Chapter 49: Unwilling to Part

  By the way, today is Father's Day, wishing all fathers good health and a happy holiday~~ I don't know what day it is today, but people who are usually busy in the fields seem to be more idle today. Some are blocking the entrance of Ye's house, while others are blocking the entrance of the ancestral hall. Of course, there are more people blocking the entrance of the ancestral hall, and they have a stronger presence, after all, those blocking the entrance of the ancestral hall are all strong men.

  When the Mao and Sun families followed the people who had just blocked their own door to the ancestral hall, the scene became even more grand and lively.

  The ancestral hall is a solemn and sacred place. It's usually only open during the Chinese New Year or other major festivals, and only adult males of the Ye family are qualified to enter. Women have never had the honor of visiting the ancestral hall.

  Today, the women in the village are all gathered at the entrance of the ancestral hall, some curious, some excited, and some enthusiastic. The women don't care about being solemn and dignified anymore, they are noisily discussing how the ancestral hall was opened today, which is not a holiday or festival.

  There are those who come early to show off their knowledge, and with just a few words, they can clearly explain the whole situation.

  The position of the head of the clan is generally held by a person who is respected for their virtue and ability, and has a high level of seniority within the clan.

  Ye Jia's current patriarch is Ye Jingde, who is already in his 70s and has a high generation rank. Even Old Master Ye calls him "Old Brother". He is also known for being fair-minded and is praised by the villagers. Ye Jingde has five sons and one daughter, and they have all branched out on their own, with each family living separately. He lives with his eldest son. However, his eldest son's wife, Xu, is not very wise and dotes on her youngest son, making it difficult for anyone to discipline him properly. As a result, he has grown up to be a good-for-nothing who only knows how to eat, drink, gamble, and idle around. Recently, he lost all his money at the county town's gambling den and still didn't give up, borrowing silver from the den in an attempt to win back his losses. However, he ended up losing again and now the creditor is coming to collect the debt with a loan receipt in hand.

  Why did you come to find the ancestral hall?

  This question is well asked. Isn't it the case that the grandson of the clan head used the deed to the ancestral hall as collateral? Now they can't pay back the money, so isn't it obvious that they've come to collect the ancestral hall?

  Later generations were shocked to hear this, and even the descendants of Mao and Sun were trembling with fear in their hearts. How big is this gamble, betting on the ancestral hall itself?

  "Hey, this ancestral hall belongs to all the Ye family members, why did the head of the other clan take the deed of the hall to pay off debts?" Someone who understood reason asked the key question.

  "Isn't that right? Paying off debts is the clan leader's family business, why do they have to mortgage the ancestral hall? Can't the clan leader's family afford it if they can gamble?" The crowd also echoed in agreement. The clan leader's family isn't penniless, and among all the villagers, their life is one of the best, let alone the clan leader's family.

  "This is not what they are discussing, the village head and several elders in the village are all involved, and they all disagree with mortgaging the ancestral hall. The clan leader also said that this is his own family's business, he is responsible for it himself, and cannot do something that would bring shame to their ancestors." The person at the front who had been listening quietly explained.

  "The clan leader is right, the ancestral hall belongs to our Ye family, and the land deed also belongs to everyone. How can we let that good-for-nothing from his family ruin it?"

  "This can't be done! If anyone dares to use our ancestral hall as collateral for debt, I'm the first to disagree! Such a person doesn't even deserve to be a member of the Ye family!" A man with a square face and a stern expression said in the crowd.

  The crowd also echoed in agreement, all saying: "I disagree too, whoever wants to take away our temple, I'll fight him."

  "How much silver did he borrow? Now they're going to take the temple as collateral for the debt." someone muttered.

  No one knows about this. Now everyone is discussing it, some say 100 taels, some say 500 taels, and someone says that even if the sky falls, it's just 1,000 taels. How could Ye Quan not know his family's situation and borrow too much money? But there are also those who say that gambler is in a hurry to lose, where is the rationality to know how much money to borrow? Just thinking about getting the money back to make up for the loss.

  Outside was a heated and lively scene, with everyone's emotions running high, but inside the temple, the atmosphere was also very solemn.

  The village head looked at the elderly clan leader, who was almost 70 years old and hunched over in his chair, and felt a slight pang of sadness. This clan leader was also someone to be called "uncle", a fair and strict person in normal times, but now because of his own useless grandson, he had become like a child himself, evoking both sympathy and anger. If only he had disciplined that grandson properly, he wouldn't have caused such trouble and made himself the villain of the whole clan.

  He sighed and said: "Mazi, our attitude is very clear. This ancestral hall belongs to the whole clan, and the clan head is only responsible for keeping the land deed on behalf of the clan. He has no right to use it as collateral for his grandson's debt. You want this account? Go find Ye Quan; as for the ancestral hall, you don't need to worry about it."

  The villagers expressed their attitude, and other ethnic groups also nodded in agreement, they meant the same thing.

  He didn't seem to take their words to heart, sitting carelessly on the chair, sipping the not-so-fragrant tea, and pretending to be very pleased, saying: "I don't care who this temple belongs to, I only know that it's clearly written in black and white, Ye Quan mortgaged it to our casino, now it has a new owner. If you don't give us the temple, then return the money!" As he said this, he took out the IOU and waved it around in front of everyone, feeling very pleased to see them look like they had swallowed a fly.

  Ye Quan, who was tied up on the ground and covered in bruises, struggled to speak, "Ma Zi, you're cheating! I only borrowed 200, but you're making me repay 2,000 taels of gold. How can this be?" As soon as he spoke, the guards beat him with their fists and kicked him for a while, until he was gasping in pain, kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, unable to speak again.

