life before him. "Where'd you catch it? How much does it weigh? We've got to kill a chicken too and make Dragon-and-Phoenix Soup!"

"Where else? On the hill behind the village. We couldn't find you this morning, so we didn't go into town. We thought we'd head up the hillside and see whether the watermelons were ripe. Who knew we'd spot a cobra? Now we've got another big dish for tonight!"

"It's just not very big. After we cut off the head, it only weighed one jin and three liang."

"That's plenty big. More than a jin, plus a chicken, will make enough Dragon-and-Phoenix Soup for all of us!" Talking about it made his mouth water. He hadn't eaten cobra in years.

"Come on, let's go! Hurry up. If we're making Dragon-and-Phoenix Soup, we need to kill a chicken too. I'll catch one at home!" Excited, A-Zheng slung his arms around Ye Yaodong's and Xiao Xiao's shoulders and started steering them toward his house.

"Aren't you afraid your mother will give you a beating?"

"I bought the eggs with my own private savings last year and asked her to hatch them for me. We agreed the chicks would be mine, and I'm the one who feeds them. What's wrong with taking one?"

"I dug up a basket of sea melon seeds this morning, and several basins of sand clams too. I'll get some. We can stir-fry a couple of bowlfuls."

"Hurry up, then!"

The three chatted excitedly as though no one else was there. Once Ye Yaodong came out of the house, they draped their arms around one another's shoulders and started to leave.

Ye Yaodong tugged them to a stop and turned to the stony-faced Lin Xiuqing. "Uh... well... Qing, I'm going out with my friends for a bit. Don't wait for me for dinner. I'll come back early tonight. Also, the little one's still asleep. Remember to check on him!"

As he spoke, he felt a little guilty. He had just promised to help watch the child, yet now he was leaving the moment his friends called. He couldn't help feeling that he had broken his word.

But they had all been his friends for decades. A-Zheng and Xiao Xiao, for instance, would leave to work elsewhere within a couple of years and wouldn't come home for years at a stretch. There were others too.

Having only just been reborn, he wanted to spend some time with these friends.

Lin Xiuqing was a little angry. Without even looking at him, she turned and went inside to check how the child was sleeping.

That morning, he had seemed a little more dependable, even taking his shore gathering seriously. Yet the moment his friends showed up, his true colors came out again. She told herself there was nothing to be angry about. Over the years, he had long since worn all the temper out of her.