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Lin Yuan shook her head in self-mockery. Lin Jiazhong was neither a fool nor deaf—how could he not hear the sound of so many bricks being moved back and forth repeatedly?

And now...

Lin Yuan’s gaze fixed on the room where Lin Yongcheng was, knowing that ever since Lin Yongle’s incident, this Lin Yongcheng had also become much more well-behaved, returning home by Lin Fugui’s ox cart after school every day, playing the good boy.

But at this hour, he still hadn’t gotten up and left the house—could it be that he was disposing of stolen goods inside?

"Hey, Little Disaster Star! Aren’t you leaving yet? What are you loitering around my house for? Get going!" Lady Ma’s shouting interrupted Lin Yuan’s train of thought.

Liu Limin, who was standing nearby, grabbed the daydreaming Lin Yuan and scoffed with arms akimbo, "Ha, I say, dear sister-in-law, you seem so eager to shoo us away. Couldn’t be that you’re up to something unsavory, afraid that we’ll expose you, could it?"

Lady Ma was already feeling guilty, and now she was even more at a loss for words. What shady thing could she have done? Her son had just been released from jail yesterday. She was simply worried that these people might witness her son’s disgrace and mock him.

"You, you, you foul-mouthed girl! No wonder you can’t get married, just like your Little Disaster Star at home! Serves you right to be an old maid for life!"

Liu Limin had grown almost calloused from listening to Lady Fan nag about her being an old maid at home. But that certainly didn’t mean she could tolerate a completely unrelated person pointing fingers at her personal affairs right to her face.

"Indeed, I, Li Limin, am probably doomed to be an old maid in this life. Alas, I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a mother like you, who would be willing to sell me off to some old codger on the brink of death to become a Little Concubine.

Then I really wouldn’t have to worry about being an old maid my whole life!

But alas, my mother cherishes me too much to let me become a widow in my later years—oh well, I’ll just have to be pampered and spoiled at home. "

"Hahaha."

The onlookers were amused by Liu Limin’s words, especially when they saw her expression of mixed worry and helplessness as she spread her hands, as if she truly envied Lin Siyu being sold by her birth mother to become a Little Concubine.

Lady Ma’s face alternated between red and white.

If she were to say what her biggest regret was, it would be none other than sending her daughter into the Master Magistrate’s family for the sake of her sons’ futures.

But what of it? Lin Siyu was now living a good life in the Master Magistrate’s home, wasn’t she?

Just yesterday, she had asked someone to inquire, and learned that her daughter was now the most favored in the Li Mansion.

So what if she was a concubine? As long as her daughter bore a son, she would be able to live comfortably for the rest of her life.

With these thoughts, she said as much.

Before Lin Yuan and Liu Limin could respond, Li Feng’e, who was there to watch the excitement, scoffed first. Lady Ma was na?ve, but she was not.

Her aunt had long told her that the day Lin Siyu was brought into Li Mansion, Lady Jin had already slipped a sterility potion into her drink.

Lady Jin’s brother owned a pharmacy—it was no big deal for him to get his hands on such a medicine, was it?

Lady Ma harbored the foolish hope that her daughter might someday bear a son—how delusional. With the tactics of the Madam County Magistrate, would she really allow a rival to enter her domain?

Lady Ma didn’t notice Li Feng’e’s expression, but Lin Yuan, who had been observing everyone, did catch it.

She suddenly remembered the little girl she had met at Shande Hall when she went to sell goji berries, who had not only gotten medicine without giving silver but had also been treated with great respect by the pharmacy clerks—she must be from some wealthy family.

Adding together what the fat man had said that day, Lin Yuan had pretty much figured out the underlying relationships.

The owner of Shande Hall was the County Magistrate’s Madam’s own younger brother, and according to what she had learned from her dealings with Jin Mansion, the County Magistrate’s Madam only had one full brother, that is, Jin Yuyu’s father, who was the next Family Head of the Jin family.

So this younger brother could only be the second master of the second branch, that is, Jin Lingling’s father.

That fat man really dared to speak out of turn; he was only a cousin, and yet he claimed to be a blood brother.