Chapter 107 Hard Steel
Old Mrs. Jiang stared at Jiang Qingning, her cloudy eyes filled with disbelief and the shame of being exposed.
“You, you!”
She stretched out her skinny fingers and pointed at Jiang Qingning tremblingly.
"Rebellion! This is outrageous! Evil creature! Jiang family, how could the Jiang family raise someone like you, someone so disobedient, unfilial, and vicious..."
"Jiang family?"
Jiang Qingning suddenly interrupted her hysterical accusations, his voice suddenly rising, as cold as an icy spring hitting a stone, with undisguised contempt, instantly drowning out the old lady Jiang's screams.
Jiang Qingning looked around slowly, his eyes sweeping over the Ning Pavilion's brand new door lintel and the surprised and confused faces outside the door.
Finally, it fell back on Old Mrs. Jiang, whose face was twisted with anger and embarrassment.
"This Jiang family that my grandmother mentioned."
Jiang Qingning's voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly in every corner.
"I'm referring to the Jiang family, who allowed the second branch of the family to indulge in gambling, causing them to lose all the land and shops accumulated by generations of ancestors through bloody battles, and finally fell heavily into debt. In the end, they even sold off their ancestral property and dared to secretly pawn the sacrificial land of the ancestral temple."
"Or are you referring to the Jiang family who indulged the third wife in favor of concubines and neglected his wife, and are insatiable in their greed?"
"Or,"
Jiang Qingning took a step forward, his eyes piercing, "Is it because for the past eight years, I have ignored my eldest son and grandson, who have been far away in Lingnan, braving the miasma and barbaric smoke, barely maintaining the last bit of dignity for this rotten family?
Yet, upon learning that the second and third branches were falling apart, they immediately rode in a carriage and blocked the other granddaughter's door in a threatening manner, accusing the Jiang family of destroying the family without asking any questions?
The discussions outside the door could no longer be suppressed and began to buzz.
Old Mrs. Jiang's face turned from blue to white, and then from white to purple, and her chest heaved violently.
The crutch in her hand was shaking violently. She tried to raise it and point it at Jiang Qingning several times, but she was too angry to do so.
"You are slandering your elders, you!" She repeated the empty rebuke in vain.
"slander?"
Jiang Qingning raised a very cold arc at the corner of his lips, and there was no warmth in his eyes.
"If Grandmother thinks this is slander, you can send someone to investigate right now to find out how many shops and acres of land Second Uncle still owns."
"Check whether Third Uncle's new concubine is the adopted daughter of the owner of the jewelry shop in the west of the city. Also, find out who paid the royal doctor's fee for treating your injuries back then."
"Grandmother may not know that when you were terminally ill, you were unwilling to seek help from your eldest son and grandson before he passed away. Why did a miracle doctor suddenly come to treat you?"
"That's because it was my father who begged me to take care of you before he left. If I hadn't sent someone to find a miracle doctor, you might not have survived that winter."
Old Mrs. Jiang's cloudy pupils suddenly contracted, and she stared at Jiang Qingning intently. Her dry throat moved, but she could no longer utter a complete syllable.
She obviously knew that what Jiang Qingning said was probably true.
After all, she had been ill for a long time and felt that she had seen her husband who had died long ago, but was suddenly revived.
"This empty shell, which survives by sucking the blood and flesh of the eldest son, selling daughters for fame, and relying on the legacy of its ancestors, has long been hollowed out and rotten inside."
Jiang Qingning's voice suddenly rose to the highest point, clearly covering all the discussions: "Are you worthy of being called the Jiang family?"
Her voice was filled with determination, like an invisible thunder that exploded in front of Ning Pavilion's door.
Absolute deathly silence enveloped the area. Even the neighbors outside the door, who were craning their necks to watch the excitement, felt as if their throats were being strangled and they dared not breathe.
Old Mrs. Jiang's hunched body suddenly leaned back, and her wrinkled face instantly lost all its color, becoming as gray as a dead tree.
The old nanny hurriedly supported the unsteady Mrs. Jiang, and looked at her cloudy eyes, which were wide open, with scary red veins on the whites of her eyes, and were fixed on Jiang Qingning's face in disbelief.
There was no longer the previous fury and condescending judgment in that look. What remained was a kind of bone-deep shock after all the fig leaves were completely stripped away.
"Jiang Qingning, you are so disrespectful, you are unfilial, you are talking back to your grandmother!"
Her fingers dug into the arm of the maid next to her so tightly that her nails almost dug into her flesh.
The old nanny turned pale with pain, but she dared not say a word. She just tried her best to use her body to support the old lady's shaky body.
"May I ask, grandma, how was my granddaughter disrespectful?" Jiang Qingning asked back in a cold voice without any fear.
Old Mrs. Jiang's lips were trembling.
She wanted to bring out filial piety and clan law, but these weapons that were once invincible now seemed so pale and ridiculous.
"Evil creature, you are the evil creature that was struck by thunder. Forefathers of the Jiang family, ancestors are above you!"
"Open your eyes and look at this unworthy descendant. She is trying to dig up the roots of our Jiang family!"
She stabbed the bluestone slabs under her feet frantically with the crutch in her hand, harshly accusing Jiang Qingning of being unfilial.
Jiang Qingning stood there quietly, like a cold stone statue.
Looking at this elderly grandmother, who was hysterical and looked like a madman, my heart had long since calmed down.
Eight years of bitter cold in Lingnan, the hideous arrow scar on Qingxi's heart, the suffocating oppression in the side hall of the ancestral hall, and Shang's despair as she knelt on the ground and cried.
Scenes flashed before my eyes, and finally transformed into the person in front of me, with a crazy and distorted face.
"Grandma is tired." Jiang Qingning's voice was terrifyingly calm. "Zi Su, show the guest away."
Zi Su said firmly: "Yes, Miss."
She rushed to the door and said sternly to the driver and maid who were also stunned outside, "Old lady, please get in the carriage!"
The maid who was supporting the old lady had already turned pale at this moment. She was afraid that something bad would happen if she stayed any longer, so she didn't care about anything else and hurriedly helped the old lady into the carriage.
"Get out of here! You...you slaves...are rebelling! You're all rebelling! Jiang Qingning, you will die a horrible death!"
Old Mrs. Jiang's cursing was blocked by the curtains of the carriage, becoming unclear and making an unpleasant noise.
"Stop! What are you doing!?"
A coquettish voice sounded, successfully stopping the actions of everyone present, and everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
A luxurious carriage stopped outside Ning Pavilion, followed by dozens of maids. A nanny nearby stepped forward, lifted the curtain of the carriage, and personally helped the woman inside out.
A look of pride flashed across Jiang Ruyi's eyes, and he glanced with contempt at Jiang Qingning who was standing on the steps.
"You damned old women, didn't you hear what I told you? Stop it now! I'm the wife of the Marquis of Anping!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the maid hurriedly helped Old Madam Jiang out from behind the curtain.
"Ruyi, is this my Ruyi?"
Old Madam Jiang hurried forward and held her hand tightly.
Jiang Ruyi replied perfunctorily: "Grandma, it's me."
The nanny beside her pulled Madam Jiang's hand away and scolded her without hesitation, "How dare you! Our Madam is pregnant now. Even if your madam misses you, she shouldn't rush in like this. What if she scares you?"
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