Chapter 50 [V] After buying the shop, there's still eight...
Li Yan and the other two happened to bump into each other at the door.
Seeing that Xu Qingshu was also there, she didn't have time for pleasantries and simply nodded to her as a greeting.
Then, she looked at Cheng Ao and asked seriously, "Young Master Cheng, do you have Madam Ye's address?"
Cheng Ao asked, "What's wrong?"
Li Yan had rushed here and was now panting heavily, unable to catch her breath for a moment.
Xu Qingshu was standing to the side. Seeing this, he quickly went to the table next to him, poured a cup of hot water, and handed it to him.
"Don't rush, drink some water first, and then we can talk slowly."
Li Yan took the water glass, took two sips, and after catching her breath, said, "Madam Ye usually arrives early every day and has never been late. But today it's already this late, and she still hasn't come. I'm afraid something might have happened. So I came to find you and wanted to ask for her address so I can go and check on her."
It's just that she's late; there's no need to be in such a hurry. But because that Lady Ye has such a husband and her family situation is special, it's naturally a cause for concern.
Cheng Ao was a kind-hearted person, and upon hearing this, he immediately said, "I know where she lives. I'll take you there."
With that, the two hurriedly headed out the door. Seeing this, Xu Qingshu quickly followed.
On the way, Cheng Ao told Xu Qingshu about the situation of Lady Ye's family. Xu Qingshu listened carefully and nodded. Although he didn't say anything, many thoughts flashed through his mind, and he also made plans based on the feedback from the other side.
The area in front of the Hou family's house was very quiet. Cheng Ao knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside for a long time.
Li Yan then knocked on the neighbor's door. Some neighbors had long been disgusted by Hou Er's behavior. When they heard that Li Yan was Ye's employer, they couldn't help but shake their heads and sigh, "Last night, I don't know what Hou Er went crazy about again. He was beating his wife at home again. We went to knock on the door, hoping to break up the fight, but the Hou family wouldn't open the door."
The neighbor sighed and shook his head as he spoke, his face full of disgust and helplessness towards Hou Er.
"What a lovely girl! How could she have been tricked into coming home by such a scoundrel? Her family lives far away, and she has no one to support her. This girl is truly pitiful."
Aunt Hua listened to her neighbors talking and couldn't help but burst into tears.
Then, with all their might, they pounded on the Hou family's door.
"Hou Er, open the door! Open the door now! I'm telling you, you've done something wrong. If you don't open the door, I'm calling the authorities!"
Xu Qingshu also said: "According to the laws of this dynasty, if a husband kicks or beats his wife, he may be sentenced if the circumstances are serious."
Perhaps Xu Qingshu's words had worked, for with a creak, the door opened.
But it wasn't Hou Er who opened the door; it was Hou Er's mother.
When Hou's mother saw these people coming from outside, she was also afraid. She asked, "Are you looking for Wangxiang? Who are you?"
The neighbor yelled, "Oh, so you and your son are home? I thought no one was home. Why are you open the door now? Yesterday the door was tightly shut, and you wouldn't open it no matter what!"
After spending a lot of time together, the neighbors had come to understand what kind of person Mrs. Hou was. She would say she treated her daughter-in-law like a daughter, but in reality, everything she did was biased towards her good-for-nothing son.
Take yesterday's situation, for example. If she had just come and opened the door, the girl wouldn't have been beaten by her son for so long.
After being ridiculed by the neighbors, Hou's mother didn't dare to look them in the eye. She just cried and said, "My life is so hard. My husband is gone, my eldest son is gone, and now I only have my second son left. The house is in complete chaos. My second son is a scoundrel, but I can't stop him. I'm only doing this for the good of the family. We shouldn't air our dirty laundry in public. I don't want to spread all these shameful things about our family and make the neighbors laugh at us."
“I’m so old and I’m still taking care of their kids. What am I getting out of this? All I want is for them to be a harmonious couple. But they fight every day, always fighting over a little money. Old man, please come and take me away. I don’t want to live like this for another day.”
Li Yan didn't want to listen to the old lady's ramblings, so she rushed inside first.
Seeing someone barge in, Hou Er finally showed himself.
"Who are you? What are you doing barging into my house? Be careful, or I'll report you to the authorities and accuse you of trespassing."
This Hou Er has a decent appearance; he looks respectable. But who knew he was a rotten core.
"We must see you in court today. If you don't report this to the authorities, I will despise you!" Li Yan jumped up and pointed at his nose, cursing.
After he finished cursing, he didn't bother to say anything more to him and hurried inside to find Madam Ye.
Ye was lying in bed, covered in bruises. Li Yan had never seen a woman beaten like this before. She had only ever seen husbands beat their wives on television, and this was the first time she had witnessed it in person, so it was inevitably a huge shock.
