Zhao had been immersed in sorrow for the past two days, and hadn't thought about how to spend her future days. After hearing Ye Yuzhang's words, she blamed herself for not thinking thoroughly and was considering going to the government office to file a complaint; but Guan Lao's words were like a basin of cold water, instantly extinguishing the resentment in her heart.

  If the Jiang family doesn't compensate, no one will be willing to adopt. If no one adopts, the Ye family's incense will be cut off. Although Zhao didn't want to forgive Jiang Xing in her heart, she couldn't help but weigh it now. Moreover, she had to consider the elderly grandfather and grandmother. Her son was dead, and she couldn't really let the two old people suffer from poverty and illness. Thinking of this, she shed two lines of hot tears and stopped talking, supporting Ye Yuqi as they walked into the house.

  It seems that the Ye family's eldest son, Ye Yuzhang, has been persuaded to stand down. However, his brow is furrowed even more tightly than before. In fact, there is another important reason why he was so eager to persuade Ye Yuqi, a reason that he has kept hidden in his heart and not shared with anyone: the life of Ye Pu is at stake, and although the Jiang family is not wealthy, they will have to compensate several hundred taels of silver. The eldest son will take this money, but it's impossible for him to just sit on it; he'll have to invest it in some property. And since Ye Yuqi has no sons or grandsons, after his death, won't this property eventually fall into the hands of the second son? Although this property is insignificant compared to his own wealth of tens of thousands of taels, even a small mosquito is still meat; it's better than nothing, and can be used to make up for the losses incurred by marrying Zheng Shi and taking in Miss Gong.

  But now the Guan family is busy arranging for Ye Yiqi to adopt a grandson, this matter... what should be done about it?

  He raised his eyes and looked at Zhao, who was leaning on Ye Yuxi. Zhao had lost her husband and child, and was considered an unlucky person. This reputation of being a widow and childless could be spread out for her. However, the people from the Zhao family were here, and the adoption would be finalized before Ye Pu's funeral, which was too rushed; moreover, if Ye Yuxi found out that this matter was done by himself, with his stubborn temper, he might not let him get a single penny even after death. This matter seemed difficult to handle.

  After some deliberation, he decided to do nothing for the time being and wait and see. He just didn't believe that those who had adopted would have no qualms about the eldest house of the Ye family, where neither sons nor grandsons had lived beyond eighteen years old.

  Thinking so, he relaxed his eyebrows and walked towards the house.

  Jiang saw that her grandson's life was saved and let out a sigh of relief. She waved her hand at the people behind her: "Alright, everyone go back to your own positions and get back to work."

  Nanshan Town is located in the south. Although it's autumn now, the weather is still quite hot. Ye Yuzhang helped pay for the coffin and white cloth, so it was impossible to buy ice again. Moreover, Ye Pu died suddenly at a young age, so it wasn't suitable to keep the body for too long. Now that they had decided not to file a lawsuit, everyone discussed how to hurry up and settle the funeral matters. Therefore, the Guan and Zhao families pushed out a few people to follow Ye Yuzhang to the Jiang family to discuss compensation; the remaining people discussed how to adopt a child from the He family and then went their separate ways to do ideological work.

  In the afternoon, everyone returned one after another. The first to return was Ye Yuzhang, who brought back six hundred taels of silver. Twenty taels were used for Ye Pu's funeral, and the remaining five hundred and eighty taels could be used to buy over a hundred mu of land or open a small jade carving workshop, so the main house of the Ye family would have something to rely on in their old age. The Guan and Zhao families were also relatively satisfied with this amount of compensation.

  But the person who went out to discuss the matter of inheritance returned with a bad look on his face. The Ye family's close relatives were not many, only three families that were relatively far away, and they also sent people to pay their respects yesterday. They had just gone to visit these three families. One family was well-off, one family had few children, and neither of them wanted to adopt a child. The remaining family was poor with many children, but they would rather eat coarse grains than let their son be adopted by another family.

  Everyone sat in the courtyard, all falling silent. After a long time, Zhao Shi's brother Zhao De Sheng gritted his teeth and stood up: "Alright, I'll give my youngest son to my sister as an adopted son."

  "Brother, how can this be?" Zhao's lips trembled as he stared at his own brother with red and swollen eyes. Zhao De Sheng was only one of three sons, the youngest of whom was already ten years old and would be sent to the Jade Carving Workshop as an apprentice next year, where he could earn money in two years' time. Moreover, the three members of the Zhao family worked at the Jade Carving Workshop, their lives were not rich but enough to make ends meet. Even if the Ye family's eldest son received 600 taels of silver in compensation, there were still two elderly people and a frail mother to support, the burden was heavy. It would be impossible for that child to leave his parents and brothers to come to the Ye family.

