Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

The commune secretary realized that Ye Fan was going to help him connect with the army and chase them out, and the three-wheeled motorcycle was almost turning into a small black dot.

The secretary thought that Ye Fan's husband was Captain Geng, and Captain Geng must have known that she was coming. Captain Geng agreed to Ye Fan's appearance because he must be afraid that the logistics of the army would be passive when talking to him.

The military and civilians are one family!

Captain Geng is overthinking it.

The next day, the secretary rode his bike to the army to find Captain Geng.

When Geng Zhiye got home last night, Dabao and Erbao pulled his hands to see the sea. After dinner, the couple took the two children to the beach with flashlights. The two children couldn't stand the mosquito bites and wanted to go home. Geng Zhiye and Ye Fan gave them a bath and went to bed when it was late. So Geng Zhiye didn't know that Ye Fan went to see the secretary yesterday.

When the secretary mentioned that Ye Fan came to see him, Geng Zhiye looked puzzled and didn't seem to be pretending, so the secretary asked him if it wasn't him who asked Ye Fan to come to him.

Geng Zhiye shook his head: "I really don't know."

"But you don't know how Comrade Ye can help us sell our products?"

Geng Zhiye thought to himself that Ye Fan was crazy, he dared to agree to anything. Geng Zhiye suddenly thought of his stepmother. Ye Fan did agree to help Geng Zhiqin change jobs, but she didn't say where to change to: "Ye Fan said this?"

The secretary's face changed slightly, and he stammered, "Well, no, she said she'd come find her when she made up her mind."

Geng Zhiye was relieved: "Then you go find her. Even if we can solve some of the fruits and vegetables, we can't buy them directly from you. You can ask Ye Fan how to operate here. She used to be an accountant at the Capital Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and she knows more than me."

The secretary bullied Ye Fan several times and asked him to pay the visit in person, but he was too embarrassed to do it.

The troops were not short of food, but the transportation was a little troublesome and the price was a little high. The secretary was not in a hurry, and Ye Fan was not in a hurry either.

The secretary came home from the army under the scorching sun, and Ye Fan had just turned on the fan. Dabao and Erbao were sweating from playing outside, so Ye Fan asked the two children to go under the fan and fetched a basin of warm water for them to wipe.

When Liao Miaomiao heard Dabao say that the fan in his house was very cool and she was feeling hot at home, she brought her younger brother and sister over.

Ye Fan asked Miaomiao and her brother if they wanted to wash. Miaomiao touched her face and found it was sticky from the sweat. She wanted to go home to get a towel. Ye Fan handed her his own towel and smiled and said to wash it after use. Liao Miaomiao was no longer polite.

Towels were hung on the clothesline to dry in the sun. Liao Miaomiao went into the house to feel the power of technology and couldn't help asking if the fan was expensive.

Ye Fan: "I don't know. It should be expensive."

Liao Miaomiao: "Didn't Aunt Ye buy it?"

Dabao shook his head: "No. My uncle bought it."

Ye Fan explained that her eldest brother sent it a few days ago, and then told Liao Miaomiao that she could come to her house to do homework in the future.

Liao Miaomiao said without thinking: "I have graduated from elementary school and have no summer homework."

Ye Fan knew that in three years, all those who wanted to go to college would wish there were 72 hours in a day, and they would read books in their dreams: "You can learn something else."

Dabao blurted out: "Foreign language."

Liao Miaomiao asked curiously: "Dabao also knows foreign words."

Ye Fan: "Dabao knows foreign languages."

Liao Miaomiao said no, and was in disbelief. She looked Dabao up and down and said, "Aren't you still not in school?"

The child lying on the bench got up immediately: "I'm going to school."

Ye Fan nodded: "Kindergarten for the first half of the year. Then I have to go to kindergarten for another year when school starts in the fall."

Dabao thought about the children in kindergarten who were even more obedient than her sister and asked: "Can I not go to kindergarten?"

