Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1157 Before Leaving

When Lin Xiuqing was packing his luggage, she had already turned out the cloth bag. Knowing that there was money inside, she did not open it in front of everyone.

It is better not to show your money to others, especially in front of outsiders.

Although this bag doesn't look like much money, there aren't many people who can easily take out a few thousand dollars nowadays.

She counted out 300 yuan and gave it to Ye's mother, and asked Ye Yaodong, "Why is it so little? It seems that there are only one or two thousand yuan left here."

"I paid out two to three thousand in wages, and brought back a batch of lighters, so I'm short of money. I'll find time tomorrow to transport these lighters to the city and sell them, and then I can cash them in again."

"Are they selling well? How much did you pay for those lighters? It looks like there are quite a few of them."

"Well, you should put away the remaining money first."

Seeing that he had no intention of talking, Lin Xiuqing did not ask any more questions and planned to wait until she returned to her room and talk it over then.

Ye's mother also counted the 300 yuan in her hand.

"Although the daily salary is 4 yuan, it won't be 5 yuan in a month and a half. I gave you too much. I will return you 300 yuan and let Aqing keep it."

"No need. Dad is not like other people. I was planning to give more anyway."

"No, there's no need. We eat and drink at your house now, so we don't have any other places to spend money. I still have a salary, and he also has a salary. We don't have enough money to spend, so there's no need to give more. Just give him as much as he gives."

Ye's mother drew out 10 big unity tickets and gave them directly to Lin Xiuqing.

Lin Xiuqing stuffed it in again, "Take it, mother. It's all thanks to Dad's help, otherwise how could A-Dong handle it all by himself? No one else can be as reliable as your own father. It's only right that you give Dad a little more."

"No need. Give us more money. When we get old, we can share it with everyone. We took more from you, so keep it. No matter how much you give us, we have nowhere to spend it. The money we have now is enough for our retirement."

Although Ye's mother likes to show off, cares about her reputation, talks a lot and has a bad temper, she knows everything in her mind and is not a fool.

The old lady also had a smile on her face, as what Ye's mother said touched her heart.

"Yes, they are eating and drinking from you now. If you give them so much money, they have nowhere to spend it. It's better for you two to keep it. Dongzi's stall is getting bigger and bigger, and there are still many places to spend money. What can these two old people spend?"

Lin Xiuqing glanced at Ye Yaodong who was silent, then smiled and put the money away.

"Okay, I'll put it away first. Anyway, Dad and Mom are eating and drinking with us now, and we will definitely provide for you in your old age."

"It won't be a problem for the two of us to support ourselves in the future."

Father Ye interrupted, "Okay, now that we've got our wages and luggage, let's go back and have a rest. We're exhausted and didn't get much sleep on the boat."

"Remember to come over for dinner later. It's late today, so we only have enough time to stew a chicken. Let's stew duck with herbs tomorrow night to nourish you two. Dongzi has become so thin and dark, with black spots under his eyes. Go back to your room and lie down for a nap..."

Ye's father glanced at the old lady who never looked up at him. Although she asked him to come over for dinner in the evening and kill a chicken for tonic, she just kept smiling at Ye Yaodong and pushed him into the house.

He shook his head and followed Ye's mother back.

Ye Yaodong stood there without moving and just said that he wanted to take a shower first.

Lin Xiuqing looked at everyone who had left, leaving only their old lady and Ye Xiaoxi, and then she asked him.

"You said before that you were arrested again this time, so you came back immediately after being released..."

"What? What...what was arrested?" The old lady looked at Lin Xiuqing in surprise.

Lin Xiuqing glanced at the old lady and did not answer. She continued to ask, "What's the reason? There were many people here just now, and Dad was hiding it. Now there are no outsiders."

"Fang Jingfu's workshop had more workers than allowed. I don't know if the limit was five or eight, but there were already 5 or 8 people in his workshop, which was seriously over the limit. The person who was watching reported him for capitalism. It happened that the weather was bad that day, so no one went out to sea. So they all followed him to help assemble the goods in the workshop to earn wages, and then they were all arrested."

The old lady hurriedly touched his arm, feeling it up and down, "Caught again? Oh, what happened this year? Why do you two always encounter this kind of thing? Are you okay? Did you suffer in there? This is too unlucky. I should have prepared a brazier at home so that it would collapse when you entered the door..."

"I'm fine, I didn't go in. Everyone was arrested and taken in. I didn't go in..."

