Chapter 327

The room fell silent for a moment.

Old Lady Jiang had not expected anyone to disrupt this rare tender moment. She was quite displeased, with anger showing in her eyebrows and eyes.

In contrast, Jiang Sheng was relatively composed as she leaned on her hand without speaking.

She was no longer the little beggar with a one-track mind about food. She understood that everyone had parents, most children grew up under their loving mother and strict father, and that being abandoned was the exception rather than the norm. Perhaps it was her five brothers who had filled her emotional voids and filled her heart with love and courage. After a brief moment of turmoil, she no longer yearned for anything more.

To Jiang Sheng, Old Lady Jiang and Second Uncle Jiang were merely strangers, despite their familial ties. While they were connected by blood, emotionally they were parallel lines that never crossed.

She did not love them, so she had no expectations, cravings or sadness towards them.

Jiang Sheng was like an onlooker, standing in the Jiang Family but always keeping her distance.

As such, Old Lady Jiang's actions could not hurt Jiang Sheng. On the contrary, it piqued her interest to see what else this lady could do.

"My lady, you cannot enter. The old lady is still resting," Tan Yue's voice came from outside, blocking Mrs. Liao's way.

Old Lady Jiang suppressed her anger and looked towards Jiang Sheng. "Good child, go hide behind the screen."

Although puzzled, Jiang Sheng obediently went behind the screen.

In that instant, Mrs. Liao pushed past Tan Yue and burst into the room. Seeing Old Lady Jiang sitting there calmly, she cried, "Mother is clearly not resting. This lowly maid is taking advantage of your favoritism to deceive her mistress. She has some nerve!"

Tan Yue silently followed her in and knelt on the ground.

"I have indulged you out of my favoritism, but do not forget your status. You are merely a maid!" Mrs. Liao continued her biting rebuke. "If this happens again, forget serving in De Ren Courtyard. I will sell you straight to the human traffickers!" Still, Tan Yue kept her head low without a word.

Old Lady Jiang merely gave a fleeting glance forward. Silence descended upon the room once more.

Mrs. Liao moved her lips, as if wanting to say more, but thought better to stay silent.

A deathly silence.

Beyond the window floated birdsongs and rustling leaves, but not a human voice could be heard.

After some time, beads of sweat had appeared on Mrs. Liao's forehead as she struggled to stand.

Only then did Old Lady Jiang end her demonstration of prestige. In a cool and authoritative tone, she questioned, "Since when do you have the authority to discipline my maids of De Ren Courtyard?"

Mrs. Liao swayed unsteadily but answered obediently, "This daughter-in-law does not dare."

"Not only do you dare to sell my maid, in the future you might even dare to bury this undying old woman alive." Old Lady Jiang gave a derisive laugh. "Mrs. Liao, don't be so arrogant. This is the Jiang Family, not your Liao Family."

The commanding aura unique to a general's wife was fully revealed in this moment. The cold and smiling elderly woman was more daunting than yelling angrily could ever achieve.

Mrs. Liao could stand no longer. Her legs gave way and she knelt on the floor, sobbing pleadingly, “I beg the elderly mistress to show leniency and spare the Liao Family this once. These years have not been easy on the Liaos. We rely solely on the lychee business to stay afloat in Fengjing. Without it, I fear we may be squeezed out.”

This was more akin to pleading.

Old Lady Jiang signaled for Tan Yue to rise and looked ahead impassively. “The Jiangs have spared the Liaos, but have the Liaos spared the Jiangs? You play your role as a Liao daughter to the fullest, but have you fulfilled your duties as a Jiang daughter-in-law?”

Mrs. Liao turned deathly pale, not daring to reply.

“In the decade since you married in, we have helped and supported you many times, overtly and covertly. The Jiangs have turned a blind eye, because the General's Residence needs you to manage it and the children need you to care for them. We thought you had it hard. But how have you treated the Jiangs?” Old Lady Jiang gave a derisive laugh. “The Jiangs helped the Liaos establish and protect the lychee business. After profiting from it for over ten years, it has become the Liaos’ business that can't survive without the Jiangs' protection?”

She did not yell or even raise her voice. Her expression barely changed. Yet every word struck home like a dagger, heavy with implication.

Mrs. Liao’s formerly upright kneeling posture gradually weakened until she was nearly prostrated.

“Mrs. Liao, do you think the Jiangs do not dare to weather this scandal?” At this point, Old Lady Jiang was puzzled. “Or perhaps you assumed my grandson is as muddle-headed as you, letting the Jiang bloodline be adulterated?”

How could anyone switch the Jiang’s children then shamelessly demand the Family’s protection? Were Old Lady Jiang in Mrs. Liao’s shoes, she would have immediately yielded humbly, tried to appease everyone, and ensured all the children’s lives returned to normal before making amends for her mistakes.

But Mrs. Liao did not. She ignored Jiang Sheng, asked no questions about anything, spent her days chanting sutras in the Buddhist hall, and only occasionally checked on Jiang Chenghua and Jiang Chengyuan’s well-being.

If the Liaos had not secretly begged at her door, she would not have dared to brazenly barge into De Ren Hall, much less be slumped here pleading.

“Mrs. Liao, cherishing your birth family is understandable, but you cannot treat the Jiangs like fools.” Old Lady Jiang’s tone was frigid. “It is you who owes the Jiangs now, not the other way around. You have no right to demand anything of the Jiangs, much less force them to protect you.”

This settled the issue.

It also completely removed the mountain that was the Liaos.

Knowing her mother-in-law’s temperament, Mrs. Liao knew no more kowtowing would work. Slowly, she climbed to her feet from the floor.

To Tan Yue’s shock, she coldly snapped back, “If Mother refuses to help, then don’t help. What’s the point of lecturing? The General is still at the border where he can’t hear any of this.”

Old Lady Jiang’s expression darkened. “But he will eventually return and learn of what you have done and the scandal you brought upon the Jiangs!”

“Scandal?” Mrs. Liao was wooden. “It certainly is a scandal.”

Slowly, she turned to leave. Just as she was about to step out of the room, she heartlessly threw over her shoulder, “This scandal isn’t limited to the Jiangs. You had best cover it up tightly, Old Lady.”

With that, she strode off arrogantly.

Stunned, Tan Yue instinctively followed her to the door and overheard Mrs. Liao mumbling under her breath.

“The Jiangs never cared for the Liaos in the first place, never cared for me. The lofty Jiangs, the esteemed Jiangs. But you, old lady...you weren’t originally a Jiang either.”

The deranged lady stumbled away from De Ren Hall. Her subsequent words were lost to the wind, no longer audible.

But it was enough to fill Tan Yue with alarm.

She turned and returned to Old Lady Jiang, kneeling before her again. With heart pounding anxiously, she recounted Mrs. Liao’s words.

At the end, she carefully ventured, “Old Lady, the madam...she must have been too angry and worried for the Liaos. Maybe she was just venting at the Jiangs.”

“None of those,” Old Lady Jiang cut her off, looking towards the young girl who had emerged from behind the screen. “She was not wrong. I am not of Jiang descent; I am Lady Jiang Yao.”

“And indeed, the Jiangs look down on the Liaos.”