Lin Zhengbin’s face was bright red—this was the first time he could remember his sister hugging him. She had always treated him well before, but there had always been a bit of distance.
After letting go, Lin Shiyao saw his flushed face and deliberately teased him, “Oh my, our Binbin is shy!”
“Sis…” Seeing his reaction, she stopped teasing him.
Not long after, the sound of a key turning came from the door. A middle-aged man walked in. She could describe him as “gentle and refined, elegant and handsome,” with the wisdom and steadiness that came from years of life.
Her father had looked like this too. She stood up, ran over, hugged Father Lin directly, and burst into tears.
Lin Jianguo gently patted his daughter’s back and comforted her, “Don’t be afraid, my girl. Another day Dad will deal with them—how dare they bully my daughter.”
Lin Jianguo was truly angry as well. His daughter had been cherished since childhood, never even allowed to get bumped or bruised, yet outsiders had bullied her.
“Dad…”
“Mm…”
After a while, Lin Shiyao gradually released her father’s embrace. Even knowing they weren’t her real parents, she just couldn’t help herself.
Soon after, Mother Lin came back. As soon as she entered, she asked, “Where’s Yaoyao?”
“Mom, I’m here,” Lin Shiyao stood up and answered.
“How are you? No fever, right?”
“No.”
“That’s good. Then watch some TV while Mom cooks.”
Mother Lin carried the groceries into the kitchen, and Father Lin followed to help. From her memories she knew this was their routine—Mother cooked while Father assisted, and sometimes Father cooked instead.
It wasn’t that she never did any chores. Usually she just washed dishes, but most of the time her younger brother rushed to do it; when her older brother was home, he did it too. The family doted on her and rarely let her do anything.
Seeing this, Lin Shiyao also wanted to get up and help, but Mother Lin quickly stopped her—her daughter had never entered the kitchen before, and those fair, delicate hands weren’t meant for cooking.
In this era, families that doted on daughters like theirs were rare. So many households favored boys over girls, shaping the sorrow of women of that time.
Although slogans declared “women hold up half the sky,” the prejudice deep in people’s bones was not easily changed. The road ahead required countless people’s hard efforts to achieve the later status women would gain.
The original host couldn’t cook—but she could. However, she didn’t want to reveal it yet. She would find an excuse and gradually show it later; she needed a reason—she couldn’t suddenly know how, people weren’t stupid.
Meanwhile, at the Wang family across the street, Zhang Zhaodi was loudly cursing, her voice echoing through the entire building. “Which bastard did this awful thing? If I find out, I’ll tear him apart—throwing urine into my house, shameless…!” Her insults were extremely foul.
A neighbor beside her couldn’t stand it and replied, “I say, Zhaodi, did your family do something immoral and get retaliated against?”
“I spit on you! Your family’s the immoral one—your whole family is immoral!”
“You’ve gone too far, Zhang Zhaodi. See if I don’t tear your mouth apart!”
With that, they started fighting. The onlookers hurried forward to pull them apart, while Wang Jiajia shrank into a corner and watched coldly.
Fight… fight harder.