Zhong Daguan thought for a moment and said: "Otherwise, let's tell Old Master Zhong about it and have him discipline him strictly. At the very least, he can't cause trouble for the Lin family."

  Lin Qingwan's expression was calm and collected, "Bring Lin Quan here, I want to have a word with him."

  Zhong Daguan stepped forward and opened his mouth, but seeing Lin Qingwen's determined expression, he could only retreat.

  Lin Quan is older than Lin Jiang, nearly forty years old, his son is about to get married, but he has not achieved anything.

  But that didn't stop him from being proud, after all his father was the first loyal minister of the Long House, who had escorted the old master out of the sea of fire back then.

  Lin ran over with a fawning expression, his waist bent before he even arrived. He bowed his back to greet Lin Qingwan. "Greetings, milady. You summoned me, what instructions do you have for me?"

  Lin Qingwan looked him up and down, seeing the fawning smile on his face. Since he saw her, his waist had never straightened up again. She couldn't help but sigh, it was really too sycophantic, so sycophantic that she couldn't bear to look at him directly.

  "Lin Quan, previously the governor's office statistics wanted to leave, your family is your father's decision, Lao Zhongbo's character I know, he will not leave the Lin family until death, but I want to hear your opinion."

  Lin was taken aback, and after coming to his senses, he knelt down with a thud, kowtowing twice and wailing: "Young lady, please don't drive me away. I'll never be dishonest or steal food from home to exchange for wine again. I deserve to die, I deserve to die..."

  Lin Qingwan was stunned, she just wanted to ask if he wanted to become a good person or not...

  Lin Quan saw Lin Qingyan glare at him, and he was so frightened that his heart skipped a beat. He knocked his head loudly and said: "I'm going to die, I'm confused, I'll never dare again. You can hit me or punish me as you like, just please don't drive me away..."

  "Let's just say it was all thanks to my father's efforts and hard work..."

  Lin Qingwan originally had a smile, but now she put away the warmth on her face and asked coldly, "You use your father's merits and hardships to plead with me, have you asked your father if he agrees?"

  Lin Quan lifted his head with tears and a runny nose to look at Lin Qingyuan, with a face full of confusion.

  Lin Qing looked back at him quietly, Lin Quan became more and more nervous, a chill ran up his spine, stimulating his confused brain to be clear for a moment, he said in a low voice: "I, I am the son of my father, he, he should agree, right?"

  "You can't let Lin Shun be proud of you, are you going to drag down your old father too?"

  Lin Quan's face turned red with shame and he lowered his head in embarrassment.

  The small courtyard immediately fell silent, and Bai Mei stood aside with her head bowed, not daring to breathe loudly. As this side quieted down, the outside noise clearly came in.

  "Lin Zhong, you're just a servant in our household, what right do you have to speak? Get out of my way! I'm here to see my younger sister, what are you doing trying to block me, you lowly slave?"

  Lin Qingwan's gaze swept towards Bai Feng, and Bai Feng immediately said in a low voice: "Auntie, it's the third wife of the second branch..."

  Lin Qingwan slightly furrowed her brow, stood up and was about to walk out, but when she passed by Lin Quan, she paused for a moment, "You come with me."

  Lin Quan wiped away the tears on his face and followed with his head down.

  Outside the courtyard, Third Madam was dragging a child by one hand and charging forward with her chest out, while Old Loyalist's face turned red with rage but he didn't dare touch her, only retreating step by step.

  Originally, this kind of thing should have been done by his daughter-in-law, but his daughter-in-law went to the hot spring side to pick vegetables. What's worse is that Lin Niang and Wang Niang also followed them, leaving only a group of maids and these old men in the mansion, who couldn't stop this shameless Third Madam at all.

  Lin Qingwan stood at the gate of the small courtyard and looked silently for a while, "Has San Shu arrived?"

  "Miss!" Old Zhongbo took two steps back with a sweaty face and stood aside with his hands clasped together.

  Lin Qingwan nodded slightly at him and said to the maids, "What are you still dawdling for? Hurry up and invite Third Madam to sit in the front flower hall!"

  A group of maids immediately came forward and surrounded the third wife as she walked towards the flower hall, saying in unison: "Third wife, what tea do you want to drink? What pastries do you want to eat? The servants will go down and prepare them right away."

  "Third Mistress, be careful with your steps, don't fall down. Let me hold the child for you."

