"Congxin, your aunt has a question for you. Do you believe your aunt?" Jiang Ling asked Shen Congxin.
Shen Congxin was completely at a loss. She looked at Jiang Ling and nodded vigorously, saying, "I definitely believe in Auntie!"
"Alright, Congxin, remember that you are the eldest daughter of the Shen family. Your status in the Shen family is noble! Those people are just servants, how could they compare to you? Congxin, you are a smart person, your aunt believes you can understand what I am saying!" Jiang Ling said, giving Shen Congxin a meaningful look.
Shen Congxin was shocked upon hearing this. Looking at Jiang Ling in front of her, she had a feeling that her identity was not so simple. She was full of wisdom. Shen Congxin nodded sharply and said with a resolute look, "Auntie, I understand!"
Jiang Ling looked at Shen Congxin's gaze and smiled with satisfaction.
In the afternoon, Jiang Ling was resting in her rocking chair when the village chief suddenly appeared in her yard in a panic.
Jiang Ling noticed the shoe the village chief had almost lost while running away, and realized that the village chief's visit to her now was definitely not for anything good.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Ling sat up from the rocking chair, straightened her clothes, and asked.
"No...it's terrible! Jiang, you'd better go to the village entrance quickly! Our security team is arguing with some outsiders. They're saying they're from the Shen family in Guangping County and that we're trying to abduct their eldest daughter! They're about to fight!" the village chief said in a panic.
"Hmm? They're here?" Jiang Ling smiled coldly. She hadn't expected them to arrive so quickly, but then she thought that for such a large family, finding someone would be a piece of cake.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling glanced at Shen Congxin and said to him, "Let's go, I'll go and meet them!"
Shen Congxin was initially a little scared, but seeing Jiang Ling's calm demeanor, her fear, unease, and anxiety subsided considerably.
She puffed out her chest, striking a pose like a young lady, and followed Jiang Ling toward the village entrance.
Before Jiang Ling and Shen Congxin even reached the village entrance, Jiang Ling could vaguely hear some filthy words. When she arrived at the village entrance, she saw that the two groups of people were already at the point of drawing their swords.
The leader, Zhao Erleng, was carrying a hoe and his face was flushed as he argued with a burly man.
"Hey, girl, you're here!" Zhao Erleng was overjoyed to see Jiang Ling. He rushed to her side and pointed at the group of menacing-looking people, saying, "These people claim to be from the Shen family. They insist that their eldest daughter was kidnapped and sold to our village. Girl, our village is a civilized village, how could such a heinous crime happen..."
"Young Miss! Young Miss! Young Miss! You've made this old servant search so hard..." Before Zhao Erleng could finish speaking, a plump old woman from the Shen family, about fifty years old with a sharp and mean face, rushed to Shen Congxin's side and knelt down with a thud, kowtowing and crying as she spoke.
If Jiang Ling hadn't had sharp eyes and noticed the old woman's "all bark and no bite," she probably would have been fooled by the old woman's superb acting skills.
Shen Congxin frowned and looked at the old woman in front of her with disgust, taking several steps back. Seeing Shen Congxin retreat, the old woman immediately moved forward a few steps on her knees, grabbed the hem of Shen Congxin's clothes, pointed to the sky and cursed angrily: "Which bastard dares to dress our young lady in such tattered clothes! If our young lady's skin is even slightly damaged, I will risk my life to make her pay!"
As she spoke, she began to sob again, covering her face with her hands. While crying, she kept repeating things like, "Young Miss, this old servant has been searching for you for so long."
Everyone was fooled by the old woman's acting skills, especially Zhao Er, who stared at Shen Congxin and Jiang Ling with his mouth agape in disbelief.
Jiang Ling glanced at Shen Congxin, who gently shook his head. Jiang Ling immediately understood what Shen Congxin meant. She coughed lightly and said to Shen Congxin, "Congxin, do you know this old woman?"
"Pah! How dare you call me that, you ignorant country bumpkin? I am our lady's wet nurse! Even our lady calls me Grandma Zhou on ordinary days!" When Old Lady Zhou heard Jiang Ling address her like that, she immediately jumped up and started cursing at Jiang Ling's nose.
Jiang Ling wasn't annoyed. After all, she had seen old women even worse than herself. She just stared at Old Lady Zhou with a sidelong glance.
Looking at Jiang Ling, Old Lady Zhou suddenly felt a little uneasy. She quickly knelt down next to Shen Congxin and started crying and wailing, putting on a dramatic show of her suffering.
But Shen Congxin remained unmoved. She knew that all of this was just an act by her vicious stepmother, especially this old woman Zhou. Back when she was in the Shen family, she had treated her very badly and even did things to frame her.
This gave the stepmother an opportunity to abuse her in every way possible.
Thinking of this, Shen Congxin gave Old Lady Zhou a cold look and said rudely, "Why do you remember me now? Where were you before?"
"You!" Old Mrs. Zhou never expected Shen Congxin to be so disrespectful to her. She suppressed her anger and pretended to be submissive, saying to Shen Congxin, "Miss, you are wronging this old servant! During the time you were missing, this old servant searched for you day and night, and even the madam fell ill!"
Shen Congxin almost burst out laughing when she heard what Granny Zhou said. If she hadn't grown up in the Shen family, she probably would have really believed Granny Zhou.
She glanced at the fierce-looking servants and said calmly, "Alright, now that you know where I am, please leave. I'm fine here; I'll stay a few more days!"
"Ah, this..." Old Mrs. Zhou never expected that Shen Congxin would gather her in front of so many people.
She glared at Shen Congxin, but still smiled and said, "Miss, what are you doing here? This place is so remote and impoverished that it's an insult to your status. Besides, what good is it for you to get along with these country bumpkins!"
"Grandma Zhou, aren't you afraid of retribution for speaking such harsh words? Weren't you just a country bumpkin back then? If it weren't for my stepmother taking pity on you and taking you in, do you think you'd be any different from them now?" Shen Congxin glared at Grandma Zhou with disdain.
"You!" Old Mrs. Zhou was so angry that she lost all reason.
She suddenly jumped up from the ground, pointed at Shen Congxin, and cursed, "You little brat, did I give you any face?! You're leaving today whether you like it or not!" With that, she strode forward and tried to grab Shen Congxin's arm.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling kicked Granny Zhou solidly from behind, causing Granny Zhou to stumble and fall at Chen Congxin's feet.
It hadn't rained in Lujia Village for a long time, and the soil at the village entrance was very hard. When Granny Zhou fell, she almost disfigured herself, and even the headband she was wearing on her head fell off.
"You...you little slut, how dare you kick me? Do you know who I am?" Old Mrs. Zhou glared angrily at Jiang Ling, who was standing not far away, and shouted.
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