"Is it because of your identity as President Ye?"

Ye Yaodong was very proud. "That's almost half of the reason. Plus, I really didn't participate. The workshop was rented to him, not mine."

When the old lady heard that he was fine and had not been arrested, she breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, she poked the ground hard with her cane and said angrily.

"I just asked a question at the door, and your father said so much back. It turns out that he had something to hide, so he didn't dare to let me ask, and he kept talking back."

"You've made progress. I really thought I was talking too much. I was afraid that he would be too tired after returning and that I would annoy him. I didn't dare to ask too much, nor did I dare to nag in front of you."

"The old guy was afraid of losing face, so he didn't say a word when he came back. He got angry when others mentioned it, and he yelled at me."

He coughed dryly, "My father is very proud. This is the second time, so of course he doesn't want to talk about it. He's old, and it's not an honorable thing. This matter is nothing anyway. I was implicated and didn't spend the night in there. I was arrested in the morning and released in the evening, so don't mention it. Let's just let it go."

"So many people have been arrested. How can I not tell my family when I return? The whole village will know about it tomorrow."

"Then at least he can pretend he doesn't know about the gossip behind his back. After all, he is still Chairman Ye's father when he walks out. He doesn't need to let you guys expose his shame like this."

The old lady shook her head. "It's because of you that he can bring honor to his family. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the face he has now. If the couple went out, they would walk with the wind. It would probably take them half a day to get home. They would have to turn back to eat dinner halfway."

Lin Xiuqing couldn't help laughing. "Although it was mostly Adong who brought honor to my parents, my father also suffered because of Adong. Otherwise, he would have lived his whole life to this age and there was no way he would have ended up in the Public Security Bureau."

"Fortunately, Dongzi has earned an official position this time and brought him honor. Otherwise, he would be embarrassed if he went out."

"There's nothing embarrassing about this. They just called me in for questioning. It's normal. This is my second time here. It's nothing serious."

If you go there more often, won’t it be like your own vegetable garden?
When he came back, he could still brag about how many times he had been in and out of the police station...

He didn't dare say these two sentences. No matter how much the old lady loved him, she would still give him a stick if he said them.

But as long as you haven't broken the law, it doesn't matter if you're arrested. At most you'll be questioned, and if you have connections, you can easily get out.

"What do you mean by 'first time is new, second time is familiar'? How can this saying be applied here? Nonsense." The old lady glared at him in reproach, then smiled and said, "You two can talk first. I'm going to the house to burn incense. I burn three sticks of incense in the morning and evening. The evening incense hasn't been lit yet, so it's a good time to talk to the Bodhisattva. After talking to the Bodhisattva, I have to go to the Mazu Temple and talk to Mazu as well."

"You believe in a lot."

"There is no conflict. The more you believe in, the more gods and Buddhas will bless you. We will kill a chicken later, so we should burn incense first. Otherwise, it will be bad if the incense is stained with blood." The old lady said as she went into the house.

Ye Yaodong also went to fetch some water to take a bath first, and then he would talk slowly after he finished bathing. He had not yet found out about the affairs at home.

Ye Xiaoxi also ran into the house with her toys, intending to hide them.

Lin Xiuqing first threw his dirty clothes into the basin and put away the password box, then came out to clean up the dishes and continue preparing dinner.

The family's lively and bustling atmosphere suddenly faded away, but it became quiet for a while. After Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang came back, the house became lively again.

As soon as the two children entered the village, they knew their father had returned and were immediately excited. However, Ye Chengyang still had to herd the sheep and could not run. They could only watch Ye Chenghu disappear.

Before Ye Chenghu got home, he was already running and shouting at the door, "Dad, Dad..."

As the man ran into the house, the army green hat on his head fell to the ground.

"Dad, you're finally back!"

"Where did the hat come from? It fell on the ground. Pick it up quickly."

"Dad, when did you come back?" As he spoke, his eyes were already darting around, searching the whole house.

"just came back."

"Dad, did you buy me a present?"

Ye Xiaoxi immediately poked her head out of the room and shouted loudly: "No!"

"How could there be nothing? Did you take them all?" Ye Chenghu ran to the master bedroom without even putting down his bag.

"Sister, what did Dad buy? Tell me, let's not tell Yangyang..."

Poor Ye Chengyang was still herding the sheep on the road, and he was extremely anxious.

