Ye Caiping sneered: "What are you saying... Do you think you're so charming that I still have feelings for you?"

Li Zhiyuan's expression changed. What did she mean?

What does "feel" mean? She *is* it!

But the deep disgust in her eyes seemed genuine.

Li Zhiyuan was stunned. Did she really not care about him anymore?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Hmph, he doesn't believe she can let him go!

Keep pretending!

"What do you want from me? Spit it out!" Ye Caiping knew exactly what his purpose was, but she still teased him repeatedly.

Li Zhiyuan choked for a moment. How could such a thing be said here? "Let's go inside and talk!"

"Is there something you can't say in public that you have to come inside?"

"That's right!" Old Zhao, who was in the tree, shouted enthusiastically.

Li Zhiyuan's face turned pale and then red. He wouldn't go inside; what could he say...?

“You’re so timid and hesitant. I’ll do you a favor and speak for you!” Ye Jin’er stepped forward and sneered, “Everyone knows that he divorced my mother.”

"Since we've already separated, let's part ways amicably and leave each other alone."

"But today, when we were selling spicy soup in the county town, he came over with a few classmates and suddenly asked for our recipe, just to curry favor with his classmates."

“We refused to give it to him and explained why. Mother and he have no relation for a long time, yet he still demands the formula that Mother developed!”

"Fortunately, his classmates were all reasonable people. They not only did not help him, but also gave him a good scolding."

Ye Jin'er started chattering away, and before Li Zhiyuan could stop her, she had already told him the whole story.

Soon, Li Zhiyuan received the same disdainful looks as those in the county town.

"How shameless! A scholar, indeed!" Zhu Zi's wife mocked.

"If I were him, I would have hidden myself in a hole in the ground for doing something so shameless. How come he swaggered over here?" Tie Niu's wife looked at him with the eyes of someone looking at a weirdo.

Ye Jin'er: "He said he wanted to find my mother and have her teach us a lesson!"

Ye Huan'er: "Pfft, he actually thinks my mother will punish us for his sake!"

The villagers were dumbfounded. What kind of thought process was this?

Li Jiaojiao and her brother's faces darkened under the mocking gazes.

Li Jiaojiao said urgently in a low voice, "Dad, didn't you say you had a way to get her to clear your name? What is the way? Tell me quickly!"

Li Zhiyuan hesitated for a moment, then his solution was... to go inside and talk!

But to his utter surprise, Madam Ye refused to come inside...

"Want to know? Let me tell you!" Ye Caiping glanced at Li Jiaojiao:

"Your father's so-called good method is to manipulate me! He thinks I still care about him, and that as soon as he gets aroused, I'll be completely infatuated with him, not only giving him the prescription but also going to the academy to clear his name and salvage his reputation!"

Good heavens! The villagers were stunned. He actually had such a thought?

Li Zhiyuan's expression changed drastically. How...how did she know?

No, even if she knew, so what? That's just how the Ye family should be!

Why shouldn't she do it this way...?

Ye Caiping saw through his thoughts and stared at Li Zhiyuan:

"Why shouldn't I indulge you, huh? What, you came here all aggressively, and your only reliance is your self-righteous belief that I still have feelings for you? That's hilarious!!"

After saying that, her face darkened and her voice turned cold:

"Your greed has backfired, and you deserve to be the laughingstock of your classmates."

Li Zhiyuan's face turned bright red. How could this be...?

"To put it bluntly, isn't this just an attempt to exploit my sister-in-law's feelings?" Madam Du roared from behind.

"You've already divorced her and married a new woman. How can a grown man like you still try to deceive and exploit his ex-wife with your feelings? How can you be so despicable?"

The villagers were stunned, their eyes filled with disdain:

"It's already pitiful enough that Caiping was divorced, but he still did this kind of thing. He's trying to devour her completely!"

"Bah! You call yourself a scholar? You're more like a beast!"

"Don't insult beasts! At least beasts spit out bones when they eat people, but he doesn't even leave behind bone fragments!"

Li Zhiyuan felt dizzy and ashamed, and at that moment he felt so angry and ashamed that he wanted to die.

But somehow, he neither died nor fainted.

This shouldn't be happening, it should be...

"Ye...don't make false accusations...I'm here to..." Li Zhiyuan desperately tried to save face, "so you can teach those two disrespectful daughters a lesson! As for the county town, I'll ask them for the prescription..."

Thinking about the situation in the county town, Li Zhiyuan felt like dying again.

If this matter isn't resolved today, he won't need to return to the academy.

"That's because I also have a share in the recipe! We developed this spicy soup together... It's only right that I ask you for the recipe!"

Li Zhiyuan has completely lost his shame and started making unreasonable arguments.

Ye Caiping chuckled: "Oh, since we developed it together, why don't you just give the formula to your classmate? Why make things difficult for Jin'er and her sister when we're in the county town?"

Li Zhiyuan choked.

The villagers looked at him with increasing contempt: "Do they think we're fools? You think you can just get a share because they say so?"

"If you ask me, I should get a share too, since I live next door!" Old Zhao from the tree said, pouting.

She was so craving this spicy soup recipe that she was practically rolling on the floor with desire.

Even if she was craving it so badly, she didn't have the nerve to ask for a share.

Who would have thought that this Scholar Li would be even more shameless than her!

"Shameless! Get out of Qinghe Village!" A clod of mud was thrown at Li Zhiyuan's face; it was Ye Xing from the crowd.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!