  Zhao Desheng shook his head and stopped Zhao's words: "Don't say more, it's settled. I'll call him back and have him wear mourning clothes to attend his brother's funeral."

  "Zhao Shixiong's benevolence and righteousness." The matter was resolved perfectly, without harming his own interests, and everyone else was also delighted, praising him profusely.

  Only Ye Yuzhang, seeing that there was no hope of winning, was delighted in his heart, but unexpectedly, Cheng Yaojin appeared halfway, and he felt an indescribable sense of loss.

  Before long, Zhao De Sheng brought his youngest son, Zhao Zheng. The child's face still had tear stains and hadn't dried yet, clearly having just cried. Seeing this, Madam Zhao felt uneasy in her heart and was about to speak when a woman rushed in like the wind, hugged Zhao Zheng tightly, and knelt down before Zhao De Sheng, wailing: "Husband, I know my sister is suffering, but you can't disregard our son's life! My poor child is only ten years old and hasn't even enjoyed a day of good fortune. If he loses his life, I won't live either..."

  "What's all the commotion about? Hurry up and go home." Zhao Desheng pushed his wife, Li, away and pulled Zhao Zheng over.

  "What...what did you just say?" Zhao's wife had picked up on her sister-in-law's mistake and pulled her over to ask.

  Li knelt down in front of Zhao: "Sister, sister-in-law knows you're suffering, but... but..."

  "Stop talking!" Zhao De Sheng shouted loudly, interrupting Li's words.

  "Sister-in-law, you say, I won't blame you." But Zhao didn't pay attention to her brother and instead pulled Li's wife aside to ask.

  Mrs. Li looked at her husband's face, which was as dark as a cloud, and although she was somewhat fearful, since it concerned the life of her own son, she gritted her teeth and said: "Sister, Brother-in-law died when he was eighteen years old, and Jing'er didn't even make it to seventeen... I'm afraid..."

  She didn't continue speaking, but everyone understood what she meant. She was afraid that Zhao's family would bully her son again and take away her child, Zhao Zheng.

  Zhao's face turned extremely pale and she stood there as if about to collapse. The woman from the Guan family saw this and hastily came forward to support her.

  "Get out of here, this is a matter for the Zhao family and has nothing to do with you, a woman." Zhao De Sheng's face turned iron-gray.

  "De Sheng ah……” A voice came from not far away. Everyone turned their heads to look, and it was Ye Yuqi supporting Guan Shi's hand slowly coming out of the house. He walked over, gesturing for Guan Shi to help Li Shi get up, while saying: "De Sheng, we appreciate your kindness. But this child, we can't have." And affectionately patted Zhao Zheng's shoulder, "Go back with your mother."

  Zhao Zheng was only a ten-year-old child, and he didn't want to leave his parents and siblings in the first place. After hearing what his mother said, he became even more afraid. When Ye Yuqi spoke up like that, Zhao Zheng was overjoyed and hugged his mother's hand tightly, refusing to let go.

  Zhao Desheng only agreed to let his younger son be adopted by the Ye family because he pitied his sister. At that time, he didn't think about the consequences of the adoption. Later, he felt that since he had already promised, he couldn't go back on his word, so he forced his son to go through with it. Now, seeing his wife speak out against it, and knowing that the people of the Ye family's main house were kind and just, he realized they would no longer agree to the adoption. He was left with no choice but to apologize to Ye Yuqi with a bow, and then lead his wife and son back home.

  "Sorry for the trouble, let's just set the funeral for tomorrow." Ye Yuqi nodded to everyone and slowly escorted Guan Shi back to their room.

  After a stir, it turned out to be such a result. Everyone felt bored and stopped talking, each busy with their own affairs for the funeral tomorrow. Only Ye Yuzhang was overjoyed.

  But as for yesterday's matter, when Qiujie and Qiujiao came to do things in the afternoon, Wang Yiniang didn't mention You'er again. The day passed by so peacefully.

  The funeral customs in Nanshan Town are to hold the funeral procession early in the morning, and relatives only need to send off for a mile before returning, without having to see it through to the burial. So the next day, Ye Zhuo followed Jiangshi and others, sending off the funeral procession to the town head, then returned to the mansion.

  These past few days, Ye Zhuo's heart had been constantly thinking of Zheng Shi. But the Ye family was in such a situation that she could only endure it. Now that everything has settled down, she thought about going out to visit Zheng Shi. The next morning, she instructed Qiu Yue: "There is no need to report to the main courtyard, I will go there for breakfast."

  Qiu Yue deeply understood Ye Zhuo's thoughts and worriedly said: "Miss, will the old lady agree to let you see the madam?"

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