Chapter 74 Chapter 74 "Why are you eating vegetarian noodles again today? Really...
"Why are we eating vegetarian noodles again today? It's really frustrating. It's only been a few days since the New Year, and there's not even any meat on the table. We haven't eaten rice for several days?" Aunt Kong threw down her chopsticks and said with an unhappy look on her face.
She was from the south and didn't like noodles. After she married into the Xue Mansion, on days when she wanted to eat noodles, she would often ask the kitchen to make a bowl of rice porridge for her.
A few days ago, the steward from the mansion came to say that the family had run out of rice, and it was difficult to buy food due to the famine in the capital, so they would have to eat noodles for a few days.
Aunt Kong tolerated it because she thought it was a reasonable thing to do, but she had been eating noodles for more than ten days in a row and she almost vomited when she smelled the noodles. But he found that Aunt Wen, Mrs. Bai and the second young master in the mansion all ate different things from him.
Aunt Kong could no longer tolerate this, so she threw her chopsticks down during lunch and had a huge outburst.
Jin Bei, who was serving her, immediately stepped forward, picked up the chopsticks that had fallen on the ground and said, "Madam Kong, calm down. There is a food shortage in the capital right now, and the government can't do anything about it. Recently, all the courtyards have been eating noodles, and there is not much flour left."
"Who are you kidding?" Upon hearing this, Concubine Kong glared at Jin Bei and said, "Yesterday, Ganlu saw the Second Young Master eating polished rice in his yard, and Concubine Wen also made porridge in her yard. So the famine is only affecting my yard and Concubine Qin's yard, right?"
"This..." Jin Bei could only step aside after hearing this.
Ganlu, who was standing by, came out and said, "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. They said there was a food shortage in the mansion, but the Madam went to the Second Young Master's house every day to cook for him. Everyone knows that the Second Young Master has a small kitchen in his yard, and he cooks chicken, duck, fish and meat for every meal. The servants in the yard eat better than our Madam."
Aunt Kong became more and more angry as she listened, so she slammed the table and shouted, "Someone, go to the kitchen and tell me that I want to eat white rice and stir-fried vegetables. Don't bring these plain noodles to my room anymore!"
Although Jin Bei was in an awkward situation, she had to go to the kitchen to talk since Aunt Kong had given the order.
But when the cook Li, who was in charge of the kitchen, heard this, she started arguing with her, saying that Aunt Kong was cunning, and dragged Jin Bei to go to Bai to seek justice.
This commotion caused a lot of noise in the mansion. Afterwards, even Aunt Qin and Aunt Wen were alarmed.
In the end, the whole family went straight to the second young master's yard. Both sides insisted on their own opinions and said they wanted to ask Bai for an explanation.
As soon as everyone entered the yard of the second young master Xue Fengli, they smelled the aroma of stewed meat.
Because there was a food shortage in the palace, the price of meat soared, and the price of meat dishes also shrank.
In the past, we had meat dishes at every meal, but now we only eat it once a week, and each time there is only a little bit of shredded meat.
The stew tasted so delicious that it immediately aroused everyone's appetite.
Aunt Kong snorted coldly at this time: "What did I say? They said there was a food shortage, but the mansion just withheld money from us!"
Aunt Qin and Aunt Wen also didn't look very good. Following her, he walked towards the second young master's room.
Aunt Qin was a beautiful concubine specially sent to the palace by the eldest prince. She was treated quite well in the past, but she had little experience and no foundation in the palace. At this point, there would be no preferential treatment.
Although Madam Wen had stored some grain, she also had a lot of private money. But the prices in Beijing were too high, so even if she had to cook for herself, she could only spend frugally, and she dared not be as lavish as the second young master in his courtyard.
Aunt Kong pushed open the second young master's door first, and sure enough, she saw five or six dishes on the table, including fish, meat, and soup, with a fine combination of meat and vegetables, and a whole pot of glutinous rice.
