Chapter Thirty-Two: Kneeling in Gratitude

  Dinner was again made in the midst of Jiang's and Ye Baihe's and Ye Baihe's three people busy hands. Fortunately, with the experience of last night and this afternoon, they were still more skilled.

  Jiang went to see Sun today, on the one hand, to see if she was really sick or not. She knew that Sun was a soft-hearted person and had sent so many things over, how could she still pretend to be ill?

  On the other hand, it's about persuading her to agree to her second uncle taking a concubine. Today she mentioned Ye Baiji's marriage to Sunshi, and she was clearly moved. But after Ye Baiji returned, she changed her mind.

  This Bai Zhi Ye is really her nemesis!

  Tonight's dinner was finally quieter than yesterday. Ye Baiji presented a large bowl of rice and dishes to Sun Shi as usual before the meal.

  No one asked about her background, nor did anyone want her to be a maid. With the house's affairs settled, Qizhen's mood was still good and she ate more deliciously.

  Ye Lao Ye Zi and his brother Ye Shi Xie were chatting about some things in the fields.

  "Your elder brother doesn't know when he'll be back, Shi Xie and Shi Yan. These few days if nothing happens, you two brothers go take a turn in the fields." said Ye Lao Yezi.

  Yeshi Xie listened and didn't like it, "Dad, I haven't been down to earth for many years, how would I know what to look at?"

  Ye Shiyan saw Ye Lao's bad face and didn't speak wisely.

  "Years have passed and you still haven't set foot on the land, you're still a country bumpkin! You've been back for over a year now, and you've only stepped on the land a few times. How can you say such things in front of your juniors?"

  Ye Shi circled around the table and took a look, except for Old Master Ye and Ye Shiyan's couple, everyone else at this table was younger than him, even Su Qi from the third branch of the family was here. Even if he had a thick skin, his face still turned red with embarrassment.

  Yeshi Yan saw his father looking over and hastily showed his attitude: "Dad, I'll go see tomorrow."

  Ye Shixie also nodded, "Dad, I'll go too." The three brothers counted on him being clever, and although he didn't want to get down, he had to wait for him to speak first. If the old man hadn't agreed, he would have come out as a filial son.

  Ye Lao Yezi listened and nodded, only then did he let the two brothers off. The meal went on until the end without anyone speaking a word.

  After dinner, Qizhen was helping to collect the bowls. Ye Lao Yezi said: "Zhen, you've finished collecting the bowls, come here, I have something to tell you." Seeing Ye Baiju also looking at herself with great interest, Ye Lao Yezi added, "Baiju, come too."

  Jiang and Ye Shiyan's wife also heard this, returned to the room, Jiang pulled Ye Shiyan and asked: "You said your father left Qizhen'er and Baiju what?"

  Ye Shiyuan was still thinking about tomorrow's affairs, and said in a bad tone: "How do I know what they are talking about?" He is a famous doctor, respected by many people in the town before, now he is actually being forced to go down to earth, who knows how others will laugh at him behind his back.

  "I think there's more to Bai Zhu and the others going to the market today than just a casual stroll." Jiang murmured. This Bai Zhu didn't know what was wrong with them, always having an unpleasant expression towards the three of them, being on guard against them everywhere.

  "What can a young girl like her do? You women are always thinking nonsense." said Ye Shiyan.

  Jiang gave him a disdainful glance. Anyway, men always looked down on women and didn't think they could accomplish anything great, so it was pointless to argue with him.

  After finishing cleaning up the kitchen, Qi Zhen'er and her brother followed Ye Baiji to the upper house.

  Ye Lao yezu was sorting herbs and saw them come in, saying lightly, "Sit down." He continued to sort the herbs.

  Ye Bai Zhi pulled La Zi Zhen Er and said in a low voice, "Grandfather treasures those medicinal materials, he'll deal with us after he's finished sorting them out."

  Qī Zhēn ér nodded her head in understanding.

  After a while, Old Ye sorted out the medicinal materials and put them into medicine boxes.

  Qī Zhēn'er asked in a low voice: "Why doesn't Grandpa let others help?"

