CH 85
Ye Tao, Zhang Yu, Jiang Fei, and Ye Ying were driven out by Grandma Chen. Instead of returning to the Chen family, they squatted on the ridge to feed mosquitoes.
Ye Tao was distraugh. It wasn’t until today that he could comprehend the hardship Ye Wei had experienced for the past 18 years, Whether mentally or physically, she was always drained all the time. So, regardless of how strange her three-views were, regardless of how extreme her behavior was, he shouldn’t judge her from the moral high ground, blaming her three-views were incorrect and her behavior as lawless.
It was all simply because she had no other choice.
If Ye Wei had other choices that wouldn’t lead to a dead-end. she wouldn’t bet on her life. Because she was forced to choose a way that led to a dead-end, she decided to fight to the death instead…
Zhang Yu patted him on the shoulder. He wanted to comfort Ye Tao with a few words, but he didn’t know where to start, because he himself was in a same predicament as him.
He could empathize with Ye Tao’s feelings. After all, once, he disliked Ye Wei as well, labeling her as hypocritical and deceitful, deeming her hate of Ye Ying as unreasonable. But, looking at it now, her hate of Ye Ying was not without a reason. All things she had suffered should be Ye Ying’s. For Ye Wei, Ye Ying was a person that owed her everything. What she suffered should have been borne by Ye Ying, and she had suffered so much in place of Ye Ying.
The air was somewhat tense.
Jiang Fei treated it as if nothing happened. He sat on the ridge and searched for a game to play.
Not long after, the sound of tinkling games spread across the ridge.
Zhang Yu lifted his foot and kicked Jiang Fei, who was focused on his game, “!!! Why are you so nosy! Look, I’m dead now because of you!”
Zhang Yu: “…”
Ye Tao said, “I’ll go to the side first.” and walked away.
He took a cigarette out of his pocket. After smoking for a while, he scanned the dilapidated house not far away. It was alone in the bamboo forest, cold and desolate.
“Gege, I’m sorry.” Ye Ying unknowingly followed him. She had learned her lesson this morning and changed into a long-sleeved shirt and a trouser. Her silky long hair was tied into a bun, and a few strands framed her cheeks dusted with blush. A pair of round watery eyes looked at him with guilt and sadness.
But, Ye Tao only saw Ye Wei through her. Ye Wei, who wore white jeans and a discolored top. She loosely tied up her hair. Her skin was rough; Her hands were callused. The light in her eyes was numbed and her spine was forced to bend by Life.
He seemed to truly understand the meaning now; Face the loess and back to the sky[1].
Just a few simple words, but how heavy were the meaning.
Ye Ying turned to look at Ye Tao, “I’m sorry. it’s all my fault that Jiejie suffered so much. If it weren’t for me, Jiejie wouldn’t have to work so hard.”
Ye Tao, even though guilt-ridden, wasn’t one to vent his negative emotions on others. “It’s not all your fault, I have my own share of this, too. Ye Wei is my own sister, but I never tried to understand her life. I never cared whether she had suffered any injustice in the past 18 years. I only cared about maintaining our status quo, without knowing I pushed her back to the abyss with my own hands.”
Before, he, foolishly and selfishly, assumed that Ye Wei was a bad seedling who desired to leave her family even if it cost her a life. She was a person who hated the poor and loved the rich, that’s why she wanted to escape from that house even by death.
But, could the Chen Family’s house be called a home? It was a Hell for her.[2]
“I really didn’t expect Chen Weiguo to be so egoistic and full of himself that he can sell his own daughter for money! Heh, what is a daughter for him, he can even ignore his own mother’s well-being. The Chen Family is worse than an animal, not afraid of retribution!”
Hearing those nasty words about selling his daughter directly from Chen Weiguo’s mouth hit differently from when it was from Ye Wei’s words.
“Luckily Ye Wei is back with us. Otherwise… No otherwise. I don’t dare to think what would happen to Ye Wei if she stayed with the Chen Family. I might really be an Uncle now,”
The possibility made him shiver. He shook his head repeatedly, “That time, we helped the Chen Family because we want to thank the Chen Family for raising Ye Wei. We not only gave them money but also bought them a house. With that, the Chen Family’s condition was better than before and Ye Wei could live well. Yet, not a dime was used for Ye Wei. Even a dog won’t be as ungrateful as them!”
Ye Ying’s expression was a bit ugly. At the end of the day, Chen Weiguo was her biological father. Even if she had no feelings for this biological father, he was still her father. Ye Tao scolding him was indirectly scolding her, she felt ashamed and had no face to see others.
“Sorry, I didn’t expect him to be this kind of a person…”
“It’s normal that you don’t know. After all, this is your first time back home. It’s not your fault.”
“…” Back home?
Ye Ying didn’t like those words. It’s horrible here. This place was not her home at all.
