From Hoarding to Time-Travel: My Supplies Saved Him

Chapter 385: Chapter 386: Confrontation

Jin Qianqian was about to ask if the woman was alright when, to her surprise, she started spewing insults.

"What is this? It’s blocking my path! Is your shop trying to make people fall and break their necks?" Old Mrs. Ning said, raising her cane to strike.

Lichun quickly stepped in front of Jin Qianqian to block the blow, but Qianqian pulled her back a step, causing Old Mrs. Ning’s cane to swing at empty air.

"You dare to dodge?" Although one of her eyes was blind, the other could still dimly make out two shadows dodging away. She tightened her grip on her cane, about to strike again, but was shocked to find it seized in a firm grasp.

Li Cuicui wrenched the cane from her hand and threw it down hard in front of her. "Can’t you discuss things properly? Must you resort to violence the moment you arrive?"

Simply because this blind old hag had tried to strike her daughter-in-law, Li Cuicui didn’t care who she was and immediately retorted.

"Do you know who I am? My son is an official in the Hanlin Academy."

Hearing such arrogant words, Li Cuicui glanced back at Jin Qianqian with a flicker of worry. ’Did I just act rashly and cause trouble for Seventh?’

Jin Qianqian gave her a reassuring smile and walked over to take her hand. "I was wondering who it could be. So it’s Madam Ning. It’s been some time. You seem to be in better health than ever."

Old Mrs. Ning grabbed Fang Yuan’s hand and asked, "That voice sounds a bit familiar. Who is it?"

Fang Yuan glanced at Jin Qianqian before whispering in her ear, "It’s Mrs. Gu."

Old Mrs. Ning immediately perked up. "So it’s Shangjing’s famous jealous shrew. Instead of staying home to properly study female virtues and conduct, you have the audacity to be idling about here?"

"Madam Ning, you really just repeat whatever you hear. You haven’t even sorted out your own family’s affairs, yet you have the leisure to stand here making thoughtless remarks." ’What rotten luck,’ Jin Qianqian thought. Her perfectly good mood was ruined.

Fang Yuan stepped forward and made a Fuli to Jin Qianqian. "Mrs. Gu, there have been some misunderstandings. We will take our leave now."

She wasn’t as oblivious to the situation as the old woman. Her husband was in the Hanlin Academy, but he was several ranks below Mrs. Gu’s.

Jin Qianqian accepted her Fuli. "Since you know it was a misunderstanding, you should explain it clearly to her. Don’t go around spreading gossip all day, lest you bring trouble upon your Lord Ning."

Fang Yuan’s expression stiffened. She couldn’t understand why Mrs. Gu was so unsparing today. She had never been this sharp-tongued before.

Old Mrs. Ning was not having it. "I don’t know what family raised such a junior! Not only do you have no respect for your elders, you have no sense of propriety or shame!"

By this point, Lichun had already quietly filled Li Cuicui in on who this person was.

Now, hearing the woman berate Jin Qianqian so harshly, how could she possibly stand by and do nothing?

"Madam Ning, is it? What makes you think you’re my daughter-in-law’s elder?" Li Cuicui said, looking her up and down. "I, her own mother-in-law, haven’t found a single fault with her. What gives you the right to stand here and criticize her?"

Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Old Mrs. Ning turned toward the sound and peered at the speaker’s silhouette. "You’re her mother-in-law?

In that case, I really must have a word with you. Your daughter-in-law has become the laughingstock of all of Shangjing.

She prevents her husband from taking a concubine, she controls the family finances, and she runs a business, showing her face in public. Is that any way for an official’s wife to behave?

Out of consideration for your son and my boy both serving in the Hanlin Academy, I’m giving you a piece of kind advice. It’s crucial for officials like them to protect their reputations. They can’t let them be ruined by the women of the household."

Li Cuicui listened to that long speech, but she only heard two words: "taking concubines."

It was as if she’d struck a nerve. Li Cuicui forgot all about maintaining the dignified air of an official’s mother. She leaped to her feet, pointed at Madam Ning, and shouted, "You don’t know the first thing about the situation, so stop spouting absolute nonsense! You just can’t stand to see my son doing well.

We of the Gu family have our own clan rules: a man may only take a concubine if he is forty and still has no sons. Anyone who violates this rule is expelled from the family!

What does any of this have to do with my daughter-in-law? How dare you try to pin all the blame on her for this?"

It was too late for Jin Qianqian to stop her. She had wanted to keep the matter under wraps for a while longer.

Still, seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of the mother and daughter-in-law across from them, she felt a surge of satisfaction.

She had seen it in the records from her investigation—those two had worked tirelessly to spread the earlier rumors about her.

"Did you hear me? The ban on taking concubines is our family’s rule. What does it have to do with my daughter-in-law?

Besides, they already have two legitimate sons. Any woman with ideas about entering my son’s household had better think again, lest she ruin her own future and someone else’s."

Li Cuicui empathized. Even a good-for-nothing like her own husband, Gu Dashishi, had women interested in him. It just went to show how wealth could move people’s hearts. The situation for Seventh must be even more intense. ’Seventh Wife has truly suffered,’ she thought.

Receiving her mother-in-law’s pitying gaze, Jin Qianqian was baffled but gave her a sweet smile in return.

But to Li Cuicui, that smile looked forced, and her heart went out to her daughter-in-law even more.

Fang Yuan stared at Jin Qianqian with a complicated expression. Before, she had been gloating, waiting for the day Jin Qianqian would finally buckle under the pressure and take the initiative to find a concubine for her husband.

Who would have thought she was holding a trump card the whole time and had no need to worry about any of it?

"Why didn’t you say so before? Your reputation wouldn’t have gotten so bad," Fang Yuan couldn’t help but ask.

Jin Qianqian gave her an unreadable smile. "And when, exactly, did any of you give me a chance to speak?"

Fang Yuan, "..."

Old Mrs. Ning, "..."

The onlookers, "..."

But Old Mrs. Ning wasn’t willing to let Jin Qianqian off the hook so easily. "Everyone knows that more sons bring more blessings. Even if your family has that rule, if Mr. Gu himself is willing, she shouldn’t stand in his way.

Since you’re her mother-in-law, you should talk some sense into her. It’s not good for a woman to be so domineering all the time."

Li Cuicui hadn’t expected the woman to be so relentless. She snorted. "May I ask, esteemed madam, how many children and grandchildren do you have?"

Old Mrs. Ning puffed out her chest. "My son was the imperial examination’s runner-up! He has a son and a daughter, and he will surely help our Ning Family flourish with many more descendants in the future.

Furthermore, my daughter-in-law is magnanimous and tolerant, unlike some people who act so arrogantly just because they have a large dowry."

Although she was blind, she loved listening to local gossip.

Mrs. Gu Jin had been the talk of Shangjing recently, especially after she spent a fortune buying up so many shops. This made Old Mrs. Ning even more resentful.

’Why did that Gu have to steal Chen’er’s first-place rank, and on top of that, marry such a money-making wife?’

"TSK, TSK, TSK." Li Cuicui had been suppressing herself for days, terrified of embarrassing her son with her words or actions. Now that she’d finally found an opening to attack, she was instantly energized. "Oh, so you’ve only had a single heir for generations.

How interesting. Your family has had a single heir for generations. Could it be because you prevented your husband from taking concubines, leading to the Ning Family’s... sparse population?"