Chapter Fifty-Nine: Open Eyes Blind

  Lotus's voice was not small, and her attitude was very arrogant. Mrs. Mao, who had just arrived at the door, happened to hear her scolding Su Mu, and she felt very unhappy in her heart, and her face also fell. Her own son was so dear to her, and Su Mu had been obedient since childhood. The couple hadn't even said harsh words to each other before, so what right did Lotus have to come to their home and throw a tantrum?

  Ye Chong hugged Xiaodouzi, and Lian Jie followed beside him to support her. As soon as they entered the door, she rushed upstairs, crying loudly: "Uncle, quickly save my little granddaughter! Uncle, I'm going to die!" Her voice was loud, but it was also a dry wail. She ran all the way, like a funeral procession, and Qi Zhen'er's ears hurt from the noise.

  Ye Lao Ye Zi didn't mind her attitude either, letting Ye Chong put Xiao Dou Zi on the high stool and then took a look.

  "This is too cruel, how can a little girl be burned like this?" Jiang's family screamed and muttered to herself.

  Qī Zhēn'er was also shocked by the sight. The little girl's clothes were all scorched and stuck to her skin, and Ye Lǎoyézi had to use scissors to cut out a hole in the clothes before slowly revealing the wound underneath. The state of her skin under the clothes was even more unbearable to look at, with many areas burned bright red and blistered, some of which had burst and were sticking to her clothes. When Ye Lǎoyézi pulled on the clothes, the little girl let out a whimper, clearly in great pain. Qī Zhēn'er covered Hǔ Zǐ's eyes, afraid that he would be frightened by what he saw.

  After great effort, Old Ye finally cut open all the clothes on Xiaodouzi's body, and the wound was exposed in front of everyone. Earlier, Mrs. Mao had already chased these little girls out, fearing that they would be frightened.

  "How did you get this ironed?" asked Old Man Ye with a frown.

  Lotus's face was somewhat embarrassed, only smiling and not answering. Old Master Ye looked at Ye Chong and saw that he too had an awkward expression on his face, with injuries still visible, and Lotus's clothes were also disheveled, how could he not guess what had happened? His frown deepened even more.

  Lotus sister saw Ye Lao Yezi blaming her, and she quickly explained: "Uncle, this is not my fault, it's that little bean who doesn't listen. I was making medicine for Quan Er," thinking of Ye Quan lying in bed crying pitifully, Lotus sister's eyes turned red, "Our Quanzi is really miserable, lying in bed wailing in pain, and can't even say where it hurts. His face is swollen beyond recognition, and his body is covered in bruises, I feel heartbroken just looking at him."

  She cried for a while, and then Lotus pointed at Ye Chong's nose and scolded: "It's all because of this useless son. Our son was beaten like that, but he didn't even try to get revenge. The house in our family was also given to others, it's really killing us! That old ancestral house is broken and old, how can I live there? Poor Quan Zi, after getting injured, he doesn't even have a place to rest and recover."

  Lotus sister cried and wailed, the people in the house didn't care about her or affect her emotions, she pinched her nose with her index finger and thumb, hummed, swung it, and a big glob of snot was thrown to the ground, almost swinging onto Jiang's body, provoking her to scream, disgustedly retreating several steps back.

  The Mao family also frowned at Lian Jie, with a look of disgust on her face. She had heard what was said yesterday too.

  "Uncle, are the people in this village all heartless and cruel? Normally they'd come to our house for every little thing, but now that we're having trouble, they're all avoiding us like the plague. Today when my husband went to find someone to fix the roof, he couldn't find anyone. They're all a bunch of wicked people, blind to what's good, a pack of vicious wolves who'll spend their whole lives digging for scraps in this poor mountain village." Lian Jie complained and cursed the villagers with venom.

  Ye Lao Yezi listened with a frown, but didn't say anything. He just gave Ye Zhong a disapproving look. Some things are not suitable for old men to discuss with women, so they usually communicate through their husbands. This Lotus Sister's behavior and speech were too improper, she spoke without distinguishing good from bad, saying whatever came to mind. She didn't understand the saying "disaster comes from the mouth". Yesterday at the ancestral hall, she said those words, but didn't apologize or anything, yet still expected the villagers to help her without holding grudges. What a naive thought! More importantly, after talking for half a day, it was still unclear how that little bean got scalded. All they knew was that Lotus Sister kept repeating Ye Quan's injuries and her own grievances. Ye Quan had gone to see him last night, his external wounds were just some purple bruises, which would heal with some medicine. However, his internal injuries were more severe, the bones in his chest were broken, and his left foot was also broken, so he would have to spend the rest of his life in bed. Yesterday when they discussed Ye Quan's condition, Lotus Sister had been crying and wailing like that, but no tears came out. He couldn't stand this unreasonable woman, and didn't bother explaining to her that Ye Quan's injuries were self-inflicted. The villagers wouldn't bother him if he just stayed out of trouble, yet he still expected people to respect him.

