Chapter 19
The Ye family yard was quiet. Ye Wangshan was stared at by his children. He shivered for a long time before he stood up and went into the house to get paper.
Ye Wangshan was an old scholar who had taught children to read in his early years. He kept his writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in his room. However, these were precious items, and he treasured them dearly. He kept them in his own room, fearing they might be accidentally damaged by the children. Now, he had taken them out, had just ground the ink, and hadn't even begun writing when Ye Zhang, who had been hiding in the room, pounced on him like a madman.
Following behind her was a little girl of eight or nine years old. It was the eldest granddaughter of the Ye family who had just poured water for Ye Jia in the main hall. The eldest granddaughter didn't look like a member of the Ye family, with a large, square face like her mother. She had just heard the adults talking about something strange, so she immediately went inside to inform her mother.
Ye Zhang came in, grabbed Ye Wangshan's arm, sat him on the ground and started crying.
As she started crying, the little girl who followed her took a look at the adults' faces and ran out of the house. Soon, three half-grown boys ran in from the yard. The oldest one looked about fourteen or fifteen, and the younger one was about eleven or twelve. The younger one cried as if she was about to be separated from her loved ones, but the older one didn't say a word. He looked at his grandfather with a stern face and said, "Grandpa, it was my fault. No matter how you punish me today, I will accept it."
As soon as he said this, Ye Zhang came up and slapped him. She started to scold him for being uncaring, saying that his own mother didn't know how to protect him, and that raising him was worse than raising a sheep. She kept yelling and making a fuss, and Ye Wangshan just sighed.
Ye Jia silently put the silver back into his pocket. Without saying anything else, he stood up and left.
Zhou Jingchen sent the doctor back with a large bag of medicine in his hand. Seeing Ye Jia coming out of the room, he grabbed her arm and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Ye Jia knew that men were valued over women in ancient times, and she also knew that Ye Wangshan didn't consider his daughters human. However, she had never expected that Ye Wangshan would even sacrifice his wife's life for his grandson. With someone like Ye Wangshan at the helm, the Ye family had survived thanks to the women in the family being able to give birth.
"Let's go. The problem is still there. It's useless for outsiders to worry about it."
Ye Qingjiang, who had caught up with them, heard what Ye Jia said. He faltered, stood there awkwardly, and his eyes immediately turned red.
He called out "Third sister" softly, and Ye Jia turned her head.
She was telling the truth and looked at him calmly, but Ye Qingjiang couldn't raise his head.
After a long moment, he rushed into the house as if he had made up his mind. Ye Qingjiang grabbed the pen and ink on the table and was about to write: "Dad, if you don't divorce your eldest brother's wife today, I will! If eldest brother Lin Ge'er blames you when he comes back in the future, blame me!"
The Ye family's several male members were literate, having been brought up by Ye Wangshan and taught since childhood. However, with the exception of the eldest son, Ye Qingshan, who had some talent, the others were unable to make significant progress. However, the eldest son, whose family had no money to support him, dropped out of school and returned to the village to raise sheep.
Eight years ago, the garrison was recruiting soldiers, and the village was conscripting men to serve. Every household had to send a man to serve. The Ye family had three sons, and it was customary for the eldest son to take the rank of lord, with the two younger brothers taking the lead. However, Ye Qingjiang was frail and weak-willed, and feared he would die if he went. Ye Qinghe was too young, and as the youngest, his parents were reluctant to let him go. So, as the eldest brother, Ye Qingshan stepped in to take the responsibility.
A few years ago, when recruiting soldiers again, without Ye Qingshan, the brothers behind him had to step up. But Ye Qingjiang happened to be ill. Ye Qinghe wanted to go, but his parents wouldn't let him. Ye Lin, the eldest son of the second wife, was sixteen, so he stepped up to take the lead.
This is why the family tolerated Ye Zhangshi so much. Ye Zhangshi dared to act arrogantly because she relied on her husband and son's contributions to the family. Later, these brothers and sisters all owed her eldest wife money.
