At this moment, Ye Luoqi found it inconvenient to interject in their quarreling; her face flushed with a displeasing red, drawing even more attention from the onlookers, some of whom observed her complexion, while others laughed and gossiped.
The lion dance competition for the red envelope on the stage, intense as it was, still couldn’t garner as much attention as the dispute between the girls and boys, which was like watching a riveting drama.
It all started with a verbal spat between Big Pancake Face and Ye Jiaxing, soon joined by their sisters.
It was all because of that one thing Ye Jiaxing had said earlier, insulting them all, those who thought themselves noble and beautiful, by calling them ugly – and to have that thrown at them in public, in front of the people they despised.
How could such anger dissipate so quickly? The five girls retorted at Ye Jiaxing, incessantly criticizing him, calling him a poor boy, a sycophant trying to curry favor with the daughter of a nouveau riche, an unrealistic dreamer aspiring for the unattainable.
Ye Jiaxing’s face twisted with rage; he knew he was not worthy of Ye Luoqi, but was it wrong to love someone?
Was it wrong to harbor a silent affection for someone?
Was it wrong to want to protect someone he liked?
Ye Jiaxing grasped his fists tightly, still clinging to a shred of sanity to not strike out in anger.
He knew that a man hitting a woman was frowned upon and that doing so would bring trouble upon his family.
He wasn’t just facing any ordinary family’s daughters – the trouble wasn’t something the Ye family could handle.
Perhaps if he dared to make a move, the rich man’s henchmen would beat him black and blue.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have the courage to take the risk; he just felt that it wasn’t right to do such a thing during the New Year.
He believed that a true gentleman should use his words, not his hands, no matter how ugly the insults were, so his tightly clenched fists remained still.
As Ye Jiaxing exchanged barbs with the ladies, their servants also started to join in the fray, ready to prevent any physical altercation from this man.
The bodyguards, menacing in their demeanor, began to shove Ye Jiaxing; meanwhile, his brothers, initially cautious,
were reluctant to argue with these women. But if their brother was going to be attacked, and they did nothing, could they even call themselves brothers?
The lively lion dance over there attracted many villagers to watch, including the boys’ parents.
As disturbances arose at the entrance, many gazes turned; seeing their children about to be struck, the parents rushed over to pull their own away from trouble.
Hongji was originally greeting the villagers with Madam, having heard his daughters received invitations.
Not trusting the situation without his supervision, he brought along the family workers.
At first, upon his arrival at the periphery, he thought it was just a chat.
But when he saw that the rich family’s servants looked ready to initiate a fight, and that the little boys’ parents had already dragged away their children,
Hongji hurriedly led his own workers towards his daughters. People made way for him to reach the center of the commotion, something that wouldn’t have been so easily accomplished if they hadn’t recognized him.
First, he scooped up Ye Shiqi, then pulled away his daughters.
"Don’t go, just leave after insulting someone?"
Big Pancake Face and her sisters began to roar, ordering their servants to stop the departing group.
The rich man had not been paying attention before; perhaps he didn’t care about such trivial matters, and had not come out even with people watching the lion dance.
He and his brothers, chatting and drinking together, were interrupted by a report that their daughters had been insulted by a poor boy.
And the insults were severe, so offensive that the reporter had learned them to recount to the men.
Big Pancake Face, one of Ye Zhiwei’s pampered daughters, was among the two heaviest set who had been part of the insult at the entrance.
Ye Zhiwei knew that his daughters’ obesity made them difficult to marry off. Unlike his other daughters, who weren’t as overweight, Ye Zhiwei, with some knowledge in medical skills, understood that his daughters were abnormally heavy; he had no prescription to make them lose weight.
He thought with their family’s wealth, even if the girls were a bit heavier, they would have no trouble marrying.
The other three were daughters of his brothers; upon hearing their own daughters were called ugly by some village pauper, they all erupted in anger, storming out of the house with Ye Zhiwei to the entrance in a fury.
When they reached the entrance, the lion dance was still ongoing, the big red envelope yet to be snatched.
The crowd around their gate may not have included everyone in the village, but there were certainly hundreds of people standing there.
The fact that his daughters were insulted before so many onlookers incensed him. Seeing Hongji carrying his daughters away fueled his anger; he was irked by how Hongji, another rich man who had risen from being an ordinary farmer over the past two years, had begun to overshadow their family, and yet his hands were tied from acting openly against him.