CH 84

Ye Ying returned to the Chen Family with mixed feelings. Scrutinizing Chen Weiguo and his wife, the closeness that had just been established between them seemed to evaporate. She previously assumed that they were quite good because, in Ye Wei’s speech, despite she hardly had anything to eat and wear, and even dropped out of school, wasn’t it purely because the Chen Family was poor? They were so poor that they couldn’t afford clothes and food, so it’s understandable that they couldn’t afford Ye Wei’s tuition.

Ye Tao and Zhang Yu shared a similar sentiment with Ye Ying. They regarded Chen Weiguo and his wife as simple and good-natured people. How could they guess this seemingly harmless man could drive his own mother out of the house? Such unfilial action, how could they match it with the words ‘simple’ and ‘good-natured’?

For a while, silence lurked among them. Neither of them could accept the news.

Sitting at the dinner table, even the atmosphere changed.

Tong Ke probed a few questions about what happened, but no one replied to her. Tong Ke glared at Ye Ying with envy. They ate the same rice and breathed the same air, but why was Ye Ying always the center of attention?

Only Jiang Fei acted the same. He treated Chen Weiguo and his wife the same as he did the day he arrived. Once he entered the house, he sat on the table with a wide grin and ate contentedly.

Zhang Yu glimpsed at Jiang Fei with a complicated face. Compared to Jiang Fei, at least, after he knew that Chen Weiguo was such a person, he did not have any appetite for this meal.

He glanced at the food on the table, it was sumptuous. Two meat dishes and one vegetable dish. He heard that the chicken soup was made from the chicken that Chen Weiguo had long raised. The soup was rich and thick. There were some mushrooms floating on the chicken soup, adding an appetizing fragrance.

Chen Weiguo’s wife served him a bowl of chicken soup, and he drank a few mouthfuls of the soup. Although it was a bit greasy, the taste was undeniably good.

Ye Ying also felt a little uneasy. Chen Weiguo’s wife kept picking up vegetables for Ye Ying, and picked up a big chicken leg for her, saying that she was so skinny that she should eat more. Ye Ying stared at the chicken leg in the bowl. She still couldn’t fully believe Jiang Fei’s words, perhaps his story wasn’t the full story?

She really couldn’t acknowledge that her own father was such a person. She resolved that she would ask Chen Weiguo about it privately later.

The same was true of Ye Tao. He didn’t thoroughly read the investigation files of Ye Wei, nor did he hear about Grandma Chen stealing money to pay tuition fees for Ye Wei. Even Ye Wei didn’t mention it to them, nor did she mention it in her speech “I’m Not Brave”.

So when he heard it, apart from shock and disbelief, he was clueless about what to do.

While Tong Ke was the only one left in the dark, she still disliked everything and anything about this place. The houses in the countryside often raised poultry and she could see chickens that kept walking around the yard and no matter how the ground was swept, there would always be chicken poop! Tong Ke would go mad if this continues!

She extremely disliked it in her heart, but she was aware that she still needed to eat lest she starved. She ate what should be eaten, but her frown never loosen. She ate as if she was about to go to the execution ground.

“Eat ah, just eat it all, don’t be polite.” Chen Weiguo expressed with a smile all over his face.

Chen Weiguo’s wife followed suit, “That’s right, just treat here as your home.”

Ye Ying couldn’t deny that she was hungry. She ate a steamed bun and some congee for breakfast, if she stayed at the house, she wouldn’t go hungry, but she did a lot of work at Grandma Chen’s place and consumed a lot of energy, so she was a little bit hungry now. Regardless of her low appetite, the aroma was attractive and her stomach growled.

She ate a few mouthfuls of rice, and Ye Tao also swallowed a bowl of rice sullenly. He suddenly questioned, “Why didn’t you let Ye Wei study?”

Ye Ying looked at Ye Tao, apparently not expecting him to question Chen Weiguo directly at the dinner table.

·

Chen Weiguo was confused for a while before realizing that the “Ye Wei” in Ye Tao’s mouth was Chen Xiaohong, and the person in front of him was Xiaohong’s biological brother. He sighed helplessly, “It’s not that I didn’t want to let her study, but it’s that our family really has no money. At that time, we couldn’t even eat enough and buy new clothes for the New Year. I genuinely didn’t have the spare money to pay for Xiaohong’s tuition!”

Chen Weiguo’s wife noticed the situation was not right and quickly explained, “Yes, yes, the fact that we are living well now, isn’t it thanks to the Ye Family’s help? If you didn’t buy the house in the county and gave us money, how could we eat as easily as we do now?”