Ye Zhang sat on the ground, clapping her legs and crying. She cried the same old things. She cried about her miserable life and the viciousness of the Ye family. She scolded the second wife for being kind but cruel, taking advantage of her husband's absence to bully her. She scolded the Ye family for being black-hearted and conscienceless!
The man from the Ye family blushed with shame. He saw all this the first time his third son-in-law came to visit. He was completely humiliated!
Ye Wangshan couldn't breathe out, and his chest heaved up and down, which was really scary. After a long while, he picked up the bench and slammed it to the ground. The scene suddenly became quiet.
Ye Zhang didn't dare to cry anymore. Ye Wangshan pointed at Ye Zhang's nose and trembled. "I will write to the eldest brother myself and ask him what to do with his wife who has pissed off her mother to death. The family can't tolerate you anymore. Second brother, give me the money and I will send your sister-in-law to the Zhang family now. Anyone who dares to stop me will be sent away!"
As soon as he said this, the crying children immediately shut up.
Ye Wangshan picked up his pen, sat down, and began to write. Seeing him truly committed, Ye Zhang was terrified and rushed over to grab him. But even with her strength, she couldn't compete with a man, and even if Ye Wangshan got really angry, she couldn't stand up to him. At this point, there was no way he could stop divorcing her. With his new son-in-law around, and his children and grandchildren watching, Ye Wangshan still had some dignity to save!
No matter how Ye Zhang struggled, Ye Qingjiang was determined to send Ye Zhang to the Zhang family.
Ye Zhang cried and cried, saying that she knew she was wrong, but Ye Qingjiang ignored her. The whole family cried and cried so loudly that the neighbors came to see them. Ye Jia had no choice but to go back to the house. As soon as he entered, he saw Zhou Jingchen handing the medicine to Ye Simei.
It was the first time that Ye Simei met her third brother-in-law. She kept her head down and didn't dare to raise her eyes. She took the medicine and ran to the small kitchen to boil it.
Zhou Jingchen said something to Ye Wangshan, but Ye Wangshan's face looked much better. When Ye Jia came in, he was distracted and nodded to Ye Jia. Ye Jia didn't understand what he meant at first, but suddenly heard someone outside calling "Third Sister".
The voice was very soft. She turned her head and saw the window of the small house on the west side was pushed open. A thin boy was lying by the window. The boy looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, and was very thin. He stared at Ye Jia for a long time and asked if Ye Jia wanted to come in and sit down.
Ye Jia didn't recognize people very well and didn't know whether it was his nephew or his younger brother, so he walked into the house confused.
The room was dark, with only a single window letting in light. A pungent medicinal smell filled the air as soon as the curtains were drawn. The bed was placed next to the window, and the young man was sitting. Ye Jia raised her eyebrows. The one with a broken leg could only be Ye Qinghe. She had originally thought that Ye Qinghe was paralyzed because of a spinal injury, unable to even sit up in bed. But a closer look revealed that it was only a broken leg.
His family took good care of him, and his room was relatively clean: "Sister, sit down."
Ye Jia didn't say anything and sat down beside his bed.
In reality, Ye Qinghe had witnessed everything that had been going on at home recently, and his temper had only grown worse. Perhaps because he had been spoiled since childhood, Ye Qinghe was the worst-tempered member of the Ye family besides Ye Jia. He had been aggressive even when he was young. As he grew older, his temper had calmed down, but his ferocity remained, and he always wanted to escape. If it weren't for that fall from the mountain six months ago that had left him in this state, he would have been the only one in the family who could control Ye Zhangshi.
But ever since he became paralyzed, Ye Zhangshi started to tremble. He was powerless to get angry, after all, a paralyzed man couldn't hit Ye Zhangshi.
As Ye Qinghe spoke, his eyes filled with hatred. He couldn't think straight, couldn't leave the house, couldn't even get out of bed. His second brother was weak and unreliable, and the family was in shambles.
