Wasn’t the Ning family losing out big time?
But Ning Zhengqing was now a Scholar, so sooner or later he would definitely marry an official’s daughter.
Jiang Yutong smiled at everyone. “My brother and I grew up in the mountains, so I happened to develop pretty good archery skills.”
She raised the bow and arrows in her hand.
She wanted everyone to know that she was skilled with a bow and arrow. That way, now that she was living alone, any local ruffians or troublemakers would think twice before trying anything.
The villagers believed her. Some of those who had personally witnessed Jiang Yutong saving Fang Hu’s child the day before also had more respect for her.
In these times, people respected those who had real skills.
Everyone pitched in to help, and soon the wild boar was carried back.
On the way back, they happened to pass in front of the Ning family’s house. The commotion attracted Ning Yaoshi’s attention.
She sent Zhaodi out to take a look.
“Go see what’s happening. Why is everyone making such a racket outside?”
The Ning family couldn’t afford to hire a maid right now, but Ning Yaoshi had already begun living the life of a Scholar’s mother, like an official’s wife.
The eldest son of the Ning family had three daughters. The eldest was Zhaodi, followed by Mengdi and Niandi. Zhaodi, the oldest, was only six years old.
At that moment, Ning Yaoshi was leaning back in a chair, taking advantage of the injury she had suffered when Jiang Yutong pushed her the other day. She had the children kneading her legs and pounding her back.
Zhaodi hurried to the entrance and took a look.
She saw Jiang Yutong surrounded by a crowd, along with a huge wild boar, several rabbits, and a beautiful fox. The fox’s fur would look incredibly beautiful made into a collar.
The little girl hadn’t eaten meat in a long time. Seeing the wild boar immediately made her think of fragrant pork, and her mouth began to water.
She timidly called out, “Second Aunt.”
She actually missed her second aunt quite a bit. When Jiang Yutong had been at the Ning family’s house, all the household chores had been done by her. Now that Second Aunt was gone, those chores had fallen on her mother and the children.
Jiang Yutong turned around and saw Zhaodi standing at the doorway calling to her.
She smiled.
The original owner had always treated the children in the Ning family well.
But now, Jiang Yutong didn’t want to have anything more to do with the Ning family. A smile was all she gave her.
Zhaodi quickly ran back inside and told Ning Yaoshi what she had seen.
“Grandma, Second Aunt hunted such a huge wild boar!”
She even gestured with her hands.
“And there are rabbits and a fox too!”
Ning Yaoshi immediately sat upright. She put on her shoes and hurried toward the door.
“Stop!”
The entire group stopped.
Jiang Yutong looked at Ning Yaoshi with a faintly mocking smile.
“Something you need?”
When Ning Yaoshi saw the wild boar everyone was carrying, her eyes practically turned red.
She hadn’t had a proper meal with meat in ages either.
“Where did that wild boar come from?”
“What does that have to do with you?”
Ning Yaoshi was momentarily speechless.
That ungrateful girl!
“I’m still your former mother-in-law, at least. Is this how you speak to me? You’re being unfilial!”
Jiang Yutong nearly laughed.
They were already divorced. Who did Ning Yaoshi think she was?
“I think Aunt Ning still hasn’t realized the situation. Ning Zhengqing and I are already divorced. I have nothing to do with the Ning family anymore. Stop making up accusations against me.”
Some people loved watching a good show.
“Aunt Yao, you really lost out! Your family rejected such a wonderful girl like Yutong. You probably don’t know this, but Yutong was the one who hunted that wild boar.”
“That’s right! Yutong is amazing. Yesterday, she even saved Fang Hu’s child when the boy had already stopped breathing. You people really were blind.”
“Oh, but Scholar Ning is going to marry an official’s daughter eventually.”
Everyone chimed in.
Ning Yaoshi had heard about Jiang Yutong saving the child the day before. When she remembered that the useless child from her own family had also been saved by Jiang Yutong, she began to believe it.
She had never expected that after all these years in the Ning family, this girl had secretly known how to hunt and practice medicine.
She had deliberately hidden all of it!
The thought made Ning Yaoshi furious.
Looking at the enormous wild boar, Ning Yaoshi felt as though a pile of shiny silver had been picked up by someone else.
