Chapter 16: Reflecting on Past Regrets

Watching the two uncles flee, everyone in the room was still fuming, continuing to curse them out.

People by the sea are especially sensitive about saying unlucky things. As long as someone in the family was going out to sea, they wouldn’t even turn a fish over on their plate for fear of tempting bad luck. Call it superstition, but they took these things seriously.

The risks of going to sea are immense; every year, someone ends up lost to the ocean, and no one wanted such a fate for their loved ones.

“Alright, let’s all get back to what we were doing. They’re not likely to bother us about the boat anymore. Make sure to thoroughly inspect it before going out; nothing is worth more than your lives,” the old lady advised.

“I understand, Mother. I always check it carefully, and the first time we went out, I even brought in an old master to inspect it for us,” Father Ye replied, taking no chances with his or his sons’ safety.

Satisfied, she nodded. Father Ye then took his two sons to buy bricks and sand, ready to start construction as soon as Mother picked an auspicious date.

Naturally, Ye Yaodong was left out of the task.

Given his habitual laziness, no one dared to assign him any real work.

He raised his eyebrows as he watched his father and brothers head out, happy to stay silent. The midday heat in June was no joke, and he was just as pleased to skip the labor, take a nap, and reflect on whether there were any notable events around this time at home—it had been 40 years, after all.

Earlier in the morning, still groggy from sleep, he’d been startled by the commotion caused by his uncles, so he hadn’t had a proper moment to think back on it.

After tidying up, the women in the family gathered outside in the shade, working on the fishing nets, cursing Ye Da Bo and Ye Er Bo as shameless scoundrels as they wove.

The stuffy air inside the house was unbearable, so Ye Yaodong lay on a lounge chair at the doorway, hoping to cool down and get a bit of shut-eye. Yet, from the moment he lay down, there hadn’t been a quiet moment.

The three sisters-in-law, while cursing, had struck up a conversation with a nearby neighbor and moved on to discussing village gossip, becoming increasingly animated. All the while, their hands continued deftly weaving the nets with needle-like precision.

Ye Yaodong thought to himself how talkative these women were; just weaving a fishing net, and they could go on and on about anything and everything.

Unable to stand the racket, he realized that a single woman was like a flock of 500 ducks, and a group of women chattering away was never-ending. Even lounging there was impossible.

Annoyed, he scratched his head and decided to head back inside. There was a breeze today, so with the windows open, it might not be too bad.

But as soon as he stepped through the door, he spotted his youngest son standing by the water bucket, splashing around with clams, half-leaning over the bucket, nearly about to topple in, completely soaked.

“Oh, you little rascal! Turn my back for one second, and you’re off causing trouble. Sneaking off to play in the water, huh?”

He quickly pulled his son out and called to Lin Xiuqing at the door, “Ah Qing, your son’s at it again—playing with water and soaking himself!”

Hearing this, Lin Xiuqing frowned and rushed in. She looked at her son, his face covered in water droplets, and those innocent dark eyes staring back at her, and she softened, merely giving him a couple of light pats on the bottom.

“Can’t you behave for a moment? Playing with sand all morning wasn’t enough, now you’re here playing with water? Soon, you’ll have no clothes left to change into. How many sets do you go through in a day?”

Ye Chengyang, thinking his mother was just playing with him, grinned, revealing his tiny teeth, and wrapped his arms around her neck.

With a resigned sigh, Lin Xiuqing lifted him up, “You’re soaked and clinging to me like this—let’s go change your clothes!”

Ye Yaodong trailed slowly behind them into the room, then plopped down on the bed, propping his hands behind his head and crossing his legs as he watched his wife change the child’s clothes.

It had been decades since he’d seen her in this way. The version of her in his memory was a weary, overworked middle-aged woman. He’d almost forgotten that, in her youth, she had once been so full of life.

Sensing his unwavering gaze, Lin Xiuqing felt slightly uneasy, her ears tinged with a faint blush. After finishing changing the child’s clothes, she shot him a glare and muttered, “What’s with that look in broad daylight?”

Then, as if fleeing, she took the child and hurried back outside…

Ye Yaodong was left feeling a bit confused. She was his wife—wasn’t he allowed to look at her a bit longer? He was just thinking she still looked nice when she was younger!

Did she really need to glare at him for that?

Lying down for a moment, he came to a realization. Could it be…she thought he was feeling frisky?

Was that reason enough to bolt?

He’d originally thought about asking her to leave the kid in the room so he could watch him for a while.

But forget it; he decided to enjoy the peace and catch a nap alone.

Lying back with his legs crossed, staring up at the mosquito net on the canopy bed, he thought about it. It seemed that his family’s life had always been calm and steady. Apart from building the new house and dividing the property, there hadn’t been any major upheavals in the decades that followed. The family lived in peace.

Or…wait. He suddenly remembered a crucial event that had slipped his mind for years!

His wife was supposed to get pregnant with their third child around this time, but due to policy restrictions, she went into hiding at her parents’ house. With a big belly around seven or eight months along, she slipped while picking tea on a hillside. They couldn’t get her to the hospital in time, and though the baby was born, she only lived about half an hour.

It was said to have been a daughter.

His wife was devastated, blaming herself and crying for days afterward.

As for why he only “heard” about it—of course, it was because he wasn’t there. His wife wasn’t sent home to recuperate until the day after the baby was lost, which was when he finally found out.

It felt like a shame, but since the baby hadn’t been born fully, he hadn’t developed much attachment to her. Over time, the memory had faded. Thinking back now, though, he realized how deeply it had affected his wife.

Remembering this, he abruptly sat up. What year was it when she got pregnant with their third child?

He vaguely recalled that her belly began showing soon after they moved into the new house. What year was that?

Wasn’t the tea-picking season in March?

If she was seven or eight months along by then, she’d have gotten pregnant around July or August. Was it this year? Or next year? Or even the year after?

“Damn it, how could I forget something this important?”

Frustrated, Ye Yaodong racked his brain, but he couldn’t recall the exact year. All he knew was that her belly had shown shortly after they’d moved, and to avoid complications, she’d gone back to her parents’ home to wait out the birth after the New Year.

After a long time pondering it, he shook his head. “Forget it. I’ll find out whenever she gets pregnant, if she even does. Maybe it’d be better if she didn’t. No point in risking it again!”

With that thought settled, he lay back down. Besides that event, the only other significant one he could recall in the coming years was his grandmother passing away.

He remembered how heartbroken he’d been back then. She’d slipped on a slate near the back garden while watering the vegetables, refused to go to the hospital, insisting she was fine. But after a few days in bed, she didn’t make it.

If he could change anything, he’d want her to live a few more years. She’d still been in good health if not for that fall.

Not being able to care for her properly had always been a source of regret for him.

Lost in his thoughts and lulled by the sound of cicadas outside, Ye Yaodong drifted off to sleep.