Chapter 14

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The moment Chu Nanzhi showed her face, two young women surrounded her aggressively.

“Look at how these b*stards you raised scratched my hand. Since you and Elder Brother can’t discipline them properly, as their aunt, I will have to do it for you.”

Chu Nanzhi sized up the two of them. The person who spoke was Lin Jinxiao’s second sister-in-law, Qin Xianglian. She angrily pulled up her sleeve, and sure enough, there was a fresh scratch on her wrist.

Lin Jinxiao’s half-sister, Lin Jinyun, was also glaring at her fiercely.

Chu Nanzhi still did not know what had happened in the courtyard, so she looked at the children first.

When the children saw that Chu Nanzhi had returned, they immediately ran to Lin Jinxiao’s side and hid.

At that moment, Lin Jinxiao was sitting at the stone table with a walking stick in his hand. His expression was gloomy. He did not want to deal with these two women.

Moreover, he had never asked about the finances at home. When he came back yesterday, he had not heard anyone in the county mention that the county magistrate had rewarded Chu Nanzhi.

Lin Ruiwen thought that the bad woman was going to hit them again, so he quickly explained with his eyes bulging in anger, “They wouldn’t listen to Father and insisted on forcing their way into the house to get the silver Grandma left for us.”

Lin Ruijia, vigilantly clutched the bundle of silver and jewelry in her hand more tightly.

Lin Jinyun stared at the package in the Lin Ruijia’ hands with a sullen expression.

“What’s wrong with us taking some silver? Your grandmother raised your father. It’s perfectly alright to use some of your family’s silver. You children are heartless.”

As she spoke, she deliberately sized Chu Nanzhi up and pursed her lips. “Now that you’ve made a windfall, you’ve forgotten about the debt you owe your parents. You’re simply unfilial and ungrateful.”

“I have to say something about being ungrateful.”

Chu Nanzhi could not bear to listen anymore. As she recalled the past, she glanced at Lin Jinyun and smiled helplessly.

“I heard that your family had a hard time after your father passed away. Who helped your mother raise you and your second brother? It was your eldest brother, right?”

At that time, Lin Jinxiao was only five or six years old. Other than helping his family, he had to beg other rich families to let him do some odd jobs so he could earn some spare change to supplement his family’s income.

When Lin Jinyun heard this, she hesitated for a moment before replying confidently, “But Mother did not mistreat Elder Brother. She even arranged a marriage for him and let him marry you.”

After some thought, she smiled smugly. “If it weren’t for my mother, would a family like yours be able to make a match with a scholar like my brother?”

“You look down on my family so much, but everything you’re wearing was bought with my family’s money. If not for this marriage, would you be living so comfortably?”

As she spoke, her gaze fell on Qin Xianglian. “Without our family’s five hundred taels of silver, would Second Brother be able to marry you? Would he be able to buy so much property?”

At this point, Chu Nanzhi’s heart started to flutter. She looked at Lin Jinyun sharply and said sternly,

“It’s a pity that he worked so hard for your family. Not only did he never have enough to eat at your house, your mother even made him leave with nothing. She would not even give him a house to stay in.”

“Didn’t your mother provide that?”

Lin Jinyun looked at the small courtyard and said in a matter-of-fact manner, “At least my mother didn’t find the house your mother built too shabby. My mother gave your family such a good match. Surely it’s only right that you pay for some things?”

“How much does my Chu family owe you? After marrying their daughter to your family, we still had to compensate you and pay for a house.”

The angry spark Chu Nanzhi’s eyes grew, and her tone grew sterner. “People like you had better not talk about kindness and filial piety. When my family faced disaster, you did not bother to visit us, and now you’re even trying so hard to get money from us. How can you be so shameless?”

“Isn’t your family in trouble because of you? What right do you have to say such things?”

Lin Jinyun did not expect this woman to be so eloquent. She could not win the argument. She simply put her hands on her hips and said rudely,

“Chu Nanzhi, you have to give me the money today. The day before yesterday, you punched and kicked my mother. She’s so badly injured that she can’t even get out of bed.”

After saying that, she pulled Qin Xianglian over and grabbed her arm. “Look, Second Sister-in-law’s hands are also covered in blood from being scratched by that b*stard Lin Ruiwen. All these need to be treated and that costs money.”

“The children were happily playing at home. If you hadn’t rush over provoke them, why would they make things difficult for you?”

