Praise You

The next day, Secretary Ma went on a business trip out of town, and Dian Chen was going to a government meeting, so Ji Quan came to pick him up.

He was having breakfast at that time, and Ye Yuanyin hadn't gotten up yet. When Shen Huafeng was there, the rule was that food doesn't wait for anyone, everyone eats together, and the kitchen doesn't open the fire twice.

Aunt Yang was about to go call someone, but was stopped by Dian Yan, "She goes to bed very late, wait a while."

Chen Yinxia snorted twice at the dinner table. Last night, when she came back, she ran into two people stacked together in the corridor. The little girl protested loudly on the spot, "Do you have any sense of public morality? Can't you go to the room to be intimate? Do you have to set a bad example for minors?!"

Her eldest brother laughed disapprovingly and tried to shift the blame, "People who come back so late have no right to criticize others."

"I was going for vocal training!"

He casually put his arm on Xiaoye's shoulders and turned to ask her, "Didn't you study at night when you were in junior high and high school?"

"Learn."

"Did you hear that?" Chen Yan said, "Whose student life was easy? Those whose only path forward was the college entrance exams still pull all-nighters! Don't take advantage of all the social resources and then pretend you've suffered. Are you asking for a beating?"

Xia was so angry that he could only curse this biased bastard in his heart.

Back to breakfast, he actually had to cook a separate meal for Xiaoye? Chen Xixia thought indignantly. Ever since she could eat independently, she hadn't dared to sleep in even on weekends or holidays because her father never made an exception for anyone. Even Chen Xi'an was used to it, a habit ingrained in him for years. And now that her brother was the head of the family, he had to pamper his girlfriend first!

How shameless.

Sediment looked up and saw her grinning, and asked expressionlessly, "Does your tooth hurt?"

“It doesn’t hurt!”

"It doesn't hurt, 'hum' what?"

Chenchen Xia raised his head, glanced down at him, and said loudly: "I am happy! What's it to you?!"

He just smiled, shook his head and said, "None of my business. At most I'll complain to the teacher."

"You really are..." Chenyin Xia gritted her teeth and cursed in her heart, how could someone be so annoying!

Ji Quan kept a professional smile as she listened to the siblings bickering, only to hear Chen Di'an call out to her, "You don't have to go to the company later."

"But—there's a decision-making meeting for the healing project today."

"Aren't there other people? You don't have to do everything yourself. They'll take care of it."

Ji Quan felt that he was using a more decent way to get rid of himself, because he knew that he didn't want this project to continue from the beginning.

"Boss, you might think I'm being nosy, but I don't think this project needs to be kept secret," Ji Quan argued. "How much manpower, material resources, and financial resources have we invested in developing this project? Yet, what happens? It's all gone, and our vitality has been severely damaged. The human mind is complex and ever-changing, impossible to quantify. Even medicine can't reach this realm, so how can we possibly use sensual art to explore it?"

Just as Chen Yan was about to speak, Ye Yuanyin came out of the elevator on the first floor, and Aunt Yang hurried to greet him.

"Oh my God, you're finally here."

"Sorry Auntie, I overslept."

"Xiao Ye!" Chen Dixia looked at her sideways and was about to say something sarcastic, but when she turned around and received Chen Di'an's warning gaze, she fell silent.

"You—you have a bad habit of sleeping in."

"Yes, I was wrong."

Chen Yan looked at her with smiling eyes, raised his chin to the seat next to him, and said, "Come and eat."

She walked over and politely asked Ji Quan, who was standing there, "Has Assistant Ji had breakfast?"

Ji Quan answered like an outsider, "I've eaten."

"That's good." Ye Yuanyin didn't care much and turned to Chen Di'an and said, "I'm going to go out for a while."

"Where are you going?"

"Go pick up Yaya at the station."

He said "Huh" with interest, and asked with a smile: "Is she coming over today?"

"Yes," Ye Yuanyin was in a good mood, "It took a long time to persuade him to come."

"What time will you arrive?"

"Ten twenty."

"Then wait for me for a while, I'll go with you after the meeting."

She nodded.

"Brother!" Chendixia suddenly spoke up, grabbing Chendi'an's arm with her hand and calling out crisply, "Brother!"

Ye Yuanyin couldn't help laughing and exchanged a look with Chen Di'an. He received it and thought that Chen Dixia would never come to his temple for no reason. Since she started seventh grade, her reservedness and height have grown together. It has been a long time since he heard her call him brother like before.

"do what?"

"Who is Yaya? Are you familiar with her?"

"The girl I met in Jiutao Village is very nice. Do you want to meet her?"

"I'm not going!" She put on a serious face, feeling annoyed by her brother's indiscriminate treatment of them, even though she was the one who should be favored. Chen Yinxia pouted and glared at him fiercely, "Why should I go? What am I going for?"

She stood up suddenly, pushing her chair out a little. Aunt Yang stood beside her and said to her with a stern face, "You're impolite."

"Okay!" Chendianxia bent down to put the chair away, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. It was Xiaoye who had broken the rules first, but no one dared to stop her. And if she made the slightest mistake, anyone could teach her a lesson. Thinking of this, Chendianxia walked over to the person who had caused the trouble.

Sediment raised his eyes, a puzzled expression on his face. The little girl smiled at him, then suddenly kicked him.

He bent down and looked at the footprints on his trouser legs in disbelief.

"Sorry, I slipped." Chenyin Xia raised her wrist, and the white dial inlaid with diamonds flashed with light. Her long hair was thrown behind her, and she walked away arrogantly with her arms half folded.

Ye Yuanyin lowered his head and tried hard to suppress the smile in his heart.

