Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The Family Discusses Buying a Boat
After waking up from her nap, Yun Jiao played at home. Her brothers were still out, so she picked up a small stool and went to the village entrance with her mother and aunt, eating a fragrant roasted sweet potato.
Several women from the village were gathered in a group. While their mouths chattered with gossip about this family and that, their hands didn’t slow down one bit.
Yun Jiao sat obediently to one side, nibbling on her roasted sweet potato and perking up her ears to listen to them talk.
At first, the talk was about her family. The news that Yun Jiao, Yun Xiaowu, and the others had found a Little Green Dragon, an East Star Spot, and a huge tiger grouper while foraging on the beach today had spread throughout the entire village—it might have even reached the next one over.
Such big news was naturally the top topic of discussion in the village. When people gathered in twos and threes, and with the family right there, it was a subject they just had to talk about.
Everyone envied their family’s good luck.
Shen Yunlian and Wang Mei both had smiles on their faces. They humbly claimed their family was poor, then changed the subject.
It was best not to flaunt one’s wealth. Luckily, their family was genuinely poor at the moment; otherwise, relatives would have already been knocking on their door to borrow money.
"That Cai Jinhua is a real piece of work. Her eldest daughter is her own flesh and blood, for crying out loud! But for a one-hundred-yuan bride price, she married her off to a divorcé ten years her senior. I hear the man’s lame, too."
"But you all know what she’s like. That woman treats her own daughter like a slave. I’ve never seen a mother like her."
Shen Yunlian asked, "And Yun Dan didn’t try to stop her?"
"Stop her? Please. Of that one-hundred-yuan bride price, half went to their son, and he took the other half to go drinking and live it up. He’s just a spineless good-for-nothing. What else can he do besides drink?
He’s completely supported by his wife and daughter. I reckon his son will turn out just like him. And to think Cai Jinhua still goes around bragging that her son is smart and will have a great future."
The afternoon passed just like that, with Yun Jiao eating her snacks, playing by herself, and occasionally helping her mother by passing her the net-making thread.
Finally, the brother who went to school returned, and the other brothers who had been running wild outside came back as well.
However, the first thing that happened upon their return was getting a beating.
Wang Mei looked at her son’s filthy clothes and the hole torn in his pants, and her temper immediately flared.
She grabbed a thin, finger-thick stick from behind the door, caught Yun Xiaoqi, and started thrashing his bottom.
"You stinky brat! How many times do I have to change your clothes in one day? And now there’s a hole in your pants! Do you just not want to wear them anymore? Do you want to run around outside with your bare butt hanging out?!"
"Ah! Mom, I was wrong! I was wrong! I didn’t do it on purpose!" Yun Xiaoqi cried, hopping around like a little monkey.
"Yun Xiao Ba, you stop right there!"
Yun Xiao Ba wasn’t that foolish; he turned tail and bolted outside.
His Little Aunt chased after him with the stick.
Yun Xiaowu and a filthy Yun Xiaojiu stood to the side, roaring with laughter at their brothers’ misfortune.
But their laughter didn’t last long.
Although Shen Yunlian was gentler than her sister-in-law, when it came to her own little rascals, she wouldn’t hesitate to discipline them when needed!
Yun Xiaowu was caught and got a few smacks on the bottom.
The same went for Yun Xiaojiu.
"Mom, I was wrong! Don’t be mad, I’ll never do it again," pleaded a pathetic Yun Xiaojiu.
"AHHH!! What’s wrong with a boy getting his clothes dirty when he’s playing outside? I’m a man! Dirty clothes prove I’m tough! You women should mind your own business!"
That was the voice of the proud and rebellious Yun Xiaowu.
Then, Yun Xiaowu’s punishment got even worse.
Shen Yunlian was about to die of anger at her foolish son.
"Change your clothes! And wash them yourself! From now on, you’re washing all of your own clothes and pants!"
Yun Xiaowu wiped his nose. "Fine, I’ll wash them myself."
"Sister, look what I brought for you."
Fresh from his spanking, Yun Xiaowu acted as if nothing had happened. Covered in mud, he scampered over to Yun Jiao.
Shen Yunlian scolded, "Don’t get too close to your sister! If you get her all muddy, just wait until your dad gets home. See if he doesn’t give you a good thrashing!"
"I know, I know."
Yun Xiaowu dug around in his pants pocket and pulled out a few swamp eels.
They were still writhing on the ground.
Yun Jiao gasped. "Fifth Brother, you went to catch swamp eels!"
She squatted down, picked up a small twig, and poked at the snake-like eels.
Yun Xiaowu puffed out his chest proudly. He wiped his nose with his still-muddy hand, making his face even filthier. "Yep! So Grandma can make soup for you."
"You’re the best, Fifth Brother. Here, you can have this."
She handed him the small green jujube she was holding. One of the aunties she’d been sitting with had given it to her.
"What about me? Your Brother Qi helped catch them, too."
"I helped, too."
Yun Xiaoqi and Little Eight crowded around as well.
Yun Jiao looked at them with wide, pleading eyes. "But I don’t have any more jujubes."
"That’s okay. In a couple of days, we’ll go to the mountains to pick guavas. They’re almost ripe."
Yun Jiao’s eyes lit up as she nodded.
She loved guavas.
The two brothers, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe, returned home just as the three women of the house were finishing up dinner.
When they saw the conspicuous portion of lobster meat on the dining table, Yun Linhai’s and Yun Linhe’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
"Are we splurging like there’s no tomorrow? Is that a Little Green Dragon?!"
Since when was their family extravagant enough to afford a Little Green Dragon?!
How much must one of these cost?!
Granny Yun said, "Our Jiaojiao specifically wanted to keep this for the family, to give us all a better meal."
Their family’s meals almost always consisted of sand clams, oysters, and some worthless small fish. Everyone in the family was sick to death of them.
There wasn’t much meat on the clams and oysters; one bite per person and they were practically gone.
But the family was poor, and this was all they could afford to eat.
Now that such a large Little Green Dragon had appeared, everyone at the table fixed their eyes on it.
At the dinner table, the chatterbox Yun Xiaowu excitedly recounted the day’s achievements, making sure to give his sister the main credit.
They had earned over two hundred yuan that day, and everyone in the family, young and old, wore smiles that wouldn’t leave their faces.
Infected by the atmosphere, Yun Jiao also smiled, her soft eyes curving into crescents. The two cute little dimples at the corners of her mouth made the whole family dote on her endlessly.
"Here, Jiaojiao, eat up."
Once the meal began, everyone sitting near Yun Jiao placed a piece of the springy, snow-white lobster meat into her bowl.
"Hurry and eat, hurry and eat."
Yun Xiaowu urged her.
Yun Jiao nodded, feeling utterly satisfied after just one bite.
Watching her eat, the members of the Yun family couldn’t help but laugh.
Because Little Yun Jiao, with her mouth stuffed full, really looked like a soft little hamster trying to stuff its cheeks, making everyone want to squish her cute face.
After dinner, Mr. Yun smoked his pipe and, since the whole family was present, brought up the matter of buying a boat.
"Our family doesn’t have much in savings right now. All our money is just enough to buy a small wooden boat. But having a wooden boat to cast nets in the coastal waters is still a little better than working as a deckhand for someone else."
The two elders placed all of the family’s savings on the table.
"We’ll buy one boat and keep saving the rest. Once we’ve saved a little more, we can build two houses. We have too many children for this old house to be big enough."
Building two houses meant splitting the family.
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