Chapter 52: The Typhoon Is Coming

Ye Yaodong had no idea that the old lady was behaving this way. If he had known, he would have been very embarrassed.

When he finished work and returned home, he encountered several elderly villagers who all smiled at him. This left him feeling confused. Since when had he become so popular with the older folks?

It wasn’t until he bumped into Xiao Xiao at the door and was asked how much the old lady’s dentures had cost that he realized the entire village knew about it. He was stunned.

“This old lady… really, she’s just showing off for no reason. I told her to rest at home, but she’s out parading around…”

He felt completely embarrassed, his face turning red. It felt like what they had said yesterday: ‘After being used to people paying attention to you, when someone suddenly praises you, it feels very awkward.’

“Hey, I’m asking you! My grandma is only in her seventies and doesn’t have any teeth. My dad asked me to check with you. If it’s not too expensive, he wants to take her to get a pair too. But if it’s too much, then forget it.”

“It’s not expensive, just a little over 12 yuan. Including the round-trip fare, it was less than 13 yuan. If I had known earlier, I would have taken my grandma to get one years ago, so she wouldn’t have to eat only soft foods all the time.”

Ye Yaodong had thought it would be much more expensive, but he was surprised to find out it was so cheap. Had he known, he would have taken the old lady sooner.

“Well, you know how it is in the countryside, isolated and all. We didn’t even know something like this existed. But now that we know it’s affordable, my dad will probably take my grandma to get one.”

“Go ahead, go ahead. I’m exhausted. I’m going to take a shower and lie down.”

Xiao Xiao tugged at him. “We’re going to A Guang’s house to play cards later. Are you coming?”

“No, I’m done for the day. I’m too worn out. You guys go on and have fun.”

After taking a shower, Ye Yaodong went straight to his room and collapsed onto the bed. He didn’t even want to move. His body felt weak, and the physical labor had really taken a toll on him. He felt completely useless.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiuqing came into the room holding their youngest son, who had just finished his bath, and placed him on the bed. She then turned to get his clothes, but the little guy immediately sat on his father’s back. “Giddy up~ Giddy up~”

“Ow! My back! Get off, you little rascal!”

“No! Giddy up~ Giddy up~”

The little boy’s weight increased with each bounce, and his father couldn’t take it anymore. He was still young but his back couldn’t handle it.

“Ah! It hurts! You little brat, if you don’t get off, I’m going to spank you!”

Lin Xiuqing quickly grabbed the child and lifted him off her husband’s back, giving him a light tap on the bottom. “Stop being naughty. If you keep it up, I’ll let your father deal with you.”

“Hehe~” The little boy hugged his mother’s neck and planted a kiss on her.

“Yuck, gross. Hurry up and put on your clothes, go out and find your brother and sister.”

After getting the little one out of the room, Lin Xiuqing asked, “You’ve been working all afternoon and didn’t have a chance to ask. How much did the old lady’s dentures cost? Your dad and I asked you at the dinner table, but you didn’t say anything. The old lady even tried to push a large sum of money on me at the back door. I didn’t take it and quickly came inside.”

“I didn’t want the old lady to give us money, so I didn’t say how much they cost.”

As he spoke, he pulled a few banknotes from under his pillow. When he came back earlier, he had placed the money in his pillow to avoid losing it while working. It wasn’t a small amount, and if he lost it, both his mother and wife would definitely scold him.

“The dentures and registration fee only cost 12 yuan and 28 cents. Adding the round-trip fare, and since the old lady’s old, we took a rickshaw in the city, the total came to less than 13 yuan. You can check. There was nothing else, and after getting the dentures, we went straight home. The old lady didn’t want to buy anything to eat outside.”

When Lin Xiuqing heard this, she felt relieved. She hadn’t expected it to be so cheap. She had thought it would cost dozens of yuan and was already mentally prepared for the expense.

“Old folks are like that, they won’t spend money easily. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to buy anything outside either. I’d rather hold off and cook at home.”

After counting the money and confirming it matched, she was satisfied that he hadn’t secretly hidden any pocket money. She locked the money away.

Her husband was so irresponsible; he absolutely couldn’t be trusted with money.

“Have you counted the money? If you’re done, come help me knead my shoulders. They’re so sore.”

“Only worked a few days, and already you’re sore? I don’t have time, I need to go wash the clothes.”

“You… You have no sense of romance at all…”

She had hoped to have a nice conversation with him.

The next morning, Ye Yaodong was surprised to find his father already eating breakfast.

“Didn’t you go out to sea today?”

Ye Yahua, sitting nearby, replied, “The wind picked up last night, and the waves at sea were too big. We came back shortly after setting out.”

“One day without going out, that’s a day of losses.”

“There’s nothing we can do. The waves were too high. The commune broadcast said there’s a typhoon coming through here in the next couple of days, so we can’t go out to sea. We’ll have to wait for the typhoon to pass.”

Ye Yaodong glanced outside. The sun was shining brightly, and the weather was calm and clear. There was no sign of a coming typhoon.

“Well, that’s bad. A couple of days of not going out means a loss of over a hundred yuan.”

His father gave him an annoyed look. “Stop talking nonsense. Do you want to come with me?”

“Do you want me to come?”

This question caught Ye Yahua off guard. While the third son had been more reliable lately, his past mistakes weighed heavily on him. Whether he could actually help out was still questionable. The older sons had become much more skilled at handling the boat, and he could occasionally take a nap while they worked.

But bringing the third son… he just wasn’t sure. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving the boat in his hands. If he brought him along, Ye Yahua felt like he’d have to work nonstop, never getting a break.

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. Just when he thought he could go out to sea with his father, it was his father who hesitated.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Yahua said, “We’ll see after the typhoon passes.”

He would teach the third son, but it had to wait a while—there was too much pressure right now, especially with the house construction that required a lot of money. No time could be wasted.

Eventually, the three brothers would take turns with him. He’d give them each a little money. Even though the third son wasn’t ideal, Ye Yahua still wanted to help him out, to prevent the gap between them from becoming too wide.

Ye Yaodong’s mother also chimed in, “At least we dried a lot of fish and shrimp recently, so we can last a few days without needing to buy vegetables. That’ll save us quite a bit. Otherwise, with so many workers, we’d spend several yuan a day just on vegetables.”

Lin Xiuqing came in from outside and said, “Mom, I checked. The dried vegetables from yesterday are ready to be stored.”

“Then put them away. We’ll stir-fry some this afternoon.”

Ye Yaodong looked at his wife. “Why are you drying vegetables again? Isn’t that a lot of trouble?”

“What else can we do? There’s so much seafood with shells that we couldn’t finish in two days. We might as well cook it, then dry it. That way, we can store it longer and avoid it going bad.”

“I’ll go around the nearby islands around the 15th to see if I can find more.”

It would be nice to gather more and dry it for storage.

With that thought in mind, Ye Yaodong quickly turned to his father. “The typhoon is coming, should we move our boat to a safe harbor?