When they returned, they were followed by two people in work clothes.
The courtyard gate was only half open, blocking the people behind it.
Tian Hongfang only saw them. "You two ran too fast. What are you rushing off to?"
She was complaining, but she was actually missing him. She had been busy since school started and was also being teased by Lu Chen every day. She hadn't come over even once in all these days.
Ye Zhiyu took her arm: "Mom, I have something good to show you."
Two craftsmen also entered the room, which puzzled Tian Hongfang.
"Master, just put the landline here, and then you guys figure out how to connect the cable."
Tao Qingtang and Tian Hongfang stared in shock at what their master had taken out; it was a telephone, something they had seen before.
"Zhiyu, this..."
"Mom, sister-in-law, it's my fault for forgetting about the telephone. If I had thought of it earlier, Mom could have just called Dad and us when she missed us, instead of just waiting anxiously."
Tian Hongfang blushed and spat, "Who wants that old geezer?"
Ye Zhiyu and Tao Qingtang covered their mouths and chuckled, not wanting to expose her.
"Okay, okay, he's worried about us. He can call us when he goes to town for a meeting."
She stubbornly insisted, "You can write a letter."
“Writing letters is too slow, and you can’t hear a person’s emotions when you send a telegram. This is so much better. Listen to me, Mom.”
The couple has supported each other for most of their lives and has never been apart from each other for so long. Moreover, with such a good relationship, how could they not miss each other?
The commotion at the Lu family courtyard attracted some onlookers.
Ye Zhiyu glanced at it briefly and said to the two craftsmen, "Please leave this line a little longer, so that we can move it if we want to change its position later."
The master was a straightforward person and agreed immediately.
"Oh dear, what are you trying to show off now? That's enough, Sister-in-law Lu. Everyone in this alley knows your family is rich. Stop showing off now, or you'll end up not being able to afford a meal because of your pretense."
A small old woman with a face full of wrinkles leaned against the door, dressed in drab gray, making her almost invisible in the crowd.
Ye Zhiyu's first impression of her was that she was sharp-tongued and sarcastic.
Raising an eyebrow: "Mom, what's this?"
(??? ????)
Tian Hongfang rolled her eyes.
“The third house on the left after we leave our house is hers. Ever since we moved in, the day your brother and sister-in-law came back from getting furniture, she’s been making sarcastic remarks next to us.”
At first, we were neighbors and didn't bother with her. We would just chat with each other about what we had cooked that day. But after a few words, she would say that we were really rich, unlike our family who ate nothing but plain soup every day.
At first I didn't know, and I even comforted her, saying things would get better, and told her about life back home.
"Hey, guess what?"
Tian Hongfang became more and more excited as she spoke, and even threw in a Beijing accent.
"This old man said I was mocking her for not working hard enough, ridiculing her son for being incompetent, and that although her family was poor, they had ambition and earned their living with their own hands."
"So what if we're rich? Does having money give us the right to look down on the poor? Does having money give us the right to trample on her dignity? Does having money give us the right to insult others at will?"
Ye Zhiyu felt increasingly uneasy listening to this; it sounded like a plot from an old-fashioned novel where a domineering CEO falls in love with a Cinderella.
Tian Hongfang continued, "Before she left, she said, 'She really misjudged me. She thought I was different from others, but it turns out we're all the same kind of people.'"
She slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Damn it, God knows all I said was that back in my hometown I had to get up early and work in the fields."
“What nonsense, ptooey. I just thought this person was crazy. Later, Sister Chen told me that this person had always been like this. At first, they sympathized with her like I did, and then she was labeled with a whole bunch of accusations for no reason.”
"The next day, she came over again as if nothing had happened, and said that as long as I apologized, she would forgive me. Her condescending tone was like that of someone giving charity."
"I'm crazy, I want her forgiveness, you piece of shit."
The expressions on Ye Zhiyu's and the other two's faces were indescribable.
Tao Qingtang felt even more guilty, "Mother, you've never told us about these things before."
Tian Hongfang waved her hand dismissively, "What am I going to say to you? It's just a matter of arguing a bit. Your mother has never lost a fight. You think you can get anything good from me? No way."
She also realized that she had just gotten a little agitated, "I just got a little agitated because I was repeating what she said."
How could I not be excited?
Ye Zhiyu thought to herself, at least when arguing with others, it's for the same thing, for the same benefit, or for the same feeling.
Arguing with an old-fashioned Cinderella is completely absurd. She's crossing the street, the domineering CEO bumps into her, and after the normal compensation, she says, "So what if you're rich?"
When the other person ignored her, she chased after them and said, "How can you be like this? You bumped into someone and then started babbling on and on."
You can't reason with her.
Ye Zhiyu was just very curious about what was going on with this old lady.
Oh, right, this old lady who looks to be in her sixties or seventies is actually a few years younger than Tian Hongfang, around 43 years old, and already looks like she's about to enter her coffin.
Coupled with her incongruous lines, it's really quite eerie.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, the old lady Bai Yulian couldn't help but raise her voice: "Hey, how can your family be so rude? The guests have been standing here for so long without you saying a word or inviting them in. You have no manners, and you're supposed to be rich, huh?"
Her shrill voice pierced the ears of the neighbors, who frowned but remained silent. They were long-time neighbors, and everyone knew she was mentally ill and didn't want to cause trouble.
Tian Hongfang rolled up her sleeves, ready to go out. "That old woman, I'll fight her to the death! She always comes to cause trouble when people are happy."
Ye Zhiyu patted her shoulder, "Mother, I'll do it."
He turned around, his eyes turning cold, a hint of fierceness flashing across them.
"Ma'am, let's put aside the word 'manners' for now. I'd like to ask you, what kind of guest do you have? There are two kinds of guests: those who are invited by us and those who come to visit us specifically to ask for a favor. Which one are you?"
To deal with this kind of person, don't agree with her. Instead, throw the question back at her and make her think along your lines.
Sure enough, Bai Yulian was stunned, pondering which category she belonged to, and finally realized that she was neither.
She straightened up slightly: "Haven't you heard that all visitors are guests?"
"An uninvited guest is an uninvited guest, and besides, ma'am, you didn't seem to knock. Oh dear, how could you forget such a simple courtesy, ma'am? Or is it that you lack manners, ma'am?"
She smiled throughout, maintaining a dignified and proper demeanor, as if she were answering a trivial question.
The neighbors looked at the beautiful girl with admiration, and felt extremely pleased to see Bai Yulian humiliated.
Bai Yulian gritted her teeth, thinking to herself that she had met her match today.
After calming down, he looked up and said, "We're neighbors, and it's normal for us to leave our doors wide open and visit each other. Why make such a big deal out of it?"
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