Chapter 20 Digging for Wild Vegetables!
The catchy tune of digging for wild vegetables lingered in the minds of the Wang father and daughter.
Wang Jiaoniang stood on the stool, holding the ancestral tablet, completely petrified.
Her pretty face, streaked with tears, looked blank and dazed.
Meanwhile, Wang Taifu was filled with shame and indignation, wishing he could disappear into the ground.
But when she looked up and saw her daughter's stunned expression, she stopped crying and making a fuss.
Hope ignited in his heart.
Looks like there's hope!
Grand Tutor Wang was so excited that his beard was trembling.
He had tried to persuade His Majesty for years, but it was no match for those few childish words about digging wild vegetables!
Amazing! Absolutely amazing!
At this moment, he threw all thoughts of face and reputation to the winds.
So what if it's embarrassing!
As long as he can get his silly daughter out of trouble, he'd be willing to run naked in front of the entire capital today!
With tears in his eyes and a cry from his heart, Grand Tutor Wang was deeply moved.
Your Majesty! Please increase the intensity! Scold her fiercely! Scold this wretched girl awake!
Over there, on Wang Jiaoniang's side, there was finally some movement.
She blinked slowly and took a deep breath.
No! She is not Wang Baochuan!
Her voice was defiant: "Zhang Lang, you truly love me!"
As she spoke, she recalled sweet memories and carefully removed a wooden hairpin from her hair.
The wooden hairpin was simple in design, with only a cloud carved on the head. The wood was also ordinary, making it a common object.
But in Wang Jiaoniang's eyes, this was a priceless treasure.
She held up the wooden hairpin to show everyone, her voice trembling with tears.
"Look! Zhang Lang carved this for me himself! His hands bled while carving this hairpin! How could someone who cherishes me so much possibly treat me badly in the future?"
Even if life is tough, it's a sweet kind of bitterness!
Upon hearing this, Grand Tutor Wang let out a scream, slapped his thigh, and thought to himself, "It's all over, this wretched girl has fallen for me again!"
Just as he was getting anxious and ready to personally launch into a tirade, that soft, gentle voice rang out crisply and clearly.
[Fake!]
Yu Zhaoning sat on Lin Xiang's shoulders, swinging her short legs and pouting.
[That broken hairpin wasn't carved by him at all; he bought it for two copper coins from a street stall on Chang Le Street next door.]
[If you don't believe me, go take a look. The cloud-patterned wooden hairpins sold at that stall are exactly the same as the one she has, and the wholesale price is even cheaper!]
Wang Jiaoniang swayed suddenly, almost dropping the wooden hairpin in her hand.
"It's fake!" the old tutor happily chimed in.
She retorted, trembling, "Impossible! Zhang Lang's hand was bleeding profusely! I saw it with my own eyes!"
Oh dear, please don't mention his hand again!
Yu Zhaoning's inner thoughts were filled with schadenfreude.
[His hand was bleeding, not from carving wood, but because he tried to climb over the wall of a widow's house in the middle of the night, slipped, and his palm was pierced by a piece of broken tile!]
[And his so-called brilliant poems were all plagiarized from an ancient book called "Cold Moon Poetry Collection." That book is not commonly found, so he just picked out sentences from it and pieced them together, fooling countless young girls like Sister Wang!]
"puff!"
In a corner of the crowd, the Minister of Revenue spat out a mouthful of tea, choking and turning his face red.
The Vice Minister of Personnel quickly patted his back, while he himself was trembling from trying not to laugh.
The Imperial Censor even pulled out his little notebook and scribbled something down, intending to use it to mock the old Grand Tutor in court later!
Wang Jiaoniang was completely dumbfounded.
Her mind was buzzing, the image of that gentle and talented man in her heart kept replaying itself, and finally shattered.
fraud!
That man not only deceived her feelings, but he was also a lewd scoundrel who climbed over a widow's wall in the middle of the night!
Wang Jiaoniang was so angry that she trembled all over, her pretty face turning from white to red, and then from red to green.
She took a deep breath, banished that scumbag from her mind, and turned to shout at Old Master Wang.
"Fine! I was blind to have Zhang Xiucai! What about that Li Shoujiang's grandson from before?"
"He comes from an extraordinary family. Although he lacks talent, he is brave and skilled in riding and archery! He might become a rare military talent in the future! Why do you insist on stopping us? You even try to find ways to say that he is of bad character and sabotage us in secret!"
Upon hearing this, Grand Tutor Wang rolled his eyes dramatically and didn't even bother to say a word.
He simply put his hands in his pockets, adopting an attitude of "say whatever you want, I can't be bothered with you."
I won't explain.
His Majesty will surely defend me!
Sure enough, the little emperor on Prime Minister Lin's shoulder started working again.
[Let me take a look, let me take another look!]
[Oh, it's here! It's in the system task panel! Wow! This is even more juicy gossip!]
[The man who's dating Sister Wang isn't Li Shoujiang's grandson at all; it's Li Shoujiang himself!]
