After finalizing the verdict on the matter, the clan leader departed. When all was said and done, this was someone else’s family business. While he personally despised the Lin family’s oppression of Lin Lao-er’s branch, in reality, it amounted to nothing more than making them work tirelessly.
There was no immediate danger to life, nor did it cross the threshold into illegal criminal activity.
Since Lin Lao-er and his wife were entirely willing to endure it themselves, outsiders had no business meddling to that extent.
With the drama concluded and no further reason to linger, the villagers dispersed as the clan leader and elders left.
Xu Qiu and his family did the same, though since their two households lived right next door to each other, they would still be able to keep tabs on any future developments.
As they walked, Li shook her head with a sigh. “I honestly don’t even know what to say about Lin Lao-er and his wife. Lin Qu really suffers having parents like that.”
“Still, thank goodness he’s almost at the age to be married off. Once he leaves, he won’t have to keep suffocating in the Lin house. It’s just that given the old lady’s attitude, she probably won’t be willing to find him a decent match.”
“As for Lin Lao-er and his wife, if they’re willing to suffer themselves, that’s one thing, but dragging their own children down right along with them…”
Lin Qu still had two younger brothers who were subjected to the exact same treatment.
Xu Qiu let out a sigh as well. Falling into a family with parents like that was, from certain perspectives, truly unfortunate.
“Mother, I’m just glad I was reborn as your son.”
Li chuckled and lightly patted his arm. “What kind of nonsense are you saying?”
“Right, why did the clan leader order him to kneel in the ancestral hall for three days anyway? Kneeling like that for so long would ruin a person’s legs.”
Xu Qiu explained, “There has to be some form of punishment, otherwise the old lady wouldn’t let the matter rest. Once we go over, they probably won’t actually make him kneel the entire time. I’ll go check on him in a bit.”
That was true. Thinking it over, Li figured it made sense. For a little Ge’er like Lin Qu to propose dividing the family was inappropriate in their society, so some sort of formal reprimand was unavoidable. “In that case, bring him some food when you go over. The Lin family certainly won’t give him anything to eat, and his parents are completely useless, as they don’t even know how to protect their own child.”
“If they had just taken all the blame for the family split upon themselves from the start, claiming it was something they had been plotting behind the scenes and that the Ge’er had merely blurted it out by accident, then Lin Qu wouldn’t have to go through this. When parents propose a family split versus when a junior Ge’er does, it’s an entirely different matter.”
Xu Qiu didn’t suspect Wang and Lin Guangfu of acting maliciously. Based on the novel’s setup, those two genuinely loved their child. Even later on, after Lin Qu successfully split from the Lin family and watched the protagonist’s branch rise to immense wealth under Lin Qiong’s leadership, leaving Lin Qu’s family in the dust, the parents never blamed their Ge’er once. Instead, they only worried anxiously, afraid that their child would feel hurt or sad.
The primary flaws of those two parents were sheer foolishness and overwhelming cowardice.
Regarding what had just happened, Xu Qiu figured that if they could have, Lin Guangfu and Wang would have gladly taken all the blame upon themselves. The problem was that neither of them possessed any eloquence, nor did they dare speak up in front of the old lady. Furthermore, as Xu Qiu thought: “They probably couldn’t even think of a solution like that on the spot.”
Li:
That actually sounded entirely plausible.
Their household was close enough to the Lin family that by the time the four of them stepped through their front door, they could still hear Zhao next door gloating triumphantly. “Why are you still standing around? Did you not hear the clan leader order you to kneel in the ancestral hall? Hurry up and get over there!”
Followed by the sound of Lin Qiong softly urging his mother to stop talking.
Li halted her steps, turned her head to look at Xu Qiu, and asked with sudden seriousness, “Tell me, how would you feel if I went and married Lin Qu into our family as your partner?”
“Huh?” Xu Qiu froze in place.
What kind of sudden plot twist was this?
“He’s Lin Qiong’s cousin!”
Since he and Lin Qiong had previously been engaged, ordinary people would deliberately avoid picking anyone from the same extended family out of basic discretion.
“It’s precisely because he’s Lin Qiong’s cousin that his identity makes it such a brilliant choice.” Li simply couldn’t stand the sight of Zhao acting so smug.
Ever since falling out with Zhao, whenever Li recalled how she had been taken advantage of, the mere thought made her blood boil with frustration. Watching Zhao bully others again today had only fueled her irritation.
Once she voiced the suggestion, Li suddenly felt it wasn’t a bad idea after all. “Lin Qu is a good kid too. He’s diligent, fast-handed, and hardworking around the house. Sure, he holds a grudge against Lin Qiong and has bad-mouthed him in the past, which sounds a bit harsh on the surface, but that was just youthful bitterness. Over the last couple of years, he hasn’t even done that much. Considering how Lin Qiong’s comfortable life is entirely built on sucking the blood of the other branches, it would be strange if Lin Qu didn’t feel resentful.”
Even Li couldn’t claim she had never spoken ill of others behind their backs.
“Taking everything into account, he’s a fine person. Whenever he sees me, he politely greets me, and there are no major issues with his character.”
“Once he marries into our family, he’ll have everything he needs, so he won’t need to envy anyone else anymore. Naturally, his temperament won’t remain so sharp and defensive either.”
Their Xu family was among the top households in the vicinity, his own health was steadily improving, and his medical skills were well-regarded, making him an exceptionally eligible marriage candidate. Since they had already broken off the engagement with Lin Lao-san’s family, she wanted to see what kind of partner they could possibly find for Lin Qiong instead.
