Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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Huanshan County was surrounded by mountains, so there were a lot of fruits here. If they couldn’t sell them, they would use them to make preserved fruits. They were sour and sweet and delicious. Ye Ning found several preserved fruit shops, and finally ordered two of each at a grandma’s house. Thinking that Mr. Sheng liked the pickled ginger and chili sauce from here very much, Ye Ning ordered two bottles of each, carefully wrapped them and sent them to Beicheng.
Preserved fruit and jam only cost six yuan, but the postage cost five yuan. One-third of her monthly salary was gone. It was really a waste of money.
The day before the first seven days, Ye Ning came home from work early. Ye An was waiting for Ye Ning where she got off the bus. When he saw her, he ran over, “Sister.”
“Has anything happened these days?” The only thing she was worried about was the old man’s family. The people over there were unwilling to give up.
“My aunt and uncle have been here these days, so nothing happened.” Ye Yu whispered: “It’s just that suddenly there have been rumors in the village that our father died and lost a lot of money, and some people came to ask me and my sister if we knew.”
The things being discussed had probably been discussed before, but they were not so blatant. Ye Ning knew who was behind it at a glance, and there was no one except the family from the old house.
When she arrived at home, Ye Qingmei had already prepared a meal and asked Ye Ning to sit down. She didn’t mention the compensation at all. She only cared about how Ye Ning was doing at work and whether she would be criticized by her boss for taking such a long leave.
“It’s okay. My boss approved me to get off work early today, and she said it’s okay to go to work later the day after tomorrow.” Ye Ning took out the dried chicken and duck, “My friend sent it over. How about steaming one and adding vegetables tonight?”
“Your classmate?” Ye Qingmei took the duck and was a little confused, “Where did it come from?”
“No, a friend I met before.” Ye Ning didn’t want to say more, and just said: “I bought our Huanshan specialties for him as a gift, don’t worry let’s eat.”
Ye Ning returned the favour, so Ye Qingmei didn’t say anything else. Now that Ye Ning was a formal worker eating national food, she must be right.
This was why Ye Ning wanted to get a job first. No matter now or in the future, your family would treat you as an adult only if you worked and earned money. If she had a good job, she could also have a say in the family.
“Sister, let’s leave after the first seven days tomorrow.” Ye Lan suddenly whispered.
Ye Ning glanced at her, and there was a circle of darkness around her eyes, probably because the village was discussing the compensation.
“There’s no rush, some things need to be sorted out early, otherwise it will be even more troublesome to go back.” In order to increase her prestige, Ye Ning reported her place of work. If old man Ye found his way to the city, she would be the one to suffer in the end.
On the seventh day after Ye Qingshan was buried, Ye Ning invited Old Ye over. Wang Chunxiang and others originally wanted to come, but Ye Ning sent them back. They were not her biological relatives, so they were just joining in the fun. Not long after Old Ye arrived, the three uncle came with their sons, followed by the old branch secretary.
Old man Ye was frightened when he saw his brother-in-law, and couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you call me here today?”
“Everyone must be aware of the hot news in the village recently. Yes, it’s about my father’s compensation. Something happened.” Seeing Old Man Ye’s eyes light up slightly, Ye Ning snorted in her heart and continued: “The call I received at that time was from the mine. There were five people with my dad. The mine boss made an appointment. The families of the six families discussed the compensation, and it was 8,000 yuan per person.”
When they heard that the compensation was 8,000 yuan, everyone felt that it must be true. In the countryside, 8,000 yuan was a huge amount. There were not many people in the village who had a deposit of 8,000 yuan, but when they thought that this was money to buy people’s life, everyone felt that there was nothing to envy.
“The reason why I invited all the elders here today is because you were invited when the family was divided.” Ye Ning took out the deed of family separation, “It is clearly written in white and black on it, my father does not want any of my grandfather’s. In return, there is no need for him to support Grandpa in old age, so the compensation has nothing to do with Grandpa.”
Before Old Man Ye could speak, her grandpa, the old party secretary, and the third uncle all nodded in agreement.
“That’s the truth. 8000 yuan seems like a lot, but Ye Lan is still in high school. She will go to college. Xiao An is still so young. Not to mention food, clothing and tuition, Ye Ning has to save some money for him. The money to marry a wife is estimated to be 7,788 yuan, and 8,000 yuan is not enough.”
The more her grandpa calculated, the more he felt that it would be difficult for the three children. “My poor sister passed away early, otherwise there would be a grandma here. Then there would be no need to work so hard.”
Old Man Ye couldn’t hold his head up with such shame. They didn’t have a grandma, but he was their grandpa. But thinking about it carefully, he really couldn’t help these three children. His brother-in-law snorted. In his opinion, having a grandfather like him was worse than not having one at all.
“That’s right. There is only one male in Qingshan’s family, Xiao An. You and Xiao Lan are the sisters, so you can help him more.” The third uncle actually wanted to leave this money to Ye An, but now the head of Ye Qingshan’s family was Ye Ning, so that was inappropriate to say.
“Ye An is Xiao Lan and my younger brother. Of course we will take good care of him.” Ye Ning felt that her third uncle was thinking too much. The third uncle had not thought too much but had seen too much. Not to mention his sister, he also had a brother. As long as one got married and had their own family, they would think about their own family. When they had children, their mind would be full of them. Who would care about their younger siblings?
Obviously, the old party secretary also had such thoughts, but he would not say it out loud. After all, he was just here to bear witness and had no control over other people’s family affairs.