“Before, our family was truly poor. We wouldn’t cook the chickens for ourselves if it wasn’t for an occasion like holidays. Usually, we raise them to sell them in the county for money. A chicken would cost dozens of yuan, and we could allocate it to buy something else. If someone were sick, the money would be barely enough to buy the medicine. Besides, we only have a little field so we couldn’t save much money, almost all our money would be spent during the year.”

“We understand that we have wronged Xiaohong as she lived a hard life with us since she was a child, but Lao Chen has really tried his best to support our big family. Your family has taken care of our Yingying so well. Yingying is now so mature and sensible, which is your family credit, but Honghong suffered with us…”

“It’s our family’s fault. It’s all because our family is too poor. You should blame us….”

Chen Weiguo’s wife covered her face and sobbed. The more she wept, the louder her sob. She described all their difficulties in recent years as her tears fell down. Her words were so heartfelt that she appeared pitiful.

Ye Tao was put on the spot and became embarrassed, “I didn’t mean to blame you, Auntie. Please don’t cry.”

While he was probably the type that would just watch his girlfriend cry, he wasn’t the type that could let any elders cry before him.

Zhang Yu’s brows scrunched up. He knew that earning money in the countryside was not easy. The most people could do were raise pigs, chickens, and ducks for sale or grow food in the field. The money would be spent on family expenses, and it was indeed hard to save. Nevertheless, how expensive was the tuition fee for public schools? To the point, they couldn’t afford it?

Jiang Fei unexpectedly brought the topic up, “Didn’t Grandma Chen steal 2000 yuan from you back then? 2000 yuan is enough to pay Ye Wei’s tuition. More than enough, even.”

Precisely. Since Grandma Chen could ‘steal’ 2000 yuan from him, didn’t that mean that the Chen Family wasn’t so poor that they couldn’t afford Ye Wei’s tuition fee?

Ye Tao was so flustered by Chen Weiguo’s wife’s tears that he forgot how to react, but now that Jiang Fei brought it up, he came back to his senses and naturally thought of the matter.

2000 yuan, it’s more than enough. In addition, if the Chen Family truly wanted to let Ye Wei study, wouldn’t they search for a way? The tuition fee for the 9-year compulsory education was not high, how could they not have any money for the tuition if they even have 2000 yuan lying around?

Chen Weiguo was taken aback. He was about to explain, but his wife had opened her mouth first, “I’m to blame for this, I was sick back then and needed to see a doctor, so Lao Chen had no choice but to wrong Honghong so he could bring a doctor for me. It’s just, the money was stolen by his mother, and my check-up was delayed.”

Chen Weiguo glanced at his wife in doubt, but he did not contradict her.

Jiang Fei asked, “What’s kind of illness?”

Chen Weiguo’s wife said in embarrassment, “It’s hard to say…”

“Oh, the it’s-hard-to-say illness.”

“Yes, yes, those are things in the past, so we don’t want to mention it. Right now, our family owes Honghong a lot. Fortunately, she is back to her home and she can enjoy a lifetime of happiness.”

For some reason, Ye Ying breathed a sigh of relief. If this was the case, she would feel much better.

Ye Tao was not utterly convinced, and even Zhang Yu stared at Chen Weiguo and his wife with some meaning.

After the meal, Chen Weiguo’s wife packed up the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Ye Ying had never done this kind of work, and she didn’t intend to help either. She was still in shock by the thing in the morning.

Tong Ke sneered in a quiet voice, her words dripping with sarcasm, “As expected of a missy, you just take everything for granted. Your mother cooks and washes dishes, but you just know how to eat and don’t have any intention to lend her a hand.”

Ye Ying gave Tong Ke a sideway glance, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

Tong Ke stared back at her with her chin up, “What? Am I wrong? Remember, this is your family. Chen Weiguo is your father, and Chen Weiguo’s wife is naturally your mother.”

Ye Ying pursed her lips. She wanted to refute her, but she had nothing to refute. She didn’t want to be the person in Tong Ke’s mouth, so she turned to the kitchen.

Tong Ke peeked a few times and sneaked behind her. She merely wished to see Ye Ying suffering and took some photos as a souvenir to reminisce.

Ye Ying’s footsteps were light, and her mind was preoccupied. She wasn’t aware that Tong Ke trailed behind her. Who knew that, just as she walked to the kitchen, the conversation between Chen Weiguo and his wife reached her ears.

