This really wasn't something they could bring up openly. When the old man's funeral was held two years earlier, all the neighbors had come to help, and they all knew how the inheritance had been divided.
Two years had passed since the division, and neither of them had objected all that time. Now that Father Ye had made a big haul, they suddenly came forward. It certainly wouldn't sound good if word got out.
If Father Ye and his wife were willing to give them some money, nobody else could interfere. But if they weren't willing, the two brothers really couldn't demand a share in front of outsiders.
When Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye wanted to leave, Ye Yaodong didn't stop them. He simply let go and let them leave.
Who cared whether they came back? Even if they did, he wasn't afraid.
If his father didn't agree, could they somehow pry the money out of his family?
Even if his father agreed, the three brothers wouldn't!
Why should they?
Seeing there was no more drama to watch, the neighbors dispersed. Ye Yaodong clapped his hands and said to his father and the rest of the family, "All right, let's go inside!"
But the moment he lifted his foot, a little tot came wobbling straight toward him, hugged his thigh, and revealed two tiny teeth in a sweet smile. "Daddy, up!"
While his father and uncles were arguing earlier, the women in the family had taken the younger children inside so they wouldn't get frightened.
When the commotion moved to the doorway, they had brought the children out again.
Looking at this adorable, fair-skinned little boy, Ye Yaodong couldn't connect him at all with the dark-skinned second son he remembered from his previous life.
He pinched the boy's cheek, scooped him up, and carried him inside. He still hadn't eaten breakfast.
He was the only person in the entire household who slept until the sun was high before getting up for breakfast!
Everyone in the family was used to it. The old lady had spoiled Ye Yaodong rotten, leaving him incapable of carrying a load or lifting a thing. He did no work at all and spent his days idling about and having fun.
It was precisely because he never worked that his skin was soft and smooth. He didn't look like someone from the coast at all, and that handsome face had been enough to land him a wife.
Otherwise, no woman would have married such a lazy good-for-nothing.
The moment he stepped over the threshold, Ye Yaodong saw a pretty woman with short hair walking toward him. "Give me our son. Go eat. The food's being kept warm in the wok."
Her tone was flat, her manner hardly warm, and it left him feeling uneasy.
This was his wife, Lin Xiuqing. She was the same age as him and came from the neighboring town.
Everyone in the surrounding villages knew he was a layabout who never worked. When he was twenty, his parents had worried that he wouldn't find a wife nearby, so they had asked someone to introduce him to a woman from farther away.
They had met once through the arranged introduction. Sure enough, his wife had fallen for his face and agreed to the match right away. But not long after the wedding, she had discovered his true colors...
He was nothing but a lazy good-for-nothing who loved eating and hated working...
Lin Xiuqing had been full of joy when they first married, but gradually she had become more and more disappointed in him. Still, she hadn't divorced him. Divorce was a deeply shameful thing in those days.
Some women never even thought of divorce, no matter how their husbands beat or cursed them.
If a woman didn't obey, she needed a beating. That attitude seemed to be everywhere.
Fortunately, he didn't beat his wife. He was just lazy and never did any proper work. As long as she worked a little harder, they could still get by.
And so his wife had supported him for thirty years without complaint...
At fifty, she had developed bowel cancer. With no money for treatment, she had died far too young.
When she lay sick and helpless in her hospital bed, he had been terribly frightened. Once she was gone, he had been completely lost.
She had held the entire household together. Only after she died had he realized that his whole world had gone dark. But life still had to go on.
That was why he had only started working for money at fifty. Although he had never done any kind of work before, he was at least from the coast, and his family all made their living at sea. Getting hired as a deckhand on a big boat had been no problem.
He hadn't expected that, barely a dozen years later, he too would fail to escape an early death.
But perhaps he had accumulated some virtue in his previous life. Somehow, he had been given the chance to start over?
So much time had passed that he had almost forgotten what his wife looked like. Hearing her indifferent tone now left him with a bitter ache, and he stared at her for a long while.
She frowned. "What are you standing there for? Give me the child."
"Uh... it's nothing. I'll hold him. Have you all eaten?"
Lin Xiuqing was briefly surprised. Ever since their eldest son had pooped on him, he had refused to hold either child. Yet today, for once, he actually wanted to hold their younger son. Still, if he wanted to, she wasn't going to stop him.
"We have."
Ye Yaodong carried the child inside behind her and watched her take a bowl of shredded sweet potato porridge and a small dish of pickled mustard stems out of the wok on the earthen stove.
He had just set the child down and picked up his chopsticks when his father said, "Your eldest uncle and second uncle are jealous. There's good reason people say not to show off your wealth."
Sitting beside Ye Yaodong, Ye Yaopeng frowned. "We couldn't hide it, though. When the boat reached the dock, everyone saw those gleaming large yellow croakers. And when the buyer paid us in stacks of ten-yuan notes, all the villagers saw those too."
"What's there to fear? What's there to worry about? The money's in our pockets. How could they possibly pry it away from us?" Ye Yaodong picked up a strip of pickled mustard stem and bit into it with a crisp crunch, utterly unconcerned.
"Dad's worried that if this really blows up, it'll damage his relationship with his brothers, right?" The speaker was the second son, Ye Yaohua, who looked a little more earnest and simple.
Father Ye didn't answer. He pinched a small tuft of tobacco between his fingers and pressed it into the round bowl of his water pipe. Then he picked up a matchbox, took out a match, and struck it against the side.
A little flame sprang up. Father Ye held the burning match to the tobacco and slowly began to draw on the pipe, which bubbled and gurgled...
Only after smoke drifted from his mouth and nose did he glance around and ask, "Where's your grandma?"
Only then did their mother speak. "She went out early this morning. Probably went to the roadside at the village entrance to see whether her corn and melons are ripe. Last night she was saying they should be ready to eat, and the little ones could have a treat."
"Eighty years old, and she still can't sit still..."
Ye Yaodong gulped down his small bowl of sweet potato porridge, set down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and interrupted his father to give orders to the older nieces and nephews, who looked to be several years old.
"You little ones, hurry over to the roadside at the village entrance. See if your great-grandma's in the field and bring her home."
He hadn't seen her in decades, and he really missed the grandma who had doted on him most.
"Okay, Third Uncle!"
The children obediently rushed outside in an excited flock, not minding the blazing sun at all!
Country children were hardy. They spent their days roaming the hills and playing by the sea without needing adults to watch them. Summer vacation had just begun, too, so they were having all the wild fun they could.
The adults in those days were too busy earning a living and putting food on the table to keep an eye on them. They simply let the children run all over the village.
After sending the little ones off, he saw his wife come over to clear away his bowl and chopsticks. He smiled at her, then turned back to his father.
"Dad, how much did that netful of large yellow croakers sell for yesterday?"
Father Ye glanced at his unreliable third son and said nothing. He had already told him yesterday, yet here he was asking again. Who knew what he was plotting!
Ye Yaodong: ...
He genuinely couldn't remember!
Before you continue