Feng Jin noticed something amiss with Er Bao. His clothes were unfamiliar, and the inner sleeves were dirty, indicating he had just changed.
“Who changed your clothes?”
“It… Grandfather…” Er Bao stopped short, remembering his grandfather’s instructions and nearly letting slip.
Elder Master Ling breathed a sigh of relief as Er Bao fell silent and pulled him closer protectively. “Well, you’ve just returned, don’t keep a long face and scare the child.”
Feng Jin immediately sensed something was amiss and pressed Er Bao, who was shielded by Elder Master Ling, “Tell your mother truthfully, were these clothes just changed?”
Er Bao was terrible at lying, and he was the only one who could reveal the truth. Da Bao, that cunning rascal, would never reveal anything.
“Mother… Mother…” Er Bao looked at Feng Jin, then at Elder Master Ling behind her. Caught between them, he didn’t know what to say and finally lowered his head in silence. He couldn’t afford to offend either of them, so it was best to just keep quiet.
“Mother… clothes… clean…”
Da Bao pulled at his sleeve to show Feng Jin, then quickly withdrew his hand as if afraid of being exposed.
“Let Mother have a good look to see if they’re clean.” As Feng Jin spoke, she reached out and grabbed Da Bao by the collar, pulling him to her side.
She pulled aside his outer garment, revealing his dirty inner clothes. Feng Jin’s eyes darkened, and her gaze fell on Da Bao. “Is this what you call clean?”
Feng Jin’s voice rose slightly, making Da Bao feel guilty. He immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet Feng Jin’s gaze.
“When did you learn to lie? And how dare you fool your mother like this!”
“Mother… wrong… sorry…”
Grandfather had taught him that if Mother got angry, he should immediately admit his mistake to avoid punishment.
Da Bao forced a few tears from his eyes, grabbed Feng Jin’s sleeve with teary eyes, and gently shook it, looking pitiful.
In the past, Feng Jin would have been heartbroken and unable to scold Da Bao. But today’s matter was different.
Feng Jin maintained her stern expression, ignoring Da Bao’s pleas and tantrums, and refused to smile. Instead, she pulled Da Bao, who was leaning against her, away and forced him to look at her. “Mother has taught you never to lie. What did you do? Tell Mother, why did you lie!”
After all, Da Bao was still a child. Seeing that his mother was truly angry, he felt a pang of fear and looked towards Elder Master Ling behind him, his eyes pleading for help…
Elder Master Ling had no good solution at the moment and turned away, unable to meet Da Bao’s pleading gaze. To cover his embarrassment, he reached up and stroked his beard.
After a long pause, he coughed lightly and said, “Actually… it’s nothing serious. They are just children, and it’s common for them to make mistakes out of ignorance. They have plenty of time to be educated later. There’s no need to get so angry. Look how you’ve frightened the child…”
Elder Master Ling was trying to smooth things over, pulling Da Bao and Er Bao to his side for protection.
“Steward Wu… Steward Wu!” Elder Master Ling called out loudly.
Steward Wu, who had been waiting outside, heard the sound and quickly entered.
“You’re just in time. Hurry and take the two young masters out to play. Don’t frighten the children.”
Da Bao and Er Bao were clever and immediately understood. They ran to Steward Wu like lightning, deliberately bypassing Feng Jin.
Steward Wu didn’t hesitate and carried both Da Bao and Er Bao out, one in each arm.
After the two children had left, Elder Master Ling finally let out a sigh of relief and turned his gaze to Feng Jin.
“Look at you, you’ve been away for several days, and the moment you return, you’re shouting at the children and glaring at them with a scowl. Aren’t you afraid of scaring the children?”
Elder Master Ling first reprimanded Feng Jin, then resorted to a gentler approach. “Alright, let’s forget about this matter. In the future, you must be more patient with the children, and don’t act like this again…”
“Grandfather, your lecturing me only highlights your indulgence towards these two children. Grandfather, they are like blank canvases right now; their colors are entirely up to us adults to describe. If you continue to indulge them like this, you’ll spoil them sooner or later.”
Feng Jin patiently reasoned with him, trying to avoid a major conflict with Elder Master Ling.
However, if Elder Master Ling continued to dote on them like this, the two children would undoubtedly become incorrigible. Now that they were older, it was time to set some rules.
“How have I spoiled the children? Look at Ling Mo Han; I raised him myself. Did I spoil him? Not at all. Look how outstanding he is!”
Elder Master Ling puffed out his beard, unconvinced by Feng Jin’s words, and insisted on arguing his point.
“That’s because you were strict with Ling Mo Han. You, on the other hand, are so doting towards these two children. And you had everyone standing guard outside just to prevent me from finding out, didn’t you? You didn’t want me to know you were letting the children run wild and were worried I’d discover you’d changed their clothes…”
She had seen through Elder Master Ling’s intentions long ago, but she hadn’t exposed him because the children were present. Now that they were gone, Feng Jin disregarded everything else and laid all the cards on the table.
Feng Jin walked to the door of the inner room and opened it. The floor was piled high with the children’s dirty clothes, and toys were scattered everywhere. However, a large mat on the floor particularly caught Feng Jin’s attention.
As she walked towards the mat and bent down to look, Feng Jin immediately understood. “Grandfather, you are so old, and you are still crouching on the ground, letting the children ride you like a horse. You are far too indulgent!”
“No, that’s absolutely not true!”