Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Borrowing a Boat

Ye Yaodong looked helplessly at the old lady, “Grandmother, I’m grown up now, not a child anymore. Next time, please don’t secretly take eggs for me. If my mother finds out, she’ll skin me alive!”

“It’s fine, if you don’t tell her, she won’t know. Go out and play for a while, eat it and then come back.”

Sigh, in the old lady’s eyes, he was still a child!

“Go on, go on, go play, don’t stand in the doorway.”

Under her urging, he had no choice but to walk out. He had originally planned to go check on Ah Guang anyway, but now there was an added sense of urgency in his heart.

He was urgent to make money, wanting to buy dentures for his grandmother – once he’d said it out loud, he wanted to make it happen quickly. Given her age, even without the fall, she didn’t have many years left to live.

Today he woke up a bit early, and when he arrived at Ah Guang’s house, the latter hadn’t even gotten up yet.

“What time is it?” Ah Guang was still hugging his blanket, not fully awake, speaking sluggishly.

“I left home at 6:30, so it should be around 6:40 now!”

“Huh?” Ah Guang tilted his head in disbelief, opening one eye, “What’s wrong with you? It’s so early, and there’s no work to do. Why come over so early?”

“To wake you up to pee!”

“Damn, you want it warm? Get lost!” He pulled the sheet over his head.

Ye Yaodong tugged at one corner of the sheet, “Get up, the sun’s already high in the sky. With this habit, you think you can wake up tomorrow to work at Yujing Wharf?”

“Don’t bother me, tomorrow is tomorrow’s business! Did you take some aphrodisiac today? Why are you up so early?”

“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy. Quick, get up and let’s go borrow the boat!”

“What’s the rush? It’s so early, and the tide won’t ebb until noon. Stop bothering me, or I won’t go borrow it at all.” Ah Guang snatched back the sheet, trapped it under himself, and clamped his legs around it, closing his eyes again.

“Why are you hugging the blanket like that? You’re not a woman.”

“What does hugging a blanket have to do with being a woman or not? Men can’t hug blankets?”

“This shows how much you don’t know, young man. Get up quick, and I’ll tell you.”

Ah Guang, thoroughly annoyed by his pestering, scratched his messy bed head and sat up, “Damn it, I don’t want to know! Aren’t you annoying? Even if we borrow it now, we can’t go yet – the tide hasn’t ebbed.”

“At least we can know early whether we can borrow it or not!”

“I give up on you, did you eat the wrong medicine these past few days? You’re suddenly so eager to go out to sea!”

“Yeah, I’ve gone crazy thinking about money. Since you’re awake anyway, don’t go back to sleep. Get up and let’s go ask.”

Ah Guang, thoroughly defeated by his pestering, finally got up to put on his clothes, muttering: “This is too much, how did I end up being brothers with you? Not letting people sleep early in the morning. Wouldn’t it be nicer to stay home and sleep with your wife?”

“My wife is up, my whole family is up!”

“So I have to get up too?”

Ye Yaodong saw his resentful look and grinned, putting an arm around his shoulder, “We’re good brothers, aren’t you supposed to feel my urgency?”

Ah Guang glanced at him sideways and, catching him off guard, deliberately breathed right in his face…

Ye Yaodong’s pupils contracted, his features instantly scrunching up. He covered his nose and mouth, quickly jumping to the side, “F*ck… you went too far… damn…”

“This breath of immortality will extend your life by ten years, no need to thank me!”

“You bastard, if I die twenty years early it’ll definitely be because of you!”

Ah Guang looked quite pleased with himself, having successfully gotten his revenge for being woken up early~

“That’s what you get for disturbing my sleep so early, I have morning temper too!”

“Damn, that’s not morning temper, that’s miasma, poison gas, you’re killing me, fjjigerzn¥&;*％～” Ye Yaodong cursed a few times and went to wait at the door.

Who knows what other unknown gases might be released if he stayed close!

After waiting at the door for quite a while without seeing Ah Guang come out, he had to go back in, only to find him standing at the back door, holding his pants up while tying the waistband.

“You just finished taking a dump, right? Took so long, perfect timing to come taste it.”

Ah Guang glared, “Please add the word ‘food’! Perfect timing to come eat food!”

He said with amusement in his eyes, “Same thing, come quickly, it’s still warm, perfect to put in your mouth!”

“You $&d\£%gu¥¥&*～ I’ll eat when I get back!” Ah Guang cursed and walked straight out. How could he not know this guy? He was just complaining about his dawdling, indirectly rushing him to go borrow the boat, and even saying such disgusting things.

Ye Yaodong sat at the table with his legs crossed, waiting. Ah Guang’s aunt’s house wasn’t far from his, as they were both from and married within the same village.

He figured since he had nothing else to do and was already up, they might as well ask early to set their minds at ease. He truly believed there would be more catch at the isolated island than at the wharf, and thinking about his recent good luck, he was getting a bit carried away.

After waiting patiently for less than half an hour, Ah Guang returned.

“My aunt and uncle agreed to lend it, but the elderly at home wouldn’t agree. I said we’d rent it, half a day for two yuan at noon, we’ll cover the fuel costs ourselves, and only then did the old folks agree to lend the boat.”

Even regular workers didn’t make two yuan for a full day’s work, and renting for half a day plus covering fuel costs for two yuan wasn’t cheap.

“That’s fine. Even between brothers, accounts should be clear. It’s reasonable for the elderly to want payment. This is on me, I happen to have two yuan here.” He had found two yuan in his pocket yesterday but hadn’t even spent it on cigarettes.

Ah Guang pushed it back immediately, “Hey, what are you giving me money for? It’s just two yuan, I’ll cover it since I already paid, it’s nothing. I won some money gambling yesterday anyway.”

“Business is business. I’m the one who asked you to borrow the boat to go to sea, so of course it should be my expense. Take it, it’s just two yuan.”

“I’ve already paid, let it go. Use these two yuan to buy diesel fuel instead.”

“Alright then.”

Indeed, it wasn’t much money, no need to keep pushing back and forth. Using it for diesel fuel would work just fine.

Ah Guang propped one foot on the chair and picked up his bowl, “Now can I eat my breakfast in peace?”

“Go ahead and eat, I never stopped you. You’re the one who was in a hurry.” Ye Yaodong sat in the chair nearby, shaking his foot and grinning.

Ah Guang gave him a big eye roll.

“The tide should be at its lowest at 12 o’clock. You just go to the wharf a bit earlier, around 10:30, to buy diesel fuel. I’ll come with you then to get the boat.”

“Alright, no problem. Since there’s nothing else now, I’ll head back first. If Ah Zheng and the others come by later, let them know.”

“Something that could’ve been done in a few minutes, damn you, you still had to come wake me up so early.” Ah Guang’s resentment ran deep; he rarely got up this early when there was nothing to do.

“I’m just training you, aren’t I? Otherwise, how will you manage to get up when you need to work at the wharf? If you’re really that bored, why don’t you go lie back down?”

“Get lost!”

“Will do!”