Chapter 24

In her previous life she had been single for so many years. During festivals Ye Wanqing had not lacked being indirectly asked why she did not marry.

Because she was pretty and a teacher’s job was respectable, even on ordinary days there were quite a few people at school wanting to introduce partners to her, and some familiar men also pursued her.

Her not marrying counted as an “oddity” at the time. Some people even secretly felt in their hearts that her not marrying was either because she had psychological problems or because her body was sick—anyway she could not be a normal person.

What normal person liked being an old spinster?

At that time she and the Ye family had not fallen out and their relationship was still considered close. Feeling her being single was embarrassing, Liu Lizhen urged marriage three or four times a month even more.

In short, regarding the matter of being urged to marry, Ye Wanqing was already used to it.

She had decided to spend a lifetime with Ge Yuan. Facing Old Zhong’s question, she of course would not deliberately avoid anything. Since it had been brought up, she simply took this opportunity to speak her own thoughts as well.

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips into a smile. “Elder Zhong, what Brother Yuan and I talked about today was not this matter. However, regarding when to get married I have not failed to consider it either…… I’m only eighteen this year. The legal marriage age is twenty. If Brother Yuan also agrees, I want to wait until I reach the age before considering the matter of marriage.”

Although it was not immediate marriage, receiving an affirmative answer already made Ge Yuan extremely pleasantly surprised.

A pair of black eyes of his flickered with bright light as he nodded continuously. “I agree! I absolutely don’t oppose!” Anyone could see his agitation at this moment—it was the kind where he could run ten thousand meters in one breath without gasping.

However Old Zhong rolled up the book in his hand and, hating iron for not becoming steel, “pa pa pa” hit his leg again and again while aggressively lecturing. “I tell you to read and you don’t read. I tell you to study and you don’t study. When you act like an illiterate I feel anxious for you!”

Ge Yuan was stunned by the hitting and jumped to dodge. “What does this have to do with whether I read or not?”

Ye Wanqing also did not understand.

“Of course it has something to do!” Old Zhong self-satisfiedly glanced at Ye Wanqing once, straightened up and said, “The Marriage Law implemented in our country in 1950 stipulates that men at twenty and women at eighteen can marry. You two illiterates properly understand it. Tomorrow go get the certificate. The day after tomorrow hold the banquet!”

This granddaughter-in-law—she could not escape!

“Really?” Ge Yuan was so pleasantly surprised he was about to bounce up. He looked at Ye Wanqing with a face full of expectation. The joy in those black eyes was almost solidifying into substance, affection seeping out like honey.

The news that they could go get married tomorrow made his heart race!

Ye Wanqing: “……”

This…… exactly where had something gone wrong?

Could it be that the later Marriage Law still underwent revision before becoming men at twenty-two years old and women at twenty years old? In short…… facing Ge Yuan’s burning black eyes, she felt her plan of first dating for two years before marrying was very likely about to be shattered.

She carefully opened her mouth. “I……”

“No hurry.” Ge Yuan, however, recalled the previous conversation and suddenly spoke. “We’ve only been together a short time. I…… I feel you’re still young. I know you might also still have some other concerns. I’ll wait until the day you willingly agree to marry me. I can wait!”

His black eyes were bright. A brilliant yet slightly foolish smile spread across his face. Ignoring Old Zhong beside them who was so angry his whiskers blew and eyes glared, he simply looked at her full of smiling meaning, full of sincerity.

Ye Wanqing lightly nodded and smiled gracefully. “Mm.”

She extended her hand, took the tall man’s hand, and interlocked their ten fingers.

He was this good. She thought she would give him a surprise.

—

With an extra small goal in her heart, Ye Wanqing paid even more attention to the small shop.

Her tall man was so capable—she could not lag behind either. With her natal family unreliable, she had to save her own dowry and marry out in glorious style!

After investigating for two days, Ye Wanqing, according to customer feedback, increased several varieties of steamed dishes in the shop and rotated some dishes daily. Not only did it give people more choices when ordering, it could also let regular customers eat more fresh dishes.

