Chapter 14: Schadenfreude
The next day, when Jiang Tangtang opened her eyes, she saw Lu Tiantian holding her chin with both hands and smiling at her.
Seeing that she was awake, Lu Tiantian came over, kissed her on the face, and said softly, "Mom, the yam cake you made is really delicious."
Jiang Tangtang was given a big gift early in the morning. It was as sweet as drinking honey water. She smiled and said, "Did you eat it?"
Lu Tiantian said, "My brother and I woke up hungry in the middle of the night, so Dad made some for us. It was so soft and fragrant. I've never eaten such delicious cakes before."
"You're such a sweetheart, little cutie!" Jiang Tangtang scratched her nose and said with a smile, "Mom will make it for you next time!"
Lu Tiantian hugged her neck and kissed her on the face again.
Jiang Tangtang looked at the light coming through the window, thinking that it was almost dawn. She thought about getting food from the officials and cooking for herself, and she didn't care about her little daughter. She hugged her and said, "Wait here for me. Mother will make you something delicious."
Unexpectedly, Lu Shiyan followed her out of the room.
Seeing that he had been following her, Jiang Tangtang asked in confusion: "What are you doing here?"
Lu Shiyan said: "I'll go help you!"
As if he could see Jiang Tangtang's confusion, he continued, "Last night, when I asked the official to borrow some hot water, I heard that you asked the adults for a gift. From now on, our family's dry food will be replaced by grains that we cook ourselves."
Jiang Tangtang raised an eyebrow in surprise, "You can cook?"
Lu Shiyan said: "I can't! But I can help you collect firewood and do the rough work!"
Jiang Tangtang thought about how she would be busy cooking on the wood stove by herself, so she didn't refuse his kindness.
It would be nice to have someone to help her, so she could feel more relaxed.
Although she also knew how to light a wood stove, it was indeed a bit tiring for her to both light the fire and work on the stove by herself.
As they were talking, they had already reached the small kitchen.
Seeing Jiang Tangtang coming over, Ge Daquan handed the food to her and said, "This is the rations for your family of nine this morning."
"Thank you, sir." Jiang Tangtang took the food, thanked him, and asked about today's cooking.
"The boss said he's busy traveling today, so you don't have to cook for us this morning. Just make dinner for us in the evening."
Ge Daquan said, and then reminded: "You should hurry up and leave on time. We don't care whether you have eaten or not."
"Thank you, sir. I will not waste your time."
After Ge Daquan left, Jiang Tangtang got busy.
Prisoners and officials eat differently. Prisoners usually eat steamed buns with vegetables, so today Ge Daquan gave her a bag of three-grain flour and a handful of radish leaves.
This three-grain flour is made of bean flour, sorghum flour and millet flour. Even freshly steamed steamed bread can get stuck in your throat.
Jiang Tangtang has worked so hard to get the opportunity to improve her life, she doesn't want to eat the steamed buns that get stuck in her throat.
She handed the radish leaves to Lu Shiyan and said, "Don't you want to help? Do you know how to wash the vegetables?"
"Yes!" Lu Shiyan took the radish leaves out of the kitchen and went to find a place to wash them.
Seeing that everyone had left, Jiang Tangtang hurriedly poured half of the three-grain flour into the basin, quickly took out cornmeal and flour from the space, poured some of each, and after estimating that the amount was about the same as the bag of three-grain flour given to her by the officer, Jiang Tangtang quickly poured the remaining three-grain flour into the bag of flour and put it into the space together.
Before Lu Shiyan comes in, quickly knead the dough.
While kneading the dough, he secretly beat two eggs into it and quickly threw the eggshells into the space.
When Lu Shiyan came back after washing the vegetables, her dough had already been kneaded. Although she had secretly added a lot of good things into it, because the dough had already been kneaded and Lu Shiyan didn't know how to cook, she didn't notice anything wrong.
"Help me light the fire! Do you know how to do it?" Jiang Tangtang took the radish leaves, put them on the chopping board and started cutting them.
"Yes!" Although Lu Shiyan was born a nobleman with a silver spoon in his mouth, he went to the battlefield at the age of fifteen, experienced life and death several times, and now experienced exile. This kind of thing is not difficult for him.
Seeing that he was doing a good job of making the fire, Jiang Tangtang thought this helper was not bad. She quickly mixed the chopped radish leaves with the various flours, then made them into steamed buns and put them in the steamer.
In order to save time, Jiang Tangtang made the hole in the middle of the steamed bread very big so that it would be easier to cook.
Even so, the steamed buns were barely finished when the official called for departure. The two men hurriedly stuffed the scalding buns into cloth bags and hurried on their way, leaving them no time for lunch.
Chen gloated over this and said, "Some people are just like that, always trying to be superior. It's fine if they just mess around on their own, but they even drag mother into it. Now look what's happening! Mother, at her age, hasn't even had a bite of solid food to eat in the morning, and she still has to walk all day. What are we going to do?"
Just now, when the officials were distributing dry food, she heard that Jiang Tangtang had asked for the rations from the eldest wife and wanted to cook for herself. She felt very dissatisfied.
But seeing Jiang Tangtang busy and sweating but still not getting to eat, the slight dissatisfaction in his heart instantly dissipated.
Not only the Chen family, but also several other noble families who were exiled nearby were secretly gloating in their hearts.
These past two days, they saw the fat woman Jiang Tangtang picking wild fruits, digging yams, and cooking to please the officials. The officials who originally disliked her now looked at her in a good light, and they were already unhappy.
Now you are busy and exhausted, and you haven’t even had time to eat!
Even Lu Zhixi rubbed his stomach and glared at Jiang Tangtang angrily, "It's all your fault for showing off! I'm starving to death!"
"Zhixi!" Lu Shiyan said coldly: "Apologize to your sister-in-law!"
"You actually mean me for her!" Lu Zhixi had never seen her elder brother mean to her like this in her life. She burst into tears in grievance, "Besides, what kind of sister-in-law is she? If she hadn't been shameless and drugged you and raped you, and hadn't come to our house and forced you to marry her because of the baby in your belly, would we have become the laughing stock of the entire capital?"
Lu Shiyan's eyes were dark, and he said coldly: "That was my fault, not hers. Apologize to your sister-in-law!"
Lu Zhixi choked up and said loudly: "I won't!"
After saying that, he turned and ran away.
"Zhixi!" Su looked at her son disapprovingly, sighed, and ran after her daughter.
"Brother!" Lu Shili clenched his fists, looked at Lu Shiyan disappointedly and said, "You have changed!" After that, he ran away angrily.
"They are ignorant! Don't take what they say to heart." Lu Shiyan lowered his eyes and looked at Jiang Tangtang, apologetically saying, "I'm sorry, you... don't be angry!"
Jiang Tangtang said nonchalantly, "It's not your fault, why are you apologizing to me? Besides, I'm not angry!"
Since they didn't want to eat what she cooked, she could just ask the officials to continue giving them dry food at night!
What is there for her to be angry about?
However, she is still too kind! She needs to change!
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