Chapter 481: A Welcome Reception

Two BMWs returned to the large villa at Tang Chen, one after the other.

Ye Da had been nagged by Ma Lan the entire way, and his inner dissatisfaction grew increasingly intense.

When he had first received Ma Lan's call, he was singing love songs with his first love, so he felt guilty. Hearing her flare up, he had rushed to the hospital in a panic.

But after calming down, he felt more and more that Ma Lan was truly beyond saving.

Thus, his resolve to divorce Ma Lan grew even firmer.

After getting out of the car, Ye Da reached into the back seat and handed Ma Lan the crutches he had bought at the hospital.

Ma Lan had been waiting for him to help her inside, or even carry her in; she hadn't expected him to just hand her a pair of crutches.

Leaning on the crutches, Ma Lan cursed on the spot: "Ye Da, you old bastard, my leg is broken, and you just throw me a pair of crutches?"

Ye Da said: "You have to get used to using crutches sooner or later anyway. Otherwise, what will you do when you need to go to the bathroom or something?"

"What's that?" Ma Lan asked angrily: "Are you saying I can't rely on you from now on?"

Ye Da said with a dark face: "Don't forget, we are already separated!"

Ma Lan was about to start cursing when Ye Chen pulled his car up right in front of them.

As soon as Xiao Churan got out of the car, Ma Lan immediately began to complain to her. Xiao Churan, holding the mindset of turning big problems into small ones, hurriedly supported her and comforted her: "Oh Mom, stop getting angry with Dad. Your health is already poor; don't make yourself sicker."

Ma Lan still wanted to curse, but suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. She immediately realized she had been hungry for too long and was about to faint from low blood sugar.

So she said weakly: "Oh, I can't take it anymore, I'm starving to death. Where's Ye Chen? Go cook for me immediately! I want to eat braised pork, stewed beef..."

Ye Chen said expressionlessly: "I haven't had time to buy groceries today. There's only dried noodles at home. How about I make you a bowl of noodles?"

Ma Lan blurted out: "I've been hungry for two days and two nights! What good is a bowl of noodles?"

Ye Chen said indifferently: "Then I'll go buy groceries now."

Upon hearing this, Ma Lan immediately said anxiously: "By the time you buy them and come back, I'll have fainted from hunger!"

Ye Chen asked: "How about I order takeout for you?"

Ma Lan blurted out: "Takeout takes at least half an hour or even forty minutes. Just cook me noodles, and crack two eggs into them!"

Ye Chen said casually: "There are no eggs left. I haven't gone shopping yet."

Ma Lan said: "Then give me some vegetables, okay? Add some greens. I haven't eaten any vegetables for two days, and I'm so inflamed my mouth is rotting."

Ye Chen shrugged: "There's nothing in the house except dried noodles. If you want to eat, I'll make you a bowl of clear soup noodles."

Ma Lan stomped her feet in anger and pointed at Ye Chen, asking Xiao Churan: "Churan, is this loser doing this to spite me on purpose? Why is there nothing in the house?"

Xiao Churan looked embarrassed.

Ye Chen spoke up at this moment: "I've been busy looking for you for the past two days, so I haven't cooked at home, and I haven't gone grocery shopping."

Ma Lan was furious, but she didn't have the strength to vent at him, so she said to Ye Chen: "Then hurry up and make me a bowl of noodles!"

Ye Chen responded and walked toward the kitchen.

In fact, there was a carton of eggs in the refrigerator, but he didn't want to give a single one to Ma Lan. So, he cracked all the eggs and poured them into the drain in one go. Although it was a bit wasteful to pour them down the drain, it would be even more of a waste if they ended up in Ma Lan's stomach.

Afterward, he boiled some water in a pot, grabbed a handful of noodles, and threw them in.

Just as he was going through the motions, his phone suddenly received a WeChat message.

He opened WeChat and found that someone had tagged him in the "Jin Ling Welfare Institute Buddies" chat group.

There were twenty or thirty people in this group, all orphans who had been taken in and raised by Aunt Li. However, everyone had entered society many years ago, and many were scattered across the country, so their contact with each other wasn't very close.

Ye Chen opened the group and found that it wasn't someone tagging him, but someone sending a message to everyone.

The message was sent by a girl from the welfare institute named Li Xiaofen. The content was: "Secretly telling everyone some good news, Aunt Li has recovered from her illness and returned to Jin Ling!"

Li Xiaofen was a little girl Ye Chen had met at the orphanage back then.

This little girl had been abandoned by her parents shortly after birth. Aunt Li had raised her. She was two or three years younger than Ye Chen, and in Ye Chen's eyes, she was like a little sister.

Aunt Li didn't know what her surname was, so she let her take her own surname and named her Li Xiaofen.

After Li Xiaofen became an adult, she worked at the welfare institute with Aunt Li. She was the only one among the many buddies from back then who had stayed at the welfare institute.

Seeing her say that Aunt Li had recovered and returned, Ye Chen hurriedly asked in the group: "Why didn't you tell us when Aunt Li came back? We could have gone to give her a welcome reception."

Li Xiaofen said: "Brother Ye Chen, Aunt Li said she didn't want to trouble you all, so she didn't tell anyone. I only found out after she suddenly returned this afternoon."

Ye Chen asked again: "How is Aunt Li's health? Does she look okay? She just recovered and was discharged; she didn't go straight back to work at the welfare institute, did she?"

"Yes!" Li Xiaofen said: "Brother Ye Chen, you definitely know what kind of person Aunt Li is. How could she stay idle? She hasn't been to the welfare institute for so long; she's been worried sick about the children."

As she spoke, Li Xiaofen added: "But looking at Aunt Li's body, I feel she's actually quite good. She doesn't look like someone who just had a serious illness at all. She should have recovered as before!"

Ye Chen felt relieved. After all, Tang Sihai had sent Aunt Li to the best Xiehe Academy in Jingcheng, and he himself had paid two million for medical expenses, which included very high-end post-operative recovery.

At this time, others in the group also sent messages one after another.

"Ah, Aunt Li is discharged? That's great!"

"Haha, I knew it. Good people get good rewards; Aunt Li would definitely have a day of recovery!"

At this moment, a person named Jiang Ming suddenly tagged everyone and said in the group: "Everyone, since Aunt Li has recovered and been discharged, I propose that those of us in Jin Ling go to the welfare institute to visit Aunt Li now, and by the way, find a restaurant to give her a welcome reception. What do you think?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Jiang Ming, that's a good idea! I'm almost off work, I can go over anytime!"

"That's right, Aunt Li's recovery is a big happy event, we must go visit her!"

Regarding this, Li Xiaofen sent a happy emoji and said: "That's what I meant by sending everyone a message. Since we haven't seen Aunt Li for a long time, and everyone hasn't seen each other for a long time, why not take this opportunity for us to pool some money together and treat Aunt Li to a meal? I believe Aunt Li will definitely be very happy!"

"Oh, you guys in Jin Ling, can't you wait a day or two? Wait for us who are out of town to go back. Or I'll go buy a plane ticket now and go back tomorrow!"

That Jiang Ming said: "For things like a welcome reception, of course, the day of the return has the most sense of ritual!"