Chapter 306 The Virtuous Empress Used as Cannon Fodder (Part 5) A Happy Ending...
The definition of happiness varies from person to person, but in essence, it is nothing more than the satisfaction that one's heart most desires.
Seeing Ye Yunhua's troubled expression, Lin You offered some advice: "The process of finding happiness with a tael of silver is also a kind of fun. As long as you are happy, why bother about buying anything?"
Even after Lin You said that, Ye Yunhua still lay there without sleeping all night. She had never lived for herself in her life; even her words, meals, and sleep were all for other people's purposes.
Although the control and repression no longer exist after she came to Jiangnan, she is in poor spirits and has only recently come to her senses. She hasn't really thought about making herself happy.
The next day, Ye Yunhua got up early and even ran into Ye Yi'an, who had secretly brought her fresh vegetables, when she opened the door.
The child, who had remained calm and steadfast even after being sold by her own parents, was so frightened by Ye Yunhua's presence that she nearly jumped up. After hastily bowing to Ye Yunhua, she fled in a panic.
Ye Yunhua paused, her hand already outstretched as she was about to invite him to dinner. Suddenly, she couldn't help but burst out laughing. After laughing, she froze, realizing what involuntary laughter felt like. She seemed to understand now.
With a tael of silver in her pocket, Ye Yunhua invited Lin You out for breakfast. The first thing she did was to exchange it for money.
Many things on the street cost as little as one or two coins, while more expensive ones cost twenty or thirty coins. It would be more convenient to spend them in copper coins.
When Ye Yunhua was in the palace, she never saw copper coins. She usually gave people silver ingots and gold melon seeds as rewards. Even when she was a child at home, she saw copper coins only a handful of times.
After arriving in Jiangnan, Lin You basically handled all these trivial matters for him. Now that he was exchanging money himself, besides feeling novel, he also had a sense of gradually understanding this world.
The two went to the money exchange together and watched as the clerk cut off two qian from one tael of silver, exchanging it for two hundred copper coins. He then put the coins in his purse, which was heavy and made a crisp sound when they were clattered together.
There are many breakfast stalls on the street, and even after half a month, the two of them haven't been able to finish half of them. To keep things quiet, Lin You and Ye Yunhua usually have breakfast delivered to their home or choose stalls with fewer people.
Today, Ye Yunhua deliberately chose a bustling restaurant. The shop was small, with only a large oil pot and a cutting board inside. Customers were gathered outside the door, forming a dense crowd.
The shopkeeper was quick and efficient. Although there were many people, it was Ye Yunhua's turn in no time. The golden and crispy fried dough sticks, mixed with scallions and sauce, were rolled in thin pancakes and wrapped in oil paper. They cost three coins each, and she and Lin You each got one.
I grabbed a rolled pancake and went to the lotus root starch stall next door. I ordered two bowls of lotus root starch, each costing an extra penny. I added double the amount of osmanthus honey, and it was indeed sweeter than what I usually eat.
After breakfast, Ye Yunhua followed others' example and neatly arranged the copper coins on the table. She then greeted the shopkeeper in the local dialect and heard the shopkeeper respond with a smile.
Not far from the breakfast stall, there is a small ferry crossing that can take you to the other side of the river. If you pay ten coins, you can even charter the boat.
"Boatman, let's go straight on, no need to wait for anyone else." Ye Yunhua generously counted out the copper coins and handed them over, then boarded the boat with Lin You.
The awning boat rocked gently on the water, reflecting dappled sunlight. Ye Yunhua, watching the ripples, suddenly said:
“When I was six years old, I also wanted to go on the boat. At that time, I still thought that crying and making a fuss could get me what I wanted. My father and mother took my older brother to go boating on the lake. I cried and begged to go, and was locked in the ancestral hall for three days and three nights. Since then, I have never cried again.”
Lin You patted her hand without saying anything. Ye Yunhua didn't need comfort. Some things, once you're willing to talk about them, mean you've already let them go.
The two wandered the streets for most of the day, bought dough figurines, released lanterns, and even went to a teahouse to listen to storytelling. By the time they decided to go home, they still hadn't spent all two hundred coins.
Ye Yunhua sent the remaining money to a noodle shop next to the bookstore where Ye Yi'an copied books, asking them to deliver a bowl of plain noodles to Ye Yi'an every day after he finished copying books, with an extra poached egg in the bowl.
A bowl of plain noodles with an egg costs eight coins. Ye Yunhua gave an extra two coins as a delivery fee. Eight coins was enough to send food to Ye Yi'an for more than two months.
[Ding! Your daily dose of happiness has been earned. Congratulations on completing the extravagant spending mission! You have received a reward of ten taels of silver, which has been placed in your wallet.]
The notification that the money had been credited to her account rang precisely after Ye Yunhua paid the bill, indicating that she had indeed had a very happy day.
Humans are social animals. How could we not care about things and people while living in this world? Rather than worrying about those cold-hearted people, we should focus on this chosen one of destiny.
Nowadays, those who can become protagonists must meet the most basic requirements in terms of character and temperament. Ye Yunhua also seems to have taken it to heart, and Lin You is naturally happy to see it happen.
Ye Yi'an was somewhat uneasy all day. He was worried that the Madam Ye who named him would misunderstand and think that he was trying to curry favor for his own benefit.
