Before Uncle Jiang could react to Liu's words, mud balls shot out from the bushes nearby like rain, more than a dozen of them in a row.
The mud spots hit Liu's skirt. She jumped up and screamed, looking at the bushes, and exclaimed, "Who's there?"
This is the backyard of the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion. Behind the corridor is a small pavilion.
Uncle Jiang and Miss Liu had just returned from Uncle Fourth Jiang's place and were passing by here.
When they were far away from the fourth room's family and saw that there was no one around, Liu couldn't help but let out the anger that was pent up in her heart and said a few words.
Knowing that there were people here, and thinking that what she said just now was heard by others, she couldn't help feeling a chill down her spine.
She said to the servant girl beside her, "Go and see who is there."
The maids and servants pushed aside the grass.
In the corner, a chubby, round little body was lying on the ground.
The maidservant said, "It's the Sixth Young Master."
Liu was shocked, "Why is he there?"
"Stuck...stuck in the dog hole."
Jiang Jinxing said nothing, his round puppy eyes staring at Liu, sparkling and full of anger, as if he wanted to bite someone.
But his body was stuck in the dog hole and he couldn't move, so he couldn't bite anyone.
Now it's embarrassing.
Very embarrassing.
Jiang Jinxing was taken out of Jinling when he was less than a year old. He had no memory of living in the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion until he was seven years old.
But he was born brave, and after coming back, he was not shy. He circled around the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion every day like a puppy marking its territory. He would step on any place he could go and leave his footprints.
Today, while his parents were talking to his uncle and aunt, the child hid from the maids and servants and sneaked here alone. He squatted under the north wall and stared at the dog hole for a long time.
Watch and watch.
Watch and watch.
The cave seemed to have magical powers.
He just went in.
Then.
Seven-year-old Jiang Jinxing understood a truth today.
Not all dogs are the same size everywhere.
Not all dog holes are the same size.
Only he, no matter whether he was in Yecheng or Jinling, ate the same amount and his round belly was always the same size.
Woohoo, this world is really too cruel.
He didn't want to make any noise and didn't want anyone to find him. If he was hungry for an hour or two, he might sneak out.
So when his uncle and aunt first came over, he didn't say anything.
But when he heard Liu say that his sister would definitely lose money if she ran the shop, Jiang Jinxing started making balls of mud with his two remaining hands.
When Jiang Jinxing heard Liu say that his sister might as well be kidnapped by human traffickers, he threw away the mud egg he had rolled up.
Now, even if the grass was peeled away to reveal his face and he was caught throwing mud, there was nothing to be afraid of when the little bully was doing something naughty, and there was even less to be afraid of now.
Not only was he not afraid, but even though he was being watched, he dared to continue throwing mud at Liu's face with the mud in his hands.
But in the end, he was pulled out of the dog hole by a maid on the left, holding his left arm, and a servant on the right, holding his right arm, like a pig waiting to be put on a grill.
His hands and arms were covered in black mud, evidence of the crime he had just committed.
Uncle Jiang looked at Jiang Jinxing's face and couldn't help feeling a headache.
It really was the child from his fourth brother's family.
Without noticing for a moment, Jiang Jinxing was pulled out of the dog hole. He broke free from the hands of the maid and the servant and rushed forward.
Liu was not in any danger and was knocked to the ground, with two more black mud handprints on her skirt.
"Auntie, you are a bad person." Jiang Jinxing didn't know how to express the anger in his heart. He had so few words in his head that he felt very angry. The more he held back, the angrier he got. He said with a few spit sounds, "You have to pay the money. Your whole family has to pay the money. If you have no money to spend, your child will be abducted by human traffickers."
Jiang Jinxing simply couldn't believe that the aunt and uncle who had just praised his sister for becoming more and more beautiful in front of his parents, actually said such rude things behind her back.
As he was beating her, he started to cry, "My sister will never encounter a human trafficker, not even once, not in her entire life."
Liu blocked his attack, groaning and calling out to Master Jiang and the maids and servants, "Come and pull him away!"
Jiang Jinxing was picked up by the old man of the Jiang family.
The old man of the Jiang family staggered under his weight, which gave Jiang Jinxing an opportunity. He kicked Liu again.
Liu lost all her composure, slowly got up from the ground, and raised her hand towards Jiang Jinxing.
But the old man of the Jiang family grabbed her wrist and said, "Don't bother with a child."
He said sternly: "If this matter is brought to the attention of the old man, you will be the one to be blamed."
Liu knew that she was in the wrong, so even though she was angry, she slowly put down her hand.
