Chapter 165
Cai Xiaomei thought about it and agreed.
"I have to say, Eldest Sister, you really know how to persuade people. Please help me talk to Dong'er."
Unable to withstand Cai Xiaomei's pleading, Cai Damei agreed.
"Mother, look at the pretty flower," Cai Shuyi ran in, holding a silk flower in her hand.
"Mhm, it's beautiful. Who gave it to you?"
"Sister Lingling gave it to me." Cai Shuyi pointed to Zhou Lingling, who was learning how to make silk flowers from Ye Yunniang not far away.
"She's not your sister." Cai Damei explained the matter of family seniority to Cai Shuyi.
Cai Shuyi nodded, understanding. But she still wanted to call her sister.
"Then go ahead and call her that," Cai Damei said no more.
"Mother is so good. This flower is for you. I want Mother to be happy every day." Cai Shuyi pressed the silk flower into Cai Damei's hand.
"Alright, Mother is happy." Cai Damei accepted it.
Cai Shuyi ran out to play with Zhou Lingling.
Cai Damei carefully put the flower away, catching sight of Cai Xiaomei's thoughtful face from the corner of her eye.
"What's wrong?"
"You're asking me what's wrong? Is Shushu your biological child? Was that you I saw that day? Why did you lie to me?"
Cai Damei reached out to stop Cai Xiaomei's barrage of questions.
"Don't ask too much about Shushu."
"How can I not ask?" If she didn't ask or care, were they even sisters?
"Just tell me, was that you I saw that day?"
Cai Damei remained silent, indirectly confirming her answer.
"Who is he? How did you hook up with him?"
"I didn't hook up with anyone. Stop asking. It won't do you any good."
"Tell me, who is he?"
Cai Damei refused to say. "I'm going to reopen Xiaocaiji. It's set for the second day of next month."
"If you don't tell me who that man is, I won't go."
"I'm just letting you know. Whether you go or not is your business." Cai Damei was completely unaffected by Cai Xiaomei's words.
"Eldest Sister, Shushu is still young now, so it's fine. But when she grows up and asks you for her father, what will you say? When she gets married and people ask who her father is, how will you answer?" Cai Xiaomei was genuinely worried for her sister.
"I'll deal with the future when it comes. I'm not worried, so why are you?" Cai Damei's response made Cai Xiaomei take deep breaths. Who was she even worrying for?
"You have enough of a mess in your own family to worry about. Just leave my affairs alone," Cai Damei said dismissively.
"Fine, fine, fine, I won't care."
"That's more like it." Cai Damei stood up and walked outside.
"Where are you going?" Cai Xiaomei stood up, ready to follow.
"To have a chat with Dong'er."
Hearing this, Cai Xiaomei decided not to follow and turned to go to the kitchen.
When Cai Damei reached the front courtyard, Zhou Dong was weighing bean sprouts for a customer.
She waited until Zhou Dong saw the customer off before stepping forward.
"Aunt, my mother asked you to persuade me to take a wife."
"Yes, what are your thoughts?"
"I just want to run the shop well." Zhou Dong didn't want to think about anything else.
"You're not considering remarrying?"
"Not for now."
"You're still thinking about Cai'er."
"No," Zhou Dong retorted, but under Cai Damei's all-seeing gaze, he lowered his head.
Back then, Zhou Dong and Zhang Cai'er had taken a liking to each other. He had begged his parents to hire a matchmaker to propose, and that was how he married her.
Zhou Dong knew Zhang Cai'er had many flaws, but thinking they would spend a lifetime together, he accepted them all.
However, Zhou Dong never imagined that Zhang Cai'er could be so ruthless. She abandoned him and didn't even want their children.
Zhou Dong hated Zhang Cai'er, but he hated himself even more. He swore he would make something of himself.
When Cai Xiaomei urged him to remarry, Zhang Cai'er was still the one on his mind. He realized he simply couldn't forget her.
Zhou Dong slapped himself hard. "I'm useless."
"Hate is also a form of caring. Admitting that you can't forget a former lover isn't shameful."
