Lin Jinyong frowned and picked up where Mrs. Gong left off: "Who isn't afraid of causing trouble? If doing good deeds were that easy, the world would be full of kind people. When you encounter someone in need, no matter what, even if you had to recast the Buddha's golden body ten times over, it wouldn't be enough. To put it bluntly, our family is supporting so many mouths, and with just a slight stretch of the hand, we could save a life, why not?"

  "From now on, let's just talk about what's going to happen from now on."

  Gong Mama knew her temper, and knowing she couldn't win the argument, she let out a soft sigh, turned around and stepped up onto the Lin family's porch, pounding on the door: "Open the door! Open the door!"

  After a long time, the tightly closed big gate slowly opened, and the old man guarding the door and Lin Chang held a lantern to take a look from the gap in the door.

  Tao held Lin Jianrong's hand tightly and said calmly: "Uncle, I forgot something just now."

  Lin Chang's expression was shocked and slightly uneasy, with a somewhat perfunctory tone, "Third brother and sister, what's wrong?"

  Mrs. Tao said seriously, "The eldest sister just left, I suppose you haven't prepared a wet nurse either. My family has fresh goat's milk and several maidservants. Why don't the three nephews take her to my place? Firstly, it won't starve the child, secondly, you can handle the funeral affairs for the eldest sister, and also avoid spending extra thoughts on comforting and taking care of these two children."

  A complex emotion flashed in Lin Chang's eyes, and he was about to politely decline when Lin Jianrong said in a crisp tone, "Uncle, don't be polite and say things like it's troublesome or not. Grandfather had instructed us before, we are family members, and helping each other is what we should do."

  When Lin Jianrong moved out, the biggest reliance in this area, Old Man Lin, came. Lin Chang's eyes flashed a few times and he said in a low voice, "I appreciate your kindness, but these two children still have to accompany their mother for the funeral..."

  "I'll send them over myself tomorrow! As for tonight, one is unconscious and the other is weak, they need to be taken care of properly. Taking care of children is not something you three masters can do, is it? I think only your daughter-in-law is capable of handling things, but she has a lot on her plate coming up, so why are you being so polite all of a sudden? Are you afraid I'll snatch your child away? Why push people away to the point of being unreasonable?" As soon as Mrs. Tao made up her mind to do something, she became very forceful and didn't give Lin Chang a chance to refuse, directly pulling Lin Jinyong's hand to go inside, ordering Gong Mama and Chunyu, "Go find the third young master and the young lady."

  Lin Chang heard Mrs. Tao's unreasonable words and thought of the rumors about this third wife's irritable temper, so he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, hunching his back as he led Mrs. Tao and the others inside, "The great kindness of your esteemed household, I dare not easily forget, however..."

  "Alright, alright," Tao interrupted him calmly. "You're not familiar with the local customs and it's not easy for you to handle this funeral alone. Tonight, I'll leave some of my men from the Tiehua household here to help you with the arrangements. Tomorrow, we'll send more people over to assist. Think carefully about which relatives need to be notified, and I'll send someone to inform them. This matter needs to be handled properly, so that you can all live in peace afterwards."

  In this place, marriage is a matter of wealth and lavish funerals are the norm. These two things are what people value most in life. If you can't put on a good show for weddings and funerals, don't blame the locals for looking down on you. As a newcomer, one has to put up a strong front. Lin Chang let out another deep sigh, bowed to Mrs. Tao, and whispered to his second son standing at the door: "Go bring your third brother and sister out, their aunt wants them to go over and stay with her for the night."

  Lin Ershao's face was clearly very displeased, he suddenly raised his eyebrows and hummed, wanting to speak, Lin Chang's face turned cold and he sternly shouted, "Go quickly!"

  Lin Ershao clenched his teeth tightly, cast a disgusted glance at the Tao family and Lin Jinyong, and walked in with a gloomy face.

  Lin Jinyong grasped Tao's hand and secretly gave her a thumbs up, his eyes full of admiration.

  Tao's eyes widened for a moment, and then she silently curled up the corners of her mouth. She dared to provoke even Old Lady Lin, let alone Lin Chang. This family had fled from the south to this place to seek refuge with relatives, but they were not yet firmly established. If it weren't for relying on Old Master Lin and their clan, they would have been finished long ago. How could he dare to bluntly refuse her kindness? In other families, abandoning children or drowning them was always done secretly, and no one dared to do it openly, especially in a prestigious family like the Lins, unless they wanted to be shunned by society from then on.

  Not long after, a young man in white clothes with bloodstains on the corners of his mouth appeared under the corridor, tightly holding a small baby in his arms. His gaze swept over everyone's face, finally falling on Tao Shi and Lin Jianrong, circling back and forth several times before heavily kneeling down.

  Lin Chang's expression suddenly became even more unpleasant.

  Tao sighed, went forward to help up the stubborn young man, and said softly, "Let's go, I'm sure your sister is starving." The young man stood up and followed Tao and others out of the gate without looking back.

  "Sanlang!" Lin Chang caught up from behind, saying in a low voice, "You must behave and not cause trouble for your third aunt and fourth sister... I..." Lin Sanlang seemed to have not heard at all, his footsteps didn't stop for half a step, and he only stopped when he reached the front of the car. Gong Mama went to take the child from his arms, but he didn't speak, just shifted his body to one side, tightly hugging the child without letting go.