I ran back with great difficulty, and before I could even wipe the sweat off, I started crying.

"Woo, woo, woo, I don't want to herd sheep, I don't want to herd sheep..."

Ye Yaodong looked at him standing at the door crying. Having not seen him for a long time, he felt a rare surge of fatherly love. He walked over, took his hand and walked into the house.

"Why are you crying?"

"I was herding sheep to school to wait for my brother to finish school, but when he heard you coming back, he whined and left me alone and ran away. I don't want to herd sheep anymore."

He cried and wiped his tears back and forth with the back of his hand.

Seeing him crying so pitifully, Ye Yaodong felt distressed and took out 5 cents from his pocket and handed it to him.

"Don't cry, go buy some candy later and don't share it with your brother."

Ye Chengyang took the coin and his tears stopped.

"Ye Chenghu, Ye Chenghu, come out, take out the toys and share them. Don't keep them all to yourself. Share them among the three of you. Otherwise, I won't bring any for you next time."

Lin Xiuqing was having a headache, "At night, one person is crying or the other is crying. Only during the day can we have peace and quiet."

Seeing that there was no movement in the room, Ye Yaodong took Ye Chengyang back to the room, and then began to distribute toys to the three children, and persuaded them to choose the most fun toy.

They have to be divided fairly, at least the two older ones should be divided fairly, otherwise they may start fighting again in a matter of minutes. The younger one is still not sensible enough and can be fooled a bit.

Let them take turns to choose, and divide it as fairly as possible, and only then are the three satisfied. But in the end, Ye Xiaoxi suffered the most, because she was young and ignorant.

After dealing with the important matter of dividing toys among the three children, he finally made time to go outside and talk to Lin Xiuqing. There was no one in the main room except the two of them, so he told her everything that had happened outside during this period.

He even told her about Fang Jingfu wanting him to join his lighter business, and also mentioned that he also wanted to join.

"I think it's possible. Our money is just sitting there anyway, so we can take some out to invest. Based on what happened before we rushed back, I think he should be a good person."

In fact, it’s just that we have known each other for too short a time, otherwise he wouldn’t be so hesitant.

Lin Xiuqing was confused after hearing this. "Can you believe it? We've only known each other for a few days, and you're going to invest tens of thousands of dollars in someone else's business. Will it all go to waste? Otherwise, you should just buy a boat."

Ye Yaodong was amused. "I told you before that I wanted to buy a boat, and said all sorts of things, but now you are begging me to buy one?"

"That's different. You want to invest tens of thousands of dollars in someone's workshop, but the owner isn't even there. The key is that you haven't known the owner for a long time. I always feel uneasy. If that's the case, I'd rather you use the money to buy a lot of boats. At least you can still see them."

"Unlike this, when you invest, your own people are not there, you don't see anything, and you don't know if you will be cheated. Isn't what happened to Brother Hong a few years ago a lesson? You can't trust your own relatives, so an outsider you only knew for a few days..."

Ye Yaodong raised his eyebrows, "You are wrong. Brother Hong's is invisible and intangible. He relies on his mouth to deceive relatives and friends, but not strangers. And this lighter workshop is in our house, it is something visible. If we form a partnership like this, we must hire a special person to keep accounts, and we must also send someone to help with the work."

"Sometimes, cooperation without relatives can last longer. What we fear is that relatives may get involved. Fang Jingfu is a talkative person, which means he is good at socializing. The key is that he has connections in the local area, so he will definitely make the business bigger and stronger."

"No matter whether we will be kicked out in the future, we have nothing to worry about if we invest in it in the early stage. By the way, we can also sell the goods and make some money here. If we produce them in our own workshop, it is not called speculation."

"Ah yes!"

Lin Xiuqing suddenly thought of something, holding the spatula and quickly walked over to him, "Thirty or forty people were reported, how could there be more than a few? When we dry fish and ferment fish sauce in our workshop, sometimes we need so many people, so will there be..."

"No, we are in the village, and we have the village committee to look after us. If they come to investigate, they will speak for us. Besides, we are not here for a long time. They are all temporary helpers, and the regular ones do not exceed the number of people. The boat is the boat, and the workshop is the workshop. Don't worry."

Hearing him say this, she felt relieved.

Just now when I heard him say that they were arrested because the lighter workshop had too many people, my heart skipped a beat, but the old lady changed the subject.

"That's fine. If you say it's okay, then it should be okay."

