Chapter 135
It was early spring when Ye Di came up from under the embankment carrying a laundry bucket. Her hands were already red from the cold.
She'd been squatting for too long, her legs numb. She'd accidentally stepped into the puddle, soaking half her leg. The chilblains on the back of her hands itched and stung. She looked up at the overcast sky. Rain rarely fell in Libei Town, but for some reason it had been raining for several days straight this year, leaving everything wet and sticky. The damp, cold air seemed to have eyes, burrowing deep into her bones, leaving her legs and feet numb with the cold.
Thinking of her third sister, who had fallen into the water and was unknown whether she was alive or dead, Ye Di couldn't help but feel a little worried. Even if she was the most favored third sister in the family, after being sold for a large sum of money, her parents wouldn't care about her life or death. She was pushed into the water in the freezing cold by Zhang Chunfen. I wonder if the Zhou family had called a doctor?
Muttering to herself, Ye Di blew a breath of warm air into her palms, picked up the washing tub again, and walked home with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
She had just reached the village entrance, before even entering, when she saw a group of people squatting on the ground beside the stone tablet at the entrance, doing something inexplicable. Ye Di was startled and immediately dropped her eyes, not daring to look in that direction. There were many unscrupulous and unruly people in the village, and the three Ye sisters were renowned for their good looks. Even at a young age, Ye Di had encountered several instances of lecherous advances.
Not wanting to get into trouble, she turned around and took a shortcut back to the village.
But she had only taken two steps when the group of scoundrels noticed her. One of them happened to be someone who had teased her in the past, and when he saw Ye Di, he came up to her like a dog at a bone. They stopped fighting and sauntered over to surround Ye Di.
"Ye Lao San, what do you want to do!" Ye Di's face was gloomy, and she stared fiercely at the dark horse face in front of her.
The punk named Ye Lao San liked her cold and arrogant look, baring his yellow teeth and trying to reach out and touch Ye Di's face. Ye Di was startled and took two steps back with the laundry bucket in her hand.
As soon as she stepped back, a few hooligans became excited and came up to her in a servile manner.
Ye Di's hair stood on end. Her pants, half soaked through, felt as cold as ice, numb from the cold. In the blink of an eye, Ye Di found herself surrounded by hooligans. Since they were hooligans, they were naturally less polite. Seeing a pretty girl alone trying to touch her, Ye Di was so frightened that she raised her hand and slapped the unruly hand. With a slapping sound, the faces of the hooligans, who had been smiling, suddenly changed.
Ye Laosan grabbed Ye Di's hair and pulled it hard to the side.
Ye Di's face turned pale in pain and she couldn't help but scream.
Seeing the boss start to attack, the nearby thugs jokingly reached out and grabbed Ye Di's wrist, trying to pull her into their arms. Ye Di was so frightened that she opened her mouth to scream, but before she could even utter a short sound, someone covered her mouth. Ye Di was already sweating profusely and struggled desperately. But the more she struggled, the more excited the thugs became.
Just when Ye Di thought the gang had finally attacked her, the person pulling her hair suddenly flew away. With a scream, Ye Lao San fell heavily to the ground.
Before she could see clearly, she saw the person next to her fall to the ground in the blink of an eye and started to die.
Ye Di didn't know what was happening. She instinctively squatted down, hugged her knees, and was about to scream. But before she could say anything, a short laugh hit her head: "What are you screaming for? You didn't scream when you had something to do, but now that you're being beaten, you're screaming?"
After saying that, he turned around and shouted at the person crying on the ground, scaring the person so much that he quickly got up and ran away.
"Tsk, trouble." I felt a gust of wind in front of me, as if someone was approaching.
Ye Di was stunned for a moment and quickly raised her head from her knees, only to see a person squatting in front of her.
She swallowed hard, taking in the man in front of her. He was a young man in military uniform. Ye Di hadn't been well-educated, so she couldn't describe him. All she knew was that the moment she laid eyes on him, the only thing that filled her mind was "handsome."
