Almost as soon as he sat down, Li Lao Er asked, "Fu Niu'er, what happened?"
The village chief then came in, his eyes also filled with anxiety and worry.
Jiayin put a finger to her lips, signaling them not to ask, and whispered, "Let's go home first!"
Li Lao Er immediately gave a shout, and Zheng Feng and Zheng He drove the carriage, which started running along with a clattering sound.
The four young men from the village had already driven the mule cart back home.
After all, there are many tasks to be done in the village, and they are selling jade melons, so it is a busy time and they cannot leave too many people here to wait.
It wasn't until they left the East City and walked on the bustling streets that Jiayin said, "Second Uncle, the Empress and the princess bullied me, but I didn't suffer, and they didn't gain anything either."
"What? How did they bully you?" Li Lao Er frowned and asked, hugging his little niece even tighter.
The village chief chimed in, "Yes, the Queen and the Princess are powerful figures. We haven't offended them, so why are they bullying our child!"
Jiayin patted her second uncle's shoulder and comforted him like a little adult, "It's not a big deal. It seems that the Empress wanted to introduce a wife to my godfather, but my godfather disagreed and even wanted to give me the Marquis's mansion. So the Empress got angry and doesn't like me."
"That third princess is ugly and has a bad temper. She's jealous because my uncle likes me. She made an excuse that I was wearing the same dress as her and that I didn't know the rules, so she made me kneel down. I didn't want to kneel, so I tried to get away, and then she pulled my braid!"
Li Lao Er subconsciously grabbed his little niece's braid, but it had already been combed again, and there was no sign of it being messy.
Jiayin added, "I pulled the princess down with me and secretly pricked the pressure points on her feet. She had a stomachache and rolled around on the ground, looking really ugly!"
Jiayin couldn't help but giggle as she recalled the Third Princess's disheveled appearance.
Li Lao Er and the village chief looked a bit better. The village chief asked, "What happened next? Were they discovered?"
Jiayin shook her head and replied, "The Empress came and took the princess back to Kunning Palace to be treated by the imperial physician. But I didn't give her any medicine. I just acupunctured her acupoints. Her stomach only hurt for a little over half an hour before she was fine."
"The Third Princess was particularly wicked. She told the Empress that I had hit her, so the Empress locked me in a small house in the garden. I waited for a while, and then my uncle came to find me."
"I had mosquito repellent powder in my purse, so I applied it to my eyes. It stung and made my eyes water. I rolled around on the ground, getting all dirty. My uncle, seeing how pitiful I was, was very angry. He punished the Empress and the Princess and gave me a lot of nice things in return!"
As she spoke, she picked up the dragonfly embroidered on her necklace and showed it to her second uncle and the village chief, shaking her little head with increasing pride. "When we left the palace, the head steward said that the Third Princess had seen this set of jewelry before and asked for it, but the Emperor didn't give it to her. If she finds out, she'll probably be even angrier!"
Li Lao Er took a deep breath and used all his strength to suppress the rage in his heart.
Although his niece spoke lightly and tried her best to draw their attention to the collar, how could he not hear the danger and grievance in her words?
No matter how smart my little niece is, she's still only five or six years old. How scared she must be to be locked in a dilapidated house!
The princess is the queen's child, and the queen feels sorry for her!
Are other people's children not children too?!
Li Lao Er's eyes were bloodshot, and he could no longer hold back. He muttered curses under his breath, "Damn it, you just wait..."
The village chief grabbed Li Lao Er's sleeve, listened carefully to the sounds outside, and finding nothing amiss, advised, "Sir, this is not the place to talk. Walls have ears, even if you go home... don't say a word."
Jiayin really didn't want her second uncle to worry or get angry, so she tried to keep it lighthearted.
In fact, in her opinion, although she was a bit cowardly today and only got through by playing the victim, the princess also suffered, and she didn't break ties with the empress, which was already quite good.
Although the Li family had a marquis to back them up, two noble titles, and a first-rank imperial lady, in the end, all of these were given by the imperial family.