  "Many people were injured at the ancestral hall yesterday, and that was to help your family. That's not considered helping?" Old Master Ye found it hard to speak up, but someone else did, and Madame Mao's words were reasonable and forceful, her questioning tone righteous and majestic.

  Lotus sister stiffened for a moment, and stubbornly said: "That ancestral hall belongs to the Ye family, it's up to them to protect it."

  Mao heard a sneer, "You also know that the ancestral hall is of the Ye family, then what right does your Ye Quan have to gamble away the land deed of the ancestral hall?"

  This time, Lian Jie was completely speechless. She flung her nose and started wailing loudly, shouting, "You're all bullying us mother and son who have no one to rely on! You heartless and ruthless people! Not a single good person among the Ye family! You're all wicked and vicious scoundrels!"

  Everyone in the house looked at Ye Chong and his wife with strange eyes.

  Ye Chong also felt that Lotus's words were not suitable, but he had always been a person who was not good at speaking. In the past, his father was the head of the clan, and not only in their household, but also in the entire Elmswood Village, his father was the most authoritative figure. When his father spoke, Ye Chong naturally listened. Lotus, on the other hand, was a woman who talked a lot and didn't make sense. If you refuted her once, she would come up with thousands of words to refute you, or else she would throw a tantrum and insist on having the upper hand. Since being tongue-lashed by Lotus several times, Ye Chong had stopped talking to her much. That's why yesterday at the ancestral hall, he knew that Lotus's words were wrong, but didn't open his mouth to stop her right away. Later, under the increasingly strange gazes of the villagers, he became flustered and couldn't speak, so he could only use the fastest method - a slap in the face. It wasn't until now that he realized that tolerating Lotus's behavior wouldn't make things pass more quickly, but would instead lead to more severe consequences, such as nobody being willing to help him repair his house today, or his uncle not looking up to him anymore.

  "What nonsense are you talking about? Go home and cook!" Ye Chong scolded.

  Lotus sister originally wanted to refute, seeing Ye old master raised his head and glanced at her, hurriedly lowered her voice and said: "I took care of Quanzi today, swept the house, and also took care of the old and young. I'm tired all day, can't I rest?" Lotus sister said this and sat down on a stool beside her, seeing that there were still some unfinished dishes and chopsticks on the table, not minding that they had been used by others, picked them up and said: "Uncle, it's late now, even if we start a fire, it won't be in time. I see you have some leftover food here, let's just make do with this for now, and later give some leftovers to old master and Quanzi." As she spoke, her hands began to pick at the meat and eat.

  The Ye family's conditions are relatively good in the village, which can be seen from the quality of every meal. Not to mention big fish and meat, but there is more or less meat, and it's not that one family is very poor, they don't care about these things much. The head of the clan's conditions are not bad either, but compared to the Ye family, their food is much more frugal.

  Locals from rural areas have never seen the prosperity of townspeople who are willing to spend money.

  Lotus sister saw such a good meal before, I guess it's just envy in her heart, saying a few sour words, and she wouldn't do something so shameless like now. But from last night to now, she hasn't had a proper meal, so now she's starving, and she doesn't care about anything anymore.

  Ye Chongxiu's originally dark face turned even darker, just as she was about to scold her, Ye Lao Ye stopped her, "Don't be polite, go ahead and eat. Chong, you too, go have some."

  Ye Zhongben didn't want to do such a shameless thing, but seeing Old Master Ye insisting, he found a seat and sat down. Mrs. Mao had already handed him a clean bowl and chopsticks.

  Ye Lao Yezi was applying medicine to Xiao Dou Zi while saying, "This couple's life together will inevitably have conflicts. The tongue and teeth will occasionally bite each other unintentionally. What's most important between husband and wife is mutual tolerance. Why can't you discuss things properly and instead resort to violence? You think it's just a small matter when you fight, but look at how the child has been hurt - this will ruin her whole life! Ye Lao Yezi spoke with a heavy heart, "It's serious, don't think I'm nagging. Your family has gone through this ordeal and its foundation is damaged, making it hard to recover. You're carrying a heavy burden now, you can't rely on your father like before. You need to show the spirit of a real man - harmony in the family brings prosperity."

  Mr. Ye said this to Ye Chong, but actually he was warning Lotus Sister. As the only mistress of the Ye family, she used to be lazy when conditions were good, and even hired a rough servant girl at home. But now the Ye family is already in a mess, with debts owed everywhere. If the family members are not harmonious and quarrel every day, it's estimated that this family will really have no hope and will disperse. Mr. Ye's words were to urge Ye Chong to establish his authority and clean up his chaotic household.

  Ye Zhong nodded silently with tears in his eyes, he understood what Old Man Ye meant.

  After seeing off Ye Zhong and his wife, Old Master Ye let out a deep sigh, turned around with his hands behind his back, and hunched over as he walked back to his own room, without even mentioning Ye Shixian.

  When Qi Zhener cleaned up the dinner table, she saw a mess on it and deeply doubted that Jiangshi and Lianshi were good sisters - was Jiangshi's vision so bad?

  That's the standard of being blind with one's eyes open!