Chapter 38 I definitely need to get my body in shape in this life.
Back in the inner room, Abao squatted by the celadon bathtub, wagging his tail tip to signal to Dongrou.
Dongrou wrung out a hot towel and gently wiped its fur, unable to help but laugh, "Abao is so clean, wiping himself every day, he's even more particular than the young lady."
Abao raised her head, sniffed the minty scent of her fur, and said proudly, "This young lady was originally a lady."
The last syllable of his voice carried a hint of smugness.
To Dongrou's ears, it sounded like 'meow meow meow'.
Just after the first watch of the night, Abao curled up on Lu Zhaoruo's lap, its tail wagging restlessly.
After hesitating for a moment, it finally recounted its rooftop adventures over the past few days.
Lu Zhaoruo gently ran her fingertips through Abao's fur and pondered, "It seems he's quite the cat-knower. Dead rats, live fish, insects, birds, and other delicacies are all cats' favorites. It's just that he doesn't know you don't like these things. Today, we've given you mint cookies instead..."
She chuckled: "I suppose he saw that you hadn't eaten anything the past few days, so he specially found some cat snacks for you. Cat snacks aren't cheap, so this person probably meant no harm."
Ah Bao pricked up his ears: "I thought it was just a stupid wild cat causing trouble."
It then asked, "Who exactly is this kind person?"
Lu Zhaoruo looked out at the dark night and said, "If you were someone from inside the house, you would have been seen by now. Perhaps it was a neighbor or a vendor who passes by the back alley every day. They saw you squatting cutely at the door and decided to feed you."
She tapped Abao's nose with her fingertip: "You're acting so furtively, probably because you're afraid of being blamed by your master."
Ah Bao twitched his beard and raised his little head: "Since he's a good person and likes me so much, Ah Bao naturally wants to see who he is."
It puffed out its chest, its fluffy tail curling into an elegant arc, "so I can thank him in person, and if he needs help in the future, Abao can also lend a hand."
Lu Zhaoruo smiled slightly, a gentle smile appearing in her eyes: "He is a good child who knows how to repay kindness."
She gently stroked Abao's head, "Be careful not to fall asleep tomorrow. Your mother will have Dongrou guard the back door again, and she'll be able to see who it is."
Abao curled up its fluffy little head and nestled beside Lu Zhaoruo's pillow, its tail tip still wrapped around a strand of its mother's hair.
Lu Zhaoruo raised her hand and lowered the curtain.
She recalled that at this time in her previous life, she had stayed up late at the loom, her eyes bloodshot, ruining her health in the process.
Now that I've been given a second chance at life, I will never mistreat myself in the slightest.
The next day, before the morning light had even broken through, she had already gotten up and was stretching her limbs in the courtyard.
Perhaps it's a habit formed over many years in a past life, but I always get up early.
Because his elder brother Lu Bohong loved martial arts since childhood, he apprenticed with a spear and staff instructor and practiced 'hey ha' in the backyard every day before dawn.
Although she had little interest in swordsmanship, she had learned some techniques from watching it over the years.
She began to move, feeling the lightness and vitality of this young body with each move, no longer the weak and sickly body that had been hollowed out in her previous life.
When the sweat begins to trickle down, memories of the past inevitably surface: the naivety of being tricked into the Shen family, the hardship of managing the household chores, the humiliation of serving the uncles, aunts, and cousins... But the most heart-wrenching memory is the undisguised disgust in Shen Rongzhi's eyes when he returns home with his children and grandchildren.
"Oh……"
She stopped and stood up, her fingertips digging into her palms.
In this life, I will make him taste the bitterness of a life worse than death.
She just went to the kitchen.
When the old woman in the kitchen saw her coming, she immediately served her a bowl of hot millet porridge and a dish of pickled cucumbers.
Because she personally selected all the servants in the house, they treated her with great respect.
These days, she deliberately says that business at the shop is slow and the whole household is frugal, so for breakfast she can only have a bowl of corn porridge with pickled vegetables and cucumbers.