As for braised foods, originally there were only eggs, meats, and bean products. She also appropriately increased some cheaper cold-dressed kelp shreds, potato chunks, braised lotus root, spicy edamame and other vegetable dishes. They could serve as both dishes and snacks, were cheaper and more affordable, and were also very popular.

With continuous adjustments, the small shop’s business rose steadily.

Yet Ye Wanqing did not know whether she was overthinking, but she always felt that recently someone was following her. Yet every time she turned back to look, there was nothing unusual behind her.

This situation was also not every day, but appeared once every two or three days, like an illusion.

However for the sake of precaution she still became a bit more careful. Every day she returned home early, tried to walk in places with many people, and rarely walked night roads.

This day, a little past five in the afternoon Ye Wanqing prepared the evening’s steamed dishes, untied her apron and left the kitchen. After greeting Fatty Wang’s mother she prepared to return home, yet was called out when leaving the shop door.

“Are you…… Ye Wanqing?”

This unfamiliar voice made Ye Wanqing a bit surprised. She looked over in astonishment. A middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit and wearing glasses was also looking at her with a face full of surprise, seeming not to have expected to run into her here.

Seeing Ye Wanqing also looked confused, the middle-aged man smiled mildly. “Only half a year after leaving school and you already don’t recognize me, this teacher of yours?”

Ye Wanqing quickly searched for a figure in her mind. This person…… was her senior year class teacher, surname Zhao. Back then when she dropped out in the second semester of senior year he had still made several home visits, hoping she could return to school to continue studying. It was just that she had failed his expectations.

“Teacher Zhao……”

“Rare to run into each other. Sit down and chat?” Teacher Zhao said with a smile. “It’s mealtime. I’ll treat you to a meal. We can talk while eating.”

“No, no need.” Ye Wanqing was inexplicably a bit nervous, like a primary school student caught by the teacher under the blackboard to answer questions. “It’s also not…… I mean this shop is opened by me. I’ll treat you.”

“Opened by you?” Teacher Zhao was even more surprised. After thinking he pointed at her through the air with a helpless smile. “Also fine. When you were at school you made me spend quite a bit of effort. This meal I can still accept.”

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips into a smile.

How many of Teacher Zhao’s hairs her stubbornness back then had turned white—she also had a count.

However when she let Teacher Zhao order dishes, what he ordered were all vegetarian, clearly not wanting to increase her burden. She could only take the initiative to order four dishes—two meat and two vegetable properly matched—and also sliced a plate of braised food combination.

The two of them chatted for the time of one meal. Teacher Zhao was nothing more than still advising Ye Wanqing to return to school. This time Ye Wanqing did not refuse in one breath and only said she would carefully consider it.

Before leaving, looking at this flourishing shop, Teacher Zhao sighed once and felt the probability of this student of his returning to school was not large.

After sending Teacher Zhao off, Ye Wanqing was slightly distracted.

Suddenly Zhou Sao who was wiping the table called her. “Wanqing, look—that person just now settled the bill.” She remembered Ye Wanqing had said that table was free, so she reminded her.

Ye Wanqing looked. Zhou Sao held several banknotes in her hand—more, not less, than the money for today’s meal. No doubt not wanting to push back and forth, Teacher Zhao had simply saved the procedure of getting change.

“Keep it.” Ye Wanqing said with a smile. “In the future when my teacher comes again, give him a discount card.” This way Teacher Zhao could feel at ease.

—

Because of chatting with Teacher Zhao, Ye Wanqing’s return home was delayed by more than an hour.

While walking she also could not help thinking of the matter of studying.

She was not stupid and was also especially willing to work hard. From primary school to junior high her grades had always been very good. Every exam she was in the top three in the school—the type of student teachers liked most.

Her grades were good and Ye Xiangdang had face. Every time she brought back the report card the rewards he gave her were not stingy either, and he would praise her for being promising in front of relatives and friends. Relatively speaking Ye Mingzhu’s grades were not that presentable.

Ye Mingzhu was actually very smart, yet she loved playing and her temperament could not settle. After reading for a few minutes she would want to mess with this and that, so her grades in the class were mid-to-lower stream and in the school ranked even less.

