A maidservant called a young lady over a moment later. The maidservant said, "Please wait a moment, young lady. I will go and see if the person who takes the measurements for the new clothes has arrived."
The girl left, and another maid brought tea and snacks. Suddenly, she started chatting with the girl in a familiar way, asking about the five orchards. Did they mean five different kinds of fruit?
The girl answered five at random.
A little later, a maid asked the girl to measure the size. Then a couple came into the house and asked if the five orchards contained five different kinds of fruit. One of them answered yes, and the other said they were a mixture, far more than five.
When the other girl realized her answer was different, she quickly corrected herself and said it was five kinds and she had misremembered them. When asked which five kinds of fruits they were, her answer was completely different from the previous girl's.
Hearing this, the mother frowned. What five kinds of fruits did their family grow? How could the three of them give different answers?
Jiang Yan hurried over and told them when he saw them that his wife and son would be here soon, and if they had any questions, only he and the father would have to answer them.
Jiang Tao's mother frowned upon hearing this. Unable to contain her anger any longer, she walked over to the next room and asked, "Who are you? Why did you lie to my son?"
The three men turned pale with fear when they saw that they seemed to have been exposed. One of them said, "I am the head of the laborers under Lord Jiang."
The woman spoke immediately upon seeing the man. Jiang Yan's face turned ugly but he remained silent. Then he said, "I am. I am the cook on the farm of Mr. Jiang. People say I don't look like a cook, so they nicknamed me the Cooking Xishi."
The woman finished her words tremblingly, and Madam Jiang was furious: "So you are not husband and wife?"
"No, no."
Madam Jiang turned to the pretty girl and asked, "Who is that girl?"
The girl bowed and said, "To be honest, Madam, I am from the same hometown as Tian Xiaoshi, the adopted son of Lord Jiang. Tian Xiaoshi and my cousin are very close.
My parents died when I was young, and I have no brothers. I also have a younger sister who is one year younger. The clan leader decided that my family’s house and land would belong to my cousin’s family. My cousin’s parents, that is, my uncle and aunt, would be responsible for raising my sister and me until we got married and arranged dowries and other matters.
Lord Jiang promised that if the matter is successful, my cousins will not need to pay for the dowry, but will instead provide a generous betrothal gift."
Mrs. Jiang was so angry that her eyes went dark. She swayed a few times and was supported by Jiang Tao.
Jiang Yan was also frightened and hurried forward to help, but Madam Jiang dodged him and said coldly, "I dare not trouble you."
Then he asked the girl, "Why didn't your uncle and aunt come forward? Why did you hire someone to pretend to be your parents?"
The girl said, "Maybe Tian Xiaoshi and my cousin are going to discuss marriage in the future? I'm not sure about that."
Seeing that the girl was neither humble nor arrogant, and was frank and honest, Jiang Tao felt a bit impressed.
Seeing that she was still uncomfortably holding her wide sleeves, he said, "Miss, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask, do you have an injury on your hand?"
The girl gritted her teeth upon hearing this, stretched out her hand, and revealed half of her forearm. Her palms and fingers were covered with thick calluses, and her forearm was covered with purple scars.
The girl said, "We sisters work as servants in my cousin's house. We are my cousin's maids. We have endless work to do and endless beatings to endure every day. In order to make my younger sister's life easier, I... my schedule is too tight. The injuries I get from beatings every day are not healing at all. My hands are not like those of a rich lady, so I choose clothes with long and wide sleeves to cover them up.
When my parents were still alive, I went to a private school for a period of time and could recognize a few words. I usually did farm work and housework, such as raising pigs, feeding chickens, planting crops and chopping wood. My cousin went to a formal school and learned women's labor, needlework and accounting.
After I came here, I talked to the maids in the mansion. Even the second-class maids are better than me. After thinking about it, I realized that the truth will come out sooner or later. If something happens in the future, no one will care about the life or death of us sisters. "
Jiang Tao nodded: "Do you want to leave your cousin's house with your sister?"
The girl nodded quickly when she heard this: "If there's another place to go, we're willing to go."
Jiang Tao said, "The girl should live peacefully on this farm for the time being."
The girl suddenly knelt down in front of Jiang Tao.
Jiang Tao asked, "But is there anything else?"
The girl said, "I dare to ask for a chance to go to school for my sister. She is still young and very smart... I can do double the work myself. I am very quick and efficient."
Jiang Tao said: "Get up, I promise you."
Jiang Tao said to the three of them, "Go down and have a rest first." The three of them went down with different expressions.
Seeing that his mother's composure had returned, Jiang Tao felt relieved and helped her sit down.
Then he bowed to his father and said, "Greetings, Father." His expression was calm.
Jiang Yan looked at him, fuming with rage, and snorted. Madam Jiang angrily said, "He's even insulting his son. I'll go tell my father about this. He's deceived us all." She pulled Jiang Tao, "Let's go."
When Jiang Yan saw that his wife was angry, he also felt a little short of breath. He followed the mother and son home without saying a word.
When they got to Old Master Jiang's place and Mrs. Jiang told him what had happened, the old man was naturally furious. He raised his cane and started beating her. "If you don't like this son, then don't bother with his affairs anymore. Don't meddle in his affairs anymore. Let me, who hasn't been pissed off by you yet, take care of it."
Jiang Tao thought this was a good idea.
He counted "eight, nine, ten" in his mind, and sure enough, when his mother saw the crutch going down firmly, although she was angry, she was also distressed, so she stood up to stop it.
Jiang Yan said, "My son has no other choice. How dare this rebellious son snatch someone from the Fifth Prince? Wang Xipei is the second daughter of Minister Wang and was originally the Fifth Prince's consort.
After the divorce, the fifth prince married his widowed third sister-in-law, the eldest daughter of the General's Mansion. Not long ago, he asked for a title for Wang Xipei, saying that he wanted to marry her as a concubine with the title Chen.
This rebellious son likes the Fifth Prince's woman. Is he trying to harm the whole family? How dare he compete with the royal family for her?"
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