Ye Yaodong figured there was nothing more for him to do. He had more or less cooperated with everything he was supposed to and offered his ideas. The rest was for them to argue over.
After waking from his afternoon nap, he planned to tell his father they would head out to sea that night as usual and stop worrying about the salvage operation and the bronzes. They had been held up at home for three days. The fishing pots had been sitting out at sea for three days too; they needed hauling in.
Who knew Secretary Chen would come calling again?
The moment he saw him approach, Ye Yaodong had another bad feeling. Lately, it seemed nothing good ever came of his visits.
"Not helping with the work? Aren't you building another house?"
"There are workers. I don't feel like it!"
A worker's daily wage was only one yuan fifty. Since he was paying them, why should he work alongside them? Wasn't it comfortable sitting with his legs crossed, eating watermelon and enjoying the sea breeze? Why should he sweat buckets and wear himself out just to save that money?
It wasn't as though he still struggled to make money like before, when he didn't know how to earn and could only scrimp here and do a little extra work there to supplement their income.
"You certainly seem to be living comfortably."
"Not as comfortably as you. No wind or sun to deal with; you just sit in the Village Committee office with your legs crossed. What brings you over again in this blazing sun?" Then he called into the house, "A Qing, cut a slice of watermelon for Secretary Chen."
"How could I be comfortable with everything going on lately? My hair's practically falling out."
Secretary Chen had