She's already showing her pregnancy, and you're still not over it?

If you don't show up as promised, half the day has passed.

On the ridge of the field, Ye Qingzhou and his men waited quietly for the arrival of Liu, the richest man in the city, to discuss the hundred acres of wasteland.

"Girl, she's here again. And she brought an old man with her." Chonghua ran over, panting, lifting her skirt.

"That Yu woman is like a stubborn leech. I'll go get her out of here." Li Qi threw down the hoe in his hand and rolled up his sleeves.

“Exactly, so she doesn’t ruin things.” Lü Xiaocao picked up the hoe he had thrown away.

Ye Qingzhou reached out to stop her: "It's too late. Miss Liu has arrived."

The eldest daughter of the Liu family, her jade pendants jingling, looked around at the greenery with wonder, as if she were enjoying a spring outing. Her maidservant carefully supported her.

Ye Qingzhou took a few steps forward and greeted her with a smile: "Greetings, Miss Liu. Miss Liu is a woman of exceptional beauty and captivating charm, just as the rumors say."

"Really?" Miss Liu stroked her cheek, beaming. "Master Ye has such a sweet tongue. It's even better than what those men say."

Ye Qingzhou took Miss Liu's delicate hand from the maid: "These are truly heartfelt words. Miss Liu, of such noble birth, personally went to the fields; how can one not feel close to such a sincere heart?"

"If only you were a man." Miss Liu placed her hand on Ye Qingzhou's arm and looked at her slightly protruding pregnant belly.

"Please." Ye Qingzhou smiled, a hint of helplessness in her eyes that vanished instantly. When she looked up again, her eyes were full of smiles.

The two of them walked a few steps. The maid followed behind.

The summer sun is blazing.

"Redraw the umbrella."

...

"Repaint it, with lychee water."

After Miss Liu finished her lychee water, both the maid and Ye Qingzhou offered her a small cup, which Miss Liu handed to Ye Qingzhou. Once her hands were free, Miss Liu took Ye Qingzhou's arm and they walked forward affectionately.

When we got tired, we stopped to catch our breath.

Miss Liu had lived in the city for a long time and had never walked on such a muddy road before. Her beautiful embroidered shoes were covered with mud along the edges.

"Miss Liu, don't move." Ye Qingzhou squatted down, took a handkerchief, and wiped the dirt off the side of Miss Liu's shoes.

Miss Liu stared at Ye Qingzhou in a daze for a long while.

She saw a bead of sweat on Ye Qingzhou's forehead, which fell to the ground. After hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke: "Mr. Ye, actually, my father wants you to raise the price a bit more. Otherwise, he'll sell it to someone else."

Ye Qingzhou paused for a moment, then continued wiping the other shoe.

“I know he saw you were making money, so he raised the price. I don’t like those people. I still like you. I’ve made the decision to sell it to you. I’ll talk to Dad.”

The sunlight was bright, shining down through the patterned fabric of the umbrella.

Ye Qingzhou finished polishing her shoes and slowly stood up. Under the umbrella, she put away her handkerchief, her smile a mixture of shyness at having her secret exposed and sweet satisfaction: "I am deeply grateful for Miss Liu's kindness."

Under an umbrella, a beautiful woman with bright eyes and white teeth smiled radiantly. She almost dazzled Miss Liu. Such a beautiful face, such a courteous person—if she were a man, she… Miss Liu looked somewhat wistfully ahead and said, “Let’s go. It’s so hot today. It’s just that you seem like a good person…”

"Hey! What are you doing?" Pumpkin shouted from behind.

Hearing hurried footsteps behind her, Ye Qingzhou immediately stepped in front of Miss Liu.

"Daughter-in-law! Daughter-in-law, I miss you so much! Why won't you see me?" Before she could even speak, tears streamed down Yu's mother's face.

"Sister-in-law, I'm starving. Please give me something to eat." Yu Yue grabbed Ye Qingzhou's sleeve.