  Third Madame was about to struggle, but saw Lin Qingyan also followed up, and immediately followed them along. Anyway, she came to the door to find Lin Qingyan, in the backyard or in the flower hall.

  Arriving at the flower hall, Third Madam directly pushed away the maids' hands and sat down on a high chair with a plop. Because she wasn't used to sitting in chairs, she also put her shoes on the chair and crossed her legs on it.

  Lin Qingwan paused for a moment before shifting her gaze away and sitting down on the main seat, "Third Aunt is indeed an honored guest, I wonder how she has time to visit today."

  The third madam first hugged the two children in her arms, and then sneered: "The threshold of your humble home is really high, it's not easy to see you, just entering the door and running into a stray dog. I'd say that the young lady should also discipline the mansion, otherwise the master won't be like a master, and the slaves won't be like slaves."

  "Third Aunt is right, the main house should be rectified," Lin Qingwen turned her head to Lin Quan and said: "Whoever was on guard today, take him down and beat him with ten big boards, deduct three months' worth of his monthly allowance. When guests come to the door, they don't even report it inside, if it weren't for Third Aunt rushing all the way to the inner courtyard, I wouldn't have known that there were guests coming to our house."

  Lin Quan loudly responded with a "yes", staring maliciously at the third madam: "I'll go down and instruct them now, let them learn a lesson, don't let them bring in all sorts of dirty and smelly things."

  The third wife slammed her hand on the table and asked, "Who are you talking about?"

  "He's talking nonsense."

  "You! Little auntie," Third Madam turned her head and glared at Lin Qingyuan, "Are you going to let this servant bully your third sister-in-law like this?"

  Lin Qingwan smiled and comforted her: "Third sister is worrying too much, Lin Quan was talking about dirty things, not you, why do you have to take it to heart?"

  Third Aunt's face changed, and she suddenly covered her face and cried, "I know, the young lady from the other house looks down on us just like everyone else, thinking that our second house has lost the Lin family's face. Who doesn't want to have power and money, and bring glory to their ancestors? In the end, it's all because your third uncle is incompetent, can't raise his nephews and nieces, and dragged down the whole clan..."

  Lin Qingyan remained silent, waiting for her to reveal the purpose of this visit.

  Third Aunt sobbed and cried, having cried for all her ancestors, and finally arrived at this generation. "Now there are only the two of you siblings left in our two families, and as Manchu people, we should be closer to each other and help each other more."

  Third Aunt lifted her head, pushed the two little girls in front of Lin Qingyu and said: "Little sister, take a look at your two nieces, they are so pitiful, from birth to now, they have hardly eaten meat a few times. You can pity them and help your third brother more..."

  Lin Qingwan smiled and asked, "What does Third Aunt want me to help with?"

  Third Aunt's spirit lifted, and she wiped away her tears, saying: "Young aunt, I'm not asking for much. Now you and your elder sister have obtained a large piece of land, but you can't possibly cultivate it all by yourselves. Why don't you let us take over the small estate on the Lin family side? After all, we are your brother's wife, isn't it better to give it to us than to some underling? Don't look at Old Loyal Uncle as being honest, he's actually cunning in his heart... all these years, neither your father nor your elder brother has managed him, who knows how much he's embezzled..."

  Lin's face turned green with rage, and he jumped up, saying: "Third Auntie, don't slander people! When did my father ever embezzle anything from the government? All these years he has been diligent and never slackened off for a moment..."

  Lin Qingwan raised her hand to suppress his angry roar, and looked at the third lady seriously: "Third sister, be careful with your words. Old Zhongbo's loyalty is not only what I believe in, but also what my father and brother deeply trust."

  She sneered and said: "If we talk about loyalty to our family, I'm afraid no one can surpass Uncle Zhong. It was he who protected my father from escaping the sea of fire back then."

  Third Aunt couldn't help but mutter: "If he hadn't protected your father, wouldn't they have ended up buried in the sea of flames?"

  Lin Qingwan pretended not to hear and asked faintly, "So San Shu came to rent the land of my family?"

  "It's not renting, it's managing for you," the third wife said with renewed energy and enthusiasm: "Your third brother is very capable of handling things, don't worry, with him in charge, this estate will definitely be well-managed and have a bumper harvest every year."

  "Thank you for Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law's kind intention, but I didn't have the intention to change my mind after all, it was a wasted trip for you."

