My Naive Ginseng Spirit Wife and My Cultured, Scheming, Delicate Husband

chapter 58

When she saw them coming, Lady Dong immediately turned and fled to the back hall.

This was originally the master's private affair. Lady Dong did not dare to leave earlier, for fear that Ye Erlang would treat Ye Jiao badly and hurt her. Even though Xiaosu was by to protect Ye Jiao, Lady Dong could not set her mind at ease, so she stayed.

Now that Qi Yun has come, Ye Jiao has someone to rely on, and it is better for her to stay out of other people's family affairs.

Even though she has a good relationship with Jiao Niang now, Lady Dong knows full well that she is still an outsider, and she should avoid suspicion as much as possible. She almost trotted out right away.

Ye Jiao did not notice Lady Dong slipped away. She had not expected these two men to come so quickly either. The little ginseng immediately sat up a little straighter, and stared at Qi Yun with sparkling eyes.

Qi Yun had been angry ever since he set out, and became even more furious after hearing Ye Erlang's words right before entering the door. But when he saw those clear eyes of Ye Jiao staring at him, he immediately walked forward and gently held her fingertips.

The woman twisted her wrist, and their fingers interlocked tightly, with a smile rising on her face.

Ye Pingrong watched them, and thought to himself: he should be happy that his younger sister and brother-in-law get along so well, but he was the one who came in first, yet Jiao Niang only has eyes for Qi Yun...

The big sturdy man couldn't help but feel a little helpless at this moment.

But Ye Jiao quickly stood up, bowed gently to Ye Pingrong, and said in a soft voice: "Brother."

Ye Pingrong nodded at her, without much small talk, and quickly turned his gaze to Ye Erlang.

Ye Erlang originally came wandering into the town to find Ye Pingrong, to ask him to take back the document, and to tell him that he did not want to divide the family, he did not want to cut off relations, and they would all live together well in the future.

He could say these words to Ye Jiao, because he was convinced in his heart that Ye Jiao was soft-hearted and kind, and would help him for the sake of blood relations.

But now, when Ye Erlang met Ye Pingrong's gaze face to face, all the words got stuck in his throat and he could not speak them out.

Ye Pingrong is not what he used to be. His face is firm, his body is strong and powerful. Even though he wears rough cloth to hide his identity, the killing aura tempered on the battlefield cannot be erased.

Before, for Ye Erlang, he only wanted to cut off the relationship. He is a man of resolute character. No matter how much he cared in the past, if he does not want this relationship now, he does not want it. They will be strangers from now on, no attachment, no hatred.

But after Liu Rong sent word to him that Ye Erlang actually came to beg Ye Jiao, Ye Pingrong only felt nothing but disgust.

Walking over in three quick strides, Ye Pingrong pulled Ye Erlang farther away from Ye Jiao, and said in a deep voice: "That document, did you sign it?"

Ye Erlang said hurriedly: "I haven't signed it. I don't want to sign it. Big brother, you and I are brothers, biological brothers. How can we just cut off our relationship like this?"

Ye Pingrong's response was extraordinarily resolute: "When I left, I told you to take care of little sister, but you broke your promise." Seeing Ye Erlang was about to speak, Ye Pingrong waved his hand, "This is also my fault. When I entrusted little sister to you, I failed to see your wolf heart. I can't be your big brother anymore, and you don't have to be my second brother anymore. Cutting off all affection is good for everyone."

Qi Yun hurriedly whispered in Ye Jiao's ear: "I'm fond of you, and you're fond of me. Just listen to what they say, don't take it to heart."

Ye Jiao blushed and gave him a light punch.

Ye Erlang tightened his fingers, and his face flushed bright red.

He is not good with words. Many thoughts are in his heart but he cannot speak them out. After holding it in for a long while, he only managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Big brother, this was all my wife's doing. I was never willing to do this..."

"If you were unwilling, could Jiao Niang have gotten onto that sedan chair?" Ye Pingrong's eyes held mockery, "It looks like she did all the evil, but if you had stopped her even once, little sister would never have been married off!"

One sentence tore off Ye Erlang's last layer of skin, leaving those little hidden thoughts in his heart completely exposed.

When Ye Erlang's wife starved Ye Jiao, he knew it, but he did not interfere. After all, he doted on his son, and a daughter would marry out and become an outsider sooner or later, while his son was the apple of his eye. Of course any food had to go to his son first.

When Ye Erlang's wife sold Ye Jiao to the Qi family, he knew it, but he only sighed and did not stop her, because he could not put off paying his foreign debts any longer. Without that money to save him, when creditors came knocking, the whole family would be ruined.

He kept telling himself that none of this was his fault, it was all his wife's ignorance that led to these evil deeds.

Ye Erlang even thought that if one day big brother came back, and he could meet his little sister again, he could just use this excuse to cover it up.

