Just at that moment, Xu Shou’s wife had already come out and locked the courtyard door as well.
Yang Ruxin no longer looked at Yang Peili, but instead left with Xu Shou’s wife.
"Dani," Yang Peili hurriedly called out.
"Yang Dani is dead," Yang Ruxin turned her head to glance at Yang Peili.
"Ruxin... Xinxin...," Yang Peili’s old face felt burning hot, but still, he plowed on, "We’re still family, no matter whether you acknowledge it or not, you are Yang Family’s granddaughter..." All these days, he had been coming over to check out the house on this side, which was truly well-built, made entirely of stone, red bricks, and gray tiles, even the ground was paved with stone slabs. Such a house was more impressive than those of the average landlords, yet, it belonged to his eldest granddaughter, the one who had severed ties with the Yang Family. If the ties hadn’t been severed, if... then he could be comfortably living inside it now.
"Heh..." Yang Ruxin sneered, then pointed to her own face, "After being tormented by you as a beast of burden for so many years, I finally struggled to live from the brink of death. What? Now that you see I’ve become successful, you want to recognize relations?"
Yang Peili’s face became even more unsightly.
Yang Ruxin pointed to her face again, "Mr. Yang, you might want to save a bit of face," she said, and then without turning back, she walked away.
Xu Shou’s wife glanced at Yang Peili, probably grasping what had happened, and thought she’d have to inform her man so that they’d be careful around this person in the future, lest they do something wrong and displease the young mistress.
Looking at Yang Ruxin’s retreating figure, Yang Peili did not know whether to be angry or to regret, but all in all, it was extremely uncomfortable, his chest aching with a stabbing pain, and in the end, he could only return to the village in a sorry state.
Back at the old Yang Family house, Yang Anshi was still sitting on the bed, holding a broom and shouting orders at Feng Caie to do this and that. Unfortunately, Feng Caie hardly paid her any heed, so Yang Anshi could only keep shouting orders, which eventually turned into complaints: "Those ungrateful wretches deserve to be struck by heavenly lightning..."
"Enough," Yang Peili entered the house and snapped irritably, "All day long you wail, aren’t you tired?"
Yang Anshi was startled and fell silent, but she was not willing to back down, "Why yell at me? If you’ve got the guts, go and yell at those heartless people from the big room..."
"I would if I could, but they don’t even recognize me," Yang Peili exhaled forcefully, "And it’s all because of you, you were so harsh with them back then. If you had any decency back then, we wouldn’t be in a position where we can’t even bask in a sliver of their ’Light’..."
"Are you blaming me now?" Yang Anshi retorted with a defiant pout, "Didn’t you also tacitly allow it back then?"
"I...," Yang Peili was suddenly at a loss for words, then turned and walked out the door, squatting by the entrance to painstakingly light his smoking pipe.
Feng Caie, in her own room, was scoffing to herself. Regret now? It’s too late for regrets. Although she was jealous of the people from the main room, she wasn’t foolish. Her father was right; to go against the main room now would certainly bring no good outcomes, so it would be better to make peace. If not once, then twice; if not twice, then thrice. As long as she was sincere, relations could always improve. In the future, she might well be able to rely on Rusong, couldn’t she? And her father had already declared that in the days to come, he, Rusong, would be the only one she could count on.
Indeed, although Feng Caie was considered short-minded and petty, Feng, the Scholar, was actually a man of wisdom.