Ye Fan: "Of course. But there are no kids as young as you in the first grade. If you go to the first grade, Mom is worried that they will laugh at you. You can't help but fight with them, and Mom will feel bad if you get hurt."

Dabao thought he wasn't afraid, but he was so short that he couldn't win even if he used all his hands and feet in a fight: "I don't want to fight!"

"Then try it first. If you don't like it, we can go to kindergarten." As long as Dabao is willing to go to school, everything can be discussed.

Dabao laughed and threw himself into his mother's arms: "Mom, you do this every day, and I like you every day."

Ye Fan teased him: "Practicing calligraphy with mom in the evening?"

Dabao immediately moved to the other end of the bench, away from his mother.

Erbao's hands were too small to hold a pen, and she was still young. Ye Fan let her do whatever she wanted, whether to study or not. As a result, Erbao had no resistance to learning. As soon as her brother left, she would take his place and sit on her mother's lap.

Liao Miaomiao envied: "Aunt Ye, you have a really good temper. Unlike my mom, she scolds people before they finish their sentences."

Dabao exclaimed: "My mother has a good temper? You haven't seen her beat me, she's not like my mother, I picked her up from the garbage dump."

Miaomiao's brother was surprised: "Did you pick it up from the garbage dump too?"

Dabao almost bit his own tongue. The point is where he picked it up.

Miaomiao thought he had agreed, so he forgot his reserve and moved to sit next to Dabao. "Me too. Which garbage dump did you pick it up from?"

Dabao's expression was more complicated than that of an adult. He didn't expect that Miaomiao, who was four years older than him, would also believe such nonsense: "Aunt Qiuyue said you picked it up?"

"How did you know?" Miaomiao's brother was shocked. "My mom told you? How can you tell others about this?"

Miaomiao couldn't listen any longer: "Dabao means he doesn't look like Aunt Ye's biological child. You weren't picked up from the garbage dump either. We often throw garbage, have you ever seen a child in the garbage dump? There are only rats and cockroaches!"

The younger brother shook his head: "You don't know, our mother's description is so detailed and it seems to be true."

Dabao: "You said you wanted a younger brother, and asked your mom to pick one up. She would definitely say there is none. I can make a bet with you." He raised his little hand that had just been picking his feet, "Do you want to bet? The loser will call the winner the big brother."

Ye Fan laughed and choked.

Liao Miaomiao wondered what she was laughing at. When she saw the two children, one tall and one short, opposite her, she suddenly realized, "Dabao, you were born in the year of the monkey, right? Dadi is four years older than you. Even if we didn't bet, you would still have to call me big brother."

Dabao ignored her, stared at Dadi and said, "I guess you don't dare to gamble."

How could this little brat dare to look down on him? This was intolerable. The eldest brother said in a deep voice: "Bet!"

Dabao turned to the other side and said, "Sister Miaomiao, you be the referee."

"Big brother is my brother, are you sure?"

Dabao nodded: "Sister Miaomiao doesn't lie. Mom said I can play with Sister Miaomiao."

Liao Miaomiao was surprised. Did Aunt Ye trust her so much? Then she couldn't let Aunt Ye down.

Ye Fan couldn't bear to watch it. She did say that Dabao was not allowed to use it at this time.

This clever boy doesn't want to learn anything. If you don't catch up with him when he is young, force him to study, and let him play around, Geng Zhiye will be unable to do anything with him in two years.

Ye Fan: "Geng Dabao, it's almost done."

Dabao followed suit and stopped there: "Mom, I'm thirsty."

Ye Fan put Erbao on the chair, went to the kitchen to get a thermos and six bowls, and poured sour plum soup for her and the five children.

The three sisters of the Liao family did not expect that the thermos could be used to hold more than just hot water. They asked in unison, "What is this?"

Dabao: "Sour plum soup. My uncle sent it to me."

Ye Fan added: "My sister-in-law got the ingredients for the sour plum soup from the medicine store. It was supposed to be drunk after it cooled down. I was worried that they would have stomach upset. Dabao, you two should drink slowly."

