Chapter 339: Liao’s Knowledge

Chapter 339

The incident where the Liao family patriarch was beaten spread quickly in Fengjing, and those two darkened front teeth were also presented to the Jiang family.

Although no one directly said who was behind it, there were only so many people in the Jiang family capable of taking action, so Jiang Chengyuan, as the eldest nephew, was inevitably dragged to the center of the storm.

Jiang Sheng felt a little remorseful.

It was all because of her that today's situation arose, so neither emotionally nor rationally should she stand idly by.

Since she hadn't paid her grandmother a visit for some time anyway, she discussed it with Zheng Ruqian and personally brought over two servings of lychee ice to the Jiang family residence.

One serving was for Old Lady Jiang, and one was for Jiang Chengyuan.

Her intentions were good, but when she actually arrived at Deren Hall, all she got was a heavy sigh: "Chengyuan has left."

"Left?" Jiang Sheng was shocked. "Where did he go? He was clearly still here yesterday!"

Old Lady Jiang gazed distantly to the northwest, with an expression that was hard to classify as satisfaction or wistfulness. "He's gone to where he should have gone long ago. Where he should have gone a long time ago."

The Jiang family's sons - at three they learned martial arts, at five they entered the military camp, by nine they were killing the Northern Nomads, and at fifteen they formally led troops into battle.

By comparison, Jiang Chengyuan was late.

But for the Jiang family’s sons, as long as they were willing to go to the battlefield, it was never too late.

"My good girl, your lychee ice unfortunately won’t be eaten by Chengyuan now.” Old Lady Jiang turned her head back, a thin mist rising in her eyes. “I can only hope that on the day he returns triumphantly, he will be able to slowly savor it once more.”

On the battlefield, swords and spears show no mercy. Amidst the slaughter, nobody cares what family you're from, nor how many relatives you have behind you. It's either life or death, injury or bloodshed.

Nobody knew whether Jiang Chengyuan would be able to come back alive from the frontier, nor did anybody know if he would become a famous and mighty general, or turn into a puff of yellow earth, eternally silent in the north.

But his family members would always sincerely pray for his triumphant return, hoping that he comes home again.

Jiang Sheng set down the lychee ice, remembering her third oldest brother whom she hadn't seen for a long time. Her nose started turning red.

"It would be so much better if there were no wars," she whispered softly. "It would be so much better if all under heaven could be at peace." Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

"It will be, it will be," Old Lady Jiang murmured gently while stroking her black hair.

With Jiang Chengyuan gone, the two servings of lychee ice definitely could not be eaten anymore. Tan Yue picked out one and sent a little maid to bring it to the west wing, leaving the remains to slowly melt away while she patiently spoon fed Old Lady Jiang.

Elderly people truly could not handle anything too cooling, so after just two spoonfuls Old Lady Jiang waved her hand to refuse, instructing Tan Yue to bring the rest below stairs and share it with the little maids and pages.

"But Eldest Aunt," Jiang Chengyu babbled urgently, "weren't those rumors spread by your Liao clan to begin with?"

Mrs. Liao's eyes reddened as her body froze up.

Second Madam Jiang resignedly put her hand over her chatterbox daughter's mouth.

It was true those rumors came from the Liaos, but Jiang Chengyuan did assault his uncle. Mrs. Liao wasn't wrong to demand he step forth and bear responsibility.

Only, the problem was the second wife's family truly didn't have anyone hidden away.

The Jiang heir was long gone on his way to the northern frontier.

"Mother, go ahead and tell Eldest Aunt the truth!" Jiang Chengyu's muffled yell could still be heard.

Second Madam Jiang clenched her teeth with an expression filled with helplessness.

"What truth?" Mrs. Liao asked warily. "What's happened with Chengyuan? How is he? Where is he?"

Seeing that Jiang Chengfeng was on the verge of breaking down and blurting out the whole story...

Old Lady Jiang belatedly arrived and loftily proclaimed, "He's gone."

Mrs. Liao whirled to face her.

"He's no longer in Fengjing. He left overnight last night," Old Lady Jiang stepped forth as the bearer of bad news. "You won't be able to find him."

As expected, Mrs. Liao became somewhat hysterical.

She felt shock, disappointment, worry, all intertwined together: "Where did he go? Just because of a fight, he's run away without any sense of shame? He still hasn't given the Liao family an explanation or told me, his mother, a single thing!"

Indeed, avoiding problems by absconding was not the proper conduct for a mature gentleman.

She was the assaulted man's sister so harboring resentment was understandable, as was wanting to resolve the conflict between both sides. That was reasonable.

If Jiang Chengyuan had gone to somewhere like Anshui Prefecture instead of the northern frontier, or was sightseeing and amusing himself somewhere, his moral fiber would deteriorate in a straight line, rendering him unfit for greater duties.

Thankfully, thankfully that was not the case...

Old Lady Jiang took a deep breath and uttered two words amidst Mrs. Liao's tearful, lined face:

"The frontier."