Ye Tao seemed to recall something and sighed heavily, “I was an asshole to Ye Wei before, I have to treat her better in the future.”
Ye Ying studied Ye Tao’s solemn expression and said, “Gege, I will also be good to Jiejie. Jiejie has suffered for so many years on my behalf, I have wronged her.”
Ye Tao hummed, “When we return, I will tell Pa and Ma about the Chen Family. We don’t have to help Chen Weiguo anymore, let alone give him any money. We can take care of Grandma Chen. Grandma Chen is so old and still works in the field. I’m worried that Grandma Chen may have quite a lot of health problems. We’ll discuss with Ye Wei later to see if we can take Grandma Chen to the hospital for an examination. This is for Grandma Chen’s good. I believe Ye Wei will agree.”
Listening to his words, Ye Ying understood that Ye Tao had begun to accept Ye Wei sincerely. That’s the reason he could care so much for Ye Wei.
She should be happy. But, the person in front of her was her brother who had pampered her for 18 years. She couldn’t restrain the feeling of loss in her heart. Her favor had been stolen away from her.
She quickly pulled herself together and told herself that she couldn’t think that way.
Ye Tao was originally Ye Wei’s biological brother. She was just an outsider. It was natural for Ye Tao to be nice to Ye Wei.
Ye Tao’s mind was currently preoccupied with Ye Wei and couldn’t notice the slight change in Ye Ying’s moon.
————·————·————
Ye Ying kept telling herself not to think too much. Ye Wei had been wronged so many times. If Ye Tao was good to her, it’s just right. She didn’t want Ye Tao to think she was a petty person.
Since then, Ye Tao had been true to his words. He directly moved his suitcases to Grandma Chen’s house. Zhang Yu and Jiang Fei followed suit. Tong Ke’s original intention was to follow Zhang Yu. Where Zhang Yu went; Where Tong Ke went. As for Ye Ying… She dared not stay at Chen Weiguo’s house, as long as she remembered that Chen Weiguo could sell his daughter for the sake of his son, she would be in a cold sweat, worrying that Chen Weiguo would also sell her one day.
She, too, packed her clothes and went to Grandma Chen’s house.
Neither Chen Weiguo nor his wife could stop her. Angry and hateful, they wished they could start over.
On the other hand, Grandma. Chen lost her temper in the afternoon. Seeing so many people coming, she didn’t have a good face: “Get out of here, there’s no place for you to live in my house..”
Ye Tao spoke first, “Grandma Chen, I’m sorry. I know what we did to Ye Wei before is unforgivable. I really know that I am wrong now. I never knew that Chen Weiguo is that kind of person. It is our blesing that you didn’t let Ye Wei go down the path arranged by Chen Weiguo. I am truly grateful for that and I came here to thank you. You can order me anything!”
Grandma Chen stared at Ye Tao with her wrinkled face. Her back was bent by age and she was a few heads shorter than Ye Tao, to look at his face was something laborious.
She was thinking, the eldest Young Master of the Ye Family, when had he experienced this kind of life to be ordered around?
Still, Grandma Chen was indifferent, “Go. I don’t have room for you.”
Ye Tao hurriedly said, “Grandma can just give us a place to settle down. We can solve the rest by ourselves. I really want to take care of Ye Wei. She works so hard every day. Grandma also wants her to relax for a bit, right?”
Ye Ying glanced at Ye Tao and followed, “Grandma, just let us stay. I also want to help. Although I’m not as powerful and capable as my Jiejie, I still can help her as much as I can.”
Grandma Chen was quiet, this time, she didn’t object so firmly. She turned into the room and sat down to peel the grain.
This was her default answer.
Ye Tao breathed a sigh of relief, and Ye Ying smiled.
Zhang Yu sighed, “Fortunately I bring cash with me. Else, I really don’t know what to do at this moment.”
Jiang Fei reached out, “Nice, give it to me and let me have a look.”
Zhang Yu directly handed the wallet to Jiang Fei. Jiang Fei opened it and whistled.
Tong Ke’s mind couldn’t keep up with them, “What are you guys talking about?”
They didn’t answer her.
Considering Grandma Chen’s situation, they planned to go to the village to buy some quilts to sleep on the floor. There were five of them and the quilts on Grandma Chen’s house definitely wouldn’t be enough. Grandma Chen’s financial situation couldn’t be compared to that of Chen Weiguo. She had little on her, and even if she had more, they couldn’t afford to use Grandma Chen’s things and money on themselves.
Ye Wei didn’t care much about their sudden relocation. She had just dug a basket of taros and several radishes from the ground when she came back.
She prepared to stew a pig’s hoof, and the taro would be left for the next day to fry. She bought the pig’s hoof in the town before, and she didn’t buy much. There was no refrigerator in this place, so it couldn’t be stored for a long time lest it spoils.