Erbao wasn't thirsty, he took a couple of sips to taste it and then stretched out his hand to push it away. Ye Fan simply drank from her daughter's bowl and gave her half of the bowl to Miaomiao.

The little girl was embarrassed: "No need."

Ye Fan: "Drink it. After you finish drinking, go home and get your books and homework. The three of you can read and do homework. I'll teach Dabao how to write."

Miaomiao and her two brothers didn't want to study, but they were too embarrassed to refuse. When the older brother was doing his summer homework, Miaomiao taught his younger sister first grade math pinyin, but she got impatient after only three sentences and thought her sister was stupid.

The little girl wanted to be liked by Ye Fan, so she came to Ye's house every day to enjoy the cool breeze and drink sour plum soup. When she saw Ye Fan looking at her, she almost cried anxiously: "It's obviously you who don't know how to teach."

Miaomiao was so angry that she slammed the table: "Two plus four equals six, but I don't know what three plus three equals. Is it because I don't know how to teach or are you stupid?"

"You just don't know how to teach!" The little sister's face turned red with anger. Two, four and three are different. It's normal for her not to know. How can she be stupid?

Ye Fan wanted to laugh: "Little sister, use a pencil to draw two lines on the blank space in your homework book, then draw four, and count how many they are. Erase them and then draw two threes."

The younger sister followed his instructions and got a surprising result: "Six?"

Liao Miaomiao rolled her eyes at her sister.

Ye Fan: "It's like you can get to my home from the east, you can get to my home from the west. You can also get to my home from the north by passing through the alley. My home is like number six."

The little girl exclaimed as if she had suddenly realized something: "I know. Big sister, look at Aunt Ye, she's better at teaching than you."

Liao Miaomiao was speechless and could not refute: "...Aunt Ye is older than me, so of course she knows more than me."

Little sister: "You are older than me too."

Liao Miaomiao was speechless.

Ye Fan tried to smooth things over: "Okay, let's continue."

Erbao was sleepy, so Ye Fan held her and watched Dabao write pinyin. Dabao was about to help his mother share the burden of watching his sister sleep. But when he heard that his younger sister, who was two years older than him, didn't know what three plus three equaled, he felt a sense of accomplishment. In order not to be overtaken by his younger sister, Dabao sat still for half an hour for the first time.

The child is too active and you can’t use the trick of studying on him every day, otherwise he will become bored with studying before the eldest child goes to elementary school.

Geng Zhiye is not at home during the day, so Ye Fan has to find a solution on his own.

The next day, Ye Fan came back from shopping and cooked porridge on the stove. She picked up the two children who were playing on the bed and washed them. Then the three of them returned to the living room and stood in a row.

Dabao: "Mom, what are we doing?"

"Have you ever heard of using just a little force to achieve a great result?"

Dabao is only four years old. He has heard a lot, but there are even more things he has not heard of.

Ye Fan added: "My elder brother has been learning from mom for two years and still can't beat you."

In the past, Dabao didn't believe his mother in learning things, thinking that she deliberately made things difficult for him because he was sometimes naughty. But now that he knows that foreign languages ​​are useful and that he is better at pinyin and math than his older sister, he has no doubt about it.

In the past, Ye Fan's weak body did not allow her to split bricks with her bare hands or break rocks with her chest, so she only practiced Tai Chi. She practiced for more than ten years, almost without interruption, including when she was pregnant, and naturally practiced in front of Dabao and Erbao.

Dabao was very disappointed: "This? I thought mommy didn't practice anymore."

Ye Fan: "There's been a lot going on lately, and Mom can't calm down. Did grandma ever tell me that Mom was not in good health before?"

"Dad said that. I remember." Dabao understood, "I will practice with Mom."

Ye Fan heard the implication of his words: "One year of practice is useless, two years is the best start."

"Two years is two years." Dabao said to his sister, "Erbao, if you can't do it, just watch first. I'll teach you when I learn it."

