Chapter 9

The next day at noon, when it was time to eat, Xiaoyue took Xiaodouding to the upper courtyard for lunch. Since the Ge family wouldn't send Xiaoyue back cassava, Xiaoyue ate at the Ge family's house.

Upon entering the house, she saw only one hot dish on the table: eggplant stew with potatoes, and a cold dish of scallions with dipping sauce. Xiaoyue served two bowls of sorghum rice, and only after Old Man Ge took the first bite did she serve Xiaodou the dish.

"One's a money-loser, the other's a cheapskate, yet they have the nerve to sit here and eat," Ge Erping muttered softly. She was sitting right next to Xiaoyue, and Xiaoyue and Xiaodouding heard everything clearly.

Little Bean looked at Xiaoyue with narrowed eyes and said softly, "Aunt Xiaoyue, I don't want to eat anymore."

Seeing the child's timid eyes, my heart ached. I smiled and said to the little one, "It's okay. Auntie is just saying that girls are a burden. But you're different from me. I'm older, so I'm a bigger burden."

The little boy quietly tugged at Xiaoyue's sleeve, looking at her suspiciously: "Aunt Xiaoyue?" He seemed not to understand what Xiaoyue was saying, and didn't know how to ask.

Xiaoyue gently flicked the little boy's nose and laughed, "Don't think nonsense, hurry up and eat, then take it back to your mother." As she spoke, she put eggplant and potatoes on the little boy's food and stirred it into a porridge-like consistency before handing it to him.

Ge Erping glared at Xiaoyue and cursed again, "Vixen."

Old Man Ge slammed down his chopsticks, "I can't even keep quiet about eating."

Xiaoyue was afraid that Xiaodouding would be scared, so she picked up her own bowl, put some vegetables on it, and served Lu Xiaomei a bowl of rice. She then led the two of them to her room to eat.

After dinner, it was getting dark. Xiaoyue took the washed dishes to the kitchen and ran into Ge Erping, who had just finished washing the dishes and was coming out. Xiaoyue put the dishes in the kitchen, and as she came out, she could still hear Ge Erping muttering something under his breath:

"You slutty vixen who seduces men, may you fall to your death while climbing the mountain, drown while washing clothes, and may you, that worthless woman, die together too."

Xiaoyue was speechless. She had been holding back, but Ge Erping had even started cursing the little boy. Xiaoyue quickly took two steps, walked up to Ge Erping, grabbed his hair, and slapped him twice.

Ge Erping was caught off guard by Xiaoyue's unexpected move. When he realized what was happening, he grabbed Xiaoyue's hair and swung her around forcefully. Xiaoyue lost her balance, and Ge Erping kicked her twice more, knocking her to the ground.

Xiaoyue struggled to get up, but Ge Erping pushed her back to the ground. Xiaoyue rolled over with Ge Erping in her arms, trying to straddle him, but Xiaoyue's strength was no match for Ge Erping's.

Before Xiaoyue could even settle on Ge Erping, Ge Erping grabbed her hair and pinned her down.

Ge Erping was tall and strong, and quickly gained the upper hand, riding on Xiaoyue's back and scratching and clawing at her face.

Although Xiaoyue refused to admit defeat, her physique was too much for her. She tried to use her feet to exert force, but Ge Erping was pressing down on her, so Xiaoyue couldn't get any leverage. All she could do was pinch and hit Ge Erping randomly.

Grandma Ge also came over at this time. Instead of trying to break up the fight, she added fuel to the fire, shouting, "You filthy bitch, you troublemaker, beat her to death, beat her to death!"

Xiaoyue also grabbed Ge Erping's hair and wouldn't let go. Seeing Xiaoyue pulling her daughter's hair, Old Mrs. Ge took off her shoe and started hitting Xiaoyue hard while shouting.

"Beat you to death, you troublemaker! I'll beat you to death today!"

