Chapter 514: Chapter 329: Provoking Conflict_2
Mrs. Li understood her husband’s intention; he simply wanted the elder uncle to bring someone to escort their daughter. Now she thought of hiring a guard from the village, as their home had only a small house for such a purpose.
Since their daughter was a young lady, they could not hire an unmarried young man. Her husband was currently at the ancestral hall for evening martial arts practice, looking for someone to appoint as a full-time guard.
Having just finished a meal, a girl around thirteen or fourteen years old came in from outside, unaccompanied, and stood in the courtyard.
Ye Shiqi and her elder sisters saw the girl and guessed she had come to chat with them.
The five sisters, in perfect accord, called the young girl into their room for a private conversation.
Aunt Lai had reverted to her gentle demeanor, bringing her husband his bamboo smoking pipe, as if she hadn’t been the one causing a commotion just before.
Hongji’s father enjoyed a puff of smoke, his favorite aspect of Aunt Lai being her usual submissive behavior despite the occasional racket; his manly pride remained protected.
Mrs. Lai… who used to eat a lot without concern for appearances, changed somewhat after Aunt Lai joined the household. Sometimes she became so upset that she did not eat as heartily as before.
She believed it was that temptress who was responsible for her now much grayer hair over these past years.
She had lost a little weight compared to a few years ago and looked much older. No matter how she tried to maintain her skin, age spots and wrinkles appeared; her aged appearance drove her husband further from sharing a bed with her.
Naturally, Mrs. Lai had made a fuss. Her husband could see her but they no longer slept together, rarely entering her room more than twice a year.
This was the main reason for her growing old more quickly, with sleepless nights and days disturbed by vexing thoughts.
At this moment, as she watched the couple’s interaction, her heart trembled with hatred while observing their unabashed displays of affection.
Neither of them so much as glanced her way as they headed to the small room next door; Mrs. Lai’s gaze carried venom.
Mrs. Lai felt like she was ready to spit blood, finding life in this household increasingly intolerable, and her thoughts turned to her daughter. How was she faring?
Had she already married and had children, and was she living comfortably? Mrs. Lai somewhat regretted swapping children all those years ago, exchanging her act of revenge for today’s loneliness.
Mrs. Lai had deeply pondered over the child-exchange issue. Would her life have been different if she had kept the child by her side?
And would her daughter’s life have been different? Being childless, her husband surely would have focused on having a son.
Without a son by their side, would their family still be so poor?
In Ye Shiqi and her sisters’ bedroom, the five sisters welcomed the visiting young lady, Granny Li’s granddaughter, Ye Meicai.
The maid brewed tea for the five sisters and also served a cup to their guest; the table was set with fruit.
Upon seeing lychees, longans, watermelon, and other fruits, Ye Meicai peeled a lychee first, savoring the sweet flavor in her mouth before spitting out the seed.
She then enjoyed longans and a variety of fruits, praising as she ate:
“Your estate’s lychee is truly delicious; none of the lychee picked from other trees in our village come close to this taste.”
Her words made all the sisters laugh.
“Heh, or maybe someone has been giving you lychees?”
Ye Shiqi recalled her elder sisters mentioning that Ye Meicai currently had matchmakers knocking at her door and that some village lads had sent them, with some even courting her personally.
Ye Meicai blushed at their words; she was close friends with the five sisters who, living not too far from her, were likely well apprised of her affairs.
“It’s not what you think. You haven’t been engaged yet, so I’m not in a hurry. It’s actually my brother who’s had the matchmaker visit today.”
Ye Meicai spoke of her brother, Ye Zhongting, who was seventeen or eighteen years old. He was tall and robust, standing nearly 180 centimeters tall—among the tallest in the village—and reasonably good-looking.
Among the village’s young men, he was considered a highly eligible bachelor.
Ye Zhongting had joined the bicycle factory and now worked as the assembly department’s housekeeper. If he hadn’t felt rushed to marry, he might well have already tied the knot and had children by now.
Elder sister Ye Luoqi… her parents had found none of the suitors satisfactory; despite numerous matchmakers’ visits proposing marriage, none had led to an engagement, leaving her quite helpless. As a woman, she couldn’t just fancy a man and arrange for her parents to matchmake.
Over the past few years, various matchmakers had come calling—from their own village, from others, from poor families, and from wealthy ones—yet her parents’ intentions were unclear.