Chapter 981 - 983: Back in the Year _1
Ms. Luo rolled her eyes and thought to herself that she could not let this unknown woman impose herself on the Ye family.
"You’re the one without shame," Old Lady Cao retorted immediately, unwilling to let it go, "My granddaughter becoming his concubine is an honor for him. You old hag, dare to talk about my granddaughter; believe it or not, I’ll tear your mouth apart?"
"Who are you calling an old hag, who? I think it’s your granddaughter who is shameless, and you’re a shameless old woman too."
At that moment, Ms. Liu also joined the quarrel, and as the argument escalated, even the Land Officer’s wife got involved. Eventually, it was unclear who started it, but the two groups actually began fighting. Of course, the three men from the Cao family seemed to know better at this time; they didn’t join the fray but instead stepped forward and forcefully separated the brawlers, before hastily dragging away the women of the Cao family from Yangshu Village.
Once they were out of Yangshu Village, Old Man Cao began to scold them, "What’s wrong with you all? Are you foolish? Fighting in someone else’s village? They had many more people; how could you possibly win against them?"
"We had to fight even if we couldn’t win; we couldn’t just let her insult Lingling. Brother An’s wife is no good, has no respect for elders, and lacks the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Virtues."
Old Lady Cao was quite protective of her granddaughter but was definitely not pleased with the people of Yangshu Village.
She hadn’t expected everyone to be so physically capable, and who were they anyway, each claiming to be nieces?
She was even more displeased with Yang Chuxia, feeling that she had taken her granddaughter’s place.
"Ah, we came too late; we should have come when he became a Recommended Man," Old Man Cao sighed.
Old Lady Cao started to complain. "It’s all your fault; you didn’t come to check earlier. Who knew this kid would be so lucky to become an official? And such an unfilial one at that, becoming an official and not even coming to report the good news to our Cao family. If it weren’t for the villagers going back and telling, we would still be in the dark."
It turns out that Cao family was indeed Ye Zi’an’s granduncle’s family. It’s just that when Ye Bosheng was younger, his granduncle wanted to betroth his daughter to Ye Bosheng, but Ye Bosheng brought home Ye Zi’an’s mother first. At that time, the Cao family came to make trouble every day and couldn’t be driven away; later, Ye Bosheng, unable to bear it any longer, declared that the two families should sever ties and cease contact.
After Zi’an’s mother passed away, the Cao family visited a couple of times, of course with the aim of securing the position of Zi’an’s stepmother.
Ye Bosheng firmly refused, and there was nothing the Cao family could do. Additionally, at the time, Old Man Cao still cared for his reputation. After being repeatedly snubbed by his nephew, he resolved to cut ties with the Ye family.
Moreover, since Ye Bosheng remained only a Cultivated Talent for a long time and then married Ms. Hua Junior, and later on Brother An became crippled, they knew about the Ye family’s situation but chose not to associate with them. Over time, they paid even less attention to the Ye family.
Until a few days ago, when someone from the village came back from the town and mentioned that Ye Bosheng’s son had made a success of himself and had become an official, the Cao family suddenly became very excited.
There’s a difference between achieving scholarly honors and actually becoming an official; being an official is prestigious. If they could establish a connection, the benefits were innumerable.
The family discussed it and thought that since the Ye family only had this one boy, with no other relatives and no elders, now that they, as his granduncle and grandaunt, came forward, they would be the elders, and their word would carry weight.
Besides, in those days, who didn’t like having many relatives? It was said that the young man of the Ye family had always been alone, so now that a swarm of relatives came knocking, wouldn’t he be overjoyed?