"Yeah. So I think investing in lighters is feasible. Let's take a few tens of thousands of dollars and give it a try."

Lin Xiuqing was confused. "Is it really feasible? I don't understand this either. I just don't feel comfortable without someone watching over me. I don't know anything. And the accounts are also done by someone else."

"If I were to invest in it, I would definitely have to hire someone to do the accounting. It's not that easy to falsify the accounts. The incoming and outgoing goods must match. Then I'll have my son bring someone over to do the work."

"Wait until you sell the lighters you have?"

"That's what I thought, too. I wasn't in such a hurry. Something happened, so I came back early to sell the goods first. I'm just letting you know in advance, otherwise you'll accuse me of acting without consulting you."

"You can't do this first and report later. The money is in my hand." Lin Xiuqing glanced at him, walked to the stove and continued cooking.

"Yes, yes, yes. I have to apply to the boss first, and only after he approves me can I do it."

"That lighter is only a little over one dollar, but it can be sold for 8 dollars. Isn't that too profitable?"

"The Friendship Store has them for hundreds of yuan, but they are branded and more exquisite than this. What is not selling well these days, what is not profitable? They are all huge profits."

"You should sell those 2000 pieces first. With so many, I don't know how long it will take to sell them."

"We'll take it to the city tomorrow."

She nodded without saying anything. Since she had already bought them, she might as well wait until they were sold out. What's more, the profits were huge. She was also looking forward to seeing how much money she could make after the sales were completed.

Ye Yaodong picked up a pair of chopsticks, looked at the freshly cooked dishes, poured himself a glass of wine, and ate while drinking. It was almost time for dinner and it was impossible for him to lie down and sleep. If he went to bed now, he wouldn't have to sleep at night, and he hadn't finished asking the question.

"Did anything happen in the village during my absence? Before I left, weren't those people from that town causing trouble in two nearby villages?"

Lin Xiuqing instantly became excited again and didn't even put the food into the pot.

"You know what, this incident became a big fuss after you left. There were deaths, several people died, and it hasn't completely settled down yet."

Ye Yaodong paused after picking up the chopsticks, extremely surprised.

"One of them is the brother-in-law of your friend Ah Zheng, and another is a relative of Uncle Zheng. The day after you left, a large group of people from the town went to Dongqiao Village and Daqingshan Village. I ran to the entrance of the village to see, and there were really hundreds of people, more than when you came to our village to ask for your help."

"I went with everyone to see that the large group of people split into two groups. One group went to Dongqiao Village, and the other group went to Daqingshan Village. The two groups fought in the two villages."

"Luckily, right after they started fighting, the border guard station in the town behind was dispatched. No one died, but several were seriously injured. I guess during that period, a lot of people who died outside were sentenced, and their families probably made a fuss for a long time. The border guard station was keeping an eye on them, so they were able to react so quickly."

"But because it was a collective riot, there were too many people and we couldn't arrest them all. No one died, so we could only ask the village cadres to negotiate and appease them, and the troops would help to deter them."

"After two days of commotion, Zheng's brother-in-law couldn't stand it anymore and handed over the boat. After he handed over the boat, the people in the town rioted again. Those who had problems at home all claimed that the boat was theirs. No one gave in and then a quarrel broke out. They started fighting among themselves first."

"At that time, a large group of people were taken to the beach to identify the boat. Then, because of quarrels and fights, many people fell into the sea. This one was considered lucky, as they just fell into the water. Some people were pushed onto the rocks on the shore, with their heads broken and bleeding a lot. Two people were killed. Because they were right on the shore, they were fished out directly, but it was too late to send them to the hospital."

"Our reefs are covered with all kinds of shells, which are very sharp. Not to mention falling on them, if your hand is accidentally scratched, it will be a cut, and if your head hits it, it will directly cause several cuts. Then there will be chaos, and no one will take care of those who fall down."

Ye Yaodong could imagine the tragic scene just by listening to her description, a large group of people beating someone to death.

It's really miserable.

The people are gone, the money is gone, but there is still hope of getting a boat in front of you, so you will definitely want to fight for it.

"Also, the troops later came with guns and fired a few shots into the air at the dock, which calmed down the people who were fighting to death. But just this fight also took away a bunch of people, and they were all tied up."

He frowned, "Have you been following behind?"