"I've thrown all the people out for you, go back quickly." The young man saw Ye Di in a daze and smacked his lips in boredom.
It seemed that he had no time to chat with Ye Di. He patted his knees and stood up.
Liu Yuan had been ordered to check on the defenses and be on the lookout for signs of bandit activity. After a brief patrol, he planned to return. He glanced up at the sky, which was gloomy and looked like it was going to rain heavily. It was truly cold in this awful weather, colder than winter. He couldn't help but mutter, "It's going to rain again!" His gaze fell on his dusty clothes, which had fallen to the ground at some point.
The girl must have just finished washing her clothes, as they were still dripping with water. However, she had just been frightened by the gang of hooligans, and her clothes had fallen to the ground and were covered in dust, so her washing was in vain.
Regardless of the little girl's confusion and inability to understand what he was saying, he felt obliged to help her. Liu Yuan had no intention of comforting the little girl. He quickly picked up the scattered clothes, placed them in front of Ye Di, and walked away without a word.
It was not until the others had walked a long way away that Ye Di felt as if her cheeks were on fire, burning without any warning.
She clutched her pounding heart and looked at the laundry tub placed securely before her. She wasn't thinking about whether her mother would scold her if she took the dirty clothes home, but about the man in military uniform. Could he be a soldier stationed there?
Feeling a little strange, Ye Di took a deep breath and, with a rare absence of resentment, carried the laundry bucket back to the river.
When she finished washing the clothes and took them home, a heavy rain fell again. Ye Su sat by the door with the basket, grumbling uncomfortably. She felt that the rain was wasting time, and that Ye Di was lazy and waited until it rained to wash the clothes. As a result, there was no place to dry the wet clothes, which was a waste of time. "If you wash now, your sister-in-law will scold you when she comes back."
Ye Di didn't argue. She had long been accustomed to her mother's attitude. It was precisely because her parents were like this that her eldest sister-in-law and her sisters could bully the three of them. Because no one loved her, no one cared. Without saying anything, she quietly went to the back room to get a rope and hang the clothes inside to dry.
When she was done, the eldest sister-in-law came back, cursing loudly. She didn't know what had happened to her outside, but she kept saying a lot. She guessed that the whole family's mouths combined couldn't be as eloquent as the eldest sister-in-law. In the entire Ye family, apart from her father, the eldest sister-in-law was the most powerful. Ye Di didn't go out to get scolded. She huddled in the room and thought silently about the man she met today. She had never seen such a handsome man in her life. Even Cheng Feng, the most coveted son-in-law in town, was not as handsome as that man. She didn't know who that man was...
Ye Di knew that as long as her sister-in-law came back, something bad would happen, so she simply stayed in the house to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
Sure enough, the sister-in-law started making a fuss at home again.
Even if they didn't want to give an explanation to the Zhou family about Zhang Chunfen pushing their third sister into the water, they had to. With Dad's pride, even if he didn't want to explain himself, he had to explain it to prevent the rumors. He didn't want the villagers to mock the Ye family for being heartless and not caring about their own daughter's life for an outsider.
But no matter how good my father's intentions are, they are useless when it comes to my sister-in-law.
The eldest sister-in-law's fierce protection of Zhang Chunfen forced her nieces to step aside. The entire main hall erupted in a clamor over this matter. Ye Di couldn't hear her father's voice, but she could clearly hear the piercing, shrill voice of her eldest sister-in-law.
"Dad, other people may not know about the Third Girl's strong character, but don't you know?"
In the entire Ye family, only Ye Zhang dared to shout at Ye Tongsheng, "The three girls must have been the ones to make such a fuss! Besides, the three girls are already married, and they will be the Zhou family's ghosts in life and death. The Zhou family didn't even come to argue, so the three girls must be in the wrong. Now that she hasn't even come, are we going to rush to apologize to her? This is too unreasonable!"
Ye Zhang has a lot of weird ideas and even Ye Tongsheng can't win an argument with him.
