Mother Ye

Biodata

Background / History

Family and household

Chen Lixiang is the second child in her natal family and married within her own village. She and Father Ye have three sons—Ye Yaopeng, Ye Yaohua, and Ye Yaodong—and a daughter, Ye Huimei. Before the household division, Huimei shares a room with her parents, while each son's family occupies one of the other three rooms in their crowded, deteriorating home 5 6 7.

Mother Ye has cared for all three daughters-in-law after childbirth and helped raise their children. During the discussion about who will live with the parents in old age, she feels hurt by the eldest and second daughters-in-law's reluctance; only Lin Xiuqing is willing to share a home with them 14.

Her natal family provides a substantial local support network. Her siblings live in the same village, and her sisters, brothers, and nephews later join her confrontation with the Xu family. Two of her sisters also become regular paid helpers cleaning fish for Ye Yaodong's business 219 354 769.

After the younger families move out, Mother Ye and Father Ye remain in the Old House. During a typhoon, Ye Yaodong and Ye Yaopeng fetch them despite their initial reluctance to leave. The brothers help Mother Ye along the slippery road, and Ye Yaodong accommodates both parents in his newer house because the Old House leaks badly 441.

She continues providing extensive domestic help after the household division, including cooking, washing clothes, cleaning fish, and helping with planting. Following the birth of Lin Xiuqing's daughter, she brings the mother meals and later continues cooking while Lin Xiuqing needs additional rest 307 361 378.

Building separate homes

The family's large yellow croaker catch sells for 1,200 yuan at five yuan per jin. Mother Ye initially considers the buyer generous for rounding up the payment, then regrets the sale after Ye Yaodong says the fish could have fetched twice as much in the county town 3.

She and Father Ye decide to put the windfall toward new houses, supplementing it with later fishing income. Besides relieving overcrowding, spending the money on construction will stop relatives from coveting it. Their plan ultimately provides separate houses for all three sons, leaving the parents to support themselves 6 14.

Mother Ye is tasked with choosing an auspicious construction date. Once work begins, she helps supply meals for the workers and carries gravel to the building site. She also checks with Ye Yaodong about whether his friends should receive half a day's wages for helping 16 36 49 50.

She continues carrying gravel as construction progresses, with Ye Yaodong eventually taking over her shoulder pole and baskets during one visit. When the family prepares to move, she helps manage meals during the vegetarian observance for the Mazu blessing ceremony and collects the soot Father Ye scrapes from the old wok 94 136.

She later states that the labor and materials for the three brothers' houses cost 3,000 yuan, using that expense as a comparison when warning Ye Yaodong about the cost of enclosing his much larger workshop plot 770.

Recognizing Ye Yaodong's change

Mother Ye initially doubts Ye Yaodong's promises to work. On their shore-gathering outing, she entrusts him with collecting oysters and other shellfish but assumes he has run away when he disappears from view. His return with a catch proves otherwise, and she defends him when Auntie Zhu Hua insults him and their family 9 10.

Her trust grows when he reports to the wharf as instructed and efficiently helps sort the catch. She restrains herself from scolding him in public and later tells his sisters-in-law to let him spend time with friends because he has completed his work 33.

His larger hauls still astonish her. She questions him about the Spanish mackerel catch and later sells his sea centipedes and seven mud crabs for over ten yuan. By then, his dependability makes her happier than earning the money herself, though she continues insisting that he help with construction when he is not gathering seafood 41 49 50.

As his physical appearance changes from sustained work, she notices his sun-darkened, reddened face and offers to let him rest. His ability to move from a small wooden boat toward an iron-hulled boat subsequently astonishes her: the son who once disappointed her most has become more successful than his steady older brothers 98 172.

Nevertheless, her habitual criticism outlasts her doubts about his improvement. When Ye Grandma rebukes her for finding fault with him despite his constant work, Mother Ye cannot deny it; she recognizes that her manner of speaking reflects a habit formed over more than twenty years 454.

Her pride increasingly emerges through public complaints that invite others to praise him. She promotes the goods he brings back from Zhejiang while ostensibly grumbling about his spending, and later openly celebrates the standing his success gives her in the village 516 520 752.

