Chapter 226 My Own Child, Absolutely My Own Child (Long Chapter)
Jiang Nuanzhi noticed their unease and glanced at them briefly before asking, "Are you twins?"
Fusheng nodded: "Yes, madam."
Is your family a criminal household?
Fusheng's face paled slightly, and his lips trembled as he spoke, "Yes, Madam."
“If it’s a criminal record, the two of you would only get four taels of silver for selling yourselves, which is still not enough.”
Fusheng pursed his lips: "I was thinking that since we have become servants of the Madam's family, could the Madam help my brother and me pay our taxes first? It can be deducted from our monthly allowances."
Jiang Nuanzhi raised an eyebrow: "If I don't take you in, what are your plans?"
Fusheng pursed his lips and lowered his eyes, saying, "We still have some land at home. If all else fails, we can sell the land and then sell ourselves to make ends meet."
As he spoke, his face paled slightly, and his younger sister beside him reddened, instinctively tugging at her brother's sleeve. She looked at Jiang Nuanzhi with great anxiety.
Jiang Nuanzhi glanced at the boy; he was clever and quite courageous.
Look at this little girl; although she's young, her hands are covered in calluses, showing she's quite capable. She also seems to have a gentle personality.
These days, with so many people and so many things to do at home, I definitely need someone to help out.
He nodded and asked, "How old are you this year?"
"Yes, Madam, he is thirteen."
Jiang Nuanzhi paused for a moment. Was this considered child labor? But she herself was only sixteen, yet already a mother of three. The perception of age was also quite different in this era. It seemed that seven- or eight-year-olds were already very sensible. Take Xiao Er, for example; he was only six, but often felt like a big kid.
If you really have to choose someone to live with all the time, it's definitely better to choose someone younger.
Then he took the pulses of the two children separately. Apart from being a little malnourished, the two children had no other problems and smiled and said, "Okay, I agree."
After signing the contract, Jiang Nuanzhi promptly handed him ten taels of silver.
"I'll give you three days to settle your mother and brother. If there's any work in town, quit it. Buy each of you a clean set of clothes, and then bring your sister to work."
Fusheng's hands trembled as he held the ten taels of silver. He was stunned for a long time, his eyes red as he looked at Jiang Nuanzhi. Wasn't this person afraid he would take the silver away?
These past few days have been filled with setbacks, and his mother's medicine has been interrupted for quite some time. Today, he was thinking of selling himself into servitude so his younger sister could bring back the money. He hadn't expected to overhear the aunties discussing this on the way; he was just trying it out. Unexpectedly, he actually received the money. Even if he didn't earn any money working in the village, just having enough to eat would be enough. Since he lived close to home, anyone who could help him in any situation could do so.
Thinking this, he knelt down with a thud and kowtowed three times to Jiang Nuanzhi.
"I will never forget your great kindness, Madam."
Jiang Nuanzhi waved her hand: "Don't call me Madam, just call me Sister Nuan from now on. Go on."
Fusheng wiped away his tears, took his sister's hand, and the two left the house.
Jiang Nuanzhi looked at the two of them and vaguely felt that the name Fusheng was strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite remember where she had heard it before.
He simply shook his head, trying not to think about him, and then noticed the waiter beside him, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Silly boy, why are you opening your mouth so wide? Want to eat dust?"
As he spoke, he closed the waiter's mouth.
Xiao Er stared wide-eyed in surprise, looking up at Jiang Nuanzhi: "Anuan, are we going to buy servants?"
Jiang Nuanzhi nodded: "Do you know what a servant is?"
Xiao Er nodded vigorously: "I know, last time Grandma Liu bought Xiao Hu a little brother. I saw that little brother lying on the ground and letting Xiao Hu ride on his back. Can I ride on that little brother too?"
Jiang Nuanzhi was stunned and didn't come to her senses for a moment, then looked at the waiter.
"you"
"What did you say?" Li Rong, who was standing beside him, seemed to hear something in a daze, and his sharp gaze immediately swept over: "Li Jun'an, say it again!"
The waiter shrank back in fright and immediately said, "Father, I...I know I was wrong."
Jiang Nuanzhi looked at the waiter, who was pounding his head and looked like he had done something wrong, and squatted down to ask him, "Waiter, what are you thinking? Do you want to ride on that older brother, or..."
"He wouldn't dare!" Li Rong glared before he even finished speaking.
The waiter shrank his neck and shook his head: "No, I don't want to."
"Go stand in the meditation posture for an hour, figure out exactly where you went wrong, and then come see me."
"Yes," the waiter replied, and obediently squatted there to practice his stance.
Jiang Nuanzhi didn't say anything in front of the child, but then sat down in front of Li Rong and said, "Hey, why are you being so fierce? Don't you want to know what the child is thinking?"
Li Rong touched his nose: "Am I that fierce?"
Jiang Nuanzhi nodded: "Yes."
Li Rong: "You know that little tiger from the Liu family, he's never been a good person to begin with. The fact that he wants to learn from someone like that shows how negligent I've been in disciplining him. I'm truly ashamed."
Jiang Nuanzhi took a sip of her hot tea and said, "Yes, it was an oversight."
Li Rong: "...Hmm?"
Jiang Nuanzhi couldn't help but laugh: "Do you expect me to praise you?"