Ye Di listened intently to the outrageous conversation in the main room, quietly waiting to see if her father would finally take charge of his daughter. But after less than a quarter of an hour, there was silence. Zhang Chunfen, clutching a package, smiled as she passed the doorway, not even hinting at being scolded. Ye Di watched Zhang Chunfen pass by with a wooden expression, then sneered. She slipped off her shoes and lay down on the bed.
She shouldn't have expected her father to make decisions for her third sister. How could a money-loser compare to a man who gave birth to a son?
Ye Di, already numb to the sight, was no longer surprised. She lay there until the door opened and Ye Yuan walked in, turning around. Ye Yuan had come back from nowhere, her sleeves soaked with water. A smile still lingered on her face as she looked up to meet her.
"What's wrong?" Ye Yuan put away the smile on her face and asked softly.
"Fourth sister." Ye Di exhaled slowly, looking at her fourth sister who hadn't thought about anything all day. The words on the tip of her tongue died. She suddenly felt that there was no point in saying anything. Fourth sister was different from her. Fourth sister didn't understand what she was worried about every day, and she thought everything her parents did was right.
"It's okay," she lowered her eyes, "Did you go out to meet your future fourth brother-in-law?"
Ye Yuan panicked and quickly covered her mouth.
Ye Di was amused by her and giggled a bit. Ye Yuan shyly admitted that she had gone to town to meet her fiancé. Ye Di sighed, sometimes thinking she was overthinking things. Aren't all country girls like this? They work like slaves at home, and then after marriage, they work like slaves for their husband's family. Everyone is like this, so it's abnormal for her to be dissatisfied.
"Fourth sister, it's better not to see your fourth brother-in-law before you get married," Ye Di advised. "Even though you two are engaged, you're always so eager to get married. You'll be looked down upon by your husband's family."
Ye Di felt a little embarrassed at being contradicted by her sister. But she also knew that Ye Di was just like that. She would only say something to her sister, but she wouldn't bother to say a word to anyone else. Her long eyelashes trembled, and a look of difficulty appeared on her face. "I know that too. But he always comes to see me. If I don't go to see him, he gets angry. And when he gets angry, he stays angry for a long time, and his words are very unpleasant..."
Others didn't know this, but Ye Di knew it all too well. The Jin family claimed to be wealthy, and Jin Dacheng was honest, but in reality, he had a terrible temper. The only child of a wealthy family had been spoiled from childhood, and while the fourth sister seemed destined for a good marriage, only her family knew the real struggles.
Ye Di couldn't bring herself to say she wanted to break off the engagement. These days, unless the woman made a serious mistake and was disliked, an engagement couldn't be broken. Besides, her family was still waiting for Fourth Sister's betrothal gift. Who could afford twenty taels of betrothal gift?
At this point, Ye Di didn't want to upset her fourth sister. She laughed a few times and changed the subject, asking something else: "Fourth sister, do you think we should go to Wangjiazhuang to see third sister? I heard that third sister is very ill and has been in a coma for several days. No one from my parents has said anything. Why don't we go and see her so that we can feel at ease?"
"Of course I have to go," Ye Yuan also wanted to go and see. Although she was not close to her third sister, they were sisters. "I have some private money saved on hand."
As she spoke, Ye Yuan lowered her voice, fearing that people next door would hear her.
Ye Di immediately understood where Fourth Sister got the money from. It must have been Jin Dacheng who gave it to her. Jin Dacheng had a bad temper and spoke harshly, but he was generous to Fourth Sister.
After discussing this, the two sisters decided to go to Wangjiazhuang after finishing their work the next day or the day after.
The two sisters had made plans to leave. But the next day, after finishing their chores inside and outside the house, Ye Yuan was stopped by Ye Zhangshi just as she was about to leave. Ye Zhangshi had a fight with Ye Tongsheng the day before, and it hadn't been resolved. Ye Wangshan was easy to talk to, but the villagers had told her about Chunfen pushing Ye Jia, and it had rubbed her father-in-law the wrong way. He was adamant that Chunfen should be sent away. She was upset, so she wanted to take it out on the two Ye sisters.
