A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

In Yong'an Prefecture, the sky was overcast, and a fine drizzle fell like silk, casting a bleak and desolate gloom over the city.

The Yang family rice shop in the west of the city was closed today, with glaring white paper lanterns hanging from the eaves.

In the mourning hall in the backyard, heart-wrenching cries echoed through the empty courtyard.

Yang Laosan ultimately couldn't hold on. He was tormented by illness for more than two years, exhausting his last bit of energy. He didn't even get to see his son Yang Jiye grow up before passing away.

In the center of the mourning hall stood a thin coffin. Chen Shujie, dressed in mourning clothes, with her eyes swollen and red like walnuts, knelt in front of the brazier, burning paper money while suppressing the sobs in her throat.

Thirteen-year-old Yang Jiye, also dressed in mourning clothes, knelt beside his father's coffin, his face covered in tears and snot, his voice hoarse from crying, only helpless sobs remaining.

"Husband... how could you be so heartless as to abandon us, a widow and her children..." Chen Shujie threw a handful of paper money into the brazier, the firelight illuminating her pale and haggard face.

Before he could finish speaking, the back door was suddenly kicked open.

A loud bang startled the mother and son in the mourning hall, making them tremble.

Then, Yang Laosan's eldest brother, Yang Laoda, and second brother, Yang Laoer, led their wives and more than a dozen burly servants, barging in menacingly.

Chen Shujie's heart skipped a beat. She quickly wiped away her tears, stood up, and forced a bow: "Big brother, second brother, why did you bring so many people with you..."

"Enough nonsense!" Old Master Yang, with his triangular eyes and fleshy face, waved his hand to interrupt Chen Shujie, and sneered, "Now that Third Brother has passed away, it's time to properly sort out the matter of the Yang Family Rice Shop."

Chen Shujie's face paled: "Big brother, Third Brother's body is barely cold, he hasn't been laid to rest yet. Can't we talk about this after the funeral?"

"Wait until the funeral is over? Wait until you've moved all the Yang family's assets out?" Yang the Second, waving a folding fan, replied sarcastically, "Chen, you're just an outsider. This Yang family rice shop was built up by the three of us brothers together. My eldest brother and I contributed our initial capital! Now that the third brother is gone, it's only natural that we brothers should take over the rice shop. Are you suggesting we leave it to an outsider like you?"

Chen Shujie was struck dumb, her eyes wide with disbelief: "Second brother, what are you saying? This rice shop was clearly built up by the third brother himself, working tirelessly from dawn till dusk, bit by bit! When you divided the family property, you didn't even give the third brother a single grain of rice!"

"Bullshit!" Old Master Yang glared, pointing at Chen Shujie's nose and cursing, "The eldest brother is like a father! What the third brother owns belongs to the Yang family! Jiye is still young and can't support the family. This rice shop will be ruined sooner or later if you, a woman, are handed over to him! If you know what's good for you, hurry up and pack your trash and get out of the Yang family!"

"You...you're trying to force us, a widow and her orphan, to our deaths!" Chen Shujie trembled with rage, tears streaming down her face. She knelt on the ground with a thud, pleading desperately, "Eldest brother, second brother, I beg you, we can talk about the rice shop later. Even if you want it, I'll give it to you! Just please have mercy and let our third brother rest in peace! He's your own brother!"

"Stop bringing up your own brother! Once he's dead, he's just a ghost!" Without any mercy, Old Yang kicked over the brazier in front of him, scattering unburnt paper money with sparks all over the ground.

Seeing this, Yang Jiye suddenly got up from the ground and charged at Yang Laoda like an angry calf, grabbing his leg tightly and biting him: "You're not allowed to bully my mother! You're not allowed to kick my father's brazier!"

"Ouch! You little brat, you've gone too far!" Old Master Yang winced in pain and slapped Yang Jiye hard across the face.

With a sharp "smack," Yang Jiye's thin body was sent flying, crashing heavily beside the coffin, blood immediately spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"Jiye!" Chen Shujie screamed, scrambling over to hug her son tightly, glaring at Yang Laoda with a mixture of grief and anger, "Are you even human?! You even hit a child!"

