Jiang Ancheng didn’t spare another glance at Duke Anguo. He patted Jiang Zhan’s shoulder and said, “Why are you standing there like an idiot? Let’s go!”
Jiang Zhan stumbled from the pat but flashed a bright smile. “We’re going, we’re going! Everyone’s worked hard today. This young master will treat you all to drinks!”
The servants who had accompanied them cheered in unison.
Jiang Ancheng glanced sideways at Jiang Zhan and asked in a lowered voice, “Where did you get the money from?”
This rascal had just borrowed money from him to buy soup dumplings for Si’er.
Jiang Zhan grinned and said, “Same as usual, we’ll put it on Father’s tab for now.”
“To hell with your ‘usual’!” Jiang Ancheng angrily kicked Jiang Zhan’s backside.
With the engagement successfully broken off, both father and son were in high spirits. Jiang Zhan did indeed manage to get money from Jiang Ancheng and took the servants who had helped out to a small tavern for drinks.
“Drink as much as you want today. If you stick with this young master, there’ll be plenty more drinks in your future!” Jiang Zhan raised his cup with a grand gesture.
“Thank you, Second Young Master. We’ll follow you from now on!” The servants raised their cups in response.
As the master and servants were drinking merrily, they overheard voices from the next table.
“Have you heard? The engagement between Earl Dongping’s family and Duke Anguo’s family has been called off!”
“How could we not have heard? Earl Dongping placed the betrothal gifts right in front of Duke Anguo’s main gate. So many people saw it. Tsk tsk, I didn’t expect Earl Dongping’s family to have such spirit.”
“Heh, I think Earl Dongping is too foolish. He may feel satisfied breaking off the engagement now, but where will their Fourth Miss find a better family to marry into than Duke Anguo’s in the future?”
“It’s mainly because Duke Anguo’s Third Young Master was too improper.”
“Improper?” The person snorted, “Men, hah! Plenty of them frequent brothels, and plenty have multiple wives and concubines. What’s so special about being infatuated with a woman for a while? If everyone was as picky as Earl Dongping, I bet their Fourth Miss Jiang is destined to be an old maid for life.”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhan’s temper flared. He threw his cup to the ground and stormed over, grabbing one man’s collar and shouting, “Say that nonsense again, and I’ll tear your mouth apart!”
The man, startled by this sudden turn of events, stared at Jiang Zhan for a good while before stammering, “W-who are you?”
Jiang Zhan paused.
Strange, the voice didn’t seem right.
The other man sitting opposite had already quietly stood up and was preparing to slip away.
Jiang Zhan suddenly realized, “Stop right there! So you’re the one gossiping!”
He grabbed a plate from the table and threw it.
The soup on the plate splashed all over the man’s back.
The man, now annoyed, turned back and demanded, “Who are you? Why are you causing trouble for no reason?”
“Open your dog eyes and look clearly. This young master is the Second Young Master of Earl Dongping’s family! Do you dare to gossip about my sister? I’ll beat you into a pig’s head today!”
The man, with one foot already out the door and irritated by the soup staining his clothes, figured he could outrun this fair-skinned youth and retorted, “Oh, so you’re the brother of Miss Jiang who’s destined to be an old maid? What a pleasure to meet you.”
“You bastard! Who are you saying can’t get married? Without Duke Anguo’s family, my sister will marry even better!” Jiang Zhan’s beautiful eyes blazed with anger.
“Stop dreaming. Duke Anguo’s Third Young Master might indeed marry a girl from an even better family, but as for your Fourth Miss Jiang… I think you’d better hurry back and comfort your sister.”
Jiang Zhan couldn’t take it anymore. He rushed forward, kicked the man to the ground, and started raining punches on him.
“Murder! Murder!” The man pinned underneath screamed like a pig being slaughtered.
The tavern staff, sensing trouble, quickly ran to the street to find patrolling officers. By the time the officers arrived, the man had been beaten by Jiang Zhan to the point where even his mother wouldn’t recognize him.
In the end, Jiang Ancheng had to pay twenty taels of silver for the man’s medical expenses and another ten taels to the officers for their trouble before he could bail out his prodigal son.
