MMB Chapter 1772 Hexagram 8
Chapter 1772 Hexagram 8
Chapter 1772 Gossip
There's not much to say about this kind of gossip, especially when it comes to children. Ye's father said one thing and then stopped.
When he was facing Ye Yaodong, he didn't think to talk about it. After all, it was gossip from an elder, and as a grown man, he was just gossiping with Ye's mother.
Women are different.
At home, Ye's mother was already complaining to her granddaughter, daughter-in-law, neighbors, and other relatives.
She also called Lin Xiuqing to complain, and asked her to tell Ye Huimei not to go to Zhou City, so as not to see anything upsetting.
Ye Yaodong only found out after receiving a call from Lin Xiuqing, which took him a long and complicated process.
This gossip is quite convoluted; it went from his home to Shanghai, and then back to him.
"...Mother kept complaining that her father-in-law was not like a father-in-law, her mother-in-law was not like a mother-in-law, and her son was like a grandson, it was all a mess."
Ye Yaodong was stunned. "My mother... that's a pretty accurate summary."
"Oh, you're right, she talked on and on for an hour without repeating herself."
"Weren't you at home the whole first half of the year? You were perfectly fine. How come you brought it back after going back?"
"I think I heard that the twins will be starting first grade in the second semester. Their uncle is only a year behind them and is also going to start preschool early, otherwise he just plays around at home and doesn't understand anything."
"That's true. The twins will be in first grade in the second semester too. Time flies."
"Yes, we have to compare. They say they can both go to school in Shanghai, so we can't just leave my brother-in-law in the countryside. I don't know where they heard it from, but people from outside go to preschool before starting first grade, so we have to send him here too."
"It must have been told by some of the women who came up here."
"So, I heard from my mother that they made a fuss for several days, arguing and arguing, and she brought up the fact that Lao Pei was having an affair, that he didn't want his wife and children, that he was shameless and so on. In the end, Lao Pei had no choice but to bring the woman up because he was afraid that things would get too ugly."
"That was indeed quite embarrassing, and he was going to be a laughing stock in the village. He had his pride too."
“Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose. Aunt Ma and her child have been in the village for so long. Even if they don’t think about themselves, they should think about their child. Old Pei is so successful outside, so of course he wants to save face when he comes back to the village.”
After listening, Ye Yaodong concluded, "Old Pei is a real scoundrel."
But he was the envy of all the men in the village. His mistake was getting married!
As long as he doesn't get married, no matter how many women he has, men will only envy him. Even if he has children, it won't matter; they'll just praise him for being vigorous in his old age, and women will only say he's a womanizer.
But once you get married, things change.
Lin Xiuqing continued to complain, "It's a good thing Huimei came to Shanghai, otherwise I would be depressed to death just looking at her. She has a mother-in-law who is not really a mother-in-law, but a brother-in-law who is like a son. Now it's good that she doesn't see her."
"Well, out of sight, out of mind. Let them do whatever they want. It has nothing to do with her. She's already separated from the family."
"And now that it's up, how's it going?"
"What's going on?"
Ye Yaodong was momentarily stumped by her question.
"What are your plans, Lao Pei? Tell me about them."
"How would I know? I had no idea about this. Dad didn't tell me when he came back. I only found out because you called me now."
"Didn't Dad tell you when he got back? Isn't Old Pei going to rent a family compound with you?"
“As a big boss, why would I be in charge of renting out the family compound? This is none of my business. The logistics department has been assigned to the family compound, and two people have been specifically assigned to be property management and security guards. There is a set procedure for renting out the property. Apart from reporting something, what do I need to do? If I had to manage everything, I wouldn’t need to leave the house.”
"Oh, then ask her when you have time."
"Why don't you just come and stay for a few days? You're so gossipy, even though you're in Shanghai, you still want to gossip about this place."
Lin Xiuqing chuckled upon hearing this, "Then I'll go in a couple of days, and I'll bring Huimei with me, hahaha."
"You're just making trouble, aren't you? You think there's enough gossip already?"
"Go take a look, otherwise Old Pei will be so happy that he'll forget he has two grandsons. Take the twins to pickpocket their grandfather, and I'll take Huimei away in a couple of days."
"what ever."
Lin Xiuqing and the others hung up the phone after they had finished gossiping.
Ye Yaodong became curious about what she was saying and prepared to go out and find his father to ask him a few questions.
He asked several workers, and they all said it was in the canteen, so he went to the canteen.
I could hear Ye Xiaoxi's voice even before I reached the door.
"...Lick faster, it's all melted down there. You have to eat two, and you can't even finish licking them all! Don't waste food, eat faster!"
"Left, left..."
"It's dripping on the right too... Hurry, hurry, hurry..."
He pushed open the door and saw Ye's father frantically licking popsicles. After licking the left one, he listened to the two little girls directing him to lick the right one. He had just taken a bite of the right one and it hadn't even melted when the left one started to squeak.
Mr. Ye mumbled, "It's too cold, I can't eat it all..."
"Quick, quick, Grandpa, it's dripping on the left, on the left..."
"Oh oh oh..."
