Chapter 46, The Reward Money Spent
After pretending to be a little lamb for many days, Jiang Ruanruan finally revealed her true colors.
When she gets angry, she can wreck everyone.
"Father, look, Jiang Ruanruan has no respect for you whatsoever. She slept for most of the day and refused to come see you. Now she even dares to hit the people around you. She's so ruthless. She doesn't respect you at all!"
Lu Zirou and the gloomy-faced Marquis Jiang went directly to Jiang Ruanruan's courtyard, with Madam Zhang and Lu Ziyuan following behind.
This seems like they've come to demand an explanation.
"That's right, that brat always pretends to be pitiful. Father, look, this is her true color. She really did beat me and Zirou at the Imperial Academy before!"
After Lu Ziyuan finished speaking, he hid behind Jiang Hou and saw the servant's fate. He felt his legs tremble.
This girl is really daring to kick people; he wouldn't dare go up to her.
"Jiang Ruanruan...you're really impressive today! Even the Emperor praised you and gave you a reward of 100 taels of gold. Where's the money? Hand it over now!"
Jiang Hou sat down directly on the soft couch next to him. His leg ailment had flared up these past few days, and every few steps he took caused him excruciating pain.
"I spent the money to treat my classmates to dinner today. I ordered the best dishes and really made our Marquis's mansion look good."
"Father, are you very happy? Now that I have received the Emperor's praise, how do you plan to reward me?"
Jiang Ruanruan extended her hand.
She wanted money from Jiang Hou, but instead she wanted money from him.
She's a six-year-old kid who only cares about spending money; it's like she's the one who's asking for money.
Jiang Huai'an hesitated outside the door, wondering whether to go in or not. If he went in and Jiang Hou started to beat him, he wouldn't be able to go out and get help.
Should he go find his grandmother now? But his mistress has taken sleeping pills and it's unlikely she'll wake up.
"Happy? This is a hundred taels of gold! All these years you've been eating and drinking at my manor, why didn't you think of using this money to show your filial piety to your father? Instead, you only cared about indulging in feasts with your classmates. This is unfilial!"
"Hurry up and take out the remaining money!" Jiang Hou's face was grim. Since Xia Yurou left, the Jiang family had no subsidies from the Xia family and had been living off their savings. Even he himself had reduced his spending considerably.
As a result, such a young child dares to spend money so recklessly.
The reason why Zhang had tormented Jiang Ruanruan before was largely due to Jiang Hou's intentions. Xia Yurou's dowry was placed in a secret room, and only Jiang Ruanruan knew how to open the secret room.
No matter what methods Zhang used, Jiang Ruanruan remained silent.
Zhang thought that if Jiang Ruanruan wasn't given food, she would have to secretly take money from her dowry to buy food if she wanted to eat.
As a result, this brat almost starved to death but refused to tell anyone.
That's why Zhang thought of having her nephew Zhang Zichen try to get information out of Jiang Ruanruan.
"I've used them all up!" Jiang Ruanruan shrugged. "That's why I asked Dad if there would be any rewards. I heard Chen Zihao and the others say that if they do well in their studies and are praised by their teachers, they get rewards!"
Jiang Ruanruan looked completely innocent.
"You... fine, fine, you even want a reward from your father! You're so young and already have this competitive spirit. How did your mother raise you!"
"Guards, bring the family law! This silver, bestowed by the Emperor, is a royal gift. How dare you use this money without permission? Jiang Ruanruan, today I, your father, will certainly teach you a lesson!" Marquis Jiang's face was grim.
He spent it all! All that food was gold, what a spendthrift child!
Jiang Ruanruan was speechless. "You hit me? What right do you have to hit me? What, can't you afford to live? Now you even want money from my child? I told you long ago, if you can't afford to raise me, send me to my maternal grandfather's house!"
Jiang Ruanruan ignored the angry Jiang Hou and retorted directly.
The servants around seemed hesitant. After all, the old nanny who had bullied Jiang Ruanruan had died a terrible death. Who knew if the Prime Minister's Mansion would hold them accountable for beating someone this time? In that case, they would all be scapegoats.
Jiang Ruanruan is now a genius girl praised and rewarded even by the Emperor.
“Ruan Ruan, why don’t you hurry up and apologize to your father? Why are you being so stubborn? If it weren’t for you at the Imperial Academy, causing Lu Zirou and Ziyuan to lose face, our Jiang family’s reputation wouldn’t be so bad.”
Seeing that Marquis Jiang hadn't urged the servants, Madam Zhang became somewhat anxious.
They added fuel to the fire and started to ignite it.
"Zirou still needs to prepare for the Linglong Pavilion's disciple recruitment ceremony in two days. If word gets out about what happened today, how will the elders of Linglong Pavilion choose our Zirou?"
