The sun slowly rose from the east, illuminating the entire Lujia Village with its immense heat.
Jiang Ling woke up from bed with a yawn. She rubbed her arms, stretched, put on her shoes, and walked out the door.
Zhao Qianyu's unexpected incident made Jiang Ling give up her idea of taking Jiang Wenxi to Pingxi County today.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Jiang Yaojie carrying syrup, preparing to go out to deliver goods. Jiang Ling took out a dozen copper coins from her pocket and placed them in Jiang Yaojie's hand, saying softly, "Yaojie, eat whatever you want when you get to town. Don't starve yourself. I won't go to Pingxi County today. I'll take care of the young master in your room first."
Jiang Yaojie nodded and said, "Mother, Zhao Qianyu seems to have woken up. Do you want to go and see her?"
Jiang Ling rolled her eyes, nodded, and walked towards Jiang Yaojie's bedroom.
"How did I get here?" Before even reaching the door, Zhao Qianyu's slightly bewildered voice came from inside the house.
"If the people from Lujia Village hadn't searched for you all night last night, you'd probably be carried off by wolves and eaten by now!" Jiang Ling rolled her eyes as she walked in.
Upon hearing the word "wolf," Zhao Qianyu began to tremble involuntarily, his face turning pale and his body shaking slightly.
Seeing the scene before her, Jiang Ling became even more certain that the unfortunate boy must have encountered wild wolves in the mountains last night. She originally thought of scaring him a little more to completely dispel his idea of running away, but then she thought that he was, after all, Lord Zhao's son, and Jiang Ling knew the "unspoken rule" that the common people should not fight against officials.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling's tone softened a bit as she said, "Then why did you run away? This place is not like your county town; there are plenty of wolves and tigers in the back mountains!"
"What? Waaah..." Jiang Ling wanted to patiently explain to Zhao Qianyu, but Zhao Qianyu burst into tears upon hearing Jiang Ling's words, probably because the experience of last night had left him with a huge psychological trauma.
Jiang Ling was at a loss for what to do, neither sitting nor standing. She looked at Zhao Qianyu in front of her with some embarrassment until Zhao Qianyu cried until his stomach rumbled. Only then did she awkwardly stop crying and rub her stomach.
At this moment, Zhao Qianyu was no longer the unruly young master he had been before; he was now just a boy crying over spending money.
Jiang Ling helplessly took the towel and threw it into Zhao Qianyu's arms, saying, "Hurry up and wipe your face. Aren't you ashamed to cry like this?"
"I wish I didn't cry, but you're not me, how would you know what I went through yesterday?" Zhao Qianyu pouted and rolled her eyes at Jiang Ling.
"Oh? Then tell me what happened to you yesterday. Maybe I can make a good joke on you after I hear it!" Jiang Ling suddenly felt playful and decided to tease Zhao Qianyu!
"You..." Zhao Qianyu, who had just wiped away her tears, turned pale with anger upon hearing Jiang Ling's words, and tears welled up in her eyes again.
Zhao Qianyu seemed unwilling to lose face in front of Jiang Ling. He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes hard, then said to Jiang Ling, "Hmph, if something really happens to me, you won't fare any better!"
"The Prefect said that Lord Zhao is fully responsible for your matter, and it has nothing to do with me!"
Jiang Ling's fatal blow immediately shattered all of Zhao Qianyu's psychological defenses. He covered his face and wailed, looking incredibly wronged.
"Alright, alright, stop crying. It's embarrassing for a grown person to cry like that!" Jiang Ling realized her joke had gone a bit too far and quickly comforted her.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Qianyu's next words left Jiang Ling somewhat stunned.
"Do you think I want to be this naughty? My father is busy, and he's a county magistrate, so everyone is afraid of me. Wherever I go, I'm met with flattery. I don't even have a true friend. My mother died young, and my father is never around. What am I supposed to do?" Zhao Qianyu shouted, covering his face.
“Then…you can’t bully my brother Jiang Zhishan!” Jiang Ling said after thinking for a long time.
"I already said that I didn't start it at all. It was that merchant's son who started it. I only found out when I went to Ningfu Academy that there were quite a few people there whose family conditions were similar to mine. It was there that I truly made friends, no, I mean cronies! Wang Tianen and Jiang Zhishan have been at odds for a long time, so they recruited us to try and mess with him!"
"At first, I disagreed completely, but then Wang Tianen said he wouldn't be friends with me anymore if I didn't agree! Aunt Jiang, do you know how scared I was?"
Jiang Ling felt a little uncomfortable hearing these words, but she still had some doubts. Zhao Qianyu had always given her the impression of being unruly and uncontrollable. Who knew if he was really crocodile tears?
Jiang Ling didn't say anything more, turned around and walked out. She came to Jiang Zhishan's side and said, "Zhishan, who has a worse relationship with you, Wang Tianen or Zhao Qianyu?"
Jiang Zhishan was stunned for a moment after hearing this, his brows furrowing as if he were feeling disgusted. After a long while, he said with a straight face, "Wang Tianen, actually my relationship with Zhao Qianyu can only be considered average!"
Hearing this, Jiang Ling felt relieved. She didn't say anything more and turned to go to the kitchen.
For breakfast, Jiang Ling cooked some white rice porridge and made a few fluffy egg pancakes, along with some homemade pickled vegetables.
This time, Jiang Ling made an exception and brought rice, egg pancakes, and pickled vegetables into the house for Zhao Qianyu.
Although Zhao Qianyu appeared disdainful, the rumbling sound of his stomach betrayed his true intentions.
He swallowed hard, glancing at the food in Jiang Ling's hand every now and then, but Jiang Ling smiled faintly and said, "Hungry? Did you barely eat anything yesterday? Don't you want to eat today?"
"Hmph! No way! Anyone who doesn't eat is a complete idiot!" Zhao Qianyu snatched the plate from Jiang Ling's hand and began to eat heartily.
It was obvious that Zhao Qianyu was hungry; he devoured the food in less than three minutes.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling asked, "Do you still want to eat?"
"Eat! Why wouldn't you eat! I'm starving!" Zhao Qianyu said, wiping his mouth.
Jiang Ling turned around and brought some food to Zhao Qianyu.
After two rounds, Zhao Qianyu let out a satisfied burp. Seeing that the time was right, Jiang Ling asked, "Then can you tell me what exactly you went through yesterday?"
Perhaps it's true that one is obligated to accept favors, because after breakfast, Zhao Qianyu stopped hiding his answer when Jiang Ling asked him.
He nodded, looking somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Well, how should I put it? Actually, I was planning my escape that night. Before you left yesterday, that little girl asked me if I wanted to go to the fields, and I chased her away."
"When I saw that the time was right, I pushed open the door and ran towards the outside. However, I had never been to this place before. There was something that happened earlier and the carriage was following me, so I ran for a long time but couldn't find the way out."
"I looked at that mountain and thought that if I could get over it, I could get back to the county. So I ran towards that mountain. But the terrain inside was much more complicated than I had imagined. But I didn't dare to stop. I was afraid that if you came back and found out that I had escaped, you would catch me and bring me back!"
At this point, Zhao Qianyu blushed and scratched his head, glancing at Jiang Ling every now and then, and continued in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible, "The vine whip still hurts a little from the pain..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