She grabbed the pig’s hoof hanging by the well, took it to the chopping board, and chopped it into pieces. She threw in some ginger slices and spices and stewed it in a big pot.
When the pot was ready, the fodder for the pig was also ready. She took several buckets to the pigsty at the back to feed the pigs. She mixed some bran with the previously uncooked cabbage to feed the chickens and ducks.
Ye Tao followed around and wanted to help, but there was nothing he could offer.
Ye Wei treated him as air. She went to the back of the house to collect firewood. Ye Tao couldn’t understand her purpose but still wanted to help. He saw Ye Wei cut the dry firewood into a small handful and bundled it up, “I’ll help you.”
Ye Wei: “Oh.”
When Ye Tao watched Ye Wei, she did it so effortlessly. But, when he tried it himself, he discovered that it was not as easy as it looked. It took effort and hurt his hand. He glanced at Ye Wei’s hands, her fingers were short but her knuckles were broad. Her skin was not fair and tender color, but rough and dark. There were some small wounds on her hands, even on her arms, there were small cuts from the corn leaves.
He had seen her working all day long, so he knew why her hands were like that.
He wanted to apologize to her for the past, but he knew best that some things couldn’t be solved by only apologizing.
He was so bad to her before, she should be hurt a lot by him. Unmistakably, she was full of expectations for them, yet the result of her expectations was devastating. He didn’t try to understand her nor did he welcome her into their home.
The things he had done came back to suffocate Ye Tao now.
————·————·————
The next morning, at five o’clock, Ye Tao heard Ye Wei wake up.
The boys slept in the hall, and they didn’t sleep well. There were no mosquito nets or incense. At night, they became delicacies for mosquitos. The mosquitoes were circling around them, buzzing and never sleeping.
As for Ye Ying and Tong Ke, they slept well because Ye Wei gave up her bed to them and moved to Grandma Chen’s room.
So, when Ye Wei woke up, Ye Tao also did.
Ye Tao was in a daze, “Where are you going so early?”
Ye Wei: “Work.”
Ye Tao：“……”
Ye Wei’s words fell and the door was shut.
Ye Tao was silent for a moment. He quickly got up from the quilt and followed Ye Wei out the door.
At five o’clock in the morning, the chicken had begun to crow. The sky was not yet bright, Ye Wei went up the mountain on one foot and Ye Tao followed on the other.
Grandma Chen was old, but her work proficiency was not low. She planted a field of corn and yesterday, she harvested more than half of it. Today, there was still half of it and there was more work waiting for her to do.
Ye Tao imitated Ye Wei as this was his first time doing farm work. He broke the corn and threw it into the basket behind him. At first, he was relaxed, but over time, when the sun started to appear, his shoulder could not stand it. The two thin ropes strangled his shoulder and it was aching, but, when he took a look at Ye Wei who moved like a robot and never stopped to rest, he could only bite the bullet and continue to persist.
He told himself that it was almost there, just two plots of land work. If they continued to work like this, they could finish it in one day, and they could have a rest.
But, he never counted that after harvesting the corn, Ye Wei still had to wake at five o’clock again because there was still a big chunk of groundnut that hadn’t been dug!
Although they didn’t have to carry a basket all the time, they had to dig the ground with a hoe, which was laborious to the back and waist. When they dug the peanuts out, they had to shake the mud, tie them up and throw them aside. Later, they had to pick them one by one, and also picked up the peanuts fallen in the mud when they shook them…
Ye Tao was never so tired before, more tired than when he participated in military training camp in the summer.
Whenever he felt that he was too tired to stand it, he would remember that Ye Wei had been living like this for more than ten years. What’s more, she was a girl, obviously so thin and weak, but she was working harder than him, a man.
It was tough to complete the work in time so they could take rest and sleep, but Ye Wei still had to get up early and walk for more than an hour to buy some meat, vegetables, and fruits in the street. The food at home was always a big pot, but she would change the pattern. She would cook delicious food for Grandma Chen and buy soft cakes for her. Grandma Chen was no longer young, her teeth were not good and she couldn’t bite anything too hard.
Ye Tao initially wanted to go with her, but he underestimated his tiredness the past few days and slept in.
Ye Ying advised him to take a break. And, he actually wanted to take a break, too. But, he did not, because he wanted to keep up with Ye Wei.
Ye Ying realized Ye Tao’s whole heart was now on Ye Wei. He went wherever Ye Wei went. He did whatever Ye Wei did. It was as plain as day that he was exhausted, but he never took a rest.
He treated Ye Wei better and better, rushing over to work so Ye Wei could rest sooner.
Such stubborn Ye Tao made her sad. It was not only Ye Tao, even Zhang Yu was also like this.
She could understand why Ye Tao was good to Ye Wei, but why was Zhang Yu so good to Ye Wei? If there was heavy work, he would rush to do it ahead of Ye Wei even when it was evident he was too tired.