The old man of the Jiang family comforted Jiang Jinxing in his arms, "Jin'er, don't be angry. Your aunt didn't say your sister would pay compensation, nor did she say your sister would be kidnapped."
Jiang Jinxing took advantage of the chaos to smear the mud on his hands onto the old man of the Jiang family.
I could see that the palms of both hands were almost clean.
Uncle Jiang saw that he was clean.
His clean clothes were stained with dirty mud, his brows twitched, and he immediately let him go.
He felt that a seven-year-old child was too old to know right from wrong, good from bad, and should be easy to fool. "Your aunt is right. She was worried that your sister's shop would lose money and she would not be happy. Fortunately, your sister was found when she was six years old."
Jiang Jinxing had never heard of Jiang Rao being kidnapped before. After hearing this, he thought about how he almost lost his sister and burst into tears.
Mr. Jiang wiped his tears with his fingers, turned around and glanced at Liu, and asked Liu to come over.
Liu understood what he meant and took out a handkerchief to wipe Jiang Jinxing's tears.
Jiang Jinxing didn't use her handkerchief. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand, and then wiped it on Uncle Jiang as if he knew how to do it.
Uncle Jiang had a dark face.
But seeing that the child seemed to be coaxed, he felt relieved. He patted Jiang Jinxing on the back and coaxed him softly, "Don't tell your parents about this when you go back. Your uncle won't tell your parents about you crawling through a dog hole, okay?"
Jiang Jinxing's eyes changed slightly, he lowered his head, followed the arm that Uncle Jiang stretched out to him, wiped his tears and snot on his sleeve, and moved his head like a puppy, as if nodding.
Grandpa Jiang felt that the child had been coaxed into surrendering, and he was completely relieved.
Jiang Jinxing wiped his face clean, raised his fair little face, and ran out, "I want to find my grandfather."
Uncle Jiang and Madam Liu's faces changed drastically.
This kid went to file a complaint.
…
Jiang Jinxing didn’t have such a deep understanding of the eight words “one side in front of people, another side behind people”.
But he was cheated by Yang Xiuzhu last time. Later, his father and mother told him that the family didn't let him eat candy because he was growing teeth. Yang Xiuzhu knew that he was growing teeth, but gave him candy. It was not kindness but bribery.
He thought he was helping an older brother who was very kind to him and who got along well with him. But in fact, the older brother was just attracted by his family's money and wanted to marry his sister. He was helping him, which was a betrayal and a stupid thing to do.
This time, the uncle tempted him by offering him the benefit of keeping the dog hole he dug a secret.
But he won't turn his elbow outward again.
What he heard while lying in the dog hole was the truth!
Uncle, this is not a kind thing.
This is bribery.
The aunt cursed his sister behind her back!
Do you think his younger brother is a dead man?
Jiang Jinxing ran faster than a dog, and no maid or servant could catch him. He ran all the way into his grandfather's yard.
…
The old uncle of Ning'an Marquis's Mansion has always favored the fourth house.
After hearing his fat grandson wailing on the rooftop, he angrily called his eldest son and his family over.
Uncle Jiang and Mrs. Liu, both covered in dirt, tried every possible means to explain away the problem, blaming the entire mistake on the child. It is said that children speak without restraint and will say nonsense if they are misunderstood.
However, for such seemingly true but actually false things, the old man would believe whichever one he favored.
He always felt that his youngest son Jiang Xingzhou was the one who had the greatest hope of bringing honor to the family among all the sons in the family. However, this youngest son was the least capable of success and had no intention of being the head of the family. He only wanted to assist his eldest brother, but he ran away from him six years ago, which made him both partial and angry.
But in the end I prefer one more.
This time, as soon as the youngest son came back, he was called into the palace to paint for Emperor Zhaowu. After he came back, he received a reward from the emperor the next day. What a glorious occasion.
Since the old uncle's heart was on the side of the fourth house, he punished Liu.
On the grounds that Liu was a hindrance to the harmony of the family, she was punished to sort out all the employment and purchasing matters in the shops within three days, and then the shops would be exchanged to the fourth family.
Instead, after handing over the shop, she would go to the ancestral hall, face the tablets of her ancestors, and copy the family letters ten times.
Liu was unhappy, but she didn't dare to lose her temper in front of her old uncle.
He just gritted his teeth in his heart, wishing he could see the shop destroyed by Jiang Rao immediately.
After a while, Mr. Jiang Si and Mrs. Jiang Qin, who had heard what had happened, came over after hearing the news.
Uncle Jiang was just coming out from his uncle's place and stopped when he saw his fourth brother and his wife.
He said, "What happened today was Xiuniang's fault." There was an apology in his tone.