"What?"
This time, not only Grand Tutor Wang, but also Yuan Hua and Prime Minister Lin couldn't hold back anymore.
Yuan Hua's beautiful eyes widened, and even Lin Xiang's perpetually icy face showed a crack.
[That Commander Li is over sixty years old, quite an advanced age, yet he has his own grandson impersonate him to communicate with the young girl and send her gifts. When it's time to meet her, he'll personally take over!]
[His poor grandson had already secretly pledged his life to a maid in the manor; how could he possibly want to do such a despicable thing for his grandfather!]
[Finally, driven to desperation, his grandson threw himself off his horse and pretended to be dying, thus escaping his grandfather's control! Heavens above, earth below, how could there be such a disrespectful grandfather!]
While Yu Zhaoning was thoroughly enjoying the gossip, the officials secretly watching were exchanging knowing glances, their jaws practically dropping in astonishment.
"Commander Li, he seems like a very upright person..."
"Tsk tsk, you can't judge a book by its cover!"
"The Censorate will have new material for tomorrow's morning court session."
As for Wang Jiaoniang, the person involved, she was no longer just heartbroken.
My Dao heart is shattered!
Her heart has been shattered into eight hundred pieces, and it can't be glued back together!
A poor, pedantic scholar who cheats people out of money and women.
An elderly man in his sixties who impersonated his grandson to trick people into marriage.
Is Wang Jiaoniang's taste really that bad?
She didn't believe it! She refused to accept it!
Clinging to her last glimmer of hope, Wang Jiaoniang spoke tremblingly.
"And there's one more. That young and handsome merchant from the Su family who came from Jiangnan last year. Surely he'll be alright?"
She screamed inwardly.
This can't possibly be fake, right? My father looks down on businessmen, thinking they're all obsessed with money, which is why he absolutely forbids us from being together! That must be it!
[Oh wow!]
Yu Zhaoning's sweet, childlike voice carried a hint of excitement at discovering a new world.
[This person isn't a fake; he is indeed quite handsome and comes from a wealthy family.]
Wang Jiaoniang's eyes lit up instantly!
As expected! There are still genuine people out there!
However, her inner thoughts the next second plunged her into the deepest abyss.
[But he doesn't really want to marry you!]
His twin brother recently died suddenly from an illness, before he was even married. The Su family is currently figuring out how to arrange a ghost marriage for his short-lived brother, so he can find a wife to keep him company in the afterlife!
[Sister Wang, if you marry into that family, during the wedding ceremony, your memorial tablet will be your groom! And on your wedding night, it might just be that short-lived brother of yours!]
[By then, Jiangnan is so far away, and Grand Tutor Wang is old and frail. Whatever happens, he could be gone in a heartbeat. How could he possibly help you? He'd be completely powerless to intervene!]
While complaining in her heart, Yu Zhaoning took out a fragrant roasted melon seed from the small cloth bag handed to her by Lin Xiang.
She held it in her two little hands, cracked it open with her front teeth, then stuffed the melon seed kernel into her mouth and chewed it contentedly.
Finally, he sighed like a little adult, with an air of maturity.
[Sigh, being love-struck is terrifying; it attracts all sorts of weird and wonderful things!]
[Eating melon seeds is the best! They make babies happy! Eating melon seeds isn't bad either; they're fragrant and delicious!]
This series of bombshells was incredibly informative and impactful.
Wang Jiaoniang stood on the stool, feeling dizzy and her vision blurred.
fraud...
Old lecher...
Ghost marriage...
These men are all outrageous and vicious!
All the beautiful love stories she had imagined turned out to be elaborate scams and traps!
And she herself was the fool who plunged headlong into it, thinking she was all that!
She let out a piercing scream.
I was so angry at those scumbags! And I was also so ashamed of my own stupidity!
This surge of energy rushed straight to the top of the head.
She could no longer hold on; her eyes rolled back, and clutching the ancestral tablet, she fell straight backward off the stool.
"My beautiful daughter!"
Grand Tutor Wang exclaimed in surprise and rushed forward immediately.
The servants around rushed forward and hurriedly caught their young mistress.
The scene immediately descended into chaos.
Meanwhile, a crisp notification sound from the system rang in Yu Zhaoning's mind.
[Ding! Random task completed. Host, enjoy the show! Task completion grade: S! Reward: 2,000 jin of super potato seeds and 200 jin of potato samples!]
[Wow! There's actually a potato, the super high-yield crop that Grandma mentioned! This thing is amazing; you can make so many delicious things from it!]
Yu Zhaoning clapped her hands happily.
[We can have a snack tonight—French fries!]
…
On the other side.
Cui Yue also woke up in a small, dilapidated house.
When she saw the scene before her, and the unconscious eldest prince, her heart skipped a beat.
Is this a rebirth?
Why is this scene so strange? Shouldn't she be hiding in the palace? Shouldn't the eldest prince be outwitting the Empress Dowager right now?
What exactly happened?