"Madam Ye." The room was dimly lit. She called softly, then leaned against the bedside and asked, "Are you alright?"
Although Ye Wangxiang was beaten black and blue, he was still conscious.
She was somewhat embarrassed that her employer had found her so quickly and even saw her in this state.
"I...I'm fine. It's just...I'm sorry I kept you from doing your business. I...I'll recover quickly, I just need to rest for a day or two."
Even at this hour, she was still thinking about work.
"Don't rush to work." Li Yan's nose tingled, and she almost shed tears, but she held them back. "Don't worry, we signed a one-year contract, and you haven't breached it without cause, so I'll keep the work for you. But there's one thing, you mustn't rush, you need to take good care of your health first."
Ye Wangxiang felt both moved and aggrieved to have met such a kind person.
She used to be loved and pampered by her parents when she was at home.
She thought she had found true love and, despite her family's objections, traveled thousands of miles to marry him here.
She never imagined that this place wasn't a haven of sweetness, but a den of wolves.
Li Yan asked directly, "Do you want a divorce?" If she could continue living like this in this situation, then it could only mean that she was beyond saving.
Knowing that she might be afraid because she had no one to rely on, Li Yan said, "Don't be afraid that you won't be able to make a living after you leave here. As long as you are diligent and hardworking, I will always keep jobs for you. At least you can earn money to support your two children." She also advised, "If a man can beat his own wife, it means he has a problem at heart. If he can beat you today, he can beat your two daughters tomorrow."
"Your mother-in-law is a smooth talker who always sides with her own family. Don't think that just because she's playing the victim and saying nice things, she's being kind to you. If something really happens to you, she'll only help her son collect your body. If you lose your life, given that gambling addict's personality, he'll probably sell your two daughters to get money for gambling."
Li Yan's words were very sharp and immediately enlightened Lady Ye.
"Master, please help me, please help me, give my daughter and me a way out." It wasn't that she still cared about Hou Er, but she really had no other choice. Now that she could rely on anyone, she wished she could sprout wings and fly away.
After hearing her words, Li Yan said, "If you're willing, I'll help you. Get some rest and wait for my good news."
After calming Ye down, Li Yan went out again and asked a neighbor to help her quickly fetch a doctor to take a look.
Hou Er still refused, saying that her family had no money to pay for her medical treatment.
They even said she wouldn't die like that, and that after three to five days of rest, she would be able to get back to work in the fields.
Li Yanzhen ignored him and only asked, "Are you going to report this to the authorities or not? If you don't, I am!"
Hou Er was stunned.
Xu Qingshu was the most knowledgeable among them. Li Yan asked him, "Second Brother Xu, in this situation, if we help Madam Ye with her lawsuit, what are our chances of winning?"
Xu Qingshu said confidently, "If I were to fight it, I would have at least an 80% chance, if not a 100% chance."
"Alright, then let's help Madam Ye with this lawsuit."
“You can’t treat us like this! Who are you? What right do you have to interfere in my family’s affairs?” Mother Hou cried as she rushed over.
Li Yan pointed to the house where Ye Wangxiang was, her tone cold: "Auntie, do you want to go inside and see what your daughter-in-law looks like now? Her daughter is a person too, do you really want her to stay here and be beaten to death by your son?"
After realizing she was in the wrong, Hou's mother's anger subsided somewhat: "When a couple lives together, they're bound to argue. Isn't that how it is when couples quarrel in bed and make up before they get out of bed? People say, 'It's better to tear down ten temples than to break up one marriage.' Instead of trying to reconcile them, why are you adding fuel to the fire?"
Li Yan said, "Ye's family home is far away, but now that I'm her employer, I'm her family home too. Your family has gone too far, and now her family can't stand it anymore and wants a divorce! Not only a divorce, but also to take both children with them. If you're not satisfied, go find a lawyer and file a lawsuit."
When Hou's mother heard that this was for real, she burst into tears.
"You heartless bastard, how could you do this?" Then he plopped down on the ground and started throwing a tantrum, "I can't live like this anymore."
Hou Er was furious and raised his fist to hit Li Yan. Xu Qingshu and Cheng Ao instinctively stepped in front of Li Yan to stop him.
With the combined efforts of the two, Hou Er had no chance to maneuver. He was quickly pinned to the ground.
Hou Er was a bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. Seeing that things were not going well, he immediately begged for mercy.
The neighbors were very kind and quickly went to fetch a doctor.
Li Yan, together with Aunt Hua, invited the doctor into the house.
Seeing Ye Shi's appearance, Aunt Hua couldn't help but cry again.
