Old Master He, brimming with confidence, made this remark thinking he was merely looking out for his granddaughter. But the Ji family’s expressions soured.
Old Lady Ji’s face flushed red, and Ji Qiuyang’s expression also turned unpleasant. Was the He family implying that the Ji family had wronged Jiang Jingyi by making her suffer?
Why didn’t the He family ask Jiang Jingyi how she had married him in the first place? If they looked down on the Ji family’s poverty, why had she married him back then? Ji Qiuyang had always harbored resentment over Jiang Jingyi’s “bumping into him” incident that led to their marriage. These past few days, he had done his best for Jiang Jingyi’s matters, yet unexpectedly found himself in such an awkward position.
The atmosphere instantly froze. Old Lady Ji murmured, “We have wronged her…”
“Not at all,” Jiang Jingyi suddenly took Old Lady Ji’s hand and comforted her with a smile. “Mother, it’s no hardship at all.”
Then Jiang Jingyi addressed Old Master He, “Grandfather, as the saying goes, it’s rare to marry a loving husband. I chose Brother Yang not for anything else, but for the man himself. I knew well that the Ji family were farming folk, but who knows if Brother Yang might one day rise to become a high-ranking official? Mother, Elder Brother, and Sister-in-law all treat me extremely well too. It’s far better than the Jiang family—no matter how fine the food, if life is unhappy, it brings no pleasure. Our life now may not be as luxurious as before, but it is comfortable.”
Old Master He looked at her in surprise, then glanced at Ji Qiuyang, suddenly realizing his words had been misunderstood. He quickly smiled and said, “I don’t mean to look down on the Ji family. It’s just that I feel the He family didn’t contribute much when Jingyi married, so I thought I’d build a courtyard as a wedding gift for her dowry.”
Hearing this explanation, Old Lady Ji breathed a sigh of relief, and Ji Qiuyang’s expression softened.
But if he had a choice, he wouldn’t want it—after all, who knew how long he and Jiang Jingyi would remain husband and wife? If they eventually went their separate ways, too many entanglements would make things difficult to untangle.
Jiang Jingyi led Old Master He and the others into the courtyard, smiling, “Grandfather, I don’t think you need to go to such trouble. Your willingness to come forward today and help me reclaim Mother’s dowry is already an enormous kindness to Jingyi. Building a courtyard in the countryside doesn’t cost much silver, and I’m not short of money now. If I wanted to build one, I could do it myself. Besides, I don’t plan to stay here long; I intend to go to the county seat soon to do business. It would be inconvenient traveling back and forth.”
“Business?”
Not only the He family members were surprised, but even Ji Qiuyang was exceptionally astonished. He had originally thought Jiang Jingyi’s talk of earning money before leaving the Ji family was just idle talk, that she would ultimately rely on her dowry. He never expected that after obtaining the dowry, she genuinely planned to do business.
The current dynasty had liberal customs, and merchants held no low status. Ji Qiuyang wouldn’t look down on commerce. In fact, his elder brother and sister-in-law also did some small business during the slack farming seasons. But hearing these words from Jiang Jingyi still made him take a second look at her.
Jiang Jingyi blinked and said, “What is it? Why are you all staring at me like that?”
“Splendid,” Old Master He said happily. “I knew Jingyi had promise. Tell you what, you go straight to Qingshui County to open a shop, and I’ll arrange a storefront for you.”
Jiang Jingyi beamed. “That would be wonderful! But let’s be clear: Grandfather can help find the storefront, but I must pay for it myself.”
Old Master He didn’t argue over this; he figured he could just pay for it anyway, and the girl would have no choice.
Ji Qiuyang, maintaining his composure, invited them inside to sit.
Although the Ji household was small and not particularly spacious, it was clean and tidy. Old Lady Ji quickly boiled water and brewed tea for Old Master He. Old Master He and the couple He Yan didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it.
Just then, Lady Yun and her husband returned. Old Lady Ji said, “Esteemed relative, please sit for a while. Let me prepare some food for the midday meal.”
Old Master He politely thanked her but said, “I’ve brought servants along. Take them and let them do the cooking.”
Old Lady Ji hesitated and looked toward Ji Qiuyang. Ji Qiuyang nodded. “Mother, just do as Grandfather says.”
“No hurry,” Jiang Jingyi smiled. “Grandfather, you and Mother sit today. Let me cook a meal for you and let you taste my skills.”
She planned to go into the food business anyway, and with Old Master He’s family present today, how could she miss this opportunity to showcase her talents?
Before Old Master He could speak, Madam Li covered her mouth and wept. “How greatly my Jingyi must have suffered in the Jiang family that she has to personally prepare meals with her own hands. That wicked woman Ma, how she has wronged my Jingyi.”
Jiang Jingyi was momentarily stunned.
He Yan also clenched his teeth and cursed, “That bastard Jiang Dachuan—we were too lenient with that scoundrel today.”
“Do you think I don’t know what he’s planning? He wants to go into business, huh? Dream on.” In Old Master He’s eyes, he could tell what Jiang Dachuan was plotting from a mile away. Why was Jiang Dachuan being so cooperative today? Wasn’t it because he coveted the He family’s business, unwilling to just stick to being a landlord? He should take a look at his own worth first.
Jiang Jingyi wiped her face, feeling a bit guilty. “I just enjoy cooking. You all just wait here.”
With that, Jiang Jingyi quickly slipped out.
The Ji family’s stove had one small pot and two large ones. The large pots were for Ji Dongyang and his wife to make tofu, and the small pot was for stir-frying dishes. Fortunately, the weather was warm now, and there were plenty of vegetables in the family garden. Jiang Jingyi had just picked up a basket to go pick vegetables when she saw a shadow fall across the doorway, someone had arrived.