Fear was slowly magnified in Ye Ying’s heart……
Some days later, Ye Tao fell ill because he kept exhausting his body and never took a good rest. He caught a cold, had a fever, and coughed all the time. Ye Ying was extremely anxious to find Ye Wei and asked Ye Wei for what to do and where they could find a doctor to check on Ye Tao.
Ye Wei replied, “Isn’t there a medicine?”
Ye Ying said, “Gege has a fever. Medicine alone is not enough!”
Ye Wei: “Let him take cold medicine and antipyretic medicine and look at the situation again later. If his situation doesn’t improve, go to the hospital.”
Ye Ying, “No. Let’s go now. I’m afraid it’s too late…”
Ye Wei: “Oh, okay. Then, go ahead by yourself.”
Ye Wei said nothing more. She turned around and left. Ye Ying was shocked by Ye Wei’s indifference. “Gege is sick, why aren’t you concerned about him? Gege is sick because he helped you with your workload! Don’t you feel bad for Gege?””
Ye Wei smiled, “Are you implying I don’t care about him?”
Ye Ying bit her lips, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse you…”
Ye Wei, “No. You are right. Gege and I haven’t been together as long as you have, I definitely don’t care about him as much as you do.”
Ye Ying said, “I’ve been with Gege for more than 10 years.I know he doesn’t get sick easily, Whenever he gets sick, it’s very, very serious. If he is not treated with care, he will have a hard time.”
Ye Wei stared at Ye Ying wordlessly.
Ye Ying was at a loss, “… what’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”
Ye Wei smiled, “You are showing your concern for Gege like this while implying I could care less about him, why? Have you lost your composure from the panic?”
Ye Ying exclaimed, “Panic? What am I panicking about?”
“Isn’t it obvious, you are starting to panic because Gege cares more about me. Right now, aren’t you panicking that I will steal Gege away from you?”
“Nonsense!” Ye Ying retorted, “I didn’t think of it that way! I can understand that, It’s only natural for Gege to care about you, you are his biological sister..”
“But you are not.”
Ye Ying was stupefied. Faced with Ye Wei’s deep eyes, she was a little flustered, and a bit scared. The Ye Wei in front of her was not the hard-working Ye Wei of the past few days, but the Ye Wei in the Ye Mansion who had enmity with her.
“Jiejie, what do you mean by that?”
“What do I mean, don’t you know it?” Ye Wei gently patted Ye Ying’s shoulder, “Of course, I will take back all that originally belongs to me.”
Ye Ying was snapped out of her thoughts and stared at Ye Wei in astonishment.
Ye Wei, “Look, doesn’t Ye Tao begin to love me more, think of me more, take care of me more, and always by my side?”
Ye Ying saw the blooming venomous smile on Ye Wei’s face.
What did she mean by that? Was everything only a facade? She did all that just to make others feel sorry for her so they would care for her more and pay more attention to her?
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Footnotes
[1] From Chapter 76, 面朝黄土背朝天 – miàn cháo huángtǔ bèicháo tiān. lit. face the yellow soil (loess) and turn their backs to the sky. At that time, Ye Tao understanding was no more than a superficial understanding, 面朝黄土背朝天 was just a simple description of a farmer’s life. ↵
[2] Og. Text: “But, Could the Chen 家 be called a 家?” In mandarin, 家 – jiā can mean (a physical) house, a family, or home, etc, depending on context. Referring to the above paragraph where Ye Wei wants to leave her “家”. She wanted to escape from that house (家) which can be read as she wanted to escape from that home (家), hence the question, could the Chen 家 (family/house) be called a 家 (home)? ↵
Ry’s Lei’s Corner
Hands up.
I will be taking over this translation, say goodbye to Ry.
No, jk. I am just tasked (read: bribed) by Ry to take over her translations for a while as she is having her yearly existential crisis and she feels bad for not updating this for months. Lucky for her I am easy to bribe, finally I can bough a skin for my Gege in 花亦山心之月. Wuwuwu, Gege so pretty.
Please don’t mind typos or the lack of fluency. I only have a brain cell working.
Aside from Jiang Fei, I like how Ye Tao tried his best. I will give him an E for Effort.
Ye Wei finally looks like what a Vicious Supporting Female should look like. Out of all Arc, in my opinion, Ye Wei is the most vicious in this Arc.
————·————·————
Whenever I scrolled the Superchat of “The Memory Lost in Space” on weibo, I see fellow sufferers of Yin Nanzhao. It has been nearly 5 years since MLiS was officially published and the people simping for Yin Nanzhao never stop. I just hope to see a spin-off where my baes is happy, please. Where art thou, fanfiction author.
