Jiang Changfeng followed behind her the whole way. He didn’t go over to watch what she was doing, only stood at a distance, keeping watch for her.
He saw Shen Yihuan take a small bottle from her clothes and spray a little here and there around the corners of the courtyard wall. Before long, the entire courtyard was overwhelmed by a horrendous stench.
He had no idea where she had gotten so many strange and unusual things.
Such a tiny bottle, yet its effect was astonishingly powerful!
It also made him realize where the foul smell on Shen Mingzhu had come from.
His wife was truly clever and full of mischief.
After Shen Yihuan had thoroughly enjoyed herself and ran back to her own courtyard, panting for breath, Jiang Changfeng had already returned ahead of her.
Seeing him sitting obediently inside the room waiting for her, Shen Yihuan let out a sigh of relief.
He was quite well-behaved.
“Let’s go. It’s not safe to stay here any longer.”
“Alright.”
Without a word of objection, Jiang Changfeng readily agreed.
The two of them walked from the back courtyard toward the front.
As they reached the covered corridor, Madam Li came rushing after them with a group of servants.
“Stop! Where do you think you’re going?”
Seeing the aggressive crowd approaching, Jiang Changfeng calmly stepped in front of Shen Yihuan, shielding her behind him.
“What, are you inviting me to stay for dinner?” Shen Yihuan poked her head out from behind him, raising an eyebrow in provocation.
Madam Li snorted coldly. “You little bitch! How dare you humiliate my Mingzhu? I’ll make you pay today!”
With that, she shot a meaningful glance at her personal maid.
Understanding immediately, the maid ordered the servants behind her, “Go. Capture the eldest young lady!”
“Yes!”
Several burly servants roared in unison and charged forward with wooden clubs they had prepared beforehand.
A fierce glint flashed through Jiang Changfeng’s eyes.
“Wife, stand aside.”
After reassuring Shen Yihuan, he charged straight toward them.
As the first club swung at him, he advanced instead of retreating. With his left hand, he deflected the club, while his right fist slammed into the attacker’s chest.
The man was sent flying backward, letting out a miserable scream.
Another servant seized the opportunity to smash a club toward Jiang Changfeng’s head. He sidestepped the blow and immediately drove a kick into the man’s stomach.
The servant rolled several times across the ground before curling into a ball like a shrimp in agony.
The remaining servants were thoroughly terrified. They looked at one another but none dared step forward.
Madam Li flew into a rage, no longer caring about appearances.
“What are you all standing there for? Capture them! Whoever catches one of them will be rewarded with ten taels of silver!”
Heavy rewards inspire brave men.
The servants exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and charged again with their clubs.
Jiang Changfeng neither dodged nor retreated. He caught the first club that came down, yanked both the weapon and its owner toward him with brute force, then swung the man around and hurled him into the crowd like a rag sack, sending everyone sprawling across the ground.
Madam Li had never imagined Jiang Changfeng possessed such monstrous strength. Watching the servants groan in pain and lie on the ground unable to get up, she felt utterly humiliated.
“Get lost! Useless trash!” she cursed angrily.
The maid, pale with fright, hurriedly had the injured servants dragged aside so they wouldn’t offend Madam Li’s eyes any further.
Shen Yihuan stood there with her mouth hanging open. Watching Jiang Changfeng knock people down one punch at a time had been like watching someone hit punching bags—it looked completely effortless.
What incredible strength!
Gulp.
She heard herself swallow and couldn’t help feeling relieved.
Fortunately, she hadn’t tried to fight against Jiang Changfeng before.
Otherwise, one punch from him would probably have made her cough up blood—or worse.
After dealing with all the servants, Jiang Changfeng’s face remained icy.
He looked at the furious Madam Li and said in a calm but resolute voice,
“Madam Shen, Yihuan is now my wife. She is a member of the Jiang family.