“Need any help?”
It was actually Ji Qiuyang.
Jiang Jingyi shoved the basket into his arms. “Go to the vegetable garden and pick some vegetables.”
Ji Qiuyang nodded, took the basket, and went to pick vegetables. Jiang Jingyi suddenly changed her mind as she stepped out. “Grandfather and the others are guests after all. Go kill a chicken.”
“Alright.” Ji Qiuyang returned the basket to her and went to catch a chicken, showing none of the typical scholar’s attitude that men shouldn’t enter the kitchen.
By the time Jiang Jingyi returned from the backyard garden with vegetables, Ji Qiuyang was holding a chicken in one hand and a knife in the other, preparing to kill it.
Jiang Jingyi stood by watching the spectacle, observing how that hand which usually held a brush deftly slit the chicken’s throat, then held the wings to let the blood drain. His focused expression gave Jiang Jingyi an unexpected flutter of attraction.
Damn, even killing a chicken, this man looked so good.
Jiang Jingyi clicked her tongue in appreciation, then turned to see a servant from the He family carrying a large piece of meat. “Miss, the master had this meat cut.”
Looking at the piece of meat that must have weighed about ten jin, Jiang Jingyi clicked her tongue again. It was good to be rich—with such financial clout, you could even buy ten jin of meat at once.
With meat, vegetables, and chicken, Jiang Jingyi rolled up her sleeves, ready to show off her skills. However, she didn’t plan to do menial tasks like washing and cutting vegetables. The He family had brought many servants even if their work wasn’t meticulous, they could handle such simple tasks.
Following Jiang Jingyi’s directions, several servants quickly washed and cut the vegetables. Even the rooster was chopped up and arranged on a plate, waiting for Jiang Jingyi to put it in the pot.
Ji Qiuyang had intended to assist her, but Jiang Jingyi shooed him back to entertain Old Master He. Jiang Jingyi rolled up her sleeves and directed Yingtao to tend the fire, then added oil to heat, followed by scallions, ginger, garlic, and spices to burst the flavors. She tossed in a few red chili peppers, and when the pungent aroma emerged, she added the chicken meat and stir-fried it.
Meanwhile, she stir-fried vegetables on the other small pot. In less than an hour, she had prepared nearly a dozen dishes. Although they were all home-style dishes, the fragrant aromas drew Madam Li out of the house.
Seeing Jiang Jingyi’s adept handling of the ladle, Madam Li felt deeply distressed. “All this oily smoke, what if it ruins you?”
Jiang Jingyi smiled and said, “It’s nothing, almost done.”
Actually, Yingtao was utterly shocked. When had her young lady learned to cook? She had no idea. But having received Jiang Jingyi’s glance, she hadn’t dared say anything back in the house, and certainly wouldn’t expose her now.
She had thought Jiang Jingyi was just speaking casually; who would have expected the food to turn out so fragrant?
Once the dishes were laid out on the table, the stove was handed over to the He family servants to prepare their own meal. Ji Qiuyang, while arranging the dishes on the table, cast a suspicious glance at Jiang Jingyi. His impression of her had indeed changed.
He hadn’t expected this sharp-tongued, spoiled young lady to know how to cook, and from the smell of it, quite well.
Jiang Jingyi noticed his gaze and deliberately raised an eyebrow. In her previous life, when her parents were still alive, her family ran a restaurant. Every holiday, she would help out at the shop, and over time, she’d learned quite a few skills from her father. While it couldn’t compare to the refinement of hotel chefs, her cooking was quite famous in their neighborhood. Even national television food programs had come to interview at their family restaurant—that’s how good the food was.
Jiang Jingyi confidently introduced each dish one by one, then said, “To be honest, I’m planning to go into the food business. Today, I’m just showing off a little for Grandfather to taste.”
Hearing that she wanted to go into the food business, Old Master He chuckled happily, “The one business our He family has never touched is probably the food sector. Who would have thought Jingyi would fill that gap!”
With that, Old Master He invited Old Lady Ji to start eating together. Once the two elders began, the others also started tasting the dishes that interested them.
Old Master He, being older and preferring stronger flavors, picked up a piece of spicy chicken. One bite and his eyes lit up. “Delicious! This old man has never tasted such wonderful spicy chicken before.”
The others also tasted the dishes, their eyes revealing surprise and admiration.
Ji Qiuyang chewed on the most ordinary green beans—common vegetables, common appearance, but the flavor was simply excellent. He looked at Jiang Jingyi with increasingly complex feelings, feeling as though the Jiang Jingyi before him now was a different person from the Jiang Jingyi before their marriage.
This thought startled even Ji Qiuyang himself. Could it be that she really was a different person?
Suddenly, the food in Ji Qiuyang’s mouth became tasteless, and he seriously began recalling the differences between the previous Jiang Jingyi and the current one.
Before Jiang Jingyi had bumped into him, she had actually come to the academy several times to find him, simply to express her feelings. There were also many rumors about Jiang Jingyi in town, but he wasn’t one to follow hearsay, so when Jiang Jingyi came to express her feelings, he had politely explained that he didn’t wish to marry for the time being.
At that time, Jiang Jingyi hadn’t persisted, but later he personally witnessed Jiang Jingyi yelling at and beating a servant, seemingly venting her bad mood.
Coupled with the fact that Jiang Jingyi later forcibly bumped into him and demanded he take responsibility, Ji Qiuyang’s impression of her could not have been worse.
But on their wedding night, originally Jiang Jingyi was about to succeed, and he was powerless to resist, yet Jiang Jingyi suddenly gave up. The shock in her eyes couldn’t deceive him.
Then later, Jiang Jingyi signed that agreement with him, and the events of the following days…
Ji Qiuyang’s heart suddenly trembled violently. It seemed possible…
**