But what Ye Erlang did not expect was that when Ye Pingrong came back, his big brother could see everything more clearly than anyone else, and his little tricks could not be hidden from him at all.

A wolf heart wrapped in sheep's clothing will eventually be exposed one day.

Ye Erlang felt embarrassed, afraid, his whole body was shaking, but he still mumbled: "Big brother, I don't want to divide the family, I don't want to cut off relations. I won't sign the document, I won't..."

Ye Pingrong did not bother to nag with him, and he had no intention of making a scene in the medicine shop.

After all, this is Qi family property. His little sister married into the family and lives a good life now, he cannot just bring trouble to her in-laws for no reason.

From the very beginning, Ye Pingrong never intended to tell Ye Jiao about this matter, and he still does not want to talk too much about it in front of her now.

The couple have a good relationship. Even if their starting point was not good at first, they are a perfect match now. There is no need to bring up the old things again to rebuke them.

But just because Ye Pingrong does not want to go into details in front of Ye Jiao and her husband, to avoid making them sad, that does not mean he will let Ye Erlang go.

Reaching out, Ye Pingrong grabbed Ye Erlang by the collar, gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "We'll talk about this at your house. Don't disturb other people's business here." After saying that, he easily lifted Ye Erlang up, and then looked at Qi Yun: "Brother-in-law, I have something to deal with. Take good care of Jiao Niang, don't let her get scared again."

Qi Yun nodded. Even if he did not remind him, he would protect his wife well.

Just at this moment, Fang Li, the shopkeeper of the medicine shop, hurried in.

Fang Li was originally going to check on the herb garden, but on the way a clerk rushed to tell him that many people had come to the shop, and his wife Lady Dong was also there. He was afraid his wife would say something wrong or get hurt, so he turned his horse around and hurried back.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Ye Pingrong dragging Ye Erlang out.

Fang Li had met Ye Pingrong when the medicine shop reopened last time, so he said: "Isn't this the strongman who is a guard at the Meng family medicine shop? Is there anything the Meng family shopkeeper wants when you come here today?"

Ye Pingrong only said he was a guard of the Meng family last time, because at that time he wanted his little sister to divorce Qi Yun, so naturally he had no relation to the Qi family, and there was no need to reveal that he was the second young mistress's elder brother.

But now that his little sister and Qi Yun love each other, he does not need to hide it anymore. Only his real name still cannot be told to outsiders: "Shopkeeper Fang, my name is Ye Da. I came today to see my little sister, and by the way take this villain who disturbed my sister away. If I have disturbed you, please forgive me."

Fang Li followed his line of sight and saw Ye Jiao, he was startled, realized this was the second young mistress's family, and immediately became much more respectful: "So it's Hero Ye. I didn't know to greet you earlier, my apologies." Then Fang Li walked quickly over to greet Qi Yun and Ye Jiao.

Ye Pingrong did not exchange too many pleasantries with Fang Li, and dragged Ye Erlang out by the collar.

Ye Jiao did not say a single word from beginning to end. She gripped Qi Yun's hand tightly, and after the two left she said softly: "Husband, he didn't scare me."

Qi Yun's voice was calm, giving no hint of joy or anger: "But it is not okay for Ye Erlang to come looking for you. They can handle their own business. He came to find you just to make you feel torn between sides, that spineless bully."

Pausing for a moment, Qi Yun pulled Ye Jiao closer into his arms, and looked at Xiaosu.

Xiaosu immediately paled, but this time she did not look for anyone to shelter her, and directly said: "Second young master, I was wrong. I accept my punishment."

Qi Yun raised an eyebrow slightly, looking a little surprised, then said lightly: "What did you do wrong?"

Xiaosu twisted her fingers together, thought for a while then said: "When that man came just now, I didn't manage to inform you, and I didn't help the second young mistress."

Hearing this, Qi Yun's expression softened a little, and he nodded slowly.

Xiaosu is a half-grown girl, still young, it is normal for her to be flustered when things happen. If it was before, Qi Yun would have kept her and let someone teach her slowly, but now the business has grown, Ye Jiao also comes out from time to time, the person by her side cannot be so incompetent.

He had already planned to give Xiaosu a warning this time, so of course he would not let her off lightly as before: "When we get home, go to Mother Liu, get ten slaps on the palm, and let Mother Liu teach you some sense."

Xiaosu's face is still pale, but she did not beg for mercy, just lowered her head and accepted the punishment.

Tiezi, who had been nervous beside them, let out a sigh of relief.

According to common sense, children from tenant families like them come to the employer's house just to help with work, they are not sold to the master, the master will not beat or scold them casually, but they also will not get important positions. Most of them will be let go when they get older, the boys go back to farm, the girls get married. After all, they are children of ordinary families, there are no other paths for them.

