Chapter 34: How Could There Be Anyone Hard to Talk To?

Ye Yaodong hurried over to A’Guang’s house again. From far away, he could already smell the fragrance of steamed crabs.

The moment he stepped through the doorway, everyone immediately started shouting:

“You finally made it. If you were any later, you’d only be washing dishes.”

“Come, come, sit down. We specially saved that nine-section shrimp for you…”

“You came so late, punish yourself with three cups first!”

“Punish my ass. There’s only this little wine altogether. Don’t let him trick us into drinking it all!”

Everyone ate and drank noisily. The atmosphere was lively.

By the time Fatty’s rice wine had been completely emptied and every bit of seafood on the table had been swept clean, everyone finally dispersed.

Slightly drunk, Ye Yaodong returned home.

Tonight the door wasn’t locked from the inside, so he casually locked it behind him before heading back to his room.

By the moonlight filtering through the window, he could only vaguely see the two children sleeping in crooked positions.

His wife had her back facing him. He couldn’t tell whether she was asleep or not.

After stripping down until only his shorts remained, he climbed into bed and hugged his wife from behind, pressing himself tightly against her back.

But she immediately smacked the hand around her waist.

“Go sleep over there. Aren’t you hot squeezing together like this in the middle of summer? And you stink of alcohol.”

Lin Xiuqing muttered quietly.

Ye Yaodong directly turned her over and blocked her nonstop muttering with his mouth.

“Again? We just did it yesterday…”

“Yesterday was yesterday. Today’s today. Cooperate a little, wife…”

“Then tomorrow you keep going shore-hunting with me.”

Ye Yaodong stared wide-eyed.

She even knew how to negotiate conditions at a moment like this now?

Since when did she become so clever?

She was clearly taking advantage of the fact that he was desperate and would definitely agree.

What man was difficult to talk to in bed?

Besides, he had already planned to head to the isolated island tomorrow anyway and use the opportunity to overcome the fear in his heart.

“Fine, fine. You can tell me to do anything you want. Just cooperate a little. Let’s switch positions…”

“Then go rinse off first.”

Ye Yaodong: “…”

The arrow was already on the string, and women still had to be this troublesome!

Lin Xiuqing whispered again,

“You reek of alcohol, and your hands smell like seafood too. It’s too strong.”

“So picky. First this, then that. I already washed this afternoon…”

“But you drank. The alcohol smell is really heavy.”

You little—

He cursed silently in his heart, then suddenly thought of the bed issue and something else. Heat rose inside him immediately.

“Fine, I’ll wash. But let’s do it on the floor instead. This bed squeaks too damn much.”

“On the floor?”

“Don’t worry about what I’m planning. Just listen to me, alright?”

Lin Xiuqing blushed and hesitated.

A perfectly good bed wasn’t enough for him anymore. Now he suddenly wanted to do it on the floor…

“You still want me to go shore-hunting tomorrow or not? If you want the ox to work, you’ve got to feed it first, right? Give me a little sweetness, and I’ll listen to everything you say.”

Seeing her wavering, he pressed the advantage.

“Today I caught you a tiger grouper and a whole nest of snow clams. My luck’s been amazing lately. Haven’t you earned several yuan these past two days already? That’s worth seven or eight days of weaving fishing nets. And tomorrow’s the first day of the lunar month, there’ll be a big tide. Maybe my luck will be even better and I’ll catch even bigger stuff…”

“Alright then. Go wash up first. After you’re done, I’ll do as you want.”

The moment he got a definite answer, Ye Yaodong happily scrambled up and rushed excitedly to the back yard to rinse off.

Damn it.

After decades of abstinence, let’s see how I restore my former glory!

By the time he collapsed onto the bed like a dead dog afterward, he didn’t even want to move a finger.

Yet his wife still had enough energy to put on clothes and fetch water to clean herself.

He had practically exhausted himself serving her, and now he still had to go out and earn money for her too!

“Come over here. Let’s sleep together.”

“Your legs are already weak and you still haven’t had enough?”

Ye Yaodong: “…”

“Wasn’t all that for your satisfaction…”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

Lin Xiuqing glared at him, half shy and half annoyed.

“Alright, alright, I’m talking nonsense… come here, let me tell you something.”

After pulling her down beside him, he continued:

“I’m not going to the dock with you tomorrow…”

“Hey, don’t glare yet. Listen first. A’Guang’s going to borrow a boat tomorrow. If he can get one, we’ll go check out an isolated island. Those small islands nearby haven’t been touched by people, so the reefs there definitely have more seafood than the dock.”

“Who’s he borrowing it from? Would anyone really lend him one?”

“He’s asking his uncle-in-law. We’ll see. If he can’t borrow it, then forget it.”

“Alright then. You decide for yourself. If you can borrow it, then go look around the island. Just be careful.”

“Mm. As long as you don’t think I broke my promise.”

He definitely had to warn her beforehand.

Otherwise, if she didn’t see him tomorrow, she’d think he had been fooling her around again and would definitely give him attitude afterward.

Seeing that he finally seemed to have some ambition, Lin Xiuqing was willing to chat with him a little more.

“Now that the family boat is repaired and the catches these past two days have been pretty good, shouldn’t you start taking turns going out to sea with Father like your older brothers?”

Again!

Again with this topic!

Everyone kept telling him to go out to sea. Ye Yaodong felt a headache coming on.

But there was no avoiding it.

After all, the family owned a boat.

Unless he wanted to keep rotting away like in his previous life and let his wife support him.

“I’ve never been out at sea before. I don’t know if I’ll get seasick. If we can borrow a boat tomorrow, I’ll go out and sail around a few times first.”

“Oh.”

“Go to sleep.”

A man born by the sea being afraid of drifting on the ocean…

That was a problem he absolutely had to overcome.

If they couldn’t borrow a boat, then when the tide came in, he’d have two friends accompany him and swim from the beach to the dock and back.

After all, he had already died once.

There was nothing left to fear.

And if anything really happened, his friends could still save him.

The next morning, when Lin Xiuqing got up, he woke as soon as he heard movement.

Today, he didn’t intentionally stay in bed pretending to sleep longer.

Seeing him getting up earlier and earlier each day, the family was puzzled, but nobody made a huge fuss about it anymore.

After all, he really had been more diligent these past two days.

Once breakfast was over, everyone went off to their own work. Ye Yaodong was also preparing to head out when the old granny quietly tugged at him by the doorway.

He looked at her in confusion.

The old lady secretly pulled a boiled egg from her pocket and whispered:

“Here. Take it out and eat it secretly. Don’t let your mother know.”

He looked at her in surprise, then guiltily glanced behind him before whispering:

“No wonder Mom said during breakfast that one egg was missing today. So you secretly took it.”

Seeing that he didn’t reach out to take it, the old lady directly stuffed it into his pocket.

Her wrinkled face broke into a grin, revealing her toothless gums.

“You’ve been going shore-hunting every day these past few days. You must be exhausted. I secretly boiled one this morning before making the porridge, just to nourish you a little. Don’t let your mother know, or she’ll scold you again.”

He wanted to take the egg back out, but the old lady kept pressing his hand down to stop him.

Helplessness filled him.

When he had been little, she often did things like this.

After he grew older, it had become rare.

Yet today she had secretly stuffed him another egg.

For a moment, he didn’t know whether he should feel touched…

Or touched…

Or even more touched.

(End of Chapter)