The conversation trailed off here as Erniu abruptly clamped his mouth shut.
Ye Chen’s brows furrowed slightly in response.
For he heard a series of unspeakable noises drifting from inside the house—the sounds of a woman!
"Ye Chen, sit here and watch TV for a moment. I'll go whip up a few dishes for you."
After his expression flickered through several changes, Erniu pulled Ye Chen over to a chair by the restaurant entrance, turned on the television, deliberately cranked up the volume, and then trudged off to the kitchen to cook with a gloomy look on his face.
Ye Chen, however, wore a grim expression.
The eatery was small. Outside sat four tables, a television, and a makeshift canopy serving as a roof...
The indoor space was also used for dining, with another four tables. The kitchen was on the left, and the area on the right must have been the living quarters!
Those unspeakable sounds just now had come from the right.
Ye Chen sat in the chair. Even though the television was blaring, he could still hear that woman's voice!
She sounded utterly uninhibited, faintly carrying over phrases like: "Erniu's back? I heard him cooking!"—"Never mind him, so what if he's back, the spineless wretch!"—"Let's keep going, in a bit we'll make Erniu cook us something when we're tired!"—"Hahaha, you're really something else."...
Listening to these sounds, Ye Chen's face grew steadily colder.
*No wonder there was always a dead, lifeless look in Erniu's eyes.*
*Any man would be crushed under the weight of something like this!*
Crack!
In a fit of fury, Ye Chen inadvertently crushed the remote control in his hand.
"Xiao Ye, I made a stir-fried pork, and here's a plate of peanuts. Have a bite while I go prep two more dishes, and then we'll get properly wasted together!"
At that moment, Erniu brought two plates over and set them on the table. He was terrible at putting on a front; right now his expression looked thoroughly strained, clearly fighting back a wave of anger while desperately hoping Ye Chen hadn't heard those noises earlier.
"Alright!"
Looking at Erniu's nearly despairing expression, Ye Chen chose not to expose him.
Instead, he chose to endure it.
Yet, Ye Chen had already made up his mind in his heart—he was going to intervene in this matter!
Another ten minutes passed. The house had fallen quiet when Erniu emerged once more, carrying a plate of braised fish and a vegetable stir-fry.
He set the plates on the table, poured himself a glass of wine in one go, and swallowed it down. "It's so hot in the kitchen. Just now, frying the fish had me tearing up. Xiao Ye, come on, let's have a drink. I am genuinely overjoyed from the bottom of my heart that you cheated death!"
"Alright, let's have a drink!"
Ye Chen picked up the wine bottle, poured a glass for Erniu first, and then filled his own.
"Xiao Ye, try my cooking... Don't just drink, have a piece of meat," Erniu said.
Ye Chen remained silent, for he heard the two people from the right-hand room walking out one after another.
"Eat what meat?!"
A shrewish voice rang out: "Day in and day out, instead of doing an honest day's work around the house, you go off to Nanshan to worship the dead! Total waste of a family chicken!! And why are you hitting the bottle already? It'll be mealtime soon, and customers are going to show up—why aren't you hurrying to the kitchen to prep the food?!"
"Also, Brother Zhang and I are hungry. Go to the kitchen and whip up something good for us!! Brother Zhang... sit down for a minute, I'll go grab you a bottle of good wine..."
He stared fixedly at the woman before him, gritting his teeth as he said, "This is my friend, Xiao Ye!"
"A friend?"
The woman looked Ye Chen up and down, noting that he wore no designer brands and sported no watch. Contempt instantly flooded her eyes. "He's not here for a free meal, is he? Friends have to pay the bill too!"
"You—!!!"
The veins bulged violently on Erniu's forehead from rage, yet he still lacked the nerve to rush over and slap her across the face.
His eyes bloodshot, he stared at the woman and demanded, "What about Boss Zhang then? Why hasn't he paid a dime after eating here so many times?"
The Boss Zhang whom Erniu mentioned was none other than the man who had emerged from the room right behind Li Cuihua. At that moment, he was lounging lazily in a chair, watching the show with a toothpick clamped between his teeth.
"Who says Brother Zhang didn't pay? Look at what this is!"
As she spoke, Li Cuihua fished several crimson bills from her pocket. "This money right here is Brother Zhang's meal money. If Brother Zhang weren't so generous, where would you have gotten the money for your mother's medical treatments? She would have dropped dead long ago!"
"The money for my mom's treatment is my own! This restaurant makes one or two hundred yuan every single day,"
Erniu retorted loudly: "All that money is with you! Every time I try to get medicine for my mom... you refuse to give it to me!"
"Don't a wife and home need to be supported? I married you, and you aren't supposed to give me money to live on?"
