But people had to be allowed to dream. Dreams were always beautiful. If they couldn't even have beautiful dreams, what fun was there?
Ye Yaodong grinned from ear to ear as he happily entertained the thought. With the villagers' discussions filling his ears, he smiled all the way home.
Urged on by the Old Lady, Lin Xiuqing hurried outside and saw a crowd pushing handcarts toward their house.
She had been cooking inside, but the Old Lady kept calling from the doorway, telling her to come out quickly. A-Dong was back, she said, and he had brought a crowd of people with handcarts. She wanted her to come and see what was going on.
Coming home was one thing, but why had he brought so many people and handcarts? Puzzled, she hurried out to meet them, wiping her hands on her clothes as she went.
"A-Dong? Dad?"
Father Ye smiled. "Everyone was very helpful. They knew we had a lot and would need several trips, so they helped us bring everything back in one go."
"Oh, I see. Thank you, everyone. Sorry for making you come all this way..."
"It's no trouble. We were heading this way anyway. Make some room, and we'll push these into the yard and unload them..."
"Oh, no... we'll do it ourselves, ourselves..."
"It's fine. Two baskets each and we'll be done..."
Helping meant seeing things through to the end. The villagers eagerly carried basket after basket of squid into his yard, then finally left with cheerful smiles after the family thanked them politely.
"The villagers are being so helpful today, aren't they?" Lin Xiuqing craned her neck to watch them leave, talking and laughing.
"They're hoping to dry their squid and sell it to me to earn a little more. Of course they're helpful."