If you like what I do please consider buying me ko-fi! Who needs sleep, anyway. I don’t offer Advanced Chapters like Lyre yet, but you are free to water this thirsty cat!
Ye Tao was distraugh. It wasn’t until today that he could comprehend the hardship Ye Wei had experienced for the past 18 years, Whether mentally or physically, she was always drained all the time. So, regardless of how strange her three-views were, regardless of how extreme her behavior was, he shouldn’t judge her from the moral high ground, blaming her three-views were incorrect and her behavior as lawless.
It was all simply because she had no other choice.
If Ye Wei had other choices that wouldn’t lead to a dead-end. she wouldn’t bet on her life. Because she was forced to choose a way that led to a dead-end, she decided to fight to the death instead…
Zhang Yu patted him on the shoulder. He wanted to comfort Ye Tao with a few words, but he didn’t know where to start, because he himself was in a same predicament as him.
He could empathize with Ye Tao’s feelings. After all, once, he disliked Ye Wei as well, labeling her as hypocritical and deceitful, deeming her hate of Ye Ying as unreasonable. But, looking at it now, her hate of Ye Ying was not without a reason. All things she had suffered should be Ye Ying’s. For Ye Wei, Ye Ying was a person that owed her everything. What she suffered should have been borne by Ye Ying, and she had suffered so much in place of Ye Ying.
The air was somewhat tense.
Jiang Fei treated it as if nothing happened. He sat on the ridge and searched for a game to play.
Not long after, the sound of tinkling games spread across the ridge.
Zhang Yu lifted his foot and kicked Jiang Fei, who was focused on his game, “!!! Why are you so nosy! Look, I’m dead now because of you!”
Zhang Yu: “…”
Ye Tao said, “I’ll go to the side first.” and walked away.
He took a cigarette out of his pocket. After smoking for a while, he scanned the dilapidated house not far away. It was alone in the bamboo forest, cold and desolate.
“Gege, I’m sorry.” Ye Ying unknowingly followed him. She had learned her lesson this morning and changed into a long-sleeved shirt and a trouser. Her silky long hair was tied into a bun, and a few strands framed her cheeks dusted with blush. A pair of round watery eyes looked at him with guilt and sadness.
But, Ye Tao only saw Ye Wei through her. Ye Wei, who wore white jeans and a discolored top. She loosely tied up her hair. Her skin was rough; Her hands were callused. The light in her eyes was numbed and her spine was forced to bend by Life.
He seemed to truly understand the meaning now; Face the loess and back to the sky[1].
Just a few simple words, but how heavy were the meaning.
Ye Ying turned to look at Ye Tao, “I’m sorry. it’s all my fault that Jiejie suffered so much. If it weren’t for me, Jiejie wouldn’t have to work so hard.”
Ye Tao, even though guilt-ridden, wasn’t one to vent his negative emotions on others. “It’s not all your fault, I have my own share of this, too. Ye Wei is my own sister, but I never tried to understand her life. I never cared whether she had suffered any injustice in the past 18 years. I only cared about maintaining our status quo, without knowing I pushed her back to the abyss with my own hands.”
Before, he, foolishly and selfishly, assumed that Ye Wei was a bad seedling who desired to leave her family even if it cost her a life. She was a person who hated the poor and loved the rich, that’s why she wanted to escape from that house even by death.
But, could the Chen Family’s house be called a home? It was a Hell for her.[2]
“I really didn’t expect Chen Weiguo to be so egoistic and full of himself that he can sell his own daughter for money! Heh, what is a daughter for him, he can even ignore his own mother’s well-being. The Chen Family is worse than an animal, not afraid of retribution!”
Hearing those nasty words about selling his daughter directly from Chen Weiguo’s mouth hit differently from when it was from Ye Wei’s words.
“Luckily Ye Wei is back with us. Otherwise… No otherwise. I don’t dare to think what would happen to Ye Wei if she stayed with the Chen Family. I might really be an Uncle now,”
The possibility made him shiver. He shook his head repeatedly, “That time, we helped the Chen Family because we want to thank the Chen Family for raising Ye Wei. We not only gave them money but also bought them a house. With that, the Chen Family’s condition was better than before and Ye Wei could live well. Yet, not a dime was used for Ye Wei. Even a dog won’t be as ungrateful as them!”
Ye Ying’s expression was a bit ugly. At the end of the day, Chen Weiguo was her biological father. Even if she had no feelings for this biological father, he was still her father. Ye Tao scolding him was indirectly scolding her, she felt ashamed and had no face to see others.
“Sorry, I didn’t expect him to be this kind of a person…”
“It’s normal that you don’t know. After all, this is your first time back home. It’s not your fault.”
“…” Back home?
Ye Ying didn’t like those words. It’s horrible here. This place was not her home at all.
Ye Tao seemed to recall something and sighed heavily, “I was an asshole to Ye Wei before, I have to treat her better in the future.”