Therefore every time grades came out it was Ye Mingzhu’s disaster day. Not only was she ordered to learn from her, she also had to be fiercely criticized by Ye Xiangdang. At those times even Liu Lizhen who loved her most did not protect her.

Ye Mingzhu felt wronged and begged her, this older sister, to help her.

The so-called help was not letting this older sister give her tutoring to help improve grades, but letting this older sister from then on not score so well.

This way the two of them would be six of one and half a dozen of the other. Mom and Dad would not beat or scold her, and relatives and friends would not take the two sisters for comparison and say those words that made her embarrassed and sad.

In her previous life although she very much liked studying and also cherished every achievement and honor, compared to the tears of the little sister she had raised with one hand these seemed not that important.

So after entering high school, although she always studied hard, during exams she would deliberately do wrong answers to make herself not appear so outstanding.

Ye Xiangdang thought that after entering high school she could not keep up and could not compare with the male classmates in school. Regarding her grades declining he only felt it was a pity, yet was not that concerned either. He sighed once and accepted this fact.

When it reached senior year Ye Xiangdang even more proposed letting her drop out and go to the bus station to ride the routes.

She still remembered the words Ye Xiangdang used to persuade her.

He said: After you finish studying you’ll still have to work. Isn’t going to work now the same? What if you graduate from high school? You can’t get into technical school or university anyway—it’s still wasted. Many high school graduates may not even be able to find such a good job as the bus station!

At that time an ordinary worker’s monthly wage was twenty or thirty yuan. The bus station was a state-owned unit. Even temporary workers riding the routes received twenty-five yuan monthly, while Ye Xiangdang as a senior technician received as much as one or two hundred yuan monthly.

At that time she was only a teenager and still did not know the importance of studying. Instead she felt that working immediately could earn money immediately, becoming a useful person to the family and contributing to the family was quite good…… so she agreed just like that.

Later this became her regret.

In this life…… did she also want to walk a different path on this?

Ye Wanqing was a bit hesitant.

Very quickly she had no time to think about these things.

While walking, she gave a sudden start. Strong intuition made her abruptly pull out of the chaotic thoughts and become alert.

—

Ye Wanqing had a bad premonition in her heart. That feeling of thorns on her back, of someone secretly tracking her, appeared again. Moreover…… this time it was especially strong!

Biting her lip, Ye Wanqing observed the terrain a bit, tightly gripped the strap of her satchel, and quickly walked toward places with many people.

She decisively decided to seek help from people. If someone was willing to send her home she was willing to pay some remuneration.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast her reaction, it still could not be faster than the villains with malicious intent.

A black shadow fiercely charged at her from a side angle. Using a hand to cover her mouth and nose, he dragged her toward a nearby alley. Two other people surrounded from front and back in other directions to prevent her from struggling and escaping.

The sky was a bit dark. Not many people saw this scene.

Ye Wanqing “mm mm mm” struggled, disappointedly discovering she simply could not attract others’ attention.

Because her punching and kicking did not cooperate, the man grabbing her directly slapped her face once. It made her dizzy. Her face stung with fiery pain. Almost immediately a bright red handprint floated up and swelled.

This wouldn’t do!

Seeing she was about to be dragged into the alley, the desperately anxious Ye Wanqing thought of something. A cold light flashed through her eyes. She fumbled and took a sharp pair of scissors from her satchel. Gripping them in her hand she stabbed toward the back, with trembling hands fiercely thrusting toward the man’s waist and abdomen.

The feeling of the scissors tip inserting into flesh and blood made Ye Wanqing’s wrist go soft for an instant. Yet she quickly became firm, tightly gripping the scissors and not letting herself soften or become timid.

“Ao!”

A sound like a pig being slaughtered rang out.

Not expecting Ye Wanqing to have scissors in her hand and still be this ruthless, the man who made the move let out a miserable scream. Subconsciously he loosened the hand restraining Ye Wanqing, bent at the waist and covered his waist that was in sharp pain and beginning to continuously seep blood.

His eyes nearly splitting, he lowly shouted, “Stinking woman, you’re looking for death!”

Looking for death?

Ye Wanqing gripped the scissors in her hand and took the opportunity to straighten her body against the wall.

