She glared at her younger brother, her cheeks puffing up in irritation. “You little brat, do you always have to talk like that?”  

“Even if there’s work to be done at home, would I really make your wife do it?”  

“Wouldn’t that just make people laugh at me?”  

“Wouldn’t they say I’m shameless?”  

“I might be able to boss around my future daughter-in-law, but how could I possibly order your wife around?”  

“Have I no dignity left?”  

Gu Yanli raised an eyebrow slightly, the corners of his lips quirking up, but he said nothing.  

However, Gu Yinfeng could read his expression all too well—what he meant was exactly that.  

Realizing this, Gu Yinfeng was furious.  

She raised her hand and punched his arm. “You—!”  

She had put real force behind it. Even though Gu Yanli was tough and thick-skinned, the blow still sent him staggering.  

After delivering the punch, Gu Yinfeng gave up on standing stubbornly at his door and instead ran off to complain about him to Zhong Meixian and the others.  

Once she was gone, Gu Yanli began rubbing his arm.  

Say what you will, but his second sister really packed a punch.  

Wen Tang’s side was shielded by Gu Yanli.  

Chi Yue wasn’t so lucky. Gu Xiaohua pushed the door open directly and strode inside.  

“Niece-in-law, niece-in-law,” Gu Xiaohua called out with a smile as she reached for the blanket, intending to yank it off.  

“Aunt!” Lin Jingshen’s voice suddenly boomed from behind Gu Xiaohua.  

Gu Xiaohua’s hand froze just before touching the blanket.  

Chi Yue, rubbing her eyes, woke up.  

She blinked at Gu Xiaohua, who wasn’t particularly familiar to the original host, then glanced at her posture and the flustered Lin Jingshen behind her. Propping herself up on her elbows, Chi Yue smiled lazily and asked, “Aunt?”  

“What are you trying to do?”  

“Pull off my blanket?”  

Gu Xiaohua: “…”  

“…N-no, I just saw you weren’t up yet and wanted to wake you,” Gu Xiaohua stammered with an awkward laugh.  

Pulling off a blanket and calling someone to wake up were two entirely different things.  

Chi Yue paid no attention to her excuse. Sitting up, her fair arms emerged from under the blanket as she hugged it to herself. Still seated on the bed, she began to pout. “I’m not wearing any clothes under here!”  

“If you’d just pulled this blanket off me, how… how could I ever face anyone again?”  

“I… I’d be too ashamed to live. I might as well drown myself. Waaah, don’t try to stop me—I’m going to jump into the river right now. I can’t show my face anymore!”  

Gu Xiaohua: “…”  

The commotion next door reached Wen Tang’s ears. She had already been half-awake from Gu Yinfeng’s earlier shouting, but now she was fully alert.  

Hearing her best friend’s tearful cries, Wen Tang immediately jumped out of bed and began throwing on her clothes.  

The moment Gu Yanli stepped back into the room, he saw her hastily dressing.  

“It’s alright,” he reassured her quickly. “Second Sister already left. You can go back to sleep.”  

Wen Tang shook her head. “Next door—”  

She had been about to say, My best friend is being bullied next door—sleep is the last thing on my mind!

But then she remembered that, in this body, she and her best friend were supposed to be sworn enemies. So she quickly changed her tune: “It sounds like there’s some excitement next door. I’m going to check it out.”  

Gu Yanli: “…”  

Then he watched as Wen Tang dashed off without even brushing her hair, her coat left behind and her shoes barely on her feet.  

Gu Yanli grabbed her coat and hurried after her.  

Next door, Gu Xiaohua was already in a daze.

Lin Jingshen was frantically helping his wife put on her clothes.  

Gu Xiaohua quickly turned her back, then thought better of it and rushed to close the door.  

Had she known earlier, she wouldn’t have come to wake her niece-in-law. This was beyond awkward.  

People would surely call her a shameless old woman!  

Meanwhile, Gu Yinfeng was complaining about Gu Yanli to Zhong Meixian and Gu Jinfeng, saying how infuriatingly sarcastic he was and how overly protective he was of his wife.  

Just then, something—or rather, someone—darted past them in a blur, rushing toward the neighboring room.  

Soon after, her sharp-tongued brother also dashed past in pursuit.  

Gu Jinfeng, always the excitable one, momentarily forgot her anger with Zhong Meixian and immediately shouted, “What’s going on?”  

Zhong Meixian and Gu Yinfeng exchanged glances—neither of them had a clue.  

Gu Yinfeng said, “Let’s go see.”  

And so, the mother and her two daughters hurried toward the neighboring room.  

…

Next door, in Lin Jingshen’s room, Chi Yue had already put on her clothes.  

Gu Xiaohua stood facing the door, repeatedly apologizing, “Niece-in-law, don’t overthink it. I didn’t see anything! Auntie… Auntie isn’t some reckless person. I just didn’t expect…”  

That she wouldn’t be wearing clothes!

(Well, she was wearing underwear.)  

But Chi Yue disliked feeling restricted while sleeping, so she usually didn’t wear a top.  

Back in her modern life, no one would barge into her room unannounced.  

Having transmigrated here only two days ago, she hadn’t yet adjusted to the new environment.  

But the difference in circumstances was impossible to ignore.  

Even so, Chi Yue had no intention of letting her room become a place where people could enter and leave as they pleased.  

So she seized the moment to make a scene.  

Just as Gu Xiaohua finished her stammered explanation, Wen Tang started pounding on the door outside. “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Hearing the knocking, Gu Xiaohua reached to open it.  

Gu Yanli, having caught up, draped the coat over Wen Tang’s shoulders and said, “Put this on,” before quickly stepping away.  

Not to mention the lingering discomfort he felt about Lin Jingshen’s room after the incident with Wen Tang—now that Lin Jingshen was married, as his uncle, he had to maintain proper boundaries.  

Gu Yanli retreated swiftly.  

Gu Xiaohua, who had opened the door, glanced back at Chi Yue, now dressed in her thermal underclothes, and let out a sigh of relief.  

Wen Tang also instinctively looked back, seeing Gu Yanli had already moved to the courtyard, and relaxed.  

Then, right in front of Gu Xiaohua, she yanked the door nearly shut and began making pointed remarks:  

“If you weren’t properly dressed, why did you open the door?!”

Gu Xiaohua awkwardly explained, “Sister-in-law, she’s almost dressed, almost dressed…”  

But Wen Tang wasn’t having it.  

“I get it. You’re holding a grudge because I once tried to seduce your man, aren’t you? This is your revenge, right?”  

Lin Jingshen: “…”

“Th-that’s not—Aunt, please, d-don’t say such things!” His gentle face flushed crimson as he looked between Wen Tang and Chi Yue, panicking.  

Chi Yue, still pulling on her clothes, shot back, “Are you blind? Who opened the door—didn’t you see?”  

“You think I’m like you? I actually have manners!”  

Gu Xiaohua: “…”

Why did it feel like every word was aimed at her?  

Chi Yue and Wen Tang’s eyes met for just a split second, but in that moment, they understood each other perfectly:  

If there are no rules, then we will set them.

They refused to be controlled by others.  

Today, it was barging into rooms—what about tomorrow?  

If things continued like this, how could they ever live peacefully?  

Wen Tang planted her hands on her hips. “Who’s the one without manners here?”

“At least I knocked! I didn’t just push the door open uninvited. I didn’t try to yank off your blanket or peek under your covers. And you dare say I have no manners?” She sounded indignant.