Akimbo, Li Cuihua pointed at Erniu and cursed, "Fine! If you think I spend too much, let's just get a divorce! Once we're divorced, I won't want your money, and we can be done with each other once and for all!!"
At the word "divorce," Erniu instantly deflated. After staring at Li Cuihua for a few seconds, he finally said in a trembling voice, "I—I was wrong, okay? I'll go make you guys food right now!!"
With that, Erniu slouched his shoulders and started dragging his feet toward the kitchen.
Right now, Erniu wished he could simply drop dead... especially with Xiao Ye right here. He had no idea if Xiao Ye would look down on him.
"Brother Zhang, let me pour you a drink."
Seeing Erniu obediently head off to cook, Li Cuihua hurled a "useless trash" insult at his back, then threw herself straight into Boss Zhang's embrace. "That ox just needs to be taught a lesson, otherwise he won't listen. Come on, drink up."
"Hahahaha."
Boss Zhang roared with laughter, his hands roaming over Li Cuihua's body in an uninhibited manner.
Listening to their arrogant banter and the vicious verbal abuse hurled at Erniu, Ye Chen could no longer hold back.
He stood up, walked right up to Li Cuihua, and asked coldly, "Are you Erniu's wife?"
"So what if I am? None of your damn business, psycho!" Li Cuihua frowned.
Ignoring her, Ye Chen turned his gaze to Boss Zhang instead. "Did you know she's married? She has a husband."
"Oh? Looking at you, you're planning to stick up for that ox?"
Boss Zhang tilted his head back, lounging haughtily in his chair. "Who the hell do you think you are? I'll screw whoever I damn well please—now get the hell out of here!"
With that, Boss Zhang viciously spat his toothpick straight at Ye Chen's face.
Ye Chen tilted his head slightly, dodging the incoming toothpick, before suddenly snatching two pairs of disposable chopsticks from the table and slamming them down with a sharp *crack*!
"Ah—!!!"
An instantaneous, heart-rending shriek tore from Boss Zhang's mouth.
Yet Ye Chen did not let him off, pulling out another two chopsticks and slamming them down ruthlessly into the wood...
"Ah—!!!"
Boss Zhang let out another scream, nearly passing out from the sheer agony.
For Ye Chen had pinned both of his hands directly to the table with the chopsticks. Those flimsy disposable chopsticks, which would snap at the slightest bend, were currently acting like two sharp iron blades, effortlessly piercing straight through Boss Zhang's palms and deep into the two-centimeter-thick wooden tabletop.
Drip, drop! Drip, drop!
Fresh blood streamed down the chopsticks, pattering continuously onto the concrete floor. At that sight, Li Cuihua was scared out of her wits.
After screaming a few times, Boss Zhang panted heavily, sucking in air as he prepared to launch into a vicious tirade. But Ye Chen pulled out yet another pair of chopsticks. "Shut your mouth. Say one more useless word, and I'll nail your skull to this table."
At those words, Boss Zhang's entire body trembled. He clamped his teeth together hard, not daring to make a single sound. He could tell with absolute certainty that Ye Chen was not joking.
"What's going on?!"
Hearing the commotion, Erniu rushed out from the kitchen in a panic.
When he saw the scene before him, he was struck dumb with shock: "Xiao Ye, what are you doing, Xiao Ye?! You need to run! Boss Zhang's older brother is Zhang Long, you have to get out of here!"
"Erniu, look at the kind of friend you've made! Is he trying to get us killed?!"
Seeing Erniu appear, Li Cuihua scrambled to her feet and hid behind him, shrieking at the top of her lungs, "Is this the kind of scumbag you bring home as a friend? Kick him out right now, hurry!"
"Xiao Ye is not a scumbag."
Erniu forced himself to explain, "He is my best friend!"
"If you want to die, don't drag me down with you! He hurt Brother Zhang, and Zhang Long won't let this go! He runs with a rough crowd outside—just wait and see how you handle this!"
"I..."
Erniu gritted his teeth. "No matter what, I won't betray Xiao Ye! Xiao Ye, run away!!"
"Erniu."
At last, Ye Chen spoke up. "For the sake of a woman like this, are you content to be tortured into this state?"
"Huuu...!!"
Ye Chen let out a long breath, as if venting all the pent-up fury in his chest. Staring directly at Erniu, he said, "A real man need never worry about finding a wife. She clearly holds you in zero regard, she even brings other men into your home..."
"I—I, I, I!!"
Just a few sentences from Ye Chen completely broke Erniu down. A man fast approaching thirty years of age dropped his head into his hands and squatted right there on the ground, weeping.