Back at the manor, Jiang Ancheng kicked Jiang Zhan to the ground. “You little beast! Not a day goes by without you causing trouble!”
Jiang Zhan rubbed his backside, feeling wronged. “Father, this wasn’t my fault. That scoundrel had a filthy mouth and was gossiping about Sister.”
“Gossiping about your sister?”
“Yes!” Jiang Zhan quickly recounted the whole story, fuming, “If they were talking about me, I’d let it go, but that person dared to speak ill of Sister. I nearly burst a lung in anger. Beating him up was already letting him off easy!”
Hearing this, Jiang Ancheng fell silent.
Although he had no regrets about breaking off the engagement, his daughter’s future weighed heavily on his mind.
Jiang Zhan got up and seized the opportunity to ask, “Does Father think I shouldn’t have stood up when I heard others slandering Sister?”
Jiang Ancheng kicked Jiang Zhan down again, exasperated. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t have stood up for her, you idiot! I’m angry because you’re so stupid! Couldn’t you have run away before the officers arrived?”
This wastrel, thirty taels of silver just gone like that!
Jiang Zhan blinked.
Oh, Father had a point!
“Don’t worry, Father. I understand now. Next time after I beat someone up, I’ll run away immediately!”
“Next time? I’ll beat you to death, you troublemaker!”
Jiang Zhan took off running. “You should rest, Father. Your foot must be sore from all that kicking. I’m going to check on Sister.”
“Second Brother, what happened to you?” Seeing Jiang Zhan rush in looking disheveled, Jiang Si stood up to greet him.
Only then did Jiang Zhan belatedly realize he had forgotten to change his clothes after drinking and fighting. He immediately turned to leave. “Fourth Sister, wait a moment. I’ll go change and come back!”
“No need.” Jiang Si tugged at Jiang Zhan’s sleeve, smiling. “Second Brother, just tell me what happened. Otherwise, I’ll be worried.”
Jiang Zhan broke into a silly grin.
He hadn’t misheard, had he? His sister said she would be worried about him.
“Second Brother?”
Jiang Zhan barely managed to suppress his smile, regaining his dashing demeanor. But as soon as he mentioned what happened at the tavern, his anger flared up again.
“Second Brother, there’s no need to get upset with such people. Small taverns are gathering places for all sorts of folk. After a few drinks, of course, they’ll talk nonsense.”
“But he said that Fourth Sister… Aren’t you angry at all?”
“I’m not,” Jiang Si said, brushing off a chicken bone stuck to Jiang Zhan’s shoulder. “How could getting married be better than being free like I am now? As long as Father and Second Brother don’t mind me eating for free at home—”
“We won’t, we won’t! I’ll never mind!” Jiang Zhan interjected. “Besides, this isn’t Fourth Sister’s fault at all. It’s those people who are ignorant!”
“Then why is Second Brother still angry?” Jiang Si asked with a smile.
“When I think about that person saying Ji San will marry a girl from an even better family, I just feel so frustrated. How can it be that the person who did nothing wrong suffers, while the one who made mistakes gets to live carefree?”
Hearing Jiang Zhan’s words, Jiang Si sighed inwardly.
In this world, that was often the case.
But she always believed that heaven sees what humans do, and only those who live with a clear conscience can sleep peacefully.
“Second Brother needn’t be angry about this either. I promise you, Ji Chongyi will never marry a noble lady in this lifetime!”
“Really?”
“You’ll see tomorrow, Second Brother.”
The atmosphere in Duke Anguo’s mansion was somber. Duke Anguo, blaming Madam Wei for not handling the matter well, had vented his anger and retreated to his study to rest.
Madam Wei was so angry her chest hurt. She summoned her eldest daughter-in-law, Madam Guo, to vent her frustrations.
Madam Guo endured it and consoled her, “Mother-in-law, why get upset over such short-sighted people? In my opinion, breaking off the engagement is for the best. There are so many noble young ladies from good families in the capital. After this storm blows over, you can carefully choose a good match for Third Young Master. That will make the Earl Dongping’s family regret their decision.”
“You’re right. This time, I’ll choose very carefully for San’er. We must regain our dignity!”