Uncle Ye shot a fierce glare at Ye Yaodong before stepping across the threshold, vividly remembering how he had been choked this morning.
After they entered the house, Ye Yaodong and Ye Yaohua followed closely behind.
The women of the family were busy cleaning the table and washing the dishes, while Ye Father, holding a water pipe, planned to enjoy a puff after the meal when he saw his two brothers arrive.
As soon as Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye came in, they walked over to the old lady, speaking in unison, "Mother!"
"Uh-huh, have you eaten?"
"Yes, and you’ve eaten too, right?"
"Uh-huh."
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes from the side, well aware of the rhetorical question.
Asking "Have you eaten?" as a greeting was so peculiar, yet it never changed across the ages.
Second Uncle Ye looked at Uncle Ye, who then cleared his throat and said, "Mother, we came by this morning but didn’t find you at home, so we thought we’d visit again."
"Did you come especially to see me?" The old lady feigned ignorance.
"Uh, not really, uh, well..."
Before he could finish, he had already fumbled his words, akin to being hit by a barrage of arrows.
So Second Uncle Ye took over.
"Well, Mother, wasn't the Third one lucky today and caught a lot of big yellow fish that sold for over a thousand? That boat was left to us by Father, and he let the Third son take it and fix it up. Although he did take advantage of it, we didn’t dare to ask him to split the profits."
"But the kids at home have all grown up, and the house is too small for us now. We wanted to borrow three hundred from the Third son to build two more rooms for the kids, what do you think…"
The old lady frowned, tilted her head, and leaned in closer, "Huh? What did you say? I can’t hear, speak up!"
"Hahaha–"
Ye Yaodong couldn’t help but laugh.
The old lady was truly amusing; usually sharp-minded, but suddenly deaf when it came to matters like this?
The old lady shot him a playful glare in response, signaling him to quiet down.
Second Uncle Ye felt embarrassed by the laughter.
Did they not know if the old lady was hard of hearing?
Ye Father, putting down his water pipe, sighed, "So you’re here this morning to ask for money, and now you’re discussing borrowing? Don’t you ever quit? I have three sons at home, all crowded into one room, four or five people sleeping on one bed. I need money to build my own house, where would I find money to lend you?"
"Then let us borrow a little less, we’ll add some ourselves. The number of grandsons in our family is much bigger than yours..."
"Does that mean my grandsons won’t grow up?"
"You already have a boat! You can fish for yourselves rather than earning money as a boat worker."
"You think fishing is that reliable? You guys have already split from your families; why do you still need to worry about where your grandsons will sleep? Just take care of your own sons, and it’s enough if you have a place to stay."
With such words from Ye Father, Second Uncle Ye couldn’t retort anymore.
Uncle Ye, however, was not about to give in.
He turned to the old lady, feigning deafness, and said, "Mother, what if we borrow the Third Son's boat? It’s thirty days a month. My brother and I could each rent it for ten days. What do you think?"
"I can’t hear! You go discuss that with your third brother!"
Uncle Ye was rendered speechless!
Ye Yaodong chuckled, wrapping his arm around the old lady's shoulder.
"Grandma’s getting old; don’t stress her out. It’s impossible to rent the boat. What if it gets damaged? It may be an old boat, but it’s still our family’s treasure. Don’t be foolish; we just took it out to sea once."
Hearing this, Second Uncle Ye's imagination began to run wild, starting to reconsider.
That’s true; it was an old boat.
Who knew if it would be reliable after repairs? If it broke down near the dock, they could return.
But if it failed far out at sea...
Just thinking about it made him break into a sweat.
He pulled at Uncle Ye, who was still hoping to speak.
"Forget the boat rental. If the family has issues, we’ll think of another solution."
"We're not outsiders; we’ll definitely take good care of it."
"Not that. It’s an old boat. Who knows if repairs will hold up? At least it’s optimistic near the shore; what if..."
Seeing Uncle Ye be so deaf to reason, Second Uncle Ye started hinting at his fears, but to his surprise, Uncle Ye jumped right in with an outburst.
"If it breaks while we’re out, then we won’t be able to come back…"
"Don’t jinx us! You’re speaking like a raven’s mouth! You want to bring bad luck upon me as a brother?!" Ye Father exploded, nearly throwing his water pipe at them.
Ye Mother also chimed in angrily, "What a cursed thing to say to one’s own blood! Just because you can’t get a loan from us, do you really hate us that much?"
Ye Yaopeng, furious and no longer using respectful terms, pointed and yelled at them, "What wrong have we done to you? Why are you wishing for our downfall like this...?"
"No, I didn’t mean that… that wasn’t my intention..."
Uncle Ye quickly realized he had spoken too soon, slapping his mouth in a hurry to explain.
Second Uncle Ye chimed in as well, "We didn’t mean it that way; we’re family. How could we curse you…"
Ye Yaodong's face darkened like a pot bottom.
He had just fallen into the sea, and now these two were cursing his family! “Bah! May the bad luck not be true, and may we prosper! Both of you should leave at once! This place doesn’t welcome you. If you don’t leave now, I won’t hold back and will use my broom to chase you away!"
"No, we truly don’t mean this..."
The daughters-in-law at home were also furious, chiming in with indignation.
"Do you really want to see our family suffer? Just because we won’t lend you money or rent you the boat, you have to curse us?"
"We're all family, how can you be so venomous? So calculating and unkind!"
"What have we done to deserve this? Wishing such doom upon your own family? How can you be so heartless..."
Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye felt as if they had poked a hornet's nest, surrounded by questioning and accusations, they could only apologize helplessly.
"Enough! At your age, how can you still speak so thoughtlessly? We’re coastal folks; how can we allow such ill-fated words to slip from our lips? You’re brothers!" The old lady slammed her hand on the table, her face serious as she glared at the two brothers.
Then, muttering a couple of lines, "Buddha's blessing... Mazu's protection... Don’t curse, don’t curse..."
The old lady believed strongly in superstition; how could she allow her kin to utter such ominous words, especially against their own brothers?
Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye were both startled and terrified.
"Mother, we never thought that way! How could we curse the Third? We’re brothers. No matter how big the conflict, we could never wish ill upon each other! It’s just a misunderstanding of words."
"I know you’re not that clever, but you’ve got too many petty thoughts. Still, you can’t be too greedy or calculating. Keep kind thoughts in your heart, and you’ll be blessed. Now go back home, and don’t dwell on what doesn’t belong to you."
"Yes, yes!"
Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye felt as if they had been pardoned and quickly fled, fearing they would stay any longer.