Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 236 Are you scared!

Madam Yan turned around inside the room: "What do you mean by this?"

The painting that Hu Mama had sent to the Yan family that day was slapped on the table.

Jiang glanced at the painting, then at her: "Sister-in-law, don't forget I just got back. It might not be safe to talk here."

Madam Yan sneered, "What do you think the people I brought are good for?"

Upon hearing this, Madam Jiang glanced out the window and discovered that the large group of attendants who usually followed Madam Yan had also arrived. They were all surrounding the house, making it impossible for anyone to get within two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters).

Madam Jiang withdrew her gaze: "Sister-in-law, you move about the Minister's mansion as if it were your own backyard, how impressive! Since your people are personally on the case, I naturally have no reservations."

Seeing this from inside the partition wall, Lu Jia straightened up and exchanged a glance with Yin Liu beside her.

Just as Madam Yan arrived outside, Lu Jia received the news.

This is a partition wall between two walls used for ventilation and moisture control. Since Lu Jia dared to let Jiang Shi out, he naturally had to make some preparations. After Jiang Shi went to the Taoist temple, Lu Jie thought the main house was too far from the study and did not move back. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu Jia had Chang Fu secretly tamper with the doors and windows under the pretext of repairing them in preparation for the second young lady's wedding.

Yinliu disassembled the carved window on the wall, which had been loosened long ago. The two of them went in and then covered the carved window from the inside. From the outside, everything looked the same as before.

Although the cramped space was narrow, by pulling out a small brick that had been pried loose from the wall, the situation inside the room could be clearly seen.

Faced with Jiang's sarcastic remarks, Madam Yan, perhaps convinced of her own conviction, found her expression less tense than in public.

She sat down and said, "You are the wife of a high-ranking official. If you don't like me, you can always drive me away. If you have the ability, you can even send me to prison."

Jiang bit her lower lip: "Since you're willing to come see me, it's clear you want to have a good talk. Why waste your breath mocking me now?"
"You helped me out of this predicament and allowed me to return to the Minister's residence. I will remember this kindness."

Madam Yan replied, "I wouldn't dare."

Jiang stepped forward and said, "It is true that I have received benefits from the Yan family, but has the Yan family not received benefits from me?"
"Back then, you didn't trust anyone else to take over the Lu family, but I was the only one you could firmly control, just like Jia'er now. Wasn't the old lady willing to recognize me as her goddaughter because she had the idea of ​​using me in the future?"
“You are the ones who are using me, yet you treat it as a favor. We are all in the same boat. If I had been born in the Yan family, would you be acting this way today?”
"Sister-in-law, don't you think that as long as I remain married, I will always be Mrs. Lu—"

"shut up!"

Madam Yan slammed her hand on the table: "A bastard is a bastard, why make so many 'what ifs'?"

"Who are you calling a born bastard?" Jiang stepped forward. "I am also the daughter of Grand Secretary Yan! I should have been a young lady of the Yan family!"
“I have done enough for your Yan family. Isn’t this title of the Minister’s wife rightfully mine?”
"Since you are useful to each other, why are you in such a hurry to kill each other?"

"If I am gone, will the Yan family have to find someone else to fill the vacancy of Madam Lu? Lu Jie is not the same as before. Will he still listen to you as he did more than ten years ago?"

"You think he can just shove anyone in here and expect him to accept them all? Even if he were willing, I'd still be perfectly fine here!"
"I didn't just give birth, and I don't have any lingering health problems, so how are you going to kill me without my knowledge?"

Before she could finish speaking, Madam Yan's hand shot out, slapping her across the face. "Still going crazy?" Madam Yan stepped off the footstool and circled halfway around her. "What are you saying? I don't understand."

Jiang was slapped back half a step. Her eyes were already red, but compared to that night in Anqing Hutong, she was now just biting her lower lip and not saying a word. Her behavior could be described as docile.

Lu Jia, trapped inside the wall, held her breath.

It's no secret that the Jiang family was specifically used by the Yan family to establish this nepotistic relationship.

It's not hard to understand why the Yan family wants to take Lu Jia to the Shen family.

The phrase "just gave birth" that Chiang Kai-shek mentioned...

The "Mrs. Lu" who "just gave birth" "more than ten years ago"—wasn't that Lu Jia's mother?!

Those two damned women! Could it be that their involvement was related to her mother's death back then?!
"Miss, hold on!"

Yin Liu whispered in her ear, pointing into the room.

Inside the room, Madam Jiang lowered her hand and chuckled softly: "What don't you understand?"

"I only said a few words, and you attacked. It's clear you're still afraid. You used to be fearless of Lu Jie, but now you know he's got power, right?"
"Thanks to your own good fortune, Jia'er has already been betrothed to the Shen family, and this marriage is now a done deal."

"Do you think that if the Lu family and the Shen family found out about what you did back then, they might just join forces?"

She paused here, then grinned and said, "I still remember that the birth mother of the eldest son of the Shen family, the wife of Grand Commandant Shen, was also dragged to death by you back then, wasn't she?"

"Although you didn't do it yourself, if you hadn't detained the itinerant doctor who treated Madam Shen, how could Madam Shen have died? Even if she was terminally ill, she certainly wouldn't have died so young, on that night!"
"Poor young master Shen, he's only eight years old, isn't he? He's always been in poor health. Oh, by the way, does sister-in-law know why young master Shen is in poor health?"

Madam Yan's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

But Madam Jiang laughed wildly: "You are the eldest son and daughter-in-law of the Grand Secretary, and you are of noble birth, but you are no more virtuous than others!"

"Back then, the Emperor did not heed your advice and still appointed Shen Bo as commander-in-chief to the Northwest. After he left the capital, you couldn't sit still, so you took action against the Shen family."

"Shen Qingzhou is lucky. On such a cold, snowy night, he ran to the Yan family and knelt down to beg you to release him. He knelt for half the night to no avail, but he still survived."

"Madam Shen wasn't so lucky."

“A mere Lu Jie might not be able to do anything to you, and Shen Bo, who has just returned to the court, might not be able to suppress you either, but what if they join forces?”

"Young Master Shen is frail and sickly, and may not have time for anything else. Shen Bo may not go to great lengths for a wife who has been dead for many years, but if he knew that his eldest son was actually killed by you, could he remain indifferent?"
"He and Lu Jie are, respectively, the most outstanding military general and a minister of the Six Ministries whose careers are at their peak. If they join forces, I want to ask you, can your Yan family still withstand the pressure?!"