Chapter 25.2: Return to the Island

Chen Xiaohui thought to herself, “So it really is about that job.”

Ye Fan: “Did your sister-in-law say your brother cares about his reputation, or does he just not want to put in the effort?”

Li Mingyue: “She said my brother looks down on her family. So I went over and told her, ‘I also look down on your family.’ She was absolutely furious. Then I said, ‘If you die today, I’ll find him a new match tomorrow.'”

Chen Xiaohui’s mouth fell open — how could Li Mingyue have the same temper as Ye Fan?

Ye Fan: “So you’re not arguing anymore?”

Li Mingyue nodded: “Heading to the countryside in the spring!”

Tao Chunlan, standing outside the kitchen, overheard this and came to the doorway: “All those phone calls this morning urging you two to go over — was it just to get you to arrange the work?”

Li Mingyue: “My parents can’t wait for them to split up and have some peace. I don’t think it’ll last long.”

No one expected it to end so quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Ye Fan took Dabao and Erbao to spend a day at the Geng family’s home. By evening, they returned to her parents’ house to pack their bags. The next day, the three of them boarded a southbound train. This time, Ye Fan booked a sleeper berth, brought only a few belongings, and didn’t ask Geng Zhiyé to pick them up in Hangzhou.

Geng Zhiyé took a fishing boat, then a bus, to the Yongcheng train station. The moment he saw Ye Fan, he couldn’t help but complain, “So you still remember to come back.”

Ye Fan handed him Dabao, gave him a handbag, and carried Erbao along with a shoulder bag. “You talk like you spent the New Year all by yourself.”

Geng Zhiyé had only returned home the day before. The moment Ye Fan stepped into the house, she could tell — the rice, flour, and oil hadn’t decreased much. Geng Zhiyé didn’t dare push the topic any further. “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?”

Ye Fan: “The train didn’t stop much overnight, so I managed to get a few hours in. No one’s been bothering you these past few days, right?”

Geng Zhiyé thought about the food factory’s first sales — how a bunch of fishermen had crowded his doorstep. “No time for that. If I’m not up the mountain digging bamboo shoots, I’m out at sea fishing. We’re scrambling to get a batch of goods out before the Lantern Festival.”

Ye Fan supported Erbao’s head, making sure she slept comfortably. “That can’t be, right?”

Geng Zhiyé shook his head. “The weather’s been bad — damp and cold, nothing dries. It rained on New Year’s Eve, snowed on the first day of the new year, and only cleared up yesterday. Spring is full of rain. If we can get a batch out by the second day of the second month, it’s like heaven’s giving us a meal.”

When they reached the bus stop, Geng Zhiyé set his son down and took Erbao from Ye Fan so she could rest.

Ye Fan let Dabao lean against her leg. “Still sleepy?”

Dabao wasn’t sleepy — he was tired. From Hangzhou, they had switched trains, and Ye Fan carried Erbao and the luggage while Dabao walked on his own. Afraid his mom would worry about missing the train, when Ye Fan asked if he was tired, Dabao’s little face flushed red as he smiled and said he wasn’t. Dabao was a grade-schooler now — a big boy.

Geng Zhiyé reassured his son, “We’ll be home soon. Dad will go back with you guys later.”

Dabao clung to his mom’s leg and looked up, asking, “Dad can come back with us?”

Geng Zhiyé said, “Dad has some annual leave — oh, the bus is here.” He picked up the handbag. “Fan Fan, you carry Dabao and get on first.”

Ye Fan held Dabao as they boarded the bus and didn’t let go even after sitting down.

The rocking of the fishing boat had lulled Dabao to sleep. Once they got home, Ye Fan laid him on the bed, and he slept for another hour before waking up.

Erbao teased him, calling him a lazy bug.

Dabao pulled his sister out from under the blanket and helped her put on a coat. “Where are Mom and Dad?”

Erbao pointed outside. “Dad went to work. Mom’s planting vegetables.”

Ye Fan had heard from Su Yuanhang that it rarely snowed on the island, and “spring cold snaps” were uncommon too. Tao Chunlan had given Ye Fan a lot of vegetable seeds. After a good nap, with nothing urgent to do, Ye Fan decided to plant half of them now and save the rest for when the weather warmed up around the Qingming Festival.

Liao Miaomiao, holding a small hoe, helped out and asked Ye Fan, “Do you want to plant some flowers?”

Ye Fan: “What kind of flowers?”

Liao Miaomiao: “Climbing roses. A classmate gave them to me. My mom won’t let me plant them, saying they’ll block the sunlight and the vegetables won’t grow well. But I can plant them outside the wall — even if the flowers bloom over the wall, how much sunlight could they possibly block?”

Ye Fan laughed. “So if I plant them, you think you can too?”

Liao Miaomiao nodded. “My mom said I can’t go wrong learning from you.”

Ye Fan smiled. “Alright. But if the flowers get picked by some naughty kid before they grow, don’t start a fight. If you fight over a plant, your mom definitely won’t let you grow anything again.”

