Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Reminiscing About Years of Regret

Watching the two flee in panic, everyone in the house was still furious, continuing to curse!

Coastal people were most wary of such unlucky talk. When family members went out to sea, they wouldn’t even flip fish while eating – call it superstition if you will, but these things mattered deeply to them.

The risks of going to sea were enormous. Every year people fell into the sea and disappeared. No one wanted accidents to befall their family members.

“Alright, get back to what you were doing. They won’t have designs on the boat anymore. Before you go to sea, check the boat carefully. Only go out when everything’s fine. Safety must come first – no amount of money is worth more than life.”

“I know, Mother. I always check everything. Before our first launch, I even invited an old expert to come inspect it. We only went out after confirming everything was fine,” Father Ye wouldn’t joke with his and his sons’ safety.

“As long as you know what you’re doing.”

Father Ye nodded, then took his two sons out to buy bricks and sand. Once Mother Ye picked an auspicious date, they would find workers to start building the house.

Ye Yaodong was rightfully left behind by his father.

Who would dare command someone who never did proper work?

He stood aside raising his eyebrows watching his father and two brothers leave, happy to stay quiet.

How hot it was at noon in June! Not being called to go was perfect – he could take a nap and recall what major events happened to the family during this time. After all, 40 years was a long time.

Early this morning when he’d just woken up, still in a daze, he was disturbed by his first and second uncles arriving, and hadn’t had time to think carefully before going to check what was happening.

After the three sisters-in-law finished cleaning inside and outside the house, they started making fishing nets in the shade by the door, cursing First and Second Uncle as good-for-nothings while they worked.

The house was stuffy, so Ye Yaodong lay on the lounger by the door to cool off and take a nap, but his ears hadn’t known peace since he lay down.

As the three sisters-in-law cursed, they started chatting with neighbors, gossiping about village affairs, getting more and more animated. Yet their hands never stopped – the shuttles and needles moving quickly as they wove the nets.

Ye Yaodong thought these women could really talk. Just making fishing nets, but they could find endless topics to discuss when gathered together.

He couldn’t lie still anymore. One woman equals 500 ducks – a group of women gabbing endlessly made it impossible for him to nap on the lounger.

Scratching his head in irritation, he decided to go back inside. There was wind today, so it should be bearable with the windows open.

But as soon as he stepped through the door, he saw his youngest son standing alone by the water bucket playing with water and digging for clams, his whole body leaning over the bucket, almost falling in, completely soaked.

“Damn, you rascal, turn around for one second and you’re causing trouble, sneaking here to play with water.”

He quickly lifted his son up and called to Lin Xiuqing at the door: “Xiuqing, your son’s been playing with water secretly, he’s all wet again!”

Hearing this, Lin Xiuqing furrowed her brows and hurried inside. Seeing her son’s face covered in water, those pitch-black eyes looking innocently at her, her anger instantly melted away. She just gave his bottom a couple of light swats.

“Why can’t you be a bit more well-behaved? Playing in the sand all morning wasn’t enough, you had to play with water too? We’re running out of clothes to change you into – how many outfits do you go through in a day?”

Ye Chengyang thought his mother was playing with him and smiled, showing his two little rice-grain teeth, hugging her neck.

Lin Xiuqing helplessly picked him up, “You’re all wet and still clinging to me, let’s go change clothes!”

Ye Yaodong followed them leisurely into the room, then lay down on the platform bed, hands behind his head, feet crossed, watching his wife change their child’s clothes.

For decades, in his memory she had always worn the tired, overworked look of middle age. He’d forgotten how fresh and young she had once been.

Feeling his direct gaze, Lin Xiuqing became slightly uncomfortable, her ears turning red. After changing the child’s clothes, she turned to glare at him, “It’s broad daylight, what’s with that look?”

Then she fled, carrying the child out…

He felt quite bewildered – was it not okay to look a bit longer at his own wife?

He just thought she looked pretty when she was young!

And she had to glare at him for that?

Ye Yaodong lay there for a while before it dawned on him. Damn… she couldn’t have thought he wanted to do something with her right then?

Was running away necessary?

He had originally wanted to tell her to leave the child in the room and he’d watch him for a while.

Oh well, he might as well take a quiet nap alone.

Feet crossed, looking at the mosquito net above the platform bed, thinking back, it seemed his family had always lived quite peacefully. Apart from building the house and dividing the family, nothing major happened in the following decades – the whole family remained safe and sound.

No, he suddenly remembered something important he’d forgotten for years!

His wife would become pregnant with their third child around this time, but policy didn’t allow it. She hid at her parents’ home, but while seven or eight months pregnant, she fell while picking tea leaves in the mountains. The baby couldn’t wait for the hospital and was born there, but died within half an hour!

He heard it was a daughter!

His wife cried and blamed herself for several days!

As for why he only “heard” about it – naturally because he wasn’t at his in-laws’ house. His wife was only brought back the day after losing the baby to recover from childbirth, which was when he found out.

Though he felt it was a pity, since the child was never born and he was rarely home anyway, he didn’t have much emotional attachment to that child. As time passed, he forgot about it completely. Only now, thinking carefully, did he remember this incident.

Thinking of this, he suddenly sat up – which year was it when his wife had the third pregnancy?

He vaguely remembered her belly only started showing after they moved into the new house. Which year was that?

Tea picking was in March, right?

Calculating from seven or eight months of pregnancy, she must have conceived in July or August? Was it this year, next year, or the year after?

“Damn it, how could I forget which year such an important thing happened?”

Ye Yaodong recalled frustratedly, but couldn’t remember. He only remembered her belly became too obvious to hide after moving into the new house, and to avoid policy enforcement, she returned to her parents’ home after the new year to give birth.

After thinking for a long time without success, he shook his head, “Never mind, I’ll know when she gets pregnant. Better if she doesn’t get pregnant at all – who knows if the baby could be born successfully? Better to avoid the suffering!”

Having figured this out, he lay back down. Apart from this incident, the only other major event for him was his grandmother’s passing a few years later.

He remembered how heartbroken he was. The old lady had been watering vegetables in the back garden when she slipped on a bluestone slab. She refused to go to the hospital, saying she was fine, then lay in bed for a few days before passing away.

If possible, he wished the old lady could have lived a few more years. If not for that accidental fall, she had been quite healthy.

Not having properly fulfilled his filial duties to her remained one of his lifelong regrets.

As he thought, listening to the cicadas outside, Ye Yaodong gradually fell asleep.