Yang Guangzong was furious, feeling as if he had been slapped across the face repeatedly.

"Hmph... I was just saying it casually. If you don't want to hire anyone, then forget it."

Ye Hufen looked tired and embarrassed, but forced a smile and tried to smooth things over: "I was just kidding. Don't take it to heart, little sister."

Out of consideration for Ye Hufen and her daughter, Ye Caiping stopped teasing him.

Grandma Ye was also afraid that Ye Hufen and her daughter would be made difficult by him when they returned home, so she laughed and said, "Oh dear, I forgot to give them New Year's money."

As he spoke, he began to reach into his sleeve pocket.

Yang Duobao, who was engrossed in eating candied lotus root, suddenly had a bright look in his eyes. He quickly slid off the chair and walked over to Grandma Ye.

Yang Xiaoyan felt extremely embarrassed, but she still went over.

"Here you go." Old Mrs. Ye took out the money and gave each person two strings of cash, which included Old Mr. Ye's share. "Your eldest and second uncles have gone back to their parents' home. They'll give you more when they come back tomorrow."

Yang Duobao took the money, counted it, and found that each string of coins contained only eight coins, totaling sixteen coins.

"Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma," Yang Xiaoyan said timidly.

Yang Duobao rolled his dead fish eyes and looked at Ye Caiping.

With a forced smile, Ye Caiping took out two strings of coins and stuffed them into the hands of the two men.

Yang Duobao counted, and it was another eight coins!

Yang Duobao was furious: "Why so little? Only eight coins? Didn't you build a big brick house? You only gave me eight coins! I thought it would be a hundred! How can you be so stingy!"

These words created an awkward atmosphere in the main room.

Grandma Ye and her husband choked, but Ye Caiping nonchalantly ate sunflower seeds:

“Your family is so generous. Jin’er, Huan’er, hurry up and ask your uncle for New Year’s money.”

Ye Jin'er and her sister quickly came out: "Auntie, Uncle, congratulations on your fortune!"

Yang Guangzong's lips twitched, and then he began to rummage in his sleeves.

He always liked to put on a show of wealth, so he usually gave the local children five coins each as New Year's money, which was two or three coins more than other families, making him seem very generous.

He had just been slapped in the face by Ye Caiping, and this time he was determined to regain his dignity and outdo Ye Caiping.

So he pulled out eight strings of coins, five coins per string, and gave them to Ye Hufen along with her share, which meant that the couple each gave ten coins!

Ye Huan'er took the money and counted it: "Oh, Uncle and Aunt both gave me ten coins!"

Yang Duobao said angrily, "Look at me, so generous! You guys earn so much money, yet you're so stingy."

Yang Guangzong looked smug upon hearing this.

Unexpectedly, Ye Caiping was neither angry nor ashamed, but said calmly, "Oh, your family is really generous."

Ye Jin'er and her sister smiled broadly and happily put the money into their purses: "Thank you, Auntie, thank you, Uncle."

Yang Guangzong choked for a moment, feeling as if he had punched cotton.

They actually think they made a profit!

He gave out two extra coins as New Year's money, but instead of getting his revenge, it seemed like he lost out! Yang Guangzong was furious again.

Seeing that Yang Guangzong had been repeatedly humiliated, Old Lady Ye feared that he would go back and humiliate Ye Hufeng and her daughter, so she tried to save face for him:

"Guangzong, Hufen, go back and ask your parents if they want to have lunch together this year."

Yang Guangzong couldn't sit still any longer and got up to leave.

Yang Duobao, however, was lying on the coffee table, still showing off his candy.

"Duobao, let's go." Yang Hufen stepped forward and said gently.

"I'm not leaving, I want to eat here."

Yang Hufen looked pale.

Yang Guangzong said with a dark face, "Then let him eat here! You all stay here and watch him, I'll go ask him myself."

After saying that, Yang Guangzong quickly left.

Ye Hufeng looked at Ye Caiping and the others and smiled awkwardly: "About what happened just now... I'm really sorry, I didn't know he had such thoughts."

It refers to the matter of hiring workers.

As she spoke, she bowed, and Ye Caiping quickly helped her up.

"Hiss..." Ye Hufen suddenly cried out in pain.

Ye Caiping and the others were taken aback. They quickly pulled up her sleeve and saw that there was a bruise on her arm.

Ye Caiping's expression changed, and Old Lady Ye quickly pulled Ye Hufen: "Come on, let's go inside and have a private talk."

After saying that, Ye Caiping and her daughter pulled Ye Hufen and Yang Xiaoyan into Old Mrs. Ye's room.

As soon as she sat down, Grandma Ye asked worriedly, "What happened to your injury? Did he hit you?"

Ye Hufen forced a smile: "Nothing's wrong, I just tripped and fell."

“He’s the one who hit me!” Yang Xiaoyan said, her eyes red. “He was angry, so he took it out on us.”

Ye Caiping looked puzzled: "Big sister, you're 1.8 meters tall! I mean, you're six feet tall, you could kill a bull with one punch! And you actually let him hit you?"

Ye Hufeng looked embarrassed and awkward: "Sigh..."

Ye Caiping continued, "You're stronger than him, why don't you fight back? He can hit you, why can't you hit him back?"

"He...he is my husband..."

"You're still his wife! The mother of his children!"

Ye Hufen was at a loss for words and stammered, "What kind of wife beats her husband? If word gets out, what will outsiders think of me? They'll laugh at me to death."

"So now nobody laughs at you anymore?"

“Of course!” Yang Xiaoyan said, “When the villagers saw my mother being beaten, they all laughed at her, saying she looked like a bear, strong and ugly. No wonder her husband disliked her.”

“Listen to this, they’re making fun of you too! If you resist, they laugh at you; if you don’t resist, they laugh at you even more. Since you’re going to be laughed at anyway, you might as well choose a way that makes you feel comfortable being laughed at.”

Ye Hufen was stunned, as if a new world had been opened to her. Could it really be understood this way?