With mom and brother around, Erbao never makes a fuss unless he is hungry, sleepy or sick.

The second child nodded obediently. When she saw her mother moving, she followed suit. Ye Fan taught half of it first, and then taught the first and second children step by step, without requiring them to do it for a certain length of time or to a certain level.

The purpose of Ye Fan is to make Dabao and Erbao calm down and improve their concentration.

After about half an hour, Dabao was sweating all over. Ye Fan wiped them both with a hot towel, changed their wet clothes, and told them to go play. She brought the porridge down and started cooking on the stove.

While Ye Fan was riding his three-wheeled motorcycle to familiarize himself with the island's environment, Geng Zhiye built the toilet and made hundreds of coal briquettes. Only now did Ye Fan have the energy to pick up Tai Chi again and visit the secretary.

Ye Fan kept her word and waited for the secretary to come to her. Geng Zhiye came back and told her that the secretary went to the army to find him, but Ye Fan still sat on the Diaoyutai.

Liao Miaomiao felt embarrassed to go to Ye Fan's house to enjoy the cool air every day, so she gave her unused abacus to Erbao. Erbao liked to listen to the sound of abacus beads, so Ye Fan taught his daughter abacus.

Liao Miaomiao was surprised: "Aunt Ye, how come you know everything?"

"There are many things I don't know. For example, I didn't know how to light a fire, fetch water, or cook seafood. Even now, I don't recognize half of the seafood in the vegetable market."

Liao Miaomiao: "Your family is in the north, it would be strange if you knew how to do it. No, no, I almost got led astray by you. I mean, you didn't even look at my son when you were teaching him how to use an abacus."

Dabao was surprised: "Sister Miaomiao, my mother is an accountant. Accountants can use abacus!"

Chen Xiaohui was not good at it. She had to calculate it again on a draft paper after using an abacus. She was embarrassed to calculate it at work, so she went home to calculate it every day. Otherwise, she would not have to go back to her room every day when she got home, and she would not have time to meet Tao Chunlan.

Miaomiao thought she had learned it well: "Auntie Ye, please teach me."

"Practice makes perfect." Ye Fan said, "If you don't use it often, even if you are very good at it now, you won't be confident in using it in a few years. Dabao, mom often speaks foreign words to you because she is worried that you will forget them all after not using them for a while."

Liao Miaomiao wanted to take the abacus back, but she thought that she had no chance to go to technical secondary school and take the college entrance examination. In the future, she would either go to the countryside or join the army, or stay at home for two years after graduating from junior high school and get married early: "Auntie Ye teaches Erbao because she hopes that Erbao will become an accountant?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "If Erbao likes it, then he can study. If he doesn't want to study, then he can study something else."

Liao Miaomiao couldn't help but feel envious.

Seeing this, Ye Fan was afraid of teaching the child bad habits: "The main reason is that Erbao is two years old and there is no need to rush. When she is your age, I will not allow her to fish for three days and rest for two days."

"But what good will it do if you learn it well?"

Ye Fan heard the implication of her words. Since he couldn't go to college to study what he liked, he changed his career: "Opportunities are only for those who are prepared. For example, when I came here, my job was taken over by someone else. That person thought accounting was easy before, so he didn't learn it well when someone taught him. As a result, he realized this when he started working."

Liao Miaomiao heard about Ye Fan from her classmates. Zhuang Qiuyue didn't allow her to mention "Chen Xiaohui" in front of Ye Fan. She pretended not to know: "So was she fired?"

Ye Fan: "Fortunately, I have taught Aunt Dabao before. She can ask Aunt Dabao for help and learn after work. Otherwise, she will have to give up her job."

"Can what I learned in school be used?"

Ye Fan nodded: "Just because you don't need it before you're 20 doesn't mean you won't need it after you're 20. Look, I can teach Dabao English. His father can teach him Russian."

Dabao took the opportunity to say, "Mom, Russian is so difficult."

"Did your mother force you to learn?"