  Third Aunt's face stiffened, and she turned cold, "His younger sister, you'd better think carefully, Old Loyal is getting on in years, how many more years can he work? Are you going to hand the estate over to him in the future?"

  Third Aunt pointed at Lin Quandao: "He is a lazy glutton, you'd rather entrust this servant to him than let your Third Brother manage?"

  "Third sister, is Lin Quan really as bad as you said?" Lin Qingwen smiled and said: "Besides, this estate isn't going to be handed over to anyone else to manage, but I'll be managing it myself. In the future, all the income from this land will be used to take care of the main house and the ancestral worship of the direct branch, so I don't dare to borrow someone else's hands."

  "Fart, who doesn't know that the Zhuang family is controlled by Old Loyal Uncle's family? You say you're in charge, do you know how to nurture sprouts? Do you know how to plant seeds?" Third Aunt was furious. "Little sister, you can't listen to those sly slaves' instigations and estrange your own brothers..."

  Lin Qingwan let out a soft sigh, "My dear brother is watching us from above, Third Sister, don't you want to meet my dear brother?"

  The three wives were half-killed by him.

  Lin Qingyan took a glance at her complexion and beckoned with her hand: "There are still many things to attend to today, so I won't keep Third Aunt for dinner. Come, see the guest off!"

  Lin Quan immediately jumped out and said: "Third aunt, please."

  Third Aunt stood up, then fell to the ground with a thud, slapping her thigh and wanting to wail. Lin Qingyan calmly said: "Go, ask the clan elder and three senior uncles to come, and ask them if they will manage or not when people from the second house come to the main house to cause trouble."

  Lin Qingyan was already at odds with Lin Yong, and she was happy to stop pretending. She waved her hand and said, "Please ask Third Madam to leave. Also, instruct the doorman that in the future, if anyone else is allowed to enter without permission, they will have to take responsibility for themselves."

  Lin Quan responded with a sound, waved his hand, and led a group of maids to drag Third Madam out. As for the two little girls, they were carried by two maids, who also brought some pastries to coax them, not letting anyone cry.

  But Third Wife burst out wailing like a slaughtered pig, "Lin Qingyuan, you heartless thing! You're willing to give grain for free to the Erjuan family who lives seventeen or eighteen houses away, but you won't even help your own brother. This is how you distinguish between kin and stranger? Don't you fear that when you get to the underworld, our ancestors will be so angry they'll die..."

  Lin Qingwan only then knew why she had run over to make such a fuss. She walked to the door and saw that many of their clansmen were gathered outside, clearly brought there by Third Madam's shrill cries.

  The girls pushed Third Madam forward, directly pushing her down the steps, and then patted their hands and stood behind Lin Qingwan.

  Lin Qingwan looked down at Third Aunt with a cold smile, sweeping her gaze over the relatives. "Third Aunt, the Lin family farm is for the use of the direct descendants' ancestral rites. Although it's not an ancestral field, it's even better than one. Not to mention you, even if all three uncles came, they couldn't take this land away from me. So I advise you to give up on this idea."

  The villagers were shocked and only then did they understand why Third Madam had been thrown out. Lin Qingwen's action of ordering the servants to push Third Madam out was not unreasonable after all.

  "Besides, you and I are separated by a wall, this is already the fifth time, my dear brother is in heaven, not on San Ge's body. Counting up, our Lin family village all came from the same ancestor, so I helped the poor and weak, even if it's underground, I believe that our ancestors will not blame me for it. This year, not only Er Yun's family got the long house grain, does San Shu think they shouldn't get it either?" Lin Qingwen sneered: "San Shu, go back and tell San Ge that our main house has no intention of adopting a successor, let him stop pretending to be the orthodox heir of the main house, otherwise, the ancestors of the second house will really come after him."

  The villagers burst out laughing and advised Third Aunt: "Old Three's family, hurry back home. The clan has already made a decision, and now the eldest branch is under the leadership of Wan Jie."

  "This is really a case of unworthy descendants, wanting to change what their ancestors have established. The old ancestor of the second house will be driven mad by this."

  "It's all about money, you see. If Zhang Fang didn't have any money, would Lao San still be clinging to him? I'm afraid it's just like when he sees Er Juan's mother - as soon as he sees her from afar, he'll take a detour to avoid her, fearing that he'll be tainted by bad luck."