Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982

When he woke up again, he was disturbed by the sound of the door being opened. The wooden door creaked as it was pushed open.

The only person who would enter his room besides his grandmother and mother was his wife. With his eyes still closed, Ye Yaodong made no effort to open them. He planned to continue dozing for a little while longer. The drowsiness of spring, the weariness of autumn, the lack of energy in winter, and the perfect slumber in summer.

A slight sound of footsteps approached, and then someone climbed onto the bed from his feet. The wooden bed creaked in response. As Ye Yaodong opened his eyes, he saw his wife holding their youngest son in her arms, fast asleep.

"Sleeping?"

"Um."

Lin Xiuqing carefully and gently placed the child next to him, then slowly withdrew her arm from behind his head. She glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Since you're not going out anyway, can you keep an eye on the child? Make sure he doesn't fall off the bed."

“Okay."

Surprisingly, he didn't refuse and was agreeable. Lin Xiuqing felt relieved and said, "If he wakes up, just call me, and I'll come to pick him up."

"Don't you want to sleep with us for a while?"

"No, I'm not sleepy."

Watching her cover the little son with a green blanket adorned with red peony flowers, she quietly crawled down from the bed and Ye Yaodong paid no attention to her.

If she wants to work and earn money, he can't stop her from doing so.

"Where's Ye Chenghu?"

After lunch, he didn't see his eldest son. With such a sunny day, he wondered where he had gone off to play.

Lin Xiuqing put down the mosquito net and said, "I don't know. He's always running around without a care. He'll come back when it's time for dinner. I'll go out first."

The door was gently closed, and the son beside him kicked the blanket off with his legs. Ye Yaodong instinctively covered him again. But before ten minutes had passed, he kicked again, and Ye Yaodong covered him once more!

After a while, he kicked again!

His leg kicked again, and his body turned to the side!

He ignored him. After all, that kid had never shown him any respect when he grew up!

He closed his eyes contentedly, ready to doze off again. However, just as he was about to fall asleep, a pig's foot directly kicked him in the face, instantly shooing away all his sleepiness.

Staring at his son, who was still sleeping soundly, Ye Yaodong wondered if this was his way of preventing him from getting any rest.

Just as Ye Yaodong was giving him a stern look, his son changed his position again. He rolled over and slept on his stomach, sticking his butt up in the air!

How can he sleep like this? What if another fart pops out in his sleep?

Yaodong sat up without any sleepiness and decided to go outside to have a look at the front door.

As soon as he opened the door, he heard his wife speaking with a rude tone to someone, and his two sisters-in-law chiming in.

"He's sleeping. Go find someone else to play with. Stop bothering him all the time."

Lin Xiuqing is annoyed with these people always calling her husband to go out, causing him to be away from home all the time. It's rare that he didn't go out today, yet this group of scoundrels still came to the door. It's really frustrating.

"Yeah, all of you have wives and children, but you don't take care of your own families or help with the household chores. Instead, you're always out playing around."

"Why don't you guys live together and make do? What's the point of marrying a wife?"

A male voice laughed and said, "Ah, I wish I could, but they can't cook, they can't bear children. They're absolutely useless. If I tried living together with them, my parents would kill me.”

Listening to the voice, it sounds like Ah Zheng?

"You also know that you are utterly useless?" Second Sister-in-law said bluntly.

"Ah, come on, sister-in-law, don't say such things. When something really happens, we are hard-working and brave!"

Second sister-in-law rolled her eyes, thinking that the ability to make money is more important than just being gutsy. Fortunately, she married the second son.

"You guys go back. Ah Dong is not going out today," Lin Xiuqing said impatiently.

"I'm here, I'm right here," Ye Yaodong quickly spoke up. If he didn't come out now, They would be chased away by his wife.

In life, how can one be without a few reliable friends? Although he may have failed as a son, a husband, and a father to some extent, he was quite successful as a friend. This group of friends was loyal and courageous, even though none of them had achieved much in life.

Birds of a feather flock together, and people naturally gravitate towards their own kind!

Even though he intends to be a better person, there's no need to sever ties with friends.

"Hey, Yaodong, why didn't you come out today? Where were you in the morning? I came to your house and didn't see you. When I asked your dad, he almost kicked me out!"

"I went to the seaside to collect oysters and gather seafood. How come it's just the two of you here?"

"What's so fun about that? We were always forced to do that when we were kids, so we got tired of it. Come on, Ah Guang caught a cobra this morning, and we've already prepared it. We're just waiting for you to come so we can cook it."

The one speaking now is Lin Jianyao, and they all call him by the nickname "Little Xiao", which often leads to his protest. Shamelessly, he claims to be a grown-up and challenges others to compare their sizes while peeing, but he says only his wife can see it!

The one who spoke earlier was Ah Zheng, Li Xiaozheng. Both of them came to his house together.

Ye Yaodong felt excited, as memories from his youth appeared vividly before him. "Where did you catch it? How many jin is it? We must slaughter another chicken and make a Dragon and Phoenix soup!"

"Where else could it be? We caught it on the back mountain. Since we couldn't find you in the morning, we didn't go to the town. We thought of going up the hillside to see if the watermelons were ripe. Unexpectedly, we came across a cobra. So, tonight we’ll have a big feast!"

"It's just not big enough. After removing the head, it weighed around one jin and threeliang."

"It's big enough, over one jin. Killing a chicken would be just right. A pot of dragon and phoenix soup would be enough for all of us!" He said, his mouth watering a bit. It had been many years since he last had snake meat.

"Let's go, hurry up! If we want to cook dragon and phoenix soup, we'll need another chicken. I'll catch one at my house!" Excitedly, Ah Zheng hooked his arm around Ye Yaodong's and Little Xiao's shoulders, leading them towards his house.

"Aren't you afraid of your mother beating you?"

"That's because last year I used my personal savings to buy the eggs and asked her to help incubate them. We agreed that the chicks would be mine. I'm the one who takes care of them most of the time. What's wrong with catching one now?"

"I also dug a bucket of sea melon seeds in the morning, and there are several pots of sand clams. Let me go get some, we can stir-fry a couple of dishes."

"Then hurry up!"

Excitedly, the three of them continued chatting as if no one else was around. When Ye Yaodong came out of the house, they linked arms and prepared to leave together.

Ye Yaodong pulled them back and turned to Lin Xiuqing, who had a cold expression on her face. He said, "Um... Well, Ah Qing, I'm going out with my friends for a while. You don't have to wait for me for dinner. I'll come back earlier in the evening. Also, the child is still asleep. Remember to keep an eye on him!"

As he spoke, he felt a bit guilty. He had just promised to help with taking care of the child, but now his friends called, and he was leaving. He couldn't help but feel like he was breaking his promise.

But they were all his old friends of several decades. People like Ah Zheng and Little Xiao had gone to work in other places within a couple of years and hadn't returned for several years. The same went for the others.

After being reborn, he also wanted to take a good look at this group of friends.

Lin Xiuqing was a little angry, ignoring him, she turned her head and went back into the house to check on how the child was sleeping.

In the morning, he seemed a bit more reliable when he was earnestly gathering seafood. However, as soon as his friends arrived, he reverted to his old self. She told herself that there was no need to be angry. Over the years, he had worn her patience thin, and she had learned not to get too worked up about it.

(end of this chapter)

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1. 小小 (Xiao Xiao) = Small small

2.1 jin = 500 gram

1 liang = 50 gram

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Are these friends going to be good or bad, hmm?

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