Amid the crowd.
Lin Chen's gaze was sharp. Taking a step forward, he frightened the aunt into retreating several steps.
"Lin Chen, you… what are you trying to do?"
"What is Aunt afraid of? You are an elder—how could this nephew fail to understand respect for seniority?"
Lin Chen's words made the aunt let out a breath of relief. "Since you know that, then—"
"Since Aunt has already said this much, then this nephew also has some words I can no longer hold back." Lin Chen's gaze swept over his grandfather Lin Chaoyang without the slightest pause. To him now, this old man was nothing more than a stranger.
The desolation on the old man's face only made Lin Chen feel satisfied.
"When Lin Ming entered the martial hall back then, the family paid two strings of coins every month. Every ten days or half a month, Aunt, you would take eggs and yellow eels caught at home to the martial hall to nourish Lin Ming. During the half year I entered the martial hall, the family never once asked about me. We are both grandsons—why such different treatment?"
The aunt's lips twitched as she wanted to argue, yet had no way to, because what Lin Chen said was the truth.
"I know that supporting Lin Ming's martial training was already difficult for the family, so I made an agreement with Grandfather: if I could pass the academy's half-year assessment, the family would then provide money to support my martial training."
"Because there was no money, I couldn't afford meat at the martial hall and was mocked by other students. Gu Fei and two others from the village can all testify to this."
"I finally passed the martial hall's assessment—then what did Grandfather do?"
A mocking smile appeared on Lin Chen's face. "One sentence—'no money'—and that was the end of it. My mother suggested borrowing money, but he wouldn't agree. I really thought it was because he feared the family couldn't repay the debt. Turns out the valuable land deed was being saved to borrow money for Lin Ming."
"The grievances suffered in front of outsiders—I could endure those. But a knife in the back from one's own family—I simply cannot accept."
"With such a grandfather, how could I acknowledge him? From the night we divided the family, our household and yours have already become two separate families."
Every word pierced the heart, every sentence pressed relentlessly.
The aunt's face was pale, and she dared not meet Lin Chen's eyes.
The villagers present looked at Lin Chen with sympathy. They knew Lin Chaoyang was biased, but they hadn't expected it to be to this extent.
Aren't they all grandsons?
If the younger grandson has talent, shouldn't he be allowed to learn martial arts?
Seeing the villagers' sympathetic gazes, Lin Chen wasn't surprised. Half the reason for this speech was because he had held these words in for a long time and needed to let them out.
The other half was deliberately for the villagers to hear: his family and his grandfather had nothing to do with each other anymore—he, Lin Chen, would not acknowledge this grandfather.
He had trained jingqi. If he didn't make things clear, who knew whether his grandfather and aunt would again use his name to scheme behind his back?
"If you don't want the ancestral land to flow out, then take out the land deed. Our family and Second Uncle's family can scrape together this money. Or does Grandfather think that land only counts as not flowing out if it stays with Aunt's family, but counts as flowing out if it goes to Second Uncle's family or ours?"
After speaking, Lin Chen looked straight at his grandfather Lin Chaoyang. He wanted to see what decision this biased grandfather would make at this point.
Lin Chaoyang's lips moved several times, but no sound came out. The village chief beside him couldn't help but say, "Chaoyang, Lin He and Lin Jiang are also your sons. If the land is divided between them, the ancestral fields haven't flowed out. If the land is lost, how will you face the Lin family ancestors in the future?"
By the end, the village chief's voice had grown heavy.
Previously, Lin Chaoyang's favoritism as a grandfather was a family matter. Even as village chief, he couldn't easily interfere. But now it was different—Lin Chen had trained jingqi, which was a good thing for the entire Linhu Village.
Lin Chen would go to the city to learn martial arts. Those remaining in the village would be Lin Jiang and his wife. The few mu of barren land Lin Jiang had been allotted weren't much of an inheritance at all. In a few years, once Lin Chen achieved something in martial arts, the entire family would likely move away.
If those few mu of ancestral land were given to Lin Jiang, at least there would be something to stay connected to.
"Divide it. As long as the debt is repaid, the few mu of land from the eldest branch will be divided between you two brothers."
Lin Chaoyang finally agreed. After saying this, his already hunched back seemed to collapse entirely, all vitality drained away.
"Second Uncle, Second Aunt—your family takes four mu, our family takes one mu. Is this distribution acceptable?"
Lin Chen looked at Second Uncle. Second Uncle nodded. Second Aunt, her emotions now calmer, said while sniffling, "Chen'er, you can decide."
"Father, Mother—"
"No need to ask. Mother agrees. We'll do as Chen'er says," Lin Chen's mother answered directly.
Lin Chen looked at the burly man. "Fifteen taels. Come back tomorrow to collect it."
The lead burly man replied in a muffled voice, "Alright, we'll come back tomorrow."
Like hell!
Tomorrow, even if beaten to death, he wouldn't come. If anyone came, it would be someone else.
The burly man left with his people. The village chief then looked at Lin Chen and said, "Little Chen, let's go welcome the people from the martial hall."
"Alright." Lin Chen nodded, then looked at Second Uncle. "Second Uncle, go to the town and invite a physician. Tell the physician about Brother Hui's condition first and have him bring enough medicine—don't skimp on this money."
