"Go back and tell your mother that if there's anything to be said, it should be said openly. This kind of underhanded behavior is the mark of a petty person. Does the Zhao family really intend to establish itself in this way?"

  Shang Mingjie's eyes reddened, and he retreated a step with a bow, then turned and walked away.

  Lin Qingwan looked at his back and shook her head. Bai Mei carefully looked at her and asked, "Miss, I think Brother Biao is in a difficult situation, he should be on our side, why are you shaking your head?"

  "It's too simple, Zhao Jia is a petty person, but I'm not a gentleman either." But apparently Shang Mingjie took her as a gentleman, so he was so ashamed.

  However, this time he came and gave her some information. The Zhao family and the Lin family had a feud for a long time, at least from the Zhao family's perspective.

  "Have someone go to the old mansion and invite Old Loyal Uncle over, I have some things to ask him."

  Only old people like Lao Zhongbo can be asked about things of the past.

  Unfortunately, Old Loyal Uncle didn't know much either. He was a follower of Lin Zhi's servant and knew little about Lin Ying's affairs. "Before your grandfather passed away, he saw that the old master's body was weak, so he handed over the military power to Your Majesty. Moreover, the old master did not love fighting and killing, and rarely inquired about military matters. Let alone the Zhao family, who were just a minor vassal of the Lin family army at the time, even if they were a powerful general of the Lin family army, the old master rarely interacted with them, let alone suppressed them."

  Lin Zhi'ao was very arrogant, he didn't like the military, so he only came and went with his father's left and right arms, and when something happened, he would only look for them, so he had very little contact with the generals in the army.

  Lin Jiang waited until he was a bit older before reconnecting with those generals, and because of his reverence for the Emperor, he handled the relationships with great care, without becoming too close.

  "Your ancestors died in battle when your grandfather took over the Lin family army. If you want to know what happened back then, you can only ask the old soldiers who served in the army at that time. But after decades of war, it's unlikely that you'll still be able to find them." Old Loyal Uncle thought for a moment and said: "Apart from this, there's also the diaries. Your grandfather and father both loved writing diaries. Why don't you try looking for them?"

  Lin Qingwan remembered that Lin Jiang also had the habit of keeping a diary, so she nodded and said: "Then I'll look for it, you also go to the old house to find some old books and manuscripts for me."

  Lao Zhongbo thought of the Zhao family and felt very displeased. "Since the two families have already torn their faces apart, they can't get back together again. What's the point of wasting time looking for a reason? Just find one casually."

  "We must investigate the cause, whether it's a misunderstanding or they're being malicious and slandering our ancestors," Lin Qingyuan said solemnly. "In the future, when we discuss who is right or wrong, we can also refute them, it's not good to let our ancestors take the blame."

  Anyway, she didn't believe Lin would sacrifice so many soldiers just to kill a member of the Zhao family.

  Since learning of the Zhao family's malice towards the Lin family, she followed Lin Jiang to investigate the cause and dug up the relationship between the two families. The Zhao family's misdeeds were naturally also uncovered.

  Zhao's ancestors followed Taizu to rebel and joined the Lin family army, but the other side had limited ability. When Lin Li died, the Lin family army was once divided, and Zhao's ancestors were not enough to lead another army, so they could only continue to serve in the Lin family army.

  Lin Cong led the Lin family army to expand rapidly, with outstanding military achievements, more powerful than his father, who was also Lin Qingwen's great-grandfather, and quickly became the confidant of Taizu.

  The territory of Daliang expanded bit by bit and it can be said that nearly half of the world was conquered by Lin Yue.

  At that time, as the pillar of the chaotic army, Zhao's ancestors fought against the former dynasty. They were ordered to lead a team of horses to recover Qingxian County. As a result, they encountered an ambush on the way and Zhao's ancestors were beheaded by the enemy general under the horse. The people who brought them were defeated, and only a few wounded soldiers escaped.

  This matter is only briefly mentioned in the biography of her grandfather written by the Ministry of Rites, with more ink devoted to his military achievements in recovering Hebei. To know the details, one would still have to look for the notes he left behind.

  The Lin family loved writing diaries. Except for some that were lost and those that disappeared in the war, all the others have been well preserved.

  But there were too many of them, and the men in Lin's family were very casual, picking up whatever was at hand to write on, making it very confusing.

  Lin Qingwan even found a book of Analects inside, with one page having her father's handwritten notes from his youth: "When suffering from a cold, it is best to eat light and plain food. I no longer recognize the taste of meat congee, now all I want to do is gnaw on chicken legs, chicken legs, chicken legs..." Behind this, he had also drawn a vivid picture of a chicken leg with ink.

  Lin Qing closed her book quietly, and thought to herself: "Wan's father is also a romantic at heart."

  Lin Yuhong sat aside, watching with relish, covering her mouth to stifle a giggle, "Auntie, look, this is Father's notes, haha, it turns out he was most afraid of dogs. Every time he went to school and passed by the willow tree alley, he would see a big dog and be so scared that he would break out in cold sweat."

  Lin Qingwan shook her head and pushed her away: "Go watch from a distance, I want to find your grandfather's and great-grandfather's handwritten notes."

  Lin Yuhong's eyes sparkled as he held his notebook and jumped aside to take a look.

  Apart from books, our ancestors also liked to jot down their feelings on newspapers, drafts and battle reports. Their attendants were very considerate and kept all these written things.

  But there were also notebooks specifically for writing essays. Lin Qingwen first translated those, then the battle reports, diplomatic correspondence and drafts.

  She wasn't in a hurry, anyway, she had already made up her mind to settle the score with Zhao's family, so she looked very carefully, which made her know many things that Lin Jiang didn't have time to tell her, or even he himself didn't know.

