"Still lying with your eyes wide open!" Holt shouted angrily. "My crowing rooster was secretly eaten by them, and I found ironclad evidence on your sixth child. Ask them, did this happen or not?!"

"What a ridiculous joke!" Stephen Brooks laughed bitterly and said, "Eating one's own family's chicken—how can that be called stealing?"

"That was my chicken!" Holt fumed with rage.

"May I ask, sister-in-law, when did we split the family?" Stephen Brooks said coldly.

"This..." Holt was instantly at a loss for words.

"If we haven't split the family, then everything in the Chen household was left by our late parents. I wonder, is it the Chen family or the Hou family?" Stephen Brooks let out a long, stifled breath.

'Impressive...' Charles Brooks couldn't help but secretly applaud. It seemed he needed to reevaluate this irresponsible, so-called father of his.

"Taking without asking is stealing!" Brooks was at a loss for words, so Stephen Brooks had to step in himself.

"Why take without asking? Because even if we asked, we wouldn't get it!" Stephen Brooks suddenly slapped the table and said, "Tell me, why was my son driven into that shabby shed? Are they stray cats and dogs? Tell me, why does my son, not even ten years old, have to bear such heavy labor, and if he makes the slightest mistake, he isn't given food! Are they your slaves? Tell me, why, when my son fell into the water, did you not only refuse to treat him, but also denied them food for days? Are they your enemies?"

"You refuse to answer these questions, yet you fixate on my son eating a family chicken." Stephen Brooks laughed in exasperation. "If you aren't ashamed, I am for you! And you still ask why the authorities would show leniency to my son—are you out of your minds!"

Now even Stephen Brooks was left speechless.

Only then did Stephen Brooks let out a heavy sigh, softened his tone, and said, "Big brother, we are born of the same mother, branches from the same root. Even if you can't treat my sons as your own, you shouldn't treat them so cruelly, should you? What exactly do you want? Just say it plainly."

Chapter Eleven: The Scholar's Spirit

The echoes lingered in the main hall, but Stephen Brooks and his wife remained silent for a long while.

The reason was nothing more than that Edward Brooks's behavior this time was far too unexpected. In the eyes of his brother and sister-in-law, he had always been someone who never fought or argued, endlessly tolerant—a dull gourd, never showing such sharpness.

Foolish men and women do not understand: a gentleman can tolerate others, but there are things he cannot endure. No matter how badly they treated Stephen Brooks before, he could bear it, because he felt that, being nearly thirty and still living off the family, it was only natural to endure some cold stares. But this time, his sons were abused, and one even faced the danger of being exiled as a convict—this far exceeded his bottom line, so he finally showed his true colors.

In fact, Stephen Brooks and his wife did not want to escalate things to the authorities. The Song Dynasty valued 'benevolence and filial piety'—first benevolence, then filial piety. The couple knew that if things got out of hand, they couldn't bear the gossip, so they only wanted to use a big accusation to pressure the second brother and seize the family property.

Now, after going in circles, things seemed to be back on track, but the situation had already reversed, and Edward Brooks had seized the initiative.

Could the couple just say, 'We want to split the family'? After a long while, Stephen Brooks finally squeezed out a sentence: "Let’s not bring up the past anymore. After all, it’s a family scandal, and such things shouldn’t be spread. Let’s not mention it again..." William Brooks had never even been to the provincial capital in his life, and hearing that this might reach the authorities, he started to back down.

"But we can't just let it go like this." Holt could only keep up a tough front.

In Charles Brooks's view, now was the perfect time to 'press the advantage and pursue the fleeing enemy.' If it were up to him, he would definitely seize the chance to vent his anger and at least turn the tables completely.

But people are different. Stephen Brooks was not so calculating. He simply said, "Big brother, draw the line, and I’ll follow." He actually handed over the initiative, leaving Charles quite disappointed.

"After all this, how can we keep living together?" Stephen Brooks said with a face full of worry. "I think we should just split up."

"Split the family..." Stephen Brooks looked up somewhat sadly at the portraits of their great-grandparents hanging in the main hall, finally closed his eyes slightly, and said, "I’ll leave it to your judgment, brother."

Stephen Brooks was already out of breath; there was no way to regain the upper hand. He sighed and said, "Since that’s the case, I’ll roughly set things out for now. Another day, we’ll go to the authorities and sign the contract. Don’t think I’m scheming, second brother—it’s just that if things go to the authorities, our reputation will suffer, so let’s split peacefully."

"That’s only right." Stephen Brooks nodded.

"Don’t worry, I’ll be fair and won’t let you suffer." With that, he had his son bring the family account book, but did not open it, and said, "Our Chen family has been here for four generations, making a living by burning charcoal. Over the years, we’ve accumulated this ancestral house, a charcoal yard, and a bamboo grove. We used to have some farmland, but in recent years, with four children studying, expenses were too high, so it was all sold off for your needs. A few days ago, thinking you’d still need money, we even sold the bamboo grove." He paused, looking regretful. "That was the best bamboo grove for miles around, producing the finest charcoal, and it sold for three hundred thousand coins. This three hundred thousand is enough for you and your son’s expenses, and even for your boy’s future studies."