Chapter 261

Li Ye hadn't slept well on the train, so after finishing lunch, he lay down to catch up on sleep. When he woke up, it was already three or four in the afternoon.

Having drunk too much noodle soup, he got up to go outside to relieve himself, only to find his younger sister sitting at the door of his room, holding a stick, just like when he was taking his college entrance exams—"not even a chicken or dog could get close."

However, she was lowering her little head, her eyes half-open and half-closed, with a trace of drool at the corner of her mouth, as if she were dozing off.

Li Ye didn't make a sound and went to relieve himself on tiptoe. When he returned, he happened to see Li Juan coming from the kitchen and kicking Li Ying, sending the dozing sister into a sprawl.

Li Ye opened his mouth to scold Li Juan, telling her not to engage in domestic violence, but then he heard Li Juan rattling off like a clapper talk.

"I told you to keep watch and you slept, I told you to sleep and you snuck food, I told you to eat and you picked out the meat..."

"."

"Waaah~ I'll fight you!"

Li Ying, just startled awake, jumped up, bent down, stretched out her hands, grabbed her sister's arms, and rammed her little head into her sister's waist.

Although Li Ying was three years younger than Li Juan and her build was much weaker, her fighting spirit was high, and she rammed forward like an angry little calf.

Li Ye, who had originally wanted to stop them, was no longer in a hurry. Children fighting helped deepen their bond; otherwise, when they grew old and looked back on the past, they wouldn't even remember the impressions of each other from their childhood.

Anyway, the two girls were just pulling and tugging; at most, they would cry a little, nothing major.

But the next moment, Li Ye's face turned dark.

He saw the older sister, Li Juan, perform a leg trip, cleanly and neatly throwing her younger sister, Li Ying, hard to the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey, Li Juan, take your hands off!"

Li Ye ran over in a few steps, circled Li Juan, and said with a face full of surprise, "You're very skilled at this stance! Hmm? You haven't been using Li Ying for practice often, have you?"

Li Juan, who had just rolled up her sleeves, muttered while quietly rolling them back down, "She gets beaten all day and still can't do anything right! She's about to start middle school and only knows how to eat..."

Li Ye said sternly, "No matter how incapable she is, she's still your sister. Sisters are meant to be cherished, not beaten.

How old is she this year? It's already good enough that she can add firewood to the stove; you still expect her to know how to repair houses and farm the land..."

Li Ye's lecture on "sisterly love" made Li Juan's eyes turn red.

Meanwhile, Li Ying stood behind Li Ye, lifting her little chin like a triumphant little rooster, baring her teeth and glaring at her sister.

Li Juan was angry and threw out her trump card.

"If she can't do this and can't do that, that's fine, but she failed her exams and was third from the bottom. If I don't beat her, she won't improve."

Li Ying: "."

Li Ye: "."

Li Ying looked at her sister blankly, a flash of annoyance passing through her eyes, and then her face was full of grievance and resentment, as if saying, "How could you reveal my shortcomings? I'm your own sister, you know~"

Li Ye pursed his lips and looked back at the dejected Li Ying: "Xiao Ying, we don't ask for the top three in the class, but we can't be third from the bottom either!"

Li Ying retreated timidly and said meekly, "I'm not third from the bottom, I'm... forty-eighth from the top."

"You're really cunning," the older sister, Li Juan, mocked, "There are fifty people in your class in total; forty-eighth from the top is just third from the bottom."

The younger sister, Li Ying, was furious and said to her sister, "Then you're the one who fights at school! The teacher even came to our house, and just for the medical expenses, we had to pay them one yuan and eight cents..."

"."

Li Ye was a bit confused. How did it feel like neither of these two sisters were children who saved him trouble?

Look at Watching Wen Leyu, cute and sensible, and then look at you two?

Forget it, the two of them combined weren't a match for Watching Wen Leyu.

Li Ye pondered for a moment and asked Li Juan: "Yang Xiaojuan, why do you hit people?"

