Chapter 302 Encounter
The voice that spoke was a man's.
The person who ran out was indeed Ye Hua.
"Ah!" Er Ya was startled, and when she saw Ye Hua, she exclaimed, "Auntie, it's you?"
Ye Hua looked flustered, her face filled with fear.
"Why are you in such a panic? Did something happen?"
As Er Ya was speaking, she peeked into the alley, but Ye Hua quickly pulled her back. "It's nothing, a cat just suddenly jumped out and scared me."
"Cat? Where's the cat? Let me see." Er Ya looked around.
Ye Hua pulled the person away, saying, "Don't bother looking anymore, they've already run away."
"Oh, what a pity. If no one else wanted to raise it, I was thinking of taking it back with me," Er Ya said, still unwilling to give up. She looked again but saw nothing.
Ye Hua smiled and said, "I'll bring it back for you next time we meet. Your mother used to love keeping small animals, but unfortunately, we were struggling to make ends meet back then and couldn't afford to keep them."
“Now that we have the means, and I can earn money, my mother can do whatever she wants and buy whatever she wants.”
After Er Ya finished speaking, she added, "Auntie, you can tell me if there's anything you want. We're all family."
"Didn't you look down on me before? Now you actually want to give me something?" Ye Hua teased deliberately.
Er Ya blushed slightly. "Oh dear, let's not talk about Aunt's past. I was young and naive back then. We were just poor, so poor, and afraid that one more person wouldn't have enough to eat."
She used to be quite sharp-tongued and mean, mainly because she was too poor and afraid of hunger.
If conditions were as they are now, who would want to spend their time cursing others for no reason?
“My mother said that poverty is the worst of all evils.”
Ye Hua smiled. "If I remember correctly, your mother said something like, 'Of all evils, lust is the worst'?"
The two voices gradually faded into the distance.
Two people, one tall and one short, emerged from the alley.
"Master, that young lady must have seen us just now."
I guess they heard it too.
"Do you think we should..." the shorter man gestured.
The tall man looked eastward. "It would be too risky to take action. She doesn't seem like the kind of person who would dare to do anything. Even if you gave her the guts, she wouldn't dare to tell anyone."
"Go and find out whose it is."
The subordinate understood the meaning immediately.
If the family background is not prominent, they will be silenced; if the family background is prominent, they will either be warned or bribed.
Judging from the young woman's simple attire and the fact that she was out so late at night without any maids or servants, she probably didn't come from a prominent family. This made things much easier.
Any accident will happen.
"Mother, I'm back."
"Why are you back so late today? If you hadn't sent the girl in the shop to tell me, I would have gone to look for you."
Ye Wan raised her head, put down the book in her hand, and looked at Ye Hua.
"Elder sister, you've been coming back too late these past few days. It's not safe. I'll assign you two maids so they can keep you company when you come back."
Although Jingzhou City is currently quite safe, we should still be prepared for any eventuality.
“I come from a poor family. I feel really uncomfortable if you assign me a maid. Things are much better now. It’s a better life than I ever dared to dream of before.”
Ye Hua smiled slightly, recalling the past as if it were a dream.
Ye Wan pulled her back, "Things will get better in the future. Don't always feel like you're not good enough for me. You're my sister, and you're good enough for anything I'm good enough for."
Ye Hua smiled, her eyes slightly moist. She would remember these words countless times in the future when she felt inferior.
As the older sister, she could never let her younger sister down.
"Let's have hot pot today to warm ourselves up."
“Great! I love hot pot the most. There’s a stall outside that sells hot pot too. When it gets cold, my shop assistant Xiaohong goes there often…”
...
...
Ke Xinrui and Tao Mingzhu sat on a street stall, shivering in the cold wind.
Apart from a few close attendants, the rest of the servants could only stand.
Having lost their travel money, the two stayed at inns several more times. Now they had to sell their carriage and, having no money to eat at restaurants, could only eat at street stalls.
"Mom, do you think someone might be targeting us on purpose? I have a really strange feeling about this."
First, they lost their travel money for no reason, and then they seemed to have a series of bad lucks in the past few days, and now they have fallen to this state.
The pastries I bought before are all gone, and if this continues, I'll be sleeping on the streets.
“I think so too, but who would deliberately target us?” Ke Xinrui was so hungry that her stomach was practically touching her back.
She could not remember ever being this hungry before; this was the first meal she had eaten all day.
As for the other servants, they haven't eaten since yesterday.
Tao Mingzhu couldn't help but speculate, "Could it be... my maternal grandfather..."
Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted decisively, "Impossible. It couldn't be my parents. They only have me as their daughter, and they're counting on me to take care of them in their old age. How could they treat me like this? It must be some people I've offended who are now targeting me because they heard I'm back."
Tao Mingzhu didn't want to talk anymore.
Your enemies already know you're back, so how could your maternal grandparents not know?
She is now beginning to doubt the veracity of Ke Xinrui's words.
Will their trip to Beijing really go smoothly?
In that brief moment of silence, the pot was finally served.
It's cooked in a big pot, then placed in a bowl, and some broth is added.
Ke Xinrui was starving. She had just taken a bite when she started coughing violently. After finally recovering, she covered her nose and cursed.
"This is so spicy! How did you guys make it? Are you trying to kill me with spiciness?"
The stall owners, a husband and wife, were completely bewildered. "Madam, our stall has always tasted like this. If you don't like it, you can rinse it with water."
"No, this is too spicy! Give me my money back!"
"Okay, ma'am, I'll return the money to you."
The stall owners, not wanting to offend anyone, refunded Ke Xinrui's money for the bowl. Just as they were about to clear the dishes, they heard Ke Xinrui speak.
"As compensation, please cook me another bowl of non-spicy food!"
Upon hearing this, everyone, from the stall owners to their servants, stared at her in astonishment.
Ke Xinrui frowned. What was there to see? She was broke and hungry; she couldn't just go without food.
Tao Mingzhu felt ashamed and was about to say forget it when a carriage stopped beside her.
The carriage curtain was lifted, revealing the face of a young woman. "Oh, isn't this Ke Xinrui? You've returned to the capital?"
"It's been so many years since we last met, this is truly... quite unexpected!"
Ke Xinrui's face flushed red. "I don't know who you are. Let's go back, Zhu'er."
She actually ran into that bitch Cai Xinyue, her mother's cousin, who had always been at odds with her.
Cai Xinyue covered her mouth and laughed, "Hey, what's the rush? You haven't even eaten yet! Aren't you hungry?"
Ke Xinrui walked very fast.
Seeing this, Cai Xinyue covered her mouth and laughed, "We really made the right choice to go out today. Let's go, we can see Madam Ye before dawn tomorrow morning."
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