"Well, Guiyue Village is not under Magistrate Duan's jurisdiction. Even if Magistrate Duan wanted to help, he couldn't, not to mention..."
As Jiang Yaojie spoke, he suddenly looked outside. Seeing that Jiang Suihe's gaze was not on them, he quickly moved closer to Jiang Ling and said, "Besides, the Zhang father and son are notoriously lazy. I really don't want my sister to have anything to do with them!"
"Lazily lazy? How do you know that?" Jiang Ling asked.
“Yes, I heard about it when I was helping Magistrate Duan survey the water source, and... Mother, I think that guy has some ill intentions towards my sister!” Jiang Yaojie said, his face flushed.
Jiang Ling was somewhat surprised, and she continued to ask, "Why do you think that?"
“Well… when Mother went out, this guy actually looked for his sister several times. Once, when he saw Uncle here, he seemed very flustered and turned around and left,” Jiang Yaojie said.
"Then...then they didn't do anything, right?" Jiang Ling asked hurriedly.
"No... my sister just talked to him at the door for a while and then came back!"
Jiang Yaojie's words put Jiang Ling at ease. Sure enough, growing up means more worry, a saying that holds true in both ancient and modern times.
Jiang Ling patted Jiang Yaojie on the shoulder, signaling him not to tell anyone about today's conversation. Jiang Yaojie nodded and left knowingly.
Jiang Ling tossed and turned all night. Looking at the sleeping Jiang Suihe, she felt a mix of emotions. Her only relief was that she had discovered it early. If it had really caused something irreversible, Jiang Ling would have been filled with regret.
But she didn't know how to bring this up with Jiang Suihe. In this modern era, she had always focused on her career and neglected her personal life. She also never paid attention to those parenting knowledge public accounts.
She couldn't help but feel annoyed, wondering why she hadn't paid more attention to parenting knowledge back then, so she wouldn't be caught off guard now.
And so, Jiang Ling drifted off to sleep amidst her repeated contemplation.
The next morning, just as Jiang Ling brought out breakfast, there was a soft knock on the door.
Jiang Ling looked at Jiang Suihe, and as she expected, Jiang Suihe's cheeks were flushed and her eyes were darting around in a flustered manner.
Jiang Ling understood immediately. She put down her chopsticks, got up, and walked towards the door.
As soon as the door opened, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old, dressed in a dark gray coarse linen coat, stood outside.
The boy's hair was tied up casually, and he was quite good-looking, with handsome eyebrows and bright eyes. However, his eyes kept darting around, giving him a restless feeling.
"You are..." Jiang Ling asked the boy.
"Ah...I...I...My name is Zhang Dazhuang, from Guiyue Village next door. I'm here to see Jiang Suihe." Zhang Dazhuang looked at Jiang Ling in front of him and stammered.
"Come in!" Jiang Ling said.
Zhang Dazhuang followed Jiang Ling somewhat flusteredly. Jiang Suihe saw that Zhang Dazhuang's cheeks were as red as apples behind Jiang Ling, and he lowered his eyes guiltily, not daring to look at Jiang Ling.
"Dazhuang, right? Haven't you had breakfast yet? Yaojie, go get a set of bowls and chopsticks." Jiang Ling said, sitting in a chair.
"No, no, Aunt Jiang, I... I just came to deliver something to Sister Suihe!" Zhang Dazhuang said, taking out four eggs from his pocket.
Jiang Ling grinned, but instead of accepting the eggs, she pushed them in front of Zhang Dazhuang and said sternly, "Take the eggs back. We don't deserve this!"
"Mother..." Jiang Suihe called out softly, probably because Jiang Ling's attitude was a little unusual.
Jiang Ling gave him a cold look, and Jiang Suihe quickly lowered his head, not daring to meet Jiang Ling's gaze again.
“Aunt Jiang, you…you’re being too polite. I just saw that Sister Suihe has been weak lately, so I brought some eggs to help her recover.” Zhang Dazhuang’s eyes darted around as he sat down.
"You can take the eggs with you. Suihe is my daughter, and it's not like we can't afford eggs. Thank you! Since you're here, I can't let you go home hungry. Have breakfast with us. It's just some simple home-cooked food, so please don't mind!" Jiang Ling said, pushing the bowl and chopsticks in front of Zhang Dazhuang.
For breakfast, Jiang Ling specially made several buckwheat pancakes mixed with white flour. After adding eggs, the originally coarse buckwheat became more tender. She also paired them with some dried radish and pickled vegetables that she had previously dried, and made a pot of millet porridge.
The millet porridge was very thick, emitting a faint aroma of rice. Although Zhang Dazhuang repeatedly waved his hands to decline, his eyes were still fixed on Jiang Ling's breakfast.
After breakfast, Zhang Dazhuang carefully put away the eggs, burped, exchanged a few pleasantries with Jiang Ling, and then hurriedly left.
Jiang Ling looked at Jiang Suihe, whose cheeks were flushed, and frowned as she said to Jiang Suihe, "Suihe, come in with me!"
Jiang Suihe looked frightened and walked into the house with Jiang Ling, her head hanging low.
"When did this happen?!" Jiang Ling asked Jiang Suihe in front of her with a tense face.
"Mother, what do you mean, when?" Jiang Suihe's cheeks were still flushed, but she lowered her face so that Jiang Ling could not see her expression.
"Suihe, out of the four children, you should be the one I trust the most. I know that girls don't have a mother anymore when they grow up, but why didn't you say something like this beforehand?" Jiang Ling said, suppressing her anger.
"Mother, I...I didn't, I didn't...I just..." Jiang Suihe rarely saw Jiang Ling so stern, and immediately lost her composure, stammering for a long time without saying anything.
“Suihe, I hope you can explain this to your mother properly. If he is really a good child, your mother will not object. In a few years, your mother will save some dowry for you so that you can get married in style. But if he is not a good child, you are your mother’s precious darling. How can your mother bear to watch you jump into the fire pit?” Jiang Ling said to Jiang Suihe.
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