Chapter 1615: Easily Led Astray

Ye Chenghu was nearly blown up with anger.

The iced water they waited all night for was snatched away, and snatched with such boldness that they couldn't fight back, yet the rascals acted so righteously.

To make matters worse, there was an even more annoying accomplice right beside them.

"Brother, it's so delicious, cold and refreshing, I can eat while I write." Ye Ye Chengyang happily held his bowl and sat down at the table.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi also held her bowl and sat beside him. "Second Brother, when did you freeze it? Why didn't I see it yesterday?"

"We froze it last night."

"Why didn't you call me? If you had called me, I would have frozen another bowl, and Big Brother wouldn't have gone without."

Ye Ye Chengyang glanced at Ye Chenghu and chuckled.

Ye Chenghu was so angry he was going mad; he had waited all night in vain, only to watch the two of them act like they had won.

He slammed things around, grabbed another bowl, filled it with water, and put it in the refrigerator.

Seeing this, Ye Ye Xiaoxi immediately put down her bowl, grabbed another one, and wanted to copy them.

"Freeze another bowl, we'll have something to eat tonight again~ Hehehe~"

"But it tastes a bit bland... Ah... white sugar..."

She muttered to herself, fiddling with it; thinking she needed to add white sugar to give it flavor, she then started searching everywhere.

Watching her actions, Ye Chenghu quickly copied her, taking the iced water out of the refrigerator to add sugar.

Ye Ye Chengyang hurriedly prepared a bowl for himself too, otherwise everyone would have something to eat tonight except him.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi said happily, "I'm truly a genius, so smart. You two are both fools; you didn't know to add sugar, so there's no flavor at all."

"If there's no flavor, why did you steal mine?"

"I didn't know when I ate it; it was cold and refreshing, so comfortable." She closed her eyes with a look of pure enjoyment.

Ye Chenghu, seeing nothing was better than seeing nothing, turned his grief into strength and quickly lowered his head to do his homework.

Beside him, the other two made slurping sounds, then crunching sounds.

So angry was he that he moved his homework upstairs to write, refusing to sit near them.

When Lin Lin Xiuqing was cooking dinner, she noticed bowls were missing and discovered the good deed they had done.

On top of the freezer compartment, three bowls were neatly arranged; the water inside was almost completely frozen solid, with only a little bit still floating.

"Who did this? Who started it?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi shouted loudly, "It was the brothers! They froze it last night; I just copied them today."

Ye Chenghu glared at her angrily. "You already ate a bowl this afternoon; why didn't you say anything then?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing already had the whip in her hand. "Eating such a huge bowl won't give you diarrhea?"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi was terrified to death, but seeing the whip didn't immediately fall, her heart calmed slightly; she took small steps over and hugged her mother's arm.

"We didn't get diarrhea; we're fine."

Lin Lin Xiuqing whipped her once with the whip; she shuddered all over, her shoulders hunched up, then realized it didn't hurt much, her eyes immediately lit up, and she spoke louder.

"Mother, doing this saves money; we don't need to go out and buy iced water to eat."

"Doesn't electricity cost money? If the bowls freeze and crack, I'll beat you to death."

"They won't; when the brothers did it last night, none of them cracked."

Lin Lin Xiuqing cast a hostile glance at the two of them. "It was you two who started this bad business; I just told you to be quiet yesterday, and you've caused trouble again. Do you not want your piggy banks?"

While speaking, she had already taken the bowls out, intending to carry them to the back door to pour them out.

The two brothers, quick as lightning, hurriedly snatched them away.

"You can't pour them out."

"They're about to be frozen solid; we'll just take them out, we won't freeze them anymore, don't pour them out."

Lin Lin Xiuqing casually picked up the whip and whipped them several more times; they jumped up and down, nearly spilling the contents.

To save a mouthful of food, they didn't dodge anymore; let them hit, they thought; they were almost successful, so they certainly couldn't fail at the last moment.

Since they were going to get beaten anyway, they might as well eat it first and then get beaten; that way, it wouldn't be unfair.

Seeing her two brothers had already rushed over to snatch the two bowls from her mother's hands, Ye Ye Xiaoxi went to the stove herself, picked up the remaining bowl, and tasted it.

"Ha~ So cold~ So sweet~"

Hearing this, the two brothers immediately lowered their heads and took a sip too.

Seeing them, Lin Lin Xiuqing got angry and whipped each of them a few more times; the two brothers stood motionless, letting her hit them.

"Mother, stop hitting; we've taken them all out. Have a taste; it's so cold and delicious." Ye Ye Chengyang eagerly held the bowl high.

She turned her head away and rewarded him with another strike.