"Aunt, please help me persuade my mother. I don't want to remarry."
"Alright. I'll talk to her," Cai Damei agreed.
It was unknown what Cai Damei said, but Cai Xiaomei stopped pressuring Zhou Dong.
Returning from the Zhou family, two matchmakers were standing at their door.
The two matchmakers didn't speak, but the looks they exchanged were full of disdain.
"Peers in the same trade are natural enemies," Li An muttered a complaint.
"Don't speak nonsense." Ye Yunniang covered Li An's mouth.
"Sending two matchmakers to my adoptive father is too unreliable." Li Ping remained impolite toward Jiang Mingzhe.
"Not necessarily," Li Pan thought it was unlikely.
Finding two matchmakers, were they trying to cause trouble?
The two matchmakers, whose eyes were practically fighting a war, immediately stopped and restored their amiable smiles upon seeing Ye Yunniang and her group.
"Madam Li, congratulations."
"Lady of the Li family, great joy to you."
The two matchmakers looked at each other with murderous intent, having mentally slashed the other seventy or eighty times already.
"Please come inside to talk." Cai Damei didn't want the neighbors to watch a spectacle.
Ye Yunniang unlocked the door with her key and went into the kitchen to boil water. When she brought the brewed tea into the room, only one matchmaker remained.
The matchmaker looked at Ye Yunniang with a gaze that was both curious and as covetous as if looking at a piece of fat meat.
The matchmaker knew of Jiang Mingzhe's great name, so she was naturally curious about his request to marry Ye Yunniang.
The first time she came to propose, Cai Damei did not agree.
The matchmaker knew the rules; she visited three times, each time showing more sincerity than the last.
Finally, Cai Damei relented and agreed to the marriage.
The residents of Sunset Alley learned that Ye Yunniang was getting married to a man surnamed Jiang, whose family was in business.
The Li family said nothing else about it.
Ye Yunniang was engaged. Some offered genuine blessings, while others with dirty minds couldn't stand to see Ye Yunniang do well.
These people not only gossiped behind her back, but some brazen ones even ran up to the three Li children and spouted nonsense.
The most brazen of them all was Niu Dajiao.
She ran up to the children and spoke.
She claimed Ye Yunniang had shamelessly clung to a man willing to take her and would definitely dump Li Pan and the other two, leaving them to fend for themselves. She also said the three of them would become orphans without a father or mother, living worse off than pitiful little beggars. She even generously offered to teach them how to beg for food...
The more she listened, the angrier she got. Li Pan took the stick Li An handed her and mercilessly beat Niu Dajiao.
Having learned martial arts from Chen Xiang, Li Pan had considerable strength, and with Li An joining in, they beat Niu Dajiao until her face was bruised and swollen, blinding her vision, and directly breaking her arm.
"Murder! Murder..." Niu Dajiao screamed.
This attracted the surrounding people to watch.
"Mother, you're at it again," Chunxing looked at Niu Dajiao's drooping arm, and then at Li Pan and Li An's flushed, angry little faces.
Chunxing swallowed hard and took a step back.
"Chunxing, come save me!" The louder Niu Dajiao yelled, the further back Chunxing hid.
She didn't want a broken arm.
"Chunxing," Niu Dajiao shrieked, "Hurry and grab these little brats. I'm going to beat them to death."
The more Niu Dajiao spoke, the faster Chunxing hid.
Since her daughter-in-law was useless, her son happened to come out.
"Liangliang, quickly save me."
"Mother, your arm is broken. I'll go get a doctor." Ma Xiaokou withdrew the foot he had just stepped into the alley with and walked toward the pharmacy.
"Ma Xiaokou, come back!" Niu Dajiao's scream only made Ma Xiaokou walk faster.
The others gathered around to watch the commotion.
Those who arrived late and didn't know the situation asked what happened.
Those who arrived early and saw the whole process explained everything.
People who originally wanted to lend a hand to Niu Dajiao withdrew their hands.
Niu Dajiao deserved the beating.