TNIBFT -Chapter 55 Being a Father Is Really Not Easy

Seeing that Ye Tian was ignoring her, Ye Shuangxue persisted.

Caught by the smell of eggs, she continued to flatter him, “And also, the way you serve the eggs… like this, watch me.”

Ye Tian turned his head.

His daughter crossed her arms and imitated him. Her little face was sweet and charming, her large, bright eyes sparkling with joy. She smiled and said, “Did you realize that your dad is really handsome?”

The little girl lowered her voice, mimicking Ye Tian’s mannerisms.

What a filial little one!

Ye Tian gave a helpless sigh and raised his hand to swat her lightly.

Ye Shuangxue tilted her head just enough to dodge the strike and burst into delighted laughter.

Her cheerful giggles echoed through the old, shabby house. Xiao Jiang wrinkled his nose and stepped forward, “I want eggs too! I want eggs! I want two pieces!”

“All right!”

While serving the eggs, Ye Tian glanced at his aloof eldest son. “Don’t you have anything to say to your dad?”

Ye Yunting kept a cold expression and turned to look at the door.

Ye Tian’s little tricks to coax his younger siblings were child’s play. Ye Yunting wouldn’t fall for them; if Ye Tian wanted him to soften and please him, he could forget it. Not eating the egg was just fine.

The eldest remained expressionless, so Ye Tian said, “Fine, then your egg is mine—I like eggs anyway.”

Ye Yunting’s eyes flickered.

Ye Tian was shamelessly trying to threaten him with eggs. There was no way he would give in.

The noodles were placed on the table, and the family of four began to eat.

Three bowls of noodles were topped with golden fried eggs; only one bowl was plain noodles. Ye Yunting was speechless—Ye Tian was really petty. Was it really necessary?

He deliberately picked up the bowl without eggs.

“Egg!”

“I want eggs!” Xiao Jiang’s small hand held the chopsticks, his eyes shining with excitement. He had never eaten eggs in big bites before. In the past few days, with eggs freely available at home, Xiao Jiang felt his life had never been happier.

Seeing his younger siblings enjoying themselves, Ye Yunting couldn’t help but glance at the golden fried eggs, swallowing hard.

Ye Tian noticed his eldest son’s reaction in its entirety.

“Let’s eat!”

Ye Tian shouted, and the kids picked up their chopsticks and started eating.

After a few bites, Ye Shuangxue ate with exaggerated expressions, while Xiao Jiang kept sticking out his little tongue, drinking water gulp after gulp. The eldest continued to eat expressionlessly, head down. Seeing the kids enjoy their food so much, Ye Tian felt deeply satisfied and thought to himself, Being a dad is really not easy!

Ye Tian picked up a mouthful of noodles and swallowed.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!” Ye Tian’s face turned red as he coughed violently, nearly being choked by the meal he had made himself.

Too salty!

He couldn’t understand how his three kids could eat it all—truly not picky at all.

Seeing Ye Tian struggling, Ye Yunting’s lips twitched slightly into a faint smile.

Then he quickly lowered his head again, resuming his expressionless demeanor. Ye Tian looked at his eldest and said, “By the way, you haven’t said anything about yesterday at school… the stealing incident.”

“What exactly happened?”

Ye Yunting swallowed his food and cleared his throat. “Well, Xiao Jiang and I went to the outhouse…”

The eldest briefly explained the sequence of events, and Ye Tian understood. It was that despicable Shen Jie—a hypocrite—trying to take revenge on his daughter.

That scoundrel… if he didn’t get dealt with, he’d only bring more trouble.

Ye Tian frowned thoughtfully, already planning a way to handle Shen Jie.

After finishing his explanation, Ye Yunting picked up his chopsticks and continued eating. Toward the end, he noticed a glaring color at the bottom of his bowl. Eagerly, he pushed aside the noodles and saw a thick layer of fried eggs at the bottom.

For a moment, Ye Yunting froze.

Ye Tian—didn’t he refuse to eat eggs himself?

He suddenly looked up at Ye Tian, only to find that Ye Tian wasn’t paying him any attention at all, chatting and laughing with his younger siblings.

Ye Shuangxue and Xiao Jiang noticed their older brother’s surprised gaze. Their eyes flickered, as if they had already anticipated this.

Seeing the smiles on his siblings’ faces, Ye Yunting felt a pang of longing in his heart. A life like this… didn’t it seem quite nice?

……

The next day.

Ye Tian got up, and the children had already gone to the school.

Over the past few days, the eldest and Xiao Jiang had been very diligent in their studies. Only Ye Shuangxue struggled: when asked to write, it was like she was drawing spells. The moment her brush touched the ink, her stomach hurt, or she would get thirsty. What others could finish in half an hour, Ye Shuangxue would labor over until midnight.

Burning the midnight oil.

Each child had their own personality, and Ye Tian didn’t push them.

After tidying up the room briefly, Ye Tian prepared to go into town to buy spices for the hotpot.

Star anise, cinnamon, fennel—he needed a lot. After paying, the shopkeeper packed them in blue cloth with white patterns and handed them to Ye Tian.

“Sir, take a look at this, really cheap, only three wen each…”

“Need firewood?”

“Lamb, not gamey at all, thirty wen per jin…”

As soon as Ye Tian stepped out of the spice shop, the small merchants lining the street surged toward him. Ye Tian frowned: “No, thank you.”

He walked forward with an expressionless face.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind. Ye Tian frowned. “What are you selling now?”

It wasn’t that Ye Tian had a bad attitude; in this place, a little kindness could bring endless trouble.

Sifang City was an extremely cold region, with scarce food and supplies. There were too many poor people struggling every day on the edge of death. If you treated them kindly, they would persistently pester you; if they desperately wanted to survive, they might do things you could never predict.

“Fool, what are you saying?”

A shy female voice rang out. Ye Tian turned and saw Widow Zhang with a green headscarf, looking at him shyly. Her eyes were fixed on his packages, calculating every move.

Ye Tian took a step forward to walk away.

Widow Zhang followed, saying, “I’ve been waiting for you these past few days; my heart has broken.”

“Fool, have you gotten rich and now don’t even recognize people?”

Everyone in Mingfeng Village had known for days that Ye Tian had made his fortune: he had opened a shop in the city, was eating lavish meals at home, and had even sent three children to school—yet her own son Zhang Fan didn’t attend school. How could Ye Tian’s three little brats go?

Widow Zhang waved her handkerchief and followed him, “And this package… this must be expensive, right?”

Her eyes glimmered with desire as she reached out with her bright red-painted nails.

Ye Tian impatiently dodged.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Shen Jie sneaking behind a nearby wall. Ye Tian suddenly smiled: “Of course. Do you know what this is?”

“Spices!”

“In a few days, I’ll sell them to a merchant caravan and make at least one hundred taels.”

“Ah?”

Widow Zhang clasped her hands over her mouth, eyes sparkling as she stared at Ye Tian. Ye Tian glanced at Shen Jie in the corner—this guy, hearing ‘one hundred taels,’ slipped, breaking a dry branch under his foot.

“You absolutely mustn’t tell anyone. Don’t you miss me?”

“Tomorrow night, at your house, at midnight. Make sure to leave the door open for me.”

Ye Tian finished speaking and, pretending to be alert, looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he finally relaxed.

After setting the time, Ye Tian parted ways with Widow Zhang.

Only after Ye Tian’s back was out of sight did Shen Jie emerge from behind the wall, his expression dark: “Ye Tian, this time I’ll make you taste what it’s like to be driven out of the village.”