Grandma Jiang stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at Jiang Ling with a fierce and slightly displeased expression.
"Suihe, go back inside!" Jiang Ling ignored the old lady's scolding and looked down at Jiang Suihe behind her, saying.
Jiang Suihe glanced at Jiang Ling, then at the fierce-looking old lady in front of her, and nodded with worry in her eyes as she walked into the courtyard, looking back every few steps.
Jiang Ling didn't intend to let Grandma Jiang in. She walked outside, closed the door, and asked with a stern face, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm your mother! Do I need to give you a heads-up before coming to see you? Jiang Ling, I think you've really grown up!" Jiang Ling's words made Old Madam Jiang even more dissatisfied, and she glared at Jiang Ling fiercely.
Faced with Grandma Jiang's aggressive tone, Jiang Ling suddenly felt a pang of sadness. Although she grew up in a single-parent family, her mother had never spoken to her in this tone and had always treated her with maternal love.
Especially in the early stages of my own business, my mother even used all her savings to support me.
At that moment, Jiang Ling suddenly missed her mother, but before she could even feel sad, Old Mrs. Jiang frowned and continued to scold her with slight displeasure, "Hmph! What, are you just going to leave an old woman like me standing outside like this?"
Jiang Ling looked up and glanced at the old lady in front of her, mimicking her tone from last time, and said, "No money, nothing at all!" Then she turned around and prepared to go back into the house.
Unexpectedly, Old Madam Jiang grabbed Jiang Ling's arm and said fiercely, "You little whore, say that again! You have no money? Everyone knows about your business dealings! You still dare to say you have no money? I'm telling you, you'd better hand over twenty taels of silver right now!"
Jiang Ling had a headache. She had previously thought that Old Lady Lu was just a shrew with no sense of propriety, but she never expected that her own mother was even worse than Old Lady Lu.
Jiang Ling turned her head and said with a slight smile, "No means no! And..."
At this point, Jiang Ling paused deliberately. She first shook her arm off Old Madam Jiang's hand, then continued, "And! How did you treat me at the beginning of the month?"
Jiang Ling's words did not make Old Madam Jiang feel guilty; instead, they ignited her anger. With her hands on her hips, chest puffed out, and eyes wide, she cursed, "You heartless little whore! You've been divorced, yet you still shamelessly cling to this Lu Family Village! What, are you hiding another man in your house?"
"You little whore! You have to give me twenty taels of silver today, or you'll be married off! You've already been divorced anyway! You have to listen to me!"
Looking at what the old lady Jiang was doing, Jiang Ling's last shred of hope for mother-daughter affection was completely shattered by the old lady's current state. As a modern person, she simply couldn't understand why there would be such a bizarre mother who would drive her daughter to the brink of despair for twenty taels of silver.
"I told you! If you keep messing around, believe me, I'll throw you out!" Jiang Ling glanced around, and seeing that no one was around, she rushed to Old Madam Jiang and warned her in a low voice.
"you……"
"What do you mean, 'what ...
Grandma Jiang was startled by Jiang Ling in front of her. She didn't quite understand why Jiang Ling, who had always been timid and obedient, suddenly seemed like a different person. However, Grandma Jiang was not one to be trifled with. She sat down on the ground and started howling.
She forced out a few tears while wailing, trying to appear pitiful.
Grandma Jiang's wailing quickly attracted a crowd of onlookers. While pretending to wipe away her tears, Grandma Jiang secretly glanced at the crowd.
As more and more people gathered around her and Jiang Ling, her crying grew louder, and she mumbled complaints about Jiang Ling.
Grandma Jiang thought her scheme was about to succeed, and she subconsciously covered her face, afraid that others would see her smug expression. However, Jiang Ling saw through her little action.
Jiang Ling ignored the strange looks from the crowd and paid no attention to the old lady Jiang who was throwing a tantrum on the ground. She simply cleared her throat and said to everyone, "Everyone, I, Jiang Ling, have to apologize to you. I need to charge you for the cotton I promised to give you for free!"
Jiang Ling's words were like drops of water falling into a hot oil pan, immediately igniting a buzz of discussion among those around her.
Almost everyone looked at Jiang Ling with great dissatisfaction, but Jiang Ling didn't care at all. She continued to smile and said to everyone, "Originally, I did intend to give these cotton away for free, but now my mother is forcing me to give her twenty taels of silver!"
“I’m a woman with four children, and I don’t even own a small plot of land. Our farmers’ annual income is only two or three taels of silver. My mother has taken away at least ten years’ worth of income!”
Grandma Jiang, who had been crying incessantly, immediately froze on the spot. She never expected her daughter to pull such a stunt. She covered her face and secretly glanced around, only to break out in a cold sweat. Everyone around her was staring at her menacingly.
"Lujia Village has just recovered from the drought and is now facing an insect plague. If it weren't for the kind-hearted Mr. Li who donated this batch of cotton to me at an extremely low price, our crops would probably have been eaten up by locusts this year. You all must be having a hard time going hungry."
Jiang Ling's words immediately silenced everyone around her, and at the same time, all their eyes were fixed on the old lady Jiang who was sitting in the middle crying.
“I hope you can understand my mother. She is an elderly woman. For her to ask me, a married daughter, for money, she must have some unspeakable suffering!”
Jiang Ling's move, combining offense and defense, instantly focused all her firepower on Old Madam Jiang. Now, Old Madam Jiang was in a difficult situation, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans began to appear on her forehead. In her heart, she had already cursed Jiang Ling ninety-nine times.
"Grandma, aren't you being a bit too difficult for us..." Zhao Erleng's wife was the first to break down, and she shouted from the crowd.
With Zhao Erleng's wife starting the discussion, everyone immediately began to chatter amongst themselves.
Grandma Jiang couldn't hold back any longer. She jumped up from the ground, glared at Jiang Ling, then lowered her head and slunk away towards the entrance of Lujia Village.
"Sister-in-law Jiang, this money..." Seeing that the farce was over, everyone's eyes once again fell on Jiang Ling.
After hearing this, Jiang Ling shook her head and said to everyone, "Don't worry, everyone. I won't ask you for a single copper coin. Go back and make the masks quickly. Tonight, I'll teach you how to brew the medicinal potion!"
Everyone seemed relieved after hearing this, and they disappeared in twos and threes from Jiang Ling's sight.
Jiang Ling looked at the spot where Old Madam Jiang had disappeared, a slight smile suddenly appearing on her lips as she muttered under her breath, "That old hag is trying to fight me? You're still too green!"
After saying that, he turned around and pushed open his own bedroom door.
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