  Although he can't speak now, what he just said was still heard clearly by the village chief and others. Everyone looked at each other in dismay, even with high-interest loans, there's no such thing as this.

  The village head scolded Ma Zi: "Ma Zi, what is your intention? Clearly it's two hundred taels, but in just half a month you want to return two thousand taels of gold and also take our ancestral hall by force. You are clearly possessed by evil spirits."

  The clan leader initially thought that his useless grandson had borrowed so much money, but now he heard that he only borrowed 200 taels and wanted to return 2,000 taels of gold. He couldn't hold back his anger and scolded: "You bunch of rascals, you think we're easy to bully just because the Ye family is kind? You want to take our ancestral hall for 200 taels of silver? Who gave you the guts? If you want this money, I'll sell all my belongings to pay it back. But if you want this ancestral hall, you'll have to step over my dead body." The clan leader finished speaking with a severe coughing fit, as if he was going to cough out his internal organs.

  Everyone was busy pouring him tea and calming him down. Old Master Ye also took his pulse, and after a while, he saw that his pulse was steady, but his breathing was not smooth. He thought it was because of extreme anger attacking his heart, causing his breathing to be unsmooth, but there was no great harm, so everyone put their minds at ease.

  Ma Zi saw that he was fine and secretly let out a sigh of relief. With a calm and composed tone, she said: "You can't wrong me, the IOU clearly stated that Ye Quan borrowed 200 taels of silver from our casino, to be repaid with 2,000 taels of gold in half a month's time. If he couldn't repay it, then the Ye family ancestral hall would be used as collateral. It was written in black and white, you can't say we don't have any evidence."

  "I think this old man looks like he can read, otherwise you take a look." Ma Zi pointed at Ye Lao Ye and handed the IOU to him. He also kept close to him, afraid that he would use his cunning trick to destroy the IOU.

  Old Ye took over the IOU and looked at it. What was written on it was indeed what Ma Zi had said, and the handprint was also that of Ye Quan.

  Old Master Ye nodded, and the hearts of the Ye family members in the ancestral hall all settled down.

  At Ye's house, after the people blocking the door from the Mao family left, Qi Zhener returned to her room to pack up her things. Ye Baiju followed behind her with red eyes, feeling a lot of reluctance but also knowing that she couldn't keep them from leaving.

  Ye Baihe and Ye Baixi stood at the west wing door, their smiles on their faces more dazzling than the sunlight, sneering and mocking Qi Zhen'er and her brother with glee.

  Ye Baiji was in a bad mood and didn't have the heart to deal with them. Since Qi Zhen'er was about to leave anyway, it wasn't worth bothering to see them off.

  Ye Bai and Zhang Yuexia showed off at the door for half a day but no one paid attention to them. They were like performing monkeys that nobody watched. After pretending to be elegant for half a day without anyone noticing, they returned home in boredom.

  In the east wing, Qizhen was about to pack up her things when Ye Baiju snatched them away from her. She didn't say a word, but hugged Zhen and Hu'er and cried until the sky fell apart and her heart broke into pieces. She already knew that it was her third aunt who had spread the rumor outside, saying that Zhen's siblings were jinxes, causing the villagers to want to drive them away. Although this wasn't her business, thinking that it was her own family member who had harmed them made her feel terrible, and she truly couldn't bear to see them leave.

  Zhen Er also felt some sadness of parting. Previously, in order to intimidate those people, she pretended to be strong and tough, forcing herself not to show weakness, but now Ye Baiju had cried out the reluctance in her heart.

  The willow village is really good, and the Ye family is also very good. She doesn't know if she can find another place like this after leaving, but she also knows that her siblings must leave. She cannot let people save them only to bring trouble to others.

  Having cried, Ye Baiji also accepted the fact that Qi Zhen'er and her brother were leaving. However, she was the one who helped them pack their things, while reminding them of precautions to take when going out.

  Although she said a lot of things that were useless, and even not as good as Zhen Er who had been mixed in the mountains for a few days, Zhen Er still listened very seriously, this was her concern, Zhen Er knew.

  Ye Baiji's movements were exceptionally slow as she packed her things. She would spend half a day folding a single tattered garment before being slightly satisfied and putting it into the package. By dragging out the time like this, it seemed that her younger sister and brother could stay for a while longer.

  But all good things must come to an end, and even the slowest of movements will eventually reach its conclusion. What's more, Zhen'er and her brother didn't have much to begin with.

  Qī Zhēn ér put the bundles and small baskets in the backpack, the remaining ones that could be packed into the basket were all packed, and the two baskets and the winnowing fan that couldn't be packed were given to Máo shì and his family, anyway they would also use them for farming.

  Carrying a basket on her back and holding a bamboo steamer, Qizhen'er and her brother were about to leave. Ye Baiju was reluctant to part with them and escorted them all the way to the village entrance, still grasping their hands and refusing to let them go.

  Zi Zhen'er had long planned to settle in the county town. Seeing that it was still early, she lingered with Ye Baiji for a while.

  "Baizhi sister, we are in the county town recently, if you have time, come and visit us." Anyway, they can't go back to Yu Shu village, said Qizhen.

  Ye Baihe knew that after saying this, they would have to part ways. Thinking about it, she still couldn't bear it, and hearing the sound of quarreling in the distance, she said: "No way, Grandfather saved you, how can you say you want to leave without even bidding farewell to him?" After finishing speaking, she didn't care about Zhen'er's opposition, and pulled her siblings to run towards the ancestral hall.

  Why isn't the number of collections proportional to the number of votes? Seeking an explanation~~~

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