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Tan Lingyin took Ruyi and Tang Tang out to play. When she passed the Southern Study, she couldn’t help but walk in. She shouldn’t be the one to disclose Qingchen’s news, and she didn’t intend to do so either. However, before everyone knew the truth, she wanted to ask his father how he planned to treat Tan Qingchen in the future. After all, Qingchen was his adopted son and needed to be filial to her father. But there was that woman in the family, to ask Qingchen to be filial to them, Tan Lingyin always felt that Qingchen was too wronged.

Tan Lingyin left Ruyi and Tang Tang outside with a maid watching.

Madam Tan was beside Tan Nengwen, lamenting how Tan Lingyin and Tan Qingchen had such a good relationship. In fact, she was implicitly condemning Tan Lingyin’s behavior of ‘not recognizing her own biological brother over her godbrother’. It was difficult to tell if Tan Nengwen understood what she meant.

Tan Lingyin walked in and  spoke some simple pleasantries before asking her father, “Father, will you still care for Qingchen in the future?”

Madam Tan opened her mouth, but didn’t speak.

Tan Nengwen was silent for a while. After a moment of silence, he replied, “You’ve all grown up, I can’t supervise anyone anymore.”

“No matter how old he is, Qingchen is your child, if you don’t care for him, who will?” When Tan Lingyin saw the light in Madam Tan’s eyes flickering, she deliberately smiled. “Besides, When Qingchen finds a wife in the future, I’ll be waiting for you to get a bride price ready[1]!”

Tan Lingyin’s last sentence caused Madam Tan’s face to pale.

Tan Nengwen coughed, he was also having a hard time maintaining his expression. He did regard Tan Qingchen as his son in the past, but now he has his own biological son. Now Qingchen was the variable that affected the harmony within his family. Tan Nengwen looked at Tan Lingyin in embarrassment, and said, “You also know that Qingchen is not my own. It’s already benevolent of me to raise him for these past years. I can’t care for him for the rest of my life.”

Tan Lingyin nodded, “I understand. Although you don’t care about him, Qingchen is a good boy. He will never forget the kindness of nurturing him over the years.”

These words are purely from the heart and have no deep meaning. However, in Madam Tan’s ears, there was a sense of crisis of ‘Qingchen will always depend on you guys,’ so she winked at Tan Nengwen.

Tan Nengwen didn’t dislike Tan Qingchen, on the contrary he liked this child quite a bit. Nevertheless, Qingchen was an outsider and Tan Nengwen didn’t want to disturb the family because of his existence. So he stated, “It’s enough for me to have you and Xiaobao to be filial. People’s relationships are predestined. When fate comes to an end, there is no need to fight it.”

Madam Tan added, “I know you feel sorry for Qingchen. Since you are going to marry the son of a Chief Minister, it won’t be difficult to help your ‘brother’ when the time comes.”

Tan Lingyin could hear her sarcasm, so she replied, “Yes, when the time comes, I will first buy Qingchen a big house in the capital. Then buy a thousand hectares of fertile land and then buy him a street of shops! I find him a beautiful and well-educated daughter-in-law! Since I only have one younger brother, so I have to take good care of him.”

Tan Nengwen was unhappy when he heard this. “What are you talking about? Have you forgotten Xiaobao?”

Tan Lingyin sneered. “The mud can’t support the wall [2]. I want to help, but unfortunately, when I stretch out my hand, I’m splashed with mud. What do you think I should do?”

Tan Nengwen’s face turned green with anger.

The father and daughter were getting ready to argue again, when suddenly, they heard some commotion outside. Soon, the faint cry of a child was heard.

The three adults had no choice but to go out to see the situation.

Xiaobao was wailing, crying very loudly. Ruyi stood on the side, with a serious face.

Seeing Xiaobao continuously crying, Ruyi shouted angrily, “Don’t cry!”

Ruyi was young and half a head shorter than Xiaobao, but his roar was so powerful that it stunned Xiaobao. When Xiaobao saw that his parents had come out, he cried loudly again.

Madam Tan held Xiaobao in her arms distressingly, and Xiaobao complained to his mother while crying. When children have disputes, adults tend to favor their own children. While comforting Xiaobao, Mrs. Tan gave Ruyi a reproachful look. She asked the maid in charge of watching Xiaobao, “Whose child is this?”

The maid didn’t answer as Ruyi first asked Madam Tan, “Is this your child?”

It was weird to hear such a question from a child. Madam Tan froze for a moment and did not respond.

Xiaobao was still tattling. He claimed that Ruyi hit him and robbed him of his little bird. Tan Lingyin knew that Xiaobao’s words could not be trusted, so she asked the maid beside her, “What happened?”

One of the maids opened her mouth to explain. It turned out that Tang Tang caught a little sparrow from under the tree just now. It couldn’t fly yet and it probably fell from the bird’s nest by accident. Ruyi liked it very much, and held the bird in his hand to play with. Xiaobao saw the baby bird and wanted it, but Ruyi refused, so the two quarreled. The two maids mediated and finally persuaded the two to settle down and separated the two children. Unexpectedly, Xiaobao took advantage when the maid beside him was not paying attention. He turned around and rushed to grab the bird, the two children then started to fight. When the maids were trying to pull the two apart, a small stone flew from nowhere and hit Xiaobao’s arm. Xiaobao let go of Ruyi and started to cry bitterly.

Later, Tan Lingyin and the others came out when they heard him crying.

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Footnotes:

[1] bride price – like a dowry, the groom’s side of the family needs to prepare a gift. It’s called the bride price.

[2] The mud can’t support the wall (烂泥扶不上墙) – this is also an idiom. It  basically means useless, worthless, or inept.