The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 122

Chapter 122: Grandma Gets Angry

Jiang Huaizhen hadn’t expected that after being rejected once, Pan Min would dare to come forward again.

Afraid that he would disturb Lin Shuang, she had finally chosen to go to the appointment.

But when she heard the man reveal her and Lin Shuang’s secret, her eyes were filled with a hint of sarcasm, mixed with an infinite coldness.

Pan Min stared at her and repeated, “Jiang Huaizhen, think about it. I don’t want to make things difficult for you. It’s just that you’re too unyielding. I’ve been so nice to you, but you’ve ignored me. I have no choice but to resort to this.”

“If you come to your senses now, it’s not too late. Your and Lin Shuang’s secret will be buried in my stomach from now on. I will buy a house in the city for your exclusive use. You can have as many maids and matrons as you want, and I’ll give you five taels of silver a month to spend as you please. If you can’t bear to part with the old woman at home, you can bring her over too. It’s better than being cooped up in that broken valley, raising pigs and farming!”

“Five taels of silver is a lot,” Jiang Huaizhen said.

Pan Min had looked into Jiang Huaizhen’s situation. Two years ago, she had become an executioner to earn money to treat her grandmother. She only earned six or seven taels of silver a year from beheading people. Seeing that she was to his liking, giving her five taels a month was already a great gift.

Hearing her indifferent tone, he just thought that she really felt that this was a lot of silver, so a hint of triumph appeared on his face.

“As long as you listen to me, silver is not a problem. I will dote on you.”

Jiang Huaizhen really didn’t want these words to dirty her ears. She stood up and said, “Whatever you want to publicize, you can just go and do it. You don’t have to come and tell me.”

She could even be an executioner. Was she still afraid of others’ strange gazes?

Ever since she had come to the West Mountain Valley, their Jiang family had never had a good reputation. It was just a matter of returning to the previous situation. It wasn’t like she couldn’t live.

With that, she walked toward the door, opened it, and walked straight out.

Pan Min was instantly anxious. He stood up abruptly and shouted, “Jiang Huaizhen, you are so shameless. You can even lay a hand on a woman.”

Jiang Huaizhen turned her head and, looking at the furious man, said faintly, “You are so morally corrupt that you can like women. Why can’t I?”

“You—there is no such thing as a woman liking a woman in this world!”

“That’s because you’re ignorant,” Jiang Huaizhen said coldly. “Before you do anything, you’d better weigh yourself. Don’t be so reckless, so you don’t regret it like before!”

“What do you mean?”

“The medicine slave who poisoned the Everlasting Peace Hall was not called Liang Sheng, but Qin Sheng. As for whether he committed suicide by hitting his head against a pillar in prison, you and I both know. The patient with a heart condition from the Zhou family, how exactly did he die? If your mind is not working and you can’t remember, I can also be kind enough to tell you.”

With that, she no longer gave him any look and turned to leave.

When had Pan Min ever been threatened like this? He gritted his teeth and looked in the direction Jiang Huaizhen had left, as if he wanted to stare a hole in it.

Soon, he called for his confidant in a loud voice.

“The matter of Qin Sheng, are there any other insiders who have not been dealt with?”

The confidant quickly replied, “Other than Wang Wu, there are no others.”

Wang Wu was the jailer who had been guarding the prison on the night Qin Sheng had died.

“Deal with him cleanly. I don’t want anyone to get any handle on me.”

The case of Qin Sheng had been handled by the previous county magistrate and had long been closed and reported. Without new evidence, it was impossible to overturn the case.

But keeping this Wang Wu was a disaster.

Only the dead could keep secrets!

“Yes,” the confidant asked again, “Then what about the Zhou family?”

“Zhou Dalang is not to be feared. Even if he dies, he won’t reveal anything. After all, for him, the reputation of patricide is more painful than death.”

“Understood.”

…

When Jiang Huaizhen returned home, she did not tell Lin Shuang about this.

She just went down to the fields to work as usual, carrying her hoe.

The two mu of paddy field had already been plowed. It was only February now, and they would start planting when the weather warmed up.

Taking advantage of this free time, she continued to go down to the fields to reclaim the wasteland.

She had been reclaiming the wasteland for several days in a row.

On this day, the old woman went out of the valley after lunch, saying that she was going to find Matron Yan to find a rooster for the mother hen to hatch the chicks. The chickens at home were all mixed together, and the eggs that were hatched were not good. She was planning to put the old big rooster in the soup pot for the children to replenish their bodies.

Matron Yan was not at home. Jiang’s older sister-in-law gave her a little rooster, and she came back.

On her way back, she ran into a man in a blue silk dress, who blocked her way.

Old Madam Jiang frowned and moved two steps to the left. The man also followed. She went around to the right, and the man blocked her again. She was instantly annoyed. “Young man, the road is so wide. Why do you have to block this old woman’s way? Are your eyes on the back of your head?”

