Chapter 24 Paralyze His Stomach
Zhuang Wan also didn't sleep well. She dreamed all night long that Pei Xingju was strangling her, causing her neck to bleed profusely. The blood flowed down his sleeves, leaving a deep red stain.
Strangely, the ground was covered with black crayfish. Seeing that Pei Xingju hadn't strangled her to death yet, and her black crayfish were almost gone, she yelled in anger: "Pei Xingju! Can you hurry up!"
Then woke up.
When I woke up, I saw a room full of surprised faces and was dumbfounded.
"Why... so many people?"
Qiu Tan was embarrassed and whispered, "Miss, Master Pei sent someone to deliver something."
"Sending something? What?"
The leader was Aunt Xu, whose face still showed an embarrassment that she had not yet managed to shake off. It seemed that she had clearly misunderstood the content of Zhuang Wan's dream.
Zhuang Wan hurriedly stood up and greeted her, "Madam Xu, long time no see."
Aunt Xu laughed and said, "Miss Zhuang, the master asked me to bring you something."
She ordered the two maids behind her: "Put the things on the table and open them."
"Yes." The maid put the box on the table. No one knew what was in the box. It was heavy and made a slight bang when she put it down.
Zhuang Wan walked over to take a look, tugging on her slippers.
Wow, the box is full of round silver ingots, no wonder it is so heavy.
However, why did Pei Xingju give her silver?
Zhuang Wan picked up a silver ingot and knocked it against her forehead, causing her to hiss in pain.
The maids in the room were amused by her behavior, but Aunt Xu always had a kind face as if she understood her feelings.
Zhuang Wan was sure she wasn't dreaming and was very confused.
"Madam Xu, Pei Xing...why did Yuzhi give me so much silver?"
"Miss Zhuang, my lord heard that she likes to go out shopping, so he asked me to go to the accounting office to get three hundred taels of silver."
Three hundred taels!
Pei Xingju is really generous!
"Also, my Lord has something for me to tell Miss Zhuang."
"Please go ahead."
She leaned closer and lowered her voice, saying, "My lord said that Miss Zhuang owed Guard Lu the one or two taels of silver, and I have already repaid you."
“…”
Thank him! Thank his eight generations of ancestors!
Now the whole world knows that Zhuang Wan once borrowed a tael of silver from Guard Lu. Doesn’t she have any face?
The same thing happened to Guard Lu. He only owed him one or two taels of silver, but he actually complained to Pei Xingju.
Little did she know that she had completely wronged Guard Lu.
Pei Xingju thought carefully about Shen Yi's words and felt that he had indeed acted unkindly, but he had no good way to make amends. So he wanted to send something, but he had no idea what to send, so he simply asked Guard Lu.
Guard Lü was a conscientious and upright guard. When asked what Zhuang Wan needed, he answered without hesitation that she needed silver. To support his statement, he even cited an incident in which Zhuang Wan had borrowed a tael of silver from him.
Therefore, there was an incident where Pei Xingju sent someone to deliver silver after waking up.
.
Zhuang Wan felt a little heavy.
Qiu Tan was very happy. While serving Zhuang Wan breakfast, she said, "Miss, I didn't expect that Master Pei would think so highly of you, giving you clothes and money."
"But..." She asked without hesitation, "When did the young lady ever borrow money from Guard Lu?"
“…”
Zhuang Wan gave her a deathly stare. "Back then, a maidservant came back crying and said she wanted to serve me forever. To cheer her up, I promised to buy her some snacks, and I ended up owing a huge debt of one ounce of silver."
"......" Qiu Tan smiled guiltily: "So that's how it is."
She diligently picked up some food for Zhuang Wan and said, "Miss, try this. I heard these dishes are made in Lord Pei's kitchen, and the cooking is excellent."
Zhuang Wan said disdainfully, "You call this good craftsmanship? You've never seen real craftsmanship."
After saying that, she slowly stopped.
Yes, actually she can cook, so why not just cook it herself?
In her previous life, her family ran a restaurant. Her father was a chef in a five-star hotel, and he could cook Cantonese, Shandong, Sichuan, and Anhui cuisine. Influenced by her father, she could hold a spoon by the age of three.
