Lin Qingwan glanced at her and directly turned to ask Liu Shu, "Liu Shu, is this our Lin family's daughter-in-law or niece?"

  Sixth Uncle's face looked unpleasant, and he secretly glared at the woman, saying: "She is your Seventh Brother's wife. You saw her last time when she was still young, it's normal that you don't recognize her."

  Lin Qingwan nodded and smiled lightly: "Sixth Uncle, the girls at home also need to read books, reading books to understand reason. I think it's better to take out some money to build a primary school hall, let the girls of the right age in the clan go to school, and learn some piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, and cooking skills, so that they can understand more reasons. Otherwise, if parents are not good at teaching their children, the children will be ruined for life. The clan should think more about the children."

  The three clan elders' faces turned iron-gray, and they twitched at the corners of their mouths without speaking.

  Although Lin Qingwan was also strong in Yangzhou, she had always been very polite with her words. Today's cold ridicule and sarcasm were unprecedented, and the three clan elders couldn't accept it.

  Lin Qingwan's body stood up straight, directly stabbing the people of Yue Lei Chi with her gaze. She gave the woman a disdainful glance, but her mouth curved into a smile as she said: "Thanks for asking, Seventh Auntie, my mother-in-law is doing well."

  The woman was half-understanding and half-not understanding of Lin Qingyan's sarcasm, but she knew how to read facial expressions and knew that Lin Qingyan must be saying bad things about her. She had the heart to quarrel, but under the iron-faced and sharp-eyed gazes of the three old men, she opened her mouth and then timidly closed it again.

  Upon hearing Lin Qingyan's words, he forced a smile and said: "As long as your mother-in-law is fine, that's all that matters. Why don't you stay in Yangzhou to take care of your parents-in-law? Even if your mother-in-law is kind and doesn't require you to pay respects morning and night, you should still stay by her side to take care of her. If she were to get a headache or fever..."

  Lin Qingwan smiled and glanced around, seeing that many people had gathered, all of whom were listening intently. She then cut off her words with a smile: "Thank you, Seventh Aunt, for your concern. However, since Seventh Aunt rarely goes out, she may not know about outside matters. My brother has some personal thoughts, knowing that I'm used to the Lin family's lifestyle, so before I got married, I had already discussed it with the Xie family and agreed that after I get married, I would join their household."

  "Originally, my elder brother had already agreed with the three clan elders to give me a title, but before it was finalized, Your Majesty bestowed his favor and sent an angel to take care of it for me. Now, my household registration is still here in Suzhou at the Lin family's place, and I've even established a female household as the head of the main house. How come when the angel came, Seventh Aunt didn't see it?" Lin Qingwen tilted her head and smiled at her, "Seventh Aunt is too gentle, not even going out to take a look at such a big thing?"

  A burst of laughter erupted around, and Qī Láng's wife Wén Jìng said: "Don't joke about it, she's the one who causes the most trouble in our clan. Every day, she's chatting with this family and that, and within half a day, she can walk from the east end of the village to the west end. She even knows which household's chicken laid an extra egg today."

  The woman's face turned red, just about to retort, Lin Qingwen had already put on a stern expression and said: "Right, Seventh Aunt, I know you didn't mean any harm, it's just that your knowledge is shallow, so you would say something like 'send wedding invitations home'. We can tolerate hearing these words from our own clan, but if outsiders were to find out, they'd think all the daughters-in-law of the Lin family are unreasonable."

  "My wedding with my husband is of course a happy event for me, but he has passed away, so please show some respect for him."

  Mrs. Zhang was about to cry out in grievance when Sixth Uncle suddenly bellowed, "Enough! Get out of here quickly, you shameless thing!"

  The woman shrunk her neck and retreated two steps in fear, then was pulled by the family's concubine to move backwards.

  "What did you do to provoke her? Can't you see that even Old Seven and his family didn't get a good reception when they went to pay their respects?"

  "The woman said with discontent: 'She's a married-out daughter, a daughter who has been married out is like spilled water, what right does she have to point fingers and draw pictures about family matters? And actually sold so many of the family's properties...'"

  "Shut up, Old Seventh is still kowtowing in the ancestral hall, don't let our clan become a laughing stock again..."

  Lin Qing's sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, and those who met her gaze lowered their heads.

  Lin Yuhu stood beside Lin Qingwan, pursing his lips and staring, his small hands tightly clenched into fists around the handkerchief.

  Lin Qingwan reached out and took her hand, "Come on, let's go take a look at the cemetery."

  Lin Run came with several house owners, all of whom were of the same generation as Lin Qingyuan and were her paternal uncles.

  Lin Qingwan had memorized the Lin family tree and had also seen the portrait of Lin Jianghua, so she carefully examined them for a moment before calling out to Lin Yuhbin without waiting for Lin Run's introduction. One uncle, another uncle was called over.

  Not only did they introduce their ancestors, but also clearly explained the blood relationship between them and the ancestors of the long house. For example, this is the eighth uncle, Lin Yuhbin's great-grandfather and his family's ancestor were brothers, born to the same father.

