Chapter 71: A Different Standard
Zheng Huizhen was shouting loudly that her shrill voice made Ye Lingyue woke up. She let out a hiss, stretching uncomfortably.
Then, she frowned when she remembered what the old witch was screaming about.
"Song Yulan! How dare you get pregnant in this situation?!"
The more she listened, the more bewildered Ye Lingyue became. Now, she already determined that it wasn’t a shout filled with pleasant surprise like she had thought it was.
Zheng Huizhen was blatantly showing her unhappiness?
"Mom, it’s not Ah Yu’s fault," Ye Jincheng immediately defended his wife. "We can’t control such a thing. Besides, didn’t you always want a grandchild from us?"
He brought up the past for the hope that Zheng Huizhen would drop the matter, however, he was bound to be disappointed.
Zheng Huizhen tremblingly pointed to Song Yulan. "When we all wanted a grandson from her, she was so disappointed she couldn’t get pregnant so soon..."
"Now, when we are in such a condition that we can’t even feed ourselves, she actually got pregnant. Are you trying to anger us?" She clutched her temples.
Song Yulan trembled, and she shrank further in her husband’s embrace. The couple had discussed this last night, telling their family the truth so that they could be prepared.
She thought that Zheng Huizhen also would be happy since her wish was slowly coming true.
Alas, her guess was wrong.
Ye Lingyue sighed softly, wondering whether the couple would move out next. In order to survive, Ye Jincheng also learned how to hunt and pick wild vegetables.
He had joined yesterday’s team, going to hunt with his father and third uncle. They didn’t get much result, but it was enough for yesterday’s meal.
Gradually, the argument also subsided.
Ye Jincheng had led his wife away from his mother.
Perhaps it was because she was pregnant, Song Yulan’s emotions were quite sensitive. She sobbed into her husband’s arms after they were out of Zheng Huizhen’s range of hearing.
She seemed to be lost. "Husband, what should we do?"
Ye Jincheng made a decision almost immediately, stroking her head. "We will move from this house... and find another place to occupy."
He knew very well about Zheng Huizhen’s personality. When she disliked something, she would often bring it up every chance she could get.
His wife was in a delicate situation, and he wouldn’t allow such negativity to affect her.
As he consoled his wife, he failed to notice that someone had been standing outside their slightly opened room’s door.
Zheng Huizhen’s chest was filled with anger. She cursed inside her heart.
What an unfilial son! After he married a wife, he always defended her without caring about his mother’s feelings!
***
During breakfast, Shen Jingyi brought up the matter about opening a land for farming again.
"We must find a better land for this. Most of the land around us is barren," Ye Zhiqiu proposed.
He glanced at his second brother. "The land that is safe for us with no wild animals roaming around."
It sounded simple, but these two conditions weren’t easy to achieve considering their surrounding area had grown to be like a forest after so many years passed.
They also couldn’t be sure whether there would be no dangerous wild animals in the area.
"I will help to search for such a place," Ye Lingrui proposed.
No one objected to his words.
They all continued the discussion with the topic of today’s plan for house rebuilding. On another table close to them, Xiumei and Xiulan were also having breakfast.
The second branch had invited them and now was responsible for feeding them since they had decided to stay as servants for them.
Most of the former servants had rebellious thoughts like Steward Du and were unwilling to serve the Ye family members again. Some blatantly showed such unwillingness while others still restrained it a little bit.
Xiumei and Xiulan were also quietly listening to the second branch’s plan.
For today, they didn’t need to go hunting again, so Ye Lingyue and Ye Lanxi helped to move the soil to their house.
From a distance, Steward Du was also ordering his people around. "Move to the right..."
They were trying to clean the well at the corner of the village. Steward Du knew that Zheng Huizhen most likely wouldn’t give them any water.
Once they cleaned the well, he believed he would have more water than her.
[Building house foundation: 3 system points.]
She had been receiving such notification all day until they took a rest during lunchtime.
They all drank the fresh water from the well and finally sighed in relief. After they had a meal for lunch, Shen Jingyi lamented.
"Unfortunately, the market is too far from here. Otherwise, we can get better iron wok and pots," she muttered.
"Mother, we can make a trip there, but it will take approximately two weeks for the trip." Ye Zhiqiu said after calculating the approximate time needed with the return trip if they were to walk on foot.
Ye Lanxi’s eyes lit up. "Why don’t we go there? We can buy other necessities like medicine and more supplies."
Shen Jingyi shook her head. "Let’s finish working on the house first, then we can start on other things."
They would take it one by one to improve their quality of life.
However, they didn’t expect that they needed to do it so soon...
The next day, Ye Lingyue heard another commotion from the first branch’s house. They had woken her up again.
"Why do you want to move to another house? I won’t allow it, Cheng’er!" Zheng Huizhen yelled. "Why are you so disobedient to your mother now?"
"Mother, Ah Yu is pregnant. We think it’s best if we have our own house by now, so we can focus on–"
Ye Jincheng’s voice abruptly stopped, and Ye Lingyue heard his loud, emotional shout. "Ah Yu!"
"Mother, how can you–"
They heard a groan of pain, then Song Yulan’s panicked, almost hysterical voice. "Husband, there’s blood, there’s blood!"