That's not the case. When Dad said that, Mom asked Dad to teach him, not asking him whether he was right or not. Dabao thought of this and covered his face: "I forgot, Mom, I'm sorry."

Ye Fan: "Then let's make a deal. You learn what I want you to learn well. If you want to learn, mom will teach you well. If mom doesn't know how to learn, ask grandma and uncle to help you find a teacher?"

Dabao just wanted to play. But there was nothing to lose by agreeing: "Mom, pinky promise?"

They couldn't make pinky promises because of Dadi. Ye Fan reached out her hand, and Dabao stood up and took her hand and high-fived. The three Liao sisters envied Dabao, and Ye Fan treated him like an adult and promised him that they loved to come to Ye Fan's house more and more. However, within a few days of coming, they received news from the logistics personnel of the army that a typhoon was coming.

That afternoon, Zhuang Qiuyue asked her three children to go to Ye Fan's house to do their homework and accompany Dabao and Erbao. She, Ye Fan, and Liu Guihua collected firewood and leaves.

Liu Guihua, like Ye Fan, had never seen a typhoon, so she asked Zhuang Qiuyue how many days the typhoon would last.

Zhuang Qiuyue wasn't sure, so she asked Ye Fan if he knew.

Geng Zhiye hadn't come back yet, so Ye Fan had no idea. Fortunately, he had seen it on TV in his previous life: "I heard it will rain heavily before it reaches our place."

Liu Guihua: "It happens to be our side?"

Zhuang Qiuyue: "When Lao Liao was building my toilet, he said he could flip the roof off."

Liu Guihua asked Ye Fan: "Should we take the spittoon into the house?"

Ye Fan: "Put it under the eaves during the day and bring it into the house when you need it, otherwise it will smell too bad."

Zhuang Qiuyue thought the same. The three of them filled the stove, and Zhuang Qiuyue went home to wash her face and went to the next door to find the three children. When she arrived at Ye Fan's living room, she remembered something: "Xiao Ye, do you have coal briquettes at home?"

Ye Fan: "I'm worried that if it rains for a few days in a row, the coal briquettes will be damper than firewood and won't burn."

"Yes, there is water on the ground. Is there any wood under the coal briquettes?"

Ye Fan's family had no wooden boards, so before the typhoon came, he moved the bricks left over from building the toilet to the kitchen, laid two layers of bricks and then put the coal briquettes on top.

In the evening, Geng Zhiye came back and saw Ye Fan buying a lot of dried noodles and dry fine rice noodles, enough for the mother and three to eat for half a month: "Fanfan, buy some more pickles. It's raining and windy so we can't buy vegetables, and supplies can't come in."

Ye Fan: "No wonder there are two cars parked in front of the vegetable market, one is full of rice, and the other is full of rice noodles."

Geng Zhiye knew about this. The commune had no transport vehicles, so the market asked the army for one, and Political Commissar Liao approved it.

"Go to the market. I'll pack some clothes and leave." Geng Zhiye went to the bedroom and came out again, "Ask if there are any salted duck eggs, and if there are any other things that are not restricted."

Ye Fan carried the vegetable basket and said, "Got it."

Geng Zhiye packed up his things and checked all the doors and windows again. Dabao was scared because his parents were acting like they were facing a great enemy, so he behaved unusually well.

It was the first time that Ye Fan was so close to a typhoon. She felt a little uneasy because of the unfamiliarity, so she asked Dabao and Erbao to sleep with her.

With his mother by his side, Dabao felt at ease. In the middle of the night, a typhoon passed by and banged the doors and windows, startling Ye Fan awake. He and Erbao did not move.

Ye Fan held the flashlight to the window. Raindrops hit him like hail. Ye Fan kept his eyes open until dawn.

The rain had eased off in the morning, but the wind was too strong to hold up the umbrella. Dabao and Erbao didn't dare go near the living room door, and they followed Ye Fan wherever he went.

Ye Fan bought a lot of vegetables last night and used them to cook noodles.