Gifts, earnings, and family support

After Secretary Chen's family brings gifts in gratitude for Ye Yaodong saving a boy, Mother Ye reserves the canned fruit for future gift-giving and exchanges the expensive cigarettes and liquor for money. She privately gives the proceeds to Lin Xiuqing after the other households retire for the night, explaining that the gifts belong to Ye Yaodong's family and that they will need money once the houses are finished. Ye Yaodong recognizes this as a tactful way of balancing the household without provoking his sisters-in-law's resentment 74.

She joins Father Ye, Ye Yaodong, and Ye Huimei in gathering abalone and sea snails, working with a screwdriver where proper hooks are unavailable. When Ye Yaodong brings home 1,080 yuan from the catch, she counts it with Father Ye. Father Ye insists on dividing the earnings evenly with Ye Yaodong, then persuades her to give Huimei an additional banknote after Ye Yaodong has already rewarded his sister with forty yuan 254 262.

Mother Ye and Father Ye also contribute 300 yuan to each son's household, totaling 900 yuan, toward their shop purchases. At New Year, she distributes red envelopes and helps with the grandchildren's tuition; her daughters-in-law acknowledge these contributions alongside her longstanding postpartum care 624.

Shore harvests and village disputes

Mother Ye helps coordinate several large shore harvests. On discovering Ye Yaodong's boatload of starfish, she hurries back for sacks and family members, then brings A-Zheng and Xiao Xiao to the shore. She becomes angry when the eldest and second daughters-in-law summon their natal families to share the harvest 218 219.

During the ensuing confrontation, she pulls away a woman pressing against Father Ye and trades insults with her. The dispute becomes physical, and Mother Ye eventually shoves the woman into the water before others restrain her 219 220.

She remains eager to gather seafood even in difficult conditions. During another chaotic shore scramble, she proudly recounts catching a fish and escaping with it despite Father Ye's anger at the danger. After a later typhoon, she accompanies him outside in heavy rain to look for fish washed ashore and helps gather substantial quantities of shellfish 223 447 450.

On a family fishing outing after human remains are found and buried, she suggests arranging religious rites upon returning. The subsequent abundance of horseshoe crabs leads her and Father Ye to wonder whether their catch is a reward for burying the remains 270.

Confrontation with the Xu family

Believing that the Xu family has stolen valuable ambergris from her household, Mother Ye leads her siblings and nephews in searching their home. She loudly demands its return, threatens to overturn the house, and refuses to be intimidated by the Xu family's resistance. When a man pushes her lower back into the stove, her male relatives join the fight 354.

The confrontation changes when Ye Yaodong explains that the supposed ambergris is only wood. Although Mother Ye initially feels in the wrong over the misunderstanding, she continues pursuing the family's other missing property. She finds seabird eggs in a cupboard, supporting the accusation that Xu Laifu has stolen from them 354 355.

She takes roughly twenty chicken eggs as compensation for stolen seabird eggs and more than half a jin of longans, along with recovered bird eggs. She publicly asks the watching villagers whether this is reasonable and receives their support, leaving the dispute convinced that she has justified her actions 355.

Women's Federation appointment

Following Ye Yaodong's assistance to the Village Committee over a salvaged bronze artifact, he secures positions for both Mother Ye and Lin Xiuqing. Mother Ye initially struggles to believe that she has been admitted to the village Women's Federation, even pinching her thigh to test whether the news is real 397 398.

She is delighted by the appointment but worries that she cannot read. Ye Yaodong tells her to report the next day, follow the Women's Director's assignments, and understand that she will receive wages even when there is no work requiring her presence 398.

The job becomes a major source of pride. After her first day, she enthusiastically accepts the villagers' congratulations, although she has not yet asked her wage amount. Later, she describes her ordinary duties as running errands and helping mediate incidents such as marital disputes 405 565.

Her work is not always light. As enforcement against births beyond the permitted limit becomes stricter, Women's Federation personnel often spend more than half a day out on assignments. Mother Ye therefore continues helping with the family's fish processing around her working hours rather than abandoning her post for the business 769.

Helping Ye Huimei after childbirth

During Huimei's engagement, Mother Ye keeps a close eye on wedding preparations because A-Guang has no mother to manage them. Although she initially worries that this absence will leave Huimei with more responsibilities, she becomes pleased by the prospect of her daughter having no mother-in-law and increasingly approves of A-Guang 211 221.

