Ji Yanwen's expression suddenly turned serious. He sat up straight, his expression somewhat solemn, which made Jiang Bai sit up straight as well.
"Something has happened at the Chen residence."
Ah, this...
"So they shouldn't have time to deal with you for the time being, you can rest assured."
Seeing how serious his expression was, she thought the situation was much more serious, but it turned out to be just like this?
"What happened to them?"
"I don't know," Ji Yanwen shook his head.
"You don't know? Didn't you go to gather information? How could you not know?"
"I've inquired and found out that something happened at the Chen residence. You're safe for now." Ji Yanwen looked completely innocent, making no mention that the incident at the Chen residence was inextricably linked to him.
Jiang Bai remained silent.
"Why don't you ask around and find out what happened to them?"
He's a scholar, after all; does he really need her to remind him of something like this?
"Well... it's not that there isn't any, but the Chen family is too tight-lipped, so we couldn't find out anything."
Ji Yanwen lowered his head with a look of shame.
Jiang Bai was helpless against him. She had no connections in the county government, nor did she know anyone in the Chen family. If she wanted to investigate, she would have to go out on her own and sneak into the Chen family to find out.
But even if you sneak in, there's no guarantee you'll be able to gather any information.
And given what happened yesterday, she doesn't dare to leave easily now.
Who knows if Ji Yanwen might suddenly go crazy and attack Jiang Lu and the other person? She dared not gamble.
Jiang Bai exchanged a few words and then went to sleep, but the people at the old house couldn't sleep all night.
Jiang Songzong was injured and lay in bed, unable to sleep due to the pain.
Because they didn't want to disturb his rest, their son, Xun Ge'er, slept in Jiang Anlin and his wife's room tonight.
Only Jiang Songzong and Liu were inside the house. Liu stood at the door, hesitant to take a step out.
Jiang Songzong was speechless, staring at her with a violent look, his eyes full of threat. Seeing that she didn't come over for a long time, he curled up the corner of his mouth, endured the pain all over his body, got up, and walked towards Liu.
Liu trembled and, not daring to hesitate any longer, quickly went to the bedside before he got up.
Jiang Songzong narrowed his eyes slightly. He could only move his left hand, but that did not hinder his movements.
Tears streamed down Liu's cheeks; the physical pain and inner humiliation were beyond words.
In Jiang Songhu's room, Zhang Shi was also lying on the bed with a pale face. Thinking of what Jiang Songhu had said earlier, she couldn't help but shudder.
Because a woman must conceive within a year of marriage, the couple must make a concerted effort for this, except during busy farming seasons.
They had been married for six months, but her belly still showed no signs of pregnancy.
Her period had just ended tonight, and Jiang Songhu, disregarding her weakened state, forced himself on her… Zhang took a deep breath, thinking of what her mother had told her when she last visited her parents' home, and a look of despair rose in her eyes.
Jiang Anlin and Jiang Anshan have had enough children, so they naturally don't have the worry of having children for their grandchildren.
However, Jiang Songzong's hand was much more serious than Wang's had been. They spent a lot of money to hire a doctor, and their grain jar was almost empty. That night, the couple couldn't sleep either.
Lin's eyes were open, and her grandson Xun was asleep beside her.
"My dear husband, I asked my eldest daughter-in-law, and she said that we haven't dug up many yams these past few days. All the yams we could find nearby have been dug up by the villagers. Our food supply will only last until the end of the year at most."
Jiang Anlin was not asleep. The injury to Jiang Songzong made him look several years older in an instant.
The couple had been working in Jiang Bai's fields for the past few days and hadn't participated in digging yams, but he still knew the general situation of their family.
What are you trying to say?
His voice came from the darkness, carrying a sinister tone.
Lin pursed her lips, hesitating for a moment before finally saying, "You should apologize to Daya!"
"What did you say?" Jiang Anlin sat up abruptly, staring at Lin Shi in horror.
Lin steeled her heart, ignoring his murderous glare, and continued, "You should apologize to her. I'll willingly sell myself to her as a slave and ask her for some money so the family can buy grain."
"Do you know what you're saying? You bitch."
Jiang Anlin slapped Lin Shi hard across the face. Lin Shi was stunned for a moment, then let out a howl and pounced on him. The couple started fighting.
"I'm a lowly person, and you're not even a lowly slave. You've lost your conscience; do you think no one knows that you sold your third sister-in-law?"
"The food in the house is being given to the men, and my Qian and Cui are starving to death!"
"Don't think I don't know. If the household registration documents weren't out of your hands, you would probably have sold my Qian girl to the Chen family as a concubine long ago."
"Since you don't want to raise us, why don't you sell us? Selling us to the Chen family is selling us, but selling us to Daya is also selling us."
Lin was also feeling very repressed. She thought back to when Jiang Qian first didn't have to work in the fields and her family even sent her to learn embroidery. She was happy for her then.
She thought to herself that her daughter would finally not have to work in the fields all day like she did, getting sunburned and sallow-faced, and could just sit at home doing needlework.
When Jiang Bai and Jiang Er first got engaged, she was anxious. At that time, her mother-in-law told her that they had their own plans, and she was pleased with herself, thinking that her mother-in-law wanted to find a good family for Qian.
But even after her third brother died young and her sister-in-law disappeared and was sold, there was still no news about Jiang Qian's marriage, which made her suspicious.
Upon further inquiry, it turned out that the two old men wanted to sell her daughter, Qian, to the Chen family as a concubine.
If Jiang Bai hadn't just happened to snatch the household registration documents, Jiang Qian would probably have already ended up in the Chen family's den of wolves.
Now that the two old people see no hope, they are even reluctant to give them more food. The two girls are only given one meal a day to keep them alive, just to save food.
If this continues, her two daughters may not survive.
Jiang Anlin couldn't feel the frustration and distress in Lin's heart, but this battle gave him hope.
His eyes were darting around, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
In the next room, Jiang Anshan and his wife were lying on the bed. Their three youngest children were all in their room, so the couple could only keep their voices down.
“These past few days, Lan and Zi have only been able to eat one meal of dry biscuits a day, and they have to go up the mountain to dig for yams. If they don’t bring them back, they will be beaten.”
“I saw that the two girls were beaten so badly by their mother that they were unrecognizable.”
Zhang's voice was choked with sobs as she thought about how she had spent another tael of silver on Jiang Songzong's medical treatment that day, and her eyes reddened.
If they lose that one or two taels of silver, they will exchange less food for rations when they run out of food at home.
It had only rained a few times, so there wasn't much water in the well. Each household only had half a gourd of water per person, and the water was murky; it had to be left to settle before drinking.
Jiang Anshan remained silent, feeling uneasy as well.
"Master, you said our whole family willingly sold ourselves into slavery, can Daya give us a way to survive?"
“I secretly inquired and heard that Daya originally wanted to buy fifty acres of wasteland, but her uncle was worried that she wouldn’t be able to cultivate it, so he only gave her five acres.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com