Dabao took a bite of noodles and looked outside: "Mom, is this the typhoon?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "A typhoon can blow down the fence. The typhoon didn't come. It's like when I hit my sister, my hand passed in front of you and brought the wind."

The noodles in Dabao's mouth fell into the bowl.

Ye Fan: "It's just what you think."

"That's why grandma didn't ask you to come."

Ye Fan: "She is worrying for nothing."

Dabao nodded: "We are not going out." He turned to his sister and said, "Erbao, we are not going out."

Erbao listened to his brother very much: "I want to play with my brother."

The Liao family and the Liu family didn't dare to come out. No one was looking for Dabao and Erbao, and Ye Fan's house was unusually quiet.

When the sun came out, Zhuang Qiuyue came over with a sewing basket and her three children. She lamented to Ye Fan that the wind was really scary and said that she hadn't slept well in the past few days. She also said that Ye Fan looked very healthy and was very brave.

Ye Fan shook his head: "I'll catch up on my sleep during the day."

Zhuang Qiuyue was always worried about when the rain would stop, and forgot to catch up on her sleep. She said she could go to bed early today. As she was talking, Liu Guifang came over with her children.

The living room was stuffy and hot because there were so many people, so Ye Fan turned on the fan.

It rained for several days and the house was cool, and both adults and children forgot that it was the dog days of summer.

Liu Guihua sighed: "The island also has its advantages. No matter how hot it is during the day, I can fall asleep at night. It was cold a few days ago when it rained. I didn't expect it. I didn't cover myself with anything as usual, and I woke up in the middle of the night. Xiaoye, how about you?"

"The first and second babies need to be covered with towel blankets. They have been sleeping with me these days, and it's fine for me to make do with them."

Seeing that she looked good, Liu Guihua said, "I was worried that you wouldn't be able to get used to it."

Ye Fan: "I am mentally prepared. Although the typhoon is scary, it is worth it as we can eat cheap seafood every day."

Liu Guihua agreed: "We used to dig wild vegetables. Now we can't eat all the small fish and shrimps we pick up from the seashore. I plan to send some dried seaweed and fish to my hometown before the food goes bad in the winter. When do you send it, we can go together and see if we can get a discount."

Zhuang Qiuyue: "The price is fixed. It won't be cheaper."

Dabao ran in from outside.

Ye Fan: "Why don't you play anymore?"

Being bored in the house, several children ran to the yard. However, the yard was too sunny and the eaves were too crowded. Dabao thought it was not fun, so he took off his shoes and climbed onto the chair: "I want to read a book." He picked up the picture book that he had thrown in the corner and sat down next to Ye Fan.

Zhuang Qiuyue looked at Dabao and asked, "Is Dabao taller than when he first came? Should his shoes be smaller?"

Ye Fan smiled and said, "You don't have to ask me to do it."

"Buy it?" Liu Guihua blurted out.

Dabao turned around and said, "Grandma made it for us." Pointing at his sister who was lying in her mother's arms and playing with her fingers, "Grandma made it for my sister with small flowers, but mom doesn't know how to make it."

Zhuang Qiuyue looked at Erbao's feet. There were two small flowers and a few green leaves on the uppers of the shoes. "Did your mother-in-law embroider them?"

Ye Fan nodded: "She and my father-in-law are both retired, so she doesn't have to worry about my sister-in-law's work. She has time to do it."

Liu Guihua didn't know how to do it, and she was very envious. She couldn't help but sit over and look at it: "What a skillful hand."

The children from the Liao and Liu families came in and were curious when they saw this scene. When they heard that the flowers on Erbao's shoes were embroidered, Liao Miaomiao was shocked: "Does anyone still know how to embroider?"

Ye Fan: "Yes. When you look at many embroidery works, you will wonder how they could be embroidered by humans. But they are really embroidered by humans, because machines cannot make them."

Liao Miaomiao: "Where are the foreigners' machines?"

Ye Fan shook his head.

Several children could not help but exclaim in surprise.

