And so, the three branches of the Lin family officially split apart.
Each married household was separated into its own independent family unit.
At long last, Lin Nancheng and Lan Luoyun had a true little family of their own.
Naturally, Concubine Chu stayed with her son.
As for Third Concubine and Lin Yaxin, they had been following Lan Luoyun for the past few days, so after the family division, they firmly aligned themselves with her side as well.
Representatives from each household signed and pressed their thumbprints onto the separation documents.
Every family received a copy.
With that, the family division was finally complete.
Evening was approaching.
At lunchtime, many people had still been secretly hiding food and supplies.
Now that the family had split, there was no need to conceal anything anymore.
Everyone brought out their good food.
Lan Luoyun took several buns from her bundle.
Since there were so many people around, she couldn’t conveniently take things out of her space.
However, the buns had been sitting since morning and were already cold.
“I’m going outside to look for something.”
With that, she left.
A short while later, she returned carrying a large cooking pot.
Of course, the pot had come directly from her space.
“Luoyun, where did you find a pot?”
Lin Nancheng asked.
“I wandered around outside looking for something to steam the buns with.”
“I just happened to find this pot near a corner of the courtyard.”
No one questioned her further.
Everyone immediately got to work.
Lin Nancheng went outside to gather firewood.
Third Concubine fetched water from the well.
Lan Luoyun carved several clean wooden sticks to use as a steaming rack.
Concubine Chu looked after Dabao and Erbao.
Before long, they had a fire going and were steaming buns in the courtyard.
The aroma quickly attracted two of the guards.
“What are you steaming?”
“It smells incredible!”
One of them couldn’t help asking.
Lan Luoyun smiled.
“Would you like to try one, Officer?”
“They’re nice and hot.”
The two guards had not eaten a hot meal all day.
Truthfully, they were very tempted.
Since Lan Luoyun offered first, they no longer felt embarrassed.
Still, each only took one bun.
Seeing their restraint, Lan Luoyun laughed.
“If you’re hungry, have a few more.”
“There’s plenty.”
“Why don’t you invite the others out too?”
The guards exchanged glances.
The truth was, all of them had been craving something warm.
Soon they called over the rest of their companions.
A dozen soldiers gathered around the battered pot, happily devouring steamed buns.
Before long, the guards and Lan Luoyun’s group became much friendlier with one another.
Inside the house, Old Madam Lin watched the scene through the doorway.
Seeing Lan Luoyun eating hot steamed buns while she herself was forced to gnaw on cold, stale bread made her extremely unhappy.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do.
She turned her frustration toward Madam Su.
“Didn’t you say Lan Luoyun barely had any food?”
“How can she still afford to share buns with the guards?”
Madam Su immediately replied stubbornly,
“I refuse to believe she has that much food.”
“Look at her, showing off and feeding everyone.”
“Let’s see how long she can keep this up.”
She simply could not admit that Lan Luoyun was outperforming her in every way.
At that moment, Madam Han from the Second Branch approached.
“Madam Su, stop pretending.”
“Is it really that difficult to admit you’re inferior to someone younger than you?”
Madam Han was known for speaking her mind.
She had always despised Madam Su’s hypocritical behavior.
Madam Su immediately exploded.
“Madam Han!”
“What business is it of yours when I’m speaking to Mother?!”
Now even members of the Second Branch dared challenge her.
The humiliation made her furious.
Madam Han merely smirked.
“Oh? Why are you so angry?”
“I simply don’t like you.”
“What exactly are you going to do about it?”
Now that the family had split, she no longer needed to tolerate the First Branch.
Her words nearly choked Madam Su with rage.
Realizing she couldn’t win the argument, Madam Su finally fell silent.
Madam Han didn’t continue pressing the issue and returned to her meal.
Meanwhile, outside, everyone was enjoying their buns when an elderly woman from the collateral branch suddenly approached.
“Listen here, wife of Nancheng!”
“You’re steaming all these buns.”
“Why aren’t you sharing with everyone?”
She pointed accusingly at Lan Luoyun.
“Our branch of the family suffered because of your household!”
“You’re all sitting here eating and drinking comfortably.”
“What about the rest of us?”
As she spoke, she reached directly toward the buns in the pot.
If she had asked politely, Lan Luoyun might have given her a couple.
But after hearing that attitude, Lan Luoyun immediately lost all desire to help.
Lin Nancheng was equally irritated.
This old woman had marched over for no reason and started attacking his wife.
He rolled up his sleeves and prepared to intervene.
Seeing someone bullying their mother, Dabao and Erbao immediately rushed forward.
“We’ll protect Mother!”
The nearby guards were also displeased.
After all, they had just eaten Lan Luoyun’s food.
They naturally wanted to help her.
But Lan Luoyun stopped them.
“Officers, this is such a small matter.”
“There’s no need for you to get involved.”
“You can just sit back and enjoy the show.”
She had no intention of relying on others.
Before transmigrating, she had always handled problems herself.
The guards and Lin Nancheng knew she was capable, so they stepped back.
Lin Nancheng led the children away as well.
Now Lan Luoyun was ready to deal with the old woman personally.
“Old lady.”
“I really don’t like what you just said.”
“What do you mean your suffering is our fault?”
“When our Prime Minister’s household was powerful, weren’t you the ones desperately trying to claim kinship with us?”
“You wanted to enjoy the benefits then.”
“But now that hardship has arrived, you suddenly want to distance yourselves?”
A few sharp sentences left the old woman speechless.
Lan Luoyun thought that would end the matter.
Unfortunately, she underestimated her shamelessness.
The old woman suddenly threw herself onto the ground and wrapped her arms around Lan Luoyun’s leg.
She began crying and rolling around dramatically.
“The wife of Nancheng is bullying me!”
“How can people survive under such oppression?!”
Her shrill voice immediately drew a crowd.
She assumed that by causing a public scene, she could pressure Lan Luoyun into giving her food.
Unfortunately for her, Lan Luoyun wasn’t a traditional ancient noblewoman.
She came from the twenty-first century.
Saving face?
What was that worth?
Could it be eaten?
Lan Luoyun looked down at her.
“You’re saying I’m bullying you?”
“Then I suppose I should actually bully you.”
“Otherwise, wouldn’t your accusation go to waste?”
With that, she delivered a powerful kick.
The old woman was sent flying several yards away.
Everyone in the house had heard the old woman’s accusations earlier.
At that moment, a young man from the collateral branch hurried over.
He helped the old woman to her feet and sighed helplessly.
“Mother.”
“Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
“When Father needed a position in the capital, weren’t you the one begging Prime Minister Lin for help?”
“So why are you acting like this now?”
The young man was the old woman’s son, A’Dong.
After helping his mother sit down, he approached Lan Luoyun.
“Sister-in-law, please allow me to apologize on Mother’s behalf.”
“She’s always been like this.”
“I hope you won’t take offense.”
Lan Luoyun was pleasantly surprised.
She hadn’t expected the woman’s son to be so reasonable.
“Take good care of your mother.”
Then she took out a bottle of medicine.
“Use this on her injuries.”
Faced with such a sensible young man, Lan Luoyun couldn’t bring herself to be harsh.
A’Dong accepted the medicine and thanked her repeatedly before leaving.
At last, the disturbance came to an end.
Everyone returned indoors.
The guards saw that things had settled down.
They left only two men on watch while the rest went off to sleep.
Naturally, Lan Luoyun, Lin Nancheng, and the others also returned to their sleeping area.
The night gradually grew quiet.
Just as everyone drifted into deep sleep—
A sudden, piercing scream shattered the silence.
The entire household jolted awake.