"I—I... Xiao Ye, I'm furious too!! But I'm useless! I want a divorce just as badly, but my mom is sick, she won't allow a divorce... She's terribly ill, who knows how many months she has left?! My mom's greatest wish in life is to live to hold a grandson... I—I want a divorce too, but I don't have the money to marry another wife."
"If I get a divorce now, it will literally kill my mom. I—I have no choice, Xiao Ye!!"
Squatting on the ground, Erniu wailed at the top of his lungs, "I'm useless! I'm a coward! I deserve to wear a green hat, I might as well just die!!"
The surrounding villagers were all stunned. A few had initially come for a meal, but with such a massive commotion, many people from the village had come out to watch the spectacle.
Most of them were already aware of the affair between Li Cuihua and Boss Zhang, and deep down, they felt a great deal of sympathy for Erniu.
Right now, watching Erniu in such absolute despair, not a single person could bear to look on.
"Piece of trash!"
Yet Li Cuihua merely spat out those three cold words.
Slap!
Before the echo of those words had even faded, Ye Chen spun around and backhanded her across the face. Before Li Cuihua could even process what was happening, the sheer, terrifying force of the blow sent her flying through the air.
After spinning several times in midair, she crashed heavily onto the ground. Looking at the face that had once possessed a certain passing prettiness, it was now swollen to the size of a pig's head... With that single slap, Ye Chen had thoroughly ruined her looks.
By now, he understood completely: any affection between Erniu and Li Cuihua was long dead, replaced entirely by hatred.
The only reason Erniu had groveled before Li Cuihua and dared not divorce her was because his mother was critically ill and could not endure any further emotional shocks... moreover, his mother was desperately yearning to hold a grandson.
These compounding pressures had descended all at once, crushing a penniless, powerless man like Erniu to the dust.
"Don't worry, I can cure your mother's illness!"
"As for a wife, Erniu, rest assured—I will definitely find you one a thousand, ten thousand times better than Li Cuihua!"
Having batted Li Cuihua away with a single strike, Ye Chen walked over and pulled Erniu to his feet.
"Xiao Ye, you don't need to comfort me... My mother has coronary heart disease, how could you possibly cure that?"
Erniu gritted his teeth, wiping the tears from his face. "As for a wife, I've given up all hope on that. All I want is to keep my mother alive!"
He assumed Ye Chen was merely tossing out hollow words of comfort.
"Erniu, have you grown a pair of bear guts? You actually dared to get someone to beat me up—I—I'm going to kill you!"
Li Cuihua had struggled back to her feet. The moment she realized her face was permanently disfigured, she completely lost her mind... Rushing into the kitchen, she snatched a bone-cleaver and charged straight at Erniu and Ye Chen.
"Vile wretch!"
Rage flared anew in Ye Chen's eyes. Not only had Li Cuihua committed adultery and humiliated Erniu to his face—making him cook for her lover—but now, after being disciplined, she had the gall to try and stab Erniu.
In that instant, killing intent rose in Ye Chen's heart!
As the sect master of the Kunlun Sect, he had cultivated a ruthless decisiveness regarding life and death over the years. A vile creature like Li Cuihua could be turned to ashes with a mere flick of his finger.
Just as he prepared to move, he saw Erniu lunge forward.
With a sudden burst of frantic energy, Erniu ripped the bone-cleaver from Li Cuihua's grip, grabbed her by the collar, and roared furiously, "I told you, Xiao Ye is my friend! You—you cuckolded me and humiliated my friend, and today, I! I! I'm divorcing you!"
"Go ahead and divorce me! Divorce me and scare your half-dead mother straight into her grave! Erniu, you son of a bitch, do you have any idea how much debt you're in yourself? Divorce me! Once you're single for the rest of your life and can't find a wife, it'll kill your mother, that would be just perfect—"
Li Cuihua shrieked without a shred of restraint, her temper as fiery as ever.
Slap!
This time, however, Erniu did not endure it. He slammed a vicious backhand across her face.
"You dare hit me?!" Li Cuihua was utterly stunned.
Gritting his teeth in silence, Erniu followed up with another heavy backhand, continuing to strike her until she broke down weeping and begging for mercy. Only then did Erniu release his grip.
Thud!
Li Cuihua collapsed limply to the ground like a puddle of mud, fixing Erniu and Ye Chen with a venomous glare as if already plotting her revenge.
*Hmph...*
Reading the malice in Li Cuihua's eyes, Ye Chen flicked his finger, sending an invisible, imperceptible burst of genuine *qi* straight into her brain.
In that exact fraction of a second, Li Cuihua's pupils dilated blankly, and she passed out cold in a daze.
Seeing her collapse, the onlookers didn't think much of it, assuming Erniu had simply knocked her out with his slaps... Little did anyone know that Ye Chen's subtle little action had instantly reduced Li Cuihua to a complete vegetable.
