"This...this is impossible! Jiang! You're framing me! Believe me or not, I'll kill you!" Lu Youren's intention was to defile Shen Congxin. He hadn't been thinking about money at all. The fact that the money bag had suddenly appeared on him meant there was only one possibility: this woman in front of him had framed him!

Jiang Ling, with a forced smile, weighed the money pouch in her hand. She pointed to the character "Jiang" at the bottom of the pouch and said to the village chief and the crowd, "My surname is embroidered on this money pouch. There are a total of eight taels of silver and twenty-three copper coins inside! Village chief and all of you can come and check!"

As she spoke, Jiang Ling casually opened her money pouch and poured all the money inside onto the table.

The clinking of copper coins went on for quite a while.

“They’re all here, please count them!” Jiang Ling said with a stern face.

The crowd looked at each other and then turned their gazes to the village chief. The village chief glanced at everyone, walked to the table with a displeased expression, and presented the total of eight taels of silver and twenty-three copper coins, which was just right!

The village chief glared at Lu Youren, carefully put the money back into the money bag, handed it to Jiang Ling, and comforted her, "Jiang, don't be angry, I'll handle this!"

Jiang Ling ignored the village chief and glared at Lu Youren, gritting her teeth as she said, "Lu Youren, you're a beast! Back then, you despised me for not having a son, and you and your mother conspired to abuse me. I was lucky enough to escape, and the village chief took pity on me and provided shelter for the three of us!"

"Later, as our family's life gradually improved, your mother started causing trouble at my house again. Have you forgotten about Wenxi's forehead and Suihe's Three Character Classic? I won't even mention how you framed me for going to Jiangjia Village to inform them when you found the potatoes! Now you've also brought Widow Wang into your family, and Widow Wang has given you a son. Are you trying to force the three of us to our deaths?" Jiang Ling said, tears streaming down her face, her eyes red. Suddenly, her gaze turned cold, and she rammed her head against a pillar in the Lu family ancestral hall.

"not good!"

"Jiang Shi! Don't do anything foolish!"

"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law! Quick! Stop her!"

The crowd hurriedly pulled Jiang Ling back, and she sat on the ground, bursting into tears. Between sobs, she continued, "I am now a Lady of the Imperial Household, and I didn't want to use my official power to intimidate you, but you keep pushing us to the brink!"

Jiang Ling knew about the bloodline and clan relationships in ancient times. Several times before, the village chief had spared Lu Youren because of his surname "Lu". This time, Jiang Ling had to teach Lu Youren a lesson, otherwise who knows what this unruly beast might do in the future.

Amidst the noise and commotion, Lightning from the security team suddenly came running over, panting. He stared blankly at the scene before him.

"Lightning, what brings you here?" Lightning Girl asked in surprise.

Lu Shandian slapped his forehead when asked this question. "Grandpa Village Chief, several carriages have arrived outside. They say they are from the Shen family in Guangping County. We are stopping them from entering. You should go and take a look!"

"The Shen family? Shen Qianhe is here?" Jiang Ling, who was pretending to cry, immediately stopped crying and began to think.

"The Shen family? The Shen family that's in the ceramics business?"

What are they doing here?

"Oh dear, Miss Chen's surname is Chen, could it be..."

The sound of murmurs gradually began to rise from the crowd again.

This time, the village chief didn't stop everyone. Instead, he looked at Jiang Ling with some difficulty. Jiang Ling "sensibly" wiped away her tears and said in a choked voice, "Let's go, I'll go with you, village chief, to take a look!"

The village chief nodded and pointed to two hardworking men who were guarding the Lu family ancestral hall.

The group rushed to the village entrance, and Jiang Ling saw from afar that Shen Qianhe was standing at the village entrance talking to the guards.

Upon seeing Jiang Ling in the crowd, Shen Qianhe immediately waved to her and said very politely, "I was unaware of your identity before and was quite rude to you!"

Jiang Ling waved her hand dismissively and said, "It's nothing, nothing. She's just a lowly woman! Not worth mentioning!"

As everyone watched Jiang Ling and Shen Qianhe chatting away, some scratched their heads, wondering if this was the same Yao Jie's mother who had threatened to bang her head against a wall earlier. However, since she was a lady-in-waiting appointed by the imperial court, they didn't dare to discuss it too much behind her back.

"Where is my daughter Congxin now?" Shen Qianhe asked anxiously, peering inside.

Shen Qianhe's words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd. They never expected that Jiang Ling, this "distant niece," was actually Shen Qianhe's daughter.

Shen Qianhe is a renowned porcelain master in Guangping County. Although he is not as wealthy as a country, he is a well-known figure in Guangping County. There are even rumors that a batch of porcelain from the Shen family was specially presented as tribute to the current emperor in Shengjing.

If you accidentally offend the Shen family, you'll definitely die without a burial place.

Jiang Ling immediately put on a troubled expression and looked at the village chief.

After hearing Shen Qianhe introduce himself, the village chief's head exploded. He was already cursing Lu Youren's ancestors for eighteen generations in his heart.

"Hmm? Is something wrong with my daughter?" Shen Qianhe, who had traveled all over the country for many years, asked anxiously as he looked at Jiang Ling's unpredictable expression.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Jiang Ling immediately passed the hot potato to the village chief, saying, "Village chief, why don't you tell me?"

The village chief felt his mind go blank with a "buzz". Although he was the village chief, he had no power or authority. All he had was an extra tael of silver from the imperial court every year. How could an old farmer like him possibly fight against Shen Qianhe in front of him?

His knees buckled, and he knelt directly before Lord Shen Qianhe, tears streaming down his face, saying, "Lord Shen... I'm so sorry, Miss Shen..."

"What happened to her! Tell me!" Shen Qianhe's heart was clenched as he watched the scene the village chief had just witnessed. He frowned and urged him on.

Hearing the conversation between the two, Madam Shen suddenly felt a surge of joy, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up. However, as soon as she looked up, she met Jiang Ling's sharp gaze. Feeling a little guilty, she took two steps back and tried to use Shen Qianhe's body as a shield.

Seeing Madam Shen's actions, Jiang Ling's doubts were largely confirmed. She had found this matter strange before. Even if Lu Youren was a reckless scoundrel, he had been relatively quiet recently. How could he have run off to mess around right after Widow Wang gave birth to his son? Besides, she was, after all, a lady of the house. Even if Lu Youren was confused, he would not come looking for trouble with her again.

Seeing Madam Shen's guilty expression, Jiang Linglian realized that this matter was probably not so simple.

The village chief carefully explained to Shen Qianhe, but Shen Qianhe couldn't listen to anything after hearing that her daughter was unconscious. She gestured for the village chief to take her to see how Shen Congxin was doing.

Jiang Ling's home.

Lightning Girl carefully fed Shen Congxin her medicine, while comforting her and telling her not to take Lu Youren's reckless words to heart.

Shen Congxin's face remained pale, and two lines of clear tears slid down her cheeks, making her look utterly pitiful.

"From the heart! From the heart! From the heart!" Shen Qianhe's anxious voice came from outside the window.