"We're here to beat you two jinxes!" Yang Lao Er sneered, turning to wave at the servants behind him. "What are you all standing there for? Throw this eyesore of a mother and son out! Take down the mourning hall; it's bad luck to look at!"

A dozen servants pounced on them like wolves, dragging and pulling Chen Shujie and Yang Jiye away.

"Let me go! You bunch of robbers! Third brother, open your eyes and look!" Chen Shujie struggled desperately, clinging tightly to the door frame and refusing to let go.

Upon seeing this, Yang Laoda's eyes flashed with a fierce light. He strode forward, grabbed Chen Shujie's hair, and slapped her hard across the face.

"You shameless slut! You don't know what's good for you!"

Chen Shujie was so badly beaten that she saw stars, fell to the ground, her hair disheveled, and looked utterly pathetic.

"Mother!" Yang Jiye cried out, spreading his arms to shield Chen Shujie, desperately protecting his mother, but was ruthlessly pushed and pulled by several servants.

Chen Shujie looked at the rice shop assistants standing in the courtyard in despair.

Those were all old men who had worked for Yang Laosan for many years, and they would call him "Master" and "Madam" affectionately every day.

"Manager Wang, Brother Li, please help me..." Chen Shujie sobbed uncontrollably.

However, the workers all avoided her gaze, heads bowed, and remained silent. Yang Lao Er had already bribed them with double wages and other benefits; who would risk offending their new employer for the sake of a widow and orphan whose master had died?

"Don't count on them anymore, they're eating the food of the Yang family now!" Yang the Second laughed smugly, then waved his hand, "Throw them out!"

The door was yanked open with a bang, and Chen Shujie and Yang Jiye were thrown out onto the street by the servants like broken sacks.

The drizzle continued to fall, chilling to the bone.

Behind them, the door of Yang's Rice Shop was slammed shut, isolating Yang Laosan's lonely coffin in the mourning hall.

Holding her son, whose face was covered in blood and who was shivering, Chen Shujie sat on the cold bluestone street, looked up at the gray sky, and let out a desperate and mournful cry.

The drizzle was fine and the chill seeped into my bones through my soaked clothes.

"Mother, I'm cold..." Yang Jiye's face was still covered in blood. Although he was already a thirteen-year-old boy, he was terrified after suddenly losing his father and being beaten and driven out of the house by his uncle. He tightly gripped Chen Shujie's sleeve.

"Jiye, don't be afraid, your mother is here, your mother is here..." Chen Shujie hugged her son even tighter, her desperate tears mingling with the rain.

Just then, a carriage slowly came to a stop not far away. The curtain was lifted, and Ye Xiaoyu, who was about to return to Houkou Village, peeked out and immediately caught sight of the disheveled mother and child at the street corner.

On the cobblestone street, a disheveled woman was tightly embracing a teenager. Both were soaking wet and shivering from the cold. The woman's figure and profile looked strangely familiar.

"Stop the car!" Ye Xiaoyu shouted hurriedly.

Before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, she jumped down, umbrella in hand, and quickly walked to the mother and child. Upon seeing the woman's face, Ye Xiaoyu gasped, "Shujie?! What are you doing here?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Chen Shujie blankly raised her head. The moment she saw Ye Xiaoyu, tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes again: "Second Sister-in-law..."

Back in the backyard of Zhiji Pavilion, Ye Xiaoyu quickly had someone boil water, found clean clothes for the mother and son to change into, and then fed them two large bowls of strong ginger soup.

After recovering, Chen Shujie tearfully recounted the tragic story of Yang Laosan's death, and how the eldest and second sons of the Yang family had taken advantage of the situation to rob and seize the rice shop, and had driven the widow and her children out of the house.

Ye Xiaoyu was furious and slammed her hand on the table: "Such a big thing, the third brother is gone, why didn't you send someone to Zhiji Pavilion or Houkou Village to inform us?"

Chen Shujie wiped away her tears and choked out, "Third brother left in a hurry. We were busy setting up the mourning hall and were thinking of sending you a message later..."

"Outrageous!" Ye Xiaoyu's chest heaved with anger. "Do you really think you orphans and widows are easy to bully? Come on, I'll take you back to Houkou Village to find your parents!"