Chen Jiuniang had this thought but didn’t dare believe it. She hurried to examine her son again. To her astonishment, she discovered that her son’s smile was no longer as foolish as before. Then she saw his eyes.

Clear and bright, with even a hint of cunning.

Chen Jiuniang was startled. Her son really wasn’t stupid anymore! But why did he feel somehow unfamiliar?

Actually, Ye Kong felt guilty too. Noticing Chen Jiuniang staring at him, his heart felt uneasy.

Old woman, what are you looking at? Your idiot son left and got replaced with someone brilliant, handsome, and smart – you should be secretly thrilled!

Of course, Ye Kong didn’t say this out loud. He quickly smiled and said, “Mother, do you feel that your Kong’er is different from before? Hehe, you don’t need to worry. Your son is still your son, genuine article. As for why I’m different now, it’s because I had a dream tonight. There was a white-bearded old man who said, ‘From today on, you won’t be stupid anymore’… And so my brain started working properly. Hey, Mother, don’t cry!”

Hearing her son’s fluent speech, Chen Jiuniang’s tears were already streaming down her face. She was simply too happy. These were tears of joy, tears of happiness, tears of excitement…

This Chen Jiuniang was also a woman with a bitter fate. From childhood, because of her ugly appearance and her family’s poverty, plus having especially many siblings, she’d never lived a good life since she was small.

Though her face was ugly, her hands were skillful. She was excellent at needlework, especially embroidery – she could embroider things that came to life.

But no matter how skillful or kind a woman was, with looks like that no one would want her. The Cangnan Continent had no plastic surgery hospitals. With that appearance, even if you threw in two hundred coins as a dowry, not even a beggar would agree to marry her.

So Chen Jiuniang remained unmarried at eighteen, which made her an older unwed woman. Unable to find a husband’s family, she couldn’t just eat and live at her parents’ home for free, so Chen Jiuniang helped people with needlework when she had time.

Though Chen Jiuniang’s love life was completely blank, her work went quite smoothly. Skillful hands and unafraid of hardship – gradually Read on Jormuntl she earned the appreciation of the Manor of the General Who Pacifies the South. The old lady of the Ye family had Chen Jiuniang come to the General’s Manor daily to do embroidery work, transforming her from temporary work to permanent employment.

Life wasn’t great, but it was fulfilling.

However, this woman was unlucky enough. While doing embroidery work perfectly fine, one afternoon the General Who Pacifies the South, Ye Haoran, got drunk and somehow wandered into the embroidery room.

Chen Jiuniang happened to be in the embroidery room. By coincidence, Lord Ye saw this young woman from the right side.

At that time, Lord Ye was young and successful, with outstanding military achievements. As they say, a good appetite comes with good teeth, and a good mood comes with strong desires.

The bleary-eyed General Ye saw that this embroidery maid looked decent. Good enough. Impulsive from alcohol, naturally not caring whether the girl was willing or not, he dragged Chen Jiuniang toward the bed. Right or wrong, he’d have his way with her first.

When Lord Ye woke up and saw the face of the woman in his arms that looked like a traffic accident scene, his disgust can be imagined.

Originally, General Ye playing around with a girl was never a big deal. But who knew that just this once, Chen Jiuniang would actually get pregnant.

After ten months of pregnancy, the white and chubby Ye Kong was born, and Ye Haoran’s mother particularly loved him.

So Chen Jiuniang’s fortune turned. She officially moved into the Ye household. Of course, she had no status – she couldn’t be counted among the three wives and four concubines. She had no favor either – that Ye Haoran’s spine would go numb just seeing her. Even if he had needs, they would vanish at the sight of her.

But this was already pretty good for Chen Jiuniang. She had an independent courtyard, two serving maids, and some loose silver. For a woman from an ordinary family, this was sufficient.

But the good days didn’t last long. The old lady passed away, and the first wife had died years earlier, so the household management fell to the narrow-minded second wife.

So Chen Jiuniang’s maids were transferred away, the silver became less visit our site and less, the embroidery work sent over became more and more, and she gradually fell to the status of a servant.

At first, Ye Haoran would still help out a bit for his son’s sake. But when Ye Kong grew up and Lord Ye discovered with surprise that this boy not only had a clumsy tongue but a clumsy brain, he became disappointed and from then on never cared about this unfortunate mother and son again.

