Chapter 71 Injured
Her fingertips slowly brushed across the cold fonts.
Three silk shops, three hundred acres of paddy fields, two shops...
Each one of them was once the foundation accumulated by the ancestors of the Jiang family, but now it has become the dirty silver in the pockets of the two gamblers in front of them.
"What are you going to do? In the past, you were asked to marry early, but now you have become the Shangguan Dong family, with a great reputation.
"I have countless gold and silver at my disposal, so let's write off everything we have done. Hurry and bring over the 20,000 taels of silver!"
Jiang Baizhou's face looked extremely ugly, his hands clenched slightly under his wide sleeves, his back tense, and he faced Jiang Qingning in a defensive posture.
"Write it all off"
She raised her head, and a faint curve appeared at the corner of her lips.
The smile did not reach his eyes, but instead made his gaze even colder, piercing straight at the two people opposite him who were out of their wits' end.
"Second uncle, third uncle." Her voice was soft, yet had a strange penetrating power.
"You were just like that back then, you just wiped out my father and brother's future with just a few words.
You didn't hesitate to drive my falsely accused father and brother out of the house, and now you want to write off my life just like that?"
“Snap!”
Jiang Songyan accidentally touched the teacup on the table in front of him, and the scalding hot tea spilled all over the table, dripping down the edge of the table.
He was completely unaware and just stared at Jiang Qingning in horror.
"Eight years ago, you said that women are born to be vines that cling to men. It is my blessing, Jiang Qingning, to be able to climb high and buy a breathing space for the family."
Jiang Qingning's voice was like a sharp blade tempered with ice, and every word cut open the bloody past.
Jiang Baizhou's whole body shook violently, his lips trembling. He wanted to refute, but he could only gasp.
The sickly blush on Jiang Songyan's face faded instantly, turning pale and cold sweat dripping down his face.
"Lingnan!"
Jiang Qingning stood up suddenly, her plain dress fluttering without wind, and a sharp chill suddenly spread out, and the temperature of the entire pawnshop seemed to drop a few degrees.
She stared at the two of them, her eyes burning with suppressed hatred. "We've been exiled to a land of malaria, almost five thousand miles away! My father, mother, brother, and sister haven't been allowed back to the capital for eight years. Have they ever felt a single thought or concern from you?"
The last sentence was choked with uncontrollable sobs, but she bit it tightly between her teeth, turning it into deeper hatred.
Jiang Qingning took a deep breath and raised the contract in his hand.
The paper made a fragile sound in the dim light. His eyes swept across the names of the industries circled in ink, and finally fell back to the two pale faces opposite him.
"So, today you are selling off your ancestral property to fill the bottomless pit of which gambling house?
Is it the Hongyun Casino or the Qianjin Yicai Building? Or is it that he owes money to some noble person again, and the interest has accumulated to the point that he has to dig up his ancestors' graves?"
"You...you are slandering me!"
Jiang Baizhou jumped up from his chair like a cat whose tail was stepped on, roaring fiercely but weakly, pointing at Jiang Qingning with trembling fingers.
"We...we're trying to keep our business going, to get important positions for our sons, to bring honor to our family. What do you know?"
"To turn around the business? To bring honor to the family?"
Jiang Qingning sneered, "What a high-sounding excuse! Second Uncle, the ink on that Hongyun Casino IOU in your sleeve pocket hasn't dried yet, has it? Third Uncle, you lost that ancestral mutton-fat jade ring at the Golden House last night, are you still feeling bad about it?"
Her words were like precise poisonous arrows, instantly piercing through the disguises that the two men had put on.
Jiang Baizhou and Jiang Songyan looked ashen, their lips moving but they could not utter a single word.
Jiang Qingning took a step forward, the contract paper almost poking Jiang Baizhou's nose: "Back then you said that women could only survive by getting married and clinging to men, so now..."
Her gaze was like an icy probe, piercing into the frightened eyes of Jiang Baizhou and Jiang Songyan.
"I'd like to use the same price you sold off as the ancestral property passed down by our ancestors to buy back the Jiang family's ancestral home. I wonder if Second Uncle and Third Uncle are willing?"
The word "ancestral home" was like two thunderbolts, striking Jiang Baizhou and Jiang Songyan on the heads.
"Don't even think about it!"
Jiang Baizhou was completely ignited, and all his fear and guilt erupted into hysterical rage the moment the absolute taboo was touched.
Jiang Baizhou was furious, he was the head of the Jiang family.
Now that Jiang Qingning has seized the opportunity, he actually wants to seize power from him!
The day he takes back the position of the head of the family from his brother, he will be the head of the Jiang family forever. No one can change it, and no one can seize power!
He swung his arm violently and swept it towards the contract document in Jiang Qingning's hand.
“Snap!”
There was a crisp sound, not the contract being torn, but the celadon teacup in Jiang Baizhou's hand was blown away by his waving of his sleeve, and smashed heavily on the shelf of the Duobao Pavilion next to it, and the broken porcelain pieces flew everywhere.
"Bitch! Wishful thinking!"
Jiang Baizhou's face was distorted, his eyes were red, and he pointed at Jiang Qingning and cursed loudly, spitting everywhere.
"The ancestral home is the root of the Jiang family and belongs to us brothers. How can you, a divorced woman with a ruined reputation, get your hands on it?
Who the hell are you? I should have let you die with those two on the Lingnan Road back then, so you wouldn't have to come back and cause trouble for our family today!"
"Shut up! You are not allowed to insult my lady!"
Nanny Zhang, who had been silently guarding Jiang Qingning, could no longer bear it. The young lady she loved as her life was being cursed like this. The grief, humiliation and loyalty to the master's family that had been accumulated for eight years burst out at this moment.
She rushed in front of Jiang Qingning, and her thin body burst out with amazing momentum.
His wrinkled face flushed with extreme anger, his bony fingers pointed directly at Jiang Songyan's nose, his voice trembling with excitement:
"Back then, you two were black-hearted, rotten-hearted gamblers. You sold out your loved ones for a few taels of gambling debt. How honest were the master and mistress, and how kind was the eldest young master!"
"To cover up your own filth, you dare to accuse the powerful and influential to prove your baseless crimes. Your hearts must have been eaten by dogs, stained blacker than ink by the dice in the gambling house!"
"You old bastard, you're looking for death!"
A violent roar interrupted Aunt Zhang's accusation.
Jiang Songyan, who had been slumped in the chair with his face turning pale and blue, was completely stabbed in the deepest fear and pain by the three words "black heart".
He jumped up from the chair and slapped Aunt Zhang with all his strength.
“Snap!”
Jiang Songyan's strength was so great that Nanny Zhang stumbled and fell to the side.
Her body was like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the cold corner pillar, and her forehead hit the solid pillar, making a heart-pounding muffled sound.
"Madam Zhang!"
Zi Su screamed and pounced forward quickly.
A streak of glaring blood flowed down from the corner of Zhang Ma's forehead where it was broken.
She curled up there, her body twitching slightly in pain, her gray hair sticking to her bloodstained cheeks.
Zi Su tried to help her up tremblingly, but Aunt Zhang stopped her by shaking her head.
Nanny Zhang stared at Jiang Songyan with her cloudy eyes. There was pain and humiliation in her eyes, but more of it was deep hatred.
"That's how you treated the Master and the Madam back then, and now you dare to threaten the Young Miss! Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will still speak up for the Young Miss!"
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