"Xiuniang has put a lot of effort into running those shops, and now she is suddenly asked to leave everything behind. She is just not used to it, so she spoke a little harshly. Don't blame her."
Fourth Master Jiang has always respected his elder brother.
After his mother passed away, the person who accompanied him the most was his eldest brother.
Thinking back now, the brotherhood he developed in his youth still seems invaluable to him.
But some things are his bottom line.
He said sternly: "Even if sister-in-law is not used to it, she shouldn't joke about the kidnapping incident in the past."
That year, my daughter was at the Lantern Festival, being accompanied by so many servants, but she was kidnapped. It was obviously not an accident, but someone's doing.
But at that time, he had been searching for half a year and still couldn't find out who it was. He was very worried and afraid that the same accident would happen again, so he resolutely left Jinling.
The person who did this was just afraid that he would inherit the title of Ning'an Earl.
For the sake of his daughter, he could give up his title, but he would not allow anyone to offend her in the slightest.
Uncle Jiang looked a little embarrassed, "I'll take care of the housekeeping."
After parting, Jiang Qin shook her head and said, "When Liu took the initiative to take over the shop, she was more anxious than anyone else. Today, when we came back, she was unwilling to give it to us, and instead said things that hurt your brotherly relationship. She really doesn't seem like a good mistress of a family."
Fourth Master Jiang sighed, "You can't just blame eldest brother. We lost our mother a long time ago. The marriage of eldest brother was arranged by stepmother. Although Liu's family background is good enough, her character..."
Fourth Master Jiang stopped talking.
Jiang Qin understood the hardship the two brothers had gone through when they lost their mother, and she pulled his hand soothingly.
The old uncle's second wife, Mrs. Liu, was not an easy person to get along with. Fortunately, Mrs. Liu had no children, which saved them a lot of trouble.
She held her husband's hand and asked him quietly, "Master, now that you have returned to Jinling, do you have any intention of becoming the head of the family?"
Fourth Master Jiang shook his head firmly, "I just want to live a good life at home."
…
Jiang Jinxing not only complained, but also stayed with his grandfather, where his grandfather rubbed his belly and coaxed him for a long time before he was allowed to go out.
He didn't even know that it was his grandfather who was coaxing him, but he was the one coaxing his grandfather. Just now, his grandfather supported him and scolded his aunt to make him happy. He also wanted to make his grandfather happy, so he puffed up his chubby face, made a lot of funny faces, and offered his ticklish little belly to his grandfather to rub.
It is really not easy to make the elderly happy.
Finally, after making his grandfather happy, Jiang Jinxing went out and ran back to his own yard.
"Dad, Mom." Jiang Jinxing climbed onto the chair and asked them nervously, "My sister was kidnapped when she was a child. What happened?"
How come no one has told him about it?
"When your elder sister was six years old, she went to the Lantern Festival and got lost in the crowd. She was later abducted by human traffickers. Fortunately, she was found three days later." Jiang Qinshi did not explain too clearly to her young son, but only said, "Your elder sister was frightened at that time. We will not mention this matter anymore."
"Where is my sister now?" The less they said, the more nervous Jiang Jinxing became.
Jiang Qin asked a maid to come over and ask, and she replied, "It's at the grain shop by the Qinhuai River."
…
There are red clouds in the sky.
Jiang Jinxing rushed to the Qinhuai River and saw Jiang Rao flipping through the account book in a small room in the inner courtyard of the grain shop. He ran over, took her hand, and rubbed it against his cheek.
and
Then he let out a long sigh of relief.
Then she let go of Jiang Rao's hand, climbed up the bench quietly and sat next to Jiang Rao. She looked very relieved just watching her sister doing the accounts.
After Jiang Rao finished reading the account book, he immediately took out the roll of paper in his arms, unfolded it, and spread it in front of Jiang Rao.
Jiang Rao glanced down at the paper Jiang Jinxing brought, confused, "Why are you looking for a map of Jinling to show me?"
"Sister, please take a good look at this." Jiang Jinxing said with a serious face.
He was very scared.
It turns out he almost didn't have a sister.
Although her voice was childish, her pronunciation was clear and melodious, "Sister, in the future, please read more maps and less useless books. Don't get lost again."
Mother said that my sister was frightened and it was better not to mention the matter, but he was also worried that she would get lost again when he couldn't see her.
"Look at the map more often and carefully, look at it every day and memorize it by heart." He repeated.
The tone was extremely similar to that of the old teacher in the school, except that he was not holding a bamboo ruler in his hand.
Very heartfelt words.
Very serious.
Jiang Rao felt that her brother was a little abnormal.
During this time in Jinling, the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion was new to him. He ran around everywhere, and seemed to have not had enough fun. Suddenly he came out to look for her, brought a map of Jinling, and told her not to get lost.
