Lin Yu rushed out of the house, still shouting, "What are you all doing? Put down the sticks now! We are all family, why resort to weapons?"
Lin Qiang immediately found a way out, and he retreated to Lin Yu's side.
"We didn't intend to mess with your brother, it was your brother himself who said he wanted to chop me up!"
Lin Xia put down the spade and coldly looked towards Lin Yu, sarcastically pointing at her, "Lin Yu, why did you come out just now? Were you enjoying the show inside the house?"
Seeing Lin Xia speak with such a cold face, Lin Yu felt even more that she was not easy to provoke. She fiddled with her clothes and her response came quickly, "Lin Xia! What are you talking about? Lin Qiang was just impulsive, don't be like him! Ah! It's all my fault for speaking too quickly, it's still about last night's incident..."
Lin Xia pretended to suddenly realize, "Lin Yu, what exactly did you tell Lin Qiang? Wasn't last night's issue proven to be a misunderstanding in the end? If you guys keep going back and forth like this, why not take advantage of everyone being home for lunch right now, let's go outside the main gate and have a proper talk? Let's include your mom's issue with the grains, how about that?"
Lin Yu was so angry she gritted her teeth but forcefully held it in, now was not the time to discuss those issues. If Lin Xia started shouting and brought up the issue of her mom getting grains from her grandma's house, even if it ended up unresolved, it wouldn't end well.
"Yes! It was a misunderstanding!"
Lin Qiang looked at Lin Yu, "What? A misunderstanding?"
After all this fuss, it was a misunderstanding! Wasn't this just making a fool of him?
"I'll tell you later!" Lin Yu hastily signaled him with her eyes, a wise man does not eat the loss before his eyes; when dad comes back, there will be plenty of chances to deal with them.
"Lin Yu, since it's a misunderstanding, you need to explain it properly to your brother!" Lin Xia said understandingly.
"Aye!" Lin Yu, with an extremely ugly expression, dragged Lin Qiang back into the house.
Lin Qiu and Lin Dong stood on the side, admiringly looking at Lin Xia; their sister was really different now!
Especially seeing the sibling duo sulkily retreating back into the Eastern House, they felt extremely pleased.
Lin Xia didn't care what the siblings were plotting inside the house, she asked Lin Qiu, "Xiaoqiu, is lunch ready?"
With just those two hours for lunchtime, cycling there and back would take an hour, and she had been delayed a while, so she would have to leave immediately after eating.
She wanted to go early to see what Liu Lanying had to say!
With what just happened, Lin Xia was more eager for Lin Qiu to start working.
Lin Qiu grinned, "Sister! It's ready! Come in and eat!"
At that moment, the sound of a bicycle came from outside the gate.
It turned out their eldest brother Lin Chun had returned.
Lin Chun, seeing his siblings standing at the doorway, asked, "Why are all of you standing here? What happened?"
He had been uneasy all morning at work; with Xiaoqiu alone at home and Lin Qiang coming back and finding out about yesterday's incident, he feared she might get upset.
He had wanted to leave work early and rush home, but just as he feared something might happen, the director suddenly asked him to do some work right before leaving, delaying him past the end of his shift.
In the Western House, after listening to Lin Qiu and Lin Dong excitedly speak in subdued voices, taking turns mimicking others, he didn't laugh, but looked towards a smiling Lin Xia with a slightly stern gaze,
"Xiaoxia! Next time something like this happens, you guys shouldn't act impulsively. Wait for your big brother to come back and settle it! No matter what, we all live in the same family. If it really comes to blows, not only would you suffer, but dad would be angry when he comes back too! You are all grown up, how can you still get into fights? What would it look like? And how would you ever find a family to marry into?"
He felt that his younger sister's approach was still too extreme; Lin Qiang at most would just shout a bit, he doubted he would really dare to start a fight.
Dongzi said nothing, and these two girls, fighting with a boy, how could it not be an embarrassing matter? If that old woman spread this around, who would want to marry such a daughter-in-law?
Lin Qiu hadn't expected her big brother to say such a thing, just as she was about to speak, Lin Xia grabbed her by the clothes.
Under Lin Xia's meaningful gaze, Lin Qiu clamped his mouth shut.
Lin Dong frowned and pursed his lips, glanced at his sister and eldest brother, but said nothing.
Lin Xia crisply agreed, "Understood! Big brother! Let's eat quickly! Need to go to work after eating!"
She understood what her elder brother thought. Apart from considering Lin Aiguo's part, he was also worried about them being at a disadvantage, especially since Lin Qiang was quite sturdy.
But to deal with someone like Lin Qiang, you had to be tougher than him. Sometimes, reasoning was ineffective, and it was better to take direct action.
"Okay!" Lin Chun continued to dig into his bowl of rice, he sensed the uneasy atmosphere too, but he indeed considered everything for their sake.
His two sisters, how many more years could they stay in this house?
The road ahead was long, and they definitely needed a good reputation to find a good in-law's family! Having suffered since they were young, finding a good family was their only chance to have better days...
After finishing the noontime meal, Lin Xia and Lin Chun hurried off to work, pushing the cart.
As soon as they left their house, they noticed Aunt Jin standing at her door looking their way.
Lin Chun and Lin Xia warmly greeted her, "Aunt Jin!"
Aunt Jin smiled kindly, "Ah! Lin Chun! Lin Xia! Are you going to work?"
Lin Xia, pushing the cart, stopped near her. Lin Chun also stopped alongside.
"Yes!" Lin Xia smiled and asked, "Has Uncle Jin left yet?"
"He just left!" Aunt Jin glanced from the wooden frame toward Lin Xia's courtyard, then asked in a low voice, "I was just making dinner inside, and I heard you all arguing in the courtyard. What was it about?"
Lin Xia knew well that with the windows and doors open in the autumn, their half-day commotion in the courtyard was bound to be overheard.
Seizing the opportunity, she definitely wanted to spread the word a bit.
"Aunt Jin, seeing as we are neighbors, I can't hide it from you. Just yesterday, they went to the village to attend a wedding, and we, having cooked lunch at noon.
When she returned, she saw the oil bottle was less full and started scolding us for stealing the oil! Later, she remembered it was her own mistake!
Then today, Lin Qiang came back. As soon as I entered the courtyard from work, he wanted to hit me. My siblings Xiaoxia and Dongzi couldn't just let it happen, I was really furious by then, so we had a few words..."
Aunt Jin angrily slapped her thigh, "I thought so! How could there be talk of hitting! Lin Xia, you really need to toughen up in the future!"
Seeing she had achieved her aim, Lin Xia quickly replied, "Yes! I got it, Aunt Jin! I have to go to work now, we'll catch up when there's time!"
Aunt Jin, smiling, patted Lin Xia's arm, "Go on! Hurry!" Then she turned to Lin Chun, "And Lin Chun, think over that matter carefully!"
"Yes! I remember, Aunt Jin! I'm off too!" Lin Chun laughed, and soon mounted his bicycle and left.
Aunt Jin watched their figures disappear into the distance, sighed, then turned to enter her own house.
Upon reaching her workplace, Lin Xia got the news from Liu Lanying that the garment factory indeed had plans to hire but had only a few positions available, and many people were quietly making efforts.
Lin Xia understood right away that this was an indirect way of asking for a favor.
She was pleased, as that was an easy request to fulfill; the trouble would be if they didn't want anything!
She sweetly flattered Liu Lanying a few sentences, and specifically asked for her home address, casually mentioning that she might stop by her place after work.
Liu Lanying immediately understood the implication. She was quite amused as she went upstairs, thinking how crafty Xiaolin had become, wondering why she hadn't noticed it before.