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  A group of people arrived at Old Lady Lin's residence and the Harmony Hall, each with their own thoughts. They saw well-dressed senior maids carrying various items back and forth, everyone had a smile on their face, and inside the Harmony Hall was filled with laughter and chatter, what a lively scene.

  Madam Wu was somewhat worried about Madam Tao: "We won't be late, will we?" The old lady's birthday celebration was in full swing with many guests present, but as the daughter-in-law, she wasn't by her side serving her, and instead arrived fashionably late, which might raise some eyebrows despite having a good reason.

  Tao Shi was ignored by others and said carelessly, "No, it's still early, there are still the main players behind. Besides, sister-in-law has come from afar, she is a distinguished guest, I have informed the old lady that we should take care of you first to freshen up and change clothes, even if you are the last one to arrive, no one will say anything!"

  Lin Jinyong whispered to Wu Shi, "My second aunt may be even later." The emperor loves his eldest son, the common people love their youngest child, but the most favored in the Lin family is not the youngest, Lin San Ye, but rather the sweet and clever Lin Er Ye. Lin Er's wife, Luo Shi, is also the niece of Old Lady Lin, who is good at flattering and currying favor, completely unlike Tao Shi who is so stubborn and unyielding, why isn't she favored?

  No matter what, there's a bottom line, and Tao Shi won't be bullied like this; otherwise, her family would lose face too. Wu Shi then slightly let out a breath of relief.

  The old lady's maid, Qing Li, came over with a smile and greeted everyone while saying: "The old lady was just thinking of Auntie, and she arrived at just the right time."

  Wu smiled and was about to respond when a burst of laughter suddenly erupted from inside the house, almost as if it would blow the roof off. Tao asked Qingli: "Is everyone here? What's so exciting? I haven't seen Old Lady so happy in a long time."

  Qingli smiled and said, "The first wife is outside greeting guests, the second wife still has something to attend to and hasn't arrived yet. Right now it's the third wife telling the old lady interesting stories about the south, while several wives and daughters from our clan and relatives' families are chiming in."

  The closer they got, the clearer the voices inside the house became. A woman's voice said with a tone: "You haven't seen it before, this southern water acrobatics is the best to watch, they can hold big colored flags and emerge from the waves, turning and jumping, but the flag tail doesn't get wet at all, hundreds of people jump up together, it's really magnificent..."

  Upon hearing this voice, Lin Jianrong's eyelids twitched slightly. This was the voice of Lin Yuzhen, the matriarch of the Lin family, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Lu family, and the foster mother of Lu Xian. She was also Lin Jianrong's aunt and mother-in-law from her past life. Still as arrogant as ever, didn't she just follow Lu Jianxin to become a county magistrate's wife in the south for a few years? Now she looks down on all these women in Pingzhou as if they were unsophisticated country bumpkins? The Lin family may be declining, but among their relatives and friends, there are those who have achieved greater official success than Lu Jianxin. Lin Yuzhen is providing others with laughter at her own expense.

  Lin Jin thought for a moment, then heard a young girl with a Wu accent interrupting in a soft and gentle voice: "Mother... don't say that anymore, the aunties and mothers might be tired of hearing it."

  The room suddenly burst into a flurry of flattering words: "No way, no way, it's rare to go out, and I'm just listening to something interesting."

  Mrs. Lin smiled and said, "This little girl, stop making up stories about your mother, look at her, she's too embarrassed to say anything. I'm not afraid of being laughed at by all of you, my wife and I haven't seen her for seven or eight years, whatever she says, I love to hear it." She loved her daughter and was also afraid that the guests would laugh at her, so she came to mediate, and what she said was reasonable.

  Everyone then said: "It's been seven or eight years since we've seen each other, a mother and daughter meeting again, there must be endless things to talk about." This was considered the end of the matter.

  The girl smiled and said: "Grandma, you don't just love your daughter so much, but also love your granddaughter. We haven't seen each other for seven or eight years either."

  As Lin Jinyong walked down the curtain, he heard a faint smile. This girl was none other than Lin Yuzhen's only biological daughter, Lu Yun, the third daughter of the Lu family. Although she was spoiled, she had always been gentle and clever. In her past life, she wasn't particularly good to Lin Jinyong, but nor was she bad. Sometimes, she would even help him out of trouble, so Lin Jinyong didn't dislike her.

  The little maid lifted the curtain, and Tao Shi and Wu Shi entered. Lin Jinrong followed closely behind, her footsteps extremely steady, her smile calm, and her eyes quietly scanning this room in the Lin family's most luxurious house, as well as the people scattered about inside.

  In the center is a four-sided daybed, in front of which is placed a small purple sandalwood footstool. Behind it stands a large purple sandalwood folding screen depicting mountains and water. On the left side, on a stone pedestal, is an ancient bronze vessel, with several branches of deep-colored chrysanthemum flowers, a rare variety called "dai tang ju". Around the room are scattered six-sided round stools with auspicious cloud patterns, some of which have been placed with tea sets, fruit, and pastries.

  The women sat separately on the stools, some sipping tea and others eating fruit. The old lady of the Lin family was sitting high on a couch, leaning slightly against a purple sandalwood armrest, her dark red silk jacket with golden embroidery making her face radiant and full of energy.

  Wearing a pink and yellow brocade tight-sleeved skirt, Lu Sangu also had her hair styled in a bun, sitting crookedly on the purple sandalwood stool, her fists gently pummeling Lin Lao Tai's legs as she gazed up at her with a coquettish expression.

