"Pah, if it werenât for your jealousy toward her, your framing of her, your inability to tolerate her, would she have left the residence in the middle of the night? Sheâs not stupid." Granted, Old Lady Caoâs guess wasnât far offâthe reason Cao Lingling was afraid was precisely because Yang Chuxia couldnât stand her.
"Donât be shameless, old woman. What right does your granddaughter have to be the object of my jealousy? Am I jealous of her flirtatiousness, or am I jealous of her inability to stay at home? Donât talk about whether I can or cannot tolerate her. Thatâs my house. Living in my house, if I want to tolerate her, then itâs out of pity for her; if I donât want to tolerate her, she should have left earlier."
Yang Chuxia paused for a moment, not waiting for her to reply, and continued, "Donât drag me into this nonsense. In any case, itâs your daughterâs own doing that she married into the Zhou Family, and her banishment is what she deserves. Donât come to our Ye Family causing trouble for no reason. Guards, escort them out! If they come again, thereâs no need to report it, just chase them away!"
"Iâd like to see who dares to touch me!" As soon as the servants took a couple of steps forward, Old Master Cao suddenly played the scoundrel, sprawling on the ground, "Who dares to touch me? Whoever touches me, I will accuse them of assault at the officialâs office."
Seeing Old Master Cao behave like this, Old Lady Cao followed suit, lying on the ground, "I donât care, itâs all your Ye Familyâs fault that my granddaughter was banished. If it hadnât been for you, my granddaughter wouldnât have been sent away. You owe me my granddaughter."
But Cao Linglingâs father was shouting, "If you donât compensate for my daughterâs life, you must pay in silver, at least a hundred taels, no, five hundred taels! Otherwise, I will accuse you at the officialâs office of plotting murder, and then even Ye Ziâan wonât be able to remain an official."
"Right, just like that, pay us! Five hundred taels of silver, otherwise, return my daughterâs life to us, itâs all because of you that my daughter suffered," Cao Linglingâs mother also changed her tune.
The mother who originally pitied her daughter was now only concerned about the five hundred taels of silver.
"Compensate, compensate!!!" The people who came with the Cao Family were also shouting.
These people were distant relatives and neighbors of the Cao Family; they had all agreed before coming that once the Cao Family received the money, each one of them would get two taels of silver. As for whether the Cao daughter was dead or banished, and by whom she was harmed, they couldnât care less.
"Compensation?" Yang Chuxia looked at this whole family, unable to suppress her laughter, "Dreaming in broad daylight, are you? Go bring me several buckets of dung, pour a bucket over each person, and letâs see if theyâll leave then."
Sister-in-law Li, hearing this, became as excited as if sheâd been injected with chicken blood, "Right away, Iâll get someone on that immediately."
But the Cao Family members didnât take these words to heart.
They kept threatening, "Ye Ziâan, if you dare to have someone beat or splash me today, I will report you to the officialâs office for assaulting an elder." Old Master Cao believed that Ye Ziâan wouldnât dare let anyone lay a hand on him.
Those who are officials value their reputation above all; regardless of whether the ties with the Ye Family had been severed or not, he was still Ye Ziâanâs elder, his granduncle, and that couldnât be changed. Previously, he had felt uneasy about going to their house after having severed ties, thinking heâd lack confidence.
But now, he had come to understand; whether or not the ties had been severed, as long as he was Ye Ziâanâs granduncle, he had to be treated with respect. If not given respect, he could make a scene.
Furthermore, Old Master Cao was extremely annoyed with Ye Ziâan. How could the bonds of blood with relatives be truly cut off at a wordâs notice?
Besides, in family relations, could there really be any deep-seated hatred? Without any significant grievances, relatives should help each other out. His family had prospered and thus should look after these poor relatives of theirs, especially catering to him, the granduncle. But Ye Ziâan not only failed to take care of them but also harmed his granddaughter. So, it was no wonder he came to make a fuss.