After Huimei gives birth to a daughter, Mother Ye visits after work to help and teach A-Guang's younger sisters how to bathe the baby, change nappies, and manage postpartum food restrictions. Her daytime job prevents her from staying constantly, making the younger household members' training necessary 520.

On the same Mid-Autumn Festival, she returns with news from Secretary Chen that someone has reported Ye Yaodong for smuggling. Alarmed, she has forgotten to ask whether the report has been intercepted, leaving the family to determine what has happened 520.

Supporting the seafood business

Mother Ye becomes a dependable organizer for Ye Yaodong's expanding work. She goes out late to inquire about hiring help when waiting until morning might leave the family short-handed. After a successful dried-fish sales trip, Ye Yaodong asks her to buy a scale, while Father Ye asks her to tell the older brothers to dry more fish 546 557.

When the family discusses supplying dried fish to the troops, Ye Yaodong explicitly warns her not to disclose buyers, prices, profits, or planned deliveries. She takes offense at the reminder, but he believes that she can keep a secret once clearly instructed 557.

She later helps manage the practical strain of large catches, warning that the family lacks sufficient drying space, racks, nets, and workers. Although initially delighted by the purchase of a one-and-a-half-mu workshop plot, she becomes anxious about construction consuming their cash. Ye Yaodong persuades her to accept fencing the plot first and building gradually; she then moves salted fish there and seeks two additional workers 767 770.

She also helps unload and clean catches alongside Lin Xiuqing and the two Lin sisters-in-law. Her own sisters remain among the regular hired workers because the heat makes rapid processing necessary and Mother Ye still has Women's Federation duties 769.

Later family confrontations and purchases

Mother Ye defends the household when Wang Lizhen arrives to confront Ye Yaosheng over their broken engagement. She insists that the matchmaker has already explained the cancellation and challenges Wang Lizhen's right to make a scene at their home 646.

At the Tianhou Palace banquet, she and Lin Xiuqing refuse Rat's wife's attempt to take the children's seats. Mother Ye produces the invitation showing that the family has paid for ten people and insists that even an empty seat is not available for someone else to claim 725.

She also rejects Eldest Aunt Ye's demand that Ye Yaodong sell A-Fan a boat on installments. When the aunt's household has not repaid earlier debts, Mother Ye threatens to summon her eldest and second daughters-in-law to settle repayment arrangements and publicly recounts the attempted scheme to the neighbors 754 755.

Despite her usual resistance to expensive purchases, Mother Ye approves when Ye Yaodong brings home a television. She and Father Ye agree that he should have discussed spending household money with Lin Xiuqing first, but accept the purchase, and Mother Ye fetches a table for it 803.

Appearance

• Callused palms: Years of work have left her hands heavily callused; Ye Yaodong notes that her slaps hurt 11.
• Short stature: She struggles to mount the family's tall 28-bar bicycle for a portrait and ultimately poses standing beside it with Father Ye 614.

Personality

Mother Ye is blunt and quick-tempered about idleness. She repeatedly challenges Ye Yaodong to support his wife and children, assigns him work, and threatens punishment when he evades responsibility. Her discipline nevertheless contains affection: during the early beating, she deliberately uses less force than Father Ye because she still feels tenderly toward her son 4 12 43.

Her thrift focuses on turning valuable seafood into savings rather than eating it. She softens when Ye Yaodong explains that he wanted the mud crabs for the children, but still sells them because two crabs cannot fairly feed so many youngsters. She also accepts keeping Spanish mackerel for fish balls after Lin Xiuqing points out that his friends have retained fish too 11 41.

She tries to treat her sons and daughters-in-law fairly. When the other daughters-in-law take seafood to their parents, she offers to reserve a good selection for Lin Xiuqing's later visit. Her warmth toward grandchildren is more immediate: she comforts Ye Chengyang by pretending to punish his father and promising food 11 33.

Her economy extends to oil, transport fares, gifts, and entertainment. She initially objects to frying a basin of sandworms for the children, protests an eight-yuan tractor fare, and scolds Ye Yaodong over a ninety-yuan phonograph for Ye Grandma. Nevertheless, she eventually fries the children's catch and willingly spends on family support, education, and holiday red envelopes 311 341 557 624.

