Lady of Fortune, Jiao Niang

Chapter 59

This punch from Brother Ye was delivered solidly, without any water mixed in.

Second Brother Ye didn't react in time, even forgot to dodge, and took this punch squarely.

Ye Ping Rong's fist wasn't like an ordinary person's, particularly powerful, especially now that he wasn't thinking of saving any face for him, so he used fifty percent of his strength.

The reason it was fifty percent was because Ye Ping Rong didn't want his life yet.

If Brother Ye had used his full strength, he was someone who could kill a bull with one punch.

But even this fifty percent punch directly knocked Second Brother Ye to the ground, his mouth full of blood.

After coughing twice, Second Brother Ye spat out a white tooth from his bloody mouth.

This terrified Second Sister-in-law Ye. She was still tightly holding the silver in her arms, but she threw herself toward Second Brother Ye, glaring at Ye Ping Rong: "What are you doing? Are you trying to beat him to death!"

Ye Ping Rong calmly withdrew his fist: "If I wanted to beat him to death, he couldn't survive one punch."

Second Sister-in-law Ye's eyes turned red with anger: "After all... after all, Second Brother is your blood brother from the same mother, the one who will carry on your Ye family line. How could you..."

"Just now, we're no longer brothers. Black words on white paper with a red fingerprint, no one should try to renege." Ye Ping Rong remained very calm, as if he wasn't the one who had suddenly hit someone.

Now he was no longer the common citizen he once was. He bore the responsibility of a commander, with Prince Duan standing behind him. Even for the prince's sake, he had to think thrice before acting and couldn't act on mere impulse.

Today's punch had been planned early on, which is why it was just one punch without anything else.

Seeing Second Brother Ye beaten so he couldn't get up, Ye Ping Rong stood there calmly: "I hit you because you harmed my little sister."

At these words, Second Brother Ye's strength to cough weakened, and Second Sister-in-law Ye also looked around with her eyes. Compared to her earlier shrewishness, she now seemed somewhat quiet.

Ye Ping Rong's voice continued without pause: "This woman is one you married yourself. She has a bad heart, true, but you're the one who's truly heartless and ungrateful. Now the bond between you and me is severed, with documents as proof, but little sister..."

"Little sister is still my little sister. I won't refuse to acknowledge her." Second Brother Ye's mouth was full of blood, looking quite wretched.

Second Sister-in-law Ye was about to ask why he still wanted to acknowledge that burden, then remembered that Ye Jiao was now Second Young Mistress of the Qi family, with endless mountains of gold and silver to enjoy in the future.

This Ye Da was just a medicine shop guard, fundamentally just a subordinate, not worth much. It was fine to separate from him.

But that Ye Jiao who had eaten free food at their house before had a good husband. Just based on the basket of eggs and meat the Qi family had sent them during New Year, Second Sister-in-law Ye felt they shouldn't cut off this relative.

So Second Sister-in-law Ye closed her mouth, even thinking to herself that her husband was still knowledgeable. Of course Ye Jiao should be acknowledged!

But Ye Ping Rong ignored him, hiding the flash of ruthlessness in his eyes while maintaining a peaceful tone: "Little sister is my little sister, not yours anymore. Now that you've taken the money, you've severed the relationship. I hit you with this punch not for myself, but for Jiao Niang."

Second Brother Ye was confused: "Jiao Niang never resented me. Why... do you need to hit me for her?"

"Jiao Niang is a person, not a bodhisattva. She doesn't have that golden body of a bodhisattva either. Not speaking out clearly, that's because Jiao Niang is pure-hearted and kind, but you became even worse in bullying her, that's because you're like a wolf." Ye Ping Rong put the document back in his chest. "This punch is what Jiao Niang is giving back to you. From now on, you and she have nothing to do with each other. Don't let me see you bothering her again, or else I'll hit you every time I see you."

At these words, Second Brother Ye's face turned white.

Fundamentally, he still wanted to live a good life, but where exactly this good life would come from, Second Brother Ye kept a backup plan in his heart.

Brother Ye seemed unreliable to him, a medicine shop guard could have what silver?

But Ye Jiao was different. Ye Jiao had never spoken harshly to him, never truly refused him anything. Second Brother Ye thought that without big brother, he had been living without big brother anyway. This time he could just cry about it and be done with it. Maybe after a long time, big brother would forget about this matter.

Little sister was different. Ye Jiao had married into a wealthy family, and the Qi family knew how to be proper people. Even if he didn't visit, the Qi family wouldn't forget his family during holidays.

But this time Brother Ye had pointed it out clearly, making it explicit that in the future there would be no connections between the three families!

Then... he had wanted little sister as a backup plan, but this backup was obviously gone.

Second Brother Ye wanted to say he wasn't willing, but looking at Ye Ping Rong's iron fist, he didn't dare speak.

His mouth was still bleeding, his left cheek hurt terribly. This punch had left him dazed, and with Ye Ping Rong's words cutting off his hopes, for a moment Second Brother Ye didn't know how he should react.

Second Sister-in-law Ye wanted to make a scene and argue, but the silver in her arms was still heavy.

Looking at this fierce and menacing Ye Ping Rong, Second Sister-in-law Ye was afraid that making a fuss would cause the silver to disappear, so she had nothing to say.

Ye Ping Rong looked down on them even more. He turned to leave, and only when he reached the courtyard gate did he turn back and drop one sentence: "Second Brother, after I leave this courtyard, you and I will have our brotherly bond severed. From now on, honor and disgrace will not affect each other, life and death will have nothing to do with each other."

