Chapter 7: A Good Person

"Brotherhood?" Ah Lin's eyes narrowed even further. What kind of bullshit brotherhood! "He wasn't born from your father, nor was he born from your mother. What relationship do you two even have?" This thickheaded man had no idea he was being played! "I'm asking you, what does he want money for?" As Ah Lin grew anxious, her arrogant attitude unconsciously surfaced, and she didn't even realize she needed to reflect on it.

As for Jiu Jin—

He was long accustomed to Ah Lin's attitude and had grown used to it. He hurriedly answered Ah Lin, "Tian Cheng wants to go to the capital to take the imperial examinations for the title of Zhuangyuan." Therefore, he wasn't just taking money to give to someone else for no reason.

"Zhuangyuan?!" Bah! She wouldn't believe it even if she were beaten to death; what kind of great scholarship could someone who only knows how to take advantage of others possibly achieve! Besides, that guy named Tian Cheng was also very strange! "You aren't even that close to him—"

"Who says? I am very close to Tian Cheng." Jiu Jin anxiously tried to bridge the gap between himself and Tian Cheng, hoping Ah Lin would have a better impression of him.

"Is that so! Fine, then let me ask you: since you two brothers are so close, why haven't I seen him come to visit you once in the two years I've been here?"

"Tian Cheng—Tian Cheng, he's very busy."

"Busy with what?"

"He's busy studying to be a Zhuangyuan, busy bringing glory to our Qi family name." Saying it this way should be correct, right? This reason should be quite honorable, so Ah Lin shouldn't be angry anymore.

"Is that what he told you?"

"No." Jiu Jin shook his head.

"Did you come up with it yourself?"

"Mhm!" Jiu Jin nodded.

Ah Lin clicked her tongue. She knew even without thinking that all of this was just his own speculation; it was rare in this world to find someone as simple as him, who viewed everyone as a good person. "If you ask me! That 'brother' of yours, Tian Cheng, has ill intentions. He! He is intentionally trying to extort money from you."

She knew those kinds of people best—they had slick, glib mouths, no actual talent, and only knew how to scam food and drink. Back when she was at the Lin family, she had seen plenty of such scum.

"You're talking nonsense, Tian Cheng wouldn't!" Jiu Jin did not believe his brother would be the kind of bad person Ah Lin described.

"If he wouldn't, how did he scam twenty taels of silver from you? If he could, he'd have scammed your entire estate by now!" Ah Lin bluntly dissected the situation for him.

Jiu Jin's face darkened as he listened. He disliked Ah Lin speaking of his brother that way, and he was truly unhappy; seeing Jiu Jin's face darken, Ah Lin also knew she had gone a bit too far with her words.

Forget it, whether his family prospered or went bankrupt had nothing to do with her. "Give your silver to whoever you want in the future!" She would never meddle in his business again, lest she try to do him good only to be resented by him.

She! She should just mind her own business and be a servant! Furthermore, it would be best if her foolish master squandered the family fortune quickly, so she could escape this sea of misery and leave this house sooner.

I am a magnificent divider line--

Being a good servant meant managing the household chores when the Master went out, and then cooking a sumptuous meal at home to wait for the Master's return for dinner.

Hmm—sometimes Ah Lin felt that being a good servant and being a good wife were practically no different. Look! The things they did were actually quite similar.

Like now, wasn't she just like the women of ordinary households, having to go to the market to buy groceries? As Ah Lin walked and thought, suddenly—

"Ah Lin, wait, wait a moment—"

Just as Ah Lin was about to step away, she was called out to, and this was already the fifth time someone had called her today. Ah Lin helplessly stopped her pace and turned around to see who had called her.

It turned out to be a vendor selling bean curd nearby. Everyone called the auntie Douhua Sao (Sister Bean Curd)... and Douhua Sao was the mother of that drowning boy whom her Master had jumped into the river to save despite being unskilled in swimming not long ago. Ah Lin had bumped into her several times in this market, and she felt that Douhua Sao was a kind-hearted, straightforward person.