She is exceptionally industrious and reluctant to stop while there is still a catch to gather. On one outing, she proposes collecting more shellfish despite bracing her aching lower back, prompting Ye Yaodong to point out how much work she has already done 271.

Mother Ye is outspoken, sociable, and fond of displaying her family's achievements. She enthusiastically discusses her Women's Federation job and uses complaints about Ye Yaodong's spending to advertise his prosperity. Her pride does not prevent shrewdness: she knows how to preserve household harmony, promote goods, and make use of the family's visible association with officials 74 405 516 565 729.

Her reputation for talking does not mean she is incapable of discretion. Before Ye Yaodong collects a third boat, she deliberately stays home weaving nets rather than spreading the news, preferring the satisfaction of letting the villagers see the boats together. Father Ye explains that she understands what she should and should not say, despite being loud and fond of showing off 746.

Her combative manner is especially pronounced when defending family interests. She readily trades insults or confronts outsiders, but her concern also appears in practical warnings about thieves, year-end disorder, and the risk of children being abducted 354 592 725 755.

Abilities & Skills

Shore Gathering and Seafood Assessment

Mother Ye gathers shellfish and recognizes which catches are worth selling 9 11 28.

• Pries oysters from rocks with a screwdriver and digs for sand clams 9.
• Checks mud crabs' shell hardness and estimates their sale value 11.
• Identifies large blood clams as valuable enough to sell with Ye Yaodong's tiger grouper 28.
• Recognizes sea centipedes as a desirable catch despite their writhing appearance 49.
• Helps harvest abalone and sea snails from exposed rocks, using a flathead screwdriver when iron hooks are insufficient 254.
• Participates in large starfish, horseshoe-crab, and post-typhoon shellfish harvests 218 270 450.
• Recognizes the higher price of live blue-banded sea snakes and helps arrange the sale of the killed snakes for one yuan each while reserving some for family and friends 181.

Catch Handling and Food Management

She helps process fishing catches and organizes how the household uses its seafood 33.

• Binds crabs and sorts them by size at the wharf 33.
• Directs the family to braise larger fish and boil, shell, or dry smaller seafood before it spoils 33.
• Prepares corn and noodles, including blue-mussel noodle soup for the construction workers 5 31 49.
• Works on fishing nets with the household women 7.
• Cleans and fries sandworms and packs shellfish for Lin Mother and Father Lin to take home 311.
• Helps unload, gut, clean, salt, and organize seafood for drying, while identifying shortages of space, equipment, and labor 769 770.

Household Organization and Childcare

• Provides postpartum care, meals, and practical support to her daughters-in-law 14 307 624.
• Teaches A-Guang's younger sisters infant bathing, nappy changing, and postpartum dietary care after Huimei gives birth 520.
• Coordinates construction meals, family assistance, and the recruitment of additional workers 49 94 546 770.
• Balances competing household expectations, notably by privately returning the proceeds of Ye Yaodong's thank-you gifts to his wife 74.

Village Work and Social Influence

• Runs errands and helps mediate disputes, including arguments between married couples, through the Women's Federation 565.
• Participates in a federation whose duties increasingly include enforcement concerning births beyond the permitted limit 769.
• Promotes family merchandise through her social contacts, bringing wage-earning acquaintances to buy watches and clothing 516.
• Uses the officials' public visits to the family's home to suggest influential connections without making explicit claims about their closeness 729.

Boat Handling and Fishing Knowledge

Mother Ye can operate a boat, though she lacks experience and has difficulty finding her bearings. Ye Yaodong therefore shares a boat with her rather than leaving her to operate separately. While helping sort the catch, she suggests using two boats for purse seining; he considers the idea but explains that their existing boats lack the necessary hauling capacity and equipment 797.

