After dinner, the family took their buckets, sacks, and flashlights and headed for the shore. The buckets were too small, so they were only carrying them to hold their tools.
The door had to be locked, and Chen Xixi had originally planned to send her next door for their grandmother to watch, but she refused!
"Why? Big brother, why are you taking Chen Xiaoqi and not me?"
Chen Haichao was at a loss. The boy-girl twins were like Jiao and Meng, never apart; it was hard to separate them and take just one. He hadn't coaxed a child in a long time.
"Big brother needs Xiao Qi to help with something. Be good and go find Grandma."
"No, I want to help you too, big brother. You can't let only Xiao Qi help and not me. I'm older than him, I'm his big sister, and I'm better than him."
Chen Xiaoliu's little mouth rattled on, and she made her points quite clearly, too.
Chen Xiaoqi protested, "No, you're not! I'm better than you!"
"I'm the big sister, so I'm better."
"Anyway, big brother's taking me and not you!" Chen Xiaoqi held Chen Haichao's hand, looking immensely pleased with himself.
Chen Xiaoliu grabbed his other hand and shook it back and forth, looking pitiful. "Big brother, take me. I want to go with you too~ Big brother~ Please~"
Chen Haichao's head was pounding now. He wondered if he could just knock one of them out.
"I'll give you a mao if you stay home with Grandma and behave. How about it?"
When threats didn't work, he could only resort to temptation. He'd just embezzled two yuan that afternoon, so he had money in his pocket!
Chen Xiaoliu's whole little face lit up, but after her initial delight, she was torn. On one side was a mao, and on the other was going with her big brother. It was too hard to choose!
"Xiao Qi has to come with me and do hard labor, and he won't even get paid. You get a mao without having to lift a finger! That's a whole mao-you can buy several pieces of candy with it!"
Chen Xiaoqi tugged at him and looked up, his face full of longing. "Big brother, give me the money and let Xiao Liu do the work instead?"
Afraid it would be snatched away, Chen Xiaoliu instantly made up her mind. "No! I'll listen to big brother and go find Grandma. You go do the work."
Chen Haichao quickly pulled out a mao and gave it to her. Only after watching her go next door to find Grandma, bursting with joy, did he wait at home with Chen Xiaoqi for his friends.
Chen Xiaoqi wore a long face, his unhappiness written all over it.
Chen Haichao knew he had to keep the bowl of water level between the twins, so he said, "Once you've finished helping, I'll reward you with a mao too, and you'll get to watch the excitement."
His expression immediately changed from cloudy to sunny, and he nodded happily. "Okay, okay! Big brother, I'll be good. I'll do whatever you tell me to."
"Don't tell Xiao Liu about your reward."
"Mm-hmm, this is my reward from big brother. Xiao Liu doesn't get one."
"That's right." He was just that easy to fool.
While they were still little, he could fool them. Once they were older and in elementary school, they might not be so easily fooled.
Winter days were short and nights were long, and it got dark early. By around six, the sky was pitch-black, and households throughout the village had lit their kerosene lamps.
That dim light could barely make it out the door, and outside it was pitch-dark, with no streetlights.
They were about to leave, so Chen Haichao hadn't lit the kerosene lamp.
Xiaoqiang and Li Zhengjun arrived soon afterward. Seeing the two of them shining their flashlights into the house from the doorway, he took Chen Xiaoqi's hand and immediately opened the door.
Li Zhengjun asked, "Why didn't you light a lamp? We thought you'd tricked us."
"We're about to head out. What would I light one for? How many flashlights do you have?"
"Two. There's another one in my pocket." Xiaoqiang glanced around the empty house. "Where's your family?"
"They all went to the shore to catch shrimp. Let's go."
"So hardworking."
But Li Zhengjun noticed Chen Xiaoqi. "You're not bringing a little tagalong, are you? We're going to catch adulterers in the act, not play."
"Isn't that playing?"
"For us, yes. Not for him. What are you bringing a little thing like that for? He'll just get in the way. Careful, he'll get a stye."
"He'll be useful. Once we catch them, we can send him running through the village to call people over."
Chen Xiaoqi nodded vigorously too, afraid he'd be left behind and unable to earn his mao. "Big brothers, I'm very useful."
The two of them thought about it and agreed.
Li Zhengjun patted his head and instructed him, "Then be good and listen. When we tell you not to make a sound, you mustn't make any noise at all. Do whatever we tell you to, understand?"
"I understand. My big brother already told me. I'll listen."
Chen Haichao took his hand and locked the door. "All right, let's go."
The three older boys and one little one chatted as they walked. It had only just gotten dark, but the whole village was extremely quiet. Some households hadn't even lit their kerosene lamps and had gone to bed early.
There wasn't much entertainment at this time to begin with, and with the cold weather on top of that, the villagers generally climbed under their covers as soon as it got dark. Some slept, while others got busy making babies.
That was why children popped out of every household one after another, and only children were extremely rare.
Especially after National Day, in October and November, the peak months for births.
Xiaoqiang said, "You can tell us who the adulterous couple are now, right? We can't go without even knowing who we're after, can we?"
"Wang Zhiwen. If I hadn't found out, he might well have become my third brother-in-law."
"Huh? That pretty boy Wang Zhiwen?"
Li Zhengjun was surprised too. "Damn, is he tired of living? He's actually messing around? Are you sure you didn't get it wrong?"
"There's no way I got it wrong. If it had nothing to do with me, would I be so full I had nothing better to do than skip sleep and run out into the cold wind at night to catch adulterers?"
It hadn't become connected to him in this life yet, but his third sister had suffered a great loss in his previous life. Wang Zhiwen had also nearly gotten his hands on her at their matchmaking meeting today, so that counted as a connection.
"We just guessed it had to have something to do with you. Who's the woman?"
"Liu Chunlan."
"What!!?"
The two were even more shocked, their mouths hanging open.
Chen Haichao was amused by their reaction. "Didn't expect that, did you?"
"Damn, Liu Chunlan's old enough to be his mother, isn't she?"
"Good heavens, his appetite's a little too good, isn't it? He can even stomach that?"
"Isn't he way too undiscerning?"
"How did those two get together? Isn't Wang Zhiwen even younger than your third sister? Does he just like women older than him? Even if he's practicing in advance, he shouldn't find someone as old as his mother!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. The forest is big enough to have every kind of bird. He can even do that, gnaw on an old bone. He's really hungry."
The two of them chimed in one after the other, utterly astonished, the excitement nearly spilling out of their eyes.
"How do you know he's hungry? Maybe he just likes old bones. Otherwise, he wouldn't pass up someone young and pretty to meet an old one in secret."
Xiaoqiang said, "True. Who'd pass up a young, pretty wife to find an old widow? He's not even afraid of picking up that old-person smell."
Li Zhengjun laughed. "You've got a venomous tongue."
"It's true. Maybe he really calls her 'Mama' while they're doing it..."
"There's a child here. Watch yourselves, keep it down, and lower your voices. We're going to catch adulterers, so don't make too much noise," Chen Haichao reminded them.
They immediately reined themselves in.
"Are you sure we'll catch anything tonight?"
"No, that's why we have to stake them out. Wang Zhiwen's already going on matchmaking dates and getting ready to marry. Widow Liu's used to being watered by someone-can she bear the loneliness? She'll definitely want a few more times before he gets married. Besides, they're off work now, with nowhere to spend their energy. We're sure to catch them."
"Abao, that was a well-reasoned analysis."
"Who said you could call me Abao? Call me Haichao or big brother. Pick one, or I'll call you Pigou."
"Fuck..."