“You came to us today just to talk about compensation?” The old party secretary brought the topic back.
“Yes and no.” Ye Ning looked at Old Man Ye, “Since my father passed away, the things done in the old house have become more and more excessive, especially grandpa. It really sends chills down the three of us siblings’ hearts. We call him grandpa, but is he worthy of this title?”
“Then what do you mean?” the third uncle said calmly.
“Write another deed. My younger brother and sister don’t need their help, and he doesn’t need our filial piety. Whether we are good or bad, dead or alive in the future has nothing to do with him.” Ye Ning said directly.
The third uncle frowned, what was the difference between this and breaking off the relationship, but when he thought of what his eldest brother’s family was doing, it was no wonder that the children’s hearts were chilled.
“Have you thought it through?” In this matter, Third Uncle, the leader of the Ye clan, had more say.
“I don’t agree.” Old Man Ye blushed.
His brother-in-law glared at him, “Then what do you mean? How much do you plan to pay for the tuition and living expenses of the two children in the future?”
“There’s the compensation.” Old Man Ye knew he was in trouble as soon as he said it. Sure enough, he saw his brother-in-law raising a cane to hit him, so he quickly ran behind the third uncle, “I don’t mean anything else. What is the difference between what she said and the breakup of a relationship? Besides, can a girl like her make the decision on such a big thing? Let’s wait until Xiao An grows up.”
“No need, my sister is in charge of this house, and I will listen to her,” Ye An, who had been silent, suddenly said.
Ye Ning touched his head, looked at Old Man Ye and said coldly: “I will leave all the eight thousand compensation to Xiao An. This is for Xiao An to get a wife and start a family. This can also be written in the deed.”
Hearing this, the third uncle nodded with satisfaction. They all knew that Ye Ning had sold the land. The two thousand yuan would be enough for Ye Lan to graduate from college. By then, Ye Lan would also be working, and both sisters would be paid, they could completely raise Ye An, so they had no doubt.
The old party secretary, third uncle and uncle all agreed. It didn’t matter how unwilling Old Man Ye was, so he signed reluctantly.
“I’ve signed this too. If you have any problems in the future, please don’t come to me.” Old Man Ye dropped the pen and left without looking back.
“Don’t worry, I won’t come to your door even if I have to beg for food.” Whenever Ye Ning thought of Ye An’s ending in the book, she really wanted to slap him a few times. This was his own grandson, but he let his second wife force him to beg for food, he ate sweet potatoes smeared with rat poison when he was hungry, and was poisoned to death. How could he still have Ye Qingshan, his son, and his three grandchildren in his heart?
As soon as the third uncle and the old branch secretary left, the news about the eight thousand yuan compensation spread to many people.
“I just guessed eight thousand, but Guihua also said it was twenty thousand. We are all worthless farmers, how can we get so much.” An aunt in the village curled her lips.
“I also heard what my son said. He said that the owner of the mine was rich and the compensation was large.” Aunt Guihua explained unwillingly, “Besides, we have never seen it with our own eyes. Who knows whether the compensation is 8,000 or 80,000? Is it not just Ye Ning’s words!!!”
“Eighty thousand, I think you’re not awake yet.” An old lady laughed at her, “Eighty thousand is pretty good, plus the money from selling the land, eh, then Ye Ning can’t become us.”
“Really, I heard Er Mazi said that he spent more than 2,000 yuan to buy the land. Counting these 8,000 yuan, it is not a 10,000-yuan household. Hey, that is the number one in our village. A household worth ten thousand yuan.” An aunt couldn’t help but be envious.
An old lady rolled her eyes, “That’s blood money, what do you want?”
As soon as these words came out, everyone’s envy disappeared again. Compared with money, life was still more important.
“I heard that Ye Ning also added a clause in the deed, saying that she would leave all the 8,000 yuan to Ye An, and she and Ye Lan would not take any of it.” In this regard, some people thought that Ye Ning had the demeanour of an elder sister, and some people thought she was stupid.
No matter what others said, today was the first day of Ye Qingshan’s ritual ceremony. The three siblings would stay together for one more night and it would be officially over.
Early the next morning, Ye Ning and Ye Lan packed their things and prepared to go to the city. Auntie also packed her things and prepared to return to Xiangshe Village.
“I’ve been out for so long, and I don’t know what’s going on with the pigs at home. If you have anything to do, just tell your aunt, don’t carry it yourself.” Ye Qingmei looked at the three children who had lost a lot of weight, and her tears fell again. “You have no father, but you still have me as your aunt.”
“I know, aunt, let’s go.” Ye Ning left the village with her younger siblings.
When the step-grandma and others tried to find her, they came in vain and went back angrily.
She didn’t find the deed in Old Man Ye’s pocket until she was doing laundry this morning, and she got into an angry quarrel with Old Man Ye. If Ye Qingshan had died, Old Man Ye, the father, should have a share of the compensation.
Unfortunately, after signing the deed, it was too late.
Ye Ning stayed up all night last night and felt dizzy. So, she fell asleep as soon as she got in the bus. She didn’t wake up completely even when they got to the city. She came home in a daze, told Ye Lan, and went to bed without taking off her clothes, until noon, when Ye Lan didn’t get a response to Ye Ning’s name no matter what. She went in and took a look and realized something was wrong.
“Sister, what’s wrong with you?” Ye Lan touched Ye Ning’s forehead, “Oh my God, it’s so hot, sister, wake up, Xiao An, come in quickly, sister seems to have a fever.”
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