Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 28: War or Not
Ma suddenly said, "Wu Chengjian is so abominable, how did Ye Youyu talk about it! This little bitch must have been causing trouble, call her over and skin her first!"
As she spoke, she sent someone to call Ye Youyu. Although Ma was furious, she still had another plan in mind. She wanted to take advantage of Ye Dalin's anger to get rid of this thorn in her side.
Not long after, Ye Youyu came to the study. She knew the situation was not good and didn't want to go in. Ye Haocai was outside the door, calling out, "Mom! Third sister is here." While calling out, he glanced at her with a gloating look.
Ye Youyu's heart tightened, and he knew that there must be something bad going on in the study! But then he heard Ma Ma say from inside: "Are you here? Come in!" Ye Youyu had no choice but to go in. When he saw the scene in the study, he was shocked.
Ma said in a strange voice: "My good girl, the good third lady of our Ye family, now Haoguan of Yihe Bank has taken a fancy to you and is preparing to carry you to his house in a sedan chair. Congratulations, congratulations!"
The news that Wu Chengjian was going to marry the third girl spread very quickly in the house, so Ye Youyu also heard about it. However, she did not believe it and thought that the servants must have misunderstood it because it did not conform to the agreement between her and Hao Guan. Most likely, the Wu family said they wanted to take a concubine, and then the rumor spread like wildfire and turned into a legal marriage.
"Madam, I don't understand what you are saying." Ye Youyu said, "Think about what position Hao Guan holds now and what status Youyu holds. How could he be interested in my daughter?"
"Oh, you are being hypocritical." Ma said, "Then what did you say to Hao Guan at Baietan that day? Why don't you tell us word by word so that we can study it carefully?"
Ye Youyu said, "I have already told my father what Hao Guan said on the boat that day."
"You said it?" Ma said, "You said it, but it's the same as not saying it. How long did Hao Guan stay on your boat? Do you think we don't know? In such a long time, even if he drank a round of tea before he could say a few words, he would have said dozens of words. How could it be just a few? Who is Hao Guan? Why would he sit there for so long? Humph, it's obvious that you have something to hide, so you don't dare to tell the truth. If you want to make up a lie, you're afraid that we will see through the loopholes, so you just say that you didn't say much."
Ye Dalin felt that what he said made sense, and his eyes looked at him like knives.
Ye Youyu took a step back in fear. Ye Dalin thought she was guilty, and thought that Wu Chengjian wanted to marry her for no reason, which made him even more suspicious. He said angrily, "You money-loser, you really sold out the Ye family, didn't you?"
He rushed over and kicked Ye Youyu in the heart again, and by coincidence, he kicked her in the exact same spot as last time. Ye Youyu's old injury hadn't fully healed yet, and after this kick, he vomited blood.
Ye Zhong was shocked and quickly stopped him, saying, "Master, please calm down and don't hurt the third lady's life!"
Ye Youyu was lying on the ground, trembling all over. She did reveal some information to Wu Chengjian, but the price was just at the bottom line that Ye Dalin could barely accept and Wu Chengjian could generally vent his anger. If the grudge between Wu and Ye could be settled at this point, it would be a good thing for both parties. Therefore, in her heart, she did not feel that she was selling out the Ye family, but rather that she was finding a way to get herself out of the fire pit and reconcile the grudge between Wu and Ye.
However, after being kicked, her already cold heart became even colder. She only felt a fishy taste in her mouth, and knew that she had vomited blood. After all, she was a girl under 20 years old, and she had not experienced much. She had learned many things from books. She only remembered that many books said that girls who vomited blood would not live long, such as Miss Lin in "The Story of the Stone". She didn't know if she could live long after being kicked twice. Then she thought that Miss Lin vomited blood because of her congenital deficiency, while she vomited blood because of her biological father's kicking. For a moment, she wished that she could just die like this.
However, the thought of committing suicide only flashed by, and Xu's delicate and weak figure appeared again. Ye Youyu thought: "I can't die like this, otherwise what will happen to my mother?"
Thinking of Xu, Ye Youyu managed to suppress all the pain. She took a deep breath for a while, spit out all the blood in her mouth, and then looked up at Ye Dalin and said, "Father, what's going on? Even if you want to kill your daughter, cough cough... I don't hate you, but father, you should at least let me die with a clear conscience."
Seeing that she was vomiting blood after being kicked by him, Ye Dalin's anger subsided a little. He pouted at Ye Zhong and said, "Show her!"
Ye Zhong handed the letter he had put together to Ye Youyu.
Ye Youyu propped herself up and tried to sit up, but her chest hurt when she moved, so she fell down again. At this moment, no one in the study came to sympathize with her. Only Ye Zhong said with some concern, "Third Miss, are you okay?"
Ye Youyu nodded slightly and closed her eyes. She only felt that the surroundings were terribly quiet and she was terribly lonely. Since her birth, apart from her mother, has anyone ever taken her seriously? However, the more this happened, the more important her mother became to her.
She took a deep breath and then opened her eyes. Ye Zhong simply put the letter on the ground, and Ye Youyu half leaned over to read it.
