Ye Yaodong stood at the door early that morning, feeling that the temperature had dropped a little. The northwesterly wind howled in his ears, and waves rolled across the distant sea.
He blew his nose and wiped it with a handkerchief. Beside him, his second brother had caught a bit of a cold too. He blew his nose, scraped his hand against the wall, rubbed his fingers together a few times, then wiped his nose again...
"The wind's picked up, and the waves are so high. We can't go out to sea again today. It's been two days already."
Ye Yaodong stole a glance at his second brother's hand, then looked away and turned back toward the sea. "Nothing we can do. With wind and waves like these, we can't go."
"I heard it's going to rain again tomorrow. Who knows how high the waves will be? Just like that, we've had several days off. Who knows whether we'll get any good weather afterward?"
"Who knows? Who can say for sure with the weather?"
Ye Yaopeng was standing outside his own door too. How could anyone who made a living at sea not care about the weather and the waves? Even this early, quite a few villagers were already standing along the Beach, watching the tide and the surf.
With wind and waves this strong, it was another day off for the whole village.
Just then, Lin Xiuqing's voice came from inside. "Dong!"
"Huh?" He hurried inside. "What is it?"
"Go into the village and see if anyone has a chicken for sale. Buy one and bring it back. It's the Start of Winter today. Let's stew a chicken for some nourishment."
"Sure. I'll buy a pig's stomach while I'm at it. We can stew it with the chicken to