Chapter 23 True Identity
Working together, they made quick work of the job. Soon, they had cut up the wolf meat, salted it, and put it into the barrel.
Of course, the salt and wooden barrels were borrowed from the officials.
The two men generously took out two wolves and invited them to eat together. They might even share the remaining wolf meat with them, and the officials didn't mind giving them some benefits.
After the wolf meat is marinated, it is also stewed in the pot.
For today's wolf meat, Jiang Tangtang not only secretly added spices such as five-spice powder and star anise, but also secretly fried the blanched wolf meat with cooking wine. Therefore, the wolf meat in the pot has no smell of mutton at all. Not only is it not muttony, it is also very fragrant.
As soon as the lid of the pot was opened, the fragrance wafted out from the kitchen, and the prisoners in the post station became restless.
Someone licked their lips, craned their necks to look in the direction of the kitchen, and asked, "What delicious food is that fat wife of the Lu family making again? Why does it smell so good?"
"Just now I saw them bringing back a few wolves. They must be stewing wolf meat."
Lu Yingxun said angrily, "We can't even get enough coarse grains to eat, but they can eat wolf meat with the officials. It's really unfair."
Some people looked down on the Lu family's second branch's face, "What can you do? It's your fault that you don't have this skill. Besides, the wolf meat was brought back by the young couple, shouldn't they eat it? Yesterday, Sister Lin asked you to help your sister, but she didn't go. If she had gone, you might have had a share of the wolf meat today."
Lu Yingxun said, "Zhou Sanshi, it's no use licking my niece's wife's butt crack. My nephew and his wife are both stingy. They can't even share their food with us, let alone you."
Like Lu Yingxun, Zhou Lei was the second oldest child in the Zhou family. He had always looked down on Lu Yingxun. Upon hearing this, he glanced at Lu Yingxun with disdain and said, "I'm just speaking a fair word. I'm not trying to gain any advantage."
"Okay, stop pretending to be so noble. I don't know you. You can even give away your own mother in exchange for benefits, and you still say -"
Before Lu Yingxun could finish his words, Zhou Lei punched him to the ground.
"Do you think that everyone in the capital really respected you? They just ignored you for your eldest brother's sake. If it weren't for your eldest brother, you would be such a loser that no one would bother with you!"
Zhou Lei said as he threw another punch.
What Chen Yingxun hated most was others belittling him and praising his elder brother, so he immediately started fighting with Zhou Lei.
The two men are about the same age, but Zhou Lei is a military officer. He is not in the same league as Lu Yingxun, a scoundrel who lives a life of luxury every day. Chen Yingxun can only be abused.
Seeing her husband being beaten to a bloody pulp by Zhou Lei, Chen screamed, "Help! He's going to be killed!"
However, the second branch of the Lu family was unpopular, and no one came to help. It was not until Lu Yingxun was about to die that the officials finally arrived.
The officers are having dinner at this moment.
Although it was just one dish, the wolf meat and radish stew was fragrant and even better than the mutton soup in the big restaurants in Beijing.
Seeing that the person was not dead, he was too lazy to care about it. He just scolded them a few words and told them not to make trouble again, otherwise he would be whipped. Then he turned around and ran back to continue eating.
Jiang Tangtang and Lu Shiyan did not eat with the officials. They shared some wolf meat and radish soup and brown rice and took them back to their room to eat with Su and others.
When passing by the Zhou family, Jiang Tangtang took out some dried wolf meat and handed it to the Zhou family's children.
"Is this really for us?" Several children from the Zhou family looked at Jiang Tangtang uncertainly.
Although they were young, they had grown up quickly after being exiled. They knew that things were different now and that dried meat was a very precious food.
Jiang Tangtang smiled friendly at the children and said, "Of course it's for you!"
Not to mention the fruits and grains in the orchard, her farm stay is about to open, and the various foods stored there are enough for her and her children to eat for several years.
She really didn't think the wolf meat was that precious.
She was happy to flatter the Zhou family and at the same time express her attitude.
