When the female supporting role has a beauty system

Chapter 1458 Jin Yue 59
In Li's opinion, the reason the Lin family had fallen into this predicament was because Madam Qi, the matriarch, was unkind. If she had treated everyone equally, would the conflict between the Lin family and the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion have escalated to this point?
Cheng Sui is the sole heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Even a tiny bit of his wealth would be enough for the Lin family to live comfortably. But Qi Shi's past mistreatment of her illegitimate daughter has narrowed her own path.

Li calmly took a sip of tea. Past grievances were past, and she couldn't let them affect the younger generation. She would still need to maintain contact with Lin Miao when he went to the capital for the imperial examinations.

Li thought to herself with delight.

At the same time, the Pei family.

Pei Yuan also heard about Liu Yuan's news at home, and he smiled very happily, looking proud of his cousin. Six years after Lin Jinzhu's death, Pei Yuan had long since put on a mask for himself.

He and Cheng Sui hadn't met often over the years, but the atmosphere was always relatively harmonious. Lin Jinzhu and Lin Jinyue, frankly speaking, only had minor squabbles; they were far from being mortal enemies.

After Lin Jinzhu's death, the Lin family moved back to their ancestral home, leaving Pei Yuan isolated and helpless in the capital. Cheng Sui didn't deliberately support Pei Yuan, but he never treated him coldly either, so Pei Yuan's life in the capital wasn't particularly difficult.

In particular, his father, Pei Yun, has cultivated a persona of loving his wife dearly over the years. Even though Pei Yun hates Lin Jinzhu to the core, he is still exceptionally devoted to Pei Yuan.

He sent Pei Yuan to the most famous academy in the capital and personally taught Pei Yuan to study. He now pinned all his hopes for a turnaround on Pei Yuan.

Pei Yun glanced at him: "You're happy for him, but he might not even remember you as his cousin."

Pei Yuan wasn't bothered by such a remark. He smiled and said, "It's alright. I'll bring An'er to pay a visit tomorrow. Unlike Father, who can't even get into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion."

Enraged, Pei Yun smashed an inkstone at him.

Over the years, he's gradually come to realize that Pei Yuan might not have been completely unaware of Lin Jinzhu's actions against him back then. But even if Pei Yuan had tacitly approved or even acted on it, what could he do?
He's already like this.

Ultimately, he placed too much bet on Pei Yuan; in other words, the sunk cost was too high.

Pei Yuan nimbly dodged the question: "Father, you must take it easy. I am only a Xiucai now. Even if I want to take the imperial examination in the fall, that will be three years from now. Father, you must make sure you hold onto your position."

"Your son is counting on you to take good care of him in the future."

Pei Yun laughed angrily: "You're counting on my help, and you still talk to me like this?"

Pei Yuan replied with an air of self-righteousness, "What else? You're my father, and a father has to be a beast of burden for his children, right?"

Pei Yun waved his hand, unwilling to talk to this troublesome brat Pei Yuan: "Get lost, I get annoyed just looking at you."

Pei Yuan left the study with a grin, but the smile faded as soon as he stepped outside.

Over the years, he and Pei Yun had a good relationship, but Pei Yuan wasn't naive enough to believe that Pei Yun had any fatherly love for him. His kind attitude towards him was most likely due to the mother-child Gu poison.

It doesn't matter. He doesn't care about Pei Yun's affection; he only wants the resources Pei Yun has.

At this moment, Pei Yuan was once again grateful for Lin Jinzhu's decisive action back then. If she hadn't cut off Pei Yun's lineage so quickly, would he and his brother be living a peaceful life now?

Pei An stood under the eaves and saw Pei Yuan come out. He jogged over and asked, "Big brother, have you finished your homework for today?"

Pei Yuan's gaze softened when he saw him. He took Pei An's hand and asked, "You're done. What did you learn from the teacher today?"

Pei An listed them one by one: "The teacher taught me mathematics, which I found quite interesting. Brother, have you ever learned about the chicken and rabbit problem?"

Pei Yuan frowned. "I've studied it, but I'm not good at it. Your cousin Yun is an expert in mathematics. If you don't understand something, you can ask him in person tomorrow." Pei An was both surprised and delighted: "We...we're going to see cousin Yun tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'll have someone deliver the visiting card in a bit. Tomorrow we'll go and congratulate Cousin Yun on becoming the top scholar in the imperial examination."

Pei An exclaimed excitedly, "Then I have to prepare a gift for Cousin Yun. What do you think he likes? Last time he gave me a piece of warm jade, and I haven't been sick at all this year..."

Pei Yuan stroked Pei An's head, his gaze sweeping over his neck. He too had a warm jade pendant, a gift from Cheng Sui.

To be honest, Cheng Sui was much gentler towards him than towards Lin Miao. At least in the past few years, Cheng Sui had never contacted Jiangnan.

Green jade.

Cheng Sui was somewhat surprised as he held the visiting card delivered by the gatekeeper: "Master, Pei Yuan and Pei An will be paying a visit tomorrow."

Cheng Qian: "He truly lives up to his reputation as Pei Yun's son; his sense of smell is incredibly sharp."

Tan You: "Let him come if he wants. After all, he's your cousin. Even if you don't want to acknowledge him, the blood ties can't be severed."

Cheng Sui thought for a moment and said, "I understand. When a person dies, the debt is settled, but the living must continue. Besides, Lin Jinzhu's death wasn't our doing; it was Pei Yun who did it."

Tan You: "Although Pei Yun is a scoundrel, he's quite good to the two children. Perhaps he realized he had no future, so he devoted himself to raising Pei Yuan and Pei An."

“Unlike some people…” she said, glancing meaningfully at Cheng Qian, who stiffened and remained silent.

Cheng Sui: "Master, I'm fine as I am now. If he doesn't want to give me his things, I'll take them myself. I won't wait for someone to give them to me passively."

Tan You laughed: "As expected of my good son, I like your style. What if it's not mine? If I want it, it has to be mine."

Upon hearing the words "my eldest son," Cheng Sui couldn't help but smile. However, now that he was older, he could no longer act spoiled as easily as he did when he was a child. He simply smiled at Tan You with pursed lips, his eyes filled with affection.

Cheng Qian sighed, "You've almost turned him into a bandit."

Tan You: "In life, you have to compete and fight. I never think that competing and fighting is a bad thing. If I want something, I will get it."

"If you don't fight for it, someone else will take it from you in the end."

Cheng Sui added, "I don't care if the melon is sweet or not, I just want this melon to be mine."

"Take the position of heir apparent in the Duke's mansion, for example."

Cheng Qian sighed again: "I would like to pass it on to you, but your official position has not been determined yet. Wouldn't it be too ostentatious to request the title of heir apparent at this time?"

"Please grant him the title of heir apparent; then the higher-ups will have to reconsider their arrangements for you."

Cheng Sui replied without hesitation, "Then there's no rush. Perhaps one day I can build my own empire. Maybe one day the position of heir apparent will just be icing on the cake, but it will still be mine."

Cheng Qian waved his hand in vain: "Here you go, if I don't pass it on to you, the clan elders will tear me apart."

"You are now the apple of the elders' eye, and they don't know who the rightful heir is."