Jiang Suihe remained kneeling before Jiang Ling, tears streaming down her face as she choked out, "Mother, I'm sorry, I've let you down. I... I've fallen in love with someone!"
"Wait, Suihe, you...you mean...you just like someone?" Jiang Ling used very little information to piece together a whole string of clues, then discarded the useless details, her mind piecing things together like navigating a maze of puzzles, finally arriving at a conclusion—Jiang Suihe just likes someone?
Jiang Suihe bit her lip and nodded without saying anything more.
"Suihe, you...you get up first, your knees won't be able to take it if you kneel for too long!" Seeing that her worst-case scenario hadn't come to pass, Jiang Ling quickly hugged Jiang Suihe again and helped her stand up.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Suihe remained stubborn. She choked back tears and continued, "Mother, please let me finish telling you everything, okay?"
Seeing Jiang Suihe's appearance, Jiang Ling rubbed her aching temples and nodded gently.
Jiang Suihe lowered her face, almost burying it in her neck, and then told Zhao Qianyu and her story in a voice barely audible.
Finally, Jiang Suihe took out the sachet and carefully placed it on the table next to Jiang Ling, saying, "Mother, I only accepted this from him, but according to your previous teachings, I have returned something else to him. That's all!"
Seeing Jiang Suihe's expression, Jiang Ling knew she hadn't spoken, so she sighed helplessly, "Get up first!"
Jiang Suihe nodded, and just as she was about to stand up, she frowned, stumbled, and fell directly into Jiang Ling's arms.
Jiang Ling helplessly helped Jiang Suihe to a chair next to her and said with a hint of reproach, "You! I already told you to get up right away. Did you hurt your knees by kneeling like that?"
Jiang Suihe did not refute, but only said, "I was wrong!"
"Suihe, Mother isn't angry about this!" Now that the mother and daughter had spoken, Jiang Ling naturally stopped putting on airs.
"What?" Jiang Suihe suddenly raised her head, looking at Jiang Ling in confusion.
Jiang Ling gently patted Jiang Suihe's head and said softly, "If it were before, I definitely wouldn't have agreed to your relationship. After all, our family is just a peasant family, while his father is a county magistrate. But it's different now. I am a member of the An family. If we're talking about rank, I am one level higher than his father!"
Jiang Suihe didn't speak, but tilted her head and continued to look at Jiang Ling with a strange expression.
"Sigh." Jiang Ling sighed and continued to explain, "I care about your reputation. I'm not against your relationship, but I hope you'll keep your feelings within the bounds of propriety. You need to know how important a girl's reputation is!"
Jiang Suihe nodded, biting her lip, and whispered, "I understand, Mother. I will remember this!"
"I'm not trying to be nice to you, but you haven't heard about what happened in Fugui Village a while ago, have you? Xu Laosan's daughter has always been ambitious and wanted to marry into a wealthy family. And what happened? She did end up sleeping with a merchant's son, but I heard that the young master was a womanizer before he was even twenty and already had five concubines. Because it was Xu Laosan's daughter who took the initiative, the merchant family waived a series of formalities and gave the old couple twenty taels of silver!"
"That Xu Laosan's daughter married into a wealthy family, but what happened? Aren't the gossips in the village almost breaking the old couple's backs?"
After hearing this, Jiang Suihe nodded repeatedly and explained, "Mother, you...you don't need to worry, I...I would never dare, I...I and Qian...Zhao Qianyu are just friends right now!"
"I'm telling you all this so you can understand one thing: a girl should not be looked down upon. Speaking of which, when your eldest brother married your sister-in-law Congxin a while ago, he didn't dare to omit any of the proper betrothal gifts! Suihe, you're a grown woman now, do you understand what I'm saying?" Jiang Ling said earnestly.
Fortunately, Jiang Suihe was obedient. She nodded and returned to her previous demeanor, her eyes seemingly showing more determination. "Mother, don't worry, I understand!"
The mother and daughter's misunderstanding was finally resolved. After Jiang Suihe left Jiang Ling's room, Jiang Ling sighed helplessly again.
She looked up and gazed out the window. It was pitch black outside, with only the faint moonlight casting a lonely glow.
"Sigh, raising children is really difficult, it's a long and arduous journey!" As she spoke, Jiang Ling took out the "Complete Guide to Childcare" that she had bought from the mall and began to read it carefully.
The next day, the sky slowly changed from inky black to dark blue, and then to pale white.
Cock-a-doodle-doo! Three loud crowings of roosters awakened the sleeping Lujia Village.
Early in the morning, Jiang Ling had Jiang Yaojie drive the carriage toward the county government office in Guangping County.
I ran into Zhao Qianyu, who was about to leave, as soon as I got off the bus.
Zhao Qianyu was slightly surprised to see Jiang Ling, but still greeted her with a happy grin.
"Qianyu, do you have some time now? Can we talk?"
Jiang Ling's informal tone still aroused suspicion from Jiang Yaojie and Zhao Qianyu.
Zhao Qianyu scratched his head and secretly glanced at Jiang Yaojie beside him. After exchanging a look, Jiang Yaojie could only shake his head helplessly.
Zhao Qianyu was even more confused. He looked at Jiang Ling and said, "Yes...yes! Godmother, what shall we talk about..."
“Okay, how about we go sit at the teahouse next door?” Jiang Ling pointed to the teahouse not far away and asked.
Zhao Qianyu dared not refuse, so he steeled himself and went to the teahouse with Jiang Ling.
"What?! You! What did you say! Zhao Qianyu, you've fallen for my sister?" Jiang Yaojie's shout, if stopped by Jiang Ling, would probably be heard by everyone in the teahouse.
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