Her gaze was sharp. Inch by inch she examined the three people, memorizing their appearance characteristics in her heart. The iron scissors gripped in her hand carried a smear of blood color amid the black—bloodstains that had stained when she thrust into that man’s waist and abdomen just now.

Word by word she coldly said, “I don’t know why you came after me, but you still have time to stop now. Otherwise…… the scissors in my hand don’t recognize people! If you’re seeking money, I’ll give each of you fifty. You roll immediately. If you still want to do something else…… unless you directly beat me to death, otherwise I’d rather die here and absolutely will not let you have it easy!”

These scissors she had long prepared in her satchel precisely to guard against a moment like this…… Unexpectedly they truly came into great use!

“A little woman—how ruthless can she get?”

“After brothers tidy you up once you’ll know what not having it easy means.”

“Several dozen yuan is nothing. Your enemy gave each of us one hundred!”

“The money we want. The person…… we also want. Hehehe……”

“……”

The three men exchanged glances. The greed in their hearts made them make a move again.

Ye Wanqing knew that if she truly let them take her away, the outcome would absolutely be the most miserable among miserable!

Tightly grit her teeth. She knew she could not be soft.

She decided to aim at one and strike deadly. She knew that only if she truly became ruthless might these scums know fear. Yet just at this moment a anxious call suddenly rang out. “You run quickly!”

A lean young man appeared from who-knows-where. Gripping a fist-sized piece of broken stone he recklessly charged in. While anxiously shouting at Ye Wanqing he clumsily waved the stone in his hand, attempting to drive away those three ruffians.

He was very thin and not particularly tall either. Looking as if a wind would blow him over, he was simply not a match for those three ruffians. Yet he still bravely blocked in front of Ye Wanqing.

Ye Wanqing was stunned. When she saw the young man’s appearance the shock in her heart was even stronger.

Yet the present was not the time for more thought. She grit her teeth, gripped the scissors and together with the young man dealt with the three ruffians.

One of the ruffians had been stabbed by Ye Wanqing, and with the addition of the young man as helper, the three ruffians for a time also could not do anything to the two of them.

At this time the sky was still not too late. Before long someone heard the movements here and from a distance shouted loudly once, “What’s going on over there? Quickly come—someone’s fighting here!”

The three ruffians saw several people surrounding over and knew that today the matter could not be accomplished and they could not gain advantage. After exchanging glances they ran toward the alley and very quickly disappeared from sight.

When the warm-hearted passersby hurried over the ruffians had already run. Ye Wanqing and the young man both sat on the ground leaning against the wall, gasping for breath, carrying injuries of different degrees.

After thanking the warm-hearted people who came one by one, Ye Wanqing looked toward the young man beside her with complicated eyes.

“Who are you?”

“I…… I was just passing by and saw you being bullied, so…… so I came over.” The young man did not want to say more. He stood up preparing to leave, looking as if he planned to be a nameless hero.

Ye Wanqing helplessly called out to him. “Are you from the Wei family?”

The young man’s footsteps paused. He turned back and widened a pair of round eyes in surprise. “You…… you know who I am?”

“Wei Jun?”

“……I…… I am!” The young man suddenly became flustered and stammered an explanation. “How do you know me? I…… I wasn’t deliberately tracking you. I just…… the family knows you had a conflict with the family and told me to conveniently take a look at you when coming to handle business, so I……”

Wei Jun’s string of words was a bit chaotic, yet Ye Wanqing understood.

“Mm. I know.” Ye Wanqing regulated her breathing, patted the dust from her body, and looked toward him with a shallow smile. “You’re injured. Come home with me to treat the wounds.”

Wei Jun shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“Even if you don’t treat the wounds, you still have to send me home, right?” Ye Wanqing spoke. “Incidentally, you also tell me about the Wei family’s matters. I want to understand them.”

Wei Jun thought for a moment and only then shyly nodded.

Ye Wanqing smiled helplessly and shook her head.

The Wei family was Eldest Aunt’s family. In this life she had not yet actively contacted the Wei family. Unexpectedly the Wei family had long paid attention to her, and Wei Jun had even timely stepped in to save her.

—

“Wanqing, how did you get like this?”

“Which damned person laid hands on you—look at how swollen your face is!”

