Ye Yunniang didn't speak, just silently pulled the two children aside to avoid Niu Dajiao.
For an elder to kneel to a junior was to shorten one's own lifespan.
"Auntie Niu, are you giving me New Year's greetings?" Xu Erlei asked curiously, looking at Niu Dajiao.
Kneeling to someone was only done during the New Year.
Li Ping grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the small backpack Ye Yunniang had sewn for her and stuffed them into Niu Dajiao's hand.
"Lucky money."
Niu Dajiao, caught in an awkward moment: ...
Ye Yunniang was stunned by Li Ping's move and didn't react for a moment.
"Hahaha... Niu Dajiao, it's not New Year yet. You're just kowtowing to people randomly. You're killing me with laughter, hahaha..." A string of laughter came from the side.
Ye Yunniang turned her head and recognized Hongyan from Courtyard No. 7. Hongyan was leaning against the wall, mocking Niu Dajiao.
Upon hearing Hongyan's voice, Niu Dajiao scrambled to her feet, not forgetting to stuff the sunflower seeds in her hand into her bosom.
"You brazen hussy, can't your father-in-law satisfy you anymore? Coming here to act crazy in front of me. I'm not a man, I don't fall for that act."
Niu Dajiao knew exactly how to hit where it hurt.
In the past, such words would have made Hongyan angry and put her at a disadvantage. But today, Hongyan wasn't angry. Instead, she looked at Niu Dajiao with a smile.
"Am I brazen? Ask your man. Ask your son?"
"What do you mean?" Niu Dajiao's face changed dramatically, a bad feeling rising in her heart.
"Just what you're thinking." Hongyan stretched out her hand, her wrist adorned with a silver bracelet patterned with orchid grass.
Niu Dajiao recognized it at a glance. It was the heirloom of Ma Kouzi's late mother, passed down to the wife managing the household.
Niu Dajiao had always wanted it, but Ma Kouzi was reluctant, saying since they were husband and wife, him keeping it was the same.
Now it was on Hongyan's wrist.
"I'll kill you, you little slut!" Niu Dajiao, forgetting her shoes, lunged at Hongyan.
Hongyan didn't dodge either, charging forward to fight Niu Dajiao.
Hongyan's attitude today felt very off to Ye Yunniang. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she pulled Xu Erlei, who wanted to watch the spectacle, and Li Ping, who looked tired and just wanted to lie down, towards home.
"Auntie Yunniang, I'll just peek from the doorway," Xu Erlei, having inherited Liang Maimiao's love for such scenes, was unwilling to go into the courtyard.
"Women fighting isn't anything good to watch," Ye Yunniang said, pulling Xu Erlei into the courtyard.
"It's very interesting," Xu Erlei loved watching women fight—the grabbing, pinching, scratching. It was both fun and practical. Last time, he used those very moves to fight back against the older student who bullied him.
"No," Ye Yunniang's attitude was firm. "Are you two hungry? I'll go get you some red date cake."
As she spoke, Ye Yunniang slid the door bolt shut behind her and went to the kitchen to bring out a plate of red date cake.
Between food and a spectacle, food was naturally more important.
Xu Erlei's attention quickly shifted. He and Li Ping ate red date cake while looking at picture books inside the house.
The picture books were very popular first-rate reading material in recent years.
A thin little booklet telling stories through pictures.
Even if you couldn't read, you could understand the meaning from the pictures.
All three children at home loved them.
Both Ye Yunniang and Cai Damei doted on the children. Whenever the shop released new ones, they would go buy them for the three kids. There were also those Bao Min sent over from time to time. The Li family's picture books required a separate bookshelf.
Ye Yunniang went to the door, opening a crack to see what was happening outside.
By now, after a scuffle, Hongyan was no match for Niu Dajiao and was pinned underneath, being beaten.
Soon, Hongyan collapsed, clutching her stomach and screaming, "Ah—my stomach... it hurts... my stomach hurts so much..."
"She's bleeding!" someone shrieked.
"Go get a doctor, quick!"
"Niu Dajiao, stop hitting her! Hongyan's having a miscarriage!"
"Hongyan!"
"Doctor, go find a doctor!"
...
The onlookers rushed over, pulling the two apart.
Slap!
Niu Dajiao was slapped by someone.
"You dare hit me." Niu Dajiao covered her face, looking in disbelief at the person who hit her.
