Grandma Jiang suddenly stood up, her face dark with fury as she shouted, “No need, get out…”
However, Jiang Ning wasn’t about to let her off so easily.
She stepped closer to Grandma Jiang, her eyes fixed on her, making the old woman feel a chill run down her spine.
“What… what are you doing? Are you planning to hit me?” Grandma Jiang stammered.
“Grandma…” Jiang Ning replied with a calm yet sharp tone.
Grandma Jiang tried to keep her composure, “What is it?”
“I’m hungry, Grandma. Will you make me something to eat?” Jiang Ning raised her hand, shaking her fist in the air.
It was a clear gesture that meant if she didn’t comply, there would be consequences.
It was already well past mealtime, and the food in the house was all in Grandma Jiang’s hands. If Jiang Ning wanted to eat, she had to ask her.
Looks like there would be a lot of problems to deal with if she were to stay in this house for the time being.
At least she needed to ensure she had the freedom to eat.
Jiang Ning was both tired and hungry. She wanted to rest in her dilapidated shack, but she couldn’t. She still had to brew her medicine.
Grandma Jiang was shocked. This ungrateful girl actually dared to demand that her elder make her food?
The anger inside her nearly made her faint.
If it weren’t for the ten taels of silver Jiang Ning had on her, Grandma Jiang would have kicked her out of the house immediately. After all, she was no longer a member of the Jiang family.
Seeing Grandma Jiang storm into the kitchen to cook, Jiang Ning followed behind her, picking up the medicine pot and beginning to brew the medicine outside the kitchen door.
Thanks to the original owner’s memories, starting a fire wasn’t such a difficult task.
She almost did it by reflex, getting the fire lit.
After a while, she found that there was no real food—just some broth and plain noodles. She didn’t care, ate hastily, and after the medicine cooled down, she pinched her nose and drank it all in one gulp.
It was only then that Jiang Ning finally felt like she was alive again.
She had survived this whole day purely on sheer willpower.
Grandma Jiang, seeing Jiang Ning wasn’t eating and was still there, stormed back to the front yard, muttering to herself as she walked.
She was confused as to why she had been intimidated by that little girl today.
As soon as Grandma Jiang entered the living room, she collapsed into a chair, too exhausted to catch her breath. Her second daughter-in-law, Niu Shi, came rushing in with Jiang Xiu and her two grandsons.
Grandma Jiang had two sons and one daughter.
Her second son, Jiang Dashan, was four years younger than Jiang Dahai. Now thirty-four years old, he had married Niu Shi, with whom he had a daughter, Jiang Xiu, and two sons.
Recently, they had been in the city working as carpenters with the old man Jiang, so they hadn’t returned yet.
Her third daughter, Jiang Honghua, had been married off and only came back during holidays.
The youngest son, Jiang Dahe, was studying in the county and, at twenty-four, was still an unmarried student.
Niu Shi, seeing her mother-in-law’s bewildered expression, asked curiously, “Mother, what’s wrong with you?”
Grandma Jiang, upon hearing this, couldn’t suppress her fury. “It’s that damned little girl! She actually dared to steal ten taels of silver from the family!”
“Ten taels of silver?” Both Niu Shi and Jiang Xiu were stunned. Could it be true that Jiang Ning had been dumped by her fiancé and had received silver as compensation?
Jiang Xiu, secretly pleased that Jiang Ning had lost her good match, and now knew that Jiang Ning had received the silver, couldn’t help but speak up.
“Grandma, ten taels is a lot. It’s a big bundle. I’ve never seen so much silver before.”
Hearing this, Grandma Jiang’s eyes lit up.
“Right, so much silver! She can’t possibly carry it all on her, can she?”
Niu Shi quickly added, “Yes, Mother, we’ll get Ning girl to hand it over. You don’t have to get too upset.”
She said this to comfort her mother-in-law, but in her heart, she couldn’t help but admire how that little girl had managed to snatch so much silver from the stingy old woman.
Niu Shi had originally planned to bring her three children back to her own family for the night, but when she heard about the trouble with Jiang Ning’s broken engagement, she hurried back to the house with her children.
“Mother, I’m hungry…” one of the grandsons said.
Since her grandchildren were hungry and Grandma Jiang hadn’t eaten either, she went into the house to get some food and told Niu Shi to prepare dinner.
She needed to eat well because once that little brat fell asleep, she would get her revenge.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ning had finished drinking her medicine and was lying on the wooden bed in the shack, resting. In the dim light, she looked at the marriage certificate in her hand.
Zhuang Fuqi, fearing something might go wrong, had gone to the county office to get the marriage certificate stamped before returning to the village.
Jiang Ning hadn’t had time to look at it before, but now that she opened it, she saw the official government seal stamped on it.
Although neither party had acknowledged it, the marriage certificate was real.
Looking at it, Jiang Ning couldn’t help but feel a little emotional. She had truly become a married woman now. It was hard to believe.
After carefully putting the certificate away, Jiang Ning clenched her fist and looked at her small hand.
After a moment’s thought, she took the oil lamp and turned toward the firewood shed.
In the shed, she found a piece of firewood thicker than her arm. With a forceful snap, she broke it with ease, hearing a loud “crack.”
Jiang Ning was stunned, her eyes almost popping out of her head. But after the shock, she couldn’t help but feel happy. From now on, let’s see who dares to bully her.
No wonder she was able to overpower Grandma Jiang earlier. In the modern world, she didn’t have this kind of strength.
She remembered that the original owner’s mother had been very strong and had taught her how to control her power from a young age, warning her that if anyone found out, she might be burned as a demon.
So, even though the original owner had superhuman strength, she lived cautiously in the Jiang family, afraid of being exposed.
But for Jiang Ning, arriving in this world with such a skill was undoubtedly a huge advantage.
That was also why Grandma Jiang had been so frightened when Jiang Ning grabbed her wrist earlier.
Thinking about Grandma Jiang’s obsession with money, Jiang Ning decided that if she kept the silver on her, it wouldn’t be safe.
So, she quickly moved the firewood in the shed and grabbed a hoe. With two powerful strikes, she dug a deep hole and buried the silver there, then covered it with the firewood again.
After hiding the silver, Jiang Ning left the shed.
She looked at her dirty appearance and decided to wash up before going to sleep.
She rummaged through the original owner’s things and found a set of clean clothes. Though they were torn, she put them on. At least she wouldn’t smell foul anymore!
After cleaning up, Jiang Ning lay in bed, too exhausted to stay awake for long. She quickly fell into a deep, troubled sleep.
In her dream, she seemed to return to the modern world, witnessing her parents and younger brother crying as they burned paper money. Around them, monks were chanting.
It seemed like they were holding her funeral.
Jiang Ning found it laughable. Who else could witness their own funeral?
Suddenly, she noticed someone throwing a huge paper house into the flames.
Jiang Ning glanced up and realized that the house looked exactly like the one her younger brother had.
So, was that all she deserved? A paper house?
At that thought, Jiang Ning’s fury flared up, and she woke with a start.
She irritably opened her eyes to find herself in a bamboo hut, not her old shack, and it looked a lot smaller—about ten square meters.
This part continues to depict Jiang Ning’s challenges as she deals with her forced marriage and her strained relationships, while also showcasing her growing strength and resourcefulness. Would you like to explore any part of it further or discuss something specific?