Ye Yaodong did not even spare him a glance.
"Aw... Little Maternal Uncle... how can you go back on your word? I'm a guest! A guest! Do you know what a guest is?" Lin Guangyuan trotted beside him, looking up at him.
"I know guests should follow their host's arrangements. Behave yourself. You're living under someone else's roof now, understand?"
"What do you mean, living under someone else's roof? I'm here as a guest. You're supposed to take good care of me."
Ye Yaodong gave him a sharp rap on the head without ceremony. "All you think about is playing. Tomorrow I'll take you to the pier to haul cargo. Earn some money to show your youngest aunt and Little Maternal Uncle some respect."
"Ah... that's a bit much... let's make a deal, youngest uncle. Just take me tonight, and I promise I'll behave after that..."
"Don't walk so fast! Slow down... Little Maternal Uncle... Little Maternal Uncle... let's just go once..."
"There might be loads to gather. There were sandworms during the day, so there'll definitely be more at night... it's the fifteenth today..."
Ye Yaodong paused. "Today's the fifteenth?"
"Yeah, it's the fifteenth!"
He counted the days in his head. Ye Xiaoxi had been born on the fifth day of the third lunar month. Sure enough, today was the fifteenth.
Sensing an opening, Lin Guangyuan smiled ingratiatingly. "I heard there's a spring tide on the fifteenth, Little Maternal Uncle..."
Ye Yaodong glanced at him. "Kids need plenty of sleep to grow tall. Sneak out in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, and you might end up a shorty."
"That's fine. It won't stop me getting a wife."
"But it'll stop you picking up girls and finding a rich woman."
"Huh? Damn, Little Maternal Uncle, so that's