"If you weren't mother and daughter, would you be helping her like this?" Lin Qingyan asked, glancing at Aunt Liu.

Seeing the situation, Lin Sisi quickly said to Aunt Liu, "I'm sorry, Aunt Liu, we've dragged you into this."

Another bystander, Aunt Zhang, nudged Lin Qingyan's arm: "Little educated youth, I think you've been wronged. Tell me what really happened."

In fact, Lin Qingyan really didn't want to talk about her family's unpleasant affairs in front of these outsiders.

But who told Lin Sisi to keep causing trouble and trying to ruin her reputation?

She said to the old woman, "Auntie, I don't really want to talk about my family's dirty laundry, but someone is deliberately trying to ruin my reputation, so I have to clarify things for myself. I'm here as an educated youth now, and I'll be living here from now on. I will never allow anyone to maliciously slander me or damage my reputation."

Actually, I did live in the same house as Lin Sisi, the educated youth next to her, and the other woman. However, my mother died young, and not long after, my father remarried. They were all brought to our house by their mothers.

In other words, both Lin Sisi and Lin Guanghui were children brought in by their stepmother.

Lin Sisi and Lin Guanghui were immediately embarrassed when Lin Qingyan publicly called them a burden.

"What did you say! You're not allowed to insult my mother!" Lin Guanghui's eyes reddened as he yelled at Lin Qingyan.

Fearing that he might hit Lin Qingyan, Yi Zhiheng immediately leaned forward and stood in front of Lin Qingyan.

Lin Guanghui glared at Yi Zhiheng: "Little beggar, you want a beating? Get out of my way."

Yi Zhiheng didn't give an inch, staring intently at Lin Guanghui.

At this moment, those beautiful peach blossom eyes flashed with a sharp, cold light.

He wasn't afraid of others knowing he had been a beggar; he only wanted to protect his sister.

Lin Qingyan tugged at him, "Xiao Heng, it's alright, he wouldn't dare do anything to me. Otherwise, I would risk my life to get revenge on him."

Meanwhile, the middle-aged women nearby seemed to have stumbled upon some earth-shattering gossip.

Not long after his biological mother died, his biological father was eager to marry his stepmother, who brought along two large children.

Even in their village, this kind of thing is quite rare, and it would definitely become a topic of conversation among them.

Even Aunt Liu couldn't bother stirring up trouble between Lin Qingyan and Lin Sisi at this moment; she was now more curious about the gossip that Lin Qingyan had revealed.

She urged Lin Qingyan, "Little educated youth, tell us quickly, what other messy things are going on in your family? Tell us everything."

“Alright, since you want to hear it, Auntie, I’ll continue.” Lin Qingyan continued, “When my stepmother brought them into our house, I was only three years old. From the moment they came to our house, my stepmother always made me do chores. All the housework, big and small, fell on my shoulders.

My stepmother tells others how good she is to me, but when we get home, she treats me like a servant. She even forces me to move out of my room and give it to her biological daughter, while I have to sleep in the storage room. Oh, the storage room is full of all sorts of random things, just like the woodshed here.

My father knew about these things, but he didn't care because he and my stepmother were in cahoots. I was so young, and to survive in this family, I had to endure it. Cough cough, every time I got sick, they wouldn't take me to the doctor. Even though they had my mother's pension, they wouldn't spend a single penny on me. I'm only alive now because I'm incredibly lucky.

"Ah! I can't believe such a thing happened."

The women were utterly shocked when they heard this.

Good heavens, the viciousness of this stepmother has completely shattered their understanding of what a stepmother can be.

At the same time, they all showed expressions of fear and anger, thinking how awful their father and stepmother were.

“Little educated youth, you’re so pitiful. People here say that if you have a stepmother, you’ll have a stepfather. You have a stepmother and a stepfather. They’re so cruel to you.”

To protect Fang Huilan's reputation, which was also to protect her own, Lin Sisi vehemently denied it, saying, "No, no, don't listen to my sister's nonsense. My mother treats her very well, but she just doesn't like my mother. Sigh, what can you do when my mother is an empress?"

"Your mother is good?!" Lin Qingyan retorted, "It was your mother who secretly signed me up to go to the countryside so that your younger brother could take over the job the factory had left for me. Is she good? Has she ever taken me to see a doctor? Has she ever actually bought me a new piece of clothing? Every time, I have to wear your hand-me-downs. Have you ever let me eat the good things you bought for me? Every day, I only drink thin porridge and eat cornbread, but all those good things were bought with my mother's pension, and you enjoyed them without a care in the world."

Sighs echoed from the sidelines once more.

Lin Sisi wanted to argue: "No, what you said is all false. You deliberately made up rumors to slander my mother. Aunts, my sister is just talking nonsense. My mother is not that kind of person. My sister is frail, and we all give in to her. My mother loves her like her own daughter, sometimes even better than she loves me. My mother never lets her do any work. All the chores around the house are done by my mother, my brother, and me."

Aunt Liu was dismissive of Lin Sisi's explanation.

"Alright, stop denying it. We're not stupid or blind. Look at what you're wearing, and look at what she's wearing. Your clothes are quite nice and new, while hers are so old and patched up. And your brother's clothes are pretty good too."

"Look at you both, you're not exactly thin, and you both look healthy, but she's as thin as a stick. She must not be eating well, and her face is unnaturally pale; she looks like she's had a serious illness. What she said is true; what you said is false."

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