“Those bastards simply deserve a beating. Let the Ge Yuan brat go tidy them up once—beat them hard!”

“Dogs’ day! May they give birth to sons without assholes…… no, better give birth to a son with a face full of assholes!”

“……”

The moment Ye Wanqing walked near the Ge family’s small courtyard she was tightly surrounded by a group of sisters-in-law and aunts. Concerned gazes continuously examined her and comforted her, while incidentally using various national curses and slang to greet the scums who made the move.

She explained and thanked them one by one.

When Ye Wanqing returned home the Ge siblings and Old Zhong again came forward to greet her.

Seeing Ye Wanqing’s appearance Ge Yue directly “waa” cried out. The other two then asked a good long while.

The handprint on Ye Wanqing’s face was too obvious and swollen very badly. Beside her there was also the young Wei Jun. No matter how one looked it did not look like only a small matter had occurred.

When she spoke of tonight’s events Ge Yuan directly became extraordinarily angry. He stood up wanting to go settle accounts with people. “Fuck their ancestors for eighteen generations! If I don’t crush those three turtle grandsons’ balls this old man won’t surname Ge!”

“Where are you going to find people?” Ye Wanqing asked in return and calmly said, “I’m hungry. Let’s eat first. After eating I’ll draw the appearances of those three people. You take the portraits to find people—better than being a headless fly.”

Repaying grievance with virtue had never been her style.

Being bullied to the head—this breath she could not swallow. If she swallowed it, in the future it would attract even more bullying. At that time what would she do?

Only making others remember the lesson once was the correct choice!

Therefore at the time she had tightly memorized the appearance characteristics of those three ruffians precisely for the sake of revenge! As long as she could live, those three people should not think of getting off well!

Ge Yuan tightly clenched his fists and heavily agreed. “Okay!”

Ye Wanqing stood up. “Then I’ll go cook first.”

“No. I’ll go.”

Ge Yuan disagreed. Ge Yue even more directly hugged her thigh not letting her leave. Large eyes held two pools of tears as she cried that tonight she only wanted to eat the pig food Big Brother made……

Ye Wanqing: “……”

In the stalemate, Neighbor Auntie Meihua brought her daughter over.

“You all stop arguing! Wanqing properly rest. Ge Yuan go boil chicken eggs for Wanqing to reduce the swelling. Isn’t it just one meal—I’ll make it for you.”

The two of them had heard the movements from this courtyard and directly came over to lend a hand, giving the Ge family no chance to argue.

Ye Wanqing’s heart was warm yet helpless and agreed.

Fortunately when the incident happened the warm-hearted people came quickly. Those three ruffians did not have time to strike deadly hands against them. The injuries she and Wei Jun received were not very serious. Ye Wanqing first treated Wei Jun’s wounds, then used the chicken eggs Ge Yuan boiled to roll on her face.

After treating, the rice and dishes were also ready.

After Ye Wanqing ate she found paper and pen from the room, recalled the characteristics of the three ruffians a bit, drew several times, and finally drew the portraits of the three people.

In her previous life, perhaps influenced by Ge Yue, she had also developed no small interest in drawing. She had learned simple sketching and her quick-sketch skill was also not bad. After wasting a few sheets of paper the portraits of the three people were lifelike and the characteristics were even more obvious.

While Ye Wanqing buried her head drawing, Ge Yue quietly watched her. A pair of large eyes sparkled as if she had discovered some rare treasure.

When Ye Wanqing finished drawing she did not hand the drawing paper to Ge Yuan. “Brother Yuan, Xiao Jun needs to stay here one night to recover from his injuries. Trouble you to go to Xiao Jun’s home and pass a message so the Wei family won’t worry. After you return I’ll give you the portraits. Tomorrow we’ll go find people together.”

Ge Yuan’s temperament was a bit impulsive. Especially when it involved her he was even more like a firecracker that exploded at a touch. Ye Wanqing was afraid he would be impulsive and wanted to find him something to do. After he calmed down the two of them would handle this matter together again.

“……Okay.” Ge Yuan agreed with his mouth, yet a trace of wild-wolf ruthlessness flashed through his eyes.