Lin Xiao sat on the couch with her head down, her eyelashes flashing as if she was still crying.

  Lin Jin personally found the medicine to remove blood stasis and walked over, Lin Xuan hurriedly took a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, Lin Jin sat down beside her, personally took a hairpin to apply the medicinal paste on Lin Xuan's face, while applying it she said: "Bear with it for a bit, it might hurt a little." Then she said: "After all, who was so ruthless as to beat you up like this?"

  Although she asked a question, she didn't wait for Lin Xiao to answer and instead said: "Let me guess." After thinking for a moment, she said: "You went to pay respects to Third Aunt, did she lay hands on you?" Then she indignantly spoke on her behalf: "Third Aunt is really too much, normally not taking care of you as the eldest aunt should, and now she even dares to hit you."

  Lin Xiao shook her head and said, "It's not mother."

  Lin Ge let out a soft "oh" and said, "I knew it, San Shu couldn't be that heartless. It must have been Yuan Yuan, but she doesn't seem like the type either. Yuan Yuan is good at pretending to be kind and generous, making others think she's the most benevolent person. If she didn't like you, she would use words to hurt you or manipulate others to make you suffer, but she wouldn't take action herself. Could it be You Yu? Doesn't seem like her either... You Yu may have been spoiled by her family and has a arrogant personality, but she doesn't have the capability to do something so big... Forget it, I'm too lazy to guess. Just tell me directly who it was."

  "It's older brother."

  Lin Ge said incredulously: "Is it Cheng Gang?"

  Lin Xiao nodded.

  "Are you his own sister? You are the closest relatives, why did he hit you?"

  Lin Xiao thought of Lin Cheng's words about Lin Lian, and didn't respond to Lin Lian's words.

  Lin Wan was not really interested in why Lin Chenggang beat Lin Yu, her purpose was to provoke Lin Yu's dissatisfaction with the people of Zhuangshi and others. She deliberately sighed and said: "You say you and the legitimate house of Sanfang are born to offend each other. Every time you go there and come back, your mood is not good, let alone this time, even Chenggang beat you. Although Chenggang usually doesn't talk much, I can see that he is the most affectionate towards you, his sister."

  Lin Xiao thought for a moment, and it seemed to be true. Every time she went to the main courtyard to pay her respects and saw Zhuang Shi's cold face, she would feel unhappy. This time, her brother beat him up because she didn't want Ruan Niang to become the empress and instead hoped that San Gu Gu, who was closer to her, would do it.

  Thinking of this, Lin Ju suddenly became more resentful and dissatisfied with Zhuang Shi.

  Lin Ge glanced at Lin Wei's resentful expression, feeling complacent in his heart, thinking that he was indeed clever and had easily manipulated others.

  She continued to speak bluntly, saying: "If I must say it, San Shu is a good person in every way, but she's not quite virtuous enough. You two are the eldest son and daughter of the third branch, but you don't have any plans to compete with her children for anything, so why do you defend yourselves like that? You and Cheng Gang are both 16 years old now, if you had married earlier, you would already have children by now. But your husband's family is still not settled, and Cheng Gang's wife can't even be seen. Think about your situation, then look at Yan Niang - as a concubine's daughter, Er Shu treats her like her own biological daughter, taking good care of her until she grew up and finding her a good husband. But what about you two? In this regard, San Shu really should learn from Er Shu..."

  Lin Xiao didn't say anything, but she took her words to heart.

  On the other hand, Lin Xuan also expressed her dissatisfaction.

  With his hands on his hips, he pointed at Lin Xiao and angrily accused: "Are you closer to them or me?"

  Lin Yan looked at her, his voice somewhat stern, saying: "I haven't even mentioned you yet, and you're already talking back. You tell me, was your behavior just now correct?"

  Lin Xuan glared at her: "Right, right, I'm absolutely right. You're the one who's being unreasonable."

  "They are not outsiders, they are our brothers and sisters."

  "They're not our brothers and sisters, they're not...". She paused, probably also knowing that it wasn't good to say these words out loud, but she didn't finish the sentence "they're not born of the same mother as us", instead conveying "you should understand what I mean" with her eyes.

  Lin Tan let out a sigh, pulled over the indignant Lin Yun, and carefully asked her: "Youxiao, do you still remember what happened two days ago when the three dogs, Dahei, Dahuai, and Laifu from the gatehouse got into a fight?"

  Lin Xuan nodded, but didn't understand what Lin Xiao suddenly meant by bringing up dogs.

  Lin Daiyu said: "Dahui and Dahuai are born in the same litter, usually they are very close, wherever they go, they play together. The other dogs in the gatehouse don't dare to bully them. But a few days ago, Dahui and Dahuai fought over an embroidered ball, and Lai Fu took advantage of it and bit both of them. Not only did he snatch the ball, but also left Dahui and Dahuai with injuries on their heads. We are like the second sister and fourth brother, we are a family. If our own family members fight each other, others will come to bully us. In the same compound, what is most feared is brothers fighting against each other."

  Lin Xuan still felt a bit dizzy, but she couldn't help nodding her head.

  "So you can dislike Second Sister and Fourth Brother, but you absolutely cannot hate or resent them, nor can you quarrel or fight with them. On the contrary, if someone else comes to bully them, we should help them instead, understand?"

  Lin Xuan still somewhat understood, but still asked with doubt in her heart: "What if they come to bully me?"

  Lin Yidao said: "That's easy, then you just ignore them and tell your grandmother or elder, let the elder punish them. But the premise is that you can't bully them first."

  Lin Xuan still didn't seem too pleased, but what her sister said seemed to make sense, and she finally nodded in agreement.

  Zhuang Shi walked in after listening outside the door for a while and said to Lin Xiao: "Well said, Yuan Yuan."

  She walked over, patted Lin Xuan's head, then sighed and patted her eldest daughter on the shoulder: "Mother didn't expect that you would have such a deep understanding at such a young age, Mother is very pleased."

  She paused, looked at Yu Yu, then at Lin Xiao, and said solemnly: "No matter what kind of grudges your mother and your second sister and fourth brother's mother have, this is a matter for the elders. But you and they are brothers and sisters from the same father, so you should support each other and take care of each other. This way, outsiders won't be able to bully us. Do you understand?"

  Lin Dai nodded and said, "Mother, I understand."

  Zhuang's gaze turned to his youngest daughter again and asked: "Youxiao Yu, do you understand?"

  Lin Yun pouted and then said: "I understand."

  Zhuang's expression finally eased and he nodded slightly, stroking his little daughter's head again.