With such a skill, she could definitely use it to deal with Pei Xingju. As the ancients said (though I don't know who said it), if you want to capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach. She didn't expect to capture Pei Xingju's heart, as long as she could paralyze his stomach.
He was addicted to her craftsmanship, and wanted to kill her but couldn't bear to give up her craftsmanship. This way, at least it would be easier for her to take her time.
Just do it.
After breakfast, Su Wan went to the kitchen for a walk, then came back and wrote a list of ingredients and handed it to Qiu Tan. Now that she had money, she could buy whatever she wanted.
Qiu Tan took a look and asked curiously, "Huh? Why are all the ingredients sweet?"
Zhuang Wan smiled mysteriously: "You don't understand this."
Pei Xingju had a sweet tooth, so of course she started with sweets. Sweets happened to be her specialty, so she didn't believe these sugar-coated bullets couldn't win him over.
If one red bean pudding is not enough, it doesn’t matter, she also has wife cakes, cakes, milk tea and sago, etc.
Wash the red beans and soak them for two hours. Then add sugar and cook until melted. Stir in water chestnut powder and goat's milk. In this era, there was no cow's milk, but the wealthy often drank goat's milk, so Zhuang Wan had a large supply prepared.
Next, place the mixed ingredients into a delicate container and refrigerate with ice. An hour later, a bowl of sweet, glutinous, and tender red bean pudding is ready.
Although the steps were simple, they were very laborious. Zhuang Wan fiddled with it for a long time before finally completing it.
To further numb Pei Xingju's stomach, she drizzled a layer of honey on the pudding. The pudding, already formed in its exquisite container, became crystal clear and particularly tempting after being drizzled with honey.
Zhuang Wan asked Lixia about Pei Xingju's whereabouts. When she learned that Pei Xingju had not returned from the palace, she simply went back to her room and took a nap.
After waking up from a nap, I heard that Pei Xingju had returned.
.
"After investigating for so long, it's finally not in vain." Shen Yi handed him a letter and several account books: "Look, these are the evidence."
After reading the letter, Pei Xingju casually flipped through the account book with a gloomy look on his face.
"The Liang family is so bold that they dare to impose taxes in Hezhou."
Chen Yi sneered, "Duke Xin controls half of the world's military power. What else could the Liang family not dare to do? They dared to impose taxes today, as if they were treating the entire Great Zhao Empire as their own."
These words were spoken boldly, and the atmosphere in the study was solemn.
After a moment, Chen Yi said, "The only pity is that the letter did not clearly point out the Liang family's crimes. Although the account books implicate them, if Lord Liang denies it, we can't do anything about him."
"I didn't expect this evidence to bring down Duke Xin," Pei Xingju said. "Imposing taxes privately is no small matter; it's stealing the country. Once the evidence is made public, no one involved will be able to protect themselves."
"If Lord Liang refuses to acknowledge it, the Ministry of Revenue will have to take the blame. This isn't a bad thing either. The Minister of Revenue is Lord Liang's man. Instead of accusing Lord Liang, it would be better to bring the Minister of Revenue down."
"Great!" Chen Yi clapped his hands after hearing this and said, "The Ministry of Revenue is undergoing a major purge, and we're taking the opportunity to replace them with our own people. If we were to attack Lord Liang, with the Queen Mother's support in the palace, we'd only be able to bite off a handful of feathers at best. But the Ministry of Revenue is different. Toppling it would be like cutting off Lord Liang's arm, and it would still hurt him."
"Even Lord Liang can't escape this," Pei Xingju said. "Imposing taxes privately is an act of hostility towards the people. They can silence the officials in the court, but they can't silence the people of the country. The Liang family dares to do this simply because they are using filial piety to oppress the emperor. The emperor values filial piety, the empress dowager protects him, and the Liang family acts with impunity. The people's words are their best sword."
"A thousand-mile-long dike will eventually be destroyed by ants." Pei Xingju whispered.
Shen Yi's eyes lit up: "Okay, I'll do it right away."
He packed up his things and stood up, and when he walked out of the study, he happened to meet Zhuang Wan who came to deliver food.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
