Chapter 57: Breaking off Relationship
The Ye family froze in place. Mrs. Li's fake sobs abruptly ceased, her fingers unconsciously picking at the moss on the cave wall. Father Ye's pipe clanged in his palm, his cloudy eyes frantically scanning the crowd as he protested, "You evil creature! You've been my savior for a few days, and yet you don't recognize your parents?"
"Father and Mother?" Ye Jingchen sneered and suddenly pulled open his sleeves.
The crisscrossing whip marks on his forearms were hideous in the firelight. "Ever since I can remember, I've never been treated well in your Ye family! You accused me of stealing food and flogged me with thorns for three hours, but that food was eaten by the youngest sister of the Ye family, and you only criticized her with a few words. That year, I was forced to guard a trap during a rainstorm, and I came back with a high fever for three days, but you poured cold water on me and said I was faking illness. I won't forget these kindnesses for a single moment."
There were gasps from the crowd. When Wu Yuetang heard what Ye Jingchen had said in person, her heart ached. He was the mighty God of War Dayu, but he was treated so harshly because of his amnesia. The sympathy in her eyes turned into heartache when she looked at Ye Jingchen.
A woman suddenly covered her mouth, remembering the scars faintly visible under Ye Jingchen's sweat-soaked sleeves when he carried her daughter on his back to look for herbs a few years ago.
Village Chief Wang slammed his bamboo cane on the ground. "Is what Ye's kid said true?"
Ye Chunlan, the younger sister of the Ye family, burst into tears and collapsed on the ground: "Dad! Don't hide it! You picked him up in the Langya Valley! He was seriously injured and unconscious at that time. Mom said that he could be a farmhand when he grew up..."
Before she could finish her words, Li rushed over and covered her mouth, but Wu Yuetang quickly pulled it away.
"What a son I raised with so much hardship!" Wu Yuetang slashed the cliff face with the short knife in his hand, making a teeth-aching sound. "It seems that he has been treating people like animals all these years!"
The discussion among the onlookers exploded instantly. Ye Youcai, the head of the Ye family, knelt on the ground with his legs weak, and suddenly changed his expression: "Chen'er, it was all my fault for a moment! Now that you have the ability, just take pity on me..."
Before he finished speaking, Ye Jingchen had already snatched the dagger from Wu Yuetang's hand, holding it to his throat with a cold gleam. "Back then, when you whipped my arms with brambles and burned my palms with red-hot iron pliers, did you ever show any mercy?"
Wu Yuetang said nonchalantly, "According to clan rules, how should one be punished for pretending to be a blood relative?"
Village Chief Wang coughed twice, his expression solemn: "Give him thirty strokes of the cane and expel him from the family tree."
Ye family's Li suddenly started throwing a tantrum: "Why! He's a bastard..."
Before she could finish her words, Wu Yuetang picked up half a brick and slammed it at her feet: "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will smash your mouth! Humph, bastard, I hope you won't regret what you said in the future."
Under the angry glares of the crowd, the Ye family members stumbled back to the darkest corner of the cave wall, curling up into a ball like wet rats.
Li was still sobbing and cursing, but she didn't dare to raise her voice at all - the contemptuous looks of the surrounding villagers, as well as the covetous postures of Ye Jingchen and Wu Yuetang, made them dare not even breathe.
Ye Jingchen stood by the campfire. The firelight stretched his shadow very long, casting it on the rock wall like a sharp sword.
"Do you have a pen and paper?" He extended his hand towards Wu Yuetang, his voice calm and without a trace of warmth.
Wu Yuetang raised her eyebrows and smiled, then took out the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone she had bought in the county town from the carriage.
"Do you really want to write?" Wu Yuetang lowered her voice. "They have no blood relationship with you. They are just a bunch of clowns."
"With the document in hand, I'm prepared for any eventuality." Ye Jingchen held the brush in his hand, and Wu Yuetang ground ink for him. He forcefully wrote the three characters "Severance of Relationship" on the rice paper. The ink spread due to the dampness of the paper, making it look even more vigorous and sharp.