The more she read the letter, the more surprised she was. The signature was Wu Guoying's handwriting, and the tone was what Wu Guoying said to Ye Dalin. The general idea was to find a wife for Wu Chengjian, and he thought the third daughter of the Ye family was very good. Seeing this, Ye Youyu felt dizzy: How did it become marrying a wife? Not taking a concubine! It's marrying a wife! And it was Wu Guoying's handwriting, so it wasn't a misunderstanding. But what exactly happened?
For a moment, she didn't know whether she should be happy or frightened. It took her a long while to recover. When she continued reading , Wu Guoying changed the subject and talked about the marriage customs of the Fujianese people, that the dowry must be generous and so on. This was of course just an excuse. In Fujian, even if the dowry was generous, it would not be reasonable for the groom's family to specify what kind of dowry was required. So Wu Guoying said this just as an introduction. The focus was on the list below.
The first seven or eight items were what he read to Wu Chengjian, but there were a few more items at the end - with these items added, the Wu family not only wanted to vent their anger, but also wanted to make the Ye family bleed, but also wanted to cut the flesh of the Ye family, dismantle the bones of the Ye family, pull out the tendons of the Ye family, and suck the marrow of the Ye family - no wonder Ye Dalin's reaction was so big.
But this does not conform to the agreement between him and Wu Chengjian. Whether it is changing from taking a concubine to marrying a wife or adding additional terms, what exactly has changed in between?
Seeing her silence, Ma said coldly, "You've been reading for so long, have you finished? Can't you think of any excuse?"
Although Ye Youyu hadn't figured out the weirdness behind the letter yet, she knew that Ma would not allow her to think about it any longer, so she said, "Father, you don't have to be so angry. Since the Wu family master has set the conditions, then this is a business. Doing business... cough, cough..."
She coughed a few times and coughed up some blood, which sprayed on the letter. She adjusted her breathing and continued, "In business, there is no fixed price. You have to bargain, right? Ahem... this list is asking for a sky-high price, but we can pay it back on the spot. Right, Dad."
These words gave Ye Dalin some inspiration.
Property is Ye Dalin's Achilles' heel, and is more important to him than life!
What's more, what was listed in Wu Guoying's list was the lifeline of his Ye family's business. Coupled with the current situation and Wu Chengjian's skills, the Wu family really had the possibility of forcing the Ye family to such a point. So he became furious for a moment, like a fire that ignited a volcano, and his rationality was completely gone in his anger.
But after hearing what Ye Youyu said, he suddenly felt that this made sense.
The list drawn up by Wu Guoying was too much no matter how you looked at it, and there was no way the Ye family would agree to it - if this was really the Wu family's bottom line, then it was not a peace talk or a marriage proposal, but a direct provocation.
Seeing Ye Dalin's intention, Ma said sternly, "How can the Wu family be sincere enough to make such an excessive request? Talk? No matter how hard you try, what can you say?"
Ye Youyu endured the severe pain in his chest and the blood in his mouth and said, "Let's not talk about it. According to Madam, are you planning to go to war with the Wu family?"
Ma shouted, "Let's start a war! We must fight to the death, but we can't let the Wu family get away with it!"
She was shouting there, but Ye Dalin felt a lump in his chest. Although he guessed that the Wu family might have some hidden worries, it was just his guess after all, and it had not been confirmed yet. Even if it was confirmed, it was not an imminent matter for the Wu family.
On the contrary, in recent times, Wu Chengjian's power in Xiguan is at its peak. He not only swallowed up half of the Xie family and suppressed the Cai family, but also gave two generous gifts to the Pan family and the Lu family in disguise. It can be said that now in the Thirteen Hongs, Pan and Lu are both in debt to the Wu family, and the four lower families Pan, Yi, Liang and Ma are already watching, especially the Pan and Yi families who originally depended on Cai and Xie, and there are rumors that they will switch to the Wu family. If Wu and Ye go to war at this time, with the current momentum comparison between the Wu and Ye families and the habits of the wealthy families in Xiguan and the red top white, the victory or defeat can be imagined. It can even be said that countless people in Xiguan are counting on Wu Chengjian to destroy the Ye family as well!
After destroying the Xie family, countless people have burped. If we destroy the Ye family, won’t everyone be fat and bloated?
Thinking of this, Ye Dalin couldn't help but shudder - his loss of composure just now was not only due to anger, but also due to fear.
Ye Youyu's words really hit the nail on the head: at the moment, he didn't dare to go to war with the Wu family head-on. If they really fought, he would have no chance of winning. And once he was defeated, the experience of the Xie family would be an example for him!
"Boss? Boss!" When Ma saw his expression, she knew that he had wavered .
Ye Dalin shouted, "Shut up!" He glanced at Ye Youyu and said, "How should we talk about it according to your opinion?"
Ye Youyu said, "Don't the Fujianese say that they value dowry? But our hometown in Anhui values betrothal gifts. Since the Wu family wants to use their marriage to negotiate business, we will negotiate with them. We . Father, don't you agree?"
When Ye Dalin heard this, his anger faded, his face returned to calm, and he nodded twice. He glanced at the blood that Ye Youyu had vomited everywhere, and felt a little sorry - but that was all, and asked, "Are you okay?"
Ye Youyu showed a faint smile on her face, coughed twice, and said, "Thank you for your concern, Dad. My daughter... cough, my daughter is fine."
