Ma Shi’s face flushed red, then pale. Just as she was about to argue back, Jiang Ning softly spoke up on her behalf:
“Auntie, it’s absolutely true—I saw it with my own eyes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been driven to attempt suicide.”
As she spoke, she gently touched her still-bleeding forehead, her eyes glistening with tears.
She looked pitiful beyond words.
Seeing this, the surrounding villagers cast sympathetic glances at her.
Hearing the murmurs, Ma Shi’s face turned livid with anger. She flatly denied it:
“Y-you all, don’t listen to her nonsense!”
Jiang Ning stepped forward, staring straight at Ma Shi, pressing her sharply:
“Nonsense? Then dare you swear to the heavens that Zhuang Yunqing and Liu Xueying are not involved? If they are, may he never pass the imperial exams—do you dare?”
“You—you’re so vicious…!”
To curse her son’s future like that made Ma Shi tremble with rage.
Jiang Ning curled her lips into a faint smile and cut her off:
“That’s vicious? You and your son plotted to take my life—why didn’t you call yourselves vicious?
“To break off the engagement, you first tried to run me over with a carriage. I was lucky to survive. Now you’re using this excuse to annul the marriage, still trying to force me to death—what a perfectly planned scheme…
“Zhuang Yunqing truly is calculating. No wonder he’s a scholar—everything arranged flawlessly. Not only do you want me dead, you want everyone to think I deserve it, right?”
She paused, her voice rising with grief and anger:
“Heaven is watching everything we do. It’s not that retribution won’t come—it’s just not time yet. You’d better remember that…”
Ma Shi was startled and instinctively looked up at the sky. Seeing it still clear, she let out a breath of relief.
Realizing she had been led by the nose, she became furious and pointed at Jiang Ning, shrieking:
“You’re spreading lies! My son won’t let you off!”
Hearing Jiang Ning’s well-reasoned words, the villagers began whispering among themselves, pointing at Ma Shi and her family.
Speculation and discussion rippled through the crowd.
“Ma Shi, was all this really planned by your family?”
“How despicable! I didn’t expect Scholar Zhuang to be so heartless.”
…
Their faces were filled with disbelief and anger.
The villagers strongly believed in oaths and divine punishment.
Ma Shi’s guilty expression was obvious—did she think no one could tell?
Seeing this, Ma Shi panicked and hurried to explain:
“It’s not true! Don’t listen to that wretched girl’s nonsense—she just doesn’t want the engagement broken, so she made everything up!”
Jiang Ning leaned weakly against the wall to rest.
Just as Ma Shi was at a loss, worrying whether the engagement could still be annulled—
Jiang Ning suddenly grinned and said slowly,
“Break off the engagement? Perfect. I don’t care for that scumbag Zhuang Yunqing anyway!”
Ma Shi’s face stiffened. Since when did this girl become so bold?
At that moment, the courtyard door behind Jiang Ning suddenly opened, and a thin old woman rushed out, shouting:
“Ma Shi! If you want to break off the engagement, no way! If you do, bring twenty taels of silver!”
Hearing Old Madam Jiang’s shameless demand, Ma Shi sneered disdainfully:
“Oh~ Old Madam Jiang, now you show yourself? It’s already generous of me not to ask for the two taels we spent on the engagement—you still want to extort money!”
Jiang Ning thought to herself—well, here comes the original owner’s awful grandmother.
The original host had been the eldest granddaughter of the Jiang family. After three years of marriage, Jiang Dahai and his wife finally had her and cherished her dearly.
Jiang Dahai was a hunter. Three years ago, while hunting in the mountains with Zhuang Dalang, a landslide occurred. He died falling off a cliff while saving Zhuang Dalang.
His wife, Liu Shi, upon hearing the news, was devastated and miscarried, resulting in two deaths.
To repay the life-saving debt, Zhuang Dalang arranged a marriage between Jiang Ning and his own son, Zhuang Yunqing, to be fulfilled once she came of age.
But now that Jiang Ning was already sixteen, the Zhuang family had yet to come to marry her.
She had heard that Zhuang Yunqing had caught the attention of the academy head’s daughter and wanted to break off the engagement.
This news struck like a bolt from the blue, plunging her into despair.
That was why she had run to the academy to demand an explanation—only to cause an accident, leading to the earlier scene.
She had intended to threaten with her life, but misjudged her strength and truly died by crashing her head at her own doorstep.
Jiang Dahai had been the son of Old Master Jiang’s first wife. Old Madam Jiang had never liked this stepson, nor did she like Jiang Ning, who was quiet and withdrawn.
She often made her work like a beast of burden.
If not for the engagement, she would have sold her long ago.
Despite the commotion at her own doorstep, Old Madam Jiang had stayed hidden. But now that the Zhuang family was determined to break off the engagement, she refused.
Not out of concern for Jiang Ning—but because she didn’t want the Zhuang family to benefit.
If she didn’t fear offending the academy head’s daughter, she would have swapped the marriage to her second granddaughter, Jiang Xiu.
“Hmph! If you had married them off earlier, none of this would have happened. Don’t think I don’t know you’ve long wanted to break the engagement.
“I’m not unreasonable—twenty taels is the price of my son’s life!” Old Madam Jiang said indignantly.
Inwardly, she was already planning—once the engagement was broken, she could sell this girl for a good price.
“You…”
Ma Shi was momentarily speechless. Every time she thought of this, she resented marrying such an honest fool.
A man who fell off a cliff—if Zhuang Dalang didn’t say he died saving him, who would know?
She had never liked Jiang Ning anyway—this dull, worn-down girl didn’t deserve her outstanding son.
Now that her son had a better option, of course she would plan for his future.
Seeing that Jiang Ning hadn’t died today and had instead turned the tables, Ma Shi no longer wanted to argue.
Gritting her teeth, she took out a prepared money pouch and said:
“Twenty taels is too much. Return the betrothal papers, and these ten taels are yours!”
Old Madam Jiang’s eyes gleamed with greed at the sight of the silver.
She had intentionally asked high—knowing the Zhuang family, supporting a scholar, likely couldn’t afford much more.
So she snorted, took out the betrothal document from her robe, and handed it over.
“Take it!”
Ma Shi accepted it, her emotions complicated—but at last, the engagement was broken!
As for Jiang Ning… she’d deal with her later.
Just as Old Madam Jiang reached out to take the silver—
Jiang Ning suddenly stepped forward and snatched the money pouch.
Mm. Her compensation for breaking the engagement should naturally be kept by her.
She might accept many things—but never a loss. No one would take advantage of her!
Her sudden action stunned everyone.
Old Madam Jiang and Ma Shi both froze in shock.