"You're ruining them. Besides, if Zirou can't get into Linglong Pavilion, how will she find the precious medicine for your father and how will she heal her leg injury?"
"The Marquis's leg is related to the future of our Marquis's mansion. With your outburst today, what future does our Marquis's mansion have left?"
“My father’s leg has been injured for so many years. We were doing just fine when my mother was alive. So why are you saying there’s no future now? That just means you’re useless, Zhang Shi. Otherwise, why would my father have to worry about the future of the Marquis’s mansion?”
Jiang Ruanruan's words were like poison.
"What did you say..." Lord Jiang was furious. Wasn't this accusing him of being a kept man?
"Daddy, why are you angry? If I hadn't said anything, would others have said the same thing? And I've never seen you yell at others like this. Oh dear, you just think I'm small and can be bullied. Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is not a good thing!"
Jiang Ruanruan sighed repeatedly.
Seeing this situation, Jiang Huai'an was very anxious. Jiang Ruanruan's words were just adding fuel to the fire.
Jiang Huai'an realized that after dinner today, Zhu Xiaobao and the others followed the Prince of Ning's son back to the Prince of Ning's residence, clearly intending to continue watching the excitement until midnight.
Jiang Ruanruan treated them to dinner. If word gets out that Jiang Hou beat up Jiang Ruanruan over a meal, he'll see if Jiang Hou still has any face left.
Without a second thought, he rushed out of the mansion to call for help from the neighboring Prince Ning's mansion, after all, they had shared a meal together.
Today, Jiang Ruanruan not only treated them to a meal, but at the end of the meal, she even ordered a lot of meat and grilled it with the children so they could take it back to their families.
When Jiang Huai'an arrived, Prince Ning and Princess Ning were eating the roasted meat that Jiang Ruanruan had made.
"You unfilial daughter, I'm going to beat you to death today!" Jiang Hou stood up angrily, raising his cane to strike.
"If you dare not come, I will come myself!"
Unfortunately, Jiang Ruanruan was not one to stand still.
"Oh dear, Father, what did I say wrong?" Jiang Ruanruan deliberately wanted to make a big fuss, the bigger the better.
"Ah... Help! Father is going to beat his own daughter to death! Why is he hitting me? I just treated my classmate to a meal..."
Jiang Ruanruan ran and shouted while crying.
They acted as if they had already hit each other, but before they had even hit each other, they had already caused a huge commotion.
"Master, shouldn't we intervene?" Seeing the situation, Jiang Ruanruan scrambled to her feet, the cane narrowly missing her head several times.
"No need, didn't Jiang Huai'an go to find reinforcements? There's going to be another show to watch today!"
As he spoke, Li Yunzhi yawned and said, "No wonder Ruan Ruan slept all morning. Working non-stop day and night is really tiring. Without rest and recuperation, most people really can't handle it."
“That’s right… I haven’t had much energy lately!” Leng Dong agreed wholeheartedly.
Jiang Ruanruan rolled around on the ground, keeping pace with her father's rhythm, making it difficult for him to hit her even once out of ten times.
However, Jiang Ruanruan was covered in mud and looked quite pitiful.
"Stop!" Prince Ning rushed in with several children.
"The barbecue is for us to eat, Marquis Jiang, don't hit Ruan Ruan!" The Prince of Ning was praised by his father when he returned home, and he didn't forget his father when he went out to eat delicious food.
It was a time of filial piety between father and son when Jiang Huai'an came running in, crying. He had several scrapes on his body, which he had fallen while running.
Jiang Huai'an, however, did not join them, but secretly hid to the side.
“I could hear you hitting the children from next door. What did Jiang Ruanruan do wrong this time? It was just inviting a few children out for a meal, and you have to beat her like this!” Prince Ning did not reveal that it was Jiang Huai’an who had asked him to come, as agreed with Jiang Huai’an.
"Ruan Ruan, come quickly to your uncle!" Xia Youkang came with Chen Erlang.
The two asked the shopkeeper and found out that the ingredients for this kind of barbecue were not from the shop at all.
On their way back, the two saw Chen Zihao carrying a food box from afar.
That taste was so familiar.
Only after asking did I find out that these seasonings actually belonged to Jiang Ruanruan. She also said that Jiang Ruanruan often went hungry, so she prepared these seasonings herself to roast meat and dig wild vegetables in the mountains.
Upon hearing this, Xia Youkang was alarmed and went to the Jiang residence with Chen Erlang.
"Waaah, little uncle, help! Father is going to beat me to death! He said I shouldn't have spent the money the Emperor gave me. Now that the money is all gone, he's going to beat me. He also said I've ruined the Jiang family's reputation by showing off and making the Lu siblings laugh at us. Is it wrong that Ruan Ruan is good at studying and has a good temper?!"
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