The man’s mouth twitched, and he cupped his hands in a fake manner. “Old lady, I came here specifically to find you.”

“Find me?” Old Madam Jiang squinted her eyes and sized him up. “I don’t know you.”

“You don’t know me, but your granddaughter does. I’m her good friend,” the man lowered his voice and said with a feigned heartache. “She’s gone astray now. I really can’t bear to see her ruin herself, so I’ve taken the liberty to come and find you.”

Hearing the words “gone astray,” Old Madam Jiang’s face instantly darkened.

Even though her granddaughter was an executioner, she was upright and open. How could she allow others to slander her? She immediately spat. “You’re talking nonsense! My granddaughter is upright and proper. How can you gossip here? If you dare to talk nonsense again, be careful that she doesn’t chop off your tongue!”

The man said unhurriedly, “I won’t beat around the bush with you. Your granddaughter, regardless of human ethics, has gotten together with that bitch you bought. The two of them have become a couple behind your back. If this gets out, what will the people outside think of her, and what will they think of you?”

Old Madam Jiang was as if struck by lightning. The chicken coop in her hand fell to the ground with a clatter, and the little rooster flapped its wings and escaped.

Her lips trembled, and she pointed at the man and cursed, “You’re talking nonsense. My granddaughter is not that kind of person!”

“Is she or not? You can just go and ask her, can’t you?” the man said triumphantly and got on the carriage that was parked by the roadside.

The carriage drove away, and the dust that was stirred up blew in Old Madam Jiang’s face. She stood there stiffly, her head buzzing. In her mind, one moment it was her granddaughter’s cold face, and the next it was that girl Lin Shuang’s gentle appearance…

Her steps were unsteady, and she walked into the valley in a daze.

Thinking that the two girls had been busy reclaiming the wasteland these few days, she supported herself on a rock by the roadside, wanting to go and see.

But who knew that just as she had walked behind the old scholar tree, she saw the two girls huddled together in the shade of a tree at the edge of the field, not knowing what they were doing.

A closer look revealed that her own granddaughter’s knuckles were on the back of that girl’s neck, and that girl was even obediently looking up. The afterglow of the setting sun was mottled through the gaps in the leaves and fell on the two of them, making the scene both beautiful and glaring.

With a “boom,” it was as if a clap of thunder had exploded in Old Madam Jiang’s ears. Her knees hit a tree root with a dull thud. She didn’t feel any pain and just felt that her internal organs had been hollowed out.

Crack—

The sound of a dead branch breaking startled the two lovebirds. Lin Shuang was so flustered she stepped on the hem of her skirt and almost fell, but was caught by Jiang Huaizhen’s waist.

The two of them turned their heads and looked around but saw nothing.

“Did I mishear?” Lin Shuang said.

Jiang Huaizhen: “I also heard it. I don’t know what it was.”

The two of them looked around again and, seeing nothing, Lin Shuang finally reached out and pinched Jiang Huaizhen. “I told you not to mess around outside. You just wouldn’t listen. What if Grandma finds out?”

Jiang Huaizhen said, “We can’t hide it from her for the rest of our lives…”

Lin Shuang shook her head. “Don’t. The last time, she fainted just from seeing the gold ingots. If she finds out about us, I’m afraid she’ll be shocked.”

Jiang Huaizhen pursed her lips. “Let’s wait. We’ll tell her when there’s a suitable opportunity.”

Old Madam Jiang, who was behind the old scholar tree, had indeed fainted. She only woke up after a long time. After she had recovered, she secretly poked her head out from behind the large tree to look. The two of them were still bent over, weeding, and had not noticed the movement here.

She supported herself on the tree trunk and stood up, then turned and walked out of the valley, step by step.

She was going to find Doctor Xue.

For these two children to have done such a thing, they must be sick. If they were sick, they had to be treated.

She didn’t know what to do, and she didn’t know who to talk to about this. She just had the thought of getting them treated in her heart. She supported herself on the rocks by the roadside and walked toward the village entrance. Finally, she got on a passerby’s ox-cart and went to the Everlasting Peace Hall.

After a lot of difficulty, she finally reached the Everlasting Peace Hall. Looking at the group of patients who were waiting, she felt a little timid.

She didn’t know how to tell Doctor Xue about the two children. Would Doctor Xue despise them because of this? She also didn’t know if there was any medicine in this world that could treat that kind of illness.

She felt that she might have come to the wrong place. She should have gone to find a spirit medium.

That’s right. Find a spirit medium to perform a ritual. Maybe it would be better after a ritual.

Just as she was about to leave, she was seen by Ah Lai.

Ah Lai recognized her and quickly came up to her. “Grandma Jiang, why are you here alone today? Aren’t Miss Jiang and Miss Lin with you?”

