In the eastern room of the main house, Lady Liu sat up in bed after washing up, glancing towards the western wing with a worried sigh.
Lin Yuanshan, having stored away the pile of game and taken his sons for a bath in the river, was now sitting at the table cleaning his bow and arrows. Hearing his wife's sigh, he paused.
Setting aside his task, he approached her with an ingratiating smile, sidling up to offer comfort in a low voice.
"Don't worry. I don't think our sister-in-law is truly mad, just a bit slow-witted. If worse comes to worst, you can treat her like Fang'er and Fei'er, and with proper guidance, there shouldn't be any problems."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Lady Liu sighed again, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Even if we help You'an maintain this lie, a falsehood is still a falsehood. Miss Chu was a perfectly respectable young maiden, and now she's suddenly become stepmother to two children. Don't you think what we're doing is a bit unethical?"
Lin Yuanshan cleared his throat nervously, attempting to defend himself.
"Who's being unethical? If anyone is, it's that little brat! If he hadn't tricked her into coming here, if he hadn't spun all these lies just to claim her as his stepmother, would I, at my age, have to play the fool in front of the clan?"
Having been his wife for a lifetime, Lady Liu could read his thoughts with just a blink of his eyes.
"Stop putting on an act for me. If you truly didn't want to agree, this whole thing would never have happened! At the very least, You'an, being just a child, could never have pulled this off in front of the Clan Leader without you backing him up!"
"Oh my, that's why you're my dear wife! Nothing gets past that clever mind of yours. Hehe..."
"Enough with the 'hehe.' Just tell me what you're thinking. You'an is just a child acting on impulse, but why are you going along with it so eagerly?"
The large man didn't take offense at his wife's light slap, merely dropping the forced smile from his face.
Only in these quiet moments of the night, in front of his most intimate companion, did Lin Yuanshan remove the mask of joviality he wore during the day.
His face contorted with genuine pain.
"What can I be thinking? I just want to preserve the bloodline my brother left behind.
When my brother was still alive, you know how much I, as the elder brother, benefited from having such a learned man in the family.
I won't even mention all the favors I've received both within and outside the clan over the years because of Yuanzhou's presence. Nor will I bring up the debt we owe for our second son's education under his uncle.
Just consider our eldest son's marriage. Do you think Zhang Dafu, shrewd as he is, would have agreed to marry his daughter to our son if my brother hadn't been a scholar?
Even if not for the sake of brotherly love, for this debt of gratitude alone, I couldn't possibly ignore my nephew and niece.
Wife, please don't resent me."
Lady Liu understood all the reasoning. When she had married into the family, how old had her brother-in-law been? He had practically grown up under her care as his elder sister-in-law. Not to mention how their family had indeed benefited from having a scholar in their midst.
She let out another long sigh.
"I don't resent you."
She gently stroked her husband's slightly graying temples, her voice soft with the unique gentleness of a virtuous wife and mother.
"I understand your thoughts, and I'm willing to look after the children of the second branch. But dear, don't deliberately change the subject. We're talking about Miss Chu's situation now.
This kind of deception might be exposed one day. Even if we manage to fool the Clan Leader, what about when You'an and his sister grow up? What will happen to Miss Chu then?"
"Who said we fooled the Clan Leader?"
"What do you mean?"
Lady Liu didn't understand.
Lin Yuanshan let out a derisive laugh.
"That old fox is too cunning. How could such an obviously flawed lie possibly deceive my sly old Second Uncle?"
"Then why did he..."
"Hah, you're wondering why he went along with it, right? Of course, it's because he's in the wrong to begin with.
If it weren't for that old man's meddling, how could You'an have been taken away by the Zhou Family in the first place? Not to mention they took away our Old Lin Family's property. Do you think I'm the kind of person who would just sit back and take such a loss?"
A cold smile crept across his face.
"It's because we couldn't recover much of our wealth today. He can't justify his actions to the clan members and feels too ashamed to hold his head high. You'an just happened to give him a way out, so of course he took it.
It's just a matter of adding a couple of names to the clan register. Who wouldn't do such a simple favor? After all, this extra mouth to feed won't be eating from his family's pot."
Listening to these bitter complaints, it was clear how much frustration he had been holding back.
"As for what will happen to our sister-in-law in the future, we don't need to worry about that. Can't you see what that little brat is thinking?"
"I can see it," Lady Liu nodded.
"He doesn't trust us."
"Heh, to be precise, he doesn't trust anyone. Once bitten, twice shy. That boy is now wary of everyone, unwilling to rely on others.
Yet he's too young to manage a household on his own, which isn't very practical. It just so happens he stumbled upon this Miss Chu, who's not too bright but exceptionally skilled. That little schemer, of course he'd latch onto her and not let go.
Hmph, looking at it this way, I suppose he does take after our Old Lin Family, quite the quick thinker."
The last few sentences were filled with a sense of pride.
"Don't worry about the rest. That boy doesn't seem to have lost his conscience, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to bring his sister back.
As long as he has a shred of decency, after Miss Chu has supported him through such difficult times, he surely won't neglect her in the future.
I know my own calf. Don't worry."
Lady Liu's lips moved several times before she hesitantly asked,
"What exactly are you planning? Just thinking about it keeps me up at night. There will surely be trouble in the future.
After all, that Zhou woman is still alive. Even though she's remarried, she's still the birth mother of those two children. In the future, won't there be..."
"What's there to worry about? You women always overthink things."
Lin Yuanshan's face darkened, his voice taking on an icy edge.
"This is precisely why I'm willing to accept Miss Chu as our sister-in-law.
How long has it been since my brother passed away? Not even ten full months. When my brother was still alive, how well did Zhou Yuhe play the role of a good person? And what happened in the end?"
