Once the villagers had asked all their questions and understood what to do, they happily hurried around spreading the word.
The truck also repositioned itself in the open space at the grain-drying ground. The villagers who had arrived early with little stools and round winnowing baskets immediately crowded around it, afraid there would be nothing left for them to sort if they were a step too late.
Ye Yaodong took a look too, then decided to head over to the Old House to tell his mother. His mother generally never missed out on this sort of thing.
To his surprise, halfway there, he saw his mother and younger sister hurrying along, each carrying a stool and a round winnowing basket.
News certainly traveled fast!
"What's the rush? There's a whole truckload of dried shrimp. It'll keep the entire village sorting all day."
"I'm afraid there won't be any room left if we're late. Since you've got nothing to do, go call your eldest and second sisters-in-law over too. They live far away, and no one's going to tell them."
Mother Ye hurried off as she spoke, not even waiting for his reply.
He shook his head and had no choice but to wander home to tell his two sisters-in-law. To his surprise, his wife was quite interested too.
"I'll go too. Sitting there sorting isn't tiring..."
Ye Yaodong gave her a long look, only to get a glare in return. "You can't even tell yet. Why are you acting like this? You weren't this nervous when I had the first two."
"That was different. When you stood up last night, your vision went black and you nearly fell. Have you forgotten?"
"That won't happen if I'm sitting. I'll be careful." As she spoke, she went to find a round winnowing