Relationships

• Father Ye — Husband and partner in planning the new houses and household division. Their frequent bickering continues as they work and eat together, but they also pose for a joint portrait and share pride in the family's success 6 14 614 728 746.
• Ye Yaopeng — Eldest son; his hardworking habits form part of her unfavorable comparison with Ye Yaodong. She later urges him to stop hesitating when Father Ye and Ye Yaodong have already investigated a new earning opportunity for the older brothers 4 5 491.
• Ye Yaohua — Second son; likewise regarded as hardworking, unlike his younger brother's former behavior. Mother Ye continues supporting his household alongside those of his brothers 4 5 624.
• Ye Yaodong — Third son; she scolds his laziness but protects him from outsiders and gradually acknowledges his improvement. Their habitual verbal sparring persists after she becomes proud of his success, and he recognizes both her practical dependability and her shrewdness 4 10 33 49 74 454 546 746.
• Ye Huimei — Daughter; lives in her parents' room before the household divides and is expected to remain with them while unmarried. Mother Ye later oversees wedding preparations, works alongside her gathering seafood, and helps care for her and her newborn daughter after childbirth 6 211 254 520.
• Lin Xiuqing — Third daughter-in-law; Mother Ye recognizes her net-making labor, passes along money from Ye Yaodong's sales, and appreciates her willingness to live with the parents. She later provides postpartum help, supports her in defending the family's banquet seats, and acknowledges that Ye Yaodong should consult her before making a major household purchase 11 14 50 74 307 725 803.
• Ye Grandma — Mother-in-law; Mother Ye resents her indulgence of Ye Yaodong but helps with her crops and household needs. Their disagreement over his treatment continues after his improvement, with Ye Grandma challenging Mother Ye's habitual fault-finding 4 5 419 454.
• Ye Chengyang — Grandson; she defends him from his father's teasing and quickly soothes his complaints. She later prevents Rat's wife from moving him out of a paid banquet seat 7 11 725.
• Ye Chenghu — Grandson; she warns him to come straight home after school when concerned about child abduction. Ye Yaodong sees a resemblance between his fondness for showing off and Mother Ye's own behavior 565 592 614.
• A-Guang — Son-in-law; Mother Ye is friendly toward him while he helps with construction and grows increasingly satisfied with him as Huimei's partner. Because his household lacks a mother, she takes an active role in wedding preparations and later childcare instruction 94 211 221 520.
• Eldest maternal aunt — Mother Ye's elder sister; invites her to go shore-gathering and later helps during the Xu-family confrontation 7 355.
• Natal siblings and nephews — A strong village support network who help her search the Xu home and intervene when she is pushed. Two sisters also work as regular hired fish-cleaning helpers 354 769.
• Lin Mother and Father Lin — In-laws whom she hosts and sends home with sandworms and assorted shellfish 311.
• Auntie Zhu Hua — A woman from the neighboring village with whom she trades insults after Zhu Hua disparages Ye Yaodong and the family's poverty 10.
• Xu family — Adversaries in the dispute over supposed ambergris and stolen food; Mother Ye leads the confrontation and takes eggs as compensation after finding evidence of theft 354 355.
• Eldest Aunt Ye — Relative whose demand for a boat on installments Mother Ye rejects; she publicly challenges the request and raises the household's unpaid debts 754 755.
• Rat's wife — Argues with Mother Ye after attempting to take seats paid for by the Ye family at the Tianhou Palace banquet 725.

Notable Quotes

“Of course. Anything worth money should be sold.” 28

“Let him go. It's already good enough that he helped with the work.” 33

“They're really letting me join the Women's Federation? When do I start work, then? What am I supposed to do? I can't read. What do I do about that?” 398

“Why should we let someone else sit here? We paid for it ourselves. Why should we give it to anyone else?” 725

Trivia

• Mother Ye says the family made proper offerings to Mazu before its first fishing trip to ask for safe, smooth sailing 41.
• She is unable to read, a concern she immediately raises when told of her Women's Federation appointment 398.
• According to Ye Grandma, Mother Ye once became so angry at ten-year-old Ye Yaodong's refusal to attend lessons that she went to his school and obtained a tuition refund 530.
• During family photography, she first poses at a sewing machine, then requests a picture with Father Ye beside the bicycle after finding it too tall to mount comfortably 614.
• Her excitement over Ye Yaodong's third boat is so great that she shuts herself indoors to avoid revealing it, then bursts into laughter when Father Ye asks why she has not gone out to talk 746.