“Why didn’t you let me speak up just now? The 2000 yuan was all meant for Xiaolong’s dowry! Why don’t you just say that?” In his opinion, saving money for his son to marry a wife was a matter of course and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

… What?!

Ye Ying’s steps froze. Chen Weiguo didn’t pay Ye Wei’s tuition fee not because he couldn’t, but because he wanted to save money for his son?!

His wife spoke up, “How can we say that? If you said that, they would judge that we treated Xiaohong badly and that we have money but didn’t want to pay her tuition! What will the Ye Family think? How will they treat our Yingying if they know that?”

Chen Weiguo was dissatisfied, “How can it be called bad? What’s the use of a girl reading so many books? Won’t she just end up marrying later? My mother is really out of her mind. To think that she stole money for that. It’s really a waste to use that money to pay for Xiaohong’s tuition.”

Ye Ying covered her mouth in surprise. How old was Chen Weiguo’s son? She heard that he was in junior high school. There used to be a junior high school in the village next door, but his son had to get up at five o’clock every morning and walk for more than an hour to get there. His son was too tired and refused to go. Just as the Chen Family became rich overnight, he sent his son to the junior high school in the county, where he lived in a dorm and went back home at weekends.

His son was in junior high school, not even an adult yet!

Ye Ying was dumbfounded. Tong Ke went from being dazed at the beginning to being shocked later. She hated people discriminating against women. She was used to being pampered and she was the overlord at home. She gasped, “Did I hear it right? Isn’t this the patriarchal’s way of favoring sons over daughters? He would rather save his money and let it grow moldy than pay his daughter’s tuition. Ugh. How disgusting.”

Chen Weiguo and his wife didn’t expect their whispering was overheard. His wife was shocked and tried to clarify. but Chen Weiguo had already jumped up. He had never been insulted by anyone with that word. His status in the village had improved a lot, so he was unhappy with her remarks. Anyway, he was an elder, “…Little lass, what do you mean by that? Disgusting? Why is it disgusting that I keep my money for my son? Is it wrong for me to treat my son well?”

Tong Ke rolled her eyes, “Son, son, son. You only have your son in your eyes. You never put your daughter in your eyes!”

Chen Weiguo understood that the girl’s family wasn’t someone he could offend, so he restrained his anger and said in a bitter voice, “Don’t say I don’t think about my daughter, I raised them all the same. How can I ignore any of them? But, Xiaolong is the only heir of the third generation of our Chen Family. Our family has only one son. Of course, I have to plan meticulously for him!”

Tong Ke hehe’ed twice, “Hee. The sole heir of your three-generation family, of course, he must be treasured. After all, there is a throne for your family to inherit, isn’t there?”

Chen Weiguo’s wife came to defend him, “Yingying, don’t get us wrong. Your father didn’t mean that…”

Ye Ying stepped back, her eyes wary.

Chen Weiguo’s wife was sheepish because of her rejection.

Jiang Fei leaned out of nowhere, “Ye Ying, don’t get them wrong. They really cared the same about their child. I heard that Chen Weiguo cared so much about her daughter and worried that she couldn’t support herself, thus, he offered her to the butcher in the next village to be taken as his wife. The dowry is 30,000 yuan, which is a lot in this rural area. That price even attracted the envy of many people.” His eyes landed on Ye Ying, “See, Ye Ying, he really cares about his daughter. He even planned her future so well.”

Ye Ying snapped her head at Jiang Fei in shock and noticed a faint smile in his eyes. However, she only felt that his smile was abominable as if he was watching a play and making fun of it.

Chen Weiguo and his wife got into an awkward predicament. They weren’t aware when the people arrived, it was not only Ye Ying and Tong Ke, but also Jiang Fei, Ye Tao, and Zhang Yu. It was obvious they overheard their conversation.

Ye Tao recalled, once, Ye Wei said that Chen Weiguo was going to marry her to a 30-year-old man in the next village when she came of age, and the dowry would be used to buy a house for her younger brother.

At that time, he thought that Ye Wei, who accepted such an idea so lightly, was the worst. She trampled on herself to help her moocher brother. He even considered Ye Wei as a narrow and shallow-minded person, a person without self-worth or self-love.

He never thought that the person who instilled the idea in Ye Wei’s mind was the real villain.

As for Zhang Yu, he never heard about this matter. He was left without words when he heard it. His expression was grave, and the way he looked at Chen Weiguo became solemn.