My Jiang family may only be a modest household of scholars and farmers, far from the wealth and prestige of your Shen family, but we are law-abiding citizens whose names are officially registered with the government. We are not people to be bullied by just any random cat or dog!”
Madam Li’s face flushed crimson with rage. She didn’t dare provoke the towering man before her, so she pointed at Shen Yihuan and spat viciously,
“Shen Yihuan, just you wait! From now on, don’t even think about setting foot in the Shen family again!”
Shen Yihuan stuck out her tongue at her, her crisp voice full of triumph.
“Fine by me! You think I care about going back? You’re all birds of a feather, and the whole place stinks to high heaven! Even if you begged me to return, I wouldn’t!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she straightened her back, waved a small hand proudly at Jiang Changfeng, looking every bit like a fox borrowing a tiger’s might, and declared,
“Come on, Husband! Let’s go home!”
Hearing her call him ‘Husband,’ Jiang Changfeng’s heart surged with emotion.
He followed behind her in a daze as they walked out of the Shen residence, his mind filled entirely with her spirited, adorable expression and that sweet, soft ‘Husband.’
Still basking in the satisfaction of getting her revenge, Shen Yihuan didn’t notice anything unusual about him.
After everything that had happened, she felt the distance between them had narrowed.
She also found herself becoming much bolder.
“How about we go take a look around the marketplace?” she suggested.
She wanted to buy a few things before heading home.
“Alright,” Jiang Changfeng readily agreed.
Thinking about the coarse brown rice they had been eating at the Jiang household over the past two days, she led him straight to a grain shop.
Money wasn’t an issue for her now, and since Jiang Changfeng had performed so well just now, she decided it was time to show a little goodwill toward the Jiang family.
If she was happy, everyone would be happy.
The shop assistant sized up Shen Yihuan’s fine cotton-silk clothing and immediately recognized a wealthy customer. He hurried over with a beaming smile.
“Miss, are you buying rice or flour? We’ve just received a fresh batch of polished rice. It’s forty-five copper coins per dou.”
“I’ll have a look first,” Shen Yihuan replied.
She was rather disappointed with the rice before her.
It wasn’t even properly white—its grains had a yellowish tint. When she scooped up a handful, she could clearly see tiny grains of sand and other impurities mixed in.
And this was considered polished rice?
No wonder people had always insisted on washing rice carefully throughout history. Rice of this quality would probably chip your teeth if you didn’t clean it thoroughly.
While Shen Yihuan continued looking around, Jiang Changfeng spoke up.
“Shopkeeper, give me ten dou of polished rice.”
“Certainly! Please wait a moment, sir. I’ll pack it right away,” the assistant replied cheerfully.
Shen Yihuan lowered her voice. “Shouldn’t we buy a little more? I have money.”
Jiang Changfeng frowned. “No need. I have enough.”
After calculating the money he had on hand, he added, “And another ten dou of white flour.”
The assistant quickly agreed.
Shen Yihuan glanced at the prices and did the math in her head.
The rice cost forty-five copper coins per dou, and the flour seventy per dou. Buying ten dou of each came to one tael of silver and one hundred fifty copper coins altogether.
When the assistant finished weighing and bagging the grain, Shen Yihuan was the first to offer payment.
She took out one of the silver ingots from her dowry—a cute little rounded ingot worth ten taels.
A shadow crossed Jiang Changfeng’s eyes as he stopped her.
“I’ll pay.”
He handed over two taels of broken silver.
The assistant glanced at the silver ingot, accepted Jiang Changfeng’s silver instead, and said, “Received two taels of silver. Here’s your change—eight hundred fifty copper coins.”
With that, he went to the counter to fetch the change.
Shen Yihuan turned to look at Jiang Changfeng and noticed his displeased expression.
She realized her actions had probably hurt his pride, but for now, she didn’t want to feel indebted to him.
Pressing her lips together, she tucked the silver ingot into his hand.
“Here.”
“This is your dowry,” Jiang Changfeng said, pushing it back into her hands. “I won’t take it.”