At this moment.
Granny Zhou, who was with Zhang, arrived.
Lu Zhaoruo looked at her, her brows furrowing slightly.
She immediately smiled and said, "Grandma Zhou, you've come so early. Is there anything you'd like for your wife's breakfast?"
Granny Zhou slightly raised her chin and drooped her eyelids: "This old servant will naturally serve the old lady's meals and drinks by 3:45 in the morning."
Her gaze swept across Lu Zhaoruo's face like a hook. "But Madam, it's been many days since you went to pay your respects to the old lady in the morning."
Lu Zhaoruo: "When I fell ill last month, my aunt saw me and urged me to go back to my room to recuperate, probably because she was afraid that I would catch the illness."
She looked up and smiled faintly, "These days the shop is in a state of decline, so I have to go very early every day..."
Granny Zhou's cloudy old eyes swept over Lu Zhaoruo's face inch by inch, and suddenly she sneered: "I have lived most of my life and I have never seen anyone who is sick have a face as bright as peach blossoms in March. I suppose the eldest madam's cold has long been cured."
"Now that Madam is well, she should fulfill her duties as a daughter-in-law."
She deliberately emphasized the word "duty" and continued, "This rule of paying respects to elders morning and evening is something that even a humble family cannot skip, let alone a respectable family like ours, the Shen family?"
What the old woman loved most was watching her humbly and obediently hold the bowl and pass the cup.
The fact that they haven't established rules for so long suggests they've been accumulating a lot of resentment.
Lu Zhaoruo: "The shop lost 20 guan last month."
Her eyes drooped slightly, revealing just the right amount of worry: "If this continues, I'm afraid it will affect the land deeds of the old house... Please ask Grandma to tell Auntie the reason, just say that Zhaoruo is really in a dilemma."
They wanted her to grovel and serve them, yet they also wanted her to earn enough money to support them.
That's a great idea!
The money that old woman secretly sent overseas every month wasn't all the money she skimmed off from the shop.
Comparing the two, the shop is naturally more important.
No sooner had Granny Zhou left the courtyard than Lu Zhaoruo rushed to Zhang's courtyard.
She deliberately rubbed her eyes until they were red, and as soon as she entered the room, she knelt down and said, "My daughter-in-law is confused!"
Her voice trembled: "Even if the shop loses a string of cash every day, how can it compare to your precious health, Auntie? After thinking about it carefully, I really should stay..."
"idiot!"
As expected, Zhang slammed her hand on the table and stood up: "The whole family depends on this shop for its livelihood! It's losing a string of cash every day, why don't you hurry up and go to the shop and manage it carefully? If it loses money again, I'll skin you alive!"
Stepping out the door, Lu Zhaoruo wondered what to buy at the morning market to eat...
Roasted pork skin and meat? Or deep-fried chicken? Never mind, I'll just have quail meat filling noodles.
Tailor shop.
Yunniang held a heavy package, her eyes crinkling with laughter: "Master, look..."
She carefully unwrapped the bundle, revealing gleaming silver ingots inside. "A full fifty taels of snowflake silver! It belonged to that distinguished guest from last time, who just left."
Yunniang continued, "The strange thing is that the distinguished guest neither ordered the fabric nor chose the pattern, leaving it entirely to us. In the dead of winter, they're in such a hurry to prepare spring clothes..."
Lu Zhaoruo's eyes flickered.
Banling?
He's such a good person.
It was probably out of consideration for the subordinates who worked on ships.
She took out two taels of silver and put them into her sleeve.
He opened the ledger again, looked at it carefully, picked up a wolf-hair brush, crossed out "loss of fifty strings of cash", and wrote next to it "on the last day of winter, received fifty taels of silver from a distinguished guest".
Then he took out a red pen and marked in the general ledger: "This month's income and expenditure are balanced."
If the losses continue, Shen Qingshu will definitely become suspicious.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
