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

Old Mrs. Li was so embarrassed that she walked home with her face burning with shame.

Along the way, his old face turned pale and then red, and his teeth were grinding together.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He was a formidable figure in Qinghe Village, yet he had been humiliated by a mere brat.

"You little slut, how dare you slap me in the face!" She touched her still burning cheek, her eyes filled with venom. "You wouldn't let me look through it, you must have bought some shady stuff... Hmph, you wait, if I can't deal with you, someone else will."

She turned and headed straight for the Lin family—it didn't matter if she suffered a loss herself, as long as she could provoke Old Madam Lin, that would be a good show.

You little slut, see if your grandma will mess with you.

"Old lady—are you home?" Before even entering the courtyard, Granny Li's voice was already ringing out, filled with an eager and lively tone.

Wang Hehua was shaking out the quilt in the yard when she heard the sound. She looked up and gave a lukewarm smile: "Aunt Li is here. My mother is inside."

Inside the house, Ding Yuxiang was dozing off on the kang (a heated brick bed). When she heard the voice from the yard calling "Old sister—", she didn't even lift her eyelids, but the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.

"Here she comes, here she comes, this old hag is definitely here to cause trouble."

Instead of getting up, she propped herself up with more pillows, striking a pose as if she were ready to watch the drama unfold. Ever since the family division, she had come to understand that Old Madam Lin's branch of the family and the two younger children in the old house were bound to fight sooner or later. As a stepmother, she didn't need to be at the forefront, but she couldn't miss the show.

Especially... if things really escalate between the two sides, they might even get some benefits.

Thinking of this, she smiled with her eyes narrowed, like a lazy cat basking in the sun—it looks lazy, but its claws are sharp.

"Old sister—" Granny Li had already lifted the curtain and entered the room.

Old Mrs. Lin was reclining on the kang (a heated brick bed). When she saw her old friend arrive, she didn't get up, but simply called out, "Eldest daughter-in-law, someone's here! Pour a bowl of water for your Aunt Li!"

"No need, no need, old sister, don't bother." Granny Li said politely, but she had already plopped down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), leaned closer, lowered her voice, and her eyes gleamed with the kind of "I have big news" gleam in them, "Guess who I rode with on the oxcart back from town today?"

"Who?"

"Your granddaughter, grandson—and the three boys from the Ding family next door." Granny Li spoke slowly and deliberately, as if spitting out sunflower seed shells.

Grandma Lin frowned: "You mean those two at the old house?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Wang Hehua, carrying a bowl of water, lifted the curtain and entered. Her ears, sharp as a cat's, immediately caught the key words: "What? Qianqian and Yulong have money to ride in an oxcart? Where did the money come from?"

"Not only did she take the bus, but she also bought a lot of things, big and small bags." Granny Li took the bowl of water, took a sip, then put it down, deliberately sighing, "I was wondering what it was, and it was covered up so tightly, like it was being guarded against a thief—old sister, what's so shameful about it?"

She glanced at Old Mrs. Lin's face, noticing it had darkened, and secretly felt smug. But she continued to add fuel to the fire, saying, "I also heard that those two brats not only rode the bus themselves, but also paid for the Ding family's third son's fare. Tsk tsk, so generous to others..."

From the inner room, Wang Hehua's surprised voice came through, and Ding Yuxiang heard it clearly.

She turned over, pulled the blanket up, revealing a pair of bright eyes that gleamed in the darkness.

"It seems that Qianqian has really made the money..."

Her mind raced: Granny Li was stirring things up so diligently; she probably suffered a loss at the hands of that girl and wanted to use Old Madam Lin to get back at her. This was a classic case of using someone else to do one's dirty work.

"Let them fight, let them make a scene," she thought to herself. "The bigger the commotion, the better. Then I can stand in the middle, mediate, and plead for them, winning over both sides. If I can even get something else out of it..."

She felt an itch in her heart, like a cat's claws scratching, when she thought of the things Lin Qianqian was "covering up tightly" in her hands.