Geng Zhiye thought something had happened when he arrived at the courtyard. He took a few steps to the door and saw a room full of people. He was startled and said, "I thought something had happened."

Zhuang Qiuyue was also startled: "Captain Geng?"

"Lao Liao is behind us. We walked here."

Ye Fan: "Who are you with?"

Liu Guifang: "It must be my old cow."

Deputy Captain Niu often praised Geng Zhiye to Liu Guifang: "Old Niu doesn't have the key." Then he would ask his own children if they wanted to go home.

The two children missed their father and went out with her. Zhuang Qiuyue was also worried about Political Commissar Liao because the army station was closer to the sea: "It's almost noon, I have to go home and cook."

Geng Zhiye walked them to the eaves of the corridor, and when they were outside the courtyard, he came in: "Fanfan, are you okay these days?"

Ye Fan: "The first day was a little scary. But it was much better than I expected."

Geng Zhiye nodded: "This side is better, the other side is serious, the trees have fallen."

“Is this also the island?”

Geng Zhiye: "Yes. Typhoons are strange. Some places have strong winds and some places have light rain. This island is not small. It is common for it to rain heavily in the supply and marketing cooperative and be sunny here."

"I bought a lot of vegetables this morning. Dabao's face has turned yellow from not going out these few days."

Dabao came down immediately, put on his slippers and pulled his father to the kitchen: "Dad, the fishmonger said, we'll beat him in the morning."

Geng Zhiye took a quick look and asked, "Are they all small-net seafood?"

Ye Fan carried Erbao in and said, "The fishermen said the typhoon is not far away yet, so they dare not go out to sea."

Geng Zhiye shook his head: "You don't know, we wouldn't dare to go too far without a typhoon."

Ye Fan didn't know. Just when she was about to ask why, she suddenly remembered the geographical location of the island. There was a bald man on the top and a chicken on the bottom. "You are not patrolling around the seaside, are you?"

Geng Zhiye subconsciously said, "Of course not." He understood what he said and shook his head, "No?"

"How do you know it's not possible without asking?" Ye Fan said, "The military and the people are like one family. Then again, fishermen are out in the water every day, scaring the fish away. Will they have to go out again in ten, twenty, or thirty years? How much will be left for us by then?"

That makes sense.

There was no loss for him.

In the afternoon, Geng Zhiye discussed with the political commissar and chief of staff and confirmed that there was no loss. Geng Zhiye reported to his superiors that the troops were not damaged after the typhoon, but the fishermen suffered heavy losses. Finally, he stated his purpose.

At the same time, eight miles away, the commune secretary was at a loss as to what to do as he looked at a corner of a house that had been collapsed by a tree.

In the past, private transactions were allowed, and fishermen could take the train to Hangzhou. Now they can only sell to the purchasing station on the shore. After hauling 100 kilograms, there might be 20 or even 50 kilograms left. In the past, fishermen did not need to bring the fish back, but would lower the price and sell them out in a short time on the streets. If they could not sell all the fish, they could bring them back to dry and keep them until the end of the year. In this case, there is hope even if the boat is blown away by a typhoon.

The secretary's son asked his father what happened. The secretary looked at the house and said it was uninhabitable and had to be demolished and rebuilt. But where would the money come from? The secretary sighed. His son couldn't help but say, "Go to Ye Fan as soon as possible, the money for the house repair has been paid."

"How can it be so fast?" The secretary retorted subconsciously, realizing what his son meant, his face became unnatural, "The troops don't need to buy seafood. The ones picked up by the kitchen staff are enough."

His son thought he was too stubborn and wanted to save face: "If you don't go, I will!"

"Go ahead. I want to see if anyone will pay attention to you." Geng Zhiye ignored him, so it would be strange for Ye Fan to pay attention to his son.

The secretary complained that his son didn't know this or that. When his son saw his father was like this again, he said, "Go ahead." Then he went home and rode his bike.

When they arrived at Ye Fan’s house, the secretary’s son didn’t dare to go in.

