A little way away from Ye Yun and Ming-ge'er, Ye Bao was also washing clothes. Watching Ye Yun's radiant smile, she gritted her teeth in anger.
Ever since Ye Yun had left with Ye Chen, all the housework had fallen to her. She had to wash the whole family's clothes first thing in the morning, then go home and cook, take the food to her parents working in the fields, and stay there working until the afternoon.
The sun all but scorched her skin. Whenever she tried to slack off and go home, her mother started scolding her. When Ye Yun had been around, her mother had rarely criticized her. Now she spoke harshly to her.
Mostly, it was because a gloomy atmosphere had hung over the household. Ye Yao owed the gambling house eighty taels, and the family simply did not have that much cash to repay his debt. They had originally planned to sell Ye Yun's family's land, only to end up losing more than they gained. After making a huge scene, Ye Yun had split from the household and taken both the money and the fields.
They had thought Ye Yun had no one to rely on and, with Ye Chen still so young, could not leave their household. Then Rong Zheng had appeared out of nowhere. Not only had he persuaded the village chief to agree to the household split, but he had also taken Ye Yun away.
That had nearly infuriated the whole family to death. Eldest Uncle Ye had become extremely short-tempered lately, and whenever his temper flared, he would furiously berate Chen Guihua. In the past, when Chen Guihua suffered his anger, she would take it out on Ye Yun and Ye Chen. Now that those two had left, she could only vent her anger on Ye Bao.
Worse still, people from the gambling house had come to collect the debt over the past two days. Relying on her shrewish temper, Chen Guihua had recklessly shouted at the debt collectors, shut the door, and declared that they had no money to repay them.
But the debt collectors had seen plenty of scenes like this. Why would they be afraid of her attempts to wriggle out of paying? They kicked down the courtyard gate and charged straight in. With a sweep of one large hand, one of them shoved Chen Guihua to the ground, utterly ignoring her wailing.
The head debt collector ordered two men into the main house. They hauled out Ye Yao, who had been hiding inside, and rained punches and kicks on him.
Eldest Uncle Ye was only ever a bully at home. Watching his son being beaten black and blue and begging for mercy over and over, he did feel heartache, but he dared not step forward to stop them. Ye Bao cowered to one side, too frightened to make a sound.
Seeing her son howling from the beating, Chen Guihua desperately scrambled up to stop them. But someone was already there to pin her to the ground, leaving her unable to move.
Once the head debt collector thought the beating had gone far enough, a vicious gleam entered his eyes, and he began threatening them. "Is your family going to repay the money or not?"
Eldest Uncle Ye hemmed and hawed. That was a full eighty taels! It was all that idiot Ye Yao's fault. He could not bear to hand it over and thought he could muddle through by letting Ye Yao take a beating. He did not believe these men would dare kill anyone.
"Husband, hurry and give them the money! Yao'er is going to be beaten to death!" Chen Guihua cried. Seeing Eldest Uncle Ye still hesitating, she grew furious. "You damned bastard! If our son dies, I'll fight you to the death!" She began cursing without restraint...
Amid the commotion, someone called the village chief over. When he heard what had happened, the village chief inwardly cursed Ye Yao for being a fool. He had brought these debt collectors into the village and damaged its atmosphere. The village chief had no desire to deal with this mess.
But regardless, as village chief, he had to go over. Before he even entered, he heard Chen Guihua's curses, then saw Ye Yao lying on the ground, beaten within an inch of his life.
Five or six fierce-looking debt collectors stood in the courtyard. The sight was rather frightening.
What a disgrace, the village chief cursed inwardly before speaking. "Even when collecting a debt, you should talk things over properly. Don't hit people."
Seeing that it was the village chief, the head debt collector showed him some respect. "We originally intended to collect the debt peacefully. Who knew this family would shut their doors and try to renege on it? We had no choice but to resort to this."
He pointed at Ye Yao. "This man owes the Good Fortune Gambling House eighty taels. He hid at home, hoping not to pay. Village chief, you look like a reasonable man. Since ancient times, repaying one's debts has been only right and proper, hasn't it?"
