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Ye Caiping and her group of 11 people slowly departed, seated in two oxcarts.
Qinghe Village and Li Family Village were neither close nor far apart.
The two villages faced each other across a large river, but there was only a bridge four miles away. After crossing the bridge, one had to walk another five miles to reach Li Family Village, making it a total of about ten miles.
Considering Ye Caiping’s injury, Village Head Ye used oxcarts.
One oxcart belonged to Village Head Ye’s family, while the other was borrowed from a neighboring village.
“I’m still so angry!” Ye Erquan exclaimed in the oxcart. “How can they just divorce her like that! They should at least compensate us with ten or eight taels of silver!”
Ye Caiping remained silent. She had never been one to accept a loss.
However, the previous bad reputation and foolishness of her husband put them in a position of absolute disadvantage.
Adding to that, Li’s mother had truly broken her leg, and there were so-called neighbors who testified, making the entire Li Family Village stand by Li Zhiyuan. The divorce was a done deal.
Even if they went to the government, they wouldn’t win, let alone get any money.
Don’t even think about changing the divorce into a separation. In her situation, what was the difference between divorce and separation?
It was impossible to change it anyway.
Instead of wasting time on that, it was better to focus on making money.
Ye Caiping said, “Being able to take the two girls is enough for me. Some things are better left in the past.”
Old Lady Ye nodded, “Caiping is right. Erquan, don’t cause any trouble.”
Everyone in the oxcart agreed, and they all chimed in to scold Ye Erquan.
Ye Erquan scratched his head and dared not speak again.
Old Man Ye , for once, had a hint of a smile on his face. “Since Zhaodi and Laidi have joined our Ye family, they need to change their surnames. I’ve given them new names, Caiping, what do you think?”
“Father, tell me,” Ye Caiping smiled with narrowed eyes.
“The eldest granddaughter is called Jinhua, and the second granddaughter is called Yinhua. I thought about it all night, Zhaodi will be called Cuihua, and Laidi will be called Ruhua. What do you think?”
Cuihua? Ruhua?! Ye Caiping was struck by lightning, her whole body stunned.
“Oh my, Uncle is so good at naming!” Second Aunt Ye praised.
“Good names, good names!” Village Head Ye also praised.
Old Man Ye , flattered, was beaming with pride.
Zhaodi and Laidi were overjoyed. Zhaodi said, “Grandfather, I like these names…”
“No!” Ye Caiping hurriedly interrupted, forcing a smile. “Father, actually, actually… I thought about it all night too, and I already picked names for them. That…”
Ye Caiping was angry!
Last night, she was so excited about the space that she forgot about this.
She had planned to think about it slowly after the two girls arrived, but her father was so impatient!
Old Man Ye and everyone in the cart looked at her curiously.
“Cough… I thought… I hope they will… have a bright future and be filled with joy every day, so I named them… called… called… Jin’er and Huan’er, yes, Zhaodi will be called Ye Jin’er, and Laidi will be called Huan’er.”
After saying that, Ye Caiping couldn’t help but think about it.
Ye Jin’er, Ye Huan’er, these casually chosen names were actually quite good.
They were simple, without any profound meaning, neither elegant nor vulgar, but simple and direct, suitable for them.
Ye Erquan immediately played his role as a dog-licker, “Jin’er and Huan’er, my sister’s names are well chosen.”
Old Lady Ye also said, “I think they’re better than the names Old Man came up with.”
Old Man Ye ‘s face was stern, but his eyes couldn’t hide his smile. “Alright, they are indeed better than mine. From now on, they’ll be called Ye Jin’er and Ye Huan’er, they’re our Ye family’s girls.”
Old Man Ye had already made up his mind.
Three months later, when his daughter remarried, the two girls would stay in the Ye family and wouldn’t follow her, so they wouldn’t suffer.
It was only a matter of spending a few more taels of silver on their dowry.
The newly issued Ye Jin’er and Ye Huan’er’s eyes welled up with tears. “Thank you, mother, thank you, grandfather and grandmother.”
They knew what the names Zhaodi and Laidi meant.