Very quickly, Chen Jiuniang went from being a servant to being worse than a servant. Before, as a servant she only did embroidery for the masters. Now even those household guards and maids sent their mending over. Even though Chen Jiuniang worked without complaint, she still had to embroider until deep into the night every day and still couldn’t finish it all.

In short, this woman was quite miserable. Her whole life she’d basically never lived well. She was ugly herself and had given birth to an idiot son. In the manor she’d suffered plenty of cold stares and bullying. Mockery behind her back, scolding to her face – these were all ordinary occurrences.

Some lyrics fit perfectly: “I seem to see a tragedy unfolding, with no joy in the play…”

But who knew heaven would open its eyes, and her son would wake from sleep no longer stupid.

Happiness came too suddenly. She could only express it with tears.

“Mother, don’t cry.” Ye Kong felt somewhat flustered. Generally speaking, men fear women crying, and he was no exception.

“Kong’er really got better. Mother is happy!” Chen Jiuniang said through her tears.

“If you’re happy, that’s good, that’s good.” Ye Kong suddenly felt his nose getting sour too. He reached out his small hand to wipe away the tears on Chen Jiuniang’s face, not avoiding the dark red scars at all.

“Mother, don’t worry. I will definitely cure the dark scars on your face,” Ye Kong said with determination.

Chen Jiuniang felt her son was comforting her. She wiped away her tears and smiled, “Then Mother will wait for you to grow up and cure Mother’s face.”

“I don’t need to grow up to do it.” Ye Kong believed that nothing was impossible if ​Read on Jormuntl​you put your heart into it.

Chen Jiuniang didn’t want her son to delay his future prospects because of curing her face. He used to be stupid, but now that he wasn’t stupid anymore, he should study literature and practice martial arts.

She smiled, “This matter isn’t urgent. People are used to seeing Mother like this anyway.”

“How can that be acceptable? From now on, you’re my mom. In the future, if anyone dares to look at you wrong, I, Ye Kong, will definitely beat them until their own mother can’t recognize them.” Ye Kong said word by word.

“You foolish child, talking nonsense again. How can you beat people just because they look?” Chen Jiuniang found his words funny and smiled as she scolded him.

“That’s because they deserve a beating!” Ye Kong said this and also laughed. Then he supported Chen Jiuniang saying, “Mother, let’s go inside and talk. Previously your child didn’t know to study, and there are many things I don’t understand. I’d like to ask you about them.”

Hearing her son speak more and more fluently, even somewhat literary, Chen Jiuniang’s happiness was beyond description.

Just as Ye Kong and Chen Jiuniang were meeting as mother and son, talking under the moonlight, in the adjacent room another man and woman pulled back the bed curtains and lit an oil lamp.

This man was a sallow-faced fellow about forty years old. Pulling up his pants, he cursed and muttered, “Who the hell is crying and wailing in the middle of the night? Damn it, I just got back from the third watch and wanted to fool around with my woman, and I can’t even get peace!”

A middle-aged woman was lying diagonally in the curtains. Pulling at the thin blanket, she also cursed, “Who else but that female ghost next door and her idiot son.”

“I’ll go yell at them a couple times to make them settle down.” The middle-aged man was about to push open the window.

“Hey, Laosi!” Suddenly the middle-aged woman also jumped down from the bed, grabbed the man’s arm, and smiled, “Are you stupid? If you yell like that, they’ll quiet down, but what good does it do us?”

The middle-aged man called Laosi scratched his head, not understanding. “We unauthorized copy get something good out of it?”

The middle-aged woman pushed the man hard and scolded, “How can you be so stupid? Steward Ye Cai embezzles her silver every month, Sister Ma from the kitchen shakes her down every few days, and you’re the only idiot who doesn’t!”

Laosi understood at once and laughed, “My wife at home is the smart one. Watch me go shake her down good. Such an ugly woman with an idiot son – what use does she have for silver? Better to shake it out for our Little San to find a martial arts teacher!”

Laosi’s wife saw that her man had caught on and laughed, “You dead ghost finally got it. Go quick and come back quick. This old lady hasn’t had her fill yet.”