Suddenly, a blessing came to my mind and I remembered something.
Jiang Rao asked tentatively: "Do you... know that I was kidnapped when I was a child?"
Jiang Jinxing nodded slightly, but a "wu" sound came from his nose.
He pursed his lips, tears welling up in his eyes. He held Jiang Rao's hand and pressed it against his face, rubbing it, mumbling cruel words, "I want to beat those hateful human traffickers to death!"
I knew about this...
Jiang Rao always remembered that she was abducted when she was six years old, but she was not willing to think about it.
At this time, Ming Shao came in and said, "Miss, the Ninth Prince wants to see you. Do you want him to come in?"
"Let him in."
Jiang Rao glanced at the sky and thought it was time to finish school at Bailu Academy.
He turned to look at Jiang Jinxing, rubbed his head and said, "I was kidnapped six or seven years ago. It's been many years, and everything is fine now."
Jiang Jinxing's eyes were red instead.
Jiang Rao looked at her brother's innocent face and thought about how she was about the same age as him when she was kidnapped. She felt uneasy and said, "Don't always think about getting rid of the servants who follow you. If you run out to play alone, you will easily be kidnapped."
…
During the Lantern Festival that year, Jiang Rao herself could not remember how she was led away from her parents by her maid, and when the maid disappeared.
All I remember is that she was by the river with a bag of candy beans in her pocket. She was looking at the lights on the river and eating the candy beans when someone covered her with a piece of cloth from behind, knocked her unconscious, and then carried her away.
She woke up halfway, jumped out of the trafficker's arms and tried to run away.
But the residual effects of the drug made everything in her sight appear as multiple overlapping shadows.
In the wilderness, it was pitch dark, and I tripped over a branch and fell into a mud pit.
Six-year-old Jiang Rao is small and light, and it is easy for an adult to lift her up with one hand.
The human trafficker grabbed Jiang Rao by the back of her collar with one hand and pulled her out of the mud pit with her face and body covered in mud. Come on, it's as easy as pulling a carrot out of the ground.
He carried the small mud radish all the way to a dilapidated house outside the city, threw it inside, and locked the door.
There were a few more children in the room, and the whole room was filled with the hoarse sobbing of children who were tired of crying. They curled up together and shivered.
There was only one little boy, leaning against a wall alone, not hanging out with the other children, looking very out of place.
He was the only one who didn't cry.
His face was covered in blood, he seemed injured, and his breathing was heavy.
His entire face was covered in blood. The moonlight was dim, so she couldn't see what his face looked like. She only felt that his eyes looked very fierce, and the look he raised at her when he heard the voice seemed to be bloody.
The trafficker cursed at him when he saw her, and locked her inside. The sound of footsteps gradually faded away.
She tried to think of a way to escape for a long time but couldn't find a way out. She cried in despair.
There was a rustling sound of dragons behind him.
The little boy, who had been leaning against the wall without moving, walked towards her.
She thought he was coming to sob with her.
But she never thought he was here to steal her candy beans
A bag of sugar beans, almost all of them were snatched away
But he seemed to be too hungry. The candy beans in her pocket were covered with mud, but he was still able to eat them.
Although she was also hungry, when she saw how hungry he was, she wiped away her tears and shared the remaining candies with him.
But after feeding her Tang Doudou, he snatched her hairpin again.
Woohoo, this guy is so bad.
…
Jiang Rao didn't want to recall how loud she cried at that time.
…
The little boy snatched her hairpin and sharpened it into a sharp weapon from a stone.
When the human traffickers opened the door to see them the next day, he held his stomach weakly, cried out in pain, and asked someone to hold him. When the human traffickers bent down to look at him, a fierce light flashed in their eyes, and they stabbed him in the neck.
When the trafficker resisted, he pinched the little boy's neck with such force that veins on the back of his hand bulged, but the little boy did not let go.
Until the trafficker died and let go of his hand.
The little boy slowly loosened his hands that were holding the hairpin and were stained with blood.
That scene will forever shadow Jiang Rao's heart.
But the trafficker is dead and she can go home.
In a way, it was indeed that extremely scary little boy who saved her life.
Jiang Rao said to Jiang Jinxing: "You must be careful. Nine out of ten people who are kidnapped cannot escape. I was lucky to have that...brave child with me at that time."
But what a terrible child—Jiang Rao added in his heart.
But I saw my brother's eyes suddenly moved towards the door.
Jiang Rao followed his brother's gaze and turned around to look
Rong Ting's wheelchair was parked by the door.
There was something slightly strange in his gaze as he turned towards her.
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