Besides, since Zhao had always detested Lin Qu, if Lin Qu lived a wonderfully pampered life right under their noses, the mere thought of it would probably infuriate Zhao to death.
Just thinking about it was deeply satisfying.
Xu Qiu could only smile helplessly. He did hold a certain degree of favorable impression toward Lin Qu. Now that he possessed supernatural abilities, ending up with Lin Qu shouldn’t necessarily lead to the miserable fate described in the plot. Still, a character designed as a narrative foil was never easily satisfied. If Lin Qu hadn’t insisted on competing with the protagonist shou in everything and harbored such ruthless spite, how could he have ended up a tragic foil in the first place?
Lin Qu wasn’t the type to calmly sit down and reason things out; the oppressive environment of his childhood made him entirely willing to resort to any means necessary to exact revenge.
Furthermore, as he experienced more of the world, those tendencies would only deepen.
So he shook his head: “Let’s forget about it. Both of my older brothers still haven’t settled down yet; for me, the youngest, to start talking about marriage is still a bit too early.”
Sure enough, Li’s attention instantly shifted toward her two older sons, whom she proceeded to lecture thoroughly before finally circling back to Xu Qiu. “Anyway, since you’re heading over to deliver food to him anyway, just go interact with him and see how you feel. If it’s a good match, we’ll settle it. If you genuinely don’t like him, Mother won’t force you. But trying it out never hurts.”
At least that was better than her two eldest sons, who completely avoided dealing with such matters altogether.
Watching her youngest son finally reach an age where marriage was appropriate, Li’s greatest daily headache was figuring out how to secure wives for them.
Since his mother put it that way, Xu Qiu didn’t feel overly resistant, so he nodded in agreement. “Alright.”
Although the cover story was delivering food, out of genuine concern that Lin Qu might actually be forced to kneel in the ancestral hall, Xu Qiu set off shortly after Lin Qu departed.
When he arrived, Lin Qu wasn’t alone; two young boys had accompanied him. The three of them were whispering quietly together, but stopped the moment they heard footsteps approaching.
Seeing that it was Xu Qiu, Lin Qu stood up immediately. “Why are you here?”
Recalling everything that had just transpired, Lin Qu felt a surge of intensifying resentment toward Zhao, Lin Qiong, and Old Mrs. Lin. If not for them, he wouldn’t have been reduced to crying and kneeling in front of a massive crowd; he imagined he must have looked utterly hideous in that moment.
Even knowing that Xu Qiu could never possibly fancy someone like him, he still felt that this incident had only pushed him further away from Xu Qiu.
As Xu Qiu drew closer, the two young boys looked up and greeted him obediently, “Big Brother Xu Qiu.”
“Hey, good boys.” Xu Qiu smiled and gently ruffled their hair. “Here, Big Brother brought some candies for you two. See if they taste good.”
These were brought back by his father from the town market; their household regularly kept various small snacks on hand.
To Xu Qiu, these candies meant little, but to the two Lin children, they were exceptionally precious. The little boys hesitated, casting uncertain glances at their older brother. After a brief moment of hesitation, Lin Qu nodded. “Accept them.”
The two children instantly beamed with bright smiles, accepted the candies, and politely thanked him.
They were still young, untouched by excessive mistreatment, looking fair and rather adorable.
Lin Qu’s gaze softened immensely as he looked at his younger brothers. Seeing them happy, he turned back to thank Xu Qiu once more.
“No need to thank me,” Xu Qiu said. “Did anyone tell you what’s going on here? The clan leader only said he was making you kneel in the ancestral hall to put on a show for the others; you don’t actually have to kneel. Just rest in the side room for these few days.”
The ancestral hall here was always attended by a keeper, and the outer gates remained shut most of the time, so there was no need to worry about random people wandering in and seeing him.
Lin Qu blinked in surprise. “Did you go plead with the clan leader on my behalf?” When he arrived, the gatekeeper had mentioned he didn’t need to actually kneel, but hadn’t told him that Xu Qiu was the one behind it.
He had simply assumed the clan leader showed leniency out of pity for his young age.
Xu Qiu wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. Since he had no intention of entering a relationship with Lin Qu, he naturally didn’t want the boy to grow even more infatuated by accepting his favors, as the deeper the affection grew, the more painful the inevitable outcome would be for Lin Qu. He offered a deflected explanation: “My mother told me to go.”
Lin Qu’s expression dimmed slightly with disappointment. He bit his lower lip, then asked quietly, “Do you think a little Ge’er like me suggesting a family split was completely unfilial and outrageous?”
“Not at all,” Xu Qiu replied with a reassuring smile. “They pushed you people to such extremes; how could you not fight back?”
After everything that happened today, Lin Qu was, after all, still a young Ge’er whose mind must have been swirling with turbulent anxiety and fear.
Xu Qiu offered comforting words: “What you did was actually entirely correct. Those people are experts at pushing boundaries for an inch and taking a mile. If you don’t resist, they’ll only intensify their exploitation. Look at your parents, they’re the clearest example; ten years ago, they weren’t worked nearly this badly. It makes no sense for your family to shoulder all the heavy labor while others step on your backs to enjoy the rewards, yet refuse to grant you even a shred of basic respect.”
“If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t have handled it any better than you did.”
The main issue was simply that his in-laws’ side dragged their feet with too much dead weight to ever pull ahead.
Lin Qu’s parents suffered entirely from a blind, foolish sense of filial piety, obeying whatever the elders commanded without question.
Hearing this, Lin Qu finally burst into a bright smile, looking visibly relieved of a heavy burden.