At this time, Bai and Xue Fengli were having dinner. Seeing so many people suddenly barging in, they couldn't help but frown and asked, "What are you doing? Why don't you just say hello and barge into Li'er's yard?"
After hearing this, Concubine Kong burst into tears and said, "Madam, you have to take charge of this for us! The servants in our kitchen are so picky that they don't even let us have a full meal! We haven't had a grain of rice in more than ten days!"
"I went to argue with them, but they still dared to shirk the blame on the food shortage in Beijing! Look at the food in the Second Young Master's room, how can it be considered a food shortage? Those servants must have secretly withheld the food!"
Aunt Kong was smart. She didn't dare to accuse Bai of favoritism to her face. She only dared to make indirect accusations and pushed the blame on the kitchen servants.
Everyone knows that the Xue family is now managed by Bai. All the people in the big kitchen and purchasing department are Bai's own people. They must have done things under her instruction.
Mrs. Bai had no idea that Aunt Kong would dare to come and slap her in the face, and her face turned pale.
If there was indeed a food shortage as he said, then there would be so many delicious dishes on the table. But the people working below were all her trusted confidants carefully selected and promoted by her, and she definitely couldn't let them take the blame like this.
Bai hesitated for a while before she spoke: "It is true that there is a food shortage in the capital, but my brother from my mother's family felt sorry for Li'er who is young and strong, so he sent some food here."
Aunt Qin, who was standing by, heard this and said, "The master told Madam to borrow grain from the Bai family before. I remember that the Bai family didn't have any surplus grain, so the master could only ask for help from the side branches one by one. How come there is surplus grain being delivered now?"
This concubine Qin is young and beautiful, and is now the most favored by Lord Xue. Sometimes Lord Xue couldn't help but complain in front of her.
Therefore, she was very clear about the matter of the Bai family borrowing grain, but now she left the Bai family speechless with just one sentence.
These concubines all have some family background. How could they have ever suffered such humiliation before? Bai Shi saw that if she didn't come up with a set of rules, she might not be able to convince everyone. She could only grit her teeth and say, "It's the servants in the kitchen who are negligent. How can they only focus on Master Li? I'll go ask around later. See if there's anything else in the mansion and send some to the rooms of the concubines."
After hearing what Bai said, the concubines were temporarily calmed down and returned to their own courtyards one by one.
Xue Fengli then said to Bai: "Mother? They are just a few concubines, why are you so polite to them?"
"Do you think I am willing to do this?" Bai was angry, and when she looked at her disappointing son, she became even more angry.
"These concubines are all good concubines, and they were sent here by others. I have already sent away those who can be sent away. Those who are still in the mansion cannot be sent away." Bai said: "What I can do is to prevent them from giving birth to children so that you can maintain your position in the mansion."
As she grew older, although she still managed to maintain her beauty, she did look a little old. The Marquis was no longer as obedient to her as before.
It's okay that Aunt Kong is sarcastic and mean, but Aunt Qin is not an easy person to deal with.
Now that the Marquis dotes on her, she must have often whispered in his ear.
For example, she actually knew about the Marquis asking the Bai family to borrow grain. If he turned around and said a few words to the Marquis, he might alienate the relationship between the Bai family and the Marquis' Mansion.
Bai took out some food that she had hidden at Xue Fengli's place. Now there was only one stone of rice left, and not much dried meat or vegetables left.
After she kept half of it, she had the other half divided among her concubines.
Each concubine was only given a few buckets of rice and some vegetables in her courtyard, which was just enough to last for five or six days.
Bai was forced to distribute the surplus grain she had saved, but the concubines actually did not believe that she had only hidden this much.
But after a few days, everyone had finished eating the food they were given, and they went to the kitchen to ask for more. Bai Shi then said that she had nothing to give out, and could only say to everyone, "The rice was all distributed last time, and there is no more now. Li'er and I are eating noodles in the courtyard like everyone else. If there are still those who don't believe me, just go to our courtyard and see."
"Besides, vegetables are too expensive nowadays. Pork is sold for five hundred coins a pound. If you want to eat meat, you can buy it with your own private money and let the kitchen cook it. If you want to pay from the public, there is not enough money."
Aunt Kong was naturally dissatisfied after hearing this, but she sent Ganlu to check. Seeing that Xue Fengli and Bai were also eating noodles every day, with only one meat dish added every day, she did not dare to say anything more.
Aunt Qin, relying on the Marquis's love, had a better life than hers. Although she couldn't eat rice, if Lord Xue went to her room, meat dishes would be indispensable that day.
Among the concubines in the Xue family, only Concubine Wen was a little more relaxed.
Now all the courtyards in the mansion are tightening their belts to make ends meet, but fortunately she can still use some of her private savings to buy meat and make a good meal for Tian Jie'er every three days.
However, as the prices of vegetables outside became more and more expensive, even a wealthy woman like Madam Wen found it a little unbearable.
She owned two shops, and the annual rental income was only over three hundred taels. It is more than enough for daily spending and can also save up for the sweet girl's dowry.
But now, just buying some meat and vegetables costs dozens of taels of silver every month. If this continues, all this year's income will be spent. I also have to take out the dowry money that I had saved for Tian Jie'er.
Just when Madam Wen was beginning to get anxious about the famine, her maid Yin Shuang suddenly took out a silver note worth 100 taels and said to her, "Madam Wen, this is what Brother Wuxin asked me to give you. He said that the prince saw the severity of the famine in the capital and was worried that Tian Jie wouldn't have enough to eat. He specially asked him to bring it to buy food for Tian Jie."
Although Tian Jie'er was only a concubine's daughter, Xue Fenglin always treated her well. Before, Bai said that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent, so she never let Tian Jie learn to read and write. It was Xue Fenglin who personally found a teacher to give lessons at home, and all the money spent came from his account.
Madam Wen had seen all of this over the years and knew that the Prince was the one who truly treated her sister well, so she had secretly stood on his side.
Seeing that the prince had come to her rescue again, Madam Wen accepted the banknote with gratitude, and then said with some emotion: "If this family wants to choose someone to inherit the family business, it can only be the prince."
Xue Fengli, born to Bai, doesn't care about their life or death at all!
Madam Wen would not have accepted Xue Fenglin's banknotes in vain.
After a few days, she deliberately asked someone to buy some meat and vegetables, prepared a table of food, and invited Aunt Kong and Aunt Qin to come over.
These three concubines do not have a close relationship with each other on a daily basis and do not visit each other often. If Madam Wen had invited people before, I'm afraid they wouldn't have come.
But they were also very widowed at that time, and when they heard that Madam Wen had prepared a table of delicious food with her own money, they all came over.
Madam Wen welcomed them into the room with a smile. After they had a good meal, she closed the door and said, "Sisters, I asked you to come here because I have some doubts and I want you to help me answer them."
Concubine Kong and Concubine Qin were very reluctant to talk, so they said to Concubine Wen: "Sister, just say whatever you want to say. As long as we know something, we will tell you everything."
Madam Wen then said, "It's strange to say, when I was pregnant with Tian Jie'er, the late Madam was still alive. At that time, the late Madam was in charge of all household affairs, and my pregnancy went very smoothly, and I gave birth to a daughter like Tian Jie'er."
"But the good times didn't last long. When Tian Jie was only two years old, the late wife passed away due to illness. From then on, Sister Bai became the head of the household and she was in charge of all household affairs."
Madam Wen came into the mansion earlier, and she knew many things that Madam Kong and Madam Qin did not know.
Seeing that the two concubines were listening to her attentively, Concubine Wen continued, "I just don't know why, ever since Madam became the housekeeper, my life has been a little bad. Every time I have my period, I have unbearable stomach pain."
"After that, several maids were sent to be concubines in the mansion, but none of them showed any signs of pregnancy, so they were all sent away by the Madam."
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