Seeing his father being bossed around by the two girls, Ye Yaodong asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
Ye Xiaoxi complained, "I asked my grandpa to have some popsicles, and he wanted two, but he couldn't eat them all. Look at him, they're dripping everywhere. He can't eat them all on the left, so he tries to eat them on the right. He just can't keep up."
Pei Yu added, "He wasted popsicles!"
"No, no, no, I'm eating it right now. It's too cold. I'm eating it all."
Mr. Ye emphasized this, then took a big bite from the bottom. The ice was so cold it felt like it was burning his mouth. The ice cube rolled from left to right in his mouth, and then he exhaled.
The two little girls started chattering again, emphasizing that his hand was dripping again.
The two popsicles made Mr. Ye sweat profusely as he ate them.
"When I asked you to buy them popsicles, why did you eat two of them yourself?"
“I was so grateful to him. I hadn’t seen him for many days, and I missed him. Then he said he wanted to eat two!”
"So filial?"
"Of course, Dad, do you want some? I'll buy some for you too."
"Sure, buy me one too."
Mr. Ye hurriedly bit into the remaining popsicle and mumbled, "If those two hadn't been mischievous and giving me all these orders, how could I have been so busy eating? One minute one is calling for the left side, the next minute the other is calling for the right side. They haven't even melted yet, but their chatter is making me nervous."
Ye Xiaoxi had just bought popsicles for Ye Yaodong when she turned around and patted her father, "You can't eat two in one go next time, understand?"
Mr. Ye nodded repeatedly, "Oh, I understand."
"Give me another one, I want one more," she said, turning to admonish Ye's father, "You have to eat them one by one like I do, you can't eat two at once."
Even Ye's father was at his wit's end.
Ye Yaodong took a bite of the popsicle and felt refreshed, his whole body felt comfortable. "If you skip work to sneak out here and eat, I'll dock your pay."
"You're obligated to pay for my food. You just ate my popsicle, and now you want to deduct my salary!"
"Ha, that's true then. Let's skip it today. You're usually so stingy, making your brother pay. Why are you being so generous today, even treating us to popsicles?"
Ye Xiaoxi tilted her head happily, "Grandpa gave me ten yuan, I'm so happy, so I treated him to an ice pop."
"No wonder, the wool comes from the sheep. Go on, after you finish eating, hurry back to work. Don't be lazy all day, act like you're at work."
"Oh, let's go then."
Mr. Ye touched his still-cold cheeks. "This little devil kept urging me to eat faster, and his mouth is still ice cold."
"Old Pei came up with his wife and kids?"
"Did your mother call and tell you?"
“That’s what A-Qing said.”
"Your mother is quite the talker. She makes phone calls about every little thing, and she always tries to get a bunch of people to watch the spectacle."
"Isn't this normal? There's hardly any entertainment in the countryside. Whenever someone has some minor mishap, a bunch of people will go to watch the spectacle."
Ye's father found a place to sit down and said to him, "We've been arguing for days, but we had to bring them along before we left. We've already discussed it beforehand and will rent a room for the mother and son in the family compound. Otherwise, he wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them to live outside."
“Your family compound is quite nicely built, making it convenient for everyone to bring their families. It’s hard to find a place to rent outside, and it’s chaotic, with many houses that are dilapidated.”
"When we docked, they even asked me to come over and tell you to arrange a better room for you. I told them to let him choose for himself, since they're all built the same way, there's no such thing as good or bad, they're all the same."
"The rent is different because the size of the house is different and the floor is different. Let him choose for himself. You are too busy to care about such a trivial matter as renting a house."
"Let them see what they want for themselves. I might not even see you the moment I get back. If I don't see you, does that mean they don't need to stay here anymore?"
"That widow Ma has some pretty good ideas. She even told me she wanted you to arrange a job for her so she could work at the factory."
“I said my younger sister Huimei hasn’t been assigned a job, doesn’t she need to take care of her child? She even said she could bring the child to the factory and let the child play by themselves.”
"I'll have Lao Pei open a factory for her, and she can take care of the kids while she goes to work, so she can play and run around as she pleases."
"Old Pei must have lost his mind. He's been single for so many years, and suddenly a few bowls of food have clouded his judgment. If he hadn't been tied to Widow Ma, he would be living a very happy life now."
Mr. Ye explained, "Your mother said that last thing, not me. If I had said it, your mother would have accused me of being envious of him because his wife died."
Ye Yaodong coughed, "Let's just treat this as something to watch for fun, since Huimei has already split up the family."
"I heard you've already chosen a location for your fishmeal factory? Have you started construction yet?"
"Not yet, waiting for government approval, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Once it's approved, I'll go to Shanghai and order the machines I need. I've already checked them out in Shanghai recently."
"Tell me if you need me to do anything. I'm going to Chenghe's house to see my great-grandson first."
"You don't need to do anything now. Once the fishmeal factory is about to start construction, you can go there every day to help check on the progress. There's nothing urgent going on after that. Let the fishing boats rest for two days and go out to sea again on August 1st."
It's uncertain when he'll go back to his hometown; we'll see when the time comes. He needs to finish what he's currently busy with.