Chen Weiguo immediately said, “I did that for Xiaohong’s own good. I planned that with her in mind. I have known that family for a long time. Although he is way older, he earns a lot of money from selling pork in the town. He has a two-story house and is an honest person. As long as they get married, Xiaohong will have enough food and clothing and don’t need to worry about these for the rest of her life. She also won’t need to work in the field again. Look, what’s wrong with that?”

He said the words with such conviction that he really looked like he was doing something good for her. Such righteousness chilled their hearts.

Jiang Fei nodded his head in agreement, “There is indeed nothing wrong with it. Ye Wei will have had enough food and clothes all her life. She will get a good home and you will get 30,000 yuan as her dowry for your son to marry. With that, won’t you achieve the best of both worlds?”

Chen Weiguo’s face flushed: “I…”

Ye Tao interrupted Chen Weiguo with a calm face, “For your daughter’s own good? If you really planned that for her, then you don’t regard her as a daughter at all. You just regard her as a tool that can be used to gain benefits for you!”

Tong Ke was struck stupid by Chen Weiguo’s justification, but she never forget to throw some knives at Ye Ying. “Ye Ying, ah. Take a good look. You really made a smart decision not to return here! You are indeed the wisest! Otherwise, you will be packaged and sold as long as you come back!”

“Ai, no matter how you say it, it is a fact that Weiwei has suffered a lot for you these past 18 years. Fortunately, the truth comes to light. She can go back to her own home and enjoy the blessings and happiness. Yet, she nearly couldn’t enjoy that because you refused to let her back. She needed to bet her life just to return to her real parent’s side. For that, she was shunned as someone that dislikes the poor and loves the rich. Even her relatives misunderstood her……”

“Our Weiwei’s life is too miserable. Truly, so miserable!” Tong Ke pretended to wipe her tears and leaned softly to Zhang Yu’s side.

Ye Ying’s face was as white as snow. She didn’t expect that Chen Weiguo was not only unfilial but also patriarchal to the extreme. If she was in this family, and if she was not switched at birth, she would be the one to suffer all these…

The idea made Ye Ying tremble all over. Obviously, the sun was shining warmly, but she couldn’t feel any warmth.

To live in the abyss of darkness, was that something a person could survive?

Ye Wei had lived with such a family for 18 years. How did she survive?

Her complexion was unsightly. She was in shambles. Her mind was immensely shaken. However, no one noticed her reaction.

————·————·————

Zhang Yu originally saw Ye Ying alone in a trance, and Tong Ke sneaked behind her with malicious intentions. He was worried about her, so he followed them. Who knew that he would hear such words? Chen Weiguo spoke so righteously about selling his daughter!

He vaguely recalled that Ye Wei returned to the Ye Family because of her suicide threat. At that time, he deemed that Ye Wei’s approach was unreasonable. However, he now knew that he just saw the surface of the matter.

If he was the one to encounter that kind of situation, where a glimmer of light finally appeared in his gloomy life, he would most likely seize it by all means to escape that kind of life…

Ye Tao also thought so. He used to look down on Ye Wei who didn’t cherish her life, but, if he were in her situation, his means might be even more extreme than Ye Wei!

————·————·————

At one in the afternoon, Ye Tao saw Ye Wei again. He saw her carrying a basket down filled with leaf beet. The leaf beet was fodder for the pig Grandma Chen raised.

The huge basket weighed down on her thin body, and it had weighed her down for eighteen years.

Ye Tao’s heart was heavy. Regardless of their short time together or their unfamiliarity with each other, she is his younger sister that vein runs the same blood as him. Yet, in a place unbeknownst to him, she endured many grievances.

He went forward and took the basket from Ye Wei’s back, “Let me help you.”

Ye Wei gave him a glance, “Okay.”

She put down the basket and stepped on the ridge to go home.

Ye Ying stared at Ye Tao’s guilt-ridden face. She hung her head low, her expression obscure.

Zhang Yu also came along. Jiang Fei was fooling around, while Tong Ke chirped beside Ye Wei: “Weiwei, did you know? That Chen Weiguo is simply not a human being! He wants to marry you to the old man in the next village. He doesn’t even consider your age, there is only dowry money in his mind. Weiwei, ah, why are you so miserable. All your suffering is for Ye Ying. Nevertheless, she doesn’t know how to be grateful and keeps playing victim all day long, ai… I feel sorry for you.”

She peeked at Zhang Yu while talking. She was delighted when she noticed Zhang Yu didn’t speak up for Ye Ying.

