Yang Qingqiu was shaking with anger. She suddenly pulled the door open, her face full of sarcasm.
“Lin Jiancheng, you make it sound so nice—why don’t you send your precious daughters instead?”
“When they come back, they can earn themselves a good reputation and even marry into a good family!”
Lin Jiancheng forced a stiff smile.
“T-this… isn’t Xiaoshu still young? And Xiaoxue already has a boyfriend. We can’t separate them from their relationship…”
“As for Zijin…”
Yang Qingqiu let out a cold laugh.
“Heh. How nicely you say it.”
“My Zijin also has a boyfriend. Did you go deaf when I said that earlier?”
“So it turns out—if they’re not your biological child, you don’t care at all.”
“Ten years she’s called you ‘Dad,’ and this is what she gets in return?”
“You’re throwing her out to take the blame? I’ve really seen through you.”
“I’m telling you, Lin Jiancheng—if you dare lay a hand on Zijin, I won’t let this go.”
“If someone must go to the countryside, then send your own biological daughters. My daughter has no blood relation to the Lin family.”
“And from now on, don’t call yourself her father anymore.”
Lin Xue panicked. She had to act quickly now…
After being shut down again, Lin Jiancheng’s expression grew even darker. He turned and saw Lin Xue standing nearby with a complicated look on her face. Frowning, he asked,
“Is dinner ready yet? What are you standing there for?”
Snapped out of her thoughts, Lin Xue quickly shook her head and didn’t dare meet her father’s eyes.
“Dad… not yet. I’ll go make it right away.”
She turned and walked toward the kitchen, looking dejected and wiping away a tear.
Seeing this, Lin Jiancheng felt uneasy. At the same time, he resented Yang Qingqiu in his heart—if she had agreed to send Zijin to the countryside, everything at home would be fine. Their whole family could stay together peacefully.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. She was just being unreasonable…
If Yang Qingqiu knew what he was thinking, she would probably have slapped him on the spot.
In the kitchen, Lin Xue continued trying to start a fire. She copied the movements she had once seen Yang Qingqiu do, clumsily stuffing in paper and dry leaves, pulling in some unknown dried foliage, and striking several matches.
Finally, the fire caught.
Afraid of the heat from the match, she immediately threw it onto the dry leaves. The flames flared up instantly.
Terrified, she stepped back. Watching the fire spread inside the room, she panicked and started stomping on it with her feet while keeping her eyes shut.
She cried as she stomped—whether from fear or smoke, she didn’t know.
But instead of dying down, the fire only grew stronger under her chaotic efforts.
Thick smoke filled the kitchen. Coughing violently, she shouted,
“What is this broken thing!”
Realizing something was wrong, she panicked completely.
“Help! Help!”
“Fire! Fire!”
Her voice was sharp with fear and carried far through the courtyard.
In the main hall, Lin Jiancheng, who had been lost in thought, nearly had his soul jump out of his body when he heard his daughter’s cries for help. He rushed toward the kitchen.
Seeing thick smoke pouring out, his face turned deathly pale.
“Help! Someone help!”
“Put out the fire!”
Yang Qingqiu was furious at the chaos and immediately ran out of the room to help.
Several neighbors also heard the shouting and quickly rushed over with buckets and basins.
Yang Qingqiu grabbed a basin of water from a neighbor and rushed into the kitchen, splashing it inside. The fire was extinguished instantly, but the smoke still lingered.
She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve as she came out, then shot a sharp glare at Lin Jiancheng.
Neighbor Aunt Wang leaned over to take a look and curled her lips slightly.
It was such a small fire—one basin of water would have put it out, and yet…
Lin Xue came coughing out of the room, her face and hands covered in black ash, looking extremely disheveled.
Aunt Wang widened her eyes.
“My goodness, Xiao Xue… from the looks of it, were you trying to… cook in the kitchen?”
Originally she wanted to say “set the kitchen on fire,” but since the incident had just happened, saying it outright felt a bit inappropriate.
Yang Qingqiu coughed twice, thanked the neighbors, and told everyone to go home for dinner.
The people who had rushed to put out the fire gradually turned into spectators. Seeing that Yang Qingqiu was already sending them off, they finally left reluctantly.
Even after walking a short distance, they still whispered among themselves:
“My goodness, I just saw Lin Xue running out of the kitchen. Didn’t she used to never go into the kitchen?”
“What happened today? Did the street office come to notify them about going down to the countryside, and the Lin family made Lin Xue go, so she got angry and set the house on fire?”
“Huh? That’s quite a stretch.”
“If you put it like that, she wouldn’t be trying to die—she’d just be unwilling to go to the countryside. And she was still in the kitchen.”
Aunt Wang laughed.
“What are you all talking about?
Xiao Xue was cooking. I was waiting at the door for my grandson when I heard the Lin family had no one cooking, and Lin Jiancheng told Lin Xue to cook.
It’s already so late—my family had already eaten and washed the pot, and she still hadn’t finished.”
Hearing this, everyone’s expressions became complicated.
Just how spoiled had the Lin family made their children? A grown girl and she still couldn’t cook.
The discussion was not quiet, and the Lin family could hear it all clearly.
Lin Jiancheng’s face turned as dark as ink. He glared hard at Lin Xue, whose face was still covered in ash.
Then he forced a stiff smile toward Yang Qingqiu.
“Qingqiu… look at this… the child doesn’t know how to cook. Why don’t you make something?”
Yang Qingqiu rolled her eyes at him directly.
“She can’t cook—who’s to blame for that?
Didn’t I tell you before that children this big should learn housework?
And what did you say?”
“Your meaning was that since I was here, the kids didn’t need to do anything.”
“If she doesn’t know how to cook, then she just doesn’t eat. If you want food, make it yourself.”
After saying that, she called her daughter and son back into the room.
Lin Jiancheng’s old face turned the color of pig liver. He opened his mouth to argue but was once again shut down.
At that time, he had thought marrying Yang Qingqiu meant she would take care of the children. She managed everything so well, and since the children had lost their mother, he felt sorry for them and tried not to let them do any work. He never expected…
Lin Shu was starving. She hadn’t eaten anything at noon.
“Dad, what do we do?
Third sister doesn’t know how to cook either. What are we going to do in the future?
I’m so hungry I feel like I could go down and find my mom.”
Lin Jiancheng frowned and scolded her lightly.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
But… she wasn’t entirely wrong.
What were they going to do in the future?
It seemed like Yang Qingqiu had completely decided to stop taking care of them.
And why did everything suddenly fall apart at the same time?
The people going down to the countryside hadn’t even been finalized yet…
He rubbed his hair in frustration, feeling like he was about to break down.
For the first time, he realized just how important Yang Qingqiu had been to the household.
Looking at his two daughters staring at him pitifully, he sighed.
“Alright. Dad will go ride to the state-run restaurant and see if there are any buns left.”
Seeing their father go out to buy food, Lin Shu immediately smiled.
But at that moment, her stomach growled loudly again.
She rubbed it and thought that if this continued every day, her future would be completely dark.
Her third sister was going to marry out, and that “baggage” Lin Zijin would be sent to the countryside.
What would she do alone at home?
Asking her to bow to Yang Qingqiu was impossible.
After all, she had taken her mother’s place—and taken her father away.