His younger son chimed in then, too. "Old hag... old hag..."
"And Grandma asked if they'd eaten shit! Coming over first thing in the morning with mouths full of crap. She also said there was no money, but if they didn't have enough shit to eat, our family could give them some..."
Ye Yaodong watched him excitedly chatter and gesture with a mouthful of rice, grains flying out now and then, and hardly knew what to say.
With rice in her own mouth, Lin Xiuqing suddenly found it difficult to swallow. She had to crane her neck to force it down.
"Just eat your food. Why so much talk? Children should stay out of grown-ups' business."
"But didn't Dad ask if I was scared? I wasn't! I thought it was pretty lively, but Dad's expression just now was scary."
His concern had been wasted. The boy hadn't been frightened by the trouble, just by his dark expression.
Ye Yaodong patted his head. "Shut up and eat."
The boy muttered under his breath, "You were the one who asked first..."
Ye Yaodong shot him a sidelong look, and he immediately settled down to shovel in his food.
Once they finished eating, Ye Yaodong was about to head out, but Lin Xiuqing called him back worriedly. "Don't go to Xu Laisan's house."
"Got it."
Lin Xiuqing watched his retreating back with a headache, unsure whether he had listened.
As soon as Ye Yaodong left home, he headed to Xiao Xiao's house. Xiao Xiao had only just finished eating and was amusing his daughter with nothing else to do.
"What brings you back?"
"The two women from Xu Laisan's family came to my place to make trouble this morning. They must've heard from Xu Laifu that we were the ones who caught him."