Mrs. Lai had just finished speaking when Ye Shuying stopped crying. Her eyes glared at her mother, her mouth moved but no words came out.
Having been scolded by her mother and told to ask her eldest sister for help, she had no words to refute. It was actually her elder sister who wanted their family to help out!
"Elder sister, you should stop glaring at mother. There's so much to do in our house that even the two of us sisters have to go out and work. Mother needs to stay at home to cook. Where would she find the time to help you with the child? Otherwise, we would return from farming to find no food at home. Mother is right, let your brother-in-law's sister help out your family!"
Ye Shuzhen and Ye Shuzhi didn't want to go out and work. A few days of labor would surely leave their skin peeling and affect their beauty.
Only their father and brother would go out to work. They were sure they would be scolded for only thinking about wearing hats and long-sleeve trousers to laze around while working. Now in October, the sun wasn't so strong; they shouldn't get too tanned.
"You… Humph, since you no longer consider me family, don't expect me to acknowledge you in the future…"
Ye Shuying couldn't continue. With a stomp and a harsh threat, she stormed out, not looking back once. Her resolute stance suggested she would never return to her maternal home.
Mrs. Lai opened her mouth to follow her but was held back by her two daughters.
Hongji and father exchanged glances, simply shaking their heads and finishing the last of the work at a slower pace, taking their time to apply the paint.
Ye Shiqi, nestled in Da Y's arms, watched the drama unfolding outside. It was like one scene of a play after another.
She knew that in the books, it was a fictional village in Nanyue Country, crafted by a writer. When she had read it, she found it so incredulous, she even searched online to find that Nanyue Country didn't have such an address. To be precise, though the country existed, this particular village did not.
The writer's fictitious work made Nanyue Country seem no minor nation, not one subordinate to a larger country, but rather a major power with its capital in the Capital, not a minor city of a minor country.
Even the dynasties of old had nothing akin to BC; in the books, the Emperors of Nanyue Country came one after another, and the nation was wealthy and strong, unchallenged by other barbaric states.
Their family's small village was part of Gulong Town – called Bushen Village.
Ye Shiqi watched as her grandfather and father applied red paint to the rosewood furniture they were crafting.
She had also seen the leftover scraps of wood from their furniture making. Previously, her father and grandfather would use these scraps as firewood.
When she was younger and didn't think much about other matters, how could she, a child concerned only with eating and sleeping, think about making money!
After more than three months of observations, she had seen her parents didn't have any savings at home.
All these years, her parents handed over their earnings to her grandparents, which was not a good sign.
Ye Shiqi knew all too well that if not for the Spiritual Spring saving her mother that time, she would have died.
Judging by her parents' actions, they would undoubtedly want another son, and the money the family earned would stay in the hands of her grandparents. If her mother had another son and encountered danger again, what then?
Ye Shiqi couldn't guarantee her Spiritual Spring would always work miracles, saving lives time and again.
She needed to find a way to make money and secretly save it. Unfortunately, she was too young, unable to do many things.
She was often driven to frustration by her inability to express her thoughts.
Suddenly, Ye Shiqi remembered the wooden toys she had seen during online searches. Her father and grandfather were carpenters; they could use the leftover wood to make toys, which could be a profitable venture.
After all, if those wood scraps weren't used for toys, they would be wasted. Recycling waste could be good, but they would need to buy some paint, which shouldn't cost much.
Ye Shiqi had seen her father and grandfather carve dragons and phoenixes on furniture, as well as other carvings that were extremely exquisite, clearly capable of the craft needed to make toys.
"Ahhh," Ye Shiqi pushed Daya with her hands, having her carry her to where grandpa and dad were.
"Sister, there's paint over there, and it smells really bad. We shouldn't go," Daya, though young, knew that paint could be harmful to one's health.
"Mmmhmm," Ye Shiqi insisted on going.
Daya, pushed by her little sister Little Douding, nearly lost her grip while holding her and didn't know what her sister wanted to do. She could only obediently carry her sister to where dad and grandpa were.
"Daya, why did you bring your sister out here? It's so dirty here; don't come over," Hongji scolded his eldest daughter upon seeing her bring her younger sister.
"You troublemaker, knowing your father and grandfather are working overtime, you still bring a little child here to make a mess."
Mrs. Lai, accused by her daughter of favoritism, was looking to vent her anger on someone, and Daya just happened to walk into the line of fire.
"Sister, dad and grandma both scolded us. Let's go back," said Daya, who had been innocently scolded by her dad and grandma, yet she spoke gently to her youngest sister, coaxing her.
"Mmmhmm," Ye Shiqi knew that if she did not get Daya to pick up the broken pieces of wood now, grandpa and dad would surely sweep away the scrap wood later and then carry it to the kitchen stove to be burned.
This was their family's material for making a fortune; how could it be wasted?
"Sister, do you want this wood to play with?" asked Daya, puzzled about what was fun about wood.
"Mmmhmm," Ye Shiqi nodded to her sister.
"Er Ya, go get a bag and pick up these larger pieces of wood. Little sister wants to play with the wood," said Da Y, holding her sister in her arms, she could only tell her younger sister what to do.
"What are you playing at? Wasting firewood, in the coming days when you can't go up the mountain to collect firewood, what are we going to use to make a fire?" Mrs. Lai started screaming again when she saw Er Ya and Sanya collecting scraps of wood into a large hemp bag.
Er Ya and Sanya flinched when they heard their grandmother scolding, but still continued picking up the wood.
"Just some poor people, unable to buy toys, using wood as toys without fearing injuring their hands," murmured Ye Shuzhi under her breath.
"It's all because of mother, isn't it? Giving the toy that elder sister brought back to her own daughter's child," Ye Shuzhen added quietly, but her voice was heard by Mrs. Lai.
Mrs. Lai glared at her two daughters, came out of the room, and wanted to hit the kids who were picking up the wood.
"Mother, let them pick if they want to pick! After the busy farming season is over and I have time, I'll carve small toys for the kids. The wood will come in handy then,"
Hongji, who hadn't said anything at the beginning, didn't grasp his daughter's intentions. Only after listening to his mother and sisters did he remember that his wife had bought toys, yet the children had none to play with.
Thinking that his youngest daughter wanted to play with toys, Hongji stopped Mrs. Lai from hitting and scolding the kids.
Mrs. Lai huffed at the children and then told her son, "Why do you spoil such troublemakers? Do you think you're not working hard enough? Shuying came just now, asking you to help with work, and you callously refused, breaking her heart."
"Mother, these are my children, and I will spoil them if I want to. As for refusing to help sister with her work, we are supposed to help each other, not just one-sided,"
Hongji's words left Mrs. Lai speechless. She could only glare at the children once more, spat a "ptui" and went back into the room.