While Ye Mu was chopping fish paste, she also listened to their conversation with her ears raised. Seeing their lively conversation, she also smiled.

How could she not know whether the old man was hiding his personal money or not? She just turned a blind eye and closed her eyes.

Father Ye won money in the first few rounds of playing. He was so happy that he saw his grandchildren gathered around and generously gave each of them 5 cents.

After a while, the other grandchildren knew about it and rushed over to beg for money. Father Ye gave everyone a share.

However, just after dividing the money, he started losing in the next round.

After all the money won on the table was taken out, a few dollars from his pocket were also lost.

"Why do you win at the beginning and then lose all the time..."

After he finished speaking, he realized what he was doing and patted his thigh, "Oh, it's a waste to give money to those children, so you shouldn't give them money..."

"Dad, if you don't have money, get up and it's my turn."

Father Ye looked at Mother Ye and then at Ye Yaodong. He was too embarrassed to say anything and could only stand up reluctantly.

But I was thinking in my heart, I usually see Dongzi as quite clever, but now he doesn’t know how to answer the question. He just said something so nice, it’s his fault if he loses...

"It's all you. You said I lost before the fight even started. That's really bad for you."

Everyone laughed.

"Dad, you obviously lost the money, so you can still blame me."

Ye’s mother shouted to stop but she still felt resentful and wanted to speak to Ye’s father.

"If you lose all your money, don't join in the fun. Quickly shave the pig's feet. If you can't shave them off, light a candle and burn them clean."

"Oh, okay."

With his pockets empty, he couldn't think of anything else.

Wrong decision, I must not open the champagne in the middle of the next time. Before I was happy for a long time, I drank it all.

The pig hair was very hard and the knife at home was not sharp enough, so he lit a candle to burn it, and then scraped it. When it was clean, he borrowed a machete and chopped it into pieces.

Seeing that he was free, Ye's mother wanted to instruct him to do something else, but Ye's father ran away quickly and had already left the house quickly before she could say anything.

As long as he is not under his nose, he is free.

You can't fight here at the door. There are a lot of people in other places organizing games. It's the Chinese New Year. Whose men stay at home?

Lin Xiuqing and Ye Mu worked hard all afternoon to get out all the things Ye Yaodong was going to give away tomorrow.

Ye Yaodong and the others also played cards all afternoon and disbanded at dusk.

Lin Xiuqing didn't let them go home empty-handed, and gave each of them a bowl of fish balls.

Ye Yaodong looked at the basket full of fish balls, which were still warm to the touch, and stuffed one into his mouth.

"tasty!"

"Of course it's delicious, fresh out of the pan."

"Tomorrow we will make more at home to eat during the Chinese New Year. It's cold, so it won't go bad if we leave it alone."

"Um."

Lin Xiuqing looked at Ye Xiaoxi running in from the door, inserted two chopsticks into her and asked her to eat with her hands.

But she started to pull out the fish balls and pinched them in her hand. Lin Xiuqing quickly patted the back of her hand.

"Look if your hands are dirty?"

"dirty."

"Then are you going to eat like this or wash your hands?"

Ye Xiaoxi tilted his head, thought for a moment, took the chopsticks, "Eat like this!"

"You're so lazy. Take your chopsticks back after eating. Don't throw them out. Don't run away with them."

She nodded and went out happily while eating.

"She stayed close to me all afternoon, and I gave her this and that. Seeing how round she is, she doesn't even need to eat dinner."

"After finishing the meal, others can't eat it, but she can still eat it."

Lin Xiuqing laughed and shook her head.

"Hey? The barber is here." Ye Yaodong listened to the sounds outside and stretched his neck to take a look. "I went out and called the two boys back to get a haircut. Before it got dark, I asked them to wash their hair before eating.

"

The barber had arrived at his door.

He carried a cloth bag filled with barbering tools and a small stool, and held a metal clip about a foot (33.3 centimeters) long.

A metal rod is slid in the clamp to make a special sound, which tells him that a barber is coming.

Ye Yaodong gave the explanation in the morning, but he didn't expect him to come until the afternoon. This shows how many people in the village took advantage of the New Year to get their hair done.