"Ma Kouzi, I've been married to you for 30 years, bore you two sons. You hit me for that slut? Ma Kouzi, you have no conscience!" Niu Dajiao shouted.
Slap! Slap!
Ma Kouzi slapped Niu Dajiao twice more, hard. "Behave! Keep making trouble and I'll divorce you!"
Niu Dajiao, beaten unsteady on her feet, fell to the ground. Already heartbroken, hearing the threat of divorce...
Niu Dajiao felt a surge of hatred. She scrambled up and charged at Ma Kouzi.
In her lack of control, Niu Dajiao's head didn't hit Ma Kouzi's stomach but crashed into his lower half.
"Ow—!" Ma Kouzi clutched his crotch, howling in pain.
The men in the crowd, seeing Ma Kouzi's state, instinctively tightened their own legs and backed away from Niu Dajiao.
This woman was too vicious, trying to cripple her own man.
"Niu Dajiao, I will definitely divorce you!" Ma Kouzi's voice had changed pitch.
Knowing she'd done wrong, Niu Dajiao shrank her head, not daring to talk back.
"Dad, what are you saying?" Ma Hui ran over to help Ma Kouzi up. "Let me take you to see a doctor."
"Quick, let's go." Ma Kouzi leaned his whole weight on Ma Hui.
"The doctor's here, the doctor's here, make way..." someone shouted from outside the crowd as the doctor came in with his medicine box.
"Doctor, quick, look at my husband," Niu Dajiao was now terrified something would happen to Ma Kouzi.
"See Hongyan first," a woman rather familiar with Hongyan came over, tugging at the doctor's sleeve.
"Doctor, go see Hongyan quickly!" Ma Kouzi also shouted for the doctor to see Hongyan.
This made Niu Dajiao angry again. "What's a little injury for a woman?" She grabbed the doctor's other sleeve, refusing to let go. That slut could bleed to death for all she cared.
"Ma Kouzi is fine. Hongyan's situation concerns a human life!"
Neither would yield, each pulling a sleeve, fighting over the doctor.
The doctor was yanked back and forth by the two.
"Enough!" The doctor was angry, forcefully pulling his sleeves back—his clothes were about to be torn. "Who exactly am I to see?"
"My husband / Hongyan!"
Ma Hui stopped Niu Dajiao. "Mother, let the doctor see Sister-in-law Wang first."
Seizing the chance, the doctor was pulled by the woman towards Courtyard No. 7.
Hongyan had already been carried back to Courtyard No. 7.
Many onlookers followed to Courtyard No. 7.
"Ma Hui, tell me, are you involved with Hongyan too?" Niu Dajiao blocked Ma Hui, who also wanted to go to Courtyard No. 7, and questioned him.
"Mother, what time is this? Can you stop being so unreasonable?" Ma Hui was very disappointed in Niu Dajiao. A life was at stake, and she was still spouting nonsense.
"I'm being unreasonable?" Niu Dajiao was heartbroken by her younger son's accusation. "Ma Hui, you have no conscience. When you were born seriously ill, your grandparents wouldn't pay. It was me who fought with them desperately, snatched two taels of silver to save you."
"Mother, enough. You always say this, it's annoying."
The first time Ma Hui heard Niu Dajiao say this, he felt sorry for his mother and gave her all the good food and drink in his hands.
As Niu Dajiao repeated it more and more, Ma Hui's pity and guilt diminished. Even now, whenever she mentioned it, he just felt irritated.
Regarding this matter, Ma Jue had once asked his paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, neighbors, and others, and got a different version.
Niu Dajiao, relying on her pregnancy, acted like a tyrant at home every day. She ate and drank recklessly. Grandma Ma advised her to be careful, saying being too fat would make delivery difficult.
Niu Dajiao didn't listen, and as a result, had a difficult birth.
Ma Hui, stifled in the womb for too long, ended up with somewhat weak legs.
At that time, it wasn't that Grandma Ma was unwilling to pay; it was that all the family's money had been squandered by Niu Dajiao.
Niu Dajiao showed not a shred of remorse. Using her difficult childbirth as an excuse to demand good food and drink to nourish her body, she even took the family's last two taels of silver.
Thinking of all this, Ma Hui shook off Niu Dajiao's hand and strode towards Courtyard No. 7.
"Ma Hui—, you are not to go!" Niu Dajiao shouted.
Ma Hui paid no heed, his steps resolute as he headed for Courtyard No. 7.
"Want to know why Ma Hui hates Niu Dajiao so much?"
