Chapter 544
Chapter 544
"Big brother, look at this! You've only been gone for such a short time, and your wife is already trying to throw your badly injured younger brother and nephew out of the house! She even wants to let some unknown bastard inherit the Jiang family business!" Madam Jiang sat on the ground and began to wail.
"Keep shouting, and maybe you'll bring your big brother back to life," Madame Jiang said with contempt.
"Madame Jiang, you poisonous woman! I'm certain that big brother's death has something to do with you!" Madam Feng didn't expect Madame Jiang to refuse to follow her script, and pointed a trembling finger at her.
"Sister-in-law, do you really want to know how my husband passed away?"
The moment Madame Jiang thought of this, hatred filled her heart.
The old master's death was certainly connected to the second branch of the family.
"All these years, you've been living in our eldest branch's house. Do you really sleep soundly at night?"
Madame Jiang stared at Madam Feng.
Before Madam Feng could answer, she continued, "I always dream of my husband. He says it's so cold down below, and he's lonely with no company. He wants his second brother to come down and keep him company. He says one brother isn't enough, so he asked for both nephews to come along too. And then, the second brother and both nephews met with misfortune. Tell me—isn't this the retribution of your second branch?"
After saying this, Madame Jiang burst into laughter.
Wen Xiu and Jiang Yuanrang exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: it seemed Madame Jiang was not a simple woman either.
"Don't worry, I won't let her hurt you," Jiang Yuanrang said quickly, afraid that Wen Xiu might misunderstand.
"What do I have to fear?" Wen Xiu rolled her eyes. The people she had by her side were all extremely capable.
A mere Madame Jiang couldn't harm her.
Besides, Li Zhiwei and the others would be arriving soon.
When that time came, she would have backing.
Madam Feng eventually stumbled away with her people.
Now, the Qiyun Courtyard was left with only Jiang Yuanrang, Wen Xiu, Madame Jiang, and those by their sides.
"Rang'er, Mother has something to say to you," Madame Jiang said, looking at Jiang Yuanrang with a solemn tone.
Wen Xiu understood what that meant.
The woman wanted her to leave.
"I'm a bit tired and would like to rest for a while," Wen Xiu said to Jiang Yuanrang.
"Rest well," Jiang Yuanrang quickly responded.
Wen Xiu bowed to Madame Jiang and withdrew.
Now, in the main hall of Qiyun Courtyard, only Jiang Yuanrang and Madame Jiang remained.
"Mother, what do you wish to ask?" Jiang Yuanrang looked at Madame Jiang.
"You—" Madame Jiang hesitated.
After all, she wanted to ask Jiang Yuanrang where he had been.
But once the words were on the tip of her tongue, she didn't know how to ask.
She was afraid that Jiang Yuanrang had truly found his biological family.
She worried that Jiang Yuanrang would return to that family.
"Mother, back then, how did I come to appear in the Jiang family?" Jiang Yuanrang looked at Madame Jiang and asked, word by word.
"You are the child I gave birth to, so of course you grew up in the Jiang family." Madame Jiang averted her gaze.
She was even more certain now that this matter must not be revealed to Jiang Yuanrang.
"Mother, I have already met my birth parents," Jiang Yuanrang said, looking at her.
He had told her before, but Madame Jiang had refused to believe it.
"Mother, even if you don't acknowledge it, that is still the truth. No matter how much you avoid it, my birth parents will certainly get to the bottom of this. And they will be arriving in Lucheng soon," Jiang Yuanrang sighed, feeling he should make things clear.
Otherwise, once Li Tianyou and Lady Yao arrived, they would eventually have to face this head-on.
"I—" Madame Jiang slumped into a chair upon hearing this.
The thing she feared most had finally happened.
That family was coming to find him?
Was she going to lose this child?
What would she do from now on?
"Back then, my child—my Rang'er—was gravely ill and passed away suddenly. In my grief, I happened to be by the river and saved you from drowning—" Madame Jiang, tears streaming down her face, recounted everything from that time in full detail.
Jiang Yuanrang was stunned. He never expected the truth to be like this.
Li Tianyou had said they searched along the river.
If Madame Jiang had only waited a moment longer, would he not have been separated from his parents for nineteen years?
But then again, Madame Jiang had raised him for nineteen years, and he could not bring himself to fault her.
At the time, Madame Jiang was merely a woman who had lost her husband and then her child.
These years, Jiang Yuanrang had no complaints about how Madame Jiang had treated him.
"I am not of the Jiang bloodline after all. Over the years, the Jiang family business has already doubled in size. Mother, do you have any plans?" Jiang Yuanrang sighed and finally voiced what was on his mind.
"No, you are the child of the Jiang family, and all of this belongs to you." Madame Jiang looked at Jiang Yuanrang with a pleading expression, hoping this would make him stay.
"Mother, the Jiang family is not without heirs." Jiang Yuanrang wanted to know if Madame Jiang would let the second branch inherit the family business.
"Hmph, the second branch is unworthy." Madame Jiang thought for a moment, then looked at Jiang Yuanrang again.
She knew she couldn't keep him. In that case—
"You want to leave the Jiang family?" Madame Jiang looked at Jiang Yuanrang, reluctance clear in her eyes.
But these nineteen years had been time she had stolen.
She wanted to use this bond of upbringing to ask for a child.
"Mother, is there anything you wish for Rang'er to do for you?" Jiang Yuanrang looked at Madame Jiang, not answering her question.
Originally, he had wanted to bring Madame Jiang back to the capital with him.
But Madame Jiang strongly disliked Wen Xiu, which made him uncertain.
"I want a child!" Madame Jiang looked at Jiang Yuanrang, her tone resolute.
"A child?" Jiang Yuanrang frowned. He wasn't sure if Wen Xiu would agree to send a child to the Jiang family.
That was something he would need to discuss with Wen Xiu before deciding.
"Yes, a child. You marry Yue'er and give the Jiang family a child!" Madame Jiang laid out her plan.
"Impossible!" Jiang Yuanrang hadn't expected Madame Jiang's idea of a "child" to be like this.
Without a second thought, he refused.
"Rang'er, I know the Jiang family can't keep you. Your mother has raised you for nineteen years. For the sake of these nineteen years, when it was just the two of us leaning on each other, won't you grant your mother this one selfish wish?" Madame Jiang's eyes reddened. She knew Jiang Yuanrang would refuse.
But what harm would it do to him?
After this, he could return to the capital, live as a young master of a prestigious family, and her grandson would stay in the Jiang family and inherit the business.
"Are you worried that the child will come to the capital and disturb your life? Don't worry, I will never let the child know where you are in the capital," Madame Jiang quickly promised.
"Mother, my wife will only ever be Wen Xiu," Jiang Yuanrang refused.
"I know, the marriage between you and Miss Wen was decreed by the Empress. But the Empress didn't decree a marriage for Jiang Yuanrang, did she? I beg you, please leave the Jiang family an heir!" Madame Jiang finished speaking and was about to kneel before Jiang Yuanrang.