  "Grandpa said that medicinal herbs are very important things, and if someone who doesn't understand them makes a mistake, it can cost lives, so he never lets us touch his medicinal herbs." Ye Baiji explained, "The only one in the family who understands these things is Third Uncle, but he doesn't have the awareness to help out." He probably thinks that treating illnesses for country folk would lower his status. The last sentence Ye Baiji thought to herself.

  It looks like this question has touched on another secret of the Ye family. Qi Zhen'er felt that she should talk less about Ye family matters with Ye Baiju in the future, every family has its own difficulties, and she only hoped that her house would be built soon so she could move out early.

  After finishing packing the medicine, Old Ye washed his hands and sat down. He said to Qizhen, "I went to see the village head and the local officer today."

  Qī Zhēnér and Yè Bái zhǐ both looked at him eagerly, waiting for him to continue speaking.

  Ye Lao Yezi seemed to be intentionally teasing them, slowly picking up his teacup and preparing to pour tea.

  Ye Baiji saw that he was moving too slowly, took over the teacup and teapot, and poured him a cup of tea. Old Master Ye was taken aback, this granddaughter was actually more intimate with others, in the past she had never proactively poured tea for him before.

  They were about to ask, but Ye Lao Ye Zi finally spoke up: "The village head and the villagers have all said that Zhen Er Jie Di can stay here, and the wasteland can be opened up, but someone needs to act as a guarantor."

  "Guarantor?" Qī Zhēnér and Yè Bái zhǐ asked in unison.

  "Hmm," Old Master Ye took a sip of tea. "It's just to ensure they can't do anything bad in this village. The guarantee has already been taken care of."

  Qī Zhēn'ér listened and said gratefully: "Thank you, Grandpa!" She knew that being a guarantor was risky.

  Just as she told Ye Baiqi, they were not actually familiar with each other. They were willing to help her, partly because they were kind-hearted, and also because they believed that she was also kind-hearted.

  Qī Zhēn ér secretly vowed that from now on, she would definitely not let Old Man Ye regret helping her and her brother!

  "Also, I've already gone to find the bricklayer. They said they'll come take a look at the place tomorrow and discuss materials and labor costs. Zhen'er should get up early tomorrow. After a while, it will be busy with summer harvesting, so they must want to finish the work as soon as possible to focus on farm work."

  Qī Zhēn'er smiled and nodded, but tears suddenly welled up. She walked to Ye Lǎo Yézi's side and knelt down.

  Huzi always followed what Zhen'er did, and now seeing his sister kneel down to Ye Lao, he also knelt down beside Qizhen.

  Ye Lao yezu hastily stopped them and said: "Zhen er, what are you doing?"

  Qizhen'er knelt down and refused to get up, crying: "Grandfather, the great kindness you have shown us siblings is something we can't repay even in our next life. Let us kowtow to you a few times."

  Ignoring Old Master Ye's attempts to stop him, he started kowtowing loudly, thudding against the ground with a loud "thud".

  Huzi also understood at this time that his sister was bowing her head to thank Ye Lao Yezi, and thinking of Ye Lao Yezi's kindness to him, he sincerely bowed his head too.

  Ye Baiji was also made to cry by them until she was a mess.

  Deng Qi Zhen'er and Hu Zi stood up, both with a bruise on their foreheads.

  Ye Lao saw them like this, and he was both heartbroken and comforted. This made him feel that it wasn't in vain for him to have done so much for them.

  "Baizhi, go boil two eggs for the siblings to rub on their faces, otherwise they'll be bruised by tomorrow morning and it won't look good." Old Master Ye reminded.

  Ye Baiji happily agreed and seeing that his grandfather was in a good mood, jokingly said: "Those who kowtowed got to eat eggs, otherwise, Grandfather, I'll also kowtow a few for you."

  Ye Lao Yezi smiled and said: "You gluttonous little girl, if you want to eat, there won't be less for you. Don't be stingy with your grandfather, go boil some eggs."

  Ye Bai took Qi Zhen and her siblings happily to the kitchen to cook eggs.

  Ye Lao Ye Zi looked at their happy backs and couldn't help but smile from the bottom of his heart. He had never been close to these few younger ones from the second and third branches, but since Qi Zhen Er's siblings arrived, he had enjoyed the joy of doting on them, and it also made him closer to Bai Ci, the daughter of the second branch.