Before, when Xiaosu had some instances of not following the rules, the master did not care about her. It was not that he really tolerated her, but that he never planned to keep her serving long-term, so naturally he did not think about teaching her anything.

Now that Qi Yun is willing to let Mother Liu discipline Xiaosu, that means he really wants to keep her to serve.

Being able to have the Qi family as a backer in the future, Xiaosu's life will not be hard. Suffering a little hardship now is a good thing.

Although Ye Jiao can not figure out all these twists and turns, she knows what Qi Yun says must have his reasons, and she will not object. She just stroked Xiaosu's head to comfort her, then looked up at Qi Yun: "Do you think big brother will be able to split with him?"

"If your big brother can't split it, I also have ways to make them split. Don't worry about these things, I will help you handle it properly." Qi Yun spoke with a faint smile on his face, "Jiao Niang, the flower hairpin you wore today is very pretty. Is it a new style?"

Ye Jiao nodded obediently, with a smile on her face: "Chunlan still has many nice ones. We just looked at half of them when this matter came up. Now it's all over, I'm going to go look at them again."

"I'll wait for you here."

"Alright."

Their conversation was warm and affectionate, sounding like a perfectly harmonious married couple. But Fang Li, who was listening on the side, broke out in a cold sweat on his back.

What Qi Yun did to the Cai family, maybe other people do not know, but as the shopkeeper of the Qi family medicine shop, he contributed to it, so he naturally knows some inside information.

If Fang Li had not acted as the go-between, the Sun family would never have gotten the address of the Cai family's accounting office so easily.

Fang Li thought he had only done a small thing, he never expected that the Cai family would suddenly collapse overnight!

If before he only looked at Qi Yun as a god of wealth, now in Fang Li's eyes, this god of wealth Qi Yun not only glows with golden light, he also oozes fresh blood.

Exuding a chilling ferocity that makes people's hearts tremble.

Of course, Fang Li is very glad that his employer is Qi Yun. Having an employer who can make decisions and make money is a blessing for him as a shopkeeper.

But he still murmured in his heart, hoping that the matter of the second young mistress's natal family would be handled properly, and that Ye Erlang would better know better, and do whatever he is told. Otherwise, if it really drags on until Qi Yun forces him to submit, I am afraid it will not be as easy as just being grabbed by the collar now.

And Ye Erlang, who was dragged all the way home by Ye Pingrong, could not even speak. He was gasping and coughing so hard he almost coughed his lungs out.

Ye Pingrong was born tall, with long legs, he walks fast and has great strength, he can walk a hundred miles a day without difficulty. But Ye Erlang has always been lazy, and looks thin and weak. How could he have the strength to speak when being dragged and pulled along like this?

He can barely even breathe.

When they got home, Ye Erlang was thrown into the courtyard, and he immediately leaned against the wooden frame in the yard and retched.

Because Ye Pingrong pushed the door very hard, making a lot of noise, Ye Erlang's wife hurried out of the house.

Seeing Ye Erlang lying miserably on the frame, she ran over and hugged Ye Erlang, called out to him twice, saw he was too busy retching to talk to her, then Ye Erlang's wife looked at Ye Pingrong.

She did not marry Ye Erlang through Ye Pingrong's arrangement. When she married into the Ye family, Ye Pingrong had already left home for two years. She had only heard Ye Erlang and the neighbors mention Ye Dalang a couple of times, and knew nothing else about him.

Now when she saw Ye Pingrong she did not recognize who he was, but even though she usually nags that Ye Erlang is useless, she really protects him in her heart. Even seeing that Ye Pingrong is tall and strong she was not afraid.

The woman stood directly in front of Ye Erlang, pointed at Ye Pingrong and scolded: "Who are you! In broad daylight, you break into my house and beat Erlang. Are you trying to rob and commit crime in broad daylight!"

Ye Bao originally wanted to come out to see the excitement, but after peeking out from behind the door he shrank back in fear and did not dare to look again.

Ye Pingrong closed the courtyard door with his backhand, looked at Ye Erlang's wife up and down, his face was expressionless, then pulled Ye Erlang over: "Now that I have brought you home, Ye Er, we had better talk some things through clearly."

Ye Erlang finally caught his breath by this time, he grabbed Ye Pingrong's arm with a pleading look on his face and said: "Big brother, big brother, you've finally come back. We brothers have finally gotten together after so long, why do we have to divide the family? Can't we just not divide?"

When Ye Erlang's wife heard this, her eyes immediately went round with shock.

This is Ye Da? Wasn't he supposed to have died on the battlefield long ago? How could he come back?

But Ye Pingrong could not be bothered to drag things out with him. Everything that needed to be said and done has already been said, saying even one more word now feels tiring.

