Jiang Sheng's heart skipped a beat.
Although she had expected it, You Ran House was too offended by them to terminate the partnership, which would surely include the managers of Anshui Prefecture and Xieyang County. Still, Jiang Sheng harbored a glimmer of hope since she quite liked the two managers.
Jiang Sheng and her siblings had gone from nothing to where they were now, from Xieyang County to Anshui Prefecture, and finally to Fengjing. Their partnership had gradually expanded, and their silver had steadily increased bit by bit.
You Ran House was the starting point of their business and a witness to their gradual development. Especially the manager of Xieyang County had guided them on several occasions, leaving them grateful.
Ending it all of a sudden was hard to bear.
Jiang Sheng stared with her round eyes, feeling somewhat dejected for a moment.
"Don't blame me," said Jiang Chenghua, a flash of reluctance in her eyes, "Blame your elder brother's loud mouth if you must."
Blame him for making you so well-liked that even my only elder brother wants to admire and praise you.
"I don't blame my elder brother," Jiang Sheng came to her senses and said earnestly, "He was just trying to protect me. If the partnership ends, then so be it. There's nothing more to say."
But with business cut off entirely, she could no longer resign herself to the status quo.
She had to work hard to find new business and ensure the aunties in the workshop and the vegetable delivery brothers had work and income and would not go hungry again.
Jiang Sheng clenched her fists, about to leave, when a familiar young waiter suddenly opened the door.
He was skinny with an alert pair of eyes that entreated when looking at her but turned solemn when he glanced away.
"Ahem," this was the first time He Rui felt like he was bluffing, "Boss, the family head has spoken, the partnership continues, it cannot be terminated."
"What?" The boss was too shocked to produce more than a quacking sound.
Jiang Chenghua was equally incredulous. "What nonsense are you spewing, little waiter? Do my words not represent the Jiang family?"
"Because you are not the family head, Miss. You are merely an unmarried Jiang daughter."
An unmarried daughter had no assets or entitlement to dividends, only some say, which amounted to nothing before the true family head.
Jiang Chenghua turned deathly pale and staggered back nearly falling into a chair. "Who said that? Who?"
He Rui did not dare answer.
"Was it Mother? My elder brother? Or Grandmother?" Jiang Chenghua gritted her teeth. "I'm going to ask why, why!"
She rushed off in agitation, feeling the dignity she had barely maintained these days shatter completely. Catching sight of the stunned Jiang Sheng by the door especially fueled her sky-high resentment.
Jiang Sheng seemed to live such a blessed life with loving parents, a caring grandmother, a gentle elder brother while her own world had been upended overnight with people saying she was fake.
Her parents were fake, her grandmother was fake, her elder brother's affection was fake, and the familial bonds she had treasured for almost ten years were illusory.
Panicked and distraught, she had fled impulsively to a remote countryside, vowing to hide away until the earth crumbled.
Yet her parents and elder brother had searched and found her, promising they would always cherish and protect her.
She was their rightful daughter, truly and undoubtedly, never an imitation.
Upon returning to Fengjing, she had barely settled down when the old servant girl who had been sent away with the real heiress years ago was found out, cementing her fake identity.
Fortunately her parents were as loving as before and her elder brother as doting as ever, but her grandmother insisted on locating the true heiress, exacerbating her anxiety. She knew all she had was no more than a mirage she desperately tried to grasp, attempting by every means to prove she was cared for and happy.
If Jiang Sheng's appearance alerted Jiang Chenghua that her elder brother would no longer favor her exclusively, this moment on the third floor of You Ran House made Jiang Chenghua fully realize however hard she tried, a fake would remain a fake, and blood relations would always outweigh all else. She would never receive the partiality and support of family.
Inside the carriage, the esteemed Third Miss Jiang broke down in sobs once more.
Yet on reaching the Jiang manor, she had to dry her tears and resume her graceful composure before serenely entering Lady Jiang's quarters, properly paying her respects and greetings.
It was only when Lady Jiang gently stroked her hair and asked, "Chenghua, you seem to have something on your mind?" that her pent-up grievances came pouring forth, and Jiang Chenghua flung herself into her mother's embrace, pouring out all her woes.
"That day at You Ran House, elder brother played the fool and allowed others to insult me wilfully, his heart has already strayed."
"And now I have lost face in front of them again at You Ran House. Mother, does the Jiang family no longer want me, do they despise me now?"
Lady Jiang said nothing, only caressing her daughter's disheveled hair after her tantrum subsided. Then absently, "Don't worry, you will always be the Jiang family's trueborn daughter."
"The one who was lost cannot be recovered."
Back at You Ran House.
Jiang Sheng watched the Jiang young miss rush off and turned to the furtively smiling He Rui and the equally flabbergasted manager. "What on earth just happened?"
"Oh nothing much, the family head just didn't want private affairs interfering with business." He Rui replied matter-of-factly.
Actually it was because Miss Jiang was too immaculate, without even a mole, let alone a birthmark, making identification difficult.
Lady Jiang could only keep her around using business as pretext while attempting to ascertain her ancestry.
Emboldened with his little bluff, He Rui knew he was but a lowly waiter dependent on the manager for a living. So after running off Miss Jiang, he repeatedly winked at the boss and pointed to the adjoining room.
Only then did it occur to the manager who quickly said, "Then let's continue our partnership. Fetch the preserved meats and sausages from the workshop. Bring the exquisite desserts tomorrow as we previously discussed."
It was said heaven never drops meat pies, but by all appearances today seemed like a huge one had fallen.
Others would have exulted, but Jiang Sheng grew wary.
She remembered back when stealing food to survive, should the mansion's maids discover the pilfering urchins, they would deliberately leave out a bowl of chicken stew as bait and jump out to thrash them afterward.
As Jiang Sheng grew smarter with age, she knew folks like her were unworthy of fine fare. She gave such untouched platters wide berth, scavenging only for scraps to fill her belly, thereby avoiding further traps.
Under present circumstances, the family heads of You Ran House surely had no sinister plots to sell her off for profit.
She rolled her big eyes in deliberation, weighing pros and cons.
After all the Jiangs were a prominent clan, and You Ran House a major establishment. With stocks of cured meat dwindling, fresh supplies had to be dispatched today from the workshop. Even if something underhanded was at play, the workshop stood to gain a tidy sum upfront and empty their warehouses.
On the whole, the pros outweighed the cons.
Most vitally, she was no longer that lonely, helpless waif. She now had five incredibly savvy elder brothers behind her, leaving her fearless.
But keeping up a righteous front was still necessary. "Boss, you can't promise to continue today only to terminate tomorrow. Our goods are also highly sought-after."
The boss did not dare make such an assurance.
Instead it was He Rui who quickly pledged, "Rest assured, our family head's word is law."
Only then was Jiang Sheng satisfied enough to take her leave.
Once she was out of earshot, He Rui bent at the waist and entered the adjacent room, softly asking, "My lady, what's our next step?"
Lady Jiang closed her eyes, silvery hair stirred by her breath. "Send someone to Anshui Prefecture. I want all available information on this child from birth till present."
Everything.
