Ye Caiping knew that Wu Quan's marriage had emptied Ye Ershen's house.

Even though Ye Sanquan had already received two months' wages and paid off some of his debts, he still had a tough time during the Spring Festival.

Ye Caiping went into the chicken coop, grabbed a large hen, and then put fifteen eggs in a basket, stuffing them into Aunt Ye's hand:

"I wanted chicken and scrambled eggs for lunch, so my aunt made them!"

Aunt Ye was somewhat touched: "I'll just take the chicken, as for the eggs..."

"Don't worry, Mom caught six big hens a little over a month ago, and now she can collect six eggs every day."

Aunt Ye then smiled and asked, "How would you like to cook this chicken with water chestnuts?"

"Anything is fine, Second Aunt can make one of her specialties."

...

Xiao Duzhuang —

Du sat in the main room with a bad expression, while Ye Daquan, Ye Yong, Ye Xuan, and Jin Hua kept watch at the door.

Du Shi and his wife, Luo Shi, were looking at her with smiles on their faces.

"Didn't you go back to your parents' home?" Madam Du rolled her eyes at them.

"Knowing that my eldest sister was coming back, she rushed back without even eating," Luo said with a smile.

She had already heard that the Ye family made a fortune selling spicy soup in town.

Thinking about it, Luo looked Du up and down. Her yellow clothes were brand new and made of cotton. Even the four men outside were all wearing cotton clothes. It seemed they had really made a fortune.

Du twitched her lips; she couldn't keep a secret. She scoffed.

"What, you rushed back to keep an eye on me, afraid I'll drink an extra sip of your rice porridge?"

Du Shi's face fell: "Big sister is too vengeful, still bringing up old grudges. Besides, I never kicked you out."

"Your brother-in-law came to pick you up in person."

The more he spoke, the lower his voice became, until it was just mumbling.

"Alright, alright, that's not what I meant, right, eldest sister?" Madam Luo quickly smoothed things over and looked at Madam Du.

Not wanting to argue during the New Year, Mrs. Du said, "It was just a joke, haha."

Luo laughed along, cracking sunflower seeds as she said, "I heard that my eldest sister and brother-in-law have a stall in town. How's business?"

After Xiuxiu's mother, Du became very sensitive. Whenever the topic of the spicy soup business came up, she would become cautious and would casually laugh it off.

"I stopped setting up shop a long time ago. I deliver goods. Besides, that's not my business. We're not just hired workers who get paid and don't know anything about it."

"Big sister is so lucky. By the way, I also heard that you've separated your family?"

"Yes, a large tree branches out."

Despite Du's indifference, Luo persisted in chatting with her.

Seeing that she didn't inquire about the secret recipe and kept smiling, Du assumed that Luo was just trying to get closer to them now that they were rich.

It wasn't until after lunch that Luo took her hand and said, "Your sister-in-law has been staying at her parents' house for four or five months now. If she continues to stay there, people will start to laugh at her."

Mrs. Du got angry and glared at her: "Am I petty? My sister-in-law can stay as long as she wants, she's not staying at your house!"

Luo choked for a moment, then laughed and said, "That's not what I meant. Of course, my eldest sister is generous. It's not a big deal if she continues like this."

"I heard that Scholar Li is already married. Shouldn't your sister-in-law find someone else?"

"I know she was divorced and it doesn't look good on her, but if she puts her heart into it, she can always find someone better."

“Let me tell you about someone you know. It’s my older brother. He’s never been married. He said he doesn’t mind that Caiping is a divorced woman, nor does he mind that she has two maids. He’s even offering a dowry of three taels of silver! As long as she agrees, they can get married after the New Year!”

Upon hearing this, the entire main room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You, Luo!" Du was furious. "After all that, I thought you were after the secret recipe for spicy soup, but who would have thought you had such a big appetite, actually setting your sights on my sister-in-law!"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Mrs. Du, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, ran over.

Ye Daquan, Ye Yong, and others also entered the house.

"I..." Madam Luo's face turned pale: "My brother has never been married before, and now he's agreed to marry a divorced woman with a child, and you're still not willing?"

"What?" Ye Daquan was dumbfounded.

"What is your brother? Never been married? He's clearly greedy and lazy, unable to find a wife! Now that he sees my sister-in-law making money, he's setting his sights on her, trying to drag her into your family. Have you no shame?"

Ye Daquan finally understood, and suddenly grabbed a chair from the side, yelling, "Damn it, you dare to lay a finger on my little sister? I'll beat you to death!"

As he spoke, he was about to throw the chair at Luo's head.

Du Shi and his mother were startled and quickly tried to stop him.

Ye Yong and Ye Xuan were also afraid that something might happen, so they pulled Ye Daquan back.

"Dad, calm down," Ye Xuan said. "If you hurt someone, Aunt will definitely be angry."

Ye Daquan thought about it and realized that she was right; his younger sister didn't like him doing this kind of thing.

"Hmph!" He threw the chair heavily to the side.

"Waaah... My elder sister and brother-in-law are really going too far!" Luo cried out in fear.

"Shut up! It's just that you, a toad lusting after a swan! Do you think no one knows what your older brother is like?" Du's mother glared at her, then looked apologetically at Ye Daquan.

"Son-in-law, she just misunderstood for a moment, please forgive her."

Ye Daquan didn't want to embarrass Du's mother too much: "Mother, my little sister is delicate, not just anyone can marry her."

"Yes, yes, we understand."

Not to mention now, even in the past, Ye Caiping was the most spoiled in the family and looked down on Luo's eldest brother.

Mrs. Du was also very angry: "It's getting late, let's go home first."

After packing their things, the group left.

Du Daya leaned against the door, watching the departing group, her gaze settling on Ye Xuan.

...

Back home, Du and Ye Daquan approached Ye Caiping and poured out the whole story to her.

Ye Caiping felt nauseous upon hearing this.

What the heck!

Grandma Ye glanced at Ye Caiping and said, "Sigh, you're always the one being watched."

Ye Caiping said, "Whether it's a man or a woman, as long as they have a little money, they'll be coveted. Let's just ignore them."

"We're heading to Nanwa Village early tomorrow morning, so let's get some rest!"

The next day.

Just after 7 a.m., Aunt Ye and her group arrived.

Besides Ye Hufeng's family of four, there was also Ye Ershen and her husband, making it a complete family.

On Ye Caiping's side, only Ye Caiping and Grandma Ye went together.

Otherwise, there would be too many people and the oxen wouldn't be able to pull the cart.

Just before getting on the bus, Ye Caiping returned Ye Hufen's basket to her.

Ye Hufeng saw that the basket contained half a basket of white rice, two pieces of brown sugar, two pieces of cured meat, and five eggs.

This return gift is truly generous!

Ye Hufen wanted to return some of the money, but with Yang Guangzong present, she dared not utter a sound.

Yang Guangzong's displeasure subsided somewhat; at least the gift wasn't a waste! He'd made a profit!