Chapter 15: Touched Bad Luck

Eldest Uncle glared fiercely at Ye Yaodong before stepping over the threshold. He still remembered getting choked by him that morning!

After the two men entered the house, Ye Yaodong and Ye Yaohua followed closely behind.

The women in the family were cleaning up the table and washing dishes. Father Ye had just picked up his water pipe, planning to take a few puffs after lunch, when he saw his two brothers arrive again.

The moment Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle entered, they headed straight toward the old lady and called out in unison:

“Mother!”

“Mm. Have you eaten yet?”

“We have. Mother has eaten too, right?”

“Mm.”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at the side.

Asking despite already knowing the answer. Chinese people really had a strange conversational habit—starting everything with “Have you eaten?” No matter the era, it was still the same.

Second Uncle glanced at Eldest Uncle, and only then did Eldest Uncle cough awkwardly twice before speaking.

“Mother, we came this morning already, but you weren’t home, so we thought we’d come again.”

“You specially came to see me?” the old lady asked knowingly.

“Ah, no… ah, yes…”

Before he could even say anything properly, he had already flustered himself. Being the mouthpiece clearly didn’t suit him, so Second Uncle simply spoke directly himself.

“It’s like this, Mother. Didn’t Third Brother just catch a net full of large yellow croaker and sell it for over a thousand? That boat was left behind by Father and assigned to Third Brother back then. He also spent money repairing it. Even though he got the better deal, we never had the nerve to ask him to split it with us.”

“But all the children in our families are grown now, and there’s not enough room in the house anymore. We wanted to borrow three hundred yuan each from Third Brother to build two rooms for the children. What do you think…”

The old lady frowned and turned sideways, cupping her ear toward him.

“Ah? What did you say? My hearing’s bad. Speak louder!”

“Hahaha~”

Ye Yaodong couldn’t hold back his laughter.

The old lady was really something. Normally she could hear and see perfectly fine, but now suddenly she was hard of hearing?

The old lady secretly glared at him reproachfully.

Second Uncle also looked awkward from being laughed at. How could they not know whether the old lady was deaf or not?

Father Ye helplessly set down his water pipe and said:

“You came this morning asking for money and failed. Now you’ve discussed it and changed it to borrowing instead? Why won’t you give up? I have three sons myself, all squeezed into one room with four or five people sharing one bed. I’m planning to build houses and split the family myself. Where would I get money to lend you?”

“Then lend a little less. We’ll add some ourselves. Third Brother, our grandchildren are much older than yours…”

“So my grandchildren won’t grow up someday?”

“Well, you’ve got a boat now. Catching fish yourself definitely earns more than us working as hired deckhands.”

“Fishing depends on the heavens. How can it be stable? Both your families already split from your sons long ago. Why are you still worrying about where your grandchildren live? Just worry about your sons. As long as you yourselves have somewhere to stay, that’s enough.”

Father Ye blocked every single thing they said, leaving Second Uncle speechless.

But Eldest Uncle still refused to give up. He turned toward the old lady, who was pretending to be deaf, and said:

“Mother, then how about this? Can we rent the boat from Third Brother? There are thirty days in a month. Second Brother and I can each rent it for ten days. What do you think?”

“I’m deaf. Go discuss it with your Third Brother instead!”

Eldest Uncle choked speechlessly.

Ye Yaodong grinned and wrapped an arm around the old lady’s shoulder.

“My grandma is old now. Don’t make her worry. Renting the boat is impossible. What if it gets damaged? Even if it’s an old boat, it’s still our family treasure. Stop scheming about it. We’ve only taken it out to sea once ourselves.”

Hearing that, Second Uncle immediately started imagining things and became hesitant.

That was right. It was an old boat after all. Who knew if the repairs would actually hold up? If it broke near the docks, they could still come back. At worst, they could swim back.

But if they took it into the open sea and it broke…

Just thinking about it made his hairs stand on end.

He tugged at Eldest Uncle, who still looked ready to keep talking.

“Forget it. Don’t rent the boat. We’ll think of another way to solve our family difficulties.”

“We’re not outsiders. We’d definitely take good care of it.”

“No, this boat is old already. Who knows if it’ll break again after being repaired? It’s one thing if it breaks near shore, but what if…”

Second Uncle had only been subtly hinting at his concerns, but Eldest Uncle, lacking any sense at all, directly blurted out the rest loudly.

“What if it breaks out at sea and you can’t come ba—”

“I spit on that! Spit spit spit! You crow-mouthed bastard, are you cursing me? We’re brothers for god’s sake, and you’re saying something this unlucky to jinx me?!”

Father Ye exploded the moment he heard that, jumping to his feet so angrily he almost threw the water pipe at him.

Mother Ye also angrily shouted:

“I spit on that too! We’re close brothers, and just because we won’t lend you money, you’re cursing our family like this?”

Ye Yaopeng was also furious and stopped calling them uncle altogether, directly pointing at them and demanding:

“What did we ever do to you? Why do you hate seeing us doing well so much? You’re even cursing us…”

“No, that’s not what I meant… I didn’t mean it like that…”

Eldest Uncle finally realized what he had blurted out in his haste and immediately slapped his own mouth twice, trying to explain.

Second Uncle hurriedly explained too:

“We didn’t mean it that way. We’re family. How could we possibly curse you…”

Ye Yaodong’s face had also darkened like the bottom of a pot.

He had only just drowned in the deep sea himself, and now these two were cursing his family again?

“Bah bah bah! Bad things don’t come true, good things do! Our family will definitely sail smoothly and get rich! You two get the hell out right now. You’re not welcome here. If you don’t leave, I’ll sweep you out with a broom, and don’t blame me when it gets ugly!”

“No, we really didn’t mean it…”

The daughters-in-law of the family were also furious and immediately started angrily chiming in one after another.

“So you just can’t stand seeing our family do well? Since we won’t lend you money or rent the boat to you, you start cursing us?”

“We’re all family, yet your hearts are this vicious?”

“What did we ever do wrong to you? How can you curse our family like this? People shouldn’t lose their conscience…”

Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle were like they had poked a hornet’s nest. Surrounded by everyone’s accusations, they couldn’t defend themselves at all and could only keep apologizing awkwardly.

“Enough!”

The old lady slapped the table and glared sternly at the two brothers.

“You’re already old men. How can you still speak without thinking? We’re coastal people. How can words this unlucky come out of your mouths? And toward your own brothers too!”

Then she muttered a few more lines:

“Bodhisattva protect us… Mazu protect us… don’t take offense, don’t take offense…”

Old people were the most superstitious. How could she tolerate family members saying something so inauspicious, especially toward their own brothers?

Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle also panicked badly.

“Mother, we really didn’t think that way. How could we curse Third Brother? We’re blood brothers. No matter how great the conflict, we’d never curse him like that. It was just words spilling out during the conversation. We really didn’t mean it.”

“I know you didn’t mean it. You’re just brainless and a bit too calculating. But people can’t be too greedy or too scheming. Only by keeping kindness in your hearts will you receive blessings. Go home. Stop coveting things that don’t belong to you.”

“Yes, yes…”

Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle looked as though they had been granted amnesty. They fled in panic, not daring to stay any longer.

(End of Chapter)