Farmer's wife: My husband came back and the house was in chaos

Chapter 154 Banquet, Bet 52

The banquet was about to begin. Jiang Ruoyin found Yao Qingnian, took her to her seat, and then returned to Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Jiang.

Mr. Jiang was tall and straight, with a vigorous step, confidence and calmness between his eyebrows, and a brilliant light in his deep eyes: "Thank you all for coming to the tea tasting banquet. Jiang has prepared new tea from the cloud. This tea is picked between the clouds and mist of the mountains, and is carefully prepared through many processes. The tea tastes fresh and sweet, and the aroma is long-lasting.

I invite you all today, firstly to taste this rare fragrant tea, and secondly to enjoy the talent performances of the young men and women of Anding County, and to relax for a day. Now I declare the banquet to begin!"

After Mr. Jiang announced the start of the banquet, Mrs. Jiang added, "For today's talent show, we have invited several heavyweights from Anding County to serve as judges, and have prepared purple jade night pearls as rewards for the first place in the banquet."

As he spoke, he asked someone to bring up the purple jade night-shining pearl. The pearl was round and smooth, just like the bright moon in the sky, emitting a soft and mysterious purple light, which could illuminate the world in the dark night, as if it was a bright pearl that had fallen from the stars to the earth.

The girl next to Yao Qingnian said in surprise, "Wow! The Jiang family has really put in a lot of effort this year, bringing out such precious things as prizes. The purple jade night-shining pearl is worth a fortune, and those heavyweight judges are all among the best in Anding County. If they praise us, we will be proud to tell others about it."

Yao Qingnian looked over there curiously, and saw that among the five people, one was Mr. Hu from Boxue Academy. She didn't know the others, but there was a woman among them. She was sitting among them calmly, and her every move was elegant.

Yao Qingnian came up to the girl and asked, "Who is that woman?"

The woman glanced at Yao Qingnian and said, "You are not from Anding County, are you? Even she doesn't know. That is Lady Yu, who is proficient in everything from music, chess, calligraphy and painting to singing and dancing. She used to be a mistress for a young lady in the capital, and later returned to Anding County. Whoever holds a banquet is proud to invite her."

She glanced around as she spoke, and seeing that no one was paying attention, she continued, "Compared to her, the ladies in Anding County dance like they're having fun."

Yao Qingnian saw that she talked to others freely and naturally without any uneasiness, and thought that this woman was independent and strong in this era.

The competition started and all the gentlemen and ladies were eager to try. The competition was divided into four rounds: music, chess, calligraphy and painting.

The first round was "Book". Since it was a tea-tasting party, the theme of the book competition was to write a poem on the topic of "Tea". The pens, ink, paper and inkstone had already been prepared and lined up on the table. The young men and women participating in the competition came on stage one after another and began to write poems and books on the spot. This was also to prevent cheating.

Yao Qingnian was watching with great interest. Jiang Ruoyin ran over and said, "Qingnian, do you want to participate?"

"I'm just a village woman who knows nothing, so I won't make a fool of myself, haha." Yao Qingnian didn't want to join in the fun.

"Some people still know that they are a village woman!" Su Yanyan came out after changing her clothes, staring at Yao Qingnian with anger in her eyes. It was a narrow road for them to meet each other.

"I am very self-aware, unlike this young lady from the county magistrate's mansion, yes, a young lady from the county magistrate's mansion, who is so self-righteous." Yao Qingnian retorted bluntly.

"You little bitch, you're so sharp-tongued!" Thinking of the recent grudge, Su Yanyan reached out to teach Yao Qingnian a lesson, but was stopped by Jiang Ruoyin.

"Miss Su, what are you doing? This is our Jiang Mansion, not the County Magistrate's Mansion. Qingnian is my guest, please be respectful." Jiang Ruoyin doesn't like this Su Yanyan, she is like a colorful peacock.

"Oh, Miss Jiang, your Jiang family is indeed a vulgar merchant family. Someone like you who is neither good at literature nor martial arts is only worthy of making friends with a village woman like her."

"That's better than you, a cousin who lives in someone else's house, lelele!" Jiang Ruoyin was unmoved and made a face at Su Yanyan.

Su Yanyan was furious. She hated it most when people said that she was staying at the county magistrate's house. But she tried to calm herself down: "Humph! I won't argue with you. Do you have the guts to compete with me?"

"Compared to what?"

"Let's compete in the four games of music, chess, calligraphy and painting. If you can beat me in two games, you win." Su Yanyan knew Jiang Ruoyin's abilities. She was uneducated, let alone other things.

"Qingnian, I can't do this. I hate studying the most." Jiang Ruoyin leaned close to Yao Qingnian's ear and said.

When Su Yanyan heard her say that, she felt even more proud. She had finally regained a little face. The woman just now also said that she was just a village woman, haha.

"Since it's a competition, there must be stakes, right?" Yao Qingnian signaled Jiang Ruoyin to stay calm.

"If you lose, kowtow to me and apologize. If I lose, I will apologize to you."

"Tsk tsk, there's no point in betting like this. I don't want to play." Yao Qingnian refused. What's the fun in paying compensation?

"Then what do you say?" Su Yanyan thought that Yao Qingnian was just being stubborn and didn't have the ability to be mysterious here.

"If you want to play, you have to play big. I won't accompany you if you play small games." Yao Qingnian pulled Jiang Ruoyin and prepared to leave.

"If I lose, I'll give you five thousand taels of silver and let you do whatever you want with me. If you lose, tie yourself up and let me do whatever I want with you. How about that?"

"Whatever you do with it, it's fine." There are five thousand taels of silver here, it would be a waste not to make some money.

"Of course! Do you dare?" Su Yanyan seemed to be on the verge of victory.

"What is there to be afraid of? Don't say we are bullying you. We will also add 5,000 taels of silver." Jiang Ruoyin said. The thing that their Jiang family lacks the least is silver. When it comes to money, they cannot lose in momentum.

"Okay! Then it's settled. Words are not enough, so I'll put it in writing."

Su Yanyan was afraid that the two would go back on their word, so she wrote a document and signed her name on it.

Yao Qingnian had no choice but to sign his name.

Looking at the crooked name signed by Yao Qingnian, Su Yanyan laughed. How could such a crappy handwriting beat her?

"Do you trust me so much? Where is the five thousand taels? My eldest lady." Yao Qingnian asked Jiang Ruoyin aloud.

"What can we do if we don't believe her? She's riding on our heads. Qingnian, I'm counting on you. But it doesn't matter if we lose. It's just five thousand taels. At worst, I can ask my father to beg the county magistrate. For my father's sake, Su Yanyan won't dare to do anything to you." To be honest, Jiang Ruoyin didn't have the confidence at all...

Su Yanyan mocked from the side: "If you kneel down and beg me now, I can tear up the receipt."