He wrote down all his experiences over the years on paper: being chained in a woodshed, being forced down a miasma-filled mine, being kicked out of his home in the dead of winter... Every stroke of his pen was like flesh and blood cut out from his heart.
Village Chief Wang took the letter of severance with trembling hands, and with his presbyopic eyes he scrutinized it closely. His beard trembled with anger. "What a sin! What a sin!" He turned to look at the Ye family huddled in the corner, "According to clan rules, this matter must be signed in front of everyone!"
Ye Youcai wanted to argue, but Wu Yuetang grabbed him by the collar and said, "Sign! Otherwise, I'll throw you out to feed the wolves!"
Mrs. Li from the Ye family slumped on the ground, looking at the villagers who gathered around her. She knew that there was no room for maneuver today, so she could only press her bloody handprint on the letter of severance with trembling hands.
When the last member of the Ye family signed, Ye Jingchen held the severance letter over the fire and gently toasted it. The paper gradually dried, and the ink became clearer, as if sealing away the grudge between him and the Ye family.
The torrential rain continued to rage, but the commotion within the cave gradually died down. The troublemakers retreated in disgrace under the gaze of the crowd, but before they left, the resentful eyes of Liu and Li remained like venomous snakes, clinging to Wu Yuetang and Ye Jingchen.
After this farce, the atmosphere in the cave became subtle - some people began to take the initiative to help the Wu family with work, some people were whispering in the dark, and the fire on the rock wall in the distance trembled slightly, as if telling something silently.
The torrential rain continued to wash over the mountainside. Wu Yuetang bent down to push aside the rain-soaked ferns, her fingertips feeling the cool touch of the leaves. Behind her came the steady sound of Ye Jingchen's footsteps, and the rustling of vines as prey struggled.
Over the past month, such mornings have become a routine - while other villagers are still huddled in caves for warmth, they have already carried bamboo baskets and held hunting knives, searching for life in the mountains and forests.
Smoke curled from the cave, mingling with the bitter aroma of wild vegetable porridge. Wu Yuetang had just placed the freshly picked wild onions on the stone stove when she heard a commotion in the corner of the cave.
Several villagers peered in, whispering, "Is the young master of the Qi family here again?" "Yes, I heard him smashing bowls in the tent yesterday..."
Before he finished speaking, Qi Yu was already running towards Wu Yuetang with long strides. Although the young man in the brocade cape was a little muddy, he still couldn't hide the pride in his eyes.
As soon as he saw Wu Yuetang cutting vegetables, he kicked off his muddy boots and sat down on the nearest stone.
"Wu Yuetang, you're so cruel!" He deliberately dragged out the last word. "Ever since you accepted five hundred taels of silver from my family, you haven't even brought us a hot meal in ages. Are you planning to run away with the silver?"
Wu Yuetang raised her eyebrows and slammed the kitchen knife down, splashing water onto Qi Yu's cuffs embroidered with gold thread.
She wiped her hands and approached, a playful smile on her face. "Young Master Qi, are you speaking with such sincerity? The chefs in your house all came from the imperial kitchen, so why are you still thinking about the coarse food made by a country girl like me?"
"What do those people know!" Qi Yu jumped up with a red face, and the hem of his brocade robe swept over the pottery pot beside him. "The venison stewed the day before yesterday was as tough as tree bark, and the chicken soup yesterday was so fishy that it could suffocate you!"
He suddenly leaned closer and lowered his voice, "The tomato beef you made last time and the spareribs before that, even the bones were so fragrant that you could chew them to extract the marrow..."
There was a dull thud of something heavy falling to the ground at the entrance of the cave. Ye Jingchen stepped into the cave carrying the black goat. His raincoat had been soaked through by the heavy rain, and there were still a few pieces of broken spider webs hanging on the goat's horns.
He glanced at Qi Yu, whose face was red and his neck was thick, and silently threw his prey heavily onto the stone slab. The black goat's twitching limbs splashed with mud, which happened to land on Qi Yu's shiny riding boots.
"You've arrived just in time." Wu Yuetang threw the boning knife to Ye Jingchen, the blade gleaming coldly in the sunlight. "Master Qi wants to eat meat, so let's make some white mutton soup."
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