"I don't know who you are, but it's wrong for you, as a servant, to boss your young lady around like that!" Jiang Ling's tone was light, but full of intimidation.
Encouraged by Jiang Ling's gaze, Shen Congxin kicked Granny Zhou in the shoulder. Granny Zhou cried out "Ouch!" and fell to the ground. This time, even two of her hairpins and hair ornaments fell out, and her hair was disheveled and hanging down her back, making her look very embarrassed.
"You..." Old Mrs. Zhou was so dizzy from being kicked by Shen Congxin that she almost fainted from anger. She had been bullying others all these years, and now she was being humiliated like this by a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl.
Her lips were pale and her whole body trembled as she looked at the group of servants behind her, shouting at them, "What are you all standing there for! That wretched girl, Shen Congxin, must be taken away from me!"
Upon hearing this, the servants immediately brandished their weapons and charged forward. The Lu family village did not back down either; the men all swung their hoes at the servants.
But the servants were armed with long, gleaming swords, and the hoe was chopped into pieces in just a few strokes. But the men of Lujia Village were all men of spirit, and they couldn’t stand to see a little girl being bullied like this.
They all fought the servants with their bare hands. In the chaos, one of the servants saw where Shen Congxin was about to land, rushed over, grabbed Shen Congxin's arm, and tried to drag him away.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Ling cried out in alarm and quickly grabbed Chen Congxin. In the struggle, the servant's knife slashed Jiang Ling's arm. Jiang Ling felt a sharp pain in her arm, and then blood dripped onto the ground.
"You!! I'll fight you to the death if you dare touch my mother!" Jiang Yaojie's eyes turned red when he saw the bloodstains on the ground, and he charged forward, brandishing his sickle.
"Yaojie!!" Jiang Ling exclaimed in alarm, worried that Jiang Yaojie might get hurt.
"How dare you! Cause trouble here? Believe me or not, you'll all be arrested and thrown in jail!" An angry shout came from the side and behind, and then a carriage stopped in front of the group.
The driver was Zhao Liu from the yamen gate. He glared angrily at the group of people around him, but panicked when he saw Jiang Ling clutching her bleeding arm.
Zhao Liuyi lifted the curtain of the carriage and whispered something to Magistrate Duan.
"What?" Magistrate Duan exclaimed in surprise, but quickly calmed down.
Just then, another carriage came running from afar. Before the carriage had come to a complete stop, a young man dressed in white jumped off the carriage.
When he saw that Jiang Ling's hand, which was covering her arm, was bleeding, he immediately ran to her side and shouted angrily, "Auntie, who hurt you?"
The visitor was Zhao Qianyu, the son of Magistrate Zhao of Guangping County. In the afternoon, while he was studying at school, he heard his classmates discussing the Shen family's search for someone. When he heard that they had already found them in Lujia Village, he immediately couldn't sit still. He ran out of the school and quickly hailed a carriage to rush over here.
Seeing so many people gathered at the entrance of Lujia Village, he was so anxious that he jumped off the carriage before it was properly stopped.
"Who? Auntie, who did this?" Zhao Qianyu turned and glared at the group of servants, shouting. His gaze swept over the weapons in their hands until it landed on a servant whose knife tip had a crimson mark on it.
"Qianyu..." Jiang Ling called out quickly, worried that the bloodthirsty servants might harm Zhao Qianyu.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Qianyu's stubborn temper flared up at this moment. He completely ignored Jiang Ling's shouts and walked towards the servants with angry eyes.
"Was it you?!" Zhao Qianyu asked the servant coldly.
These servants were used to being arrogant and domineering. Seeing that Zhao Qianyu was wearing a light-colored coarse cloth long gown issued by the school, they assumed that he was just a poor, pedantic scholar.
The servant brandished his knife arrogantly and said, "It's me! So what? It's that slut's honor to kill me, I haven't even dirtied my knife yet!"
"you……"
"Damn it..."
Zhao Qianyu glared at the servant in front of him, while Magistrate Duan muttered a curse under his breath, which startled Zhao Liu.
"Are you from the Shen family?" Zhao Qianyu asked, squinting as he carefully examined the servants.
"Knowing we're from the Shen family, why don't you get out of the way! Kid, didn't your mother teach you that a good dog doesn't block the road?" the servant continued arrogantly.
"Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—you merchants are ranked at the very bottom, yet you speak to me like this? Besides, you're just a servant of the Shen family, at best a dog, and you're so arrogant?" Zhao Qianyu said coldly, his eyes narrowed.
"Kid! I'll teach you a lesson today!" The Shen family servant had never been so humiliated. He spat on his hands, gripped his long sword, and slashed down at Zhao Qianyu.
"Stop! You dare to act recklessly with the magistrate here? Looks like you're planning to go to jail!" Zhao Liu shouted as he got off the carriage.
The servant, having been reprimanded, dared not act rashly again. He could only glare angrily at Zhao Qianyu. Zhao Liu slapped the servant hard across the face, pointed at Zhao Qianyu, and cursed at him, "Open your dog eyes wide and take a good look! Who is this? This is Young Master Zhao, the son of the magistrate of Guangping County! You dare to lay a hand on him? Do you have a death wish? Or do you think you're thick-skinned and unafraid of punishment?"
"What? This...this...he..." The servant beside him was so frightened that he fell to the ground, trembling and crying.
Ignoring the servant's disheveled appearance, Zhao Qianyu shouted to the crowd, "Who has wound medicine? Who has gauze?"
The villagers of Lujia Village were all ordinary people, so how could they have such precious things? Zhao Liu took out a bottle of his family's heirloom wound medicine from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Ling. After Jiang Ling performed a simple bandage, she returned to the crowd.
She stared at Magistrate Duan with some curiosity and asked, "Your Excellency, may I ask what brings you to our Lu Family Village today?"
"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees..." Magistrate Duan produced an imperial edict.
Even those who were illiterate knelt down in a scattered manner after hearing these eight characters. Jiang Ling was somewhat bewildered, wondering how the emperor's edict could appear here.
"I have heard that Jiang from Lujia Village has found a water source, eradicated locusts, and brought blessings to the people. She has answered my questions. Therefore, I hereby confer upon Jiang the title of Ninth-Rank Lady, bestow upon her the title of An, a set of Lady's robes, a Lady's crown, a pair of Lady's hairpins, and one hundred taels of gold! The village chief of Lujia Village has led the village effectively, and is hereby bestowed one hundred taels of gold! Five thousand mu of land are granted to Lujia Village. This is my decree!" Magistrate Duan finished reading the imperial edict in a solemn tone.
At this moment, Lujia Village was completely silent, and everyone was immersed in shock. This naturally included Jiang Ling. Jiang Ling never expected that she had only opened a water source and driven away the locusts to protect the grain of Lujia Village. Such a small matter had actually reached the emperor's ears.
The emperor even bestowed a title upon himself.
"Village Chief Lu, receive the decree! What are you standing there for!" Magistrate Duan hurriedly reminded everyone when he saw that they all had their heads down and mouths open.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!" Village Chief Lu exclaimed loudly as he received the imperial edict with trembling hands.
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