The first exception was Song Du's lawful wife, Madam Lin's elder sister. She came in person and burst into tears as she embraced her younger sister. Song Du was dead, their property had been confiscated, but she was still alive, and so were her children! Lin Su had destroyed the Song Family, yet he had also saved it. Facing her blood sister, her heart surged with tumultuous emotion.
Madam Lin was even more overwhelmed upon facing this sister. She took out banknotes worth ten thousand taels of silver and handed them over. "The Lin Family once came within a hair's breadth of utter ruin as well. Your circumstances today are ones your younger sister can wholly understand. Take this silver and live on it. Though you can no longer enjoy great wealth and high rank, and though the younger generation may no longer enter officialdom, your basic livelihood will be looked after by me."
Her elder sister refused the aid. "When the Lin Family was in such straits back then, your sister was unable to help you. Today, I have no face to accept your kindness. Before leaving, my son said that if the Lin Family could rise again from adversity, then the Song Family's descendants could do the same. He wishes to support the entire family through his own efforts, with the cleanest money, and thereby wash away his father's crimes. I cannot help him; I can only fulfill his wish!"
Madam Lin was deeply gratified to hear those words.
In the western courtyard, Lin Su nodded lightly as well.
A "law" sternly punished criminals while leaving a thread of life for innocents caught up in the disaster. The Song Family's descendants wished to cleanse Song Du's crimes through their own efforts. That was precisely the intended outcome this