Ye Ying studied Ye Tao’s solemn expression and said, “Gege, I will also be good to Jiejie. Jiejie has suffered for so many years on my behalf, I have wronged her.”
Ye Tao hummed, “When we return, I will tell Pa and Ma about the Chen Family. We don’t have to help Chen Weiguo anymore, let alone give him any money. We can take care of Grandma Chen. Grandma Chen is so old and still works in the field. I’m worried that Grandma Chen may have quite a lot of health problems. We’ll discuss with Ye Wei later to see if we can take Grandma Chen to the hospital for an examination. This is for Grandma Chen’s good. I believe Ye Wei will agree.”
Listening to his words, Ye Ying understood that Ye Tao had begun to accept Ye Wei sincerely. That’s the reason he could care so much for Ye Wei.
She should be happy. But, the person in front of her was her brother who had pampered her for 18 years. She couldn’t restrain the feeling of loss in her heart. Her favor had been stolen away from her.
She quickly pulled herself together and told herself that she couldn’t think that way.
Ye Tao was originally Ye Wei’s biological brother. She was just an outsider. It was natural for Ye Tao to be nice to Ye Wei.
Ye Tao’s mind was currently preoccupied with Ye Wei and couldn’t notice the slight change in Ye Ying’s moon.
————·————·————
Ye Ying kept telling herself not to think too much. Ye Wei had been wronged so many times. If Ye Tao was good to her, it’s just right. She didn’t want Ye Tao to think she was a petty person.
Since then, Ye Tao had been true to his words. He directly moved his suitcases to Grandma Chen’s house. Zhang Yu and Jiang Fei followed suit. Tong Ke’s original intention was to follow Zhang Yu. Where Zhang Yu went; Where Tong Ke went. As for Ye Ying… She dared not stay at Chen Weiguo’s house, as long as she remembered that Chen Weiguo could sell his daughter for the sake of his son, she would be in a cold sweat, worrying that Chen Weiguo would also sell her one day.
She, too, packed her clothes and went to Grandma Chen’s house.
Neither Chen Weiguo nor his wife could stop her. Angry and hateful, they wished they could start over.
On the other hand, Grandma. Chen lost her temper in the afternoon. Seeing so many people coming, she didn’t have a good face: “Get out of here, there’s no place for you to live in my house..”
Ye Tao spoke first, “Grandma Chen, I’m sorry. I know what we did to Ye Wei before is unforgivable. I really know that I am wrong now. I never knew that Chen Weiguo is that kind of person. It is our blesing that you didn’t let Ye Wei go down the path arranged by Chen Weiguo. I am truly grateful for that and I came here to thank you. You can order me anything!”
Grandma Chen stared at Ye Tao with her wrinkled face. Her back was bent by age and she was a few heads shorter than Ye Tao, to look at his face was something laborious.
She was thinking, the eldest Young Master of the Ye Family, when had he experienced this kind of life to be ordered around?
Still, Grandma Chen was indifferent, “Go. I don’t have room for you.”
Ye Tao hurriedly said, “Grandma can just give us a place to settle down. We can solve the rest by ourselves. I really want to take care of Ye Wei. She works so hard every day. Grandma also wants her to relax for a bit, right?”
Ye Ying glanced at Ye Tao and followed, “Grandma, just let us stay. I also want to help. Although I’m not as powerful and capable as my Jiejie, I still can help her as much as I can.”
Grandma Chen was quiet, this time, she didn’t object so firmly. She turned into the room and sat down to peel the grain.
This was her default answer.
Ye Tao breathed a sigh of relief, and Ye Ying smiled.
Zhang Yu sighed, “Fortunately I bring cash with me. Else, I really don’t know what to do at this moment.”
Jiang Fei reached out, “Nice, give it to me and let me have a look.”
Zhang Yu directly handed the wallet to Jiang Fei. Jiang Fei opened it and whistled.
Tong Ke’s mind couldn’t keep up with them, “What are you guys talking about?”
They didn’t answer her.
Considering Grandma Chen’s situation, they planned to go to the village to buy some quilts to sleep on the floor. There were five of them and the quilts on Grandma Chen’s house definitely wouldn’t be enough. Grandma Chen’s financial situation couldn’t be compared to that of Chen Weiguo. She had little on her, and even if she had more, they couldn’t afford to use Grandma Chen’s things and money on themselves.
Ye Wei didn’t care much about their sudden relocation. She had just dug a basket of taros and several radishes from the ground when she came back.
She prepared to stew a pig’s hoof, and the taro would be left for the next day to fry. She bought the pig’s hoof in the town before, and she didn’t buy much. There was no refrigerator in this place, so it couldn’t be stored for a long time lest it spoils.
She grabbed the pig’s hoof hanging by the well, took it to the chopping board, and chopped it into pieces. She threw in some ginger slices and spices and stewed it in a big pot.
