Ye Yaodong had no idea about the old lady's actions, and if he had known, he would surely have felt quite embarrassed.
After finishing his work and heading home, every time he encountered an elderly person, they would flash him a smile, leaving him somewhat confused.
Since when did he become popular with old folks?
It wasn't until he bumped into Xiao Xiao at his doorstep and asked about how much the old lady’s dentures cost that he learned the entire village knew about him getting dentures for his grandmother.
He felt somewhat frozen in place.
"This old lady... truly has too much free time. I told her to rest at home, but she insists on wandering around and showing off..."
It was indeed quite embarrassing, his old face turning red as they had discussed the day before: "Getting a compliment after being used to being fussed over feels awkward."
"Hey, I’m asking you! My grandma is only in her seventies but doesn't have any teeth. My dad sent me to check if it’s not too expensive; he's thinking about taking her for a set too. If it's costly, then it’s no use."
"Not expensive, just over twelve bucks. Including the round-trip fare, it's less than thirteen. If I had known earlier, I would have taken my old lady for a set years ago to save her from only eating soft food."
He truly thought it would be pricey, yet it turned out to be so cheap.
If he had known, he would have taken her a few days ago.
"That’s right. Our countryside is isolated, and we never knew this existed. Now that I know the price isn’t high, dad should take my grandma to get a set."
"Go ahead, I’m dead tired. I’m going to wash up and lie down."
Xiao Xiao pulled at him, “We’re going to play cards at A Guang’s house later. Are you joining us?”
"No, I've worked all day. I'm wiped out. You all have fun."
“Fine then.”
After Ye Yaodong took a refreshing shower, he flopped directly onto his bed, not wanting to move at all.
His body felt weak and drained, as if he couldn't handle any more physical work.
He felt quite useless.
Lin Xiuqing carried their clean, squeaky little son into the room and placed him on the bed before turning to fetch some clothes.
The little guy promptly plopped down on his father's back.
"Giddy up~ giddy up~"
"Ouch! My old back! You little rascal, get off..."
"No! Giddy up~ giddy up~"
Every time he sat down, he felt heavier.
How could his back endure this? He was still young and needed to use it.
"Ah! It hurts! You little brat, if you don’t get off, I’ll give you a whack!"
Lin Xiuqing grabbed the clothes and pulled the child off his back, giving his little bottom a gentle pat.
"Stop being mischievous, or I’ll let your dad discipline you. I can't help you."
"Hehe."
Ye Chengyang hugged his mother's neck and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"That’s disgusting! Hurry up and get dressed. Go outside and find your siblings."
After sending the little one off, Lin Xiuqing finally asked, "I’ve been busy working all afternoon and didn’t ask; how much did the old lady’s dentures cost? Mom and Dad asked about it at dinner, and you didn’t say anything. The old lady just now insisted on giving me a big red envelope, but I quickly came inside."
"I was worried she would give me money, that’s why I didn’t mention the price..."
As he spoke, he pulled out a few bills from beneath his pillow.
When he returned home for lunch, he had conveniently tucked his money away to avoid losing it while working.
This amount was not insignificant, and losing it would draw the ire of both his mother and wife.
"The dentures and registration fee only cost twelve bucks and twenty-eight cents in total. Adding the round-trip fare and considering the old lady's age, we just took a rickshaw in the city. All in all, it was under thirteen bucks. Count it yourself. Aside from the fare, there weren’t any other expenses. After getting the dentures, we came straight home. The old lady didn’t want to spend on food outside."
Hearing this, Lin Xiuqing felt a bit relieved.
She hadn’t expected it to be so cheap; she was prepared to fork out dozens.
"Old folks won’t easily spend money. I wouldn’t want to buy food outside either. I’d rather hold on until I get home to cook."
After counting, everything matched up, and she was satisfied that he hadn’t secretly stashed away some money.
Her husband was just too careless; he mustn’t have money on hand.
"Have you counted? Once you’re done, come over and give my shoulders a squeeze. They’re so sore."
"Sore after just a few days? I have no time; I need to do the laundry."
"You don’t have a bit of romance in you..."
She wanted to have a few sweet words with him.
The next morning, when Ye Yaodong woke up, he was surprised to see his father having breakfast.
"Didn’t you go out to sea today?"
Ye Yaohua replied from the side, "The wind picked up during the night, and the waves are quite strong. We barely left before having to turn back."
"A whole day lost means a whole day's loss of income."
"Nothing we can do; the waves are too high. This morning they announced on the commune’s broadcast that a typhoon will pass through in the next couple of days, so we can’t go out for now. We’ll have to wait for the storm to pass."
Ye Yaodong glanced out the window.
The sun was shining bright, and the weather was lovely.
How could it be that a typhoon was coming?
"If we don’t go for a few days, that’s a loss of hundreds."
His father shot him a glare.
"Stop your rambling. Do you want to come with me?"
"Are you wanting me to come with you?"
This question left Ye Yaohua speechless.
Although the third son seemed more capable these days, he had a troubled past.
Whether he would be of help was uncertain.
The first and second sons were now sailing quite well, so he could afford to take a nap now and then.
Taking this kid out... didn’t feel right.
He wasn’t sure about leaving the boat in his hands either.
If he took him along, Ye Yaohua figured he would end up working continuously, hardly having the chance to rest.
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes.
Just when he wanted to go out to sea, it seemed his father was hesitating.
After a moment, Ye Yaohua said, "Let’s wait until after the typhoon."
He knew he had to teach this boy eventually, but it would have to wait.
He would wait until there was less pressure, so he wouldn’t be unreliable.
Building a house required a hefty sum; they couldn't afford to waste a single day.
At that time, the three brothers could take turns to help him out, dividing the earnings a bit.
Although the third brother wasn’t the brightest, Ye Yaohua still wanted to lift him up a little so that the brothers wouldn’t have too wide a gap between them.
Ye Yaodong’s mother chimed in, "It’s a good thing we dried a lot of fish and shrimp lately; we can eat that for a while without needing to buy more vegetables. That saves us a lot on vegetable costs. Otherwise, with so many workers, the vegetable costs alone would run us several bucks a day."
Lin Xiuqing came in from outside and said, "Mom, I checked; we can also collect the dried shellfish from yesterday."
"Then gather it up; we’ll fry a bowl of it this afternoon."
Ye Yaodong looked at his wife.
"Why go through the trouble of drying shellfish? Isn’t that too much work?"
"There's no choice. We had too many shellfish, and after two days, we still hadn’t finished eating. I cooked them and dried them, so they’ll keep for a few more days without spoiling."
"I’ll take a trip to the nearby islands around the fifteenth. Maybe I can gather a bit more to dry."
Thinking of this, he quickly turned to his father.
"A typhoon is coming! Shouldn’t we move our boat to the safe harbor?"
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(End of chapter)