"Madam, look at this child, how pitiful he is. Please raise him. He is my own flesh and blood. Can you bear to see such a young child suffer?" Yu Xi held the child and kept shoving him towards Ye Qingzhou's face.

Miss Liu, annoyed by the noise, frowned and asked, "What is all this?"

Ye Qingzhou gritted her teeth, her brows furrowed. She looked at the Yu family members and asked, "Where is Yan'er, whom you cherish so much? Can she really bear to see her own son suffer?"

Yu Xi hesitated, then just kept holding the child and swaying around aimlessly.

“Yesterday, she said she was going out to play cards. She hasn’t come back since.” Yu Yue stepped forward and tightly grabbed Ye Qingzhou’s sleeve: “Sister-in-law, I want to eat osmanthus cake. I will never say that the things you buy are bad again.”

"Hiss~~" Ye Qingzhou tried to pull her sleeve back, but couldn't. Looking at the faces of the mother and her two children, who were staring at her expectantly as if they were looking at a plate of meat that was about to be eaten.

Why can't I shake them off? I ran all the way to the edge of the battlefield, but I still couldn't shake off these bastards. Ye Qingzhou couldn't help but close his eyes and gasp.

“Daughter-in-law, you used to love Yue’er so much! Yue’er cried for two days and wouldn’t eat the food I cooked. I know you’re angry with her. These are vegetables I grew myself. I just picked them for you this morning. Calm down.” Mother Yu took out a tattered cloth bag.

"Go! You all go." Ye Qingzhou pointed the way.

"Daughter-in-law, you're such a good person. How could you be so heartless?" Mother Yu started crying again, holding a cloth bag and trying to stuff it into Ye Qingzhou's hands.

Ye Qingzhou refused, but Yu's mother, with a quick glance, stuffed it into Miss Liu's hand.

Miss Liu lifted the cloth bundle: "What's this?"

A bunch of greens, the roots still covered in dirt. Ye Qingzhou took it and tossed the cloth bundle to Yu Xi.

"You're so fierce," Miss Liu said to Ye Qingzhou. "I'll come again tomorrow."

Yu's mother was still wailing; her voice filled my ears. Yu Xi and Yu Yue were shouting, and Pumpkin, Li Qi, Chonghua, and Lü Xiaocao worked together to pull them away, cursing at each other as they went.

Ye Qingzhou frowned, then forced a kind smile and said, "I'm not being mean to you. Did I scare you? You must be tired from your long journey, Miss Liu. You should rest for a while. I'll come to see you later when the heat has subsided."

Miss Liu responded and went back with her maid. Once she was far away, she looked back and saw that the three people who had caused the trouble were no longer shouting.

Miss Liu returned to the inn and had just woken up from her afternoon nap when someone knocked on the door, saying they had something important to tell her.

When Miss Liu and her maid went downstairs, they saw Sima Mo with several of his men, as well as the mother and her two children who had caused the trouble, all accompanied by a small child.

The night watchman, who was chatting with the shopkeeper, saw the group of thugs and ran away.

"Serve tea to Miss Liu." Sima Mo greeted her, "Miss Liu, give me these wastelands. Ye Qingzhou, she's no good."

The aroma of tea wafted through the air, but Miss Liu showed little interest. The weather was still hot, and a maidservant stood by, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan.

“Miss Liu, you’re young, don’t be fooled by her.” Mother Yu’s eyes were somewhat cloudy, and her eyelids drooped, but that didn’t diminish the calculation in them: “Me? She’s terribly fooled me.”

After saying that, he pretended to cry twice.

Mother and son were of one mind, and Yu Xi immediately filled in the gap: "Miss Liu, you saw it too, those vegetables were a token of my mother's affection. How materialistic she is. Now that she has a lover in the Jiang family grain business, she looks down on me, her husband who has shared hardship with her."

