At that moment, Li Chunmei and several of her female companions, who were also heading to harvest their rice, walked over to them.
Ye Ling saw them and said, “Duo Er, Chunmei’s here. I’m going to ask her to return our sickle. Just sit here where it’s cooler and away from the sun.”
Great timing too. He was embarrassed and didn’t know how to respond to her.
“Alright, you go,” Liu Duo nodded in response.
Ye Ling got up, dusted his clothes, and off he went to the foot of the hill to wait for Li Chunmei.
They were about ten meters apart when the group of girls spotted Ye Ling standing there, with his back straightened, thin but not too weak. Not to mention his handsome face, already bringing the few women to their knees.
As they approached, Ye Ling gently requested of Li Chunmei, “Chunmei, could you return the sickle I lent you yesterday? I need it now.”
Li Chunmei nodded and took out the sickle from her basket. She handed it to Ye Ling. “Here it is, Ling. Thank you for letting me use it for so long.”
He took the sickle and smiled at her. “That’s alright. I’m off to get busy now.”
With that, he turned away and headed towards the paddy field.
The girls admired him from behind. One spoke, “Ling’s footwork may be strange, but every time I see him he’s always so gentle, like he doesn’t have a temper. Also, quite good-looking.”
“He sure is. Much better than Mo, if you ask me. He’s handsome too, but when looking for a husband we should go for a gentle one like Ling,” said another.
All of them weren’t in favour of Ye Mo’s nasty and impulsive temper.
“I think Ling’s the best. He’s both handsome and gentle!” Another girl contributed to the discussion.
The few girls chatted among themselves while Li Chunmei didn’t say a word.
She looked at Ye Mo harvesting rice in the field, then glanced over at Ye Ling who had just stepped in to help. Her eyes barely shifted.
The girls also noticed Liu Duo just sitting there, instead of helping with the harvest. They felt envy, jealousy, then eventually hate.
“Look at that shared wife! I’ve never seen her work at all!”
“Me too. She’s a shared wife, but she seems to be living a better life than a regular wife could.”
“It must be nice being married into the Ye family, not having to do anything and just waiting to be adored, and getting to wear nice clothes too.”
“Let’s go, we have rice to harvest.” That’s all Li Chunmei said as she went to her own paddy field.
She didn’t want to listen to them and their doleful complaints. Annoying!
On the other side, Liu Ran stayed at home, studying and working on his writing indoors.
Suddenly, Hei Xiaomeng began barking, which surprised him so much his hands trembled. He looked over at the entrance to find Grandmother Liu standing there, not daring to take another step.
She was already quite old, but right then she looked older than usual, and her hair another shade whiter.
Liu Ran ignored her as he continued writing. He didn’t ever want to see this so-called grandmother of his!
“Ran Er…” Grandmother Liu called to him loudly.
In regards to Liu Ran’s ignorance, the old woman could only continue shouting his name, “Ran Er, is your sister at home?”
“…”
“Ran Er, your grandmother begs of you. Please help your brother. Tell your sister to withdraw the charges, could you? We promise we won’t ever bother you all again…”
She spoke of many things, but Liu Ran chose not to respond, as he stuck to his revisions and practiced his writing with little emotion on his face.