He had no other words to say when he called Ye Jia in, he just wanted to yell. The two siblings had different personalities, and had been at odds since childhood. He knew his parents had sold his sister to pay for his illness. Feeling guilty, he looked at Ye Jia eagerly and asked her how she was doing at the Zhou family.
What can I do? That's it.
Ye Jia didn't say anything either, his eyes fell lightly on his legs.
As the weather gradually warmed up, the bedding on the bed became very thin. "No need to cover yourself, it's not cold at all." Ye Jia glanced at him briefly, and was suddenly stunned. The bend of Ye Qinghe's legs seemed to be a little off, and even non-professionals could see the problem. Ye Qinghe noticed Ye Jia looking at his legs, his face paled, and he grabbed the quilt and covered his legs.
Ye Jia also noticed his embarrassment and looked away as if nothing had happened.
The siblings had always been at odds at home, and now they were even more at odds. Seeing his third sister's unusually cold attitude, Ye Qinghe couldn't muster his usual temper. He mumbled something, but the short answer was, he had let Ye Jia down.
Ye Jia listened for a moment and nodded, but she couldn't resist and walked over. While Ye Qinghe wasn't paying attention, she pinched his leg bones. The touch immediately confirmed that the bones were misaligned. No wonder he couldn't stand up. She didn't want to get involved, but if the leg bones were intact, she could break them and reattach them, perhaps they would be able to heal.
I sat in his room for a while and then went out. As soon as I left the room, I ran into a little girl.
The little girl didn't say a word when she saw Ye Jia, but turned and ran away. Although Ye Jia didn't recognize her, her square face looked exactly like Ye Zhangshi. She didn't care when she was glared at. Just now, she stood up and asked Ye Wangshan to divorce her mother, and the little girl was listening.
Without paying any attention to her, Ye Jia went back to the east room to see Ye Su.
There was another person in the room now, it was Ye Jia's second sister-in-law whom he had never seen before.
The second sister-in-law was a dull woman, perhaps because she worked in the fields all year long, but she looked very old. Standing next to Ye Su, it was hard to tell who looked older. She had just returned from somewhere, her legs and body still stained with mud. When she saw Ye Jia, she stood up and called out. Ye Jia nodded, and walked over to find that Ye Su had woken up at some point.
When Ye Su saw Ye Jia, she burst into tears before she could even say anything. She looked so thin, and her sobbing body was heartbreaking.
This family was so gloomy and miserable that it was disturbing to see them. There's a saying that goes, "There's always something hateful about a pitiful person." What's the point of crying? Ye Jia wasn't one to complain, so after a few questions, he kept quiet.
Ye Su cried for a long time but her third daughter didn't open her mouth, and finally she couldn't cry anymore.
Just then, Sister Ye Si came over with some medicine and told Ye Su to drink it first. Then a group of people came out of the house. It was not good for them to stand in the yard, so Sister Ye Er invited them to talk in their own room.
Ye Jia went along, asking how they were going to handle the situation going forward. Regardless of whether Boss Ye could reply and deal with Ye Zhangshi, Zhou Jingchen had already paid for the medicine. Ye Jia didn't know where he'd gotten the money, and since it was already paid, there was no getting it back. But there had to be a plan for what was going on, so Ye Jia asked Fourth Sister Ye what she thought.
Ye Simei hadn't slept a whole day and night since she was raped. She held on until now without crying because she was concerned about her mother's frail body.
When her sister opened her mouth, tears started to fall: "Sister, I have no intention of getting married in this state..."
Over the years, the Ye family's housework has been done by Ye Simei and Ye Wumei, and the eldest sister-in-law Ye Zhangshi would not lend a hand. Ye Simei raised her red eyes and said, "Is there any work to do at home? I will go and help you, and you can provide me with food."
"What else?"
Fourth Sister Ye seemed to be struggling. After a long pause, she said bitterly, "I want to report my eldest sister-in-law and her younger sister to the authorities!"
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