Without a second thought, Liao Miaomiao dropped the small hoe and ran off to the fishing village to find her classmate.

Dabao came outside with Erbao and saw the small hoe near his mom. He picked it up. “Mom, I’ll help you.”

Ye Fan, seeing that Dabao’s arm wasn’t even as long as the hoe, quickly stopped him. “Take your sister and go play with Da Di and Xiao Mei.”

Dabao told his sister to wait, then ran back into the house to rummage through the bag — the one Li Mingyue had brought from the Friendship Store, filled with treats for him and Erbao. He pulled out a bottle of cola, holding it carefully with both hands as he went outside. “Mom, is this okay?”

Ye Fan nodded. “You can take it to Da Di’s house, but don’t drink it outside.”

Fishermen worked half a day just to earn a single yuan — if Dabao gulped down the soda in a few sips, it would only invite resentment. Realizing this, Ye Fan felt uneasy and reminded her son again, “Tell Da Di and Xiao Mei to drink it secretly. Otherwise, it’ll be like last time with Tian Xiaofeng, saying you won’t live long.”

Dabao obediently nodded. “Erbao, hurry up.”

Erbao brushed the dirt clumps off her clothes, wiped her clean little hands on her shirt, and grabbed her brother’s coat, following him next door.

Ye Fan frowned at the handprints on her daughter’s new coat. Other families had sons who were messier than daughters — why was it the opposite in her house?

She sighed, continuing to dig holes and fill them with soil, hoping to harvest vegetables in two months.

Hearing footsteps, Ye Fan thought the two little rascals had come back again. She looked up and saw Su Yuanhang. “So someone really is keeping an eye on me?”

Su Yuanhang pushed the door open and walked in. “You said yourself you’d be back on the sixth. Captain Geng wasn’t happy about you leaving a day early — there’s no way you’d dare to stay away until the fifteenth.”

Ye Fan raised an eyebrow. “Who do you think you’re underestimating?”

Su Yuanhang said, “You can’t bear to make Captain Geng angry.”

Ye Fan laughed in exasperation. “Are you here to tease me?”

“No, no,” Su Yuanhang quickly replied. He first mentioned that Ningcheng now had plenty of fruit and seafood, but before he could continue, Ye Fan cut him off. “They’re not your responsibility.”

Su Yuanhang nodded. “But—”

Ye Fan interrupted again. “Everyone has a hero’s dream — when you succeed, you want to help the world. I get it. But you’re just one person. Taking care of your own people is enough. Let’s only send goods to the capital, okay? If the local secretary really cared about the people, they would’ve already gone to Shanghai or Hangzhou to find buyers. You didn’t agree, did you?”

Su Yuanhang shook his head. “My dad said—”

“Forget what your dad said!” Ye Fan cut him off. “The people looking for him are just like him. If things don’t work out, they’ll blame you for being young and inexperienced. If they do, the best you’ll get is a few empty words of praise. The first time you went to the capital, you couldn’t even bring yourself to buy a proper meal — drinking water and eating cold flatbread the whole way. Did anyone care about you?”

Su Yuanhang was surprised she knew about that. “Did someone in Yuncheng tell you?”

“Su Duofu told me,” Ye Fan replied. “When the train stopped at a big station for a while, Su Duofu told you to get off and buy something to eat, but you said you’d just tough it out since the capital wasn’t far off.”

She continued, “Ningcheng is so close to Shanghai — if you time it right, you can leave in the morning and be back by night. If they can’t even be bothered to go themselves and are waiting for you to serve everything up to them, they’re dreaming! When you get back, tell your dad — this island’s goods are all they’re getting. We’re not overextending ourselves! I’m not taking a regular worker’s pay to do the job of the Revolutionary Committee’s director. What am I, crazy?”

Su Yuanhang suspected that Ye Fan was calling him crazy.

Ye Fan said, “You’d better think about how to keep the capital market. Tell Su Duofu and Su Yuncheng — next time you deliver goods, ask an ordinary worker at the supply and marketing cooperative if anyone’s been looking for the director recently. Don’t ask the director directly — they never tell the truth.”

With that bit of intimidation, Su Yuanhang didn’t dare take on more responsibility. But when he got home, he ended up arguing with his dad again. His dad scolded him, saying he was already putting on airs after just three days as a factory director. “Good thing you’re not the commune secretary — otherwise, would you even have your parents in your eyes anymore?”

Su Yuanhang let it all go in one ear and out the other. His dad didn’t dare confront Ye Fan, so the matter was dropped.

Just as Geng Zhiyé predicted, the weather didn’t cooperate, and by the end of the first month, they still couldn’t gather enough seafood to fill a truck. Luckily, the cannery had some tangerine cans made the previous winter. They added sixty boxes of canned goods to barely fill a truck.

Once again, Su Yuncheng and Su Duofu accompanied the delivery.

February brought even more rain, and it wasn’t until the third lunar month that they managed to fill a truck.