Dabao and Erbao were playing with flower strings under the eaves of the corridor. Erbao saw someone coming first and said, "Brother."

"Uncle, who are you looking for?" Dabao asked loudly.

The secretary's son subconsciously wanted to find a place to hide.

Dabao ran down: "Looking for my dad? My dad is over there." Pointing to the southeast.

"Dabao, who are you talking to?" Ye Fan came out of the house carrying a bucket of water.

The secretary's son had nowhere to hide, so he came in with his head held high: "I, I - my name is Su Yuanhang, my father said I'm the secretary of the commune, I -"

"Did your father ask you to come?" Ye Fan asked.

Su Yuanhang shook his head subconsciously: "He knows, he said, he is temporarily busy. A lot of trees have fallen, he needs to bring people to clean up. I-he asked me to come, he told me to listen to you."

Ye Fanxin said that you feel so guilty, I would never believe you!
But there is no harm in talking about it, since she has the initiative anyway.

Ye Fan put down the bucket: "Dabao, come in."

Dabao closed the fence door, moved a bench into the house, and then pulled his sister back to the bedroom.

Ye Fan poured a glass of water for Su Yuanhang and asked him to sit down. "Dabao, lend me your pencil and exercise book. Please don't use any of them."

Dabao brought a brand new notebook: "Mom, you don't have to return it."

Ye Fan: "Can you write one less book?"

Dabao felt embarrassed in front of outsiders, so he smiled and ran back to the house, closing the door.

Su Yuanhang's child was about the same age as Dabao, and he only wanted to play and eat delicious food. Seeing that the child was so sensible, he couldn't help but ask Ye Fan how old Dabao was.

Ye Fan said, "He will be five years old by the end of the year."

One year younger than his son? He really knows how to teach children. Su Yuanhang inexplicably looked forward to what Ye Fan was going to say: "What do you need me to do?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "Ten brigades in Hengshan Commune?"

Su Yuanhang was shocked. How did she know?

Ye Fan glanced at him without explaining, and wrote down the names of ten teams in the notebook, "Those who live at the foot of the mountain can grow oranges and peaches, those who live close to the water can raise ducks, and those who live in mountainous areas with flat terrain can raise chickens and pigs—"

"Wait a moment--" Su Yuanhang couldn't help but interrupt.

Ye Fan nodded, "I know what you want to say. You thought about it, but the canning factory purchasing station won't accept it, right? Because they can't sell them all. When you talked to the canning factory, you said that we will recycle the canned fruits collected from here. Private transactions are not allowed, so your father needs to apply to set up a food factory. Salted duck eggs and preserved eggs are sold to Shencheng and the capital in the name of the food factory. I remember there was a train from Ningbo to Shencheng and the capital. If you get on the train today, it can be shipped tomorrow. It's cold in winter, so pork can also be shipped over."

Su Yuanhang: "Do you know anyone?"

"I used to be an accountant at the Capital Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and I knew a lot of people there. Now my sister-in-law works as a salesperson at the supply and marketing cooperative. Chicken and duck eggs are rationed in the capital, and there are no oranges. Canned food is expensive, but most workers' families are willing to buy some during the holidays." Ye Fan added, "You can't plant too much. Other communes follow suit and have connections, but I have people and can't do anything."

Su Yuanhang thought thoughtfully: "What's the benefit for you?"

Ye Fan nodded: "One request, sell it to the troops at cost price. No more than 50% at most."

Su Yuanhang felt relieved: "In the name of the food factory?"

Ye Fan: "It's also OK to use a purchasing station."

Su Yuanhang choked.

"It's not easy to run a purchasing station. If the food factory is responsible for its own profits and losses, no one will object. The premise is that the real purpose of the commune cannot be known to outsiders." Ye Fan reminded, "There is no explicit regulation that food factories cannot sell live chickens, ducks, and pigs, right?"

Su Yuanhang: "What if you don't allow it?"

(End of this chapter)