"You are not allowed to open and close the refrigerator all day; it will break easily. Last time, I don't know who opened it but didn't close it tightly."

Ye Chenghu: "It definitely wasn't us; we weren't home."

Lin Lin Xiuqing rewarded him with a strike too. "Opening and closing it all day long; the electricity bill is higher than your tuition fees."

The three fell silent, heads bowed, holding their bowls and slurping the sweet iced water.

Seeing the three identical actions made her angry; she gave each of them another strike, then finally put the whip down.

"No more freezing; if I find anyone doing this again, I'll beat them to death. Drinking this water without boiling it first, you don't know how many bacteria are in it; I've been telling you all along that if you're thirsty, drink tea or drink boiled water..."

The three only nodded but made no sound, eating on their own.

Lin Lin Xiuqing raised her voice. "Did you hear me?"

"We heard you."

"Is your homework finished?"

"Almost..."

Watching the three holding their bowls, inching slowly toward the table, she went to cook dinner first, not forgetting to scold them a few more times while she did.

"All you do all day is eat. If you finish such a big bowl, how can you eat dinner?"

"Mother, this is water. One pee and it's gone."

"If you get diarrhea later, just look at yourself..."

Lin Lin Xiuqing didn't know how many bowls of iced water those few had actually drunk; she couldn't keep following behind them, staring at their backsides all the time.

After finishing cooking the rice, she thought for a moment and went to buy some deworming medicine.

They weren't home during the summer vacation; she hadn't given them deworming medicine yet this year. If they got diarrhea, it would be just right to flush everything out.

Buying it now so the children could take it after the meal was perfect timing.

However, during the meal, Ye Fu frowned, looking at this one, then that one. Everyone at the table knew he seemed to have some troubling matter, yet no one spoke up to ask.

The three younger ones also watched him with full faces of curiosity.

"This... just now, Big Brother came to find me..."

The adults glanced at him and continued eating.

The three younger ones dared not make a sound; they lowered their heads to shovel rice, their ears perked up.

"He said Ah Hong already boarded the train last night. He'll transfer to another train today and can reach the city by tomorrow..."

"What? Do you still need to give him a welcome banquet? Do you want to set up ten or eight tables to celebrate?"

"Don't speak so harshly. I am discussing this with you."

Lin Lin Xiuqing interjected, "Discuss what? The matter of work?"

"No. I wanted to ask to borrow the tractor to go to the city to pick him up. Otherwise, if he arrives tomorrow afternoon, there will be no vehicle to bring him back."

"No vehicle to bring him back? Then he can come back the day after tomorrow. We workers all have to work. Where can we specially send someone to pick him up? What a grand display! It's not like he's coming back having earned a fortune to have a car sent to pick him up. Coming back from prison, does he have the nerve to make others stop working and make a huge fuss to drive and pick him up? You aren't even his father."

"Isn't it just that I'm idle these two days? I didn't ask anyone else to go; I'll drive myself..."

"Then buy a car to go pick him up. Don't touch Dongzi's car."

"You person! Although we brothers quarrel and make noise, sometimes we disagree, but we are still brothers for several decades. What's wrong with helping with a small favor? If you don't even lend a hand, others will say behind our backs that we've become rich and successful and have abandoned our poor brothers, fearing they'll get attached to us."

Ye Mu glared with furrowed brows. "Who is saying that behind our backs? Who doesn't praise that we've become successful yet haven't forgotten to help out relatives and friends? More than half the villagers have benefited. Who dares say such words?"

Ye Fu was refuted into silence.

"You should stay away from this person. You can now actively go pick him up after his release from prison. Once he gets out, won't he cling to you? Do you want to be a good person to the very end?"

"Then... then I can just refuse..."

"Then why don't you refuse right now? Why wait for him to beg you to be a good person to the very end, to arrange the rest of his life properly for him, before you refuse?"

"That certainly won't happen. Where would he make me arrange the rest of his life? I haven't even settled the rest of my own life yet..."

"You know you haven't settled your own life, yet you still dare to take on every kind of work. We still rely on everything on Dongzi. Don't drag him down. Get clung to by this one, get clung to by that one."

"This hasn't even happened yet, and you're already worrying about it in advance."

"How can I not worry? He has a criminal record and has been in a big prison for several years."

Ye Fu tried to argue with reason. "He has already reformed. They said his performance was very good, so his sentence was reduced, allowing him to get out early."

"You haven't even seen the person. How do you know he has reformed? To change one's opinion of a person, you must at least see them first and understand them for a period before saying whether they have reformed. Take Ah Fan for example; he is arranged to work on a boat. Have I said anything bad about him?"

