Chapter 60: Leaking Roof and Power Outage 

Ye Yaodong finished his shower but didn’t bother putting on clothes. He sat at the window in just his shorts.

“Are you done picking out the sand? Let me see.”

It was rare for him to be this gentle and patient, helping her remove the sand particles.

Lin Xiuqing watched him seriously, and a faint stir ran through her heart, breaking the calm she had been maintaining.

“Ah—”

“Does it hurt? I’ll be gentler…” He gently blew on her palm before continuing to pick out the sand.

If the wound wasn’t cleaned properly, it could get infected once it scabbed over.

After a while, he checked again and said, “It should be clean now. Take up your pants and let me see your knee.”

Lin Xiuqing followed his instructions, rolling up her pants and bringing her knee in front of him.

The atmosphere in the room was peaceful—one quiet, the other focused.

Suddenly, the door slammed open with a loud bang!

“Dad, Mom, it’s time to eat…”

The door was pushed hard and hit the wall, giving both of them a shock. Ye Yaodong, holding the needle, flinched and nearly pricked her palm.

Just as he was about to scold the intruder, he heard a mischievous voice, “Ah, Dad’s all embarrassed, sitting there without clothes and holding Mom’s foot…”

“Damn it, this brat! Ye Chenghu, what nonsense are you talking?!”

Ye Yaodong, in a fit of anger, rushed out and grabbed his eldest son, giving him a couple of light spanks. The old lady quickly intervened to stop him.

“Why are you hitting him? He’s just a kid, they blurt out whatever they see. What does he understand?”

Ye Yaodong wiped the sweat off his brow. He had to explain himself to avoid anyone misunderstanding his intentions.

“Ah Qing fell outside earlier and scraped her knee and palm with sand. I was just helping her clean it with a needle. This little brat has no filter.” He glared at his son again before going back inside to get dressed.

Ye Chenghu rubbed his sore bottom, a bit aggrieved. “I didn’t say anything wrong…”

Lin Xiuqing, embarrassed, quickly came out and gave her eldest son a glare. “Shut up and go eat! Kids shouldn’t talk so much.”

He pouted but followed the old lady to the table.

The adults in the house, except for Ye Huimei, all knew about the little quirks between married couples. Whether what Ye Chenghu said was true or not, they all pretended not to notice and continued with their meals.

When Ye Yaodong sat down, he saw a bowl of stir-fried coconut snail meat, sliced thin. His appetite instantly kicked in, and he eagerly picked up a piece. Mmm—savory, spicy, crunchy, and sweet—absolutely delicious!

He casually added a piece for his wife, and the two exchanged a knowing smile.

Just as they were finishing their lunch, the sky outside grew darker. To the unknowing eye, it looked as though evening had already arrived.

“Turn on the lights! It’s too dark!”

After finishing the meal, everyone was stuck indoors. They could only move around within the house, listening to the howling winds outside. The uncertainty of the storm’s duration unsettled everyone; they didn’t expect the typhoon to be heading straight for them.

Thankfully, they had vegetables in the backyard garden and some salted fish and dried fish at home. Even if they couldn’t go out for a few days, they wouldn’t go hungry.

Ye Yaodong, feeling bored, decided to take a nap. But suddenly, he felt drops of water on his stomach. Looking up, he saw tiny water droplets forming on the mosquito net above him.

“Leaking?”

The rain outside was picking up, and the droplets were falling faster. He quickly got up and went to the living room to grab a basin to catch the water.

Suddenly, the lights in the living room went out, and the children, not understanding the situation, joyfully shouted, “Ah, the power’s out~ the power’s out~”

“Shut up!”

Ye’s mother, having already prepared candles, quickly lit one, bringing a faint light back to the room. She tilted the candle so the wax dripped onto the table, and then set it down to stabilize it.

Typhoons were common here, and everyone had grown accustomed to power outages whenever one occurred.

Ye’s mother lit several more candles. “Each of you take one into your rooms and light it so it’s not too dark.”

Ye Yaodong finally spoke up, “The roof is leaking inside, the bed is wet. You should all go check your rooms and catch the water in a basin. Otherwise, we won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

“If your bed is leaking and you can’t sleep, just bring the kids over and sleep with us,” his mother suggested.

He nodded.

With a basin on the bed, it was difficult for the family of four to sleep comfortably.

But it wasn’t just the bed leaking; even the table and cabinets in the room were dripping with water. Ye Yaodong had to get up again to find a basin. However, there were no more basins available, so he had to use a soup bowl to catch the water.

As for the rain falling onto the floor, he didn’t bother with it—after all, it was just mud, and the water didn’t matter much.

This was the reality of living in an old house: whenever there was heavy rain, every household had leaks.

Ye Yaodong lay back down, his hands behind his head, listening to the sound of water dripping into the basin. He couldn’t sleep. It was still afternoon, and it seemed hard to make it until morning. So he decided to check the living room to see what everyone was up to.

He could hear the children running to their mother’s room to play. He told Lin Xiuqing, who was still weaving nets, “Stop weaving for now, the light is too dim, it could hurt your eyes.”

Ye Dazhao teased, “Yaodong is getting more thoughtful, helping you pick out sand and now worrying about your eyes while you weave nets.”

Lin Xiuqing, feeling a bit embarrassed by the teasing, smiled awkwardly, “Heh~ It’s not that dark, I can still see.”

Ye Yaodong ignored her response.

Ye Yaopeng, bored and sitting at the table with his chin propped up, felt uncomfortable doing nothing. Used to working, now with nothing to do, he suggested, “It’s boring just sitting here. Why don’t the three of us play cards? We can light a few more candles.”

“Sure, let’s ask second brother if he wants to play.”

“He’s in his room. I’ll go ask him.”

The three of them had just played two rounds when Ye’s father, feeling the itch to join, asked if he could play too.

As a result, the house was filled with Ye Yaodong’s frustrated voice, “Damn it, Dad, can you play properly? We’re playing as partners, I’m your teammate, how could you pass a 6 to Big Brother?”

“My hand is 33467, what else should I play other than a 6?”

“Damn, what a terrible hand, you could at least play a pair, let me take it and go first!”

“How should I know what you have in your hand?”

Ye Yaodong kept cursing, muttering that his dad was a terrible teammate…

Ye’s father, fed up, grumbled, “Change partners, I don’t want to be with you anymore!”

So, all afternoon, Ye’s father kept switching partners, first with the third son, then the eldest, and finally ended up playing with the second son, who didn’t mind his bad luck with cards.

But Ye Dazhao got anxious since partnering with her father-in-law had resulted in constant losses.

At the end of the afternoon, as expected, Ye Yaodong and Ye Dazhao had won.

Ye Yaodong shook the money in his hand and handed it to Lin Xiuqing. “Here, take it. More money came in!”

Lin Xiuqing smiled and took it.

Ye’s father, still unwilling to give up, muttered, “We’ll continue after dinner!”

“Continue your head! If you have time, weave more bamboo baskets for me; we don’t have enough to dry the fish!” Ye’s mother scolded, and Ye’s father, not daring to argue, fell silent.