Chapter 15: A Stroke of Bad Luck

Ye Da Bo shot Ye Yaodong a fierce glare before stepping over the threshold. He still remembered being choked by him that morning!

After they entered the house, Ye Yaodong and Ye Yaohua quickly followed behind.

The women in the family were tidying up the table and washing the dishes. Ye Father, holding a water pipe, planned to take a few puffs after the meal when he saw that his two brothers had arrived again.

As soon as Ye Da Bo and Ye Er Bo walked in, they went straight to the old lady’s side and called out in unison, “Mother!”

“Hmm, have you eaten?”

“We’ve eaten, and Mother must have eaten too, right?”

“Hmm.”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes from the side, knowing they were just asking for the sake of asking. It was such a peculiar way of conversation that in their culture, it always started with “Have you eaten?” It seemed to be the same regardless of the era.

Ye Er Bo glanced at Ye Da Bo, and only then did Ye Da Bo clear his throat and say, “Mother, we came by this morning, but you weren’t here, so we thought we’d come again.”

“Did you come specifically to see me?” The old lady asked knowingly.

“Ah, no, ah, that is…”

Before he could finish, he got flustered. Ye Er Bo simply took over.

“Mother, the third son just caught a net full of big yellow croakers and sold them for over a thousand. That boat was left by Father; it was given to the third son, and he repaired it. Even though he benefited from it, we didn’t feel right asking him to share the money.”

“But all the children at home have grown up, and there’s not enough room for everyone. We want to borrow three hundred yuan from the third son to build two more rooms for the kids. What do you think?”

The old lady frowned and leaned closer, “Huh? What did you say? I’m hard of hearing; speak up!”

“Hahaha~”

Ye Yaodong couldn’t help but laugh. The old lady was quite amusing; usually sharp and alert, now she was suddenly hard of hearing?

The old lady shot him a scolding glance.

Ye Er Bo felt awkward from Ye Yaodong’s laughter. Did they not know whether the old lady was hard of hearing?

Ye Father helplessly put down the water pipe and said, “You came this morning asking for money, and now you’re trying to negotiate for a loan. Why can’t you give up? I have three sons of my own, all squeezed into one room, four or five people sleeping on one bed. How can I lend you money when I need to build my own house to separate our families?”

“Well, you can lend us a little less; we’ll pitch in too. The number of grandsons in our family is much more than yours…”

“Are my grandsons not going to grow up?”

“Now that you have a boat, fishing for yourself is more profitable than working for someone else!”

“Relying on the weather to make a living is not stable. Your sons have already separated; you don’t need to worry about where your grandsons will live. Just take care of your own family, and as long as you have somewhere to stay, that’s enough.”

Ye Father’s words left Ye Er Bo speechless.

However, Ye Da Bo was not willing to give up. He turned to the old lady, who was pretending to be deaf, and asked, “Mother, how about we pay to rent the third son’s boat? One month is thirty days; my second brother and I could each rent it for ten days. What do you think?”

“I’m hard of hearing; go discuss it with your third brother!”

Ye Da Bo was left dumbfounded!

Ye Yaodong smiled cheerfully as he wrapped his arm around the old lady’s shoulder and said, “Grandma, you’re getting older; don’t let them bother you. Renting the boat is out of the question. What if it gets damaged? Even though it’s an old boat, it’s still a treasure of our family. You shouldn’t be having any ideas about it; we’ve only just set out to sea once.”

Upon hearing this, Ye Er Bo began to have second thoughts.

Indeed, it was an old boat. Who knew if it would hold up after being repaired? If it broke down near the dock, they could still make it back, or at the very least, swim back. But if it broke down out at sea…

Just the thought of it made his hairs stand on end.

He tugged at Ye Da Bo, who was still planning to speak. “Forget it, let’s not rent the boat. If the family is in trouble, we can find another way to solve it.”

“We’re not outsiders; we would definitely take care of it.”

“That’s not the point. It’s an old boat. Who knows if it’ll break down again after being repaired? It’s fine by the shore, but what if…”

Seeing that Ye Da Bo wasn’t listening to reason, Ye Er Bo subtly hinted at his concerns. Unexpectedly, Ye Da Bo, lacking common sense, picked up on it and exclaimed.

“What if it breaks down when we go out? Then we won’t be able to…”

“Pah, pah, pah! You crow of misfortune! Are you cursing me? We’re brothers, for goodness’ sake! Why bring me bad luck!” Ye Father jumped up in anger, almost ready to throw the water pipe at them.

Ye Mother also fumed, “Pah! We’re brothers after all; is it necessary to curse us just because we won’t lend you money?”

Ye Yaopeng was furious too; he stopped addressing them as uncles and directly pointed at them, questioning, “What have we done to deserve this? You don’t want us to do well, and now you’re cursing us…”

“No, I didn’t… that’s not what I meant…” Ye Da Bo quickly realized what he had blurted out and slapped his own mouth, trying to explain.

Ye Er Bo hurriedly added, “We didn’t mean it; we’re family! How could we curse you…”

Ye Yaodong’s face turned as dark as a pot bottom. Having just fallen into the sea, now these two were cursing his family? “Pah, pah, pah! Bad luck won’t stick; good luck will come! Our family will surely sail smoothly and prosper! You two better leave quickly; you’re not welcome here! If you don’t leave, I’ll chase you out with a broom, so don’t blame me later for it!”

“No, we really didn’t mean it…”

The several daughters-in-law in the family were also very upset, chiming in angrily, “Can’t you just stand to see our family do well? Just because we won’t lend you money or rent you a boat, you have to curse us?”

“We’re all family; how can you be so venomous and have such a wicked heart!”

“What have we done to deserve your curses? One should never lose their conscience!”

Ye Da Bo and Ye Er Bo felt as if they had poked a hornet’s nest, surrounded by a group of people questioning them, unable to defend themselves, and only capable of continually apologizing.

“Enough! At your age, how can you still talk without thinking? We’re coastal people; how can you say such ominous things? Especially to your own brother!” The old lady slammed her hand on the table, glaring sternly at the two brothers.

She then mumbled a few words, “Bodhisattva bless… Ma Zu bless… don’t be angry…”

The old lady was superstitious; she couldn’t allow family members to say such unlucky things, especially about their own brothers.

Ye Da Bo and Ye Er Bo panicked, “Mother, we didn’t think like that! How could we curse the third brother? We’re brothers; even if we have a huge disagreement, we would never curse him. We just got carried away with our words; we really didn’t mean it.”

“I know you two aren’t bright; you just have a few more little thoughts, but you can’t be too greedy or calculating. Only with kindness can you receive good fortune. Now go home; don’t covet things that don’t belong to you.”

“Alright, alright!”

Ye Da Bo and Ye Er Bo felt as if they had been granted a great reprieve and hurriedly left, not daring to stay any longer.