Chapter 112: Finding Someone (3)

  Sitting in the teahouse, Cao Ye held Cao Wei and kept calling out "son", her face streaming with tears that wouldn't stop.

  Cao Wei looked a bit embarrassed, being held in his mother's arms at his age really damaged the image of a man he had in mind.

  Ye Baiji and Ye Luyuan were beside him, biting his ear, and in a few words, they told him what had just happened.

  Ye Luyu felt both indignant and self-reproachful. This Cao Wei was really heartless, knowing that someone had mentioned his name yet still being so ruthless, without regard for the lives of the two little girls. But he was more self-reproachful, how could he have let the two little girls go find him? He knew the dock area wasn't peaceful, why hadn't he taken better care of them?

  "Next time, you can't be so disobedient and run around here again." Ye Baiji nodded in agreement, next time she would not bother to come out and find this Cao Wei.

  Cao Ye's mother and Cao Wei chatted for a while at the next table, until Cao Ye's mother finally stopped crying. As she was about to leave, she said reluctantly to Cao Wei: "Mom is now living in your grandfather's old house, come back and visit me when you have time."

  Cao Wei nodded and said: "Got it, mother go back and take care of yourself, I'll visit you when I have time."

  When Cao Wei finished speaking, Cao Ye finally revealed a smile and reluctantly bid farewell to Cao Wei.

  When Cao Wei was about to leave, he neither thanked Zhen'er and others for coming to see him off nor asked them to take care of Cao Yeshi.

  Ye Baiji disdainfully curled her lip, truly lacking in manners and upbringing.

  On the way back, Cao Yueshi was visibly delighted, chattering non-stop about Cao Wei, even boasting that he hadn't wet his bed since he was seven years old.

  "...our family's Shi Tou is really smart, when he was in school, his teacher always praised him and said that he would become a noble person in the future, his grandmother loved to hear this and every time she met relatives, she would say it again...his teacher said that his essays were well-written, with many words of commentary, and also praised his unique insights."

  "Our Shitou can endure hardship, he's been working so hard at the dock for so long. He said that after a while, when he saves up enough money, we'll rent a house and find some light work, and I'll move to the city with him... City restaurants also hire women to wash dishes, I think I can do it, and in the future, I'll live with Shitou in the city. Once he gets married, our lives will be better." Cao Yexi was looking forward to their beautiful life after moving to the city, a sweet smile on her face, just like a young girl in her teens.

  Zhen Er and Ye Baiji listened, but they didn't think so. Cao Wei's temperament is like that, not understanding human feelings at all, and it's unlikely he can last long on the dock.

  After going home, Zhen Er started to get busy again.

  They thought they had done their duty and washed their hands of Cao Wei and Cao Ye Shi's affairs, after all, they were adults with hands and feet, and couldn't even take care of themselves.

  Recently, every time she appears in the village, someone always looks at her with a strange gaze, and some people always ask about her affairs in a roundabout way, making her so annoyed that she doesn't want to go out anymore.

  The small stream in front of her thatched cottage had accumulated a lot of rainwater during the recent rainy days. At first, she was busy and didn't notice this. Who knew that these days were going to water the vegetable garden, only to find out that the stream's water had dried up again, becoming a thin ditch.

  As the water for irrigating the garden was running out, Zhen'er had to think of a solution. She found two helpers from her own household and also invited the helpers from Ye Baiji's and Ye Shiwei's households, offering them sixty cents in wages for a day's work, to dig out a small stream and turn it into a large pond, where they also put some fish fry and lotus seeds, waiting for next year to have some aquatic products to taste.

  I've finished the fish pond, Ye Baiji came to see it and was very envious. However, she didn't have a place to dig a fish pond, so she pre-ordered several fish from Zhen'er instead.

  "Grandpa likes to eat black fish, Auntie likes to eat yellow fish, my mother likes to eat carp, and I like to eat crucian carp. Hmm, these few kinds of fish are indispensable, at least we need ten or so. I'm not being greedy, I'll provide the fish fry." Ye Baiji counted on her fingers, one by one.

  Ye Luoyan had just returned from the ground and came to Zhen'er's place to take a look. Hearing Ye Baiji's words, he smiled and said: "You're not greedy at all, you've got 40 or 50 fish, how much silver did you take advantage of Zhen'er?"

  "I've sold all the fish seedlings!" Ye Baiji retorted.

  Ye Luoyu drank a bowl of water, wiped his sweat and said: "You're releasing the fish fry, who's going to raise them? Won't Zhen'er still have to worry about it?"

  Ye Bai Zhi pouted, she also knew that she had taken advantage of Zhen Er, but she really liked eating fish.

  Zhen'er fed the chickens and heard their conversation, knowing that the brother and sister were arguing again. Usually, Ye Baiju was at a disadvantage, and upon seeing her, she indeed looked somewhat unhappy. She opened her mouth and said, "Sister Baiju will come to help me feed the fish in the future, it's possible that I'm taking advantage of you."

