Ye Yaodong rose to his feet, ready to go inside for dinner, but spotted Secretary Chen hurrying over again in the distance. He had to stop and send A Qing and the two children inside to eat first.
"What brings you back, Secretary Chen? Did you just see them off? Come in, sit down, and have a couple of drinks."
As soon as Secretary Chen reached him, he started sighing. "You really know how to stir up trouble."
"What's it got to do with me? How did I stir up trouble? I can't see the future. I'm not the one who invited them."
"Then what do you think we should do now? Before those officials left, they told us to find a way to talk the villagers around and get everyone to agree to donate it. Aren't they making things difficult for us? I wouldn't want to let them take it away either."
"Come inside. Have a couple of drinks, and we can sit down and talk it over."
Secretary Chen waved a hand. "I'm not going in. It's unbearably hot, and I'm covered in sweat from walking. I'll catch the breeze out here first."
Ye Yaodong could only bring a stool out from inside, and the two sat by the door, chatting in the breeze.
"It's cooler here by your door than it is in the village."
"It's not bad. Now that it's hot, the wind blows from the southeast, so sitting here with the sea breeze blowing straight at you is pretty cool. It's even more comfortable at night, not stuffy at all. In autumn and winter, the northwest wind blows from behind the house and doesn't reach the front. It's quite nice."
But Ye Eldest Sister-in-Law said, "No, the villagers stopped them at the village entrance. They