Xie Yan, however, was not as sober as his father. Although he knew that Lin Qingyu was being polite and distant to the Xie family, he still pointed to Xie Xu, who was standing beside Mrs. Xie, and said: "This is your second nephew, Xu'er, come and pay respects to your aunt."

  Xie Xuan slowly walked forward, dazed and confused, looked up at Lin Qingyuan, then prepared to kneel down and kowtow, Li's hands clenched tightly in anxiety.

  Lin Qingwan however, quickly supported him and pulled him to her side, saying: "Didn't you just exchange greetings with my brother? There's no need for more courtesy."

  Lin Qingyan thought for a moment and took a small pouch from Bai Mei's hand, handing it to him with a smile: "There are some little trinkets inside, you can take them to play."

  Xie Xuan turned his head and took a glance at Mrs. Xie, who then smiled and said: "Since it was your second aunt who gave it to you, you might as well continue."

  Xie Xuan happily took it and ran back to Mrs. Xie's side with a thud, handing over the purse in a flattering manner.

  Mrs. Xie didn't take it and smiled: "You play with it yourself."

  Xie Yan glanced at her and said to Lin Qingwan: "Your mother likes this child very much, has been raising him by her side for half a year. My intention is that you and the second son have no children, if you are willing, why not adopt this child, also let your mother have a child to accompany her."

  Mrs. Xie's mouth curled up with a cold smile as she raised her head and looked at Lin Qingyuan.

  Lin Qingwan's smile on her face didn't change, still with that calm demeanor, accompanied by a faint smile: "I'm afraid it's not enough to just provide food and drink for the child, but also to teach him how to be a person and do things. Otherwise, raising without teaching is no different from raising beasts."

  Xie Yan's face changed color, and Xie Yiyang's cheek twitched as he swallowed his words.

  Lin Qingwan continued to smile faintly: "Second Brother is not here, I am limited in ability and young in years, how can I raise a child well? So I didn't think of adopting an heir, especially such a young one."

  Xie Yan's face sank as he said, "You can hand her over to your mother to bring up. She has no children of her own, and having a child by her side will be better for her."

  Lin Qingwan couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Grandfather, Eldest Uncle is still here, how can Mother's knees be empty?"

  She looked at him with a faint smile and said: "Isn't Big Brother the son of Mother? Aren't Xie Sheng and Xie Xu not the grandsons of Mother?"

  Xie Yanqing's face turned red as she said: "Of course Dage is your mother's child, it's just that..."

  What's going on?

  Is he just a stepson and wouldn't be so sincere to Mrs Xie?

  This means exposing it, how outsiders look at his son and how they look at the Xie family?

  His face fell and he finally said, "Since you don't want to, forget it."

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said: "Grandfather is joking, I am still very willing, it's just that my ability is limited. Moreover,"

  She looked up at Xie Yiyang across from her, her eyes fixed intently on him as she said, "I think that even if I didn't inherit the title, Eldest Uncle would still be filial to Mother. After all, his children should still show filial piety under their mother's care, shouldn't they?"

  Xie Yiyang's face twitched and he gritted his teeth: "Yes!"

  Lin Qingwan nodded in satisfaction, glanced at Xie Sheng and Xie Xu, and sincerely suggested to Xie Yiyang: "Big brother, although I'm not good at raising children, I also know some principles. This bowl of water must be held level, otherwise the brothers will not get along harmoniously. If you only favor one of them, even if they were originally harmonious, they may become estranged."

  Xie Yiyang thought Lin Qingwan was hiding a sinister intention in her heart, but this was actually a satire of him.

  Xie Yimeng is dead. Everyone thought Xie Yan was biased towards him, but they didn't know that for over a decade before, the object of Xie Yan's bias was actually Xie Yimeng, not him!

  So he snorted inwardly and didn't think much of it.

  Mrs. Xie's smile deepened as she looked at her face, and when she pulled Lin Qingwen back to her courtyard, she burst out laughing, "You actually taught him, not knowing that someone is foolish to the point of being unaware of your feelings,"

  Lin Qingwan sighed, "Mother, what feelings do I have for him? It's just that..."

  But what is it?

  Lin Qingwan glanced at Xie Xu who was following Mrs. Xie, took a deep breath and swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue, saying: "Mother, let the child go play, we'll talk."

  Mrs. Xie spoke without avoiding Xiao Xuan, saying: "He now looks quite clever, not at all like his parents. Do you know how he was sent to me?"

  Mrs. Xie smiled and said, "His mother was afraid that I would bully her, didn't want to serve me by my side, so she sent her son to me to raise him, just like a kitten or puppy... recently..."

  "Mother," Lin Qingyan raised her voice to interrupt her, looking at Xie Xuan.

  Xie Xuan was obediently leaning against Mrs. Xie's side, looking at her with a bewildered and timid expression.

  She took a deep breath, suppressing the tears in her eyes, and waved her hand for Yang to take the child away.

  Yang hurriedly carried Xie Xuan down and handed him over to the maid at the door, saying in a low voice: "Take Second Young Master down to play, Zan and Jin, you two personally guard the yard, no one is allowed to come in."

  Bai Mei and Bai Feng exchanged a glance, tacitly going to guard both windows.

  She waited until they were gone before hurrying in, afraid that Lin Qingyan and Mrs. Xie would get into a conflict.

  The lady has been in good spirits for these two days. She hasn't slept well for a long time before that, and her temper has become more and more strange.

  She had just turned around the screen when she saw Lin Qingyan kneeling in front of her, hugging her knees and burying her head in her hands.

  Mrs. Xie was stunned, she felt the tears of Wan Jie falling on her palm, wasn't it a joyful thing to torment her enemy like this? Why did she have to be so heartbroken?

  "Mother," Lin Qingyan raised her head, tears streaming down her face as she said, "Please come back to Jiangnan with me, let's go back to Jiangnan together to accompany Er Lang."

  "Are you feeling sorry for him? Don't forget, he's the child of your husband's murderer."

  Lin Qingwan nodded and said: "I pity that child, but I pity you even more, Mother. Erlang would not want to see you become like this."

  Mrs. Xie's face tightened and she pursed her lips, saying nothing.

  "Mother?" Lin Qingyuan grasped her hand and asked, "In the capital city, were you happy? Was your heart ever at ease?"

  "I can't just think of myself," Mrs. Xie lowered her head and looked up at her gaze, saying lightly: "Some people did wrong and have to pay the price, let alone, I hid in Jiangnan, didn't I also fail to escape their calculations?"

  What about last year's poisoning incident?

  Lin Qingyan's voice was choked with sobs as she said after a while: "You and Xie Yanhe are divorced."

  Mrs. Xie was startled, and Yang's nanny almost fell to the ground, stretching out her hand to prop up the nearby multi-treasured shelf to steady herself, and the two people in the house stared at Lin Qingwan in shock.

  Harmony and separation?

  Mrs. Xie was stunned for a while before murmuring: "It's not that easy..."

  "What do you think?" Lin Qingwen interrupted her, her eyes fixed intently on her, waiting for her response.