Chapter 159 Finding a Substitute?
Sheng An kept his word; after processing five catties of beef, he made a large bowl of beef soup for Tan Qingrou.
The little girl held a soup bowl bigger than her face and ate one bite after another with elegant yet efficient movements, finishing the whole bowl of beef soup in one go.
After finishing the meal, Sheng An gave Tan Qingrou several more snacks, all of which she made herself in her spare time. Both the taste and texture were far superior to those from the old brands in the city.
Tan Qingrou sobbed happily, "Sister Sheng, the snacks you made are so delicious!"
Hearing her childish words, Sheng An couldn't help but chuckle: "If you like it, eat more. You're still growing, so eating more won't make you fat. But don't eat too much at once, or you might get indigestion."
Tan Qingrou nodded hurriedly and stuffed another piece of black sesame pastry into her mouth.
After she had eaten and drunk her fill, Sheng An instructed the four children to prepare all the ingredients, and then sat down to talk to the little girl.
Tan Qingrou didn't have any close friends. There were many gossips among people in her circle that she couldn't talk about. But she had no such concerns with Sheng An and could talk about her experiences in Jinling.
Sheng An wasn't familiar with Jinling, but he was a good listener, which made Tan Qingrou talk more and more, until she mentioned a distressing incident that happened during the first month of the lunar year:
"On the fourteenth day of the first month, two noble people from the capital came to visit. One of them had a particularly bad temper. My father told me to be careful in entertaining them. How could I be careless? As a result, because the silk flower I was wearing in my hair was red, she had her maid tear it off, saying that I, the daughter of a prefect, was not worthy of wearing red."
Even though three months have passed, Tan Qingrou, a girl with such a good temper, still can't hide her anger when she talks about it: "My scalp was pulled so hard, and several strands of hair were pulled out at once. I really wanted to cry at the time, but I felt like I was being cowardly, so I held back."
At this point, the little girl stomped her feet to vent her frustration.
Sheng An's expression darkened slightly; he had already guessed who this person was.
Sure enough, Tan Qingrou revealed the other party's identity: "She is Princess Shanmin, the eldest daughter of Princess Pingyuan. She doesn't have a good reputation in the capital. People say she's arrogant and domineering. I thought it was just someone exaggerating, but I didