Maria was frantically thinking about Ganli. She desperately hoped that Zhao Juan would suddenly have a change of heart and tell Ganli in tears that someone wanted to bribe her to steal the chicken essence recipe!
However, reality slapped it hard in the face.
After Zhao Juan returned, she acted as if nothing had happened, and didn't mention a word about the twenty taels of silver and the sleeping potion.
What made Maria even more uneasy was that although Zhao Juan never dared to refuse on the surface, she always exuded a lot of resentment when doing things, either dawdling or doing things perfunctorily.
But today, she was unusually diligent, eager to do any task, as if she were a completely different person.
That wasn't all. After the restaurants closed for the night, the Gan family sat around the table to eat, and Zhao Juan, for the first time ever, offered to treat everyone to drinks.
"I bought a bottle of good wine and would like to treat everyone to a drink," she said with a smile, though her tone betrayed a hint of deliberate intent.
Gan Mingyi sneered inwardly, but remained outwardly calm, deliberately asking, "Did the sun rise in the west today? Why did you suddenly decide to treat us to drinks?"
Zhao Juan's smile froze for a moment, then quickly returned to its ingratiating form.
"Brother Mingyi, what are you saying? I just feel really bad about it!"
As she spoke, a hint of embarrassment appeared on her face, as if she had mustered a great deal of courage to speak again:
“I was wrong before. My sister-in-law meant well by teaching me how to do things, but I couldn’t let go of my pride, so I did something wrong. I not only wronged my sister-in-law, but also caused trouble for everyone.”
These past few days I've been thinking about this, and I feel both grateful and guilty. So I wanted to take this opportunity to raise a glass to everyone as a way of thanking you and also as an apology.
The Gan family members looked at each other in disbelief; none of them had expected Zhao Juan to say such a thing.
Old Man Gan and Old Woman Gan exchanged a glance, their faces showing some emotion, clearly moved by Zhao Juan's 'sincere' apology.
Seeing this, Zhao Juan felt smug and performed even more energetically. She picked up the wine pot and poured a full glass of wine for everyone.
Gan Li observed Zhao Juan's every move discreetly, a playful smile curving her lips.
She picked up her wine glass, looked at Zhao Juan with a half-smile, and asked:
"When the Zhao family's house was raided, the officials searched them so thoroughly, you shouldn't have had a single penny left, right? Where did you get the money for this wine?"
Zhao Juan's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected Gan Li to suddenly ask about this. She forced a smile and made up a lie:
"I...I lent some silver to someone before, and I got it back these past two days, so...that's why I have the silver to buy wine."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Given Zhao Juan's personality, how could she possibly forget lending money to someone? If she really had money, she wouldn't be asking for it from others!
Ganli nodded, not exposing her clumsy lie.
She put down her wine glass, feigning sudden realization, and said:
"Look at my memory, I've been so busy these days that I forgot to calculate your wages."
"Alright then, starting tomorrow, I'll begin calculating your wages. The price will be the same as outside wages, and if you perform well each month, I'll give you an extra five hundred coins. What do you think?"
The wages offered by Ganli were undeniably generous, and Maria excitedly shouted in her mind:
Say yes! Say yes now! You fool, if you don't say yes, you'll really be a fool!
However, Zhao Juan was blinded by greed and resentment. When she heard Gan Li's words, she felt not happy, but rather that she had been greatly insulted.
She didn't think Ganli was doing this for her own good at all; on the contrary, she felt that Ganli was humiliating her in this way!
She nearly ground her teeth to powder, and forced a smile, saying, "I'm already incredibly grateful that you're willing to take me in. Even if I don't get paid, it doesn't matter."
After Zhao Juan finished speaking, she picked up the wine pot and poured wine for each member of the Gan family without hesitation.
Seeing this, Gan Li raised her glass to suppress the cold smile on her lips and said no more.
After several rounds of drinks, the Gan family members all collapsed onto the table, unconscious. Zhao Juan, confirming they were all asleep, slowly stood up, a sinister smile spreading across her face.
"Pooh!"
She spat fiercely at the Gan family, finally finding an outlet for her long-suppressed resentment and anger.
"Old man, you used to pretend to be a kind father and mother, but now, even if I stand in front of you, you pretend not to recognize me!"
Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. You're all just gold diggers! Seeing that this slut can make money, you're all eager to curry favor with her, even abandoning your own daughters. Everything I've said is true, but you don't believe a single word!
She became increasingly agitated as she spoke, and then pointed at Gan Mingyi and Gan Mingli's noses, launching into a tirade of abuse:
"And you two cowards! All you do is listen to Gan Li, letting her lead you by the nose like two lapdogs! You can't even recognize your own sister standing right in front of you, why don't you just die?"
After berating the Gan brothers, she then turned her attention to the Zhao family:
"And you, you shrew, you bitch! You think you can get away with anything just because you're on that bitch's side? You'll only ever be trampled under my feet!"
Finally, she turned her gaze to the unconscious Ganli, a sinister glint flashing in her eyes.
"You've finally gotten what you deserved! You stole my identity and seized my assets. I'll settle this score with you! Once I steal the chicken essence and your restaurant goes out of business, let's see how arrogant you can be!"
After venting her frustrations, Zhao Juan finally felt much better, as the tightness in her chest eased considerably, and she felt refreshed!
Thinking that she could exchange the chicken essence for another two hundred taels of silver, she was overjoyed and couldn't wait to go to the kitchen to steal the chicken essence.
Carrying an oil lamp, she hurried into the kitchen and, by the dim light, found the porcelain bottle containing chicken bouillon on the stove.
"Once I take this out, I can get two hundred taels of silver!" Zhao Juan thought to herself with excitement as she reached out and took the porcelain bottle in her hand.
Just as she was about to leave, she became a little uneasy and decided to open the bottle cap to check.
However, the moment her hand touched the bottle cap, something unexpected happened.
With a soft 'click', a plume of white smoke, carrying a pungent odor, suddenly shot out from the porcelain bottle, instantly enveloping Zhao Juan.
"Cough cough cough..." Caught off guard, Zhao Juan was choked by the sudden smoke and coughed repeatedly, tears streaming down her face, her vision blurring.
"What is that? Why is there smoke?!"
She panicked and tried to back away, but in her haste, she knocked over the oil lamp that was used for lighting.
With a loud 'bang!', the oil lamp fell to the ground and shattered, spilling oil all over the floor and instantly bursting into flames, illuminating the already dim kitchen as bright as day.
"Fire! Fire!" Zhao Juan was terrified by the sudden turn of events and screamed as she tried to escape from the kitchen.
However, at that moment, the kitchen door was suddenly pushed open from the outside with a "bang," and the Gan family members, who should have been asleep, rushed in all at once!
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