Chu Nanzhi could sense that this pair of women were trying to scam her.

She had seen shameless people before, but never anyone as shameless as that. She had slapped Madam Chen last night, but it was not serious. Punched and kicked? Fortunately, Lin Jinxiao and the four children were witnesses. Otherwise, they would have wronged her.

Qin Xianglian felt that she was deliberately covering up for the children. Just as she was about to argue, she heard Lin Jinxiao say angrily, “Enough.”

Everyone looked over and saw him slowly raising his head to look at Lin Jinyun. His face was ashen as he said, “Lin Jinyun, I’ve repaid all the debts I owed your family over the years. I don’t want to have anything to do with you in the future. Both of you should go back quickly. If you continue to make a scene, I will have no choice but to report you to the officials.”

He had already given up on the Lin family.

“Brother, are you really going to abandon Mother?”

Lin Jinyun was a little disappointed and her brows were tightly furrowed.

At that moment, Li Ce walked in with a bamboo basket on his back. Behind him were two old men and a middle-aged man.

Chu Nanzhi looked over. The two old men in the lead were none other than Lin Jinxiao’s mentor, Nie Huaian from Caifeng Township and Chang Yanjue from Luyan Harbor.

The middle-aged man was the Village Chief, Liu Qingbo.

Lin Jinyun seemed to have found a lifeline. She immediately ran over and fell to the ground in front of Nie Huaian, crying loudly, “Lord, you have to stand up for me”

Then she pointed at Chu Nanzhi and shouted even more pitifully,

“This evil woman injured my mother. I came to ask for some money to treat my mother’s injuries. It doesn’t matter that she refused, but she even let her brats scratch my sister-in-law. My mother painstakingly raised my eldest brother. You’re his mentor. You can’t watch him do something so unfilial.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t lie to yourself and others.”

Nie Huaian did not want to hear about these trivial matters. He exchanged a glance with Chang Yanjue and sneered.

“Others might not know about your family’s matters, but Elder Chang and I do. If not for Elder Chang and I, your eldest brother would have starved to death long ago. He has treated your family well. Stop it. This family has just escaped death. Let them catch their breath.”

“But…”

Lin Jinyun was unwilling to give up. She wiped her tears, but before she could say anything, Nie Huaian waved his hand to stop her.

He looked extremely impatient.

Seeing this, Qin Xianglian pretended to be polite and said,

“We shouldn’t have come to ask Eldest Brother and Sister-in-law for money, but there’s a reason. The taxes have been heavy for the past two years, and there’s was a spring blight at the beginning of the year. The harvest is poor, and our family is almost unable to make ends meet. However, Mother fell sick the night before and now she can’t get out of bed.”

Then, she eyed Chu Nanzhi meaningfully and her tone became extremely unfriendly.

“All of this is thanks to Sister-in-law. Out of the goodness of her heart, my mother came over to uphold justice for Eldest Brother, but Sister-in-law beat her up for no reason. At her age, how can she withstand Sister-in-law’s punches and kicks ? Shouldn’t Eldest Brother and Sister-in-law provide some money to treat her injuries and buy medicine?”

“What do you mean she can’t get out of bed? You’re lying through your teeth.”

Village Chief Liu, who was standing beside the two elders, heard this and his face turned red. “I just saw Madam Chen cutting vegetables in the field. She ran away when I called out to her and I was wondering why she did that. So it’s because of this nonsense.”

With that, Liu Lizheng berated Qin Xianglian impatiently,

“If you two want to harm someone, you should have arranged it in advance. Don’t f*cking embarrass yourself in front of the two elders and tarnish your father’s reputation. The two elders are here for on a serious matter today. Get lost, quick, get lost.”

He already hated the Chen family. Over the years, they had fabricated lies about the deceased County Magistrate Lin when they had nothing better to do. He did not know what to do with them.

As for the two women, they were utterly humiliated after being reprimanded by Liu Qingbo. Madam Chen had asked them to come over and ask for money, but she was the one who had given the game away. They were simply speechless.

Before leaving, Lin Jinyun had instructed Madam Chen to stay at home and pretend to be sick. She had not expected her mother to run out to cut vegetables and let the Village Chief see her.

What was she thinking?

However, when she thought of the fifty taels of silver, she could not bear to give up.

Qin Xianglian was afraid that she would continue to pester them, so she forcibly dragged her out of the courtyard.