"Thank you, Uncle and Aunt. That luggage is full of Leilei's things. Could you find him a school here? He used to have good grades."
Liu Feng wiped away her tears, pointing to the voice inside the room and choking back sobs.
"Don't worry, this is what we should do. You stay and keep Leilei company tonight, and leave tomorrow. Mingjing and Mingyue, squeeze in and make room for them."
Mingjing nodded, and the family finally started their meal.
Perhaps it was because he hadn't eaten so much good food in a long time, or perhaps it was because he was feeling down, but Minglei ate three bowls of rice in one go.
After the meal, Liu Feng diligently helped Sun Yunmei clear the dishes, but Sun Yunmei stopped her and told her to sit down to the side.
Both being pregnant, Zhang Qiao and Liu Feng found common ground and started chatting together, while Sun Yang and Ming Dahai sat together smoking and talking about houses.
Mingjing leaned forward as if to say something, but Minglei ran over and hugged her leg, "Third Aunt, when are we going to go beachcombing?"
"The tide hasn't gone out yet. Wait a while, go to sleep, I'll wake you up when I go beachcombing."
Ming Lei shook his head. "I won't sleep. If I fall asleep, you guys will run away."
After he finished speaking, he ran off to look at the chickens and ducks.
"Mingjing, when are we going to see that house?" Sun Yang asked anxiously, smoking a cigarette.
Mingjing stepped forward and said, "There's no rush with the house. We can talk about it when the homeowner comes back. Actually, I'm thinking of combining the two houses together. What do you think?"
Sun Yang paused, "Why are we opening up the two rooms? Those two rooms aren't small; we don't need a huge space to store seafood."
When the topic of housing came up, Sun Yang became serious. "Dahai, Mingjing, you know that Zhang Qiao and I are poor. We can't afford the house in a short time."
"Could you give us a few years' grace period? We'll definitely pay you back when we have the money. Could you please cover the payment for me?"
He probably couldn't pay back four thousand yuan even if he worked for several years. The old house at home was approved by the brigade before, and who knows when it might be taken back, leaving them nowhere to live.
"What are you saying? We're all family, what's this about advance payment?" Ming Dahai waved his hand, his face serious.
Mingjing sat on the stool and laughed, "Uncle, it's my fault for not explaining it to you clearly. We bought this house. Could you help us manage the delivery point for incoming and outgoing goods?"
"If you want to buy it later, you can use your salaries to pay off the debt and repay the principal. If you don't want to, we'll just pay you your salaries monthly; you won't go hungry."
"I wanted to open it up to make it easier for you to live and manage. Having a wall in between is definitely inconvenient. What do you think?"
Mingjing had originally planned to tell them after everything was settled, but seeing how anxious they were, she decided to make it clear in advance.
"Alright, alright," Sun Yang nodded, took a drag of his cigarette, and tears streamed down his face. "Mingjing, I never expected that you would be the one to help me at this crucial moment."
"My mother is my uncle, and I was wrong before. From now on, we will live together peacefully as a family."
"The sea, the mirror, thank you." Sun Yang covered his face, his body trembling with pain.
"Oh, why are you crying? We're family, so let's help each other out," Ming Dahai comforted him.
Mingjing stood up, yawned, and said, "Dad, I'm going to take a nap. Let me know when the tide goes out. Uncle is free this afternoon to go beachcombing."
"Okay."
After Ming Dahai looked in the mirror and went back into the house, he began to whisper with Sun Yang.
"This girl has changed a lot these days. Don't worry, our family's life will get better and better."
Sun Yang nodded, chatted with Ming Dahai for a while, and went to the inner room to rest before going to the beachcombing area in the afternoon.
The others in the courtyard also felt sleepy and went back to their rooms to rest early.
In a daze, Mingjing felt a foul smell lingering at the tip of her nose. She reached up and grabbed her nose, touching something soft.
She opened her eyes and glanced down at what was in her hand.
"Third Aunt, do your stinky socks smell good?" Ming Lei stuck his tongue out at Ming Jing, "Nya nya nya!"
Mingjing rolled out of bed, rubbed her eyes, and asked wearily, "What time is it?"