Early in the morning, she went to the stove and drank two bowls of thick porridge. She happened to run into the two sisters and turned around to take down the quilts in her room and her son, daughter and sister's room, and insisted that the two wash them.
The two sisters were most afraid of their eldest sister-in-law. Ye Di was a little better, but Ye Yuan was like a mouse meeting a cat, not daring to say a word.
Seeing she was about to be left home to wash the quilts again, Ye Di immediately retorted that she wanted to go see her third sister. It would have been fine if she hadn't said that, but the mention of Ye Jia and Ye Zhang made her furious. In her opinion, if it weren't for what happened to Ye Jia, her father-in-law wouldn't have sent Chunfen away.
He immediately pointed at the two sisters' noses and started scolding them.
She couldn't bring herself to dwell on Ye Jia's affairs, and just accuse them of being lazy and eating for free without working. The deafening voice could be heard three miles away. Ye Yuan couldn't hold it in any longer, and with a red face, she picked up the quilt and went back to the house. Ye Di was furious and was about to argue. She saw a group of people standing at the door. Her father, the village chief, and two soldiers in military uniforms were standing at the door. She didn't know how long they had been looking at each other, but when Ye Yuan looked up, she met the eyes of one of them. The man's eyes moved, and her heart skipped a beat.
"What are you all arguing about? Look at what you're doing! You're making such a fuss, what a mess!" Ye Wangshan was furious. He was caught in such an unseemly state at home. His old face flushed red as he glared at Ye Zhangshi and Ye Di, wishing he could slap them in the face.
Ye Di's heart sank, and she glanced at the man stealthily, her cheeks unconsciously feeling hot.
Liu Yuan was amused by the little girl and saw that the little girl kept stealing glances at him, so he simply stood up straight and let her look.
The little girl had a stern face, pretending to be serious. Her brows were tightly furrowed, and her eyes couldn't hide her curiosity, just as funny as a child telling a lie. Liu Yuan couldn't help but look at her a few more times, and deliberately looked back when she looked at him. It was quite funny to see the little girl's face turn red and white. Of course, Liu Yuan didn't think that the little girl had any feelings for him. He was quite self-aware. He was already a young woman, and this little girl looked even younger than she was. How could he have any thoughts?
When the little girl glanced at him for the fifth time, he not only confronted her but also deliberately blinked his eyes.
I thought I would see a shocked expression on the little girl's face, but instead, she turned her head around like a frightened deer, trotted back into the house, and closed the door with a snap.
Liu Yuan touched his nose helplessly: "..."
…
Liu Yuan was summoned here purely by chance, having met him at the village chief's house. The village chief felt that since the officials in his garrison had heard about these farming and animal husbandry matters, they should also listen to them. While the garrison wasn't the local government office, it collected taxes from Libei Town, making it closely tied to the garrison. This year's unusual weather meant a poor harvest, and it was time to let all the garrison officials know.
After hearing all the gossip, Liu Yuan didn't offer any suggestions. Seeing that it was almost dark, he said he had something important to attend to and left.
The village chief didn't dare to stop him and let him go.
Ye Di waited until the yard was quiet before leaving. The handsome officer was gone. Not only was the officer gone, but the village chief and Ye Wangshan were gone too. Ye Di stared at the quilt she had thrown in the corner of the yard, gritting her teeth and refusing to wash it.
But he didn't dare not work, so after thinking about it, he turned around and went to the stove to cook.
…
That night, Ye Di, who never dreamed before, had a beautiful dream.
A face appeared in her dream, and she blushed every time she looked at it. When she woke up with a frown on her face, she finally realized her mistake. She had fallen in love with the officer whose name she didn't know. Ye Di covered her face and sat in the kitchen for a long time, suddenly thinking of many questions. How old was that person? He looked much older than her. Was he married?
He seemed to enjoy teasing her. Did this mean he was interested in her as well? Ye Di didn't know. This was the first time in her life that she felt her face blush and her heartbeat beat so fast.
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