As the head of the family, Old Man Jiang sat at the top of the table, not even sparing Jiang Ning a glance.
Beside him sat Old Madam Jiang, with Second Uncle Jiang Dashan and Niu Shi next to her.
Niu Shi was accompanied by her two sons, Jiang Daba and Jiang Erbao, and then their daughter Jiang Xiu.
Third Uncle Jiang Dahe, who was studying in the county, usually came home every half month during breaks, but for some unknown reason, he was here today.
He was sitting beside Old Madam Jiang, staring at Jiang Ning with a face full of disdain.
“Ning girl, why aren’t you working properly during the day and are just being lazy?” Old Man Jiang suddenly asked in a deep voice.
Jiang Ning pointed at her forehead and replied, “I’m resting because of my injury.”
This family was truly cold-hearted towards the original owner. Not a single one of them cared about how badly she was hurt.
She scanned the table, noticing that there was meat and vegetables, clearly indicating that the loss of that little bit of grain didn’t seem to matter much to the Jiang family.
Old Man Jiang sighed. “How did you mess up your engagement like this?”
He really thought it was a pity. Zhuang Yunqing seemed to be a capable person and was sure to become an official one day.
Having such a relative would only bring benefits to the Jiang family.
“The Zhuang family never wanted to marry in the first place. They were just waiting for an excuse to break the engagement! Besides, didn’t I marry a scholar instead?” Jiang Ning replied nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Jiang Dahe immediately became enraged and shouted, “With what you’ve done, if I were in Zhuang Xiucai’s shoes, I would have broken the engagement too! You don’t know, the trouble you caused at the academy was huge. Not to mention Zhuang Xiucai feeling embarrassed, even I, your Third Uncle, have to keep my head low when I go out, afraid someone might recognize me…”
“As for Lu Xiucai, that disaster, don’t even get me started! It’s being rumored that he’s been fighting with Zhuang Xiucai over you. They’ve both lost their reputations!”
As for the whole “hero saving the beauty” nonsense, Jiang Dahe absolutely refused to admit it.
Old Man Jiang shot a look at his son to silence his rambling and then asked, “Did you take the ten liang of silver when you broke the engagement?”
“Yes!”
Jiang Ning was speechless. Again with the silver? Was there no end to this money talk?
“Give me the silver, and I’ll keep it for you as your dowry.”
“It’s gone,” she said flatly. How could she even think about dowries now that she was already married?
Old Man Jiang’s expression immediately darkened. “What do you mean it’s gone?”
“I used it to pay for Lu Xiucai’s medical expenses!” Jiang Ning lied smoothly, knowing they wouldn’t dare to verify it.
“You’re lying! Lu Xiucai’s medical expenses were all paid by the Mountain Elder. The whole academy knows this. Don’t think you can hide anything…” Jiang Dahe exclaimed, slapping the table in anger.
“Exactly, you didn’t give any money yesterday,” Old Madam Jiang joined in.
Without missing a beat, Jiang Ning replied, “I gave it to him before you arrived.”
“Enough—”
Old Man Jiang raised his hand in a stern manner, glancing around at everyone before tapping the table. “Eat.”
At his command, Jiang Ning immediately picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
She was starving—having only two meals a day was hard to get used to.
The men watched her in shock, while the women, including Old Madam Jiang, had seen this many times before.
As Jiang Ning quickly finished the last of the stir-fried meat, Jiang Dahe could no longer hold back. He angrily shouted, “The elders haven’t started eating yet, and you’re already digging in. What kind of manners are those?”
Jiang Ning raised her head and retorted without hesitation, “If you don’t eat enthusiastically, there’s something wrong with your brain!”
She just wanted to finish eating quickly and go to bed. She didn’t want to hear this family complain anymore.
“With that attitude, no wonder you were the one who broke the engagement!” Jiang Dahe grumbled angrily. This girl had become so unruly after the engagement was broken.
He couldn’t believe she thought that Lu Huai’an, that poor scholar, would actually tolerate her.
“Wrong. I was the one who broke off the engagement!”
Swallowing the last bite of food, Jiang Ning put down her bowl and chopsticks.
Jiang Dashan, who had been silent until now, hesitantly asked, “Ning girl, don’t you feel different from before?”
Jiang Ning met his gaze directly and replied, “Yes, I’m not the person I used to be.”
She wasn’t lying. Whether they believed her or not didn’t matter to her.
The others were left confused. “???”
“If you want to know why, why don’t you ask Grandma? I’m done eating, so I’ll leave now,” Jiang Ning said as she stood up to leave.
“Don’t talk nonsense about strange forces, Jiang Ning! Don’t think you can scare people…”
Jiang Dahe had heard his mother talking about the strange things Jiang Ning had been doing, and he didn’t believe a word of it. Who was she fooling?
Jiang Ning looked at him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Oh? Third Uncle knows so much, truly the scholar in the family?”
Seeing her contradict her favorite son, Old Madam Jiang quickly intervened, “You unruly girl! Since you’re married now, you should move to Lu’s house.”
Since she couldn’t get the silver back, there was no reason for Jiang Ning to stay at the Jiang household and eat their free food.
“Move?” Jiang Ning smiled. “I can’t move, Lu’s house was burned down last night!”
Suddenly, she felt like the Jiang family wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she didn’t want to leave now.
Besides, she didn’t have to cook or do laundry here—someone else did it for her.
Where else could she find such a good life?
In this era, there was no running water, no gas, no washing machines. Doing laundry and cooking was a hassle.
“You ungrateful girl, what do you mean by that?”
Old Madam Jiang’s face immediately darkened. She stood up and pointed at Jiang Ning, yelling, “Whether it’s really burned or not, I don’t care. Either way, you need to leave now! The Jiang family doesn’t support idle people.”
Lu Huai’an had a bad reputation, so people rarely talked about him.
Since the western village was far from the eastern part, it was no wonder the Jiang family didn’t know about Lu Huai’an’s house being burned. But even if they did, they would probably just enjoy the misfortune.
“I’m not leaving—”
Jiang Ning faced Old Madam Jiang’s furious scolding without fear.
Old Madam Jiang, seeing that Jiang Ning was impervious to her words, became even angrier. She raised her hand to slap Jiang Ning’s face.
Jiang Ning swiftly dodged.
But because Old Madam Jiang used too much force, she missed and ended up falling flat on the ground.
“You unfilial wretch…”
Everyone was stunned by this scene!
How had this girl become so bold? She used to just stand there and take the beating.
“Mother, don’t be angry,” Jiang Dashan quickly rushed over to help Old Madam Jiang up, trying to smooth things over. “Little Ning is still young and doesn’t know better. We’ll just teach her slowly.”
“Yes, mother, don’t be upset,” Niu Shi also chimed in.
In any case, no matter how her mother-in-law dealt with that girl, she was just watching the show.
“Ahem, Ning, since you’re married, there’s no reason for you to stay in your mother’s house anymore. People will talk behind your back. We’re doing this for your own good…” Jiang Dashan played the peacemaker.
Jiang Ning was speechless. She had just said the house was burned down, but no one seemed to have heard it.
Were they planning to make her sleep on the streets?
No way.