Chapter 5 – Let’s Get Real

The moment the coachman saw clearly the young woman who’d nearly been hit by the carriage, he yanked the reins.

“Whoa!”

“Miss, where are you going with that bundle on your back?”

It wasn’t that the coachman recognized Ye Chutang—she just happened to resemble her mother about seventy percent.

Inside the carriage, Ye Jingchuan lifted the curtain as soon as he heard that.

It had been fifteen years since he’d last seen the legitimate eldest daughter he had thrown out to the countryside.

The young woman before him had bright eyes and red lips, gentle and lovely in appearance. Just like her mother back then—easy to manipulate.

He put on a kind, fatherly smile.
“Chu’er, do you still remember your father?”

Ye Chutang rolled her eyes at the hypocritical scumbag who’d fathered her.

“Why would I remember a beast who abandoned his own daughter?”

Ye Jingchuan: “……”

He immediately took back what he’d just thought.

This girl, aside from her face, was nothing like her mother.

Rude, disrespectful, venom-tongued!

The coachman saw that Ye Chutang actually dared scold Ye Jingchuan and immediately rebuked her, “Miss, you mustn’t be rude to the Master!”

Ye Chutang let out a surprised “Wow!”

“The servants of the Minister’s residence sure are bold. You can scold your masters now?”

With that, she gave the coachman two hard slaps.

He tried to dodge, but failed, and his old face swelled up instantly.

The eldest miss knows martial arts?

He stared at Ye Chutang in shock. “Ugh—”

He tried to speak, but his jaw had been dislocated. Not a single word came out.

Ye Chutang ignored the coachman and turned to face Ye Jingchuan, who was glaring at her with cold eyes.

“What? A servant overstepped, and I can’t hit him?”

Ye Jingchuan certainly couldn’t say that a master shouldn’t strike their servant.

Even when beating a dog, you still have to consider its owner!

“Chu’er, you’re the daughter of the Minister’s household. You must be mindful of your words and actions!”

The moment she heard that, Ye Chutang knew exactly why he had come to get her—it was definitely not out of goodwill.

“I was raised by my mother without a father, so it’s only natural I wasn’t taught manners, right?”

Ye Jingchuan, furious and humiliated, jumped off the carriage and raised his hand to slap her.

“Shut up! Don’t let me hear this nonsense again—”

Smack!

Before he could finish, Ye Chutang slapped his hand away.

Ye Jingchuan stared at his reddened, swollen palm in disbelief, his hand trembling with rage.

“Ye Chutang! Have you no sense of propriety or filial piety? You dare strike your elder?!”

Ye Chutang blinked innocently.
“Weren’t you the one who wanted a high-five? I was just being cooperative. So filial of me.”

“I wasn’t trying to high-five you! I clearly—”

“Oh, my bad, misunderstood. So you were trying to hit me, huh?”

Ye Chutang leaned in, thrusting her fair left cheek in front of him.

“Come on, go ahead and hit me. We’ll call it even for the years of your so-called ‘parenting.’ Then we’ll cut ties.”

She knew perfectly well that Ye Jingchuan wouldn’t dare sever ties with her—he needed something from her.

Otherwise, a high-and-mighty minister like him wouldn’t have come all the way to the countryside to acknowledge her.

Ye Jingchuan, seething, raised his red, swollen hand again.

He stared at Ye Chutang’s stunningly beautiful face, schemes flickering in his eyes, but the slap never landed.

Ye Chutang, growing impatient, urged,
“Lord Ye, my neck’s getting sore. Are you gonna hit me or not? If not, I’m leaving.”

Ye Jingchuan lowered his hand and scoffed coldly,
“Stop calling me Lord Ye. I’m your father!”

Ye Chutang gave him another exaggerated eye-roll.

“You threw me into the countryside for fifteen years and now you show up pretending to be a loving father? What are you plotting?”

“What could I possibly be plotting? I just figured you’ve recovered well after years of rest in the countryside, so I came to take you back home.”

Just as he finished, the guards finally caught up.

One of them dropped to one knee and cupped his fist toward Ye Jingchuan.
“Master, I failed to keep watch over the young miss. This is my negligence.”

Ye Chutang raised a brow.

How convenient. The timing was just too perfect.

“Lord Ye, looks like you didn’t come to take me back at all. You starved me for three days and I still didn’t die—disappointed?”