Meanwhile, Boss Zhang's hands were still bleeding profusely, yet he sat frozen in his chair, not daring to move an inch or even whimper in pain.
The dominance Ye Chen had displayed was simply too overwhelming, and even that blockhead Erniu had been driven to a state of frenzy.
Boss Zhang was terrified that if he uttered a single extra word, he'd end up with a face as swollen and deformed as Li Cuihua's. Though getting his hands pierced through was miserable enough, Li Cuihua had it far worse—her face was thoroughly warped, bleeding from the nose and mouth beyond any medical repair, condemned to live out the rest of her life as a bizarrely distorted, paralyzed-faced cripple.
"Let's go. I'll accompany you to check on your mother."
Having dealt with Li Cuihua, Ye Chen gently patted Erniu's shoulder.
"No... no need!"
Though Erniu was slow-witted, he wasn't a complete fool. Pointing at Boss Zhang, he said, "Xiao Ye, his older brother is a scary guy. You should leave, this has nothing to do with you."
"Pay him no mind."
Ye Chen glanced at Boss Zhang and dismissed him entirely. He knew full well that these kinds of people would inevitably seek revenge on Erniu, so he was intentionally playing a long game to catch a bigger fish.
With that, Ye Chen patted Erniu's shoulder again. "Say no more. Take me to see your mother... Don't tell me you don't believe in me?"
"No, no."
Seeing the solemn expression on Ye Chen's face, Erniu didn't dare argue further. He could only nod and lead Ye Chen toward his house.
Deep down, however, Erniu still harbored doubts that Ye Chen could cure coronary heart disease... If he remembered correctly, what did Ye Chen study back in school? Some kind of financial management? That certainly wasn't medicine...
Though bewildered, Erniu didn't dwell on it. Ye Chen had spent plenty of time playing at Erniu's house when they were kids, and Auntie Niu had always been very fond of him. Bringing him inside might at least manage to cheer his mother up.
Walking down the path, as they neared the front door, Erniu suddenly spoke up: "Xiao Ye, whatever happened at the restaurant... please don't mention a word of it to my mom."
"Alright, I won't say a word," Ye Chen promised.
At that, Erniu's expression eased somewhat before he pushed open the courtyard gate and led Ye Chen inside.
"Mom, look who's here!" Erniu shouted the moment they stepped into the yard.
"Who is it?" A weak voice drifted from inside the house shortly after.
"Auntie Niu..."
Hearing that aged voice, Ye Chen felt a sudden tightness in his throat. When they were little, he used to drag his younger sister over to Erniu's house all the time.
Times had been tough back then, but whenever he and little Mumu showed up, Auntie Niu would sit by the stove roasting sweet potatoes for them, giving the biggest and sweetest one to Mumu, then Ye Chen, while the one Erniu got was invariably the smallest.
"It's me, Auntie Niu."
Stepping into the room, Ye Chen laid eyes on an elderly woman with hair as white as snow. She was skin and bones, looking for all the world like a woman in her seventies, frail and powerless.
Yet Auntie Niu was barely past fifty this year; due to a lifetime of farm labor, her health had always been robust.
Seeing the drastic change in Auntie Niu—and recalling the toll taken on Erniu—Ye Chen's brows knit together in a tight frown. It was glaringly obvious that this mother and son had suffered immensely over the years.
" You, you are..." Auntie Niu's dull, lifeless eyes stared at Ye Chen for a long time before she said in a trembling voice, "Xiao Ye? You're Xiao Ye... did you bring Mumu along to play at our house?"
Hearing those words, Erniu's expression shifted drastically. "Xiao Ye, my mom ran a fever last night, her mind is still a bit hazy... please, please don't let her words upset you."
"Didn't Mumu come?"
After asking the question, Auntie Niu suddenly froze, then slapped herself hard across the forehead. "I forgot, I forgot... little Mumu is dead... she died a horrible death, and old Su too... Xiao Ye, you—you've come back to life, why didn't you bring little Mumu back from the netherworld with you?"
"Mom, what are you talking about?!"
"Xiao Ye didn't come back to life, he never died in the first place!"
"Besides, once people die, they're gone—there's no such thing as a netherworld... resurrection and all that is just stuff from TV."
Terrified that his mother would keep going and upset Ye Chen, Erniu hurriedly interrupted, "Mom, Xiao Ye came to see you... How are you feeling? Are you still in pain?"
"Oh." Auntie Niu nodded blankly. "I'm much better. Why isn't Cuihua here? Is she busy at the restaurant? Now that Xiao Ye's here, you should introduce Cuihua to him."
"Ah..." Hearing his mother bring up Li Cuihua, Erniu's expression turned unnatural once more.