Jiang Tangtang is not a cold-hearted person. If someone is on her side, she will not treat him unfairly.
Chen's eyes almost popped out when she saw Jiang Tangtang giving the dried meat to the Zhou family.
Jiang Tangtang didn't care what she thought. After giving the dried meat to the Zhou family, she took the food back to her room.
This time, the official took special care and requested a separate room for the Lu family's main room. Not only was it spacious, but no one could disturb them while they ate.
Lu Zhixi knew that they could live in a big room and eat wolf meat and rice because of Jiang Tangtang.
If she hadn't cooked for the officials and hadn't had a good relationship with them, the officials wouldn't have treated them differently.
She now finally understood why her elder brother was angry and wanted to scold her when she said those words.
She bit her lip and said, "Sister-in-law, I'm sorry!"
Jiang Tangtang didn't expect Lu Zhixi to suddenly apologize to her, which made her a little overwhelmed.
Seeing Jiang Tangtang remain silent, Lu Zhixi felt uneasy and hesitated whether to kneel down. "I was wrong about you before. Please forgive me, okay?"
Jiang Tangtang smiled slightly and said magnanimously: "We are all family. From now on, we will work together to overcome the difficulties!"
"Daughter-in-law Yan is right!" Old Madam Lu praised: "As a family, we must be united!"
Chen walked to the door angrily and heard what Old Madam Lu said. She was immediately furious and pushed the door open and said, "Mom, aren't we a family? Why did you leave us alone?"
Madam Lu glanced at Chen coldly. "Back in the capital, for the sake of the Dingbei Marquisate's reputation, I turned a blind eye and didn't bother with you. But now that my son is gone, do you still want my grandson to support you?"
If the second and third wives were up to par, she wouldn't mind their status as bastards. But a bunch of unpromising leeches, don't even think about sucking her grandson's blood anymore.
Chen said, "Brother is your son, so Yingxun is not your son too? Mother, you are too partial!"
Madam Lu sneered and said, "I can't give birth to a son like this!"
"Mom...what do you mean?" Chen said with her eyes wide open.
"Now that the Dingbei Marquisate is gone, I don't have to worry about face anymore!" Old Madam Lu said, "He's just the son of a prostitute. The old marquis only let me recognize him for the sake of face."
Chen's eyes darkened. "But this matter...how come such a big thing hasn't been spread?"
"I happened to have miscarried my pregnancy that year, so the old marquis asked me to take the second child under his name." Old Madam Lu spoke lightly now, explaining what happened that year in just a few words.
But in reality, the situation back then was far from easy. The baby in her belly was fine, so why did she miscarry? It was all because of that prostitute.
She had been holding this secret in for most of her life, and this time she finally said it out loud.
"What about my third brother?" Chen finally understood why, although they were all descendants of the Lu family, Old Madam Lu only had eyes for the first wife and never saw the descendants of the second and third wives.
Although she was asking, she already had the answer in her heart.
Judging from her attitude towards the third wife, Lu Bowen might not be her biological son.
But the Marquis' Mansion had kept it a secret before, so no one outside knew about it.
Madam Lu said with a long face, "This matter has nothing to do with you. Go away! Don't bother me again in the future."
Chen retreated in despair, her mind full of thoughts: she actually married a bastard born to a prostitute. Because of such a bastard, her children were all exiled. What would they do in the future?
At this time, she had completely forgotten that she had just gone there. She originally wanted to find Jiang Tangtang to speak well of the officials and get some medicine for Lu Yingxun to treat his injuries.
After Chen left, the room was silent.
In fact, not only Chen was surprised, but Su and Lu Shiyan were also very surprised.
Mrs. Lu had always been rather cold towards the people from the second and third houses. They had previously assumed that her attitude was due to the fact that the people from the second and third houses were not up to the task and were causing trouble for the family.
Only today did I find out that there is such a secret life story behind this.
But Lu Yingxun was born to a prostitute, so what about Lu Bowen?
"Okay! Let's eat!" Mrs. Lu said with a calm expression, picking up the bowl and continuing to eat.
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