Chen Yan kicked her stool from under the table, and the unsuspecting person suddenly tilted his body, and the flesh on his arm trembled.

She looked at him angrily with her eyes wide open, but didn't dare to do it again, so she lowered her head and concentrated on eating breakfast.

Aunt Yang looked at this and that, completely confused about what the two people were talking about.

Ji Quan felt his heart collapse.

She had questioned many things before, constantly reshaping her values ​​through these constant questions and denials, but her love for him had never wavered. But after witnessing his lingering romance with another woman, she felt that her feelings for him would be shattered from now on. She could no longer tell whether she loved the omnipotent man she imagined or the man before her.

*

Because she was only here to take the school selection exam, Yaya temporarily moved into the Shen family's house.

Chen Yanxia had a video call with You Manshan, and her mother's dissatisfaction was about to reach the ceiling.

"Is our home a refugee camp? One isn't enough, so here comes another?" You Manshan didn't hide her emotions at all. "From now on, let's just call this villa Jiutao Village."

Chen Yinxia listened to these complaints with an obedient look on her face, but she was making other plans in her heart - fortunately, her surname was Chen and she was not an outsider with no sense of existence like her mother, otherwise her current situation might be even more difficult than hers.

This family has endured for centuries, from my great-grandfather to my grandfather, with the strongest men reigning supreme. My great-grandfather had five concubines, and aside from my grandfather's line, the others faded into obscurity over time, a testament to the survival of the fittest. Now that my grandfather is old, power is undergoing a secondary redistribution amidst the turmoil. My second uncle, fourth uncle, and aunt, unable to protect their wealth, will soon be stripped of their luxurious lifestyles, becoming middle class or moderately well-off, and perhaps, within a few generations, destitute.

The only ones who could pass on the wealth were her brother's descendants. As the most direct blood relative, she needed to gain Dian Dian's love and support.

You Manshan looked at her daughter's expression of indifference and asked angrily, "Did you listen to what Mom said?"

"I heard it."

Chen Yixia felt that her vulnerable mother was pitiful but not worthy of sympathy, so she perfunctorily said, "It's only for a few days. When Xiaoye feels a little better, brother will move out. Don't be too angry."

You Manshan asked perceptively, "Why is she in a bad mood?"

Chen Yinxia suddenly smiled and said sweetly like a young girl, "I don't know either."

You Manshan became more cautious and reminded him, "Your sister Meiyue's engagement party is coming soon. After all, there is a happy event at home. Invite Xiaoye to come along."

"all right."

*

After returning from KZ in the evening, Ye Yuanyin walked in the garden for a long time.

Yaya felt that living here was really confined, so she took the opportunity to find a time to talk to her.

"Sister, can't we move out?"

The girl's unspoken words were a reflection of a life she'd experienced countless times: the awkwardness and anxiety of arriving in a strange city, the sense of shabbiness and desolation that so alienated her from the bustling city life, and the subsequent feelings of inferiority and resentment. How to overcome this self-doubt and truly find one's place in this vast city was a question that plagued them, seemingly unanswered.

"Don't you want to live at your uncle's house?"

"Yeah." Yaya nodded and said shyly, "The uncle here is completely different from the one in Jiutao Village. Sometimes when I talk to him, I get so nervous that I can't even speak when I think of his identity."

"I understand." Ye Yuanyin said, "I'll tell him. We'll move out in a few days."

Yaya finally felt happy. "Are we going to Qinling? Or to the house my sister rented? For me, anywhere is fine."

Ye Yuanyin agreed: "I also feel that anywhere is more comfortable than here."

"But, can you leave?"

Yaya was worried about her again. "Qin Ling said you'll be the mistress of this family. You'll have to manage over 40 people serving here, and you'll also have to deal with all the personal relationships in your uncle's family. Although Qin Ling thinks this is a good thing, I feel it's so depressing here. They have a lot of rules. You can't speak loudly, and you'll be laughed at if you do something wrong. They're just trying to make people numb and stupid. And that Chenzi Xia, with his nostrils on top of his head, I really don't like it here at all."

Ye Yuanyin was amused by her, "Ji Xia has another reason for doing this. You will understand after you get to know her for a long time."

"But you're right, I don't like this kind of life either. They don't focus on the development of personal talents, and even hope that everyone will become a slave to power and wealth." Ye Yuanyin is a person rooted in the soil. She will weigh the pros and cons, and of course she needs to give up some inherent insistence for her own choices.

"But I need this opportunity. My father said that people can't be content with mediocrity and should strive hard while they are young. I don't believe in nonsense like going to hell after death. As long as I'm alive, I must strive to excel. Even if the results are not good, it's better than those who are content with mediocrity."

Yaya tried to recall that a storm had collapsed the house in the mountains, taking her parents with it. Grandma took her and her brother to live outside.

They had no money to build a new house, so they built a makeshift shack with the help of their neighbors using stones they had collected. Grandma was afraid the cold wind would blow this simple "house" down, so she wrapped the stones in two layers of plastic sheeting, but she still woke up from the cold at night.

In Jiutao Village in winter, the wind was sharper than a knife. They were obviously almost dying of sleep, but they still couldn't fall asleep at all.

How miserable can life be in this world? Nothing could be more miserable than Jiutao Village.

So she could understand her sister's choice, they needed to find a way out of desperate situation.

Yaya remembered something and said, "Sister, after Xiao Ruan passed away, there were always reporters coming to interview her! They asked everything, and Secretary Long was almost fed up with it."

Ye Yuanyin felt strange that such a remote and backward mountain village would attract so many reporters.

Maybe someone with ulterior motives is stirring up trouble.