Ye Ling felt relieved when Liu Duo stopped mentioning the incident.

He did not know who to side with.

"Duo Er, I've done some accounts after coming home today. Can you check and see if I did it right?" Ye Ling passed the accounts book to her.

Liu Duo opened the book and turned several pages. Some characters were written with a few errors, but other than that he had not made any mistakes and had managed to record them clearly.

"Nicely done, Ling. Your records are quite clear-cut. You can be a teacher now," Liu Duo smiled and praised him.

To which Ye Ling shied away. "As long as there aren't any mistakes."

He had been worried he would screw up his first independent trial, which would prove how stupid and useless he was.

Liu Duo let Ye Ling deal with every villager who came to sell tomatoes in the afternoon, while she observed close by. At the same time, she peeled garlic while keeping an eye on Little Huzi.

Time flew by quickly, and very soon dusk had fallen. Ye Yang had returned from the farm, but Ye Liu's gang had not come back.

"Yang, did they go to the capital to collect tomatoes? Why aren't they back yet?" Liu Duo asked Ye Yang.

Usually, they would have long since returned home by now. It was apparent what they were up to. Liu Duo, for one, would like to see whether or not they would come home today at all!

They could not hide forever.

Ye Yang got busy again right after he reached home. He turned to face Liu Duo sitting in her rocking chair. "Do you miss them?"

Cough...

Liu Duo coughed out loud after choking on her own spit. Had she heard correctly?

That blockhead actually said those words! How unexpected!

"No rush," he added steadily. "They'll be back soon."

Liu Duo was left speechless. He said it as though she was dying for them to come home quickly.

None of the four brothers were exactly pushovers when it came to pushing her buttons. One by one they had started to show her how far they would go to test her temper.

Liu Duo rolled her eyes but did not reply to Ye Yang. She muttered under her breath, like hell I miss them!

Just like that, another half hour passed. Lo and behold, here came the men in their bullock-cart.

"Yo, Liuzi, you're finally willing to come back, are you? For a second there I thought you'd up and gone to the big city!" Carrying Little Huzi in her arms, she spoke to them in an unusual tone.

They did not seem to have collected many tomatoes either. Judging by the load on the bullock-cart, she estimated they had come back with close to sixty jin despite taking the whole afternoon.

Ye Liu had barely opened his mouth to speak when Ye Mo beat him to it. "Dear, if we had wanted to go there, we would have brought the whole family! Why would you say such a thing?"

He failed to read between the lines.

Ye Liu parked the cart in the yard and then got back to her. "Little Duo, sorry we're late today. Our bad. We won't let you worry about us again."

Geez...

I wanted you to come back so badly only because you have to revert my bed back to the way it was before! Liu Duo screamed on the inside.

She ignored Ye Liu's shamelessness and said to them, "Liuzi, after you guys unload the tomatoes from the cart, I have an important task for you and Mo."

She would not want to say exactly what it was in front of Li Wazi.

Ye Liu and Ye Mo exchanged glances, then continued unloading the tomatoes.

Important task? They would not want to do it.

After they were done with that, the two began searching for excuses to avoid the inevitable. One complained of an upset stomach and went to the outhouse, the other hurried to help Aunt Li in the kitchen.

Both left Liu Duo standing there, frowning and in a daze.