When the head of the Haidian Supply and Marketing Cooperative saw the two of them, he said, “I thought you’d be back again in February. I was worried about how to sell so much stock — there haven’t been any holidays lately.”

Su Duofu explained that it had been raining every day, and sometimes the wind and waves at sea were so strong that the fishermen didn’t dare go out.

The director assumed that Ye Fan had calculated the cooperative’s slow sales based on previous years’ records — after all, a full truck of goods could last for months. “Will there be a lot of rain in April?” he asked.

Su Duofu replied, “In the plum rain season, every household sees rain.”

The director nodded. “Try to come again at the end of April, and then once more at the end of May. No need in the sixth and seventh lunar months — it’s too hot, and people don’t feel like cooking. But once August rolls around, we’ll have to move quickly.”

Su Duofu asked if Xicheng and Dongcheng would need supplies too. The director said he had already sent someone to notify them, then invited the two of them to rest in his office.

Su Yuncheng declined, saying, “If I nap during the day, I won’t be able to sleep at night.”

Once the director went inside with Su Duofu, Su Yuncheng went to find Geng Zhiqin and asked her, “Have there been any strangers with southern accents at the supply and marketing cooperative recently?”

Geng Zhiqin said she hadn’t seen anyone like that.

When the workers from Xicheng and Dongcheng came to pick up the goods, Su Yuncheng went over to help and casually asked if anyone had approached them about doing business — like buying canned goods. He said he was asking on behalf of the cannery.

They also said no, which puzzled Su Yuncheng. When he returned to the island, he told Ye Fan about the situation.

Ye Fan couldn’t figure it out either.

Su Duofu had chatted with some people at the cannery and shared his guess: “Could it be that, in these times, no one dares to do what we do — selling one thing under the guise of another? More than one person has said we’re bold. I get the feeling that even if a seaside commune outside the island opened a food factory, they wouldn’t dare sell to the capital. They’re afraid that if something goes wrong in an unfamiliar place, they won’t be able to fix it.”

Ye Fan replied, “That’s possible. But we still have to stay alert. Business is like a battlefield — things change in an instant. Take oranges, for example. If we notice a lot of people starting to grow them, we need to plan ahead, selling as much as we can while the price is good. Or maybe we need to expand into new markets.”

Su Duofu, experienced and well-versed in running his large fishing boat, kept nodding. “Exactly. Oh, by the way, this is a letter from Chen Xiaohui for you. I almost forgot.”

Ye Fan took the letter. “Are my parents okay?”

Su Duofu shook his head. “Your sister-in-law didn’t mention anything.”

Ye Fan said, “Alright, you two get some rest when you get back.”

The two men rode off on the bicycle from Ye Fan’s house — a new one bought by Geng Zhiyé.

Geng Zhiyé came out of the kids’ room and held out his hand. Ye Fan chuckled and handed him the letter. “It’s not like the letter has teeth.”

“She can barely take care of herself. What could possibly be wrong?” Geng Zhiyé said as he opened the letter. “All she does is bring you trouble.”

After skimming the contents, his eyes widened slightly.

Ye Fan moved closer to him, and Geng Zhiyé passed her the letter. “My brother-in-law’s brother-in-law is getting a divorce.”

“She’s the one who asked for the divorce? Just because her younger brother was sent to the countryside?”

Geng Zhiyé said, “In your family, every household seems to have someone who’s not too bright.”

Ye Fan pinched his waist. “And your family doesn’t?”

Geng Zhiyé nodded. “Even Aunt Yu, as meddlesome as she is, wouldn’t tell Xiaoqin to get a divorce. She’d definitely say, ‘Don’t worry about us, just live your own life well.’”

Ye Fan sighed. “She’s going to regret it.”

Geng Zhiyé got up and went to the kitchen to seal the stove. “Maybe she thinks that when there’s love, even plain water is enough to live on. Without love, even a golden house feels cold.”

Ye Fan followed him, tossing the letter onto the stove to burn. “I don’t see it that way. Her parents might be thinking — if she dares to ignore her younger brother now, one day when she’s sick, he might ignore her too. Better to divorce while she’s still young and find someone who will listen to her every word.”

Geng Zhiyé set the kettle down. “Let’s go to bed.”

Ye Fan asked, “No night duty?”

Geng Zhiyé shook his head. “At first, we thought after Baldy died, someone would take the chance to stir up trouble. But after over a month on high alert — nothing happened.”

Ye Fan said, “You thought the new leader would do something to make a statement. I told you they’re a loose bunch, but you didn’t believe me.”

Geng Zhiyé closed the kitchen door. “Don’t underestimate them.”

Ye Fan scoffed. “It’s just because there aren’t enough warships. Otherwise, if we had one after another surrounding them for three months — throw in some drills — he’d be more obedient than anyone. He just needs a good scare!”

Geng Zhiyé couldn’t help but smile wryly. “Great idea. If only we had that much firepower.”