Quick Transmigration: The Mad Beauty Refuses to Be the Scapegoat!-Chapter 119 - 30: The Princess Who Refuses to Be Cannon Fodder (Part 30)
The old lady kept praising Jiang Lai’s virtuous and considerate nature, but couldn’t help frowning during the meal.
Having grown accustomed to delicacies and exquisite snacks, the plain tea and simple food before her were really hard to swallow.
Murong Dun had no appetite, and after a few bites, returned to his room.
The two were used to leaving immediately after putting down their chopsticks, and it wasn’t until the next day when they sat at the table and found that yesterday’s dishes hadn’t been washed that they realized there was no one to do these tasks for them.
Jiang Lai was cooking, and Murong Dun had no choice but to prop himself with one hand on a crutch and carry the dishes out to clean with the other.
The water in early winter was bone-chillingly cold, and the coarse cloth and hemp clothes he wore let in the wind everywhere. Murong Dun coughed hard, and looking at the desolate and cold surroundings, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of desolation and despair.
Is this the kind of life to be lived for a lifetime?
He didn’t dare to imagine.
At night, Jiang Lai would comfort him kindly, asking him to let go of his identity and past and look forward. She even mentioned that she had secretly set aside a little private money, which could be used to buy some land in the countryside to grow food for self-sufficiency.
Murong Dun was deeply touched by Jiang Lai.
From the very beginning when she decided to go with him, to now being a pampered young lady who could still comfort and care for him.
Murong Dun felt that he had expended all his good fortune in this life on meeting Jiang Lai.
After being negative for a few days, Murong Dun finally decided to pull himself together. After all, he was once a prince educated in the Imperial Family; he had lost a leg but still had his hands, and he could earn some livelihood money by writing beautiful calligraphy.
Jiang Lai found a bookstore and took some of Murong Dun’s copied poetry books there to sell. The shop owner, seeing his excellent handwriting, gave him a few more of the most popular novels of the time to transcribe.
He earned twenty copper coins for transcribing one book, and currently, one copper coin could buy ten buns. Murong Dun could transcribe two books a month, and the money he earned was just enough for household expenses.
The old lady didn’t want to be idle either, so she picked up a needle and started embroidering handkerchiefs for Jiang Lai to take out and sell.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lai secretly sold some of her private jewelry at the pawnshop, bought some medicinal herbs, and prepared medicines at home every day.
Life continued in this difficult yet peaceful manner.
Murong Dun learned to find joy in hardship, and without an instrument to play, he used a wooden stick to beat on the table, while Jiang Lai danced to the rhythm.
He thought life would continue like this until one day, he found that the back door always inexplicably opened, and afterward, there would be more exquisite dishes and snacks on that day’s dining table.
Murong Dun thought it was Jiang Lai’s parents sending it secretly, but to his surprise, once he deliberately got up early to wait around the corner of the backyard, he found that the person delivering the things was not a servant but Jiang Ling!
He actually came to personally bring food to Jiang Lai!
And after each delivery, he wouldn’t leave immediately but would stay with Jiang Lai to chat at the corner of the backyard wall before leaving.
When Jiang Ling left, Jiang Lai would enter with a lunchbox in hand, smiling broadly.
Sure enough, there were several sumptuous and exquisite dishes on the dining table that day.
Murong Dun delayed picking up his chopsticks, his face grim and aura repressed. When Jiang Lai asked him, the man slowly looked up at her, his tone somewhat cold.
"Did your parents send these things?"
Jiang Lai nodded.
"Yes, my parents had someone send them, what’s up?"
"Someone? Who is this someone? A servant?"
Jiang Lai frowned.
"Not a servant, but does it matter who? What’s wrong with you? Why so sarcastic?"
Murong Dun sneered.
"Why don’t you dare tell me who it is?"
"It’s Ling, my younger brother sent it, is there a problem?"
Jiang Lai became a bit angry, putting down her chopsticks with a tone of irritation.
At this moment, Murong Dun realized that his attitude just now was indeed overly aggressive, so he pursed his lips and softened his tone.
"Such things can be entirely left to the servants. Besides, I now earn money from transcribing books every month, which is enough for us to occasionally have something good. Tell your family not to send anything over next time, we don’t need it."
Jiang Lai stood up and left, even her back was filled with a hint of sulkiness.
The old lady helplessly glared at Murong Dun.
"After all, they are her family, and it’s an opportunity to see each other when delivering food. Why are you upset again? Isn’t it good for a family to be harmonious?"
Murong Dun remained silent.
He didn’t know how to say it, but he couldn’t possibly say that what he truly minded was Jiang Ling, this unofficial brother of Jiang Lai by no blood relation.
A man’s intuition told him that Jiang Ling’s attitude toward Jiang Lai was not simply brotherly affection, but there was a hint of possessiveness in his eyes that only a man could recognize.
How could he let Jiang Lai continue interacting with him in peace?
At night, upon returning to their room, Jiang Lai sat by the window, refusing to go to bed. Murong Dun knew she was angry.
"Are you now thinking I’m both poor and unreasonable?"
Murong Dun knew Jiang Lai had a soft heart, so he began to show weakness directly.
"Jiang Lai, I just want to prove to your family that I can support you and the family even if I am no longer the Prince. You know, your family never looked up to me, and now they resent me even more."
"Don’t think like that."
Sure enough, Jiang Lai’s attitude softened.
"As long as you treat me well, nothing else matters, I don’t care."
"But I care, I want to give you a better life, make you live as before, and want your family to accept me. Do you understand me, Jiang Lai?"
Jiang Lai: I understand your mother was a b**ch.
"Yes, I know, I understand."
Murong Dun hugged Jiang Lai comfortingly.
Deep into the night, after pouring out his emotions, Murong Dun intended to get intimate, but there was no response from below.
He dared not let Jiang Lai find out, so after a few words, he turned to sleep.
Jiang Lai smiled, caressing the jade bracelet on her hand, thinking of the current Heartbeat Value.
Ninety-eight percent.
The remaining two percent was difficult to achieve for someone as inherently selfish as Murong Dun.
In the end, it would require a strong dose.
Not long after, one night before bed, Little Buding said to her,
"Do not breathe now."
Jiang Lai complied, held her breath for a few seconds, and then continued to feign sleep. After a while, the door was slowly pushed open from the outside, a slender figure walked in quietly, approached the bed, and sprinkled some powder under Murong Dun’s nose.
The next second, Murong Dun woke up.
Upon opening his eyes, he saw the woman he hated even in his dreams, Luoyang.
"You..."
"Shh, Sanlang, you come with me first, I’ll explain everything to you."
Jiang Lai then sensed Murong Dun quietly get out of bed, followed by the sound of the door opening and closing in her ear.
Little Buding provided a real-time report.
Murong Dun: "Luoyang, what’s your point? You used me completely and then just kicked me away, why are you coming for me now? I am a cripple now, of no use whatsoever!"
