Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 3 The Ye Family's Crisis
Ye Zhong and Lao Gu were both listed as one of the "Eight Old Generals" of Xiguan. Originally, Ye Zhong did not approve of Ye Dalin abandoning the Wu family when he saw that the situation was not good, but he was an executive and rarely interfered with Ye Dalin's decision-making, so he did not persuade him much at the beginning. He did not approve of Ye Dalin's cancellation of the engagement only out of moral considerations.
But he never expected that the Wu family would be able to turn the situation around so thoroughly, not only completely getting rid of the predicament, but also turning the tide and reaching a higher level.
During this period, he had made three appointments to meet with Old Gu. The first two times, Old Gu had someone block him and refused to see him. The third time, he broke into Old Gu's house in the middle of the night and blocked his bed. The two brothers drank a pot of wine before Old Gu said, "Hao Guan has a bad temper. If the Ye family had just broken off the engagement, he would have probably just let it go. But in the second meeting to protect the business, the Ye family also voted for the Wu family. They wanted to push the Wu family to death - this is a feud."
Ye Zhong said at the time: "The Ye family might not have voted for the Wu family originally, and most likely would have just given up. Let's be frank - it was the actions of Hao Guan that later made the Ye family suspicious, so they voted for the Wu family."
Old Gu sneered, "You can say that it was the Hao official who set up the trap, or you can say that the Hao official saw through Ye Dalin. But in the end, it was Ye Dalin who made the decision to invest in the Wu family. The Hao official has a big idea now, and he hasn't told me how he wants to deal with the Ye family, but no matter how serious the punishment is, it will be dealt with sooner or later."
Ye Zhong understood.
In this matter, the Wu family has reasons to either punish severely or show leniency, and it all depends on Wu Chengjian's mood at that time.
But the more this happened, the more Ye Dalin felt unsure. He wanted to play the emotional card and talk to Wu Guoying about their old friendship, but Wu Guoying didn't even give him a chance to meet - Ye Dalin had been unjust that night, and now no one would say that Wu Guoying was unkind. Ye Dalin also tried to ask the Pan family to "be the backbone"", but Pan Youjie didn't want to wade into this muddy water.
Ye Dalin suddenly said, "The Cai family was the mastermind behind the attack on the Wu family this time, but this time, Hao Guan didn't touch the Cai family and even gave him some benefits. Maybe... maybe Hao Guan won't touch me either, right? There are so many people who have offended him, he can't just deal with them all, right? Ah Zhong, don't you think so?"
Ye Zhong frowned and said, "Master, you haven't eaten anything, are you hungry? Sharing the benefits of the Xie family with the Cai family, is this a good thing? This is Hao Guan trying to trick Hei Caitou. You haven't heard what kind of reputation Hei Caitou has now! I heard that when the women of the Xie family were sold, the Wu family didn't curse much, but cursed the Cai family to hell. Hei Caitou has been the general merchant for many years, and the tree is big and the roots are deep. The Wu family didn't touch the Cai family because it's not the right time yet."
After hearing what Ye Zhong said, Ye Dalin's heart sank even more.
At this moment, the second young lady, Ye Haocai, brought a plate of food over and said timidly, "Father, mother asked you to eat something anyway..."
Ye Dalin had a bad temper these days, and the whole family was afraid of him. As a result, before Ye Haocai could finish his words, Ye Dalin got so angry that he grabbed a plate and threw it at him, cursing, "It's all because of you women. Why did you cancel the engagement for no reason and cause such a big disaster!"
He smashed things in his hands and kept cursing, scolding Ye Haocai so much that she fell to the ground and burst into tears. Ye Dalin was annoyed by her crying and started scolding her again.
His wife Ma couldn't stand it anymore and rushed in to protect her daughter, shouting, "You were the one who wanted to cancel the engagement. Now that something has gone wrong, it's all our fault!"
Ye Dalin cursed, "If you hadn't been the one to keep whispering in my ear, how could I have been so obsessed as to break off the engagement? If you hadn't been instigating me, how could I have gotten into such an ugly fight with Old Wu!"
It was indeed Ma who first brought up the matter of breaking off the engagement, but if Ye Dalin didn't have this idea in mind, she wouldn't be able to persuade him even if she had ten mouths. Listening to her husband putting all the faults on her, Ma became unwilling and started to throw a tantrum on the spot. Both husband and wife were not well-mannered, and they started to fight again.
Ye Zhong sighed and walked out of the door. This has always been the case these days whenever there was a quarrel in the Ye family.
The master of the house and the mistress had a huge fight, which made everyone in the Ye residence panic. The servants were all afraid to get hurt, and the concubines were even more afraid that the fire in the city gate would affect innocent people. No one dared to persuade them, and no one dared to speak.
Ye Haocai was humiliated by Ye Dalin. After thinking for a while, she turned to Yingyang Garden, rushed in and started smashing things, angrily saying, "It's all because of you, little bitch! You caused all this trouble!" While smashing things, she cursed and blamed Ye Youyu for harming her.
Xu was just afraid of trouble. She knew what happened in the house. She thought that in the marriage with the Wu family, it was Ye Haocai who was engaged, and it was her and her daughter who wanted to cancel the engagement. Now the in-laws have become enemies, and Ye Haocai ran to her yard to make trouble. It was really unreasonable. But she was scared by Ma, so she could only watch Ye Haocai throwing things and dared not say a word.
