Chapter 102: Bai Ruyi

When Lin Feng arrived at the Bai family’s ancestral house, which was also an ancient siheyuan, just much larger, he was stopped by an elder.

"You should stay in the side hall with the other maternal grandchildren from the collateral branches," the elder said in a cool tone. "The rites haven’t started yet. We’re still waiting for the others."

Hearing this, Lin Feng nodded obediently. He had already been told about this beforehand, before he parted ways with Grandpa Bai at home earlier that morning.

As someone who bore another family’s surname, Lin Feng was half a member of the Bai family and half a member of the Lin family. He could not truly be considered part of the main family line.

In previous years, Lin Feng had been allowed to participate in the ancestral rites as a maternal grandson of the main family. The difference this year was that he had been moved to the group of maternal relatives from the collateral branches.

Therefore, he could only wait alongside the other members of the younger generation for their turn.

Unlike the Lin family, the Bai family was much more prosperous. People kept coming in through the entrance, and there were already many people waiting inside.

Lin Feng did not complain but followed the elder to the side hall.

He nodded at the boys and girls in the side hall, who were looking at him silently, and then sat in a corner beside a small round table.

Lin Feng wore a black hanfu with a gray long coat.

This was how the entire Bai family, whether members of the direct bloodline or the collateral branches, dressed for the annual Qingming ancestral rites.

Ignoring everyone, Lin Feng quietly sipped his tea and gazed out through the round window, observing the scenery in the main courtyard.

The white cherry blossom tree in the middle of the courtyard was in full bloom, its white petals adding an ethereal atmosphere to the solemn surroundings.

The fine drizzle caused a petal to fall, and the wind carried it to the table where the youth sat.

It seemed as if he were at home, completely in harmony with the ancient courtyard.

The other young people seated at nearby tables secretly looked at Lin Feng with complicated expressions in their eyes. Young people tended to have rich inner emotional worlds, where even the smallest incident could stir up a multitude of thoughts and feelings.

As children from the collateral branches, they envied the good fortune of the direct descendants, who had been born into the main family.

Now that a descendant of the main family had fallen from grace and even offended many of the clan elders, they could not help but feel a sense of schadenfreude.

These boys and girls had been eager to see how the once-proud favored son of heaven would fare after falling into the mud.

But seeing the youth’s elegant demeanor, refined movements, and serene temperament, they felt as if they had been slapped in the face.

Why did Lin Feng look as if he were in better shape than he had been in previous years?

Was this really the difference in upbringing between the main family and the collateral branches?

The thought made these rebellious young people feel gloomy, and the already quiet side hall became even more deathly silent.

However, on the other side of the room, a pair of large eyes gazed at the beautiful figure with a strange light in them.

The girl quietly raised her phone, took a picture, looked at it with satisfaction, and then promptly sent it to someone.

’Hmph. Let’s see if that slut can still sleep tonight,’ the girl thought smugly.

Unlike the others, who looked at Lin Feng with envy and resentment, this girl did not particularly care about him.

She, Bai Ruyi, did not care about family lineage. She was far too proud to stoop to envying them.

But she absolutely despised Bai Ruoxi, the Third Aunt of the main family, who had once spoken ill of her mother.

Bai Ruyi did not care if people called her narrow-minded or accused her of holding grudges for far too long.

She just hated that bitch!

When Bai Ruyi was a child, she had once met Bai Ruoxi, the former Third Young Lady, while accompanying her mother to the Second Young Lady Bai Yufei’s birthday celebration.

Her family was distantly related to the main family and was even considered a poor relative. However, they managed to get by because they still owned a pastry shop in the capital and a small apartment that provided them with rental income.

At that time, the foolish little girl, Ruyi, had genuinely believed that the beautiful, smiling young lady was kind to them. After all, she had even offered to deliver their modest birthday gift to the Second Young Lady, Bai Yufei.

Their family had been experiencing financial difficulties at the time, so her mother, who was a pastry chef, had painstakingly baked delicate pastries herself, remembering how the Second Young Lady had once praised her craft.

But when little Ruyi returned to give the young lady a flower as thanks, she saw the Third Young Lady throw the box of pastries her mother had baked into the trash.

The Third Young Lady squeezed a large amount of hand sanitizer onto her hands at a nearby table. With a disgusted expression on her face, she said to her friend, "These poor relatives think they can curry favor with such a small gift. Who knows if it’s even clean?"

"Will your sister get angry if she finds out?" her friend asked.

The Third Young Lady was dismissive. "How will she know if you don’t tell her? Sister Feifei is in poor health. She can’t just eat food from who knows where. How disgusting and unsanitary."

This scene and those words had a profound impact on little Ruyi’s world.

When she came crying to her mother about what had happened, she watched her mother’s face turn from red to white, finally settling into an expression of bitterness. Her mother said nothing, merely patting her head with a sigh.