Old Madam Jiang looked at Ah Lai’s concerned face, and for some reason, her eyes grew hot, and she suddenly began to cry.

Seeing this, Ah Lai quickly went forward to support her. “Are you not feeling well anywhere? I’ll help you in. You can sit for a while. I’ll have Doctor Xue take a look at you later.”

Old Madam Jiang hesitated and shook her head. “…I’m not unwell anywhere…”

Seeing her strange behavior, and thinking that his young master was on good terms with the two Misses Jiang and Lin, and that they also had business dealings, Ah Lai settled the old woman down, brought her some water, and then went to the medicine shop next door to find Xue Luan.

After Jiang Huaizhen and Lin Shuang returned from the fields in the evening, one of them was busy with dinner, and the other was in charge of taking care of the few livestock at home.

Seeing that Ping’er had already come back from her wandering, and the old woman was still not in sight, she was worried that she had gone out to chat with someone and had fallen on the road. After telling Lin Shuang, Jiang Huaizhen went out along the valley to look for her.

When she reached Matron Yan’s house, she asked if the old woman was there.

Jiang’s older sister-in-law said, “She came in the afternoon to ask for a little rooster and then went back.”

With that, Jiang’s second sister-in-law chimed in, “I saw her come out again at around the third quarter of the Hour of the Sheep(1:00 PM to 3:00 PM). She was heading for the village entrance. I called out to her a couple of times, but she probably didn’t hear. I didn’t see her answer.”

Hearing this, Jiang Huaizhen’s heart suddenly jumped.

She hurriedly chased in the direction of the village entrance, asking a few families along the way. They all said that they had seen Old Madam Jiang go out, and some had even seen her get on an ox-cart.

Jiang Huaizhen was so anxious her forehead was covered in sweat. She didn’t even have time to talk and turned to run back, to go home and get the horse.

Lin Shuang was in the room, cooking, and didn’t know what was going on. Seeing her run back like a gust of wind, and then ride out on her horse like a gust of wind, she stood at the door and watched for a while, her heart very uneasy.

Jiang Huaizhen met Xue Luan’s carriage on the road about a quarter of an hour after she had left the village.

When she dismounted and lifted the curtain, she saw that her own old woman was sitting in the carriage.

Only then did she clutch her heart and let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing her come, Old Madam Jiang pulled a long face and was unwilling to look at her.

Jiang Huaizhen had already had a faint guess when she had heard Jiang’s second sister-in-law say the time the old woman had left the valley. Now, seeing her like this, she understood a little more.

She and Lin Shuang had been kissing at the edge of the field, and the old woman had seen them.

Xue Luan pulled her to the side and said softly, “She stumbled to the Everlasting Peace Hall alone today. She seemed to want to do something, but she wouldn’t say. My father still took her pulse. There’s nothing majorly wrong. It’s just palpitations and restlessness, as if she’s been stimulated by something.”

Jiang Huaizhen said, “I know. She’s been a little startled. I was careless and didn’t watch her well. It’s a good thing you ran into her. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

With that, she thanked her again.

Xue Luan said, “What’s there to be so polite between us? Let’s go. It’s not convenient for you to ride a horse. I’ll have the carriage take her home first and then go back to the city.”

Jiang Huaizhen agreed, got on her horse, and followed behind the carriage.

When they reached the valley, Xue Luan was in a hurry to get back to the city while it was still light, so she took her leave.

With the old woman in this state, it was probably not going to be easy to deal with. Jiang Huaizhen did not keep her.

By the time she had seen Xue Luan off, the old woman had already gone back to her room.

Lin Shuang stood at the door, hesitating to speak.

Jiang Huaizhen led her back to the east room. “Grandma probably already knows about us.”

Hearing this, Lin Shuang’s little face turned pale.

Jiang Huaizhen squeezed her hand. “It’s good that she knows. We can just take this opportunity to make it clear. But with her personality, it won’t be that easy. She might even keep finding fault with us. But no matter what she says or does, don’t take it to heart.”

Lin Shuang nodded. “I know. I won’t make her angry.”

Seeing her cautious appearance, Jiang Huaizhen felt a little sorry for her. She reached out and patted her cheek. “We have to make a scene with her, but we can’t let you be wronged. You can just avoid her. I’ll find a way to convince her.”

“What way do you have?”

Jiang Huaizhen: “I can’t say for sure, but since I was little, she’s never won against me. Of course, she’s never thought that she’s lost either. Anyway, I’ll make her accept our matter.”

Her words were like a calming pill for Lin Shuang. She loved this kind of Jiang Huaizhen, who could give her a full sense of security.

“Yes. You shouldn’t be wronged either.”

Jiang Huaizhen smiled comfortingly. “Take Ping’er to eat first. I’ll handle the rest.”