Chapter 234: Entering the Mountains

Chapter 234: Heading into the Mountains

The moment Li Deshu spoke, he asked about Ye Yanyan.

Ye Xiaoxiao found it very strange.

This time around, Li Deshu shouldn’t have had any connection with Hao Yanyan.

Hao Yanyan had fled early, and if it weren’t for her miserable marriage to Li Deshu, she wouldn’t have rushed off to the capital.

"You must know where Ye Yanyan is in the capital, right? It won’t hurt you to tell me."

Naturally, Li Deshu thought Ye Xiaoxiao was beautiful, but he didn’t dare hit on her.

In his memories of this life, Ye Xiaoxiao had a tough guy by her side.

And now that the Ye family was all there, he didn’t dare bully her either.

"Why are you looking for Hao Yanyan? She’s already married."

Li Deshu’s jaw dropped. "Married? Who did she marry? That bitch actually dared—"

His voice trailed off, but Ye Xiaoxiao still heard him.

Ye Xiaoxiao edged backward quietly, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Mom! Third Brother! Li Deshu won’t let me go home!"

They were very close to the Ye house now.

Her shout would definitely reach them.

Li Deshu glanced fearfully behind him, then took off running.

Ye Changning came out of the yard, but he didn’t see Li Deshu—the man had already sneaked behind someone else’s house.

"Xiao Xiao, what were you shouting about just now?"

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Li Deshu was just here."

Ye Changning frowned. "He dares to come back? Looks like I’ll have to have another ‘chat’ with him about life."

"He kept asking about our family."

Though Hao Yanyan wasn’t exactly virtuous now, this Li Deshu was downright rotten.

In their past life, when the Ye family suffered so terribly, Li Deshu had just stood there watching, never lifting a finger to help.

Ye Changning was puzzled. "What does he even want? I heard Li Deshu’s father isn’t in the village anymore, and their family isn’t doing well. Could he be looking to steal something or make trouble?"

Ye Changning naturally wouldn’t think of rebirth.

But Ye Xiaoxiao could.

If Li Deshu had also been reborn, then the plot of this book had gone completely off-script.

Ye Changsheng came out as well when he noticed the two had been gone too long.

Ye Changning told him, "Li Deshu came sniffing around again. Why is he sticking to our damn family like a bad penny?"

Ye Changsheng: "We need to find a way to drive him away for good. Otherwise, what if he comes causing trouble after we’re gone?"

Although Ye Changning felt that even if they all left, Ye Jianguo could handle that little punk, getting rid of Li Deshu was still something to celebrate.

"Beat him up."

The simplest solution Ye Changning could think of was to give him a beating and throw him out of the village.

In this weather, spending a night outside might just finish him off.

Ye Changsheng gave his third brother a disapproving look. "Brother, you gotta think smarter."

Ye Xiaoxiao tilted her head and glanced at her two brothers. "Why don’t we talk inside?"

Ye Changning hadn’t even put on thick clothes when he came out.

"No wonder I’m freezing. Let’s head back in."

The three of them returned to the house and sat for a while in Ye Changsheng’s small room.

Ye Changsheng and Ye Changning each had their own tiny rooms next to each other.

Now that they had electric lights, there were no more dark rooms.

Just as they were discussing how to deal with Li Deshu, Ye Jianguo came in and mentioned that the village was setting up a hunting trip for tomorrow.

For such collective activities, most of the village guys would join in.

More people meant safety—even if they ran into bears or wolves, they wouldn’t have to be too afraid. Anyone with a rifle would bring it, and militiamen would also come along.

"Do we even have wolves around here?"

Ye Changning: "Of course we do. You just haven’t seen ’em."

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Then I’m going too tomorrow."

Ye Changning: "You and Sheng Ge’er can go together, but don’t go too far."

Ye Xiaoxiao: "How many guns do we even have?"

Although gun control was strict in the country, a lot of hunting villages up north still had homemade guns.

In ten years, these guns would be gone.

Ye Changning waited until Ye Jianguo had left before daring to say, "Those are Dad’s pride and joy—nobody’s allowed near ’em. If Eldest Brother or Second Brother were here, they could take them, but Dad won’t let me near ’em."

Since Ye Changqing and Ye Chang’an had both been in the army.

By his time, getting in was way tougher, so he hadn’t signed up.

Besides, his wild streak made Ye Jianguo nervous.

All he could do was practice at home.

Still, he knew his way around the guns at home.

After sitting around a while, Ye Xiaoxiao still hadn’t heard her brothers come up with a plan to deal with Li Deshu.

She thought to herself, *Maybe we should just dope him up and make him stupid.*

*Wish I could learn curses from Qu Miao.*

Then we don’t have to worry about Li Deshu causing trouble again.

At dawn the next day, the village echoed with gongs and drums as young and middle-aged folks gathered at the threshing ground near the back mountain.

There were also girls in the crowd. Plenty of village families had just daughters, and if they didn’t participate, they'd miss out on their share of meat later.

So from a young age, girls were raised to handle mountain work too.

But Ye Xiaoxiao was definitely not among them. Standing in the group, she was a full head shorter.

"Xiaoxiao isn’t nearly as tough as the twelve-year-olds in the village."

Ye Jianguo didn’t approve of Xiaoxiao joining. Their youngest usually sat these out too and should go back with her.

Ye Changning: "They’re just tagging along. They’ll probably turn back halfway."

Ye Jianguo glared at him. "You’ll go back with them when the time comes."

Ye Changning, fiddling with his gun, saw this and his grin vanished.

"...Come on."

Ye Jianguo’s tone hardened. "What’s not good? If you let them go back alone, they might get lost in the mountains."

Ye Changning gave in. "Fine then. But try to keep up longer this time."

Xiaoxiao rarely took part in village group activities. Last she’d joined was probably for fishing.

This hunting trip had even more participants—a good forty, fifty folks.

"A crowd this size’ll scare off game, no?"

Ye Changning: "Once we go deeper into the mountains, you’ll realize how insignificant humans are to nature."

The militia and experienced hunters led the way. Before entering the mountains, the village head had already reminded everyone which animals were fair game and which were hands off, no exceptions.

Their goal was to hunt to eat, not for sport.

Animals like wild boars, which damaged crops and were edible, were naturally the main targets.

Xiaoxiao still remembered the taste of the wild boar meat from last time—it was truly delicious.

But last time, each household only got a small piece, hardly enough to go around.

Xiaoxiao spotted Li Deshu in the group.

He was clearly lagging behind those ahead.

The Lis used to be well-off, and Li Deshu had never participated in such activities before.

But now, for a decent New Year’s feast, he had no choice but to join the villagers.

Xiaoxiao said to Ye Changsheng, "Li Deshu is here too."

Ye Changsheng: "Looks like his leg’s acting up."

Xiaoxiao: "Probably still feeling that ditch fall from last time."