  Ye Baiji was delighted to hear that, "Exactly, I'll come to help feed the fish in the future. I've contributed fish fry and will continue to feed them, so it's only fair that I get to eat fish later on. You haven't contributed anything, so you definitely won't get any fish to eat, right, Little Tiger?" Ye Baiji pulled Little Tiger beside her, seeking support. She firmly believed in the power of numbers!

  Ye Luoyu couldn't be bothered to reason with her, previously thinking she was very clever when seeing her outsmarting the third house's people, but after seeing Zhen'er, he realized that there were people outside of people, and Ye Baiju's intelligence and wisdom could only be stimulated when facing the third house.

  "Zhen'er, your chickens are growing too fast." Ye Luyuan stared at the little chicken searching for food in the yard.

  Ye Baiji looked and saw that it wasn't much bigger, still so small.

  Zhen'er was delighted to see the chickens in the yard, "Tuzi takes good care of them, how can they not grow fast?" Xiaohuzi goes to dig wild vegetables, catch insects and dig earthworms to feed the chickens every day. If they don't grow fast, it would be a shame for Tuzi.

  "At this rate, I should have around 2 catties by the New Year. You guys won't need to buy chicken for the New Year either." Yelurong said with a smile.

  This was also what Zhen'er had in mind, she thought to herself that she needed to save money now, as next year she would have to send Hu Zi to school, and recently she couldn't be extravagant with her spending.

  "Hey, have you guys heard? Cao Wei came back yesterday." Ye Luyuan mentioned the news he had heard today.

  Ye Baiji replied nonchalantly: "He's back, so what? Didn't he say last time that he'd be back? Why is he here to pick up Aunt Ye to go to the city?"

  Ye Lu Yuan furrowed his brow, leaned in close and lowered his voice: "What's going on? She's been injured, with a bruised nose and swollen face. Many people saw her at the village entrance yesterday evening, and all sorts of rumors have been circulating around the village. You're far away from here, so you might not have heard the news. This morning when I came over, I even saw Ye Niangzi dragging Ye Mingyue to the old mansion where Ye Gu Gu lives, looking like they were going to pick a fight."

  Zhen Er and Ye Bai Ji by default, should not be looking like fighting, but is going to fight.

  However, they are worried about Cao Ye's family, and they don't dare to go and join in the fun, this is a family matter.

  The news soon spread throughout the village, and Ye Niangzi really went to the old mansion to make a scene, crying and causing a commotion, attracting many people to watch. Her main purpose was to drive Ye Gu Gu and Cao Wei out of Yu Shu Village, saying that one had been divorced and staying in the village would tarnish the village's reputation; while Cao Wei had somehow gotten into trouble elsewhere, and staying in the village would bring disaster to the villagers.

  The villagers also had sympathy for their mother and son's experience. When they heard Ye Niangzi say these words, they all fell silent.

  Since Cao Ye moved out of her brother's house, some idle men and loafers in the nearby village often lingered around her home. Even when she went to cut herbs, someone would come to chat with her or offer help. The villagers had also seen this happen. As a member of the Ye family, Cao Ye's status was sensitive. If she lost control and tarnished her reputation, it would affect the reputations of all the unmarried girls in the Ye family. Therefore, the villagers were still worried.

  Cao Wei was not good at speaking, and Cao Ye's family only knew how to cry. The two were at a disadvantage. In the end, Cao Wei glared fiercely at Ye Mingyi, his uncle couldn't bear the pressure, stepped forward and said that as long as Cao Wei left, he would take Cao Ye back home to live, and from then on, Cao Ye could no longer go out to cut grass medicine.

  Cao Wei had no other choice but to endure the pain and leave Yushu Village. Cao Yezi cried bitterly, wanting to follow him, but was held back by her brother, and this matter was finally settled.

  Zhen and they felt a bit heavy in their hearts, turned around, Cao Yeshi still returned to the Ye family, and Cao Wei also left.

  Everyone sighed and let it go, this result is obviously what the villagers would like to see. Cao Wei was not surnamed Ye anyway, and it's said that he had a strange temper, couldn't get along with the young men in the village, and had fought with many people. With such behavior, the villagers would need great courage to take him in.

  Actually, the villagers are quite kind-hearted. They took in Zhen'er and Huozi, who had nothing to do with them, so why wouldn't they take in Cao Ye's mother and daughter? The main reason is that Cao Wei has a bad temper, and Zhen'er and her brother's ability to cause trouble is too low, basically negligible. But Cao Wei, as a young man, can easily get into trouble and harm the entire village. According to imperial law, if one person commits a crime, their relatives and friends will be implicated, which is known as "guilt by association".

  If it weren't for those thugs coming to seize the ancestral hall in the first place, Zhen'er and her brother would have had a hard time staying behind as well.

  Cao Yeshi returned to Ye Mingyi's home, and the news that Zhen'er and others heard was less, only knowing that Ye Niangzi didn't know why, recently rarely beat her, this can also be considered a pleasant news.

  Let go of Cao Yeshi's affairs, finished with Hetang's affairs, Zhen'er began to plan strawberry affairs.

  She was planning to make a fortune next year, but the strawberries grew in the mountain valley, and no matter how they looked, they made people uneasy. What if someone with the same vision discovered it and grabbed it first?

  It's better to think of a way to get back home.