As the old saying goes, when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.
The royal family is the roof over the Li family's head, and the roof over all the people of Tianwu.
Both the Li family and she wanted to refuse to bow down, so they had to grow strong enough, have an iron will, and be tall enough.
The eaves retract automatically to prevent them from being broken.
But for the time being, neither she nor the Li family had the ability to do so, nor did they want to suffer a bloody defeat, so they could only handle it by ignoring the issue.
But reason and emotion are two different things. My second uncle clearly knew that this was the best way to handle the situation, and the result was good.
But emotionally, if a child is bullied and can't fight back, he'll definitely feel resentful!
Jiayin quickly hugged her second uncle's neck and earnestly tried to persuade him, "Second Uncle, I really didn't suffer any loss, and I'm not scared at all. I had some snacks in my little bag, and I ate them all. I'm not hungry at all! I only pretended to be pitiful because I wanted the Emperor to punish the princess!"
"Second Uncle, don't be angry. Grandma will be heartbroken if she sees this when we get back! I'll never go to the palace again, and I won't see that princess again! Or I'll wait for my godfather to come back and ask him to help me get revenge!"
Hearing this, Li Lao Er felt even more frustrated. The Li family's child had been wronged, and the Li family had no way to vent their anger, so they had to go to the Marquis...
But after a thousand thoughts raced through his mind, all he could say was, "Okay, Second Uncle, don't be angry. Let's be good to each other and not let Grandma find out when we get back."
"Okay, pinky promise!" Jiayin tugged at her second uncle's little finger, happy that she had kept the matter a secret.
The more Li Lao Er thought about it, the more uneasy he felt...
An important sign of a child's growth is that they only report good news and not bad.
She would cry loudly and run home after being wronged, telling everyone she met about it.
Even when they've been wronged, they go home and smile, saying they're doing just fine.
This mental journey is something that can only be achieved through enduring a great deal of hardship.
The Li family longed for their child to grow up, but they didn't want him to grow up in this way!
The village chief sighed, and casually took out his pipe. Afraid of offending the child with the smoke, he didn't dare to light it, and could only puff on it a couple of times.
The old man was somewhat bewildered. He had thought the village was already quite prosperous and life was good, and the Li family had risen to prominence, possessing titles, honorary titles, and fiefdoms, and their children were also successful.
But it seems like it's still not enough...
Crushing through the rosy glow of the sunset, the carriage finally returned to the village.
And the excitement in the melon field is coming to an end!
The buyers hurried back to the city with the jade melons and golden fruits they had purchased, fearing that the city gates would close soon if they waited any longer.
As soon as the sun began to set, Uncle Zhao stopped us from picking the melons, making up a ready-made excuse: all the ripe melons had been sold.
We can only continue searching in the fields when it's fully light tomorrow.
Otherwise, if it gets dark and you accidentally crush a few melons, you'll lose a lot of money.
So the buyers, unwilling to leave empty-handed, bought a considerable amount of melons and fruits from the three villages of Dahuaishu Village, Dawangzhuang Village, and Xiaowangzhuang Village.
The village heads and villagers of the three villages were overjoyed. Although the silver they brought back was much less than that of the new village, they had at least made their first sale.
Just as Uncle Zhao was arranging for Liu, the head镖师 (bodyguard), to carry the silver box back to the village, they saw the Li family's carriage returning, and everyone happily rushed forward.
The villagers started shouting as soon as the village chief jumped off the carriage.
"Uncle Village Chief, has the Emperor eaten any of our village's melons?"
"Yes, what did the Emperor say? Does the Emperor like it?"
The village chief was a master at winning people over. He waved his pipe and shouted, "Need I say more? The Emperor especially loves them and praised them, saying this year's melons are even sweeter than last year's! The Emperor has bestowed a reward upon them, and they will be delivered to the village tomorrow!"
"Really? Oh! That's wonderful! The Emperor said our melons are sweet!"
"I should have raised the price!"
The villagers chattered amongst themselves, their faces beaming with smiles.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com