Chen Guihua acted quickly. That morning, she went to see Matchmaker Zhang in the village, and after discussing it, the two matched Ye Yun with Gu Tie, a widower in his forties from the neighboring village.
When he heard that Ye Yun was only seventeen, he was delighted and offered twenty taels in betrothal gifts. To keep anything from going wrong with a delay, his condition was that Ye Yun had to be sent over that very day.
Chen Guihua was overjoyed. When she returned, she called out to Ye Yun, who was about to head to the fields:
"Ye Yun, there's no need to work. Hurry and get yourself ready. Your aunt has found you a fine match. He's Gu Tie from the neighboring village. He may be a little older, but he knows how to cherish someone. You'll certainly have a good life with him."
Ye Yun had heard of Gu Tie. He was infamous throughout the surrounding villages for beating his husbands. His three previous husbands had all been beaten until they fled, and the villagers all said the man must be impotent and took it out on his husbands.
His face instantly went pale. He clutched the hem of his clothes, his body trembling slightly with fear. "I won't marry him. I have to look after Xiao Chen."
"You won't? You're already seventeen. Do you intend to stay in our house and live off us for the rest of your life?" Chen Guihua grew impatient.
"I haven't been living off you. My parents left thirty taels and ten mu of farmland when they died," Ye Yun argued. "I work in the fields every day, wash clothes, clean, and cook at home, and go up the mountain to gather firewood and dig wild vegetables. I haven't been living off you."
This enraged Chen Guihua. Her expression changed, and her voice turned shrill. "Well, look at you, daring to talk back! If our family hadn't given you brothers a place to stay back then, you would have frozen to death outside. Besides, haven't you needed food and drink all these years? How long could that measly bit of money your parents left have fed you?"
Ye Yun accused her anxiously, "You mostly only let Xiao Chen and me eat leftovers. Th-that hardly costs anything, and all our clothes are very old. The money my parents left was enough to cover our expenses."
Hearing this made Chen Guihua even angrier. "Quite something you've become, you ungrateful wretch! I'd have been better off raising a dog than you." With that, she rushed up to Ye Yun and slapped him. The blow knocked his head sideways, and his face immediately swelled.
The blow came so swiftly that Ye Yun failed to dodge it. Ye Chen, who had already walked over beside him, saw Ye Yun being hit, mustered his courage, shoved Chen Guihua hard, and stood in front of Ye Yun.
Chen Guihua's fat body toppled to the ground. Pain shot through her backside, her face instantly twisted, and she began cursing viciously. "You two little bastards! You dare push me? I'll beat you to death!"
Supporting herself, she got up from the ground, grabbed the wooden stick in the corner, and came after them. Seeing trouble, Ye Yun went white with fear and instinctively pulled Ye Chen aside to dodge.
But Ye Chen refused to dodge. He charged at Chen Guihua and bit her arm. After enduring abuse for so long, he finally erupted that day, shouting, "My brother won't marry him! My brother won't marry him!"
"Aaah!" Chen Guihua let out an agonized scream. She was loud even at ordinary times, and now that he had bitten her hard enough to draw blood, she howled like a pig being slaughtered.
Only then did she realize that Ye Chen, once so little, had grown taller. When he turned vicious, his bite really hurt. His reckless disregard frightened her somewhat, and she hurriedly shouted into the house for Ye Yao.
Her loud shouting forced Eldest Uncle Ye, who had deliberately hidden inside, to come out as well. Ye Yao ran out, saw his mother being bitten so badly, and immediately went over to drag Ye Chen away by force. Then he raised his foot to kick him.
Ye Yun hurried over to stop Ye Yao, but a ger was not as strong as a man. Besides, Ye Yao had grown up well fed and pampered, becoming tall and burly. With one hard shove, he sent Ye Yun crashing heavily to the ground. In too much pain to stand, Ye Yun pleaded urgently, "Please don't hit Xiao Chen."
But Ye Yao would not listen to him. Chen Guihua had also recovered and shouted from the side, "Yao'er, beat that little bastard to death! How dare he bite me? Look, he's drawn blood! What a curse! He's completely out of control!"
Ye Yao kicked Ye Chen viciously. Ye Chen was only eight and had little strength. After barely resisting a few times, he was kicked until he could no longer get up, yet he still said, "Brother Yun won't marry him..."
Seeing that they had the upper hand, Ye Guihua seized the chance to pick up the wooden stick again and beat Ye Yun viciously to vent her anger, warning him, "You're going through with this marriage whether you like it or not. I've already accepted the betrothal gifts. If you dare refuse, I'll beat you to death."
Ye Yun hurt all over from the beating. His eyes were filled with despair, and he could not speak.
The commotion from the fight was so loud that it had already drawn the nearby villagers. He hurried over to see what had happened, and then, seeing the scene, they began speaking up to stop it:
"What's going on? Stop hitting them! You'll kill someone!"
"Guihua, children may not know better, but how can you be so vicious?"
"How can this whole family be so cruel, beating their nephews?"
"Exactly. It's bad enough that they mistreat them normally, but today they're beating them to death."
"They're disciplining children. Children who don't know better deserve a beating."
Several adults could not bear to watch and hurried over to pull Chen Guihua and Ye Yao away. Chen Guihua, the guilty party, complained first. "I kindly found Ye Yun a good match and told him to marry, but this ungrateful wretch doesn't appreciate it. He refuses and even makes vile accusations that we mistreat him. Everyone, tell me who's in the right." She began wailing. "What a curse! We worked so hard to raise them, and now they turn around and bite us. They're more venomous than snakes. What a curse..."
Ye Yun said, "The match he found for me is Gu Tie, the old widower from the neighboring village who beat several husbands until they ran away."
Once everyone heard this, they knew Chen Guihua was up to something wicked again. Who in the surrounding villages did not know that Gu Tie tormented people? Besides, he was over forty, old enough to be Ye Yun's father. Marrying him would basically be a road to death for Ye Yun.
Seeing everyone's words shift in Ye Yun's favor, Chen Guihua grew anxious and argued unreasonably, "He's changed his ways now. An older man knows how to cherish someone, too. I checked everything carefully with the matchmaker. I even put my own Bao'er's marriage on hold just to arrange a match for Ye Yun, and this ungrateful wretch still isn't satisfied."
Ming-ge'er had been at home when he heard that something had happened to Ye Yun. He ran over and joined the watching crowd, growing terribly anxious at the sight. Suddenly, he remembered how Ye Yun had shyly told him two days earlier that Rong Zheng had expressed his feelings for him. He immediately turned and ran toward Rong Zheng's house.
Meanwhile, as Rong Zheng was nearing home, he saw a thin, small ger pacing anxiously outside his courtyard gate.
While he was wondering about it, the little ger spotted Rong Zheng, and his face lit up. He hurriedly said, "Hurry over! Yun-ge'er is in trouble." He was apprehensive, too. He only knew from Ye Yun that he and Rong Zheng had not been seeing each other for long, and did not know whether Rong Zheng would help.
Fortunately, Rong Zheng's expression changed, and he immediately set off without a moment's delay. Ming-ge'er ran to catch up with him and gave him a rough account of what had happened.
Rong Zheng burned with anger as he listened, running faster and faster. Ming-ge'er sped up to keep pace, but eventually ran out of strength and stopped, bending over and gasping for breath. When he looked up again, Rong Zheng was already nowhere to be seen.