After the family split up, my stepmother and scumbag father begged me to come home.

"Mrs. Ding, you went too far!" Aunt Ding squeezed through the crowd and saw the blood at the corner of Lin Qianqian's mouth. Her face immediately darkened. "Qianqian is still a child. How could you be so cruel?"

"I...I didn't! She did it on purpose..." Ding Yuxiang hurriedly defended herself, her face still streaked with tears, looking innocent and aggrieved.

"She deliberately let you kick her until she vomited blood?" Zhao's second wife sneered, her voice booming as if afraid others wouldn't hear. "Do you think we're all blind? She dares to twist the truth right in front of us; who knows how she bullies these two motherless children all the time!"

Ding Yuxiang immediately changed her tune, tears welling up in her eyes: "Aunt Zhao, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. As a stepmother, I'm easily misunderstood. I worry so much about these two children, and you say such things about me, how can I not feel wronged?"

Seeing Ding Yuxiang's tears, Lin Guozhu's heart softened. He opened his mouth, then managed to utter, "Yuxiang, you've suffered so much these past years."

As soon as the words were spoken, Lin Qianqian and Lin Yulong were both stunned.

Lin Qianqian was stunned for a moment, then laughed in exasperation.

"Father, you said she's having a hard time?" She stared at Lin Guozhu and said, word by word, "Indeed, it must be very tiring to stay like this every day—it's hard enough to send my siblings and me to the woodshed, and it's hard enough to beat and scold us every day."

"Qianqian...you've misunderstood, your mother..." Lin Guozhu's gaze darted away.

"My mother died a long time ago, I misunderstood?... " Lin Qianqian raised her hand and pointed to her forehead, "Dad, are you blind? Can't you see the injury on my head? Can't you see how much thinner and shorter A-Long is than other children his age? He's nine years old! Nine years old!"

Lin Guozhu subconsciously looked at Lin Yulong. Nine years old... He couldn't remember for a moment how old the child was.

"Qianqian, you hurt yourself by falling and hurting your head, how can you blame your mother?"

"I was being reckless?" Lin Qianqian's voice suddenly rose. "I almost died! She broke my skull open herself to avenge her precious daughter! If I hadn't protected her, it would have been Ah Long who broke my skull, he's only 9 years old! When I was lying on the ground bleeding, she was the one who took her daughter and ran away!"

Lin Guozhu was stunned and turned to look at Ding Yuxiang in disbelief.

Ding Yuxiang cried even harder, clutching her chest, her voice trembling: "Second brother, I know Qianqian hates me... Being a stepmother is so hard! They'll find any excuse to accuse me..."

He looked as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Lin Qianqian felt utterly disgusted by her hypocritical act. She sneered, "Heh. You only believe her, but have you ever cared about your own children? You treat a stepdaughter with no blood relation like a precious treasure—fine, then let her be your daughter."

"Qianqian! What nonsense are you talking about! Apologize to your mother right now!" Lin Guozhu said anxiously.

"Apologize?" Lin Qianqian pointed at Ding Yuxiang, her eyes reddening, but she stubbornly refused to let the tears fall. "I did nothing wrong. She's the one who's wrong."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a dignified voice came from the doorway—

"What's all the noise about?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was the village chief.

Old Man Lin hurried forward, a smile plastered on his face: "Village Chief, what brings you here..."

"If I hadn't come, you'd have turned this village upside down!" The village chief said, hands behind his back, his face grim. "Lin Qingjiang, what's going on? You've made such a scene, have you no shame?"

Old Man Lin bowed repeatedly: "Village Chief, please calm down. It's all because my family didn't discipline their children properly. I'll let them disperse right away..."