Li Juan, who had been furious a second ago, suddenly fell silent. She looked up at Li Ye for a few seconds, then lowered her head without saying a word.

But Li Ye clearly saw tears welling up in the corners of her eyes within those few seconds.

Li Ye turned to ask Li Ying: "Little sister, you tell me, why did your sister fight?"

"The child of Butcher Wu from East Street said that we..."

"Shut up~"

Li Juan gave a sharp shout, and Li Ying immediately closed her mouth. Sure enough, the older sister's bloodline pressure was no joke.

Then the little girl Li Ying also lowered her head, pretending to be a dull goose along with her sister.

Fine, Li Ye knew he had spoken too much.

He wasn't one of those stupid parents on TV who had to get to the bottom of everything.

With the reactions of these two children, wasn't that enough to explain the problem?

Someone must have been gossiping, right!

"Oh, there's nothing shameful about fighting. If you don't believe me, go ask around. Your brother here is a top-tier fighter; everyone in the whole county knows it."

"."

Li Juan and Li Ying both looked up, staring eagerly at Li Ye, silly and somewhat cute.

Li Ye advised, "We shouldn't take the initiative to provoke others, but if others provoke us, then fight! If you can't win, come back and tell your sister, tell your dad, and let them go help you fight."

Li Juan sniffled and nodded repeatedly, showing her admiration and agreement with her brother.

But the younger sister, Li Ying, said with some worry: "But if we do that... Mom will beat us!"

"."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go out for a stroll, see what dishes we can buy, and add some food for dinner!"

Li Ye simply stopped nagging and called the two sisters to go out shopping.

"I know, I know, there's a place that sells pig head meat at the back door of our school; it's cheap and delicious."

"Their pig head meat isn't cheap at all; it's much more expensive than fried dough twists."

"I say you're stupid and you won't admit it. If pig head meat were cheaper than dough twists, could it still be called pig head meat?"

"You're the stupid one!"

"You're stupid!"

"You're stupid!"

The two sisters were indeed becoming more cheerful, following closely behind like little tails, and they kept bickering all the way.

Li Ye first took the two sisters around the county town, buying this and that until they were carrying two large bags.

Then Li Ye discovered that although the family was no longer short of money, Li Juan and Li Ying's quality of life didn't seem to have changed much.

When they saw many things, the longing in their eyes couldn't be faked; just a few milk candies or pastries made them incredibly happy.

It seems that the concept of "raising girls in luxury" hadn't emerged in this era yet.

As Li Ye walked around, he arrived at East Street and began to ask where Butcher Wu lived.

Hearing Li Ye asking about Butcher Wu's home, Li Juan was extremely clever and immediately grabbed the corner of Li Ye's shirt.

"Don't go, Brother. Last time they didn't ask for too much money; it really cost one yuan and eight cents..."

Looking at the uneasy Li Juan, Li Ye smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? I'm not going there to fight."

Li Juan opened her mouth, clearly not believing him.

【It would be a miracle if you didn't fight! I only paid one yuan and eight cents, but back in the day you...】

However, Li Juan's strength was small, and it was impossible for her to hold Li Ye back. The three siblings soon found themselves at the door of Butcher Wu's house.

"Woof, woof, woof~"

A large dog was squatting at the door, barking wildly at Li Ye. Looking at its oily, shiny fur, it was clear that it had plenty of fat on its body.

Li Ying hid behind Li Ye when she saw the big dog, clearly very afraid of dogs, but Li Juan had already picked up a brick and weighed it in her hand to see if it was comfortable.

Several old men cooling off under a big tree warned Li Ye and his siblings: "Hey, you three kids, stay away from that dog; that dog bites!"

"If a dog doesn't bite, why keep it? Keep it to eat its meat?"

Hearing the dog barking, a half-grown child came out from inside the door, walking and complaining at the same time.

He wasn't very tall, but he was chubby and had some weight to him.

But seeing Li Juan holding a brick, the little fatty subconsciously wanted to run back, but after thinking about it, he was at his own door, so he turned around and came back.

"What... are you doing?"

