The man looked Zhao Juan up and down, then suddenly laughed, as if he had heard a funny joke:
"I must say, you're quite an interesting person! The Gan family treats you like a servant, but you actually consider yourself a member of the Gan family? You're even worried about them?"
Upon hearing the word 'maid,' Zhao Juan's expression changed, but she cursed inwardly, thinking that she wasn't doing this for the Gan family's sake at all!
That little bitch Ganli clearly has a close relationship with the county magistrate. If I am found out for harming someone and Ganli is sent to the county magistrate, wouldn't I end up like Master Zhao?
The man seemed to sense her hesitation and waved his hand, saying:
"Don't worry, I'm a law-abiding citizen. I'm not asking you to do anything harmful. I just have my eye on the Gan family's chicken essence and want you to help me steal some so I can study it."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Juan breathed a sigh of relief, realizing it wasn't anything harmful. However, she still hesitated when she heard it was about her going to the Gan family to steal something.
Seeing this, the man said again, "What? You're not happy? Well, you're a member of Ganji Restaurant now, living a life of luxury. Why would you need to do such petty theft?"
Zhao Juan was provoked by his words and immediately felt unhappy. What did he mean by 'eating and drinking well'? Her life in the Gan family now was not even as good as it was in the Chen family before!
Ever since they talked behind closed doors last time, everyone has treated her like a maid, ordering her around without any hesitation. She's had enough!
The man, of all times, said this:
"You'd better watch out. Everyone knows about your feud with the Gan family. Now that Boss Gan is willing to take you in, her reputation as a kind person has spread. From now on, whenever you two have a disagreement, everyone will be criticizing you."
I think she probably only took you in for the sake of her good reputation. She'll just find some excuse to kick you out later, and no one will blame her; they'll just say you're ungrateful.
It's such a pity for you. You used to be a wealthy young lady, but now you'll probably be abandoned by everyone and end up on the streets!
The man's words struck Zhao Juan's heart like a knife. Thinking of the cold treatment she had received in the Gan family, her hatred for Gan Li intensified.
"Why should I believe you?" Zhao Juan gritted her teeth and was eventually persuaded by the man, but she was still a little uneasy.
The man seemed to have anticipated her response. He took out two silver ingots from his sleeve and waved them in front of Zhao Juan: "If you agree, these two silver ingots are yours."
Zhao Juan's eyes widened when she saw the two ingots, which together weighed at least twenty taels of silver.
But she quickly concealed her greed, pouting and saying, "That's all? I took such a big risk, and this is all the silver I get?"
Seeing that she had finally taken the bait, the man's eyes flashed with mockery, and he burst into laughter:
"Don't worry, this is just a deposit. I'll give you another two hundred taels after it's done!" With that, he tossed the two silver ingots to Zhao Juan.
Zhao Juan hurriedly reached out and caught it, feeling its heavy weight in her hand, and the last trace of hesitation in her heart vanished.
Two hundred taels! With these two hundred taels, would she still need to put up with the Gan family's attitude? Would she still need to suffer here?
Zhao Juan could almost see herself walking away from Ganji Restaurant with two hundred taels of silver, looking all high and mighty.
Then, with those two hundred taels of silver, she could buy a shop in town, become her own boss, and never have to be at the mercy of others again…
"Okay! I promise you!" Zhao Juan agreed immediately, her voice trembling with excitement.
Seeing this, the man's lips curled into a barely perceptible, cold smile. He then shoved a paper package into Zhao Juan's hand.
"This contains sleeping potion. Find an opportunity to slip it into the Gan family's food."
"Why do you need to use sleeping powder?" Zhao Juan, who had just made up her mind, was a little scared when she saw the powder the man handed her.
The man frowned: "What are you afraid of? I'm doing this for your own good. What if the Gan family finds out halfway through? With this, you can do it without anyone noticing..."
Zhao Juan thought about it and agreed, so she reached out and took it.
She clutched the paper package tightly in her hand, as if she had grasped the key to changing her fate, little did she know that an abyss awaited her...
Just after she parted ways with the man, he turned a corner and came to a secluded place. Not long after, Gan Mingyi walked out from there with a dark face and returned to the restaurant without saying a word.
"That Zhao Juan is a real menace! We took her in, but she's not grateful at all; now she's even trying to steal our chicken bouillon!"
As soon as Gan Mingyi entered the door, he said angrily:
"That ungrateful wretch! It's a good thing you guessed she was up to no good and sent someone to test her. If someone had really asked her to steal something, wouldn't all the secret recipes in our restaurant have been stolen?"
Gan Li was not surprised at all by Zhao Juan's decision.
Gan Mingyi was still angry and said indignantly, "Let's just kick her out right now! I can't sleep at night with someone like that in the house!"
"No rush, even if you chase her away now, she won't admit it." A cold glint flashed in Gan Li's eyes: "I already have a plan. I'll catch her red-handed, and then let's see how she can deny it!"
Gan Mingyi was puzzled as to why his younger sister was so determined to convince Zhao Juan, and left in a state of confusion.
Little did he know, as soon as he left, Mary was jumping up and down in Ganley's mind in protest:
"Host, this is entrapment! How could you do this? Testing humanity with money!"
Gan Li sneered upon hearing this: "But money is the fastest way to test human nature. If a person has virtue, even if they are tempted, they will resolutely refuse if they think of the kindness and loyalty they have shown."
Regardless of whether this was entrapment or not, Zhao Juan has already accepted the twenty taels of silver and the packet of sleeping pills.
Given this, her next decision is quite obvious. "Maria, I gave her a chance as you requested; she didn't appreciate it, so she can't blame me."
Maria was speechless after being rebuked, but she held onto her last shred of hope and stubbornly said, "It's not the last moment yet. Maybe, maybe she's just pretending to agree and will come back to tell you in a little while."
“You still believe her so much now… I can only wish you success.” Ganli couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She was too lazy to argue with Maria and simply said, “We’ll find out tonight what choice she will make.”
Maria had nothing more to say, and could only pray in her heart that Zhao Juan wouldn't make a mistake...
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