He simply reached directly into Ye Erlang's arms and pulled out that document, shook it open and slapped it in front of Ye Erlang: "You don't need to write your name, just press a fingerprint is enough." After saying that, Ye Pingrong took out a packet of silver and put it down in front of him, "You can take this away after you press the fingerprint."

This packet of silver was prepared by Ye Pingrong for Ye Erlang, or rather, he prepared it a long time ago.

Back then, the three siblings were all unmarried. Ye Dalang swore in front of their parents' grave that he would protect his younger brother and sister, and bring them up properly.

But in the end Ye Pingrong failed to keep his promise. His younger brother became a wolf in human skin, and although his younger sister lives a good life now, he still never got to watch her get married.

As the eldest brother, he owes his little sister, he owes their parents, and he also thinks that Ye Erlang becoming what he is today is his fault for not disciplining him well.

Dividing the family and cutting off relations, since it is going to be done, it should be done cleanly.

The brotherly affection that was given must also be ended completely.

"This is the silver I got when I was fighting. I divided it into three portions—this one was always meant for you. Just press your fingerprint here, and this whole bag of silver is yours." After saying this, Ye Pingrong opened the cloth bag.

The silver inside stopped Ye Erlang's pleading, and it also made Ye Er's wife stare wide with greed.

If earlier Ye Er's wife didn't care whether they split the family or not and wanted nothing to do with it, now, in her eyes, splitting the family is an absolute must.

Why wouldn't you take silver when it's offered?

What use is some random older brother that popped up out of nowhere anyway?

But Ye Er's wife was stingy by nature and extremely calculating, so she pressed further: "Say, why split it into three portions? There's only the two of you brothers, right? My husband is your only living kin."

Ye Pingrong said coldly, "I still have our little sister."

Ye Er's wife curled her lip: "She's married off already, how can she still count as part of your Ye family? " What she implied was that the silver should be split into two portions, not three.

Ye Pingrong gave a sneer: "This is my silver, I can do whatever I want with it. If you don't want it, I'll just take it back." He said as he reached to take the silver back.

Ye Er's wife knew how to bully Ye Jiao, but she didn't dare mess with the big, burly Ye Pingrong, so she immediately smiled: "We want it, we definitely want it." Then she shoved Ye Erlang hard, signaling him to sign the document.

But even though Ye Erlang had reached out, he remembered what the pharmacy shopkeeper Fang Li called his older brother just now, and he still tried to look sincere as he said: "Big brother, it's not easy working as a guard at that Meng family pharmacy for you. You should keep this silver, I can't take it."

This was clearly just polite hypocrisy, pretending to refuse while actually wanting to take it.

When Ye Pingrong heard this, whatever trace of guilt he had felt before completely vanished, leaving only coldness.

Ye Er's wife got anxious, she yanked Ye Erlang and whispered: "Your big brother's just a guard now, what do you have to worry about? The Meng pharmacy is no name nobody, it can't be much of a business. Besides, he's just a guard helper working under other people, you can tell he doesn't have any good future. Why are you clinging to him?"

Ye Erlang still seemed hesitant: "But... he's my big brother..."

"He doesn't even care about you anymore, what are you hesitating for! What about your debts? What about your son? Are you just going to stop caring about them now! "

This words of Ye Er's wife seemed to convince Ye Erlang. He looked at Ye Pingrong, and said almost choking up: "Big brother, is there really no other way to go?"

Ye Pingrong looked at him, just like watching a skilled actor, and expressionlessly threw a box holding cinnabar ink for fingerprints over to him.

Probably because they were too eager, neither Ye Erlang nor Ye Er's wife looked closely at the material of the box.

If they'd had any bit of sense left, they would have seen the box was made of fine celadon, something ordinary families could never afford.

But right now their minds were all full of that bag of silver, how could they spare time to look at the ink box?

Ye Erlang dabbed his thumb in the ink, hesitated and didn't press down, and it was Ye Er's wife who grabbed his hand and pressed it down on the paper.

As soon as the fingerprint was made, Ye Pingrong pulled the document back, folded it and put it in his arms, then picked the ink box back up, and looked at Ye Erlang calmly: "This silver is yours now, take it away."

Ye Erlang put on a sad face, as if he was grieved over this severing of ties, while Ye Er's wife took the silver back delightedly, thinking this was truly an unexpected piece of good fortune.

She also laughed to herself at how dumb Ye Pingrong was: he's just a laborer guard working for other people, and he still gives his money away to others, what a fool.

But Ye Pingrong didn't leave right away, he looked at Ye Erlang and said: "Now that we've cut all ties between us, there's something I can clear up with you."

Ye Erlang asked subconsciously: "What thing?"

The next instant, Ye Pingrong stepped forward, and punched Ye Erlang square in the face.