  Yes, five sets have been released already.

  The three clan elders exchanged a glance, and in their hearts, they couldn't help but sigh. From then on, the people who came with Lin Run didn't dare to underestimate Lin Qingyuan again.

  Although all of them had to memorize their genealogy, Lin Qingyuan was a girl and still young, so the requirements for her in this aspect were not very strict.

  Unlike boys, after learning to read and write, the first thing they had to do was recite their family genealogy.

  Lin Jiang is this raising his sister as a boy?

  After the ceremony, the group of people went to visit the cemetery.

  Lin Jiang was to be buried with his wife, and after the burial of Shang Shi that year, he left his position. Later, people were called to continue expanding and building the tomb chamber, which is now managed by the servants of the eldest house.

  Because the Shang family was buried below, Lin Qingyuan could not go down to the grave at this time to check the situation, lest she disturb her ancestors. So she just walked around on top and confirmed that there were no problems before discussing the burial with the clan.

  After finishing all this, the sun had already set in the west. Lin Run invited her to stay behind, "Yesterday, when we went to receive the funeral, Fourth Brother and Seventh Brother didn't settle on a punishment. Why don't you stay behind and take a look?"

  Lin Qingwan shook her head and said, "The family matters will be handled by Fifth Brother and the three uncles, I won't get involved."

  "How can you say it's mixed up? This concerns your family's reputation." Lin Run intentionally gave Lin Qingwen the opportunity to establish her authority.

  Lin Qingwan shook her head, she had already established her authority earlier, and from now on, no matter whether she was being strong or gentle, it wouldn't be suitable.

  She had been too strong and was bound to be disliked by some people at the time, but she didn't want to escalate the conflict with her own family at this moment.

  Being soft and weak is even worse; if you show a soft attitude at this time, all the previous strong words and dominant tone will be wasted.

  So it's better if I don't show up.

  However, she couldn't just ignore it either. She smiled and said: "I believe Fifth Brother can handle this impartially. These matters all have a basis in our family rules, so as long as he follows them, the outcome will be the same whether I'm here or not. It's getting late now, so I won't stay any longer."

  Everyone fell silent. The clan rules were very strict about this, and the others exchanged a glance, it seemed that Old Four and Old Seven had kicked an iron plate this time.

  Lin Run nodded after a moment of silence: "Don't worry, I will definitely follow the clan rules."

  Although it will offend those four families, if done well, it can also establish his prestige.

  Lin Qingwan was satisfied and took Lin Yubin home.

  Lin Yuhuan smiled faintly as she followed Xiaojie onto the carriage, only to lower her face once they were on board. She said in a gloomy tone, "Xiaojie, we are eighteen bends away from being related to them, why do we still have to be controlled by them?"

  "Father, why don't you separate our house?"

  Lin Qingwan sighed, reaching out to touch her head and said: "Because we are the main branch of the Lin family, if there is a division, it would be them who are divided out, unless our main branch becomes extinct, otherwise, when it comes to the Suzhou Lin family, it's always us who represent this branch."

  "If you could have divided it, your grandfather would have done so when he was alive. He hated them more than your father did." Lin Qingyan said in a low voice: "However, even he couldn't do what your father can't do now."

  Lin Yuhbin's eyes were red with anger. "But they're too cruel, after Father passed away, they didn't offer to help, instead they kicked us while we were down, what kind of relatives are they?"

  "So you have to become strong yourself," Lin Qing said softly: "Our family has a lot of prestige in the clan, but that was won by your great-grandfather, grandfather and father. If we had a boy, he might inherit the prestige left by his ancestors, but we don't, you and I are both girls."

  "What about girls then? People are used to looking down on girls, but you say, is a little girl or you worse than boys of the same age?"

  Lin Yuhu shook his head and pursed his lips: "Xiao Gu is very formidable, even more so than Wu Shu."

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said, "However, they don't know, so we have to let them know. Not only ability, but also virtue. Because ability can gain power, while virtue can gain prestige. Your father's prestige didn't come from nowhere."

  Lin Yuheng nodded thoughtfully after a moment and said: "I understand, little sister. I won't think about leaving the family anymore, but instead, I will go conquer them."

  Because they can't get rid of it, they are the main branch of the Long House, and only the side branches leave to start another branch, there is no reason for the main branch to leave.

  So if you can't get rid of it, you can only adapt and conquer.

  Lin Qingyu smiled comfortingly at her, it was difficult for the girls, very difficult, but no matter how hard it was, there was still a way to go, which was much better than having no way out.

  The aunt and niece returned to Lin's house and received news that Zhou Cishi had brought many people to Fu'an Temple to offer incense to Lin Jiang today.

  Lin Qingwan nodded and said, "Send the news to relatives and friends, the old master will be buried three days later. Those who wish can come to see him off. Lin Guanjia, you are familiar with these people, take note of those who come, we'll need to return their gifts later."

  "Yes."