Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Bringing Bad Luck

Uncle Ye shot Ye Yaodong a fierce glare before stepping through the doorway – he hadn’t forgotten how Yaodong had grabbed his neck that morning!

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

The women of the house were clearing the table and washing dishes. Father Ye was holding his water pipe, planning to have a smoke after meals, when he saw his two brothers arrive again.

First Uncle and Second Uncle immediately walked towards the old lady, calling out in unison, “Mother!”

“Mm, have you eaten?”

“We have. Has Mother eaten too?”

“Mm.”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes from the side. They were obviously asking something they already knew. Chinese people always start conversations with “Have you eaten?” – how peculiar that this habit persists through every era.

Second Uncle glanced at First Uncle, who then cleared his throat twice and said, “Mother, we came by this morning but you weren’t here, so we thought we’d come again.”

“You came specially to see me?” the old lady asked, knowing full well why they were there.

“Ah, no… well, yes…”

Before he could finish, he was already flustered. Since beating around the bush wasn’t working, Second Uncle decided to speak directly.

“It’s like this, Mother. Third Brother just caught a net full of yellow croakers and made over a thousand yuan, right? That boat was left by Father, and it was given to Third Brother, and he fixed it up. Although he got the advantage there, we didn’t feel right asking him to share it.”

“But all the children in the family are growing up now, and there’s not enough room for everyone. We’d like to borrow three hundred yuan each from Third Brother to build two rooms for the children to live in. What do you think…”

The old lady frowned and turned her head, bringing her ear closer. “Huh? What did you say? I’m hard of hearing, speak up!”

“Hahaha!”

Ye Yaodong couldn’t help but laugh. The old lady was quite interesting – usually sharp-eared and clear-eyed, but now suddenly hard of hearing?

The old lady secretly shot him a reproachful glare.

Second Uncle was also embarrassed by his laughter – they all knew whether the old lady was really hard of hearing or not.

Father Ye put down his water pipe and said helplessly, “You came asking for money this morning and failed, now you’ve changed it to borrowing. Why can’t you just give up? I have three sons of my own, all crowded in one room, four or five people sleeping in one bed. I need to build houses and divide the family myself – where would I get money to lend you!”

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

“Are you saying my grandchildren won’t grow up?”

“You have a boat now, making money fishing yourself is better than being hired hands on others’ boats like us.”

“This business depends on the heavens – how could it be so stable? Both your sons have their own families now, why do you need to worry about where your grandchildren live? Just worry about your sons. As long as you have a place to live yourself, that’s enough.”

With Father Ye shutting down all their arguments, what else could Second Uncle say?

But First Uncle wouldn’t give up. He turned to the old lady who was pretending to be deaf and said, “Mother, how about if we pay Third Brother to rent this boat? 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!”

First Uncle was speechless!

Ye Yaodong smiled and put his arm around the old lady’s shoulders, saying, “My grandmother is getting old, don’t trouble her. Renting the boat is impossible. Who would be responsible if it gets damaged? Though it’s an old boat, it’s our family’s treasure. Stop having designs on it – we’ve only just started going out to sea ourselves.”

Hearing this, Second Uncle’s mind started wandering and he began to have second thoughts.

True, it was an old boat, and even though it had been repaired, who knew if it was really seaworthy? If it broke down near the dock they could still make it back, worst case they could swim back, but if it broke down in deep waters…

Just thinking about it made his hair stand on end.

He pulled at First Uncle who was about to speak again, “Forget about renting the boat. If the family is in difficulty, we’ll find other ways to solve it.”

“We’re not outsiders, we’ll definitely take good care of it.”

“It’s not that. The boat is old, who knows if something else might break even after repairs? It’s fine near shore, but what if…”

Seeing First Uncle wouldn’t listen, Second Uncle tried to hint at his concerns subtly. Unexpectedly, First Uncle was so thoughtless he blurted out:

“What if it breaks down out at sea and we can’t get ba-”

“Pei pei pei! You crow-mouthed jinx, are you cursing me? Brothers or not, how dare you bring such bad luck!” Father Ye jumped up angrily when he heard them, almost wanting to throw his pipe at them.

Mother Ye angrily said, “Pei! We’re brothers, but just because we won’t lend you money you curse us so viciously?”

Ye Yaopeng was also furious, no longer calling them uncles but pointing at them accusingly, “What wrong have we done to you that you wish us ill like this, cursing us…”

“No, I didn’t… That’s not what I meant…” First Uncle realized what he’d carelessly said and quickly slapped his own mouth twice, trying to explain.

Second Uncle also hurried to explain, “We didn’t mean it that way, we’re family, how could we curse you…”

Ye Yaodong’s face had turned black as a pot bottom. He’d just fallen into the sea, and now these two were cursing their family again. “Pei pei pei, may the bad omens be ineffective and good fortune prevail! Our family will definitely have smooth sailing and make a fortune! You two get out of here right now, you’re not welcome. Leave now or I’ll chase you out with a broom, and don’t blame me if it gets ugly!”

“No, we really didn’t mean it that way…”

The daughters-in-law of the family were also very angry, each speaking up in turn.

“Are you just unable to bear seeing our family do well? Just because we won’t lend you money or rent you the boat, you have to curse us?”

“We’re family, how can you be so vicious and mean-hearted!”

“What wrong have we done to you that you’d curse our family like this? People shouldn’t lose their conscience…”

First and Second Uncle were like they’d stirred up a hornets’ nest, surrounded by people questioning them. Unable to defend themselves and knowing they were in the wrong, they could only keep apologizing.

“Enough! At your age, how can you still speak so thoughtlessly? We’re coastal people – how can you say such unlucky things? And to your own brothers!” The old lady slapped the table and glared sternly at the two brothers.

She then muttered, “Buddha protect us… Mazu protect us… Forgive them…”

The elderly are most superstitious and couldn’t tolerate family members saying such unlucky things, especially about their own brothers.

First and Second Uncle were panicking, “Mother, we didn’t think that way, how could we curse Third Brother? We’re brothers by blood, no matter how big our conflicts, we would never curse him like that. We just got carried away talking, we really didn’t mean it that way.”

“I know you’re thoughtless, just too calculating. But people shouldn’t be too greedy or calculating. Only a kind heart will bring blessings. You should go home now, and stop coveting things that don’t belong to you.”

“Yes, yes!”

First and Second Uncle were greatly relieved and hurried away like they were escaping, not daring to stay any longer.