After crying, she said with a firm look in her eyes, "Daughter, divorce him and sue him! He beat you like this, he has to pay the price!" She raised her hand with trembling hands and gently and slowly touched Ye's face.
But before his hand could touch her face, she quickly withdrew it.
I dare not touch it.
Aunt Hua said earnestly, "Don't worry, we are all your family."
Ye could no longer hold back; the grievances that had been building up in her heart for years suddenly surged up.
The tears flowed out like a river bursting its banks.
Including Li Yan, Aunt Hua, Xu Qingshu, Cheng Ao, and even the neighbors... all were willing to help Ye Shi. When they were needed to testify in court, Ye was willing to testify.
So in the end, the government ruled that the two should divorce, and both children should stay with Ms. Ye.
Hou Er was sentenced to three months in prison.
So, this can be considered a good ending.
Because Hou Er was not at home, Ye Shi continued to live with Hou Er's family until she had saved enough money.
But because of this incident, Madam Ye dared not ask the Lady Hou to help look after her two children again. Therefore, she always took her two children with her when she left early and returned late.
This is also more convenient, since the second aunt is less than a week old and still needs to be breastfed.
It will cause trouble for the employer.
Li Yan didn't care about any of that, and just told her to bring the child.
Ye's eldest daughter was four years old, just the right age to play with Yue'er.
After Ye Shi finished dealing with her affairs and finally settled down with her two daughters, the mechanical voice of the system in Li Yan's mind rang out again.
[Host, you have successfully activated a new mission by helping the weak and rescuing the distressed. Each act of merit earns merit points. Greater merit earns greater points, and lesser merit earns less. Accumulate 100 points to receive a gift. Your act of helping the Ye family escape their clutches counts as a medium-level merit, and you are awarded 20 points. Keep up the good work!]
Li Yan was quite surprised. She never expected that standing up for justice would bring her such an unexpected reward.
Helping the vulnerable is always a voluntary act; I never expected to gain anything in return.
It is truly a pleasant surprise to have such benefits now.
Li Yan was originally a kind-hearted person, and after receiving this mission, her compassion only intensified. She would even take care of a lost puppy she encountered on the road.
However, not every act of kindness earns points. Li Yan didn't know what the system's criteria were, but as long as she showed kindness and did good deeds, it was always a good thing.
In just over two months, Li Yan accumulated 50 points.
April arrived in the blink of an eye, the weather warmed up completely, and birds sang and flowers bloomed everywhere.
Li Yan was still busy with her business. The lease for her stall on Xifu Street expired, but instead of renewing it, she found a shop and opened a milk tea shop.
The shop was small, just the size of a palm, but it suited Li Yan's taste perfectly.
If you only do takeout and not dine-in, this little shop is perfect.
The shop was bought by Li Yan; it wasn't expensive, just over twenty taels of silver.
It has a good location in a busy downtown area with high foot traffic.
In fact, if the shop hadn't been so small and insignificant, Li Yan wouldn't have been able to snag this opportunity.
This shop isn't really suited to selling anything else, but it's perfect for selling takeaway tea drinks. It's as if this shop was tailor-made for her.
In the past few months, Li Yan has been earning about thirty taels of silver each month through her three businesses.
Aside from the twenty-odd taels he spent to buy the small shop, he still had eighty or ninety taels of silver left.
Turning the stall into a shop now will make the milk tea business even better, resulting in more daily income and more monthly earnings.
Li Yan believed that she would soon earn back the money she had invested in the shop.
Now that the shop is open, someone needs to be there. Li Yan can't spare the time to keep an eye on the shop herself, so naturally she needs to hire someone else.
Since it was a food business, Li Yan couldn't trust just anyone she hired. So, after much thought, she decided to let Ye Wangxiang manage the shop.
Firstly, they've known each other for so long that they know each other well. Secondly, she's done her a favor, so she certainly wouldn't harm her.
Thirdly, Ye Wangxiang is literate and good at accounting, so he could definitely handle both the manager and the accountant in the past.
Most importantly, when she was the manager and accountant, her monthly salary more than doubled. For Ye Wangxiang, who now has two children to support, three taels of silver a month is like a windfall.
After transferring Ye Wangxiang to be the manager of the milk tea shop, Li Yan naturally needed to hire another assistant.
So she went to Cheng Ao's place again.
Li Yan is now Cheng Ao's biggest customer, and Cheng Ao treats her like royalty. When he sees her, his eyes crinkle with laughter.
Li Yan was quite familiar with him, so she didn't stand on ceremony: "I transferred Madam Ye to the milk tea shop to be the manager, and now I'm short-staffed. Find me a suitable one. You know my requirements, only women."
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Author's Note: [Sprinkling flowers]
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