Chapter 7

In a situation where the circumstances were skewed to the young girl’s favor and someone suddenly came to the old man’s defense, everyone’s eyes would naturally gather on the one who spoke up for him. Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao barricaded Jiang Ruan quickly from the front and the back to prevent anyone from bumping into her. Jiang Ruan did not shrink away from the eyes of the crowd. She merely stood on her spot and allowed others to scrutinize her.

The old man’s face and neck were flushed crimson in the heat of his anger. Therefore, Jiang Ruan’s gentle, unexpected consolation bore a hint of coolness that pierced through his temper. Although they were experiencing winter, it was akin to a spring breeze that swept the impatience clean from his head. His heart gradually calmed down. Flabbergasted, just like the crowd, he examined the other party along with them.

A little girl of ten stood within the crowd, in contrast to her tone that was similar to a mature adult’s. Although her stature was small and her height was short, one could not ignore her. This young girl’s living conditions probably caused the paleness of her skin and lips. Yet, her facial features were naturally elegant. She had cherry lips, while her nose resembled jade. Her most beautiful attribute was the pair of eyes beneath her umber-black lashes. Their moistness was similar to a spring at the top of the mountains and their depths could penetrate into the bottom of one’s heart. Although her gaze was extremely innocent, the slightly rising corners of her eyes unconsciously implied seductive undertones. If she had grown up with proper nurturing, she would have been a devastating beauty.

Nevertheless, the entire body of a young girl with a natural charm like this emanated an indescribable chill. She just stood silently, yet there was an unspeakable feeling. It was impossible for one to take her lightly, to the extent that a tinge of fear might appear without reason.

The old man creased his eyebrows at the two maids accompanying her. If she was a daughter from a prestigious family, she was clothed too crudely. If she was a daughter from a common household, her imposing style did not seem like it could be nurtured by such a household.

Jiang Ruan stood quietly. From the side, the accused child stared at her before crying loudly. As her tears spilled, she sobbed, “I did not- I did not steal the money. Mother, I did not steal the money!”

With this outburst, a commoner housewife wearing a flowery robe squeezed through the crowd and strode forward to protect the child by shielding her behind her back. She eyed the old man and Jiang Ruan in a hostile manner and spoke loudly, “What are you trying to do to my Qiao? Two people bullying one girl and using your elderly position to bully the younger, aren’t you embarrassed?”

Lian Qiao could not stand it. Without waiting for Jiang Ruan to speak, she jumped forward and laughed, “This Madam, you have spoken wrongly. Our lady merely came forward to speak some words of justice and reason. How did she bully your daughter? There are so many onlookers right now, did our lady beat or scold her? Besides, using one’s elderly position to bully the young, I cannot tell if our lady is that much older than your daughter. Who would want to argue noisily amongst the crowd with your daughter? Using one’s elderly position to bully the younger and using a large number to bully the few, from what I’ve seen, it is uncertain who is bullying whom. Bah!”

The housewife was startled, as if she did not expect Lian Qiao, who seemed gentle, to scold someone without stopping for a breath. For a short while, she did not know how to reply. When she had digested the words, she flew into a rage out of humiliation. She wanted to continue to assert herself without proper basis when Jiang Ruan opened her mouth, “It is unimportant who was the one who bullied the other. The most important thing is the money, isn’t it?”

The housewife turned her head and pulled the child into her embrace. She spoke angrily, “Our Qiao’er would never steal another’s money. I handed it to her when she left this morning.”

“This is a large amount of money. Yet, you are comfortable with letting such a young child take care of it. Your composure is admirable,” Jiang Ruan spoke drily. One did not know if it was on purpose or by accident, she emphasized on the word “young” heavily. Her surroundings immediately produced a wave of laughter. This housewife just claimed that her daughter was young in age, yet she handed such a huge sum of money to her. It was a rather unconvincing justification.

“I- I wanted to let her go out to purchase some items,” the housewife was slightly enraged.

“What did you want to buy? With this much money, the items that you wanted to purchase must have been a lot. Would Miss Qiao be able to carry them?”

The surrounding laughter grew louder.

The housewife became more and more enraged, “Why do you need to care about that? Of course, I have things to purchase. Now, I have already mentioned that I gave this money to Qiao’er. However, this old man claimed that it is his money. Does he have any evidence or a witness?”

Among the spectators, no one spoke. There was truly no evidence nor witness. Even though one was able to guess the cause of this matter, there was still no one that was willing to help the old man to get out of this predicament. “You are going along with her evil deeds, colluding together and joining her villainy-” The old man stamped his foot in rage, spouting a few phrases in a single breath. Unfortunately, these cultured curses did not have any effect on the onlookers.

“Do not worry, sir,” Jiang Ruan spoke.

The old man turned to Jiang Ruan, creasing his brows. He spoke in a stiff tone, “Young lady, I do not want to implicate you. These people are concealing the evidence of their crime. I will persist until the end. I appreciate that you have lent me a hand today. However, you cannot even defend yourself, much less help others. You better protect yourself.” When he uttered the two words “young lady”, the old man hesitated slightly. It was quite odd to call a child, who could be his own granddaughter, a young lady, but when he faced this young girl, he had a feeling of interacting with a grown woman. He really could not treat her like a normal child.

“Old man, you are ungrateful. My lady has rescued you, yet you failed to appreciate her kindness.” After hearing such words, Lian Qiao spoke angrily.

“Lian Qiao,” Jiang Ruan stopped her and spoke, “How are you so sure that I am unable to protect myself?”

“Don’t tell me that you still have a plan?” The old man raised his voice and it attracted the eyes of the onlookers.

“Sir, you should first mention how  you lost the money,” Jiang Ruan spoke.

“I did not steal his money. I did not steal his money!” The child shrieked in tears.

“Shut up,” Jiang Ruan eyed Miss Qiao, who was nestled within the housewife’s embrace, coldly. After being stared at by Jiang Ruan’s cold gaze, Miss Qiao unconsciously felt fear in her heart. She held her tongue immediately, and withdrew further into the housewife’s embrace.

The crowd was astonished. Upon seeing this, the old man thought about it and spoke, “Today was my first visit here. At the end of the street, I bought a deep-fried dough cake [Yóu bǐng] from a peddler. I grabbed some copper coins from my purse. After walking for a while, I felt that someone had touched my things. I saw a young girl walking beside me. Since I was being vigilant, I looked into my coin purse and discovered that my money had vanished all of a sudden. So I caught her. As expected, I discovered the money on her. Who knew that she would make bogus accusations against me? It is really distasteful!” After he finished, he glared at the child, whose face had traces of tears.

“Where is the peddler that sold the deep-fried dough cakes?” Jiang Ruan asked.

“It’s me.” A tan-skinned, middle-aged man came forward with avoidant eyes. He scratched his head, “There were too many customers who purchased the deep-fried dough cakes. I can not remember if he bought anything from my stall.” The people of West Street were apathetic. It was evident that these words were meant to patronize.

Upon seeing this, the young girl and the housewife rejoiced in Jiang Ruan’s misfortune as they looked at her. They felt that Jiang Ruan was incapable of dishing out any new tricks anymore.

“Since both parties insist that they are right,” Jiang Ruan spoke softly, “Then, let the money speak.”