This time, Ye Ping Rong left without any reluctance. On the contrary, he even felt somewhat liberated.

Walking out of the courtyard gate, he could still hear Second Sister-in-law Ye comforting Second Brother Ye behind him: "He's just a guard. Besides having some muscle strength, what ability could he have? This silver isn't little. I think he's emptied his savings too. You just keep it well, do some business, and won't you have prospects?"

Vaguely, there was also Second Brother Ye's crying.

Before, if Ye Ping Rong had heard his brother crying, he probably would have immediately run over to ask with concern what was wrong. But this time, he only wanted to laugh.

Thinking about laughing in his heart, he really did smile on his face.

Ye Ping Rong left with light steps. Before long, he encountered Liu Rong.

His smile paused, and Ye Ping Rong frowned slightly, saying in a low voice: "Why are you here? With you running out like this, won't the prince and princess consort have no one watching over them?"

Liu Rong quickly said: "Commander Ye, this isn't my own idea to come out. The princess consort told me to come check on you, afraid you might cause some incident."

Ye Ping Rong raised his eyebrows slightly: "What? You're afraid I might beat someone to death?"

Liu Rong chuckled, but thought to himself, how could he not be afraid? This killing god was someone who didn't blink when seeing blood. If a life was really lost, that would be no small matter.

But Ye Ping Rong looked at him with a calm expression: "I know better than you what should be done now. The prince's great undertaking is not yet complete, so none of us can act rashly. If the princess consort asks later, tell her this: the princess consort will naturally understand my meaning."

Great undertaking, what great undertaking?

Didn't their prince think about being a carefree prince every day? This matter didn't sound very big either...

But Liu Rong was someone without too many scheming thoughts, and he was quite open-minded.

If he couldn't figure it out, he wouldn't think about it. He just remembered Ye Ping Rong's words. Seeing Ye Ping Rong walk away, he hurried to catch up and ask: "Commander, are you going directly to see the prince?"

"You go back first and protect the masters well. I want to see my sister... no, I should go back first. The prince's matters can't be delayed."

"What about your sister..."

"With my brother-in-law taking care of her, I'm at ease."

Here, Ye Jiao had already returned to the Qi family with Qi Yun.

Ye Ping Rong only sent a message over, telling them everything went smoothly, but he didn't know that this letter made Qi Yun think Second Brother Ye was sensible, and he was too lazy to waste more time on him, indirectly sparing Second Brother Ye from disaster.

After leaving the first month, everything went smoothly, whether it was Qi Yun's shops or the medicine shop, everything seemed particularly smooth.

Qi Ming also began the county examination, taking five sessions in a row. Each time, the Qi family would send someone to accompany him. The news that came back said Qi Ming had done well.

This should have been something to be happy about, but Qi Yun couldn't quite feel happy.

During this time, Ye Jiao had seemed particularly drowsy, always needing to sleep at irregular times.

After more than a month had passed, Ye Jiao's drowsiness not only hadn't improved, but had become increasingly severe.

Today when they went out, it was originally to visit Dong to look at flowers and plants. When they returned, Ye Jiao had slept soundly in the carriage. Although she woke up when getting off the carriage and walked back by herself, once she entered the room, she kicked off her shoes and went to bed to sleep, looking very drowsy.

This appearance finally made Qi Yun worry. But besides loving to sleep, Ye Jiao showed no other abnormalities, so Qi Yun couldn't tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

He could only instruct Tie Zi: "Remember, go ask Doctor Li to come examine Jiao Niang."

No matter what had happened, having someone look at her would put his mind at ease.

Just as Tie Zi was about to agree, he heard Qi Yun say: "Don't be too urgent. If anyone asks, don't say it's for Jiao Niang. Just say it's for me."

Tie Zi understood the reason with just a thought.

Having a doctor come to the house ultimately wasn't a good thing, especially for wealthy families like the Qi family who frequently appeared in others' gossip. Even just having a doctor come to ask about peace and safety would probably be speculated about by others.

Qi Yun was directing all attention to himself. He was used to being talked about as dying anyway, so saying it a few more times didn't matter. It was better than having such talk fall on Ye Jiao.

At this time, Ye Jiao woke up rubbing her eyes. Tie Zi tactfully left, and Qi Yun smiled at her: "Did you sleep well?"

Ye Jiao looked at him and yawned: "Very well." Right after saying this, Ye Jiao sat up: "Did I miss dinner?"

Qi Yun was amused by her: "No, Jiao Niang, don't worry. It's still light outside. How could you miss dinner? I had the small kitchen stew pork ribs, perfect for tonight."

Ye Jiao smiled along and reached out to hug him.

Qi Yun let his wife hug him and patted her back. Ye Jiao looked up at his eyes, just looking and smiling. Qi Yun couldn't figure out what his wife was smiling about.

Just then, sounds of commotion came from outside.

Although the Qi family was just a wealthy household, not those grand mansions, they still maintained good order. Unless something major had happened, they normally wouldn't suddenly make such noise.

Qi Yun frowned slightly and wanted to get up to look, but he was being hugged tightly by Ye Jiao. With no choice, he could only say to Little Su: "Go out and take a look."

Little Su immediately ran out to see, but as soon as she opened the door, she saw Tie Zi running back.

"What's all the noise in front?" Ye Jiao didn't let go of Qi Yun, just stuck her head out to ask.

Tie Zi was panting and couldn't care whether he was disturbing them. He said loudly: "Second Young Master, Second Young Mistress, great news! Third Young Master passed the county examination! They say... they say he came first, called... the top candidate, yes, top candidate!"