After confirming that he could borrow the boat, Ye Yaodong felt at ease and strolled home without a care.
However, halfway there, he suddenly remembered that construction would start tomorrow.
He turned around and headed toward the homestead.
Today, it was his second brother's turn to go out to sea, while his eldest brother stayed home.
After finishing breakfast, he had said he wanted to go fetch some yellow earth from the mountain.
Ye Yaodong felt a bit embarrassed thinking about how much his brother must have carried.
People’s lives improve for a reason, and hard work pays off.
But today was the first day of the lunar month, and the tide was exceptionally low.
Since he had borrowed the boat, he could only let his eldest brother work a bit harder.
With this in mind, he quickened his pace.
When he arrived at the homestead, he saw piles of yellow earth stacked up to half a person's height, but there was no sign of his eldest brother.
Only a large jug of tea was left under the shade of a tree.
His brother must have gone off to fetch more soil.
Leaning against the tree, Ye Yaodong thought he might as well go lend a hand later.
Having returned to his past life, his mindset had long been set right.
After waiting for just a few minutes, he saw Ye Yaopeng pushing a two-wheeled cart loaded with soil toward him.
"Eldest brother!"
Ye Yaopeng looked up and smiled, "What brings you here?"
"I just came to take a look. The construction doesn’t start until tomorrow. Why are you getting soil so early?"
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a big gulp from the jug before saying, "There’s no fishing today, and there’s not much to do at home. I thought I'd get a bit more yellow earth while I can. We’ll need it sooner or later, and starting to gather it a day early doesn’t count as rushing."
"We're going to hire people anyway. You should just do some of the easier work."
"This is already the easier work! Once construction starts tomorrow, the workers will have to dig holes, break rocks on the mountain, and carry them down for the masters to smooth over. Fetching yellow earth is definitely the easier task."
Ye Yaodong frowned and nodded, "Alright then, I’ll come with you to the mountain and give you a hand."
Ye Yaopeng looked at him in surprise, "You want to help?"
"Are you saying you don't want my help?"
Feeling a bit frustrated, Ye Yaodong wanted to do something, but everyone seemed so surprised.
"Haha, great! Then come with me to the mountain and help me swing the hoe. We can move a few more carts today."
It was rare for the third brother to offer to help, so how could he refuse?
"I'll work for a bit, but I'll head back by ten. I have other things to do this afternoon."
Ye Yaopeng's smile faltered slightly, realizing he had thought too much.
The third brother was just here to take a look.
Now that it was already eight o'clock, he wasn’t really planning to work seriously.
Thinking back, it seemed he was turning over a new leaf.
However, having him come around and lend a hand, even if just a little, was good.
At least it showed he was beginning to take the house-building matter seriously, which was better than when he rarely showed up.
Hearing his sister-in-law say that Ye Yaodong had been helping with sea foraging these past few days was also a sign of progress.
"Alright, then just help me out a bit. After the house starts work tomorrow, you shouldn’t be wandering around anymore. I’ll be going to sea with Father; it will just be your second brother at home. Mother and the others will need to cook for the workers, so they’ll definitely be busy."
"I know."
Ye Yaodong had no idea what was on his brother’s mind.
Even if he knew, he wouldn't care too much, because this was exactly the result he wanted.
A person’s change shouldn’t be too sudden.
After Ye Yaopeng had dumped all the soil from the cart, Ye Yaodong volunteered to take over the cart, "I'll push it. You just lead the way."
"Okay."
Although the gravel road wasn't easy to push, the cart was empty, so it wasn’t too hard.
Just a few years ago, everyone had to shoulder the soil and stones from the mountain to build their homes.
These materials didn’t cost any money; one only needed manpower to collect them from the mountain.
At the time, there was no cement used for building houses.
Everything was made by mixing yellow earth and sand and then spreading it over rocks to let it dry.
Not many houses were built with bricks because people figured that stones were free and made sturdy houses.
For multi-story buildings, they might use bricks for the second floor because the stones were too heavy, making it hard to stack them up high without bricks.
In terms of pricing, there wasn't much difference.
Though bricks cost money, moving stones also required money to pay for labor, and skilled craftsmen who could carve them charged even more.
The sun was already quite fierce, and after just a short walk, Ye Yaodong was dripping with sweat.
Ye Yaopeng, upon reaching their destination, picked up a hoe.
"I just happened to bring two shovels. I’ll do the digging; when they’re full, you pour them into the cart."
"Sure!"
With one shovel filled, Ye Yaodong emptied it, while Ye Yaopeng continued to fill the other.
Working in tandem, they moved much faster than if one person were doing the task alone.
Before long, the cart was filled.
"I’ll push it back; you dig a bit more soil. This way, we won't waste time walking back and forth. I can do it alone."
Ye Yaopeng nodded, "Alright, we can take turns. Next time, I'll push."
"Okay."
He didn’t mind being assigned the pushing duty as he planned only to work for an hour or two before returning.
However, he hadn’t expected that he would tip the cart over…
Just as he pushed it a little way, a stone on the turn caught the tire, causing him to lose balance and flip it.
Seeing this, Ye Yaopeng came over, looking at him with a bemused expression.
He patted his shoulder and said, "It’s alright. Let’s just refill it. The road isn’t good; pushing a few more times will get you used to it."
Ye Yaodong felt a bit downcast.
He had indeed never pushed this cart before; he had to find a way to console himself.
"Good thing you saw it; if Father had, he'd surely be cursing again for not being strong enough."
"If you help out diligently, Father won't scold you. Let's just fill the soil back in."
He pouted.
As if that’d stop Father from scolding! Wouldn’t Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaodong get scolded the same?
After refilling the cart, Ye Yaopeng insisted on pushing it instead of letting him do it again.
"I’ll push; you dig more yellow earth."
"Fine."
He was indeed more skilled at foraging along the beach than helping out here!
After helping up the mountain for quite a while and glancing at the time, he decided it was best to head back first.
Having swung the hoe for such long, he was starving and hurried back to grab a bite before preparing his seaside foraging tools.
Lin Xiuqing saw him come back, drenched in sweat and with a flushed face, and curiously asked, “Didn’t you go to borrow the boat? Why do you look like you’ve been working so hard, like you just fished out of the water?”
“I did go to work! I came from A Guang’s place, saw the time was still early, so I went to help Big Brother.”
Everyone stared at him in astonishment.
He voluntarily went to help carry soil?
Was this real?
Seeing their doubtful expressions, Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes.
"Aren’t I also part of the house? If I don’t lend a hand, wouldn’t Father break my legs?"
That was true!
Only these few days had Ye Father been out to sea; otherwise, the house would have been filled with Ye Father’s scolding voice toward Ye Yaodong every day.
(End of Chapter)