Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982
Chapter 88

Seeing a large pot in front of a shop, stir-frying Minnan Lake noodles, he stopped again. The old lady loved to eat Minnan Lake noodles.

“Boss, pack me a bowl of Minnan Lake noodles.”

“Give me your lunch box!”

“Huh?”

He didn’t bring a lunch box!

“Never mind, next time then!”

After looking around the street without seeing any fabric shops, he asked a passerby and learned that the fabric shops were in the alley.

As his wife had said, he bought two meters each of dark blue and dark gray thin cotton fabric.

Men’s clothing fabric didn’t have much variety, but women’s seemed to have more.

He scanned around, seeing all kinds of colorful fabrics, which were quite fashionable at this time.

Thinking about how his wife always wore black, gray, and blue, and seemed to have no nice clothes, he took the risk of being scolded, “Boss, give me two meters of this yellow floral print too.”

“Comrade, you have good taste. This is the new dacron fabric, comfortable to wear and durable, with such vibrant colors…”

It was so-so. At this time, with everyone on the street wearing dull gray, this floral print fabric did look nice.

He happily hugged the cut fabric to his chest, not planning to shop anymore. If he continued, he’d surely spend more money. Buying these things was already enough to get him scolded when he got home.

Going back, he finally didn’t have to trouble himself with walking in this heat; he felt like he’d lost a layer of skin from the sun.

As soon as he got on the minibus, people kept coming on board selling peanuts, sunflower seeds, various pastries, and oil pancakes. Quite a few people were buying.

The bus was also full of various baskets and shoulder poles, many belonging to people who had come out early to sell goods. There was a mix of food aromas, sweat odor, and the fishy smell of seafood. It was quite complex. Luckily, he was sitting by the window, and opening it a crack for some wind made it a bit better.

The bus only started moving when it was full.

Being a village-town minibus, it kept stopping for people to get on and off along the way.

After about ten minutes of swaying, they reached the village entrance. Ye Yaodong called out that he wanted to get off, and the bus stopped.

He carried his bucket straight home, just catching a glimpse of his mother carrying food disappearing at the corner. He didn’t have time to call out to her.

As soon as he entered the house, he saw a bunch of children sitting around the table eating by themselves. Only Ye Chengyang was sitting on his little sister’s lap, being fed by her. The old lady was serving dishes to the children.

“Third Brother is back?”

“Third Uncle is back~”

“Dad~”

“Have you eaten? Perfect timing for some extra food!”

Ye Yaodong tucked the fabric under his arm and reached into the bucket for the oil pancakes, placing the paper-wrapped packages on the table one by one. The children’s eyes instantly lit up, and they scrambled down from their stools, running over with excited shouts.

“Oil pancakes~”

“Oil pancakes~”

“Smells so good~”

“Third Uncle is the best!”

Ye Huimei watched them each grab one and start munching, then glared at him saying, “Third Brother, did you strike it rich? Buying so many, aren’t you afraid Third Sister-in-law will scold you? Mom will surely whip you when she sees this.”

“No, she won’t. I sold the gooseneck barnacles for a good price this morning. They’ll be thrilled to death.”

Ye Yaodong also handed one to the old lady, who said with concern, “Why did you buy so many? How much did this cost? Keep it for yourself, I won’t eat it.”

“It wasn’t much money. You eat it, I already had one on the way back.”

Ye Huimei chimed in, “Really? Isn’t that just Buddha’s hand? Who did you trick?”

Ye Yaodong didn’t like hearing this and said, “What do you mean trick? It’s just that you don’t know its value, but I met someone who did.”

“So how much did you sell it for? To be spending so lavishly!”

“I’m not telling you!”

“Psh~ At most ten or so yuan!”

He felt a bit smug, “Your perspective is too narrow!”

“More than that?” Ye Huimei looked at him in surprise.

“Hehe, just eat your food. Is there any left in the pot?”

“No more, Mom calculated it just right. If you want to eat, you’ll have to go to the house and see if there are any leftovers.”

“Forget it then, I’ll go over later.”

He carried the bucket into the room. There were still a few oil pancakes inside, to prevent those little rascals from stealing them if left outside. He also put away the flour tea cake and stuffed the fabric directly into the cabinet.

After putting away the things and hiding the money, he went out.

“Hurry up and eat, I’ll take you out to sunbathe when you’re done!”

Ye Huimei burst out laughing, “As if they’ve never sunbathed before. Mom just told them not to run around, to avoid heatstroke.”

“Alright then, I’ll go by myself.”

“In that case, take that bucket of tea over there too. Mom wanted to take it over earlier but couldn’t carry it, so she was going to come back for it later. You might as well take it over.”

“Oh, okay.”

By the time he carried the bucket of tea over, everyone had just finished eating and was resting in the shade.

He first greeted Ah Guang, who was bare-chested, “Why so industrious? Working until now? You should head back, it’s too hot. We’ve hired so many workers anyway.”

“It’s fine.”

“Here, have an oil pancake.”

“Bought from town?”

“Mm-hmm.” His father and older brother were out at sea anyway, so there happened to be two left over.

He took out another one for his wife, then brought the bucket to his mother, “One for each person.”

“What’s this?”

As expected, when Mother Ye saw so many oil pancakes, she frowned and was about to scold him when Ye Yaodong quickly cut her off.

“Don’t scold! I sold the gooseneck barnacles for a good price, so I thought I’d bring one for each of you.”

Mother Ye’s attention was diverted, and she looked at him in surprise, “It really was valuable?”

“Of course.”

“How much did you sell it for?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Then have your wife keep the money for you. You just got a bit of money in your pocket and you’re already spending recklessly, buying so many oil pancakes. Take them back later and share them with the children.”

“They’ve already eaten.” Having said that, he slipped away to Ah Guang’s side to avoid listening to his mother’s nagging.

Lin Xiuqing also wanted to know how much it sold for, but she held back, figuring she could ask again in the evening.

However, she didn’t expect that there would be another surprise waiting for her in the evening.

Looking at him presenting the yellow floral print fabric to her like a treasure, she wanted to scold him but couldn’t bring herself to do it, especially since she was still holding the more than 90 yuan he had just given her.

She did some mental calculations, and it seemed about right. He couldn’t have hidden more than a few mao, and she wouldn’t nitpick and ask him to account for every penny he spent.

“Since you’ve bought it, let it be. But don’t spend money recklessly next time. I work all day, it doesn’t matter what I wear. Having clothes to wear is enough. Now that you’ve bought this fabric, when will I have a chance to wear the clothes made from it?”

Actually, she was quite happy inside. This was the most fashionable dacron fabric now. Anyone who had a piece of clothing made from it would be the envy of others when they went out.

She was just worried about the money, and besides, she worked all day and didn’t have many opportunities to wear it.

It might be better to save the money for winter clothes, so she could wear them when visiting relatives during the New Year.

Ye Yaodong said with a smile, “You can wear it anytime. This fabric is very durable, not afraid of wear and tear.”

Lin Xiuqing glared at him reproachfully, “Who wears such nice clothes for work?”

“Clothes are bought to be worn. If you keep them too long, afraid to wear them, they’ll get old all the same.”

“Alright, don’t buy any more next time.”

Making one outfit to wear when visiting her parents’ home during the Mid-Autumn Festival would be fine, so her parents wouldn’t always worry that she wasn’t living well.