But he really just wanted to get closer to her. In this dynasty, surnames represented inheritance. Although the lady may have just used her own surname casually, or perhaps it was just to help him solve the trouble that followed.
But Ye Yi'an always felt that he was connected with her, and he felt satisfied even if he only did some insignificant little things for her.
He had clearly observed that Madam Ye usually didn't leave her house until after daybreak, so how did he end up running into her today?
Did she deliberately get up early to catch herself?
Did she not sleep well tonight?
Will she think I'm deliberately scheming?
Will she hate me now?
Eight-year-old Ye Yi'an was on tenterhooks all day until she finished copying the book and received a bowl of plain noodles with an egg, which finally calmed her chaotic thoughts.
Meanwhile, Lin You received a nagging message from the Heavenly Dao: "[My protagonist actually cried from emotion! If you keep going like this, how am I supposed to train him, temper his character, and help him rise to become the most powerful person in the court?!]"
This was the first time Lin You had encountered Xiao Tiandao who would come to chat with her whenever he had nothing to do, and since she was on his turf, she couldn't just ignore him.
"Your process is too outdated. Suppressive education is no longer popular. You don't have to go through tragedy to hone your skills. Desperate situations can indeed push people to their limits, but they can also easily corrupt them."
You should be able to observe other worlds too, right? Look at those families with modern oppressive education, how many of them grow up to have a close relationship with their parents?
"If he has good potential, let him study hard. Wanting to be valued will motivate him to work harder and grow, won't it?"
Since things had come to this point, Xiaotiandao had no choice but to accept it. Lin You had come here to help fix the loopholes and had even helped him save the protagonist. How could he possibly turn his back on him after he had served his purpose?
Putting aside the issue of cause and effect, just offending people will make it difficult to ask for help if something goes wrong in the future.
Fortunately, Lin You's idea was also good. Xiao Tiandao quickly coaxed himself back to health and even provided Lin You with some information.
The puppets she left in the palace were found to be acting strangely.
The person who discovered it was Qin Xi, Ye Yunhua's ten-year-old eldest son. However, he couldn't tell that it wasn't the real Empress Dowager, but he could sense that his mother was different from before.
Originally, the Empress Dowager would try to get close to him, secretly care about his life, and look forward to his approach. But from some point onward, she only showed him superficial politeness.
At first, Qin Xi thought he was overthinking things, but even when he took the initiative to hand his mother water, she no longer showed any excitement or agitation.
It was as if the person handing her water wasn't her own flesh and blood, but an insignificant servant, someone she didn't even bother to glance at.
Just like... how he usually treats his mother.
From the time Qin Xi could remember, his father told him that his mother's family, the Ye family, held immense power and influence, and their achievements threatened the emperor.
If he cares too much about his mother, he will be completely controlled by the Ye family and become their puppet for life.
He was only trying to protect the Qin family's throne; he was only trying to protect himself. Why couldn't his mother understand him?
Lin You hadn't paid attention to the puppet's situation for a long time, mainly because the system had already determined that the mission had been successful, and the puppet hadn't issued any warnings, so Lin You hadn't bothered with it anymore.
Now, after hearing Xiao Tiandao's reminder, he opened the screen and took a look. On the screen, ten-year-old Qin Xi was dressed in a moon-white robe, with a golden crown and jade belt, truly looking like a handsome young man.
Qin Xi stood in front of "Ye Yunhua" holding a bouquet of flowers, peonies picked from the Imperial Garden. The delicate pink petals were still covered with dewdrops, as if they had just been picked.
“Mother, I passed by the Imperial Garden and saw that the flowers were in full bloom. I specially picked a few of the prettiest ones to bring to you to scent your house. I picked them myself.”
Qin Xi specifically called her mother and emphasized that she had picked the flowers herself. She thought that even if her mother was angry and stopped caring about her, she would still be somewhat moved.
To everyone's surprise, the puppet playing "Ye Yunhua" only slightly raised her eyes, then calmly nodded, and waved to the palace servants beside her to take the flowers and place them aside.
But Ye Yunhua was not moved at all; she didn't even glance at the flower or Qin Xi.
The puppet was a pre-programmed program. Ye Yunhua did not set up any interaction scenes with her son, so it would not perform any unnecessary actions.
Don't let Qin Xi's young age fool you; he's actually quite perceptive. Ye Yunhua's past secret care for him is now completely gone.
Lin You looked at Qin Xi, who seemed to have seen a ghost, and sneered. From beginning to end, Qin Xi knew what Ye Yunhua wanted, but he deliberately ignored it and even deliberately did things to obviously ignore Ye Yunhua.
If Ye Yunhua's parents were the instigators and her husband was the root cause, then the two children she carried for ten months, who were cold and indifferent to her, were the ones who ultimately pushed her into the abyss.
However, Lin You did understand why the eldest sister was able to drive so many male protagonists crazy with a puppet doll.
The world that the eldest sister Lin Nan went to was full of people who bullied the female protagonist under the guise of love, just like Qin Xi deliberately manipulated Ye Yunhua. But what they relied on was simply their concern for her.
If we were to follow those people's demands and design them as puppet dolls, nine times out of ten they would find it unacceptable, and they would deserve to go crazy.
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