“Wife, you just wait!” The man called Laosi walked out the door.

Taking three steps in two strides, Laosi rushed next door and started yelling at Ye Kong and his mother who were just about to enter the house: “Hey! What are you two doing over there, wailing in the middle of the night? Are you going to let other people sleep or not?”

Ye Kong looked up and saw that the person who walked in from outside the courtyard was a household guard type, about forty years old, clothes disheveled, looking like he’d just crawled out of bed.

Ye Kong quickly found this person in his inherited memories. Li Laosi, supervisor of the night watch, lived next door. Relying on being a distant relative of the second wife, he’d bullied this mother and son plenty in normal times.

“Oh, it’s Steward Li. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Kong’er just regained his wits and couldn’t help but cry out in happiness. I’m truly sorry.” Chen Jiuniang hurried forward to apologize.

“What nonsense. During the day I have to see your ghost face, at night I have to hear ghost wailing. That idiot, aside from eating pig slop, can he be normal at all?” Li Laosi had no intention of letting it go easily.

“Steward Li, don’t worry, it won’t happen again, it won’t happen again.” Chen Jiuniang kept bowing in apology.

But Li Laosi hadn’t seen any silver yet, so naturally he wouldn’t stop. He yelled again, “You think it’s easy for me? Getting up in the middle of the night to do the watch rounds, just fell asleep and you woke me up! I only took a few taels of wages!”

With this statement, Chen Jiuniang understood. This was extortion. Truthfully, this money was being squeezed out completely unreasonably, but she was an orphan and widow – ​stolen content​she could only spend money to avoid disaster.

Chen Jiuniang’s monthly silver was already reduced to almost nothing through embezzlement. She was reluctant to use it herself, but in the end others shook it all clean away.

It was the end of the month and she was tight on funds. She fumbled in her sleeve for a long time before pinching out a small silver nugget and handing it to Li Laosi.

“Steward Li, we orphans and widow have troubled you plenty. This is a small token.”

If you weren’t orphans and a widow, I wouldn’t bully you! Li Laosi snorted coldly, weighing the silver in his hand. He was somewhat dissatisfied – this was too little.

“You think you can send me off with this bit of silver?” Li Laosi opened his hand and threw that bit of small silver in front of Chen Jiuniang, cursing, “Tomorrow morning I’ll report to the second mistress that you were making a racket in the middle of the night, disturbing people so they couldn’t sleep, and have you thrown out of the General’s Manor!”

Chen Jiuniang panicked. The mother and son had no one to rely on, and times were hard. If they left the General’s Manor, they would only be more miserable. This was what she worried about most. But the key was she really had no money left at all.

“Steward Li, please be patient. Take this bit of silver first, consider it a loan. When they issue the monthly wages I’ll pay you back.” Chen Jiuniang quickly picked up the silver and stuffed it into Li Laosi’s hand, bowing repeatedly again.

“That’s more like it.” Li Laosi took the silver nugget and put it away, then said viciously, “Two taels!”

“Yes, yes, two taels. Steward Li, take care.” Chen Jiuniang breathed a sigh of relief, but her heart was already worrying. There were still several days until the monthly wages were issued. Without a single cent, how would they get through the days?

Li Laosi’s goal achieved, he turned around triumphantly to leave. But when he turned his head, he saw that Ye Kong, who was usually in a daze, was holding a brick and blocking the courtyard gate.

Ye Kong’s chest was exploding with rage, angry flames surging in his chest as if they would erupt at any moment.

Too excessive! Even street thugs and local hooligans weren’t visit our site this excessive! Just because they shouted once at night and cried twice, they had to be extorted. Was there any justice?

What was even more excessive – knowing that his family had no money, they still wanted to book next month’s wages in advance. Did these beasts ever think about how the mother and son would live without money? Did they have to drive people to death?

He knew that as a newcomer to this place he should keep a low profile. He also knew that impulsiveness was the devil. He even knew that taking a step back would bring vast skies and wide seas…

But swallowing anger wasn’t his style! Bowing his head and playing the grandson wasn’t his thing either! If he kept enduring, he’d become a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

“Put down the silver and apologize to my mother! Otherwise, this gate is easy to enter but hard to leave!”