Li Rong touched his nose, feeling somewhat embarrassed by Jiang Nuanzhi's gaze, and remained silent for a while.
“Xiao Er is tough, so you can punish him as you please. But there are some things I feel I should tell you. Actually, when you were still on the mountain and hadn’t come back, Xiao Er and I went to the fields. Xiao Hu pulled him to ride a big horse, but I disagreed. Aunt Liu said that as long as Xiao Er knelt down and let Xiao Hu ride the horse, we would be exempted from paying two taels of silver. Do you know that at that time, Xiao Er and I only had two taels of silver left on us.”
"Waiter, may I kneel down?" Li Rong asked, pursing his lips.
Jiang Nuanzhi smiled and shook her head: "Of course not."
"But I think the reason I asked this question today is because of what happened before."
Li Rong remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Anuan, thank you."
Jiang Nuanzhi waved her hand: "What I really wanted to tell you is that Xiao Er is not an ignorant child. He already knows how to be filial to me. This morning he even gave me some money to buy jewelry."
As he said this, he ostentatiously waved the money bag in his hand.
"You don't need to worry about him going astray. After dinner today, I'll take him out with me and have a good talk with him."
Li Rong: "I've wronged you, and I've wronged the children."
Jiang Nuanzhi was both amused and exasperated: "I just wanted to tell you to relax. Whether it's the child or me, you didn't do anything wrong today. I also think that as a father, you should have some authority, but you really don't need to be so tense."
Li Rong was stunned for a moment, staring blankly at Jiang Nuanzhi.
Jiang Nuanzhi couldn't help but look down at him: "Hey, you can smile, right? I don't think I've ever seen you smile. You always have a straight face."
"You're good-looking, you must be even more beautiful when you smile, give me a smile!"
Li Rong froze, and in Jiang Nuanzhi's gaze, he forced a smile.
Jiang Nuanzhi: "You really haven't laughed at all, have you?"
The twitching at the corner of his mouth is even more unsightly than crying.
Li Rong: "."
Looking back, it seems as if laughter had never existed in his life.
He had never met his mother, and his father was always strict. He couldn't recall any smiling face in his childhood memories.
As I grew older, I joined the army. At first, because I was pretty, I couldn't keep people in check. I had to keep a stern face and manage those mischievous kids.
Later, to avoid trouble, he simply grew a full beard. As his military rank rose higher and higher, he naturally became more and more authoritative, rarely showing his emotions, let alone laughing.
"Anuan, I will learn."
Jiang Nuanzhi couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Relax."
"Hey, you punished my little fire-starting expert, so come and help me start the fire. It's time to cook."
Li Rong responded and obediently walked to Jiang Nuanzhi's stove to start a fire.
However, his large frame and wheelchair were quite a hindrance. He'd only been tending the fire for a short while, and not only were his clothes dirty, but his face was also covered in grime. Yet, he seemed so focused on his task that Jiang Nuanzhi even felt it would be unreasonable to ask him to move aside. At that moment, Jiang Nuanzhi missed her little waiter terribly.
Li Rong was a dull and dazed man, completely unlike the imposing general one might imagine. He had the physique of a rough, burly man, but he always covered himself up so tightly that you couldn't see him at all. Men with his appearance were usually brimming with sexuality, but he was different; he had to be careful not to touch her hand when handing her something.
Thinking this, Li Rong handed over the scissors again. He held only the tips of the scissors in his large hand and placed the handles next to Jiang Nuanzhi, while carefully looking down at the fire.
Jiang Nuanzhi silently took the scissors, her skirt moving closer to the fire. Li Rong, who was beside her, saw this and immediately picked up a wooden stick to lift Jiang Nuanzhi's skirt further away, seemingly relieved.
Jiang Nuanzhi: "."
Pshaw, it's like you're trying to take advantage of him.
She rolled her eyes and said, "You do it yourself. I'm going to keep the waiter company!"
Li Rong looked up blankly and said, "Oh, okay."
"Wait, Nuan."
Jiang Nuanzhi's feet trembled as she asked, "What are you doing?"
Li Rong: "What do you want to eat?"
Jiang Nuanzhi gritted her teeth: "Whatever!"
Li Rong: "Oh, okay, then I'll make your favorite spare ribs. I'll call you when it's ready."
As he spoke, he placed a small stool in front of the waiter and looked at Jiang Nuanzhi: "You sit here and wait."
Even when he picked up the stool, he didn't touch a single hem of Jiang Nuanzhi's skirt.
Jiang Nuanzhi: "."
Ha, so this guy is treating her like a virus, isn't he?
"Anuan, are you angry?"
The waiter stood in his stance while asking in a low voice.
"No!"
Waiter: "That's good, that's good."
Jiang Nuanzhi: "."
Yes, they're my biological children, absolutely my biological children!
"Fusheng, you're back?"
Xie Liangchen stood at the door of Fusheng's house. When he saw him, he smiled and went up to him.
"Brother Xie, what brings you here?"
Xie Liangchen looked at him with concern: "I just came back from the academy and heard from Afu that you came to see me, so I knew you probably had something urgent to do. Take this two taels of silver first, and if it's not enough, I'll think of something else."
(End of this chapter)
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