Ye Zi’an was sweating and it took him a while to open his mouth, "Are you referring to your step-grandmother?"
"Hehe, as long as you know, don’t say it out loud." Yang Chuxia waved her hand and picked up the small wooden bucket on one side. "Alright, there’s nothing left for us to do here, so let’s go home. Don’t forget to take care of that fish."
"Okay, I’ll pack up later and head to town. Don’t worry." Ye Zi’an nodded heavily.
After saying goodbye to Ye Zi’an’s family, Yang Chuxia and her siblings went home. On the way, Yang Qingrui said, "Sis, I noticed Brother An seemed to be smiling a lot today."
Yang Chuxia gave him a puzzled look, "Should he cry instead of smile? And how do you know he doesn’t usually like to smile?"
"No, no, no!" Yang Qingrui shook his head like a scholar, "Everyone in Yangshu Village knows that since Brother An was sent to live in our village, he doesn’t interact much with the villagers. He’s cold toward everyone, and only responds with ’uh-huh’ whenever someone talks to him. But today, he seemed to talk a lot and smiled many times. I’ve never seen him smile before when I’ve seen him in the village."
"So?" Yang Chuxia put her hands on her hips, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Yang Qingrui, "What are you trying to say?"
Yang Chuxia had come to realize that her seemingly naïve and dutiful brother was more cunning than he appeared as they spent more time together. This time, she knew he had something else to say. Sure enough, he stroked his chin and said, "I think he was always smiling at you, sis."
Yang Chuxia rolled her eyes speechlessly, "Shut up, you’ve only just met him. Don’t act like you’ve known him for ages. Besides, I helped him get back what belonged to him, of course he’s happy and grateful to me. Should he cry instead of smile? Dumb!"
"Hehe" Yang Qingrui chuckled dryly, but his eyes were full of amusement.
Yang Chuxia shivered, realizing that she had indeed misjudged her seemingly honest brother.
It was already noon when they returned to the Yang Family’s house. Ms.Wang had already prepared lunch, and when she saw the siblings return, she stepped forward to help carry things.
"How did it go at Brother An’s house?"
"What can happen?" Yang Chuxia snorted, "Our grand-uncle is too kind-hearted and couldn’t bear to chase them all out of the village. In the end, Ye Ziping left the village, Ye Ziyong stayed, and they took out the things left by Brother An’s father to be divided. " She sighed, still feeling frustrated with Land Officer Yang about this matter, as he had only expelled one and not the other.
"Sigh, this outcome is still quite good. If it weren’t for catching Ms.Hua Junior’s wrongdoing, I’m afraid even these things wouldn’t have been recovered. You should know that since Ms.Hua married Brother An’s father, she is considered his stepmother, and a stepmother is still a mother. The two brothers changed their surname to Ye, which is almost equivalent to being adopted, and they are now unrelated to Brother An by blood. So, no matter how Ms.Hua treats Brother An, it’s their own family affair—your grand-uncle can’t interfere even if he wants to. Besides, Brother An had a reputation for being unlucky, so who would want to get involved? Now that Brother An has those lands, even if he can’t farm them himself and has to rent them out, it will be much better than before."
"Mom, please understand that if it weren’t for Ms.Hua, all that land would belong to Brother An alone. I don’t know what possessed Brother An’s father to marry her. Humph, but that so-called ’a stepmom is still a mom’ and ’non-blood-related relatives’ nonsense will never be acknowledged by me."