“Foolish.” Stephen Brooks shook his head and said, “You do look quite miserable, but the culprit is just a ten-year-old child. The magistrate will definitely want to get to the bottom of this!”

“Let him investigate, so what? Am I, as his aunt, not allowed to discipline my nephew?” Holt replied indifferently.

“So you know you’re his aunt.” Stephen Brooks frowned and said, “What kind of aunt abuses her nephew like this? If word gets out, what face will my The Brooks Family have left?” People are always the last to realize their own reputation. William Brooks didn’t know that what he did this spring had already disgraced The Brooks Family, and still thought his reputation was pretty good.

“Ethan Brooks, you really have no shame!” Hearing him push all the blame onto her, Holt wouldn’t have it. She shouted, “Wasn’t it you who agreed to split the family in the first place? Or did you not know I sent those three brats to the charcoal yard?!”

“I…” Stephen Brooks blushed and said, “I thought it was just for show, I didn’t expect it to go this far.”

“How did I go too far? Which eye of yours saw me go too far?” Holt pressed on relentlessly.

“If it wasn’t too far, how could a ten-year-old child possibly…” Stephen Brooks glanced at Holt’s miserable state and didn’t finish the sentence.

But Holt understood, and now she wouldn’t back down. She wailed and cried, “How did I get so unlucky for eight generations, marrying someone like you—smooth on both sides like a knife cutting tofu! All you think about is using me like a chamber pot, and then you complain about the smell and avoid me!” Seeing her flailing and shrieking, it was clear that aside from being frightened, she hadn’t suffered any other harm.

If it weren’t for Charles Brooks using all his strength to break her ribs, Brooks would have gotten up and fought her right there.

Even though she couldn’t get up, her torrent of foul language left Stephen Brooks unable to cope. He quickly begged for mercy, “Alright, alright, if you want to report to the authorities, we’ll report to the authorities!”

“That’s more like it…” Only then did Holt gradually stop cursing.

“But you have to think this through—even if the magistrate sentences Charles according to the law, the county will surely criticize the two of us harshly. When William takes the exam and we split the family, it’s all up to the county!” Stephen Brooks emphasized.

This time, Holt listened. She kept moaning and groaning, but in her heart she was calculating. No matter how she thought about it, this seemed like a lose-lose situation. But she couldn’t swallow her anger, and said viciously, “We absolutely can’t let them off!”

“Of course not.” Hearing this, Stephen Brooks knew she was wavering, so he pressed on, “You must understand, as long as we don’t report to the authorities, we hold the initiative.”

“How so?” Holt widened her eyes.

“‘A junior assaulting an elder’ is a serious crime. For such a rebellious act, no matter the reason, the punishment is exile and forced labor.” Stephen Brooks stroked his rat-like mustache and said sinisterly, “When Edward comes back, we can use this to threaten him and split the family as we wish!” In the end, he had no interest in venting Holt’s anger; in fact, he even thought it was good for her to get a beating. What he cared about was getting all the family property for himself!

“I see…” No wonder they say, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Holt was also someone who would risk her life but not her money. Hearing her husband say this, she stopped insisting on reporting to the authorities and focused all her thoughts on seizing the family property. She couldn’t help but worry, “But what if Uncle Sam doesn’t care about that brat?”

‘You think he’s like you…’ Stephen Brooks glanced at her and said coolly, “He wouldn’t do that. He’s not that kind of person.”

“You never know. When it comes to money, people forget their own kin.” Holt judged others by herself. “Uncle Sam is so poor, would he really be willing?”

“Then we’ll go all out and take it to court!” Stephen Brooks said coldly. “If he can’t give up the property, he’ll have to give up his son!”

Stephen Brooks’s resentment toward his second brother was no less than his wife’s. Ever since he could remember, his parents’ attention had always been on his younger brother, while he, the William, was treated as dispensable. This had always felt unfair and had been suppressed for years. Now that their parents were gone, it was finally time for him to take revenge on his brother, which was why he encouraged Holt to stir up trouble. He just hadn’t expected this foolish woman to actually get into a fight with a child—and end up in such a state.

But perhaps this was for the best. At last, he could brew a bitter cup for his brother to taste.

Chapter 7: Seeking Father at Meishan

Forty days after being driven out of their home, the three brothers—Charles and his siblings—finally returned to the courtyard where they had grown up.

But their return was a miserable one: they were escorted all the way into the courtyard and then locked in the woodshed.

Originally, Little Henry wasn’t supposed to be locked up, but he clung to Charles, crying his heart out, and Charles Brooks was also worried they would mistreat his younger brother, so he held onto Henry tightly, and they simply couldn’t be separated. In the end, they had no choice but to lock him up as well.

Compared to the shack, the woodshed was actually an improvement—at least it was spacious and not so stifling.

With no time to worry about his own fate, Charles Brooks carefully checked Robert and Henry’s bodies. The two children didn’t seem to have any major problems, just a bit listless. Normally, people would think they were just badly frightened, but Charles Brooks examined them carefully and found that both children had suffered internal injuries to varying degrees.