That money should have been hers!
“Jiang Yutong, I didn’t expect you to play tricks behind my back. All these years you lived in the Ning family, did you ever tell us you could hunt? Did you ever tell us you knew medicine? Since you have all these skills, how could you have the nerve to take ten taels of silver from me when we divorced? You have no shame!”
“Give the silver back!”
Whenever Ning Yaoshi thought about those ten taels of silver, her heart ached.
Ten whole taels!
How much rice and flour could that buy?
And now it had all gone to this girl for nothing.
Jiang Yutong couldn’t be bothered with her.
“How about I ask the village head to come and settle this with you again? Or perhaps I should go to the county and have a word with Miss Xiuyun?”
Ning Yaoshi immediately fell silent.
But there was no way she could accept this.
Ning Yaoshi pinched Zhaodi and Mengdi hard on the arms and gave the children a meaningful look. Then she whispered,
“Cry. Say you want meat.”
She had no concern for the children at all. She pinched them hard enough to hurt.
Zhaodi and Mengdi immediately burst into tears.
After hearing what their grandmother said, Zhaodi, being the older one, quickly understood.
She cried even louder.
“Second Aunt, we haven’t had meat in so long. Can you give us some meat?”
Mengdi heard that there would be meat and began crying along with her sister.
“Second Aunt, I want meat too! Didn’t you like me the most before?”
Three-year-old Niandi simply cried,
“Meat! I want meat!”
Seeing the pitiful children, the onlookers quickly began persuading Jiang Yutong.
“Yutong, you and the Ning family were family once. Look how pitiful the children are. They even call you Second Aunt. You had a pretty good haul today, so why not just give the Ning family those rabbits?”
“Exactly. They’re such young children. Hearing them cry breaks my heart.”
“You know how to hunt. You can just go back into the mountains tomorrow and hunt more. Give the rabbits to them.”
Everyone naturally sympathized with the weaker side and began chattering and persuading her.
Seeing that everyone was taking her side, Ning Yaoshi could barely suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth.
Jiang Yutong hadn’t expected Ning Yaoshi to be so shameless as to use the children to beg for meat.
The children were indeed pitiful, but this behavior was extremely unpleasant.
If she gave in once, there would be a second time.
She absolutely could not set such a precedent.
“Children, don’t call me Second Aunt anymore. I’m already divorced from your Second Uncle. A divorce means we’re no longer family. From now on, we each live our own lives.
“Your Second Uncle has passed the Scholar examination now. Soon, he’ll be able to take you all to the county to enjoy good food and a better life. I won’t be going to the county with you to enjoy that prosperity, so this meat isn’t something you can simply expect to have whenever you want.”
“If you want to eat meat, ask your Second Uncle to take some money and buy it. Your Second Uncle has plenty of money now.”
Jiang Yutong continued speaking to the children.
“I heard Granny Zhang’s family just slaughtered a chicken today. Granny Zhang said you children were pitiful. Why don’t you go ask Granny Zhang for some?”
Granny Zhang was the same woman who had just said the children were pitiful and suggested that Jiang Yutong give the rabbits to the Ning family.
The moment Granny Zhang heard this, she hurriedly waved her hands.
“No, we didn’t slaughter a chicken. We didn’t!”
After saying that, she quickly slipped away from the crowd.
She only liked stirring things up and watching the excitement. She certainly didn’t want to get herself involved.
The others who had been speaking up also quietly shut their mouths.
Ning Yaoshi was unwilling to give up and was about to say something else when Ning Zhengqing happened to return.
“Mother!”
Jiang Yutong glanced at Ning Zhengqing and said bluntly,
“Take care of your mother. She’s the mother of a Scholar, after all. Acting so petty and short-sighted is only going to make people laugh.”
Ning Zhengqing had been standing nearby for quite some time and had already witnessed everything that happened.
Now that Jiang Yutong said this to his face, he could barely keep his expression under control.
He turned to the children who were still crying and scolded them,
“Go back inside. Now.”
The children immediately stopped crying. They glanced reluctantly at the wild boar a few more times before going back into the courtyard.
Seeing that her son looked displeased, Ning Yaoshi could only return to the courtyard as well, sulking.