Lifesaving Grace

As night deepened, Fu Zhong sat in the courtyard, the cold wind chilling him to the bone.

Fu Shaoli, who had just gotten up to use the restroom, opened the door and saw a dark shadow. She was startled and it took her a while to figure out who it was.

Some people shouted angrily, "Dad! What are you doing sitting here in the middle of the night? You scared me to death!"

Fu Zhong stood stiffly, looking at Fu Shaoli who was muttering, and suddenly blurted out, "Shaoli, you should get married."

The village head came to see him today, and his meaning was clear: if Fu Shaoli continues to harass the Jiang family and opposes Jiang Yun Ning at every turn, this village will not tolerate them.

He was initially furious, but when he heard the village head recount the whole story, he suddenly realized that years of pampering had spoiled Fu Shaoli, making her selfish and devoid of any human warmth.

He never imagined that his daughter would go to someone and say things like, "This time we discovered it in time, but what if we implicate the whole village next time?"

"Dad, what are you saying? Have you been drinking?" Fu Shaoli frowned and walked over to look at him.

Fu Zhong shook his head: "We don't have any money at home to pay your taxes. After the New Year, find a good family for you to marry into."

Perhaps once she gets married and has her own family, she won't be thinking about other people's husbands anymore.

This was the only solution Fu Zhong could think of.

"I won't marry him unless he's better looking than Jiang Che. Father, you don't earn enough money. At this rate, when will I ever be able to buy a slave like Jiang Che?"

Fu Shaoli waved her hand dismissively and turned to go inside.

Watching her retreating figure, Fu Zhong felt a chill run down his spine.

In this freezing weather, his daughter, whom he had cherished since childhood, never asked him if he was cold, nor did she urge him to come inside and warm up. She only complained that he didn't earn enough money.

As dawn broke, Jiang Yun Ning could barely open her eyes.

Last night, Jiang Che, for some reason, kept pestering her until midnight, and her back was about to break.

"You stay home and rest, I'll go to town to open the shop," Jiang Che whispered coaxingly in her ear. "I'll bring you breakfast. Okay?"

Jiang Yun Ning mumbled an "Mmm" in his sleep, having no idea what he was muttering, and turned over to continue sleeping.

When I opened my eyes again, the sun was already high in the sky.

"Damn it!" Jiang Yun Ning sat up abruptly, and there was a knock on the door: "Miss, are you up?"

Upon hearing Chunyan's voice, Jiang Yunning responded.

Before I could even get dressed, Chunyan had already brought in hot water.

"Miss, the young master instructed us not to wake you. The breakfast that was brought in was still warm in the kitchen because you weren't up," Chunyan said with a smile, holding a handkerchief as she waited.

Jiang Yun Ning was puzzled as she washed her face.

Why did Jiang Che suddenly have a conscience?

Even if we stayed up until midnight before, she would always be clingy and insist on staying by my side the next day. But today she actually went to town by herself?

"Did anything happen at the snack shop yesterday?" she asked, puzzled.

Chunyan thought for a while, then shook her head seriously: "I didn't hear Dongmei and Changxi say anything."

Jiang Yun Ning didn't say anything more, got up and went to the main room in the backyard.

Liu Yuzhi was sitting in a chair, occasionally touching her belly, watching Wang Cuihua and Granny Zheng cut cloth to make clothes for the baby.

"Oh, Yun Ning is awake." Liu Yuzhi was the first to see her, her smile teasing, which made Jiang Yun Ning's face burn with embarrassment.

When Wang Cuihua saw her, she immediately got up to get her breakfast: "Breakfast is in the pot, I'll get it for you."

Jiang Yun Ning waved her hand: "No need, Mother. I'm not hungry, let's eat together at noon."

Just then, the sound of gongs and drums suddenly came from outside the door. Many villagers who had come to watch the commotion also followed.

"Madam, Eldest Madam, Miss. A dozen or so people have arrived outside, carrying gifts towards our house. The leading woman says they are from the Cheng family. They said yesterday they wanted to thank the young lady for saving their life."

Although Lai Cai was puzzled, he still explained it clearly.

程？

Jiang Yunning stood up: "Okay, take him to the front hall. I'll go right away."

"A life-saving grace? Yun Ning, didn't you go to the county government to file a complaint yesterday? How come you also saved someone on the side?" Wang Cuihua was a little confused.

Jiang Yun Ning scratched his head, unsure how to explain: "I'll go take a look first."

As he spoke, he hurriedly ran towards the front hall.

I had seen that old woman yesterday, and when I saw her today, my eyes showed more respect.

Cheng Yannan was radiant at this moment, and had even changed into a festive purple-red outfit.

Upon seeing Jiang Yun Ning, he greeted her warmly, grabbed her hand, and slipped the bracelet from his wrist onto Jiang Yun Ning's wrist, saying, "Little girl."

Yesterday, when she returned to the mansion and thoroughly cleaned up the servants, she discovered that Jiang Xing'er was secretly pregnant.

Even more terrifying, she discovered a hidden compartment in Master Qian's study, where poison was concealed. She didn't sleep a wink that night, interrogating Master Qian's personal servant through the night.

Only then did she realize that the poison was prepared for her by Master Qian.

It turns out that over the years, Master Qian's business has not been doing well. He only knows how to buy beauties and linger in brothels. There are already more than a dozen women like Jiang Xing'er who were forced into the business in his backyard.

The household's finances were running out of money, and Master Qian had already started eyeing her dowry.

If it weren't for Jiang Yun Ning's situation, she might have been poisoned to death right away.

"You helped me escape from suffering and be reborn, and you deserve all of this." Cheng Yannan tried hard to put the bracelet on Jiang Yunning's hand and wouldn't let go.

Jiang Yuning was helpless, and in the struggle, the bracelet almost fell to the ground.

"Aunt Cheng, let's sit down first." Jiang Yun Ning was a little tired, so she took the bracelet and pulled Cheng Yan Nan to sit down.

Chunyan had already poured tea for the two of them, and the temperature was just right.

Jiang Yun Ning didn't care about manners and drank the tea in two gulps.

"Aunt Cheng, I really can't accept this. I only wanted to make sure the people who harmed me received their due punishment. As for helping you, it was all unintentional. You don't need to thank me like this."

Cheng Yannan shook her head disapprovingly: "It was an unintentional act for you, but for me, it was a life-saving grace."

She would really feel bad if she didn't give him something.

"To tell you the truth, if I hadn't met you, that bastard might have already drugged me to death in order to get my entire dowry. I can't just leave such a huge favor unrewarded."

Jiang Yun Ning exclaimed in surprise, "What? This scumbag! A gigolo!"

She had only ever seen this kind of man in novels and TV dramas before; this was the first time she had encountered one in real life.

No, Song Minglang is too.

However, Song Minglang wasn't so ruthless as to poison someone to death.

All the other gigolos are handsome, at least like Song Minglang, so why is Cheng Yannan's gigolo so fat and smelly? What did she see in the wealthy man in the first place?

Cheng Yannan looked at her with a puzzled expression: "What does 'scumbag' mean?"

Jiang Yun Ning's eyes darted around: "It's... a scumbag, a man among scumbags."

Cheng Yannan nodded, then muttered, "That's right, he's a scumbag."

But the next second, he started to persuade her: "Girl, I'm not giving you much. Compared to my life, this is really nothing."

Jiang Yun Ning hesitated for a moment, then pushed the bracelet back.

"Aunt Cheng, I'll keep the gift. I don't want this bracelet." If she remembered correctly, Cheng Yannan said yesterday that the bracelet was left by Cheng Yannan's mother.