Ye Fu had nothing to say.

"Worry less about this. His own father will worry. If you have nothing better to do, just leave early tomorrow to avoid being pampered at home until you can fly to the sky."

"If you drink a couple of ounces of horse urine again, I think you could become the Jade Emperor, taking on and managing everything."

Lin Lin Xiuqing also didn't want to get involved in this matter. Who knew if he had really reformed? What if he met some shady people inside? If she actively stuck herself to him, it would be simply looking for trouble for herself.

She was even thinking of strengthening patrols around her own home, planning to recruit a few cousins and relatives from her maiden village. Couples would work too.

Anyway, the old house is empty now; people can be arranged to stay there temporarily. Later, the men can do some Nanming Nanming Lihuo and patrol at night, while the women can kill fish in the workshop. This way, they can also help out relatives on her maiden family's side.

Their village indeed has few laborers now; there are mostly elderly people, women, and children. It is still necessary to recruit more people.

"Father, either just say directly that you received notice and must depart tomorrow night. You'll be back in two or three days, so you have to leave. You have no time to pick anyone up."

"Then, everyone in the workshop is busy working, so it's not good to let anyone go. The vehicle also needs to go to the county town and the township to deliver goods. Let them figure it out themselves."

"We have helped where we should. We have extended a hand to relatives we can lift up. We haven't said we intentionally oppose anyone, and no one will say anything against us."

Ye Fu sighed. "I was just thinking that since the person has reformed, helping him out would be good. After all, our family's conditions are indeed good now. Lifting him up could pull him out of the water."

"That doesn't necessarily have to be now. We can wait until he returns and observe first. Empty words carry no proof; who would believe them? If you say it casually to anyone in the village right now, they will all curse."

Ye Mu agreed. "Exactly. Making you specially drive to pick him up is just thinking of making you save face for him. Later, if anything happens, they'll pull you out to guarantee it. Do you want to guarantee him?"

"Then will I really leave tomorrow night?"

"You haven't stayed long enough, haven't bragged enough, and don't want to leave? Or should you just take a break for the New Year and stop working?"

"How can that be?"

"See? It's not that Dongzi can't do without you; it's clearly that you haven't heard enough people calling you 'President Ye'."

The three younger ones heard "President Ye," exchanged glances with squinting eyes, then moved their mouths, silently calling out "President Ye" there as well.

Ye Fu glared at the three of them.

Lin Lin Xiuqing also looked at them. "Eat your rice."

Ye Fu sighed silently and said helplessly, "Alright then. I will refuse after the meal later. Last time he came to talk about work, we already refused. Now he comes again to ask us to just help pick up a person. Later, he will say we aren't even willing to do this..."

Ye Mu was furious at his stubbornness. "So I say your brain isn't clear. When he spoke, you should have just smiled and refused directly. Say you are leaving tomorrow and have no time. What a good excuse?"

"You had to hesitate and not refuse outright, giving people hope, and then refuse later. How can they be happy in their hearts? Refuse with a smile on the spot; who could say anything?"

"You are just stupid and soft-eared. Just because someone is weak, do you have to accommodate them? You've said so much before, yet you haven't remembered it; you only listen to the flattering words."

Ye Fu refuted, "How could that be? I was just considering family affection. We are all brothers. Although we sometimes disagree, nothing terrible has ever happened. Even upper teeth sometimes knock against lower teeth. How can one be so heartless as a person?"

"How is that heartless? Who doesn't say we have human feelings? When we should help, when have we ever pushed it away?"

"Alright, alright, I know. If you all are unwilling, then forget it."

"You must remember this. In the future, if such a thing happens, push it away if you can. It's not a person or a major matter that cannot be refused."

"Got it, stop nagging. I'm old enough to not need your teaching?"

Ye's mother pouted, "Without me, this family would fall apart sooner or later."

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Hmph, with ears as soft as yours, if I didn't keep an eye on you, you'd be stripped bare and the whole house emptied before long."

"Stop bragging. With your fierce temper, everyone is scared of you. Hurry up and eat your rice."

"You still don't believe me? Back then, without me, the land next to our house would have been claimed by others for several extra centimeters..."

Lin Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "Thanks to Mother's capability, our family has become more and more prosperous. Dongzi also couldn't do it without Father's help. It is our united effort and hard work that brought us to today."

Ye's father and mother's expressions softened as they listened.

"In a moment, I'll just say I just received a call from Dongzi."

"Mm, in a while I'll go and reject them, and also go call the workers to get everyone ready to pack up. That way, it will also show I'm not lying."

Ye's mother glanced at him and said nothing more.

PS: This is a make-up chapter; there will be another one tonight.