Normally, when villagers invited a physician from town, the physician would prescribe medicine and the villagers would then go to a pharmacy to fetch it. Of course, the physician could also bring the medicine along, but it would be more expensive.
Second Uncle hurried off. Second Aunt and Lin Chen's mother supported Lin Hui as they went home, sighing as they walked. "You really do need to learn martial arts. Look how impressive Chen'er is. Sister-in-law… you'll be enjoying blessings from now on."
"How could I enjoy blessings? Chen'er's martial training will probably cost even more money in the future. Besides, as his mother, I still need to save money for Liang'er to marry a wife. I won't be like someone else—playing favorites."
"With Chen'er as a younger brother, would Liang'er ever worry about finding a wife? Plenty of girls would probably marry in without even asking for a bride price."
Second Aunt spoke flatteringly. Lin Chen's mother smiled so widely that the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes stretched long. Several village women walked alongside them, all saying pleasing things.
Lin Chen and his father followed the village chief to welcome the announcement team not far away.
In front of the ancestral residence, only the grandfather, the eldest uncle, and the aunt remained.
"Father." The aunt looked at the grandfather with a pitiful expression.
The grandfather shook his head, looking desolate. "Everything is the result of my own doing. I'm old now. From now on, I won't meddle in affairs anymore."
Seeing the grandfather turn and hobble back into the house, the aunt felt unwilling and turned to the eldest uncle beside her. "This land—"
"That's enough." The eldest uncle suddenly glared at the aunt. "There's something Chen'er didn't say wrong. In order to support Lin Ming's martial training, we really did wrong by Second Brother and Fourth Brother. Since Ming'er has trained jingqi, let him walk his own path from now on. I, as his father, no longer have the ability to help him."
"Lin Hai, what do you mean? Now you start talking about brotherly feelings? Is it because you think your nephew is about to rise, and you, as the eldest uncle, want to play the good guy? When Father didn't give Lin Chen money back then, I didn't see you object."
"What does a woman like you understand!"
"I don't understand? If it weren't for me speaking well of you in front of Father every day, serving your father even more attentively than my own, would Father have given Ming'er so much money?"
...
...
Lin Chen didn't know about the quarrel between the eldest uncle and aunt. Even if he did, he wouldn't have cared.
At this moment, he was busy hosting the announcement team from the martial hall.
What Lin Chen didn't expect was that the one leading the team was Manager Zhang. From the private words Manager Zhang said to him, Lin Chen learned that this had been arranged by Instructor Yu.
This kind of announcement ceremony didn't exist in the past.
Unless one entered the martial academy and achieved a ranking in the academy's grand competition—only then would the academy arrange people to announce the good news, with the martial hall also sending people along.
With just a moment's thought, Lin Chen understood why Instructor Yu had done this.
He had told Instructor Yu about his family situation, so Instructor Yu was deliberately creating an opportunity for him to slap faces.
Manager Zhang and his people sat for a while at Lin Chen's home. The inner rooms of Lin Chen's house were small, so some villagers brought tables and stools from their own homes and set them up in the Lin family courtyard.
Seeing this, other villagers immediately caught on and brought over whatever fruits and pastries they had at home.
This was a perfect chance to curry favor with the Lin family.
Everyone knew that from today onward, the Lin family was about to take off.
Manager Zhang sat in the courtyard for about half an hour, praising Lin Chen's performance at the martial hall to the skies. The villagers listening inside the courtyard and outside it let out wave after wave of astonished exclamations.
Lin Chen listened and laughed inwardly. Manager Zhang really had a talent for storytelling. His rather uneventful time at the martial hall turned into a dramatic saga in Manager Zhang's telling—how dramatic exactly… anyway, it was a thorough round of bragging on his behalf.
After finishing his praise-filled task, Manager Zhang took his leave. The villagers still felt unsatisfied.
"Little Chen winning first place at the martial hall is a huge joyous event for our village. In my view, tomorrow our village should set up a banquet…" the village chief said with a smile.
"Village Chief, wouldn't that be a bit too ostentatious? I haven't even entered the martial academy yet."
Lin Chen frowned. He hadn't planned on holding a banquet—this sort of thing cost money.
Lin Chen's father and mother, however, both lit up. For parents, nothing brought more honor than seeing their child succeed.
A banquet meant the entire village—even neighboring villages—would know that their son had trained jingqi and taken first place at the martial hall.
"Little Chen, don't worry about this. It's our village's custom. I'll personally take care of it for you."
Hearing the village chief say this, Lin Chen understood that the village would be footing the bill. Seeing his parents' eager expressions, he nodded in agreement.
"Alright, those who want to watch the excitement can come tomorrow for the banquet. For now, everyone go back."
The village chief dispersed the villagers, then spoke quietly with Lin Chen for a few more words before leaving. Lin Chen watched the village chief go, falling into deep thought.
"Chen'er, did the village chief mention something to you? If it's difficult, we can cancel the banquet. I'll go talk to the village chief," Lin Chen's father said worriedly when he saw his son standing there without moving.
"Father, the village chief told me good news—related to Jiang Juren."