Ye Tao was quiet, thinking of Ye Ying who was crying and complaining at home, and then of Ye Wei who was having a hard time and enduring hardships, who suffered more?

Zhang Yu frowned, “Tong Ke, stop it.”

Zhang Yu thought that Ye Wei was clueless about the matter. Ye Tao never told Zhang Yu about Ye Wei’s awareness of it, after all, it was a private matter.

Ye Wei’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, remaining indifferent without any surprise.

Zhang Yu remarked, “You already know?”

Ye Wei nodded, “Yeah, I know. What’s about it?”

Zhang Yu was puzzled, “You know? Then why do you have no reaction?”

Ye Wei blinked calmly, “What kind of reaction do you wish I had? If my parents find me a step late, I would have gotten married and maybe I would already have two children under my knee in three years and Gege would be a Jiujiu[1].”

Ye Tao: “……???” Jiujiu?

Zhang Yu: “……???”

Tong Ke: “……!!!”

Jiang Fei: “Yes, you are in good health and can give birth to and bring up children smoothly.”

Ye Wei commented, “As you said, it would be easy for me to recover after giving birth.”

Jiang Fei: “……”

Ye Tao refused with a white face, “No, thanks. I don’t want to be a Jiujiu yet.”

Zhang Yu was almost scared to death by Ye Wei’s words, “Even if you are an adult, you can’t get married until you are 20!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ye Wei spoke nonchalantly, “We are not so strict here. It just a matter of waiting two years for the marriage certificate.”

Zhang Yu was resolute, “That’s still no good!”

Ye Wei sighed and said nothing more, but it was her sigh that let people hear her helplessness.

————·————·————

The group followed Ye Wei back to Grandma Chen’s house. At the house, Grandma Chen was peeling corn. She sat in the main room with her bony body, working tirelessly without rest.

Ye Tao put down the basket, and Ye Wei grabbed the machete and started chopping the leaf beet. The machete chopped on the board and the machete’s sound kept resounding in the quiet house.

Jiang Fei took the place as his home and found a place to sit down without any plan to help. He scanned the house with novelty. While Tong Ke was flustered and looked around, at last, sat down on a small chair with aggrievement.

Zhang Yu and Ye Tao glanced at each other and went to help Grandma Chen peel the corn.

They stayed for the whole afternoon, watching Ye Wei cut the vegetables and then throw them into the pot. When the firewood was set on the stove, she came to peel the corn. Seeing the sun was not so blazing, she was ready to carry the basket up the mountain again.

She hardly ever stopped for a rest. Every hour and moment, she had her hands full.

Ye Tao’s mind was obscured with self-blame. At her age, he was having fun, traveling all over the country, and talking about dreams. And Ye Ying, who was loved by them so much, was living like a princess as she wore beautiful dresses and ate delicious food.

“Chen-nainai, Ye Wei… Has she been working so hard all this time?” He eventually couldn’t resist asking the question to Grandma Chen. He wanted to hear about Ye Wei’s past.

“What ‘hard work’?”

“Just like today, she has always worked so hard, never taking a break…”

The Old Lady, who was always reluctant to open her mouth to them this whole afternoon, even looked aggressive at the first impression, looked at him with cloudy eyes, “Your family doesn’t even want her. Why bother to ask so many questions now?”

Ye Tao was choked with guilt and shame, “We, we didn’t mean to, we thought she was doing well…”

Grandma Chen suddenly rose from her seat and began chasing people away, “That’s all. Get out of here.”

Ye Tao said, “Chen-nainai, I know we are sorry for Ye Wei. We shouldn’t take the liberty to decide to leave her here…”

“Go away!”

The moment Grandma Chen lost her composure, Jiang Fei had already taken three steps in one jump and ran far away. Ye Tao tried to say a word more but was dragged away by Zhang Yu.

Ye Tao looked at Grandma Chen slamming the door. The emotion in Grandma Chen’s eyes made him feel suffocated.

Ye Ying was also driven out. She was panic-stricken. She looked at Ye Tao who sported a self-reproach on his face and then at Zhang Yu.

This whole afternoon, their attention was always on Ye Wei, they never cared about whether she was sad or not……

Footnotes

[1] 舅舅 – jiùjiù. (Maternal) Uncle. Mother’s brother; Different from 叔叔 – shūshu; Uncle; Father’s younger brother and 伯伯 (bóbó; read: popo) or 伯父 bófù; (Paternal) Uncle. Father’s older brother. ↵