Despite Ye's parents' attempts to persuade him, Secretary Chen's family insisted on going home to eat.
Since they had already made up their minds, Ye's family decided not to push them.
With the recent construction of houses, the consumption of rice and grains had already taken a toll, so saving a bit was a good idea.
Once Secretary Chen's family left, the living room erupted with noise.
A bunch of oblivious children stretched their necks, eagerly peering at the basket filled with sweet rice cakes and canned oranges.
They had tasted the rice cakes before, sweet and delicious, but they had never had the chance to eat canned oranges.
Their family was poor, and their parents would never indulge them in such treats.
Ye Yaodong patted the heads of his two eldest nephews. “Control your drool; it’s time to eat.”
Ye Chenghai tilted his head and asked, “Third Uncle, can we eat rice cakes and canned oranges after we finish our meal?”
“After you’re full from dinner, can you still eat more?”
A group of children nodded frantically, all shouting in unison, “Of course we can eat more!”
“Well then, go ahead and eat!”
He didn’t think much of it; if they wanted to eat, they could share the food after their meal.
However, Ye's mother disagreed, shooting him a glare. “Canned goods are expensive! Don’t let the children waste them. Put them away for now. When the Mid-Autumn Festival comes in two months, they’ll be nice gifts.”
If she weren’t worried that it would spoil by the New Year, Ye's mother would have saved the cans for a more auspicious occasion, where it would be more impressive to give.
Ye Chenghu looked on, whimpering, “Dad... I want to eat canned oranges...”
“Your grandmother won’t allow it!”
He shrugged his shoulders; the things were in his mother’s hands, so there was nothing he could do.
He truly wanted to share with the children.
Ye's mother poked Ye Chenghu's forehead with her finger. “Eat, eat, eat! You only think about eating. It’s almost dinner time. No one can eat. This is for gifting.”
Having locked the canned goods and alcohol in a cupboard, she left the rice cakes on the table. “After dinner, you can all share the rice cakes. I’ll see if I can trade the alcohol for cash later; we can’t afford such expensive stuff.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Ye Dajiao and Ye Erjiao were relieved to hear this.
They had worried Ye's mother would directly give away all the gifts, especially since it was Ye Yaodong who had saved the people.
What they didn’t expect was that as soon as Ye's mother exchanged the items in town for money, she secretly went to Ye Yaodong’s house at night, giving the selling money to Lin Xiuqing.
Fearing she wouldn’t have time to do it during the day because of working, she rushed off to the big shop in town right after dinner, and by the time she returned, night had completely fallen.
Lin Xiuqing was astonished to see the money in Ye's mother’s hands. “Why did you give this to me, Mother?”
“Shh, the visitors were here to thank Dongzi. They should be the ones to receive it. I figured if I just handed it all over to you, someone might feel uneasy.”
“But we haven’t split the family yet. This stuff…”
“True, but aren’t the incomes of each family kept by themselves? They came to thank Dongzi, not us old folks. Everything belongs to him. Just take it. Your father and I have worked hard our whole lives, all for you kids. What’s it for if not for you?”
Ye Yaodong watched silently from the side, feeling that his mother was quite clever.
Rural women often had their own wisdom in balancing family matters.
“Take it. Once the houses are built, you’ll need money for many things.” After stuffing the money into Lin Xiuqing's hand, she looked at Ye Yaodong, unable to help herself, “You need to be more diligent from now on. Don’t waste time with those friends of yours so much…”
“Hey? How is that wasting time? Who doesn’t have a few friends? Even you have a group of friends urging you to go to the beach every day.”
“Only when I’m asked to do serious things. Your friends just want you to play and drink.”
“Not really, did we not go catch eels yesterday afternoon? You were the one who ate them. Didn’t we also go to the beach some time ago? We just made a few hundred? You forgot that part? Also, didn’t they come help us with the house? We don’t just play and drink all day!”
Ye's mother was left speechless.
The scamp grew serious, making it tough for her to argue back.
She glared at him, “Get up early and work tomorrow!”
“Understood.”
After Ye's mother left, Lin Xiuqing counted the money in her hand. “Mom said the Maotai sells for 12 a bottle, and a pack of Zhonghua costs 1. She mentioned the buyback price was slightly lower than the selling price.”
“Of course, that’s how it is. They have to make money too, or why would they buy back?”
“Yeah, I’ll keep it then.” Grateful for the unexpected profit, she felt happy.
Recently, the frequency of her collecting money had increased a bit!
“Time for bed; we need to get up early for work tomorrow.”
“You seem quite diligent?”
“Isn't that my house?”
In the summer heat, building a house felt like rain pouring down as sweat dripped, making their clothes soaked enough to squeeze water out of.
Running a big boat was a bit lonely, but it truly didn’t compare to the labor of moving stones and gravel.
Just as Ye Yaodong finished lifting a load of stones, he sat down for a moment to sip some tea and rub his sore shoulders.
He shrugged off his wet shirt, only to see a red mark on his shoulder where the carrying pole had pressed down.
He couldn’t help but shed a few sympathetic tears for himself.
Did heaven throw him back to 25 so that he could make up for the hardships he missed out on in his youth?
At that moment, Lin Xiuqing came pushing a wheelbarrow over. “Tonight, I’ll get you some tea oil to soothe it, and it will be fine.”
He raised an eyebrow, about to say something, but caught sight of two unfamiliar middle-aged men from Lin Village marching confidently toward the house they were working on.
“Is Ye San Shu around? Is this Ye San Shu’s house?”
Yesterday, Secretary Chen had just reminded them, and he didn’t expect them to come so soon.
Ye Yaodong frowned and stood up, tossing his shirt over his shoulder and walking over to look down at them. “From Lin Village? What do you want?”
The three of them instinctively took a step back, unable to stifle their irritation.
Did they come here to provoke? Just because he’s tall, is he any better?
“Hehe, we wanted to discuss something with Ye San Shu.”
“If you have something to say, just tell me!"
At that moment, Ye Yaohua noticed the commotion and walked over. “What’s going on, A Dong?”
Lin Village?
He immediately remembered the warning from yesterday evening by Secretary Chen.
Were they looking to buy their plot of land?
“They are looking for our father,” Ye Yaodong said, turning to face the three. “The house being built here is for us three brothers. If you have something to say, say it quickly. Don’t block our work.”
“It’s like this: my maternal uncle wants to buy this plot of land, so we wanted to discuss it with you.”
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. “Can’t you see that we’ve already laid the foundations? We’ve hired so many workers and moved so many stones and dirt. You think we’d just sell it like that? All our hard work would have been for nothing?”
Each load of stones they carried was filled with sweat.
Without offering more money or some benefits, they just casually asked to buy it? Who did they think they were?
Thank you all for your support.
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A bow!!!
(End of this chapter)