Her lover? Miss Liu's eyes darted around.

Seeing that it was her turn, Yu Yue spoke up: "My mother gave her things out of kindness. How can she not distinguish between good and bad? She's all smiles when she sees rich people, but she doesn't give a good look to poor relatives like us. She treats people differently depending on who she's dealing with. She's two-faced."

"Who are you?" Miss Liu asked.

“I am her husband. This is my mother, and this is my sister,” Yu Xi replied, without mentioning a word about their divorce.

"It's not just Brother Yu, I've also been taken advantage of by her. If I wasn't afraid you'd be deceived and get scolded by Brother Liu, I wouldn't have said anything. That time..." Sima Mo sipped his tea and recounted the story.

"Master Ye, what brings you here?" the shopkeeper asked with a smile.

Outside, Ye Qingzhou, who had been listening for a while, finally stopped and glanced at the few quick-witted fellows.

Entering with Ye Qingzhou were the night watchman, Li Qi, Lü Xiaocao, Yu Xiaohong, Uncle Yu, and others.

"You, you who set fire to your own sister-in-law, how dare you talk about others?" The night watchman pointed at Yu Yue: "That night, I saw your face very clearly."

Yu Yue stepped forward, ignoring the fact that the night watchman was much older than her, and greeted him, "You damn old geezer..."

As soon as Uncle Yu Si came out, Yu Yue felt guilty.

Yu Xiaohong tugged at her fourth uncle's sleeve: "Father, that day, Yu Yue and Yu Xi tied me up in the woodshed, intending to sell me to the Sima family to pay off their debts. If it weren't for Sister Qingzhou saving me, you wouldn't be where you are today."

As Yu Xiaohong spoke, her eyes reddened.

Whether Master Ye is a good person or a bad person is unknown. But these troublemakers are definitely not good people. Miss Liu looked left and right; this afternoon was more lively than watching a play. Miss Liu's maid silently protected her.

"You, you're all in cahoots. You're talking nonsense!" Mother Yu pointed at them, her voice fierce and angry, her eyes turning into triangular bulges.

"How dare you, old lady? Your son beat up our Ye family so he could marry another woman. They've been divorced for so long, why are you still clinging on?" Lu Xiaocao wasn't afraid of her; her own mother-in-law and husband were the same way, and she was used to cursing them.

"You're blind, but others aren't. Our Ye Dongjia is protected by Boss Jiang. Boss Jiang said that the child in Ye Dongjia's belly will bear the surname Jiang. A group of people ganging up on a pregnant woman, what kind of people are they?" Li Qi spat.

Seeing Ye Qingzhou's pregnant belly, Sima Mo's eyes darkened. Why could Jiang Jinghong have it, but he couldn't? This time, wasn't the opportunity here? Ignoring their argument, Sima Mo went to persuade Miss Liu: "Niece, your uncle and your father have known each other for so many years. How could we possibly lie to you?"

After saying that, he personally poured tea for Miss Liu.

The maid took the tea and placed it on the table for Miss Liu.

Miss Liu responded, but her eyes were fixed on Ye Qingzhou. Sima Mo came to ask again, and she was dizzy from the noise. She said to her maid, "Let's go home. Ask my father."

"Yes." The maid obeyed and instructed the servants.

Miss Liu, accompanied by her maid, walked straight outside. At the door, Ye Qingzhou was waiting.

"What do you want to say? Are you also begging me to give you the wasteland? Would you lie to me?" Miss Liu asked.

"It's your choice to give it to whomever you want. As long as you don't regret it." Ye Qingzhou's features remained as beautiful as ever, her smile as lovely as the first time they met. She didn't voice her gains or losses.

Even after she got into the carriage, that smiling face still lingered in Miss Liu's mind. She scoffed, "What are you laughing at? You're so stupid."

"Young Miss, something terrible has happened! Your pendant is missing!" the maid exclaimed.