Although they also hoped to have a younger brother for their mother, they felt a bit awkward deep down.
Now that their names had changed, the two sisters felt a sense of relief and liberation.
Their grandfather and grandmother had always been kind to them. They were not afraid of hard work, but they were afraid of staying in Li Family Village and being sold by their grandmother for money.
Moreover, their mother was unusually gentle today, which warmed their hearts. They looked forward to their future life even more.
After two quarters of an hour, the oxcart stopped in front of the old courtyard of the Ye family.
They got off the cart, and Old Man Ye said, “Village Head, second brother, and Tie Niu’s wife and Zhuzi’s wife, thank you for today. Stay for lunch at our place!”
Village Head Ye waved his hand, “No need, we’ve already prepared food at home.”
Ye Ershen and the others also refused repeatedly. Grain was precious!
Disasters had been happening continuously, with both drought and locust plagues. This autumn harvest was less than half of the previous year’s. In this situation, who wasn’t eating gruel and tightening their belts?
After Village Head Ye finished speaking, he and Ye Ershen and the others left with the oxen.
Du Shi and Wei Shi and the others heard the commotion and came out. When they saw Ye Jin’er and her sister, they were surprised. They were actually coming back?
Wei Shi hurriedly said, “I, I’ll clean up the west room with Yinhua.”
Ye Caiping said, “No need, Jin’er and her sister will stay with me.”
The original owner of the bodye had always been pampered. Even when returning to her parents’ home, she insisted on having her own room, leaving her two daughters to be thrown into the west room to squeeze in with Jin Hua and Yin Hua.
“Jin’er?” Wei Shi noticed the unfamiliar name.
“Zhaodi and Laidi have changed their names. They are now called Ye Jin’er and Ye Huan’er.”
Ye Jin’er and her sister immediately stepped forward and greeted them in low voices, “Uncle, Second Uncle, Cousin, Elder Cousin, Younger Cousins.”
Wei Shi responded woodenly, and Du Shi pursed her lips without saying anything.
Ye Caiping took her two daughters back to her room.
She had always had her own room in her mother’s house, even after she got married, the room was kept for her.
The Ye family was a typical small farmhouse courtyard.
On the north side, there were three rooms side by side. Old Man Ye and his wife lived in the left one, Ye Caiping lived in the right one, and the middle one was the hall.
The east wing also had three rooms, where Ye Daquan and his wife, Ye Erquan and his wife lived. Ye Yong, Ye Xuan, and Ye Peng lived together in one room.
The west side was divided into two areas: one was Jinhua and Yinhua’s room, and next to it was the kitchen, the shed for firewood and farming tools, the toilet, the chicken coop, and the pigsty.
Behind the house was a vegetable garden, where they grew common vegetables.
The courtyard was small, barely enough to accommodate them.
Ye Caiping and her daughters put their clothes in the closet.
This was her room before she got married, with a bed, wardrobe, and dresser, everything was complete.
Since there were no extra quilts, they couldn’t put up another bed, so they had to squeeze together. Fortunately, the bed was not small, it was a 1.5-meter bed.
“Mother, does your head hurt?” Ye Jin’er looked at Ye Caiping’s bandaged head with concern.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Ye Caiping smiled.
She didn’t know if it was because of the medicine, but the wound on her head had actually healed a lot. It was just a bit broken, and it would be fine with a few more days of medicine.
“Let’s go out and see if there’s anything we can help with.”
As soon as the three of them left the room, they saw Ye Daquan carrying a large burlap sack and entering the gate.
Seeing Ye Jin’er and her sister, Ye Daquan immediately beamed with joy, “Zhaodi, Laidi, you’re really back at our place!”
“Uncle!” The two girls rushed forward, and Ye Jin’er said, “We’ve changed our names. I’m called Jin’er, and my sister is called Huan’er. Mother gave us the names.”
“Hee hee hee, little sister is good at naming, it sounds nice.”
Note:
Characters
Places:
Qinghe Village: FL’s Village
Li Family Village
Great Zhou Dynasty