  Mrs. Tao looked at the baby in his arms and could understand his feelings, so she let out a soft sigh and said, "You can sit in the back seat with Old Master Shui." Lin Sanlang showed her sufficient respect, bowing slightly and speaking in a hoarse voice, "Third Auntie, great kindness doesn't need to be thanked." "What's your name?" Mrs. Tao was somewhat impressed that he called her Third Auntie instead of Auntie like his family members did. Lin Chang and the others were just pretending to be close relatives because they needed something from them, but Lin Sanlang's attitude showed that he didn't take their so-called familial relationship for granted and truly remembered their kindness.

  "Lin Shiquan. 'Tao's way,' you don't have to thank me, if you want to thank someone, thank your fourth sister. To be honest, I was originally afraid of causing trouble, it was she who begged me." As soon as he said this, Mrs. Gong winked at him, implying that saying Lin Jianrong had pleaded for him was one thing, but why did he also say things like being afraid of causing trouble? Didn't that leave any human feelings behind?

  Tao got on the bus without a word, it's better to say ugly words beforehand.

  Gong Mama subconsciously went to measure Lin Shiquan's expression, and did not see any signs of anger or unhappiness on Lin Shiquan's face. He just looked up seriously at Lin Jianrong.

  Lin Jinrong carefully examined her cousin, who was about 14 or 15 years old, with a high nose bridge and a thin layer of light blue down on his upper lip. His eyes were not as long and narrow as those of Lin Chang's father and son, but rather almond-shaped, and he looked more robust than her other proper elder brothers.

  The eyes of the two met, Lin Shijian shifted his gaze, preparing to give way to Lin Jikang. Lin Jikang stepped aside and said, "Third brother gets on the car first, we'll talk about it when we get back." Lin Shijian lowered his eyelids, held the child in his arms tightly, and got on the car.

  Speechless all the way.

  Back at the Zhuangzi Tao's house, he was exhausted and when getting off the carriage, his whole body ached to the point of almost not being able to move, yet he still took care to arrange for Lin Shiquan and his two siblings.

  Lin Jianrong hastily pushed her inside, "Mother, you go and rest, I'll take care of everything." Tao Shi hesitated, "Can you handle it?" Lin Jianrong smiled, "Isn't there still Gong Mama?" Then he turned around and instructed the servants in an orderly manner, "Go and tidy up the west wing, boil some fresh goat's milk, and have the kitchen prepare some light and delicious dishes to bring over." After that, he stretched out his hand to Lin Shijian, "Third brother, you should let me take care of your sister. If you're worried, just watch from the side." Lin Shijian obediently handed over the child, but not to Lin Jianrong, rather to Gong Mama.

  Taoshi felt a bit relieved and handed over a few words to Gong Mama before going to rest without mentioning it again.

  Lin Jiner walked over to take a look, and the child was completely unaware of what had happened, sleeping very soundly. His small face, no bigger than the palm of one's hand, was scrunched up, with his sparse eyebrows tightly furrowed. This poor little thing, Lin Jiner sighed, gesturing for Lin Shiquan to follow her to the east wing, "Let Third Brother temporarily warm up at my place."

  Lin Shiquan hesitated for a moment and then followed with his head down.

  Just two steps ahead, Miao Ya and Gui Yuan rushed out, "The young lady is back..." Gui Yuan was astonished, silently scrutinizing Lin Shi Quan carefully. Miao Ya shouted out, "Hey, isn't this Young Master Lin San? How did you end up like this?" Lychee gave her a stern look, Miao Ya quickly reacted and covered her mouth. Lin Shi Quan's lips trembled several times, but he finally held back his tears and only said in a low voice, "My mother is gone." Miao Ya was so scared she didn't dare speak, looking at the child in Lin Jian Rong's arms, then at Lin Shi Quan, before suddenly hiding behind Gui Yuan.

  Lin Shiquan also didn't say a word and continued to follow Lin Jinyu into the inner quarters.

  Lin Jian quietly observed from the side, and his impression of this cousin was quite good. He dared to resist his father and brother to save his younger sister, and when he got here, he could still hold back his grief and explain the situation clearly without losing his composure or bursting into tears. Although he was not very old, he was sensible and knew etiquette.

  The goat's milk was heated up quickly, and Mrs. Gong personally fed it to the baby girl. Seeing that her sister had eaten and drunk enough and fallen asleep again, Lin Shiquan let out a sigh of relief and devoured all the food brought from the kitchen in big mouthfuls. He then stood up and bowed deeply to Lin Jinyong, "Fourth Miss, logically speaking, you saved my sister's life, so I should be content and not cause any more trouble for you..." As soon as Mrs. Gong heard this, she knew that this child was taking advantage of the Tao family's absence to take advantage of Fourth Miss's soft heart, so she hurriedly made eye contact with Lin Jinyong, signaling her not to agree to anything Lin Shiquan said first.

  Lin Jinrong ignored his mother's scolding and continued to listen to Lin Shiquan, "But now we're afraid we can't go back, so we have no choice but to swallow our pride and rely on your family to help us survive. I have nothing of value, I couldn't support my sister, but I also can't let you raise her and me for free...". He fell silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I'm willing to work for your family. I know how to read and do math, and although it's hard labor, I can handle the farm work too."

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