Ye Yaodong was still eating and talking at the table.
"Those kids aren't that little anymore. A Hai's already thirteen, and all the ones after him are only a year or two apart. They're all taller than the stove now. Can't they cook for themselves? They're that big and still need someone waiting on them hand and foot? Poor kids learn to manage early. That family's kid... wasn't even ten before he was standing on a stool to stir-fry..."
"How is that the same? They're all in school. If they have to light the stove and cook after getting home, never mind whether the food turns out decent or whether they even know how, what time would it be by the time they finished cooking and eating? Let's hope they don't burn the house down."
Besides, without a single adult there, wouldn't she, as their aunt, have to keep going over to check on them? It wouldn't look right otherwise. If they left the children to muddle through, she would still end up having to help.
She didn't want to agree to such a thankless task, especially when it might well turn into a long-term arrangement.
"Just leave them with their maternal grandparents. They're so close, not far away at all," Father Ye concluded, then immediately changed the subject. "Hurry up and eat. Once you're done, ride over and tell your Brother A-Sheng we're heading out to sea around five in the morning."
Mother Ye turned to ask, "That late?"
"We're only hauling in the gill nets, not trawling or setting longlines. There are only forty-odd nets now anyway. It won't matter if we head out a bit later. We can haul them all in during the day, and leaving later means we can sleep a little longer."
"But if