Ye Youyu stood by and watched coldly, but didn't say a word.
The servants of Yingyang Garden, the gatekeepers and the housemaids who were sweeping the floor hid aside when they saw Ye Haocai coming angrily. The two young maids were also scared and huddled in a corner. The two older maids were named Dongmei and Dongxue. Dongmei didn't dare to speak, but Dongxue was fierce and said on the spot: "Second Miss is really something. Although we entered the family late, we have heard about the broken engagement, but we didn't know how this matter was related to our young lady from beginning to end, and it actually provoked the second young lady to come to Yingyang Garden to smash things."
The four maids were all newly bought. They had just moved in and had been staying in Yingyang Garden. They had no fear of the Ma family. After they moved in, Ye Youyu was quite concerned about them, so at this time, the brave Dongxue stood up to protect her master.
Ye Haocai knew that he was being unreasonable, but how could he tolerate a servant contradicting him? Moreover, this was a maid that Ye Youyu had bought himself, so he immediately flew into a rage and said, "You dare to contradict me? Slap yourself in the face! Do it until I say stop."
Dongxue didn't move at all. Ye Haocai suddenly remembered that she came here alone. Dongxue didn't know what to do, and no one in Yingyang Garden would help her. She felt embarrassed for a moment.
The old woman who had been hiding on the side just now shouted: "Hey, in our Xingchengxing Ye family, it is never right for a servant to contradict the master!"
Ye Youyu glanced at the old woman and thought to himself, "We can't keep this person."
When Ye Haocai heard someone joining in, his voice became louder and louder, and he said angrily: "Okay, how dare you disobey me? Then wait for me to discipline you!" Then he rushed over and wanted to tear Dongxue's mouth.
No matter how aggressive Dongxue is, she doesn't dare to fight with her master.
At this moment, Ye Youyu came over and said, "Sister, what are you doing? This is Yingyang Garden. Even if this girl did something wrong, I will teach her a lesson later. Sister, why do you have to do this? It's not worth it if you get hurt by anger."
Ye Haocai said angrily, "You still dare to protect her! Humph, what is Yingyang Garden? Do you really think that this place is yours just because you live here? Do you really think that just because you came up with some bad ideas and got the temporary favor of father, you can run rampant for the rest of your life? Humph, when father's heart fades and he no longer likes you, I will let mother ask father to peel your skin off!"
She was indeed a simple-minded person, and immediately revealed her plan for Ma.
Ye Youyu secretly laughed, thinking that it was really unfair for such a person to be his opponent. He sneered and said, "So this is what the madam was planning."
Ye Haocai was stunned when he heard this, and wondered why he couldn't control his mouth and let these words slip.
Then Ye Youyu said, "Well, it's been a while since I came up with that bad idea, and maybe Dad has already lost interest in me. Why don't we go to the study now and let Dad skin me alive? How do you think?"
How could Ye Haocai dare to go to the study room and get into trouble? He said angrily: "If I don't go, who knows what tricks you have in mind!"
Ye Youyu said, "Sister won't go, but I will. Sister suddenly broke into Yingyang Garden and smashed everything inside and outside the house. I dare not blame her, but I have to ask my father to replace the broken things with new ones, otherwise how will my mother and I sleep tonight?"
As he was about to leave, Xu hurriedly shouted, "We have fish! We have fish! You can't go! Your father is angry. If you go at this time, he might beat you to death!"
Ye Youyu ignored his mother's dissuasion and shouted, "Dongmei, Dongxue, come with me to the study." Dongxue responded and followed immediately, and Dongmei also followed.
Ye Haocai saw that Ye Youyu was really going to go, and staying there was like looking at a madman.
After leaving the yard, Ye Youyu suddenly stopped, stared at Dongmei and said, "Next time you are afraid of things, you will not be allowed to stay in Yingyang Garden."
Dongmei was startled and said hurriedly: "Girl, I...I don't dare anymore!"
Ye Youyu didn't answer, but took the lead and walked away. Dongxue followed closely, and Dongmei also hurriedly followed. Ye Haocai on the other side reacted and followed out, but when he reached the study, he didn't dare to go in. He just watched Ye Haocai's joke from afar.
By this time, Ma had finished her quarrel and returned to her room. The study was a mess. Ye Dalin sat there panting. Several personal servants hid outside and dared not approach. Even Ye Zhong stood outside the study.
Ye Youyu left two maids outside, walked in quietly, and started to clean up without saying a word - starting with the books that were thrown on the ground.
Ye Dalin angrily said, "Who let you in? Get out!"
Ye Youyu felt a chill in her heart again, thinking, "Madam knows my father's heart so well. It hasn't been long since he started to show his indifference to me. If I don't show any use in a few days, and Madam continues to persuade me, we can imagine what will happen to us, mother and daughter."
She didn't stop, and continued to pack up the books, saying, "Father, why are you so upset? It's not like there's no solution. Father promised me to send the Wu family father and son away, didn't that leave them with a glimmer of hope?"
Ye Dalin was extremely annoyed. Hearing this, he frowned and asked, "What life?"