Ye Jingchuan looked at her, perfectly healthy and radiant, and fell speechless.

She didn’t look like someone who hadn’t eaten in three days!

“Chu’er, you’re my own daughter—how could I want you dead? If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have come here in person.”

His words sounded so sincere, but Ye Chutang didn’t believe a single one of them.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the blinding sun.

“Then why did Lord Ye have people keep me locked up, not letting me leave the manor, and even starve me?”

If it weren’t for the fact that she needed to return to the Minister’s residence to reclaim everything that rightfully belonged to the original host, she’d have slapped this hypocritical scumbag into the next province already!

She wouldn’t have wasted time under the scorching sun, playing this phony game.

Ye Jingchuan was already sweating in the heat.

Seeing her movements, he said, “Chu’er, you’ve misunderstood. Why don’t we head back to the estate and talk things through?”

“Hah!”

Ye Chutang yanked the dislocated-jaw coachman down from the carriage, climbed onto the driver’s seat, and drove off alone.

Ye Jingchuan watched as the carriage vanished into a cloud of dust, his expression darkening.

He turned to the guard still kneeling.
“Why is she nothing like the girl you described?”

Every year, Uncle Fu from the granary and a few guards would come stay at the manor for a while to watch over the wheat and rice.

When they returned to the Ye family, they’d bring back news of Ye Chutang.

Timid. Foolish. Shameless. Lazy. Selfish…

The list of insults went on.

But none of it matched the Ye Chutang he had just met!

The guard was also unsure.

“Master, I’m an outsider male and rarely saw the young miss. All the news I heard came from Nanny Liu.”

Now that the Liu family trio was dead, the truth was lost with them.

Ye Jingchuan stopped asking and started walking back toward the estate under the blazing sun.

The guard immediately took off his outer robe and held it up to shade him.

The coachman, gritting his teeth, popped his jaw back into place and followed.

“Master, the young miss knows martial arts.”

Ye Jingchuan paused and turned to the coachman, Chen Zhong.

“Those two slaps she gave you—was it not that you didn’t dodge, but that you couldn’t?”

“Yes.”

“You lacked the skill? Or were you caught off guard?”

Chen Zhong replied,
“Both. But this old servant is certain—her martial arts skills are not weak.”

Ye Jingchuan looked deeply puzzled.

Ye Chutang had always been watched closely by Nanny Liu. When could she have learned martial arts?

If it weren’t for her face being nearly identical to Tang Wan’ning, he would’ve suspected she’d been switched at birth.

“Chen Zhong, go ask around the village later. Find out more about Chu’er.”

Once they returned to the Minister’s residence, he’d have someone test her skills.

Ye Chutang would be a great asset to his political ambitions—he couldn’t let her slip out of his control.

“Yes, Master.”

The guard also reported that Ye Chutang had been spreading rumors around the village, slandering Ye Jingchuan.

Ye Jingchuan figured the villagers had all benefited from his generosity and wouldn’t run their mouths recklessly, so he didn’t take it seriously.

Used to a life of comfort, he took nearly a quarter-hour to walk back to the estate.

Parched and thirsty, he spotted Ye Chutang drinking water under the crabapple tree and strode over.

“Chu’er, pour your father a cup of water.”

Naturally, Ye Chutang wasn’t about to give him any of her spiritual spring water.

She raised the teapot, tilted her head back, angled her wrist, and let the clear spring water pour straight into her mouth.

“All gone.”

Ye Jingchuan: “……”

His hand was itching again.

But the throbbing redness in his palm reminded him—if he dared raise it again, he’d only end up hurting himself.

“Chu’er, I’ve been so busy with court matters that I haven’t been able to visit, but I’ve always cared about you. I never had you locked up or starved. The moment I heard something had happened to you, I rushed over.”

Ye Chutang slammed the teapot down hard onto the stone table.

“Lord Ye, instead of spouting sweet lies, why don’t you give me something real?”

Ye Jingchuan had a very bad feeling.
“Chu’er… what kind of real thing do you want?”

“Curse the beast who tried to starve me to death with me.”

“…What?”

“I hope his intestines rot and his descendants die off!”

“!”

“I hope he ends up penniless and gets a bright green hat!”

“!!”

“I hope his family crumbles, and he dies with no grave to be buried in!”

“!!!”