  The most favored and prestigious lady of the Lin family, Lin Yuzhen, wore a delicate pearl crown, sitting beside Old Lady Lin. She held a tea cup from Yue State with her slender hands, taking light sips. A pair of jade bracelets of excellent quality on her wrists reflected the golden lotus pattern on her collar, truly radiant with wealth and nobility.

  Lin Jinyong had just withdrawn his gaze when he saw Lin Yuzhen glance over, slowly put down the teacup in her hand, and nodded slightly to greet Tao Shi: "Third Aunt."

  The sisters-in-law had not gotten along for years, and Tao's family had always disliked Lin Yuzhen's arrogant and proud attitude - you can be glorious by yourself, what does it have to do with me? I'm not asking for your help, so why are you being arrogant in front of me? Although they hadn't seen each other for many years, she just nodded slightly: "Auntie has come from afar, it's tiring." Then she only paid attention to greeting Lin Lao Tai and the other women in the house, introducing Wu Shi to them.

  After exchanging pleasantries with the old lady, Lin Jinyong looked at Lin Yuzhen's face, which was much younger than before but still familiar and lovable. Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he smiled and led Lin Shenzhi to pay respects: "Niece meets aunt."

  Lin Yuzhen was much warmer to her than she had been to the Tao family, smiling and helping her siblings up, sizing them up while speaking in a gentle tone: "Are you Jianrong and Shen? Your aunt has been away for so many years that even your own flesh and blood have become unfamiliar."

  Lin Jinyong smiled slightly and didn't say a word, but she pulled Lin Shenzhi to the corner. She was too clear why Lin Yuzhen was so affectionate towards her.

  Lin Yuzhen this time spared no expense to throw away her husband and a group of concubines, bringing her children back home. Firstly, because Lu Xian wanted to return to his hometown to take the imperial examination; secondly, Lu Xian had grown up, and Lin Yuzhen wanted to find a niece in her natal family to be her daughter-in-law, so as to tie down Lu Xian - after all, he was not her own flesh and blood, and his biological parents were watching from the side, so she had to be careful. Thirdly, it was also because she couldn't bear to part with her own daughter Lu Yun, wanting to find a good marriage for her in their hometown.

  It's necessary to talk about Lu's family eldest son in detail at this point.

  Lin Yuzhen married Lu Jianxin, the eldest son of the Lu family, as promised by their parents. Although they were not deeply in love, they treated each other with respect and courtesy. The two families had a long-standing agreement, and at that time, the Lin family was still wealthy and powerful. Lin Yuzhen's dowry was substantial, and the elderly couple of the Lu family treated her with great politeness. As a result, Lin Yuzhen lived a very comfortable life.

  However, the moon is full and then deficient, the water is full and then overflowing. Her children's fate was not prosperous, and she gave birth to a son and a daughter who were both weak in body. Before they reached their first birthday, they had already passed away without even having their teeth arranged. Later, another son was born, and the whole family carefully guarded him, watching as he safely passed his first birthday and remained healthy. The whole family was overjoyed. But one day, Lu Da, who loved his child dearly, took him to the outer courtyard to play. When the child became sleepy, he fell asleep in the study, but then a young servant in the household suddenly beat several loud gongs in the courtyard, startling the child awake from his dream. The child cried and fretted incessantly, eventually losing his milk and refusing food. No matter how hard the Lu and Lin families tried to think of a solution, he still passed away.

  Lin Yuzhen was so devastated that she almost collapsed. Even if she hadn't gotten any information out of the young servant's mouth, who had been beaten to death, she couldn't explain it herself and still stubbornly believed that someone with ulterior motives had harmed her own son. She cried and made a fuss every day. During those days, the second and third branches of the Lu family and their children didn't dare to approach her.

  Lu Jianxin felt guilty towards her because of the death of his son, and did not mention taking a concubine. Later, she became pregnant again with great difficulty, holding countless hopes, but gave birth to another daughter, damaging her body and unable to give birth again. One of the three unfilial acts is having no descendants, so Lu Jianxin reluctantly raised the maid by his side as a concubine, hoping to have a son to raise. However, unexpectedly, this concubine's belly did not rise, even after Lu Jianxin took in several more concubines later on, not to mention a son, not even half a daughter was born.

  They didn't have any children, but the eldest son couldn't cut off the family line. After some discussion, they decided to adopt a child. So who would be adopted? The wealth wouldn't go to outsiders, so naturally they would choose from one of the other two branches of the Lu family. At that time, the second branch of the Lu family already had three sons, and the third branch also had two sons. Since the second branch had more sons, they especially wanted to give one of their own sons to be adopted by the eldest son and his wife, so he could inherit the family business - Old Master Lu was good at managing the household, Lu Jianxin was an official outside and brought in a lot of wealth, Lin Yuzhen's dowry was also very generous. It was easy to imagine how well the eldest grandson would be treated. What a great thing! What a great opportunity! Only fools wouldn't try to seize it.

  Even if they are close brothers, when it comes to their own interests, they have to think carefully. Since we are choosing a successor and someone to support us in our old age, we must find someone who is considerate, reliable, and of good character. They cannot be weak-willed or incompetent; otherwise, they will not be able to carry on the family legacy, and even a large estate will be ruined under their care. That would not be finding a successor or someone to support us in our old age, but rather finding trouble and suffering.

  Then Lin Yuzhen and her husband began to discuss together.

  [bookid=1911369,bookname="National Color and Prosperity"][bookid=1736421,bookname="Joyful Gate"][bookid=1421817,bookname="Leftover Woman is Not Virtuous"][bookid=1296881,bookname="Flower Shadow Repeatedly"][bookid=1589709,bookname="Heavenly Clothes are Enchanting"]