When the pot was ready, the fodder for the pig was also ready. She took several buckets to the pigsty at the back to feed the pigs. She mixed some bran with the previously uncooked cabbage to feed the chickens and ducks.
Ye Tao followed around and wanted to help, but there was nothing he could offer.
Ye Wei treated him as air. She went to the back of the house to collect firewood. Ye Tao couldn’t understand her purpose but still wanted to help. He saw Ye Wei cut the dry firewood into a small handful and bundled it up, “I’ll help you.”
Ye Wei: “Oh.”
When Ye Tao watched Ye Wei, she did it so effortlessly. But, when he tried it himself, he discovered that it was not as easy as it looked. It took effort and hurt his hand. He glanced at Ye Wei’s hands, her fingers were short but her knuckles were broad. Her skin was not fair and tender color, but rough and dark. There were some small wounds on her hands, even on her arms, there were small cuts from the corn leaves.
He had seen her working all day long, so he knew why her hands were like that.
He wanted to apologize to her for the past, but he knew best that some things couldn’t be solved by only apologizing.
He was so bad to her before, she should be hurt a lot by him. Unmistakably, she was full of expectations for them, yet the result of her expectations was devastating. He didn’t try to understand her nor did he welcome her into their home.
The things he had done came back to suffocate Ye Tao now.
————·————·————
The next morning, at five o’clock, Ye Tao heard Ye Wei wake up.
The boys slept in the hall, and they didn’t sleep well. There were no mosquito nets or incense. At night, they became delicacies for mosquitos. The mosquitoes were circling around them, buzzing and never sleeping.
As for Ye Ying and Tong Ke, they slept well because Ye Wei gave up her bed to them and moved to Grandma Chen’s room.
So, when Ye Wei woke up, Ye Tao also did.
Ye Tao was in a daze, “Where are you going so early?”
Ye Wei: “Work.”
Ye Tao：“……”
Ye Wei’s words fell and the door was shut.
Ye Tao was silent for a moment. He quickly got up from the quilt and followed Ye Wei out the door.
At five o’clock in the morning, the chicken had begun to crow. The sky was not yet bright, Ye Wei went up the mountain on one foot and Ye Tao followed on the other.
Grandma Chen was old, but her work proficiency was not low. She planted a field of corn and yesterday, she harvested more than half of it. Today, there was still half of it and there was more work waiting for her to do.
Ye Tao imitated Ye Wei as this was his first time doing farm work. He broke the corn and threw it into the basket behind him. At first, he was relaxed, but over time, when the sun started to appear, his shoulder could not stand it. The two thin ropes strangled his shoulder and it was aching, but, when he took a look at Ye Wei who moved like a robot and never stopped to rest, he could only bite the bullet and continue to persist.
He told himself that it was almost there, just two plots of land work. If they continued to work like this, they could finish it in one day, and they could have a rest.
But, he never counted that after harvesting the corn, Ye Wei still had to wake at five o’clock again because there was still a big chunk of groundnut that hadn’t been dug!
Although they didn’t have to carry a basket all the time, they had to dig the ground with a hoe, which was laborious to the back and waist. When they dug the peanuts out, they had to shake the mud, tie them up and throw them aside. Later, they had to pick them one by one, and also picked up the peanuts fallen in the mud when they shook them…
Ye Tao was never so tired before, more tired than when he participated in military training camp in the summer.
Whenever he felt that he was too tired to stand it, he would remember that Ye Wei had been living like this for more than ten years. What’s more, she was a girl, obviously so thin and weak, but she was working harder than him, a man.
It was tough to complete the work in time so they could take rest and sleep, but Ye Wei still had to get up early and walk for more than an hour to buy some meat, vegetables, and fruits in the street. The food at home was always a big pot, but she would change the pattern. She would cook delicious food for Grandma Chen and buy soft cakes for her. Grandma Chen was no longer young, her teeth were not good and she couldn’t bite anything too hard.
Ye Tao initially wanted to go with her, but he underestimated his tiredness the past few days and slept in.
Ye Ying advised him to take a break. And, he actually wanted to take a break, too. But, he did not, because he wanted to keep up with Ye Wei.
Ye Ying realized Ye Tao’s whole heart was now on Ye Wei. He went wherever Ye Wei went. He did whatever Ye Wei did. It was as plain as day that he was exhausted, but he never took a rest.
He treated Ye Wei better and better, rushing over to work so Ye Wei could rest sooner.
Such stubborn Ye Tao made her sad. It was not only Ye Tao, even Zhang Yu was also like this.
She could understand why Ye Tao was good to Ye Wei, but why was Zhang Yu so good to Ye Wei? If there was heavy work, he would rush to do it ahead of Ye Wei even when it was evident he was too tired.
