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"How could I not believe? Those two from the third branch are always fighting, aren’t they? But it’s always the third brother who gets beaten, and you’re telling me that you heard his wife wailing? Of course, I didn’t believe you."

"No, sister-in-law, I really did hear the third brother’s wife crying. Could it be that the third brother hit her? Right, why haven’t we seen the third brother’s wife today? She should normally be here. Don’t tell me she’s at home looking after the kids?"

"Her? She doesn’t care about the kids. She’s dumped them on Old Lady Lin. But why hasn’t this woman shown up? Could she have gone back to her parents’ home? Oh, this is going to be a scene, with Li Feng’e’s temper, trouble is bound to happen."

"Ha, as if the Lin Family Old House isn’t already full of troubles. I’ve heard the old man is not doing well, and look at Old Lady Lin, she’s all skin and bones now. Oh right, these past few days, have you heard any kind of noise from the Lin family, uh, like a very painful howl?"

"Not at all, your house is closer so you’d hear it clearer than us. I’ve only heard Lady Ma crying over her son."

"Maybe I heard wrong? No way, I must listen closely again tonight."

Lin Yuan wasn’t particularly concerned about the wails, but she was indeed very interested in Lin Jiaxiao and his spouse’s issues.

She arched an eyebrow slightly and the corners of her mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

Fights between Li Feng’e and Lin Jiaxiao were nothing new, but if Lin Jiaxiao really laid hands on Li Feng’e, now that would be news.

Lin Jiaxin also came out to follow his daughter on Lin Yongle’s final journey, but when he saw his older brother looking seemingly ten years older overnight, he just couldn’t bear it.

Nothing could be more tragic than an elder burying a younger; he knew the pain all too well, having experienced it himself, and thus he felt profound sympathy for Lin Jiazhong.

He sighed and turned away, but then he caught sight of Lady Yang’s hunched, slight frame among the people on the street.

Seeing her pale hair, face full of wrinkles and tears, Lin Jiaxin couldn’t help clenching his fists.

Even though they had cut ties, this woman was still his mother, and seeing his own kin in such a state made him deeply uneasy.

"Let’s go, we’re heading home." Tugging at his daughters’ hands, Lin Jiaxin turned his head to wipe the corner of his eye before leading the way home.

Xiao Linshuang blinked her eyes in confusion, looking toward her two older sisters. Weren’t they meant to be out here to see someone off? Why were they heading back so soon? Had they already sent the person off? Who was it?

Lin Yuan had also seen Lady Yang, no wonder their father was upset. Taking her two younger sisters by the hand, she followed behind her father. She admitted that she didn’t have a soft spot for anyone from the old house, but now she really couldn’t bring herself to hate Lin Jianling and his wife.

To be honest, Lin Jianling once did things that were unforgivable to his own offspring – first, abandoning his son and granddaughter, and later, misled by slander, he nearly drowned his own granddaughter. These acts were truly unforgivable.

But Lady Yang didn’t seem to be as heartless. Although she wasn’t kind to Lady Liu and wasn’t warm to her granddaughters, she at least hadn’t sought to take her granddaughter’s life like Lin Jianling had.

Lin Yuan pursed her lips, and for the first time, she turned back to look at Lady Yang with sympathy. It was this unintentional glance that struck Lady Yang’s heart hard.

Lady Yang’s nose tingled and tears burst forth once more, her sobbing nearly doubled her over.

Lin Yongle was buried in the hill behind; though he didn’t make it into the family cemetery, the spot was still quite decent, with mountains and water. Clearly, Lin Jiazhong had chosen it with care.

In the days that followed, Lin Yuan learned of something: Lin Jiazhong was searching everywhere for unmarried young women who’d passed away early so he could arrange a ghost marriage for his son.

It was said that if someone died unwed, their next life would not have good reincarnation prospects, and even if they did reincarnate, they wouldn’t be born into a good family.

Therefore, many parents sought to arrange a ghost marriage for their deceased children.

Lin Jiaxin had once thought about it too, but lacked the Silver, and so the idea was dropped. Fortunately, this toddler son he lost had barely been a month old, so whether or not the ghost marriage happened, it wouldn’t have much impact.

However, Lin Yuan took the matter to heart.

She hadn’t brought it up before because she didn’t understand these things, but now that she’d heard Lin Jiazhong was arranging a ghost marriage for Lin Yongle, of course, she couldn’t ignore it.

Her little brother was always a sore point in her parents’ hearts – they hadn’t been able to give him the best in life, so they wanted to compensate him thoroughly in death, hoping he would be reborn into a happy and prosperous family.

A ghost marriage was still a marriage, and it required nearly as much Silver as a normal marriage.

To raise the funds, Lin Jiazhong had been working tirelessly, searching for a suitable bride through matchmakers and lamenting the lack of Silver, which added more than a few grey hairs and wrinkles to his countenance.

Soon enough it was the tenth day of the first lunar month, and many shops in the city had resumed business, including Lin Yuan’s Rice Flower Fragrance.

However, when Lin Yuan and her company arrived in town, they realized there had been another incident.

This time, the misfortune had not befallen Rice Flower Fragrance but Mo Sanniang’s fabric store across the way.