"Mingjing, get up and go beachcombing! It's 5:30 already, the tide's going out early today."
Ming Dahai walked in and saw Ming Lei and Ming Jing together, and said...
“Okay, call your uncle. Dad, you stay and watch over this little one. It’s not safe at the beach.” Mingjing sat up and stretched.
"No, I want to go! I want to become a son of the sea!" Minglei insisted on going.
Mingjing threw away the smelly sock in her hand. "Can you just behave yourself?"
"Yes! I promise Chairman Mao!" Ming Lei stood at attention and saluted, his expression resolute as he declared his intention to join the Party.
"Alright then, go outside and pack up my beachcombing tools, turn right, and march!" Mingjing commanded loudly.
Ming Lei stood at attention, turned around, and marched out in unison.
"Dad, is someone watching us outside?"
"Yes, these past few days people have been urging you to go beachcombing. They've actually found quite a lot on their own, but it's nothing compared to what you've done."
Mingjing sighed, "These people are really something. I'm not a weathervane, do you think I can make money?"
She got up, put on her mask for beachcombing, grabbed her beachcombing tools, and went out.
"Comrade Minglei!"
"Here!" Ming Lei stood up straight and stood at attention.
"We're going to beachcomb quietly today, no shooting allowed, do you understand?"
Ming Lei nodded, picked up the small wooden bucket, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and prepared to leave.
"Sister, where are we going? Everyone's watching you now," Mingyue said, worried as she thought of the swarm of flies.
Having not gone beachcombing for several days, and with no one keeping watch at the entrance, Mingjing led the three of them quickly out and headed towards a deserted path.
Mingjing thought for a moment, then turned and went into the kitchen, found a piece of pig liver and a piece of pork tenderloin, and put them in a bag.
"We're going fishing today."
When you're sea fishing from the shore, no one will bother you, right?
"Huh? Can you even catch fish with this?" Sun Jiaojiao asked with concern.
"Fish for lobsters, crabs, or any kind of fish you like, whoever catches one can sell it to me by weight," Mingjing joked, as if coaxing a child.
The group became interested and went to the kitchen to cut and pack the meat.
Mingliang brought over a few old fishing rods that looked quite old.
"These are all my treasured items. I haven't used them in a long time. You can take them and see if they still work."
Ming Dahai didn't stop him; he just treated it as playing with the child and didn't take it to heart.
The group of people took their fishing rods and headed outside.
It was the perfect time for beachcombing, and with no one watching the entrance, Mingjing led a group of people stealthily toward the beach.
"Sister, where should we go fishing?" Sun Yanyan asked, squinting as the sun set.
"Aren't there a lot of big rocks over there in the mangroves? It's close to the sea, let's go there."
The group walked through the grove and along a secluded path to the rocky beach, which was the very edge of the mangrove forest, resembling a cliff. It took half an hour to walk there.
Mingjing walked behind, while Minglei ran up ahead carrying a bucket, looking excited, as if he had never seen the sea before.
"Hey, kid, what are you so excited about? It's just the sea," Mingliang said, puzzled as to what was so exciting about looking at the sea.
"I haven't been to the beach in so long, they're too busy to bring me," Minglei said excitedly as he ran up to the rocks and looked down.
Mingjing grabbed his collar and pulled him back, saying, "Be careful, I won't be responsible if you fall and get brain damage."
"Oh," Ming Lei shrank back and obediently followed Ming Jing.
Standing on the rocks, the seawater was more turbulent than elsewhere. Large and small rocks were scattered together, and they estimated that the view from the highest point was more than ten meters.
The bottom half of the rock is submerged in seawater. The wind is not strong, and the waves are much gentler when they lap against the rocks.
Mingjing thought there should be fish and shrimp in the crevices of the scattered rocks.
The rocks were all quite large. Following the rocks downhill, the group found an extremely flat spot to use as a fishing spot.
She hasn't used up her luck stat yet, and she doesn't know if she'll catch a big fish while fishing today. If not, she'll go beachcombing.
"Third Aunt, I want to go down there to fish for crabs," Minglei said timidly, pointing to a rock below.
Actually, he's afraid of heights, but men are proud, and he'd rather die than say a word that he's scared.
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