Ye Kong seemed to have returned to Hanzheng Street. Standing with his body tilted, he bounced the brick in his hand up and down, eyes narrowed, eyebrows raised with a bit of contempt, and on his face was a trace of cold, cruel smile that said he had the other person figured out.

“Well now!” That Li Laosi was startled by today’s Ye Kong. He thought to himself that this kid could speak clearly now, and his temper had grown too. Could he really have stopped being stupid?

But even if he wasn’t stupid anymore, he was just a child. Even if he wasn’t stupid, so what? Li Laosi was surprised but not afraid. He sneered coldly, “So you really aren’t stupid anymore. You’ve learned to act like a little master. You talk to me like this – careful I don’t beat you stupid again!”

Li Laosi originally thought this kid was just holding a brick to bluff, that he wouldn’t dare actually strike. This fool used to shout “poor little chicken” even when watching people kill chickens. Could he really bring himself to hit someone with a brick?

But who knew, hitting people with bricks was Ye Kong’s specialty. Those who’d been hit by his bricks – if not a thousand, then eight hundred. There was no such thing as not being able to bring himself to do it. Without even thinking, he struck.

“Crack!” A brick smashed onto Li Laosi’s face without suspense, making him howl, his nose bleeding profusely. Li Laosi was so scared he quickly crouched down, pinching his nose.

“Kong’er, don’t!” Chen Jiuniang had never seen such a bloody brawling scene before and was so frightened she rushed over to pull at Ye Kong.

“Mother, a good horse gets ridden, a good person gets bullied. The weaker and more easily bullied you are, the more these wicked servants will climb all over you. Hehe, I’m going to make them understand that from now on, there’s [noodles]one more person in this courtyard who cannot be bullied – a wicked person!”

After Ye Kong finished speaking, he bared his teeth and glared, pushed Chen Jiuniang aside, and aimed at Li Laosi crouching on the ground. He swung the brick in a full arc and smashed it against his forehead.

“Ahhh!” Li Laosi screamed miserably. His legs went soft and he knelt down, shouting, “Stop hitting, you’ll kill someone.”

“Apologize!” Ye Kong roared loudly.

“I apologize, I apologize.” That Li Laosi had been beaten stupid by two bricks already. He just felt blood gushing everywhere on his head and face. Seeing Ye Kong’s brick about to come down again, he quickly hugged Ye Kong’s leg and begged loudly, “Eighth Young Master, this old slave was blind. I beg Eighth Young Master to spare this old dog’s life.”

“If you’d said this earlier, wouldn’t you have avoided the beating? Slaves just don’t have eyes.” Ye Kong smiled cruelly, using the brick to slap Li Laosi’s mouth. This appearance made Li Laosi truly feel the other party’s terrifying nature.

“I don’t have eyes. This old slave will never dare again.” Li Laosi said while taking out that silver nugget from his sleeve. But in his heart he hated Ye Kong and his mother to death, thinking viciously: Later I’ll definitely tell the second mistress and have her deal with you!

“Are you thinking of reporting to your master?” How could such a petty thought hide from Ye Kong? He rolled his eyes and said, “Let me tell you, I’m not afraid. You know what I used to do? I was a hooligan! Whoever provokes me, I’ll fight them to the death! Remember! No matter how worthless I am, I still have the surname Ye! If you want to teach me a lesson, unless the Ye family dies out completely!”

“Kong’er, forget it, forget it. Mother is scared.” Chen Jiuniang hugged Ye Kong’s arm again, afraid he wouldn’t know his own strength and would beat someone to death, which would be bad.

“Get lost!” With Ye Kong’s word, Li Laosi covered his head and face, not daring to look back, and fled desperately.

Chen Jiuniang sighed, “Alas, Kong’er, if you anger the General, what will we do? You’ve caused trouble for Mother.”

After beating up Li Laosi, Ye Kong felt much better. But then he thought that Li Laosi would definitely go back and find someone to get revenge, and he was just a twelve-year-old boy. How could he withstand the coming storm?

He could only make himself stronger! Step on all those who bullied him!

Ye Kong steeled his resolve. Since he’d come to this place, he’d do something great. Better to die standing than live kneeling! He couldn’t lose face for the hooligans of Earth!