The village chief had not expected a debt collector to speak with such sound reasoning. His head was truly throbbing. "Liqiang"-Eldest Uncle Ye's name-"letting this drag on is no solution. Pay them back. Have Ye Yao mend his ways and behave himself from now on."
Eldest Uncle Ye still stubbornly refused to pay. "We don't have that much money at home," he mumbled.
How could the village chief fail to see that Eldest Uncle Ye was making excuses? He probably thought that now the village chief had arrived, he could get him to drive those men away. Furious, the village chief snapped, "Do you want to watch Ye Yao get beaten to death right here? You, you really are..."
Seeing that the man was still rambling and trying to muddle his way through, the head debt collector impatiently barked at his men, "Drag his son outside and chop off his hand."
The village chief hurried to stop them. "If you keep this up, I'll have to report you to the authorities." Turning to Eldest Uncle Ye, he shouted angrily, "Hurry up and get the money to repay them! Do you really not want your son anymore?"
Seeing that they meant it, Eldest Uncle Ye panicked too. In the end, he could only pay forty taels first and say that he would raise the rest in a few days.
Only then did the debt collectors reluctantly agree to return in a few days for the money. Before leaving, they threatened that if the debt was not repaid next time, they would smash up the house and take away its valuables to cover it.
Once they were gone, the village chief dispersed the villagers gathered to watch and hurried away himself. He really could not bear to look at this family's mess.
The whole village soon heard about it.
"No wonder they insisted on marrying Ye Yun off to that old widower Gu Tie. They wanted to use the betrothal money to repay the debt."
"They were utterly heartless. Now their retribution has come."
"Their family used to treat the two brothers, Ye Yun and Ye Chen, like servants. Especially Chen Guihua-she'd lose her temper and take it out on them at the drop of a hat. She was vicious. She's finally getting her just deserts."
"I heard they still owe forty taels."
"Good heavens, forty taels! That's several years of income for us. Ye Liqiang will have to sink his lifetime's savings into this."
"Serves them right. The whole family's rotten. I told Chen Guihua long ago that her son was running around town with a bunch of hooligans and frequenting gambling dens. She even accused me of spreading rumors. Well, look at them now."
"That Ye Yao deserves to die. He's ruined our village's reputation. Girls and ge'ers from other villages won't dare marry here anymore."
Now, watching Ye Yun's happy face and comparing it with the chaos at home, where they were still fretting over raising money to repay Ye Yao's debt, Ye Bao was consumed with envy and hatred.
She merely wetted the clothes, then picked up the wooden basin and headed home. Little did she expect that, because she had returned early, she would overhear her parents discussing marrying her off as a concubine to the landlord's fat, big-eared second son as she entered the courtyard. She felt as though lightning had struck her.
That man had tried to court her before. He was fat and ugly, and she even found him somewhat repulsive. She was as beautiful as a flower. How could she marry someone like that?
She threw down the clothes and rushed inside to argue with her parents. But Chen Guihua no longer doted on her as she once had. Between her daughter and her son, she still had to put her son first.
"I've already accepted the betrothal money. You'll marry him whether you want to or not. We've treated you well enough. At least we haven't sold you. Selling you would fetch even more money," Chen Guihua said.
"Ha! Should I thank you, then?"
"We raised you all these years. What's wrong with asking you to do something for the family now? Besides, the landlord's household is the best in our village. You'll enjoy a comfortable life there."
A concubine-she would never be able to hold her head up for the rest of her life.
"Enjoy a comfortable life? I'd be a concubine! And he's fat and ugly. I won't marry him." Seeing that Chen Guihua remained unmoved, she turned to plead with her father. "Father?"
Was an arrangement like this so easy to find? The landlord was offering twenty-five taels in betrothal money. That would let the family buy one less plot of land to repay the debt. Eldest Uncle Ye pretended not to see his daughter's pleading look. He left her with one sentence before turning to leave. "Listen to your mother. The marriage is settled."
Ye Bao wept as though her heart were breaking and cursed, asking why Ye Yao had not simply died outside.
Chen Guihua could not bear to hear anyone curse her son, not even her own daughter. She raised her hand and gave Ye Bao a resounding slap. Seeing her own mother act so heartlessly, Ye Bao blazed with fury and lunged forward to grab her.
The two grappled with each other in an utterly distressing scuffle...