GD (QT) Chapter 19

Seeing Sun Erniu’s spineless behavior, Lin Yu despised him from the bottom of his heart.

Only after the man had fled did Lin Pan release her grip on her sister’s hand. Lin Zhao led the little girl out into the yard.

“Father…” She had been full of anxiety just a moment ago, but now that she opened her mouth, she didn’t know what to say.

Lin Yu understood his eldest daughter’s internal struggle. He didn’t say much; he simply beckoned the little girl over.

The girl immediately let go of her mother’s hand and trotted over, slamming into her grandfather’s embrace like a little cannonball. “Grandpa!”

Lin Yu smiled and stroked her hair, asking simply, “Xiaohua, do you miss your daddy?”

The little girl bit her finger. “What’s a daddy?”

Lin Zhao’s brows knitted together. “You silly child, how can you not even remember your own father?”

Lin Yu pulled the child into his arms. “Why are you scolding the child? For a father to be honored, he must act like a father. If he doesn’t behave like one, it’s only natural the child doesn’t recognize him.”

“A child knows nothing; they remember whoever is good to them. It’s clear Sun Erniu never bothered with her in the past.”

Lin Zhao bit her lip. “If word of this gets out, people will say Xiaohua has no upbringing.”

“Will you be the one to spread the word, or will I?” Lin Yu countered.

Lin Zhao was speechless.

Lin Lai tossed her broom aside and walked over, grabbing her eldest sister. “Sister, don’t let a few sweet words coax you back. That Old Lady Sun is pure evil. Have you already forgotten the kind of life you and Xiaohua lived before coming back here?”

“I haven’t forgotten.” Lin Zhao squeezed her sister’s hand, but tears began to fall again. “But what choice do I have? Xiaohua’s surname is Sun, and he is her biological father. I can’t truly get a divorce.”

Lin Lai grew frantic. “Sister, why do you keep circling back to that? So what if her surname is Sun? Our family doesn’t mind—do you mind it yourself?”

“Of course not, but…” Lin Zhao shook her head repeatedly.

Lin Pan hugged her sister directly. “No ‘buts.’ Father doesn’t mind, we don’t mind, and you don’t mind. So what is there to ‘but’ about? Just stay here with Xiaohua and put your mind at ease.”

“But Erniu said he knows he was wrong, and Mother-in-law has bowed her head, promising never to bully me again,” Lin Zhao whispered.

Hearing the three sisters’ conversation, Lin Yu’s brow furrowed slightly.

He didn’t mind supporting his three daughters indefinitely, but it was clear that Lin Zhao couldn’t continue like this. After a moment of thought, he called all three daughters to stand before him.

“A-Zhao, A-Pan, A-Lai—all of you, come here.”

Lin Yu set the little girl down. “Ah Zhao, if you want to go back, I won’t stop you.”

Hearing this, Lin Zhao was actually startled, stammering and unable to find words.

“Father, Eldest Sister hasn’t even fully recovered her health yet, how can she go back?” Lin Pan said hurriedly.

Lin Yu glanced at her and said coolly, “If your eldest sister cannot stand on her own two feet, it makes no difference whether she goes back sooner or later.”

“Since the result is the same either way, she might as well go back early and give me some peace and quiet.”

These words terrified Lin Zhao. Her eyes reddened instantly. “Father, do you not want to look after me anymore?”

Seeing her cry, Lin Pan and Lin Lai rushed to comfort her, but when they looked up, they saw their father’s expression was indifferent. There was no pity on Lin Yu’s face; instead, he watched her with a cold, detached gaze.

Lin Zhao instinctively stopped her tears, suddenly unable to cry further.

Only then did Lin Yu continue: “You are my daughter, so naturally I want to look after you. But the prerequisite is that you can stand on your own. If your heart is set on serving the Sun family, expecting me, your old father, to support a whole family of bloodsuckers, then that is absolutely out of the question.”

Lin Zhao explained in a rush, “Father, I don’t! How could I ever ask you to support that whole family?”

“That’s right, Father. Sister definitely didn’t mean that,” Lin Pan chimed in.

Lin Yu said calmly, “If you go back with him today, the Sun family will use both the carrot and the stick to control you and the child. They will use you to demand money, grain, and favors from the Lin family.”

“If I help, your life in the Sun family might be slightly better. If I don’t, they will bully you even more—either forcing you to come here and cry to me, or banking on the fact that I’ll step in out of pity for you.”

Lin Zhao shook her head. “No… Erniu isn’t that kind of person.”

“Sun Erniu might not be, but the Sun family certainly is.”

Lin Yu looked at his daughter and asked, “Do you think Sun Erniu alone can stand against the rest of his family?”

“Or do you think the two of you combined hold more weight in Sun Erniu’s heart than his own parents and brothers?”

Lin Zhao opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She knew deep down that they didn’t hold that much weight; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so mistreated before.

The good days of late had made her forget the pain of the Sun household. Now, her father had reached out and ripped the wound open, exposing the festering rot beneath. When she and her daughter were suffering, Sun Erniu not only failed to help but blamed her for not knowing how to please his mother.

Lin Yu sighed. “It seems you know the truth yourself.”

“Father…” Lin Zhao cried out piteously, yet she didn’t know what outcome she wanted.

Lin Yu, contrary to his usual self, looked at her with a chilling gaze. “A-Zhao, I can help you once or twice, but I won’t help you every single time. And I certainly won’t help the Suns. So, think carefully.”

“Will you stay in the Lin family and live a good life, or go back to the Sun family to suffer—and take this little girl with you to be a beast of burden for them?”

Lin Zhao shivered at his cold demeanor. She pulled her daughter into her arms and suddenly wailed, “But what can I do? Xiaohua is my own flesh and blood. If I divorce, the Suns won’t let me take her, and I can’t bear to leave her!”

“Even if Father finds a way for me to take her, she’ll be a child without a father. People will point fingers at her for the rest of her life. If I remarry in the future, could I even find someone better?”

“Father, please don’t force me.”

Lin Pan and Lin Lai had never seen their father look so cold, and they were momentarily frightened. Seeing their sister weeping like a broken person, Lin Pan pleaded, “Father, can’t we just let Sister and Xiaohua live at home?”

Lin Yu suddenly let out a small laugh. “Ah-Zhao, don’t just look at the downsides. Look at the benefits.”

“Benefits?” Lin Zhao was stunned.

Lin Yu said, “Sun Erniu is a coward. He listens to whoever acts the toughest. If you can be tough, he will naturally listen to you.”

“When that time comes, if you tell him to go east, he won’t dare go west. He’ll be just as obedient as he was when Old Lady Sun ordered him around.”

Lin Zhao hadn’t expected to hear this. She froze.

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t you realized? The Sun family can’t afford to marry him to another wife. Now that the Lin family has risen, they are dying to latch on and suck our blood—there’s no way they’ll let you go.”

“Since they don’t want a divorce, they have to lower themselves to coax you back. If you don’t put on airs now, when will you?”

“If I were you, I would not only demand the Suns kowtow and admit their wrongs, but I would also make Sun Erniu move in as a matrilocal son-in-law. You would be the master of the house, and he would have to listen to you in everything, both inside and out.”

“From now on, in your marriage, you must be the one who has the final say. He only gets a meal if he listens to you.”

Such shocking words left all three daughters stunned.

Lin Zhao gasped, “This… Erniu would never agree.”

Lin Yu smiled. “What’s the rush? If he doesn’t agree today, you don’t go back today. Let’s see who can outlast whom.”

“Erniu is very filial; he won’t defy his parents,” Lin Zhao said hesitantly.

Lin Yu sneered. “Then why don’t we put it to the test?”

“How?” Lin Zhao asked instinctively.

Lin Yu explained, “The Sun family definitely won’t agree to my three conditions right away. They’ll likely send Sun Erniu to find you in secret and beg you to come home.”

“When that happens, you only need to tell him one thing: your father is rich now, he looks down on his useless son-in-law, and he is forcing you to get a divorce.”

“Father…” Lin Zhao grew nervous.

Lin Yu narrowed his eyes. “At that point, you ask him: does he want to divorce you, or does he want to move in as a son-in-law?”

“He won’t agree,” Lin Zhao muttered.

“Just try it,” Lin Yu said simply.

Having finished his piece, he ignored his eldest daughter’s hesitation and went back to his work. If Lin Zhao truly couldn’t be talked into sense, Lin Yu had no intention of managing her life forever. If a person won’t save themselves, they deserve their suffering.

Lin Zhao didn’t know his full plan, but she could feel the coldness in his words. With her heart full of conflict, she couldn’t eat or sleep for several days.

In private, she pulled her daughter aside and asked, “Xiaohua, do you miss Daddy? Do you want to go back to the Sun house?”

The little girl was clearer-headed than her mother. She shook her head immediately. “Not going back. Stay with Grandpa. I like Grandpa.”

Lin Zhao’s brow furrowed, her internal dilemma deepening. She knew life at the Lin house was better—she was warm, fed, didn’t have to do heavy labor, and ate meat regularly. It was like the life of an immortal. But the values she had been raised with since childhood made her feel uneasy. She felt torn in two: one half wanting the good life, the other half saying this was wrong for a “virtuous woman.”

Finally, one day while Lin Zhao was working in the backyard, she heard a familiar voice.

Sun Erniu was hiding behind the yard wall, terrified of attracting his father-in-law. He was hunched over like a thief.

“Zhaodi, I know I was wrong. Please come home with me. From now on, the whole family will treat you well. I’ll never let you be wronged again.”

In the past, if Sun Erniu had said even a few kind words, Lin Zhao would have been moved to tears of gratitude. But things were different now. She stood her ground, feeling that his words were hollow—they weren’t even as substantial as a bowl of rice.

Seeing her unmoved, Sun Erniu lowered his voice further. “Where’s Xiaohua? How has she been? I truly miss you and the child. I was just afraid of making your father angry, so I didn’t dare come to the door.”

“Let me see the child, Zhaodi. Are you listening to me?”

Lin Zhao looked over and could only see the top of Sun Erniu’s head. Judging by his face, he hadn’t been doing well; he looked thinner, and his clothes were filthy.

Coward.

That word surfaced in her mind and wouldn’t go away.

Lin Zhao’s face cooled. “What are you doing here?”

Sun Erniu had never seen her give him such a cold look. He froze for a moment.

Eventually, he spoke sheepishly, “Are you still angry? I’ll apologize on my mother’s behalf. She was a bit much, but she’s old, and she’s worked hard for the Sun family all these years. You’re the daughter-in-law—you should show her some understanding.”

There it was again. Those same words.

Lin Zhao had felt a tiny spark of soft-heartedness, thinking of their years as a couple. but hearing this, her heart turned completely cold.

Her father was right. If she followed Sun Erniu back, the Sun family would never treat her well. They would likely only torment her even more.