"Nothing much, just came to ask you one thing," Li Ye asked calmly: "Can you stop scolding my sister from now on?"

"I... I... didn't, I didn't scold her later, I didn't know she was your sister..."

The little fatty looked like he was about to cry.

Although the Li Ye in front of him was calm and indifferent, he just felt a chill all over his body, as if he were countless times more terrifying than Li Juan, who had rushed over crazily with a brick.

"What's wrong, what's wrong? Xiao Ban'er, who are you talking to?"

A woman came out from inside the door, startled after seeing the three of them, and then put on a smiling face.

"No, our child is very honest; it was all instigated by children in the same class..."

"It's okay, it's all in the past. I'm not here to look for trouble today."

Li Ye smiled and said to the little fatty: "Anyway, you know where my house is now. If my sister is bullied at school in the future, could you please go to our house and let us know?"

"Yes, yes, yes~"

The little fatty nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Li Ye smiled and stuffed a bag of pastries into the little fatty's hand, saying: "My sister has a heavy hand and broke your head; I'm sorry about that!"

"Ah? No, no, it's okay, it's okay, it's all healed."

The little fatty held the pastries Li Ye had stuffed into his hand, completely not understanding what was going on.

Even the woman didn't understand what was going on.

At the time, when the child's head was broken, she had gone to their house in a fit of anger and taken one yuan and eight cents. Later, she had felt for a long time that she had been too reckless; offending the Li family was not a good thing.

Seeing Li Ye today, she had thought they were going to suffer another loss! She hadn't expected them to give them a bag of pastries.

"How can I be so embarrassed, how can I be so embarrassed!"

"It's okay, let's go."

Li Ye turned and left, but seeing that big dog still barking, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes and click his tongue twice, saying: "Hmm, this dog is not bad; one pot won't be enough to stew it."

"."

After Li Ye had walked a long way, he heard a miserable yelp from that dog behind him.

"Brother, why did you give him a bag of *Da Kou Su*? I haven't even eaten a single bite."

After leaving East Street, Li Juan threw away the brick in her hand and muttered indignantly.

It wasn't like that little fatty who fought hadn't laid a hand on her; it was shameless to go to the parents when he couldn't win. Paying one yuan and eight cents wasn't enough, and today they had even given away a bag of good food. Little Li Juan felt aggrieved in her heart.

But Li Ye said: "Yang Xiaojuan! Fighting is certainly satisfying, but that's only the last resort when there's no other way. Subduing the enemy without fighting is the best strategy."

Li Juan and Li Ying were both stunned, feeling that the Li Ye in front of them didn't quite match the legendary older brother who was brave enough to lead an army.

But by the evening, the two girls were admiring Li Ye with their whole hearts.

When Li Zhongfa returned, he was carrying two mesh bags containing cleaned dog meat.

Wu Juying asked in confusion: "What's this? Eating dog meat in the middle of summer? Do you feel a chill in your body?"

"Chill? It's Butcher Wu from East Street who felt guilty. Your good grandson hadn't been back for half a day before he started making trouble," Li Zhongfa snorted and said: "They sent it to our door, and it cost me several yuan to buy it."

Wu Juying was stunned for a moment, then went to ask Li Ye.

Li Ye didn't hide anything and honestly explained the whole process, without concealing a single thing.

Meanwhile, the two younger sisters were hiding on the side, shivering.

This whole thing had been caused by them; if Grandma got angry and Mom turned around, she would really beat them!

But after Wu Juying heard it, she said: "Hmm, this was handled well. If a sister is bullied, the brother should stand up for her."

Li Juan and Li Ying looked at each other, and then both had the same thought—there really should be a male in the family; it feels so good to have a brother.

A quick note: sometimes when Old Feng modifies published content, the subsequent comments are automatically deleted by the system, so it's not Old Feng's doing. For example, in the previous chapter, the part about "dumplings when leaving, noodles when returning," Old Feng really got it wrong. As the older generation passes away, these customs become fewer and fewer, and Old Feng's memory has become blurred.

(End of chapter)