  For example, she knew that Emperor Shi Qian of the Tai Zu dynasty had six toes on his left foot. The reason he got to know Lin Li was because Lin Li saw him secretly soaking his feet in the river, and the two young men with a lot of vigor quarreled and even fought...

  This matter was recorded in a yellowed book, and through the words, Lin Qingwen could feel the anger of her ancestors when they wrote it down. Inside, there were also two sentences scolding Shi Qian, thinking that he was too petty, and he had only looked at him with curiosity for a few more glances before speaking ill words...

  Lin Qingwan looked back and saw her ancestor's self-reflection, dated two days later. His tone was softer, mentioning that Shi Qian was not entirely at fault, and that he himself had been rude earlier, so it was no wonder the other party got angry, and he expressed regret over the matter.

  However, Lin Li's ancestor did not intend to apologize because Shi Qian was really too annoying.

  Lin Qingwan twitched the corner of her mouth and continued to turn back, in just a few days, Lin Li and Shi Qian got into another fight, this time it was more intense, directly startling the parents of both families, and both of them were beaten.

  Lin Qingwan decided to put away this notebook and wait until Lin Yuhong was a bit older before showing it to her, otherwise the ancestors' image would be ruined.

  She directly flipped through Lin Jia's notes before and after the establishment, Lin Li's words became more steady, but the content was even more shocking. The world was in chaos, people were struggling to survive, even Jiangnan was plunged into war, and the Lin family could no longer stand alone.

  Lin Qingwan skipped over the complicated parts of the uprising and went straight to the back, where it was written about Zhao's ancestors. Lin Qingwan only found one sentence: "There was a scholar from Jiangdu named Zhao who donated 10 dan of grain and sent his second son to join the army. His father had a ruthless heart and great courage, but unfortunately his son didn't even amount to one tenth of him, however he did have some literary talent and could be used as a scribe."

  Lin Qingwen put down this notebook and looked for the next one, but whether it was Lin Li or Lin Yan, there were few records of political and military affairs in the notebooks. Most of them recorded things in life, sometimes a streak of sunset in the sky could also be written into a long article. Apart from this, it was about the education of children, some unfair things they saw, and some complaints.

  For example, Lin Li once complained in his notes that Shi Qian only loved meat when eating and was not healthy at all; Lin Yun also made a veiled criticism of an imperial historian who had too many concubines...

  Lin Qingwan looked at Cola and treated these notes as miscellaneous notes.

  "Auntie, are you looking for this?" Lin Yubin suddenly handed over a piece of paper, his small face stern.

  Lin Qingwan took a glance at her and received it. It was a crumpled military report, seemingly having been rumpled by someone, then spread out, only to be folded up again.

  Above is the imperial court's rebuke of Lin Yu's improper command, which was exactly the battle where Zhao's ancestors died. Above are Lin Yu's notes, with his anger palpable through the faint words.

  "Extremely stupid, refusing to listen to the words of the Colonel, dying is what they deserve, I regret losing my 2,000 soldiers, this person is not worthy of use!!!"

  This is obviously commenting on Zhao's ancestors.

  Lin Qingwan raised an eyebrow, "Where did you find this?"

  "In that box."

  Lin Qingwan searched again, but couldn't find any more information about this matter. The Zhao family's information also never appeared again.

  Lin Qingwan couldn't help but knock on the table, "You said your great-grandfather looked down on Zhao's ancestors like that, how would he treat his son who took over his position?"

  Lin Yuheng furrowed his brow and said, "At least he will be displeased."

  That's why the Zhao family thought the Lin family was oppressing them, and even pinned the pot of their ancestors' death in battle on the Lin family.

  Lin Qingwan pursed her lips. A gentleman is magnanimous and does not quibble, while a petty person quibbles but is not magnanimous. The ancients were indeed not deceiving me.

  She folded up the battle report and put it back in the box, saying: "Alright, we'll compile these notes into a book, so they can be passed down to future generations. Let's start with your father's first."

  Lin Yuhbin was furious, "The Zhao family's affair is over like this, they slandered our ancestors..."

  "They didn't spread it outwards, are we supposed to send this note to them?" Lin Qingyan smiled, "I'm afraid if we really sent it to clarify things, they would be even more furious."

  After all, Lin Ye's evaluation of Zhao's ancestors is not very good. With the character of the Zhao family, they might go crazy later on.

  Lin Qingwan was not afraid of making an enemy of the Zhao family, but she was afraid that they would go crazy.

  Arguing with a madman can wear down even jade and stone.

  However, Lin Qingwan called Shang Mingjie over and showed him the note. "I've been searching for a long time, and among our ancestors' notes, only this one mentions the Zhao family. Although it's not good news, it can prove our ancestor's innocence."

  Shang Mingjie's face turned red with shame, and he said remorsefully: "I'll go back and tell my mother."

  "It's no use," Lin Qingyan stopped him and said: "The ancestors of my Lin family were harmed, this cognition may have started from your great-grandfather, your uncles and mother have thought so since childhood, it's too difficult to overthrow their cognition, they won't accept it either."

  Lin Qingwan shook her head and said: "I can no longer interfere with the affairs of the previous generation. I only hope that you younger generations can know the truth, don't be confused by hatred."

  Shang Mingjie nodded and replied, "Yes", looking at Lin Qingwan with eyes full of trust: "Aunt Lin, rest assured, I will not only tell my sister about this matter, but also inform my cousins, so they won't misunderstand again."

  Lin Qingwan raised an eyebrow, "Suit yourself, just don't let your mother find out, or she'll beat you up."