"No, it was too chaotic. I didn't dare to go near it. Except for the first day when I went to take a look, I only heard people talk about it afterwards and didn't dare to go near it. Only the men in the village went to take a look at the fight on the dock, and they came back to say it was too tragic."

"Then, Uncle Zheng heard about the commotion at the dock and got scared. He wanted to hand over the boat the next day. But early in the morning, an old lady ran to Uncle Zheng's door and drank pesticide. She died. Everyone was scared to death."

"It was a terrible time, with large groups of people coming and going every day, and the sound of military gunfire was heard frequently every day. It was so chaotic.

Ye Yaodong was stunned. "Drinking pesticides in front of Uncle Zheng's relative's house?"

"Yes, I heard that her grandson died and her son was sentenced. She won't be able to see them when she dies of old age. Yesterday, another son died, so she won't live anymore."

Lin Xiuqing sighed as she spoke of this period, saying that it was truly the most tragic time for several villages.

"Fortunately, the boat we bought was from the local area, and everyone knew about it. When these people came to our door, they were just begging for help. Fortunately, we handed it over to the border defense station."

Ye Yaodong also felt it was too tragic. "When they came to us for help in the morning, they still had hope, so their emotions were still okay. Later, the border guards shattered their hopes. When they heard about the boat, they regarded it as a lifeline, and their emotions were out of control at that time."

"Who says it's not? There was hope at first, but it fell through, and the lifeline is gone. When you are emotionally unstable, you are more likely to be instigated."

"and then?"

"Later, his relatives lost money again and died in front of their home. There was nothing we could do. Although it was unlucky, the person was already dead and died in front of his own home. How could they be blamed? The village cadres helped negotiate with the old man's family and compensated them with a sum of money. The next day, they moved away with their whole family."

"Moved?"

"Yes, after all this, he was afraid that someone would follow his example and another old man would drink pesticides at his doorstep. After all, some old people really don't have many years left to live, so if they take this opportunity to die, they can put an end to it all and get compensation for their children so that their family can get on with it."

Ye Yaodong was speechless. This was really possible.

"Where did you move to? Your home is there."

"I heard that he moved back to his hometown in the mountains. He went there to avoid the limelight for a while, but he hasn't come back yet."

"What happened next? How was it resolved? Where are the two boats?"

"The two boats were taken over by the border guards and driven away. The day after the fight at the dock, the old man drank pesticide again. The border guards immediately sent people with guns to guard the gates of the two villages that day and drove the two boats away again, fearing that the same thing would happen again."

"What were you doing earlier? After the fight, someone died, and then I realized that I had sent people to guard the village..."

Lin Xiuqing said, "How could they be taken seriously if they didn't beat them to death? It took only three days from the beginning of the riot to the loss of life. They were quite vigilant in the first two days. As soon as a large group of people arrived in the village, the police came to mediate. On the second day, they sent troops again. Only when the fight started on the third day did they realize how serious it was. On the fourth day, they immediately sent people to guard the village, but the old man sat at the door of Uncle Zheng's relative's house before dawn."

"For the next month, soldiers with guns were guarding the two villages, and they were only withdrawn before the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Ye Yaodong sighed, "It's so unlucky. Fortunately, I told the people in the town not to touch their boats. There is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable. A lot of people are watching. If you buy it, everyone will know about it. It's useless to change it."

"Yes, my second brother has been feeling lucky for the past few days, saying that it's a good thing you stopped him from buying it, otherwise he would be the one in trouble."

"It calmed down afterwards?"

"Several people died. Later, I heard that a large number of people were arrested. The rioters came to the gate of the border station again, and then the ringleaders were arrested. Only then did things calm down. I heard that several empty rooms in the border station were filled with people. Then no one mentioned the two boats. I heard that no one dares to take them now."

"Why didn't you mention it when you called me back? It's such a big deal..."

"You didn't call me during those days. It was Dad who called me. He was worried about the phone bill, so he talked to Mom for less than a minute. He just told her he was safe and hung up after 59 seconds. Mom kept scolding me and hung up before she could even finish a sentence."

This is indeed something his father would do.

"You called me in a hurry and you didn't ask me about it. This matter can't be explained in a few words, so I thought I would wait for you to come back during the holidays, but you didn't come back during the holidays."

"Fortunately it's none of our business."

"Yes, fortunately it had nothing to do with us. Our family was very scared during those days. From that day on, our whole family went to Tianhou Temple to burn incense every morning and evening."

(End of this chapter)