He took the child back to have his hair cut, and the other adults around him also brought their children over and asked them to line up and have their hair done together.

The Chinese New Year is almost here, and business is good no matter what profession you are in.

Ye Yaodong tugged on the two small knots tied above Ye Xiaoxi's head, and teased her with a smile, "Do you want me to shave your head?"

"No, no!" She quickly protected her head.

"You don't want it now? I had to shave it before life or death."

"Don't shave, never shave again."

Lin Xiuqing said with a smile: "I was very happy just after shaving a few months ago, but when she came back crying the next day, everyone laughed at her."

Ye Yaodong was also happy, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You were only there for a month or two. Why did I tell you so early? By the time you came back, you had already forgotten about her. Her hair had grown out."

The old lady also smiled and said: "I cried hard for several days and didn't dare to go out for several days for fear of being laughed at. Then I knitted a little straw hat for her, and she went out happily again.

Let’s play.”

Ye Yaodong knelt down and coaxed her, "How about another shave? You have a hat anyway?"

"No, no, no..." She shook her head like a rattle and ran into the house to hide while shouting.

He didn't come out even after eating. He was forcefully dragged out, and he watched vigilantly at the door to see if the barber had left.

I didn't dare to go out all night, for fear that there would be a barber outside.

Ye Yaodong drove his tractor to deliver goods at dawn the next morning.

After delivering the goods, I hurried to the Ocean Bureau to wait for Director Chen at the door before getting off work.

After all, it was a New Year's gift, so I didn't dare to take it directly to the office blatantly.

After Director Chen came out and was stopped by him, he smiled and said, "I've been waiting for you all morning, and it turns out you are waiting here."

"I don't think it's a good idea to send it directly to the office. I'll wait for you at the door after get off work. I'll help you put the bicycle on the tractor? Take the tractor back?"

"OK."

Ye Yaodong drove the car and explained to him the reason why he came today. He said that he was very hardworking. After making money, he had to work until the Chinese New Year was approaching before he had time to stop. He was spinning around like a spinning top all day long.

The two of them walked and chatted on the road. After three years of contact, they were both very familiar with each other. Ye Yaodong also spoke in a very homely manner, and his complaints were very straightforward.

Director Chen listened with a smile and praised a few words by the way.

He did not refuse the New Year's gift that Ye Yaodong gave him. After all, he was very close to her, so it was Ye Yaodong's wish to give him some gifts.

Anyway, he always collected specialties in the past, and Ye Yaodong also brought him a lot of good luck. He also treated him as his own descendant.

I also plan to take more care of it in the future.

Ye Yaodong knew that he would return to his hometown in the county to celebrate the New Year after work today, so he volunteered to go back together after he got off work.

For him, going home early and going home late is the same thing. The family is now completely rested and there is no need for him to do any work.

When Director Chen went to work in the afternoon, he stayed at his house and helped Director Chen's wife, Jin Yuzhi, with work, helping with the moving and loading of luggage and the gifts he wanted to take back to his hometown.

Jin Yuzhi was also very familiar with him. After all, she had frequent contacts and meals. She had a good impression of him and treated him as one of her own descendants.

After Ye Yaodong finished helping her with the work at home, he also took a walk around the market and took a look at the goods in the warehouse.

His two uncles have not yet taken off for the New Year, and they plan to work until tomorrow, sell for half a day tomorrow morning, and go home at noon.

Then he said that he would continue to come here and open the business when he was in the third year of junior high school, and he would work very hard to make money.

Ye Yaodong chatted with them for a while, asked them to help him take care of the warehouse while they were in the city, and then returned to Director Chen's house.

Because there is a holiday tomorrow, Director Chen will get off work early in the afternoon, and they can leave immediately when he comes back.

During the chat, he also learned that Director Chen's children were in various units, and they could not go home until after work today. If some of them were far away, they might not be able to go home until New Year's Eve, or even not come back at all.

Jin Yuzhi even said with emotion, "Sometimes I would rather my children have no future, but can still be with me and see people. If they have no future, they can't see people."

The number of times we meet throughout the year can be counted on 10 fingers.

Ye Yaodong said, "If you really have no future, you may still hate iron for not being able to become steel, and don't want to see you."
To be continued...