Hongji’s father... really wanted to smoke his bamboo pipe, as he had just had a smoke before dinner, yet now—he faced the noisy situation and felt the urge to smoke again.
But his favoritism tilted toward Aunt Lai, and although he thought his son and Mrs. Lai were right, he suppressed his thoughts and expressed his own.
He actually didn’t object to hiring guards for protection; after all, the richer one became, the more one feared thieves, and with more wealth, one feared a shorter life.
"Alright, alright, hiring people to guard the home is also right, we’re all here, and your safety must be ensured."
"Yes, the concubine understands, it was the concubine’s mistaken thought."
Aunt Lai did worry about thieves entering the village or someone coming to steal, and she realized that in the small house she was even more vulnerable to theft, and after reconsidering, she thought hiring guards was indeed the right decision; it was just the thought that had occurred to her earlier.
She did not extinguish this thought, and planned to have her brother come visit the next day.
Ye Fengqi couldn’t hold back her laughter, and her other sisters smiled along as they strictly followed dining etiquette, notably when the house was in the midst of an argument or discussion.
The sisters wouldn’t oppose outright, already confident that their father and mother would handle it well.
"Hahaha!" Little Ye Daidi was just over two, at the innocent age of three, and seeing others laughing, she laughed along, not knowing that her laughter would provoke her mother’s anger.
Aunt Lai... with a venomous look, glanced over to the next table, feeling that these obnoxious girls were laughing at her, and what she resented most was her daughter joining in the laughter, especially because it was the loudest.
She stood up in anger, regardless of not having finished eating, walked over with fury, picked up her daughter, and while walking, smacked her daughter’s bottom with her hand.
The wet nurse, upon seeing this scene, immediately set down the bowl with which she was feeding the young lady, and followed quickly; the workers hadn’t eaten yet, it was just... her role as a wet nurse was even harder, many words were spoken after others had eaten.
She had not managed to eat yet, and fortunately, the workers, as instructed by the young madam, always managed to leave her some food!
"Waaaah!" Little Ye Daidi cried miserably when hit by the concubine; it wasn’t very painful, just the hurt feelings of a little child!
"How outrageous, is the Fourth Lady someone a concubine like you can hit?"
Mrs. Lai, at this time, couldn’t bear to look at this stepdaughter, but seeing the child being hit by Aunt Lai, often deliberately showed her closeness to her and her daughter-in-law, which made her happy whenever she could undercut Aunt Lai.
"Aunt Lai, put down the Fourth Lady." Hongji’s father was disappointed in his late-born daughter, but she was still his own daughter, and as a father, he was distressed.
"Bad aunt, bad person hitting me!" At that moment, little Ye Daidi was very angry, constantly being hit by the concubine and was shadowed by it; seeing how well her elder sister treated her daughter, she wanted such a mother too.
She began to resist, scratching Aunt Lai with her hands; the fingernails of a child could be quite harsh, leaving several bloody scratches on Aunt Lai’s hand.
"You little brat... how dare you hit your mother, so defiant!" Aunt Lai was furious; the daughter was hers, already accustomed to hitting her, how could she allow her daughter to hit back.
Aunt Lai had to stop in her tracks when her husband spoke; she was so outrageous partly because her husband’s attitude supported her, but the rage in her heart could not subside, and in secret she pinched her daughter’s behind a few times with some force.
"Waaaah! Bad person...!"
Ye Daidi felt pain from being pinched, and struggled frantically; Aunt Lai could hardly hold onto her, and the little child seemed about to fall.
The wet nurse quickly caught the child from Aunt Lai’s hands, relieved at the narrow escape!
The child, feeling the embrace of the wet nurse, simply cried without struggling or resisting.
Aunt Lai gave her daughter a hateful glance and then returned to her seat.
"What’s the meaning of hitting the child for no reason?"
Hongji’s father felt the gaze of his family on him, and could only ask why Aunt Lai had suddenly become angry.
Aunt Lai... she couldn’t very well say that hearing her daughter laughing along with others had angered her, so she used another reason:
"Hmph, watching her getting too fat from eating."
Hongji’s father... he wanted to say that being able to eat well was a blessing for such a small child; when his daughters and granddaughters were that age, it was difficult even to hope they could become chubby.
But he couldn’t keep scolding Aunt Lai.
This old man, of course, depended a lot on Aunt Lai physically, still hoping Aunt Lai would bear him a plump boy, steadily working towards this goal.
"From now on, don’t hit her so casually; after all, she is the young lady of the house, and as for being worried about her getting too chubby, just pay attention to her diet!"
Aunt Lai... could only nod, for the first time feeling that the position of concubine was not good, even losing the right to hit her own daughter, and at this moment, her daughter’s dependency on others soured her.