Just then, Xu Fanyuan and Gao Lei entered the courtyard and overheard this sentence. Xu Fanyuan laughed and said, "Who are you going to kill? Killing someone will land you in jail."

Ge Erping was still preoccupied with fighting and didn't see the two people coming in. Old Mrs. Ge, however, was facing the door. As soon as she saw them enter, she threw down her shoe and shoved Ge Erping again.

Ge Erping got angry and cursed, "You little slut, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

Grandma Ge was at her wit's end, so she kicked her daughter. Only then did Ge Erping see Xu Fanyuan and Gao Lei.

She jumped up, covered her face, and ran crying into her room. Ge Erping never expected that someone would come to the Ge family's courtyard that night, and that it would be Gao Lei, whom she had been longing for.

Xiaoyue slowly stood up from the ground, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, tidied her hair, smoothed her clothes, and smiled at the two men, her face covered in shoe prints, saying, "Young Master Xu, is it about the homestead?"

Xu Fanyuan hurriedly took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Xiaoyue.

Then he gave an awkward laugh: "We came at the wrong time." His face flushed with embarrassment, realizing he'd said something inappropriate, and he quickly added:

"I felt bad about delivering things to Xiaoyue by myself, so I asked Gao Lei to come with me. I didn't expect..."

He paused, then said helplessly, "If there's nothing else, we'll be going." He then turned to Xiaoyue and said, "We'll go and decide on the land for your house first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll come find you then."

Xiaoyue forced a smile: "Okay."

Grandma Ge also gave a wry smile and hurriedly said, "Let's go inside and sit down."

Xu Fanyuan shook his head. "We won't go in. We have things to do at home."

Grandma Ge followed them out of the courtyard, and after hesitating for a moment, she finally whispered, "Young people, don't talk about what happened in the courtyard, or the girl's reputation will be ruined."

Xu Fan nodded without saying anything.

Xiaoyue stood in front of the gate and couldn't help but sneer as she watched the two people followed by Old Mrs. Ge.

From the moment Gao Lei entered the Ge family's courtyard until he left, he didn't utter a sound. Just as Old Madam Ge was talking to Xu Fanyuan, he glanced back at the girl standing at the gate.

Dan Pu's solitary figure evoked a protective instinct, yet the girl standing at the door possessed an unusually deep gaze and an indomitable, stubborn spirit.

Like a blooming ice flower in the snow.

Grandma Ge returned to the courtyard, sighed, pushed open the door to the house, and hurriedly called out, "Erping."

No one answered from the inner room. When Old Man Ge saw her return, he said, "She's in the east room."

Grandma Ge rushed to the east room, opened the door, and found that her daughter's eyes were swollen from crying. She gently coaxed her, "Erping, I told the two young men that they won't tell anyone about what happened today."

Ge Erping threw himself into his mother's arms, but he still couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face.

How could a mother know the thoughts of a young lady? Erping was preoccupied with the fact that Gao Lei was the same age as her but not yet engaged, and that Gao Lei was also handsome. Today, when she was seeing off Young Master Yun, he kept asking about Xiaoyue. When they got home, they got into a fight, which Gao Lei witnessed.

The two people I like, one of them talks about her all the time, and the other saw her riding on Xiaoyue and hitting her, and even cursing at her. His impression of her must be terrible.

After thinking for a moment, she burst into tears again, "Brother Gao Lei must look down on me. Isn't that right, Mother?"

Grandma Ge also thought that after today's incident, her daughter's reputation was ruined. Would she still care whether Gao Lei would even look at her? But despite these thoughts, she still needed to comfort her daughter, so she said to Ge Erping:

"Tomorrow, your second sister-in-law and I will go to Lao Gao's house to explain things to them. Otherwise, everyone will think that Erpingzi is bullying Xiaoyue. I know it's not you, Xiaoyue, but Xiaoyue who is bullying you."

Upon hearing this, Ge Erping's tears fell again.

...