Page 1003

Knowing that Zheng Ruyue was always gentle and honest, Xiao Linshuang waited with her eyes sparkling, happily spinning around.

Only Lady Liu and a few others knew that Xiao Linshuang had not been favored by Lady Yang since birth, and she hadn’t even had a first birthday party, let alone the ceremony for choosing her future path.

Fortunately, Zheng Ruyue was smart and quick to react, preventing Xiao Linshuang from noticing anything amiss. Otherwise, the little girl would have surely been heartbroken.

Excited, Xiao Linshuang bounced around, then suddenly returned to Lady Liu’s side, pointing at her two sisters, and asked, "Mother, what did big sister and second sister grab? Second sister’s embroidery is so good, she must have grabbed a handkerchief, right?

And big sister, she definitely grabbed silver! "

Lady Liu touched her daughter’s head affectionately and nodded, laughing, "Yes, your second sister grabbed a handkerchief. However, your big sister didn’t grab silver, she grabbed a pot ladle and a spoon."

Xia Zheng chuckled, "No wonder your cooking is so good, you started practicing from your first birthday! Ha ha."

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked, "Laughing at me? What did you grab, Young Master Xia? Oh right, you love money so much, you must have grabbed silver!"

When it came to himself, Xia Zheng’s eyes shifted unnaturally, and his face turned away.

Lin Yuan blinked curiously; it seemed that she had guessed wrong.

"Not silver? Then what was it?"

Facing Lin Yuan’s persistence, Xia Zheng’s face became even more embarrassed, and strangely enough, no matter how much Lin Yuan asked, Xia Zheng’s lips remained tightly sealed.

Lin Yuan’s eyes rolled cleverly, and she suddenly laughed, "You’re so reluctant to say; it must not be anything good! Could it be women’s face powder?"

"Of course not!" Xia Zheng, his face slightly red, denied firmly, yet still refused to reveal what he had actually grabbed. It seemed that even if it wasn’t face powder, it was surely not something flattering.

Although the ceremony for choosing a child’s future path was taken seriously, thankfully, everyone was not so superstitious, and they treated it merely as a joyful celebration.

After the ceremony, Zhao Suxin and Lin Yuan and Lin Wei brought out the food, and eating the fragrant pot meals while chatting made the day quite lively.

As the ninth day of the last month approached, it was Lin Changqing’s wedding day, and Lin family’s valley bustled with excitement again.

As Lin Changqing’s master, Lin Jiaxin naturally couldn’t come empty-handed; he personally made a set of furniture for his apprentice, including a bed with a peony carved into its openwork, and a large wardrobe with auspicious clouds carved into it.

Though he hadn’t made anything for a long time, Lin Jiaxin’s craftsmanship was not undeservedly famed; the appearance of the bed and wardrobe immediately drew praises from everyone.

Having got a bride, Aunt Wang and her husband were naturally over the moon and would surely stay joyous all the way through the New Year.

However, not everyone had a good year.

On the morning of the seventeenth of the last month, Lady Ma routinely entered to wash her son Lin Yongcheng’s face, only to discover that his body was already cold.

Lady Ma, in utter agony, held her son and cried so hard that she was almost out of breath. With all three children now gone, how could the couple not be heartbroken?

With the New Year approaching and the son having died in a thin and unflattering state, Lin Jiazhong didn’t make it public.

He changed his son into clothes prepared in advance and placed him in a very ordinary coffin, and took him to the back hills, where he was buried together with Lin Yongle and Lin Siyu in an unmarked grave.

Lady Ma, having suffered consecutive shocks, was already mentally unstable. Suddenly, she saw Lady Yang, bringing the two children Lin Jiaxiao left behind, and she felt as if seeing her own two sons.

"My sons, my sons, you’ve finally come back! Come, mother will make you white bread," Lady Ma hugged one child with each arm, seemingly mistaking the two little ones for her sons when they were younger.

Lady Yang, fearing Lady Ma might actually have lost her mind and could accidentally harm the children, quickly went after them to grab the children.

But before she could touch them, Xiao Yongxi suddenly looked up very seriously and said, "Great aunt, you are not my mother, my mother has left us, she doesn’t want us anymore."

Tears also started dropping from Xiao Yonghe’s eyes as he sobbed, "Mother doesn’t want us anymore, father doesn’t want us either, sob, nobody wants us anymore!"

The way the two little ones sobbed scared Lady Yang terribly. They say to talk sense to a fool, and their words clearly showed they weren’t Lady Ma’s children. If Lady Ma became frantic and did something to the children...

The more she thought about it, the more frightened Lady Yang became, quickly grabbing the children’s hands to leave.