Fear was slowly magnified in Ye Ying’s heart……
Some days later, Ye Tao fell ill because he kept exhausting his body and never took a good rest. He caught a cold, had a fever, and coughed all the time. Ye Ying was extremely anxious to find Ye Wei and asked Ye Wei for what to do and where they could find a doctor to check on Ye Tao.
Ye Wei replied, “Isn’t there a medicine?”
Ye Ying said, “Gege has a fever. Medicine alone is not enough!”
Ye Wei: “Let him take cold medicine and antipyretic medicine and look at the situation again later. If his situation doesn’t improve, go to the hospital.”
Ye Ying, “No. Let’s go now. I’m afraid it’s too late…”
Ye Wei: “Oh, okay. Then, go ahead by yourself.”
Ye Wei said nothing more. She turned around and left. Ye Ying was shocked by Ye Wei’s indifference. “Gege is sick, why aren’t you concerned about him? Gege is sick because he helped you with your workload! Don’t you feel bad for Gege?””
Ye Wei smiled, “Are you implying I don’t care about him?”
Ye Ying bit her lips, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse you…”
Ye Wei, “No. You are right. Gege and I haven’t been together as long as you have, I definitely don’t care about him as much as you do.”
Ye Ying said, “I’ve been with Gege for more than 10 years.I know he doesn’t get sick easily, Whenever he gets sick, it’s very, very serious. If he is not treated with care, he will have a hard time.”
Ye Wei stared at Ye Ying wordlessly.
Ye Ying was at a loss, “… what’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”
Ye Wei smiled, “You are showing your concern for Gege like this while implying I could care less about him, why? Have you lost your composure from the panic?”
Ye Ying exclaimed, “Panic? What am I panicking about?”
“Isn’t it obvious, you are starting to panic because Gege cares more about me. Right now, aren’t you panicking that I will steal Gege away from you?”
“Nonsense!” Ye Ying retorted, “I didn’t think of it that way! I can understand that, It’s only natural for Gege to care about you, you are his biological sister..”
“But you are not.”
Ye Ying was stupefied. Faced with Ye Wei’s deep eyes, she was a little flustered, and a bit scared. The Ye Wei in front of her was not the hard-working Ye Wei of the past few days, but the Ye Wei in the Ye Mansion who had enmity with her.
“Jiejie, what do you mean by that?”
“What do I mean, don’t you know it?” Ye Wei gently patted Ye Ying’s shoulder, “Of course, I will take back all that originally belongs to me.”
Ye Ying was snapped out of her thoughts and stared at Ye Wei in astonishment.
Ye Wei, “Look, doesn’t Ye Tao begin to love me more, think of me more, take care of me more, and always by my side?”
Ye Ying saw the blooming venomous smile on Ye Wei’s face.
What did she mean by that? Was everything only a facade? She did all that just to make others feel sorry for her so they would care for her more and pay more attention to her?
Previous | ToC | Next
Footnotes
[1] From Chapter 76, 面朝黄土背朝天 – miàn cháo huángtǔ bèicháo tiān. lit. face the yellow soil (loess) and turn their backs to the sky. At that time, Ye Tao understanding was no more than a superficial understanding, 面朝黄土背朝天 was just a simple description of a farmer’s life. ↵
[2] Og. Text: “But, Could the Chen 家 be called a 家?” In mandarin, 家 – jiā can mean (a physical) house, a family, or home, etc, depending on context. Referring to the above paragraph where Ye Wei wants to leave her “家”. She wanted to escape from that house (家) which can be read as she wanted to escape from that home (家), hence the question, could the Chen 家 (family/house) be called a 家 (home)? ↵
Ry’s Lei’s Corner
Hands up.
I will be taking over this translation, say goodbye to Ry.
No, jk. I am just tasked (read: bribed) by Ry to take over her translations for a while as she is having her yearly existential crisis and she feels bad for not updating this for months. Lucky for her I am easy to bribe, finally I can bough a skin for my Gege in 花亦山心之月. Wuwuwu, Gege so pretty.
Please don’t mind typos or the lack of fluency. I only have a brain cell working.
Aside from Jiang Fei, I like how Ye Tao tried his best. I will give him an E for Effort.
Ye Wei finally looks like what a Vicious Supporting Female should look like. Out of all Arc, in my opinion, Ye Wei is the most vicious in this Arc.
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Whenever I scrolled the Superchat of “The Memory Lost in Space” on weibo, I see fellow sufferers of Yin Nanzhao. It has been nearly 5 years since MLiS was officially published and the people simping for Yin Nanzhao never stop. I just hope to see a spin-off where my baes is happy, please. Where art thou, fanfiction author.
If you like what I do please consider buying me ko-fi! Who needs sleep, anyway. I don’t offer Advanced Chapters like Lyre yet, but you are free to water this thirsty cat!
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