From a nearby courtyard at the entrance of the alley, a person emerged, apparently unaware of their presence. This person, along with a woman and two children, showed signs of reluctance to part.
From their conversation, one could guess that this was the concubine that Ye Zhengjie had been keeping on the side.
"Let’s leave quickly, our young master already said he doesn’t recognize them!"
The house servant kept explaining, but of course, the guards and the homeowners were well aware of the situation; they simply pretended ignorance and refrained from discussing it further.
At that moment, a few sedan chairs were carried out from the alleys on both sides and were parked by the roadside. The passengers inside the chairs did not alight but merely pulled back the curtains, revealing a Big Pancake Face.
"Oh my, mother, a monster!"
It was unclear who in the crowd made the remark, followed by someone else: "Pfft...!"
Others also drew back their curtains in several more sedan chairs, revealing another Big Pancake Face along with several faces of ordinary-looking girls.
"Oh my, there’s another monster!"
The voice continued to sound, and by the second time, some people started to notice who was speaking.
One of the gentlemen riding a bicycle cast a disdainful glance at the two faces.
The Big Pancake Face sisters glared back angrily at the man who had called them monsters.
"Oh dear, that look is even uglier!" said another gentleman.
Ye Shiqi... realized that these were none other than the ones who had fought with her sisters a few years ago, plotting against them intermittently over the years.
The elder sister was also a victim of their schemes; they plotted for their own elder brother, a scoundrel, to marry her as if their parents and the sisters would agree.
More women were seen sitting in some of the sedan chairs, lingering in other narrow alleys—were these people merely watching, or had they specifically come to wait for them?
"Woohoo, I just wanted you to meet that Young Master Tang and to tell him, I miss him a lot," said one of the Big Pancake Faces.
The speaker, Ye Jinxiang, Ye Zhengxiong’s older sister, was envious of the Ye family’s five sisters and plotted against them, especially targeting the eldest among the sisters.
At sixteen or seventeen years old, she had a short and plump figure.
The attractive Young Master Tang was a lesser known illegitimate son from the Tang family.
Over the years, Ye’s estate had continuously hosted guests from various places, and among those who came out to play were mostly sons and daughters from wealthy families.
So many sons and daughters from wealthy families visited Ye’s estate to play, making it necessary for the local rich men’s children to spend their money at Ye’s estate.
This allowed them to make acquaintances with other men and women, preparing for their future marriages.
Of course, children of wealthy men from other villages had the same idea. Ye Jinxiang, along with some same village rich daughters who hated the Ye girls, reluctantly spent their money at the estate.
To avoid spending their money at the estate, they often intercepted those they fancied halfway through their journey.
"Elder sister, don’t cry. I believe that Young Master Tang thinks of you too; it’s just that he couldn’t come because he was busy...!"
Big Pancake Face number two, Ye Lanzi, Ye Zhengxiong’s younger sister, was about twelve or thirteen years old. She was nearly as tall as Sister He Ru, equally plump, and had a similar Big Pancake face.
"Eh... you think that elder brother of the Tang family would like someone like you? Would he fall for a pig? Stop daydreaming, he’s avoiding you all! You’re giving yourselves too much credit and not considering how unsightly you look!" said a young gentleman, leading the younger boys in making retching gestures as the guards laughed along.
Jinxiang pulled back the curtain of her sedan chair and cried bitterly inside. Her weight was her Achilles’ heel; she had been ridiculed for it over the years, unable to lose weight despite her wishes.
The main reason was her inability to resist delicious food, rare physical activity, and even needing a chair carried for just a few steps of walking.
Their intense hatred for the Ye family’s five sisters was because they couldn’t get acquainted with such distinguished gentlemen, nor could they become friends, nor did they have fair, tender skin or appealing figures like them.
"You all are too much; it’s not as if we’re eating your rice!"
Ye Lanzi, plump, pointed her finger at the mocking young men and then faced Ye Shiqi and her sister Deng Yan, saying, "It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t let them do this, they wouldn’t have insulted us !"
Ye Shiqi..., always caught in the crossfire, hadn’t even spoken yet, let alone agreed with the young boys’ words. Provoking hatred everywhere, who else should they scold if not them?