Chapter 42: Uneven Work Distribution? Hidden Thoughts

Everyone waited patiently for a while before Lin Xiuqing finally set down the abacus and said,

“It’s 7,628 jin, totaling 1,601 yuan, 8 mao, and 8 fen. The calculation is correct.”

“I told you there wouldn’t be any mistake. We’re all from the same village. I wouldn’t stoop so low as to cheat you on the weight. Business relies on honesty.”

Ye Yaodong grinned and said,

“I never said Brother Cai was cheating us. I just thought with numbers this big, it’s easy to make mistakes after only calculating once.”

“That’s fine. Nobody can guarantee they’ll never miscalculate. Since everything’s correct, I’ll write you a receipt.”

“Huh? We can’t get the money immediately?” A’Guang stared wide-eyed.

“How could I possibly have that much cash on hand? Spanish mackerel isn’t like yellow croaker where I need to find buyers first. This kind of fish sells easily. I’ll write you a receipt first. Come to my house in a day or two with the receipt to settle the payment. It’s only a little over a thousand yuan. Are you afraid I’ll run away? I handle this amount of goods every month!”

“Fine, then just write the receipt.”

Everyone knew collection stations never paid immediately.

They had to wait until the station recovered its own payments before settling accounts. Besides, none of them minded waiting a day or two. A’Guang had simply gotten too excited and impatient.

“Dongzi, you keep the receipt. Let your wife hold onto it. When it’s time to collect the money, let us know.”

“Alright!”

Even after the excitement ended, the villagers still couldn’t bear to leave.

They continued crowding around the collection station, whispering among themselves while staring at the baskets upon baskets of Spanish mackerel.

Meanwhile, Xiaoxiao, A’Zheng, and A’Guang excitedly walked toward the Ye family home together with Ye Yaodong, bragging nonstop to his family about how amazing and clever they had been, and how lucky they were…

The entire way was filled with laughter and noisy chatter.

Once they reached the Ye house, everyone finally returned to their own homes.

Mother Ye asked with a beaming smile,

“Dongzi, are you going again tomorrow?”

“After A’Guang gets home, he’ll ask whether we can rent the boat another day. We originally planned to go to the island for tidal gathering today. Running into that school of Spanish mackerel was purely accidental.”

Lin Xiuqing looked regretful.

“The house construction starts tomorrow. We’ll all have to stay home and help. Otherwise I could’ve gone tidal gathering with you too.”

“It’s fine. I can go by myself. You guys just do whatever you need to do.”

Seeing how hardworking and sensible he had become lately, Mother Ye felt very gratified.

“You wouldn’t really be much help with construction anyway. Better to go tidal gathering and bring back seafood for the workers. Feeding so many laborers every day costs a lot. Your eldest brother being there tomorrow is enough.”

“That’s assuming the boat owner is willing to rent it out again.”

“If they won’t rent it, then you can go haul yellow dirt up the mountain and dig stones from Dongqiao Village’s riverbed. The family can use another laborer!”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes.

If he told his mother he had tipped over the dirt cart this morning, she’d probably glare at him again.

In his previous life, he really had never done much work. He truly had been useless.

“We’ll talk about tomorrow tomorrow.”

He directly went to the backyard to rinse off.

His clothes from earlier still hadn’t dried, but he didn’t care. After washing up, he walked back to the room wearing only a pair of shorts, then lay down immediately.

Once evening came and the clothes dried, he could head over to A’Guang’s place for drinks and save the family some rice…

Lin Xiuqing followed him into the room and quietly said,

“Second Sister-in-law kept hesitating several times earlier. Did you notice?”

“Why would I be watching her?”

“No, I think she wanted to ask about the money from selling the Spanish mackerel.”

Ye Yaodong looked baffled.

“What does my earnings have to do with her? In this family, each household has always kept whatever they earned themselves.”

“She probably thinks that since Eldest Brother and Second Brother follow Father out to sea and their earnings are handed over for building the house, while you don’t go with them and instead rent a boat to make money yourself, it feels unfair to her.”

Women really were troublesome.

Too many thoughts. Too many calculations.

“The boat belongs to Dad. What’s wrong with sons helping out the family a bit? Sure, I’ve been lazy, but haven’t I been tidal gathering these past few days and helping save money on vegetables? That’s contributing too. Why shouldn’t I get to keep the money I earned myself?”

“Shh! Keep your voice down!”

Lin Xiuqing glanced nervously toward the door.

They definitely heard him.

“What’s there to be afraid of?”

He truly felt completely justified.

It was his own earnings. And now his second sister-in-law actually wanted to reach into his pocket?

No chance.

Lin Xiuqing no longer dared say anything, afraid he might charge out and start arguing.

As long as Second Sister-in-law didn’t openly bring it up, they’d just pretend not to know.

Seeing her silent, Ye Yaodong comforted her,

“Don’t bother with her. Once the house is finished in a few months, we’ll split the family and each household can live separately.”

She softly responded,

“Mhm.”

When Father Ye’s fishing boat returned later, Ye Yaodong’s clothes still weren’t dry, so he naturally didn’t go help unload fish at the dock.

He comfortably stayed home instead.

When Father Ye arrived home, he surprisingly gave him a rare smile.

“Not bad. You actually netted over seven thousand jin of Spanish mackerel.”

“It’s not really that much. Four people have to split it. Each person only gets around four hundred yuan.”

“That’s already very good. It’d be even better if you’d gone alone.”

Ye Yaodong: If I’d gone alone, you’d be preparing my funeral banquet right now!

Second Sister-in-law, who had been holding her words in all afternoon, finally found her opportunity.

“Father, Eldest Brother and Ah Hua rotate going out to sea with you, and all the money they earn goes toward building the house. Shouldn’t Yaodong’s fish money also go toward the house?”

“Hm?”

Father Ye frowned, about to speak, but Ye Yaodong directly repeated what he had said to Lin Xiuqing earlier that afternoon.

“But it’s different. They both put in labor, yet their earnings aren’t theirs to keep and instead go toward building the house. Yaodong doesn’t even go out with you, yet he gets to keep everything he earns himself. Doesn’t that mean we’re working to help build a house for him too? Father, that’s unfair. We’re the ones losing out.”

Father Ye frowned.

“Who said that? How can you calculate it that way? Then doesn’t that mean I’m the one taking the biggest loss by using my money to build houses for you all? The boat belongs to me, not the whole family. Over these past two years while I repaired the boat little by little, did I ever ask any of you for money?”

“Eldest and Second help by going out to sea with me. Third helps by tidal gathering. Isn’t that also contributing labor? Besides, didn’t Second say that Third has also been helping at the building site these past few days?”

“Put it another way. If Eldest and Second were being paid wages for going out to sea with me, would that even be enough to cover your shares of the house construction? How does it become you earning money to build his house? Clearly it’s me subsidizing all of you to build houses.”

“And the seafood Third gathers can also save money on food. That’s money too. That’s also his contribution. He’s just contributing in a different way.”

Clearly, he had accepted Third Son’s logic.

If you earned it yourself, then you kept it yourself.

Besides, among all three sons, Third was obviously in the weakest financial position.

Parents always worried more about the weakest child. Even though they hated his lack of ambition, there was still a certain amount of favoritism in their hearts.

Seeing her unwilling expression, Father Ye continued:

“If he doesn’t go tidal gathering tomorrow, I’ll break his legs and carry him to the construction site myself. Does that satisfy you? Tell me, which is harder—going out to sea or hauling stones and yellow dirt?”

He had barely earned a little money, and already someone was complaining about unfair labor distribution.

If the family started making real money someday, what then?

Second Son’s wife was simply too calculating.

Over all these years, each household had kept the money they earned themselves. Their food and daily necessities all came from the family anyway, so they barely spent anything. Yet the moment Third finally earned some money, she immediately jumped out demanding a share.

Father Ye understood everyone in the family perfectly.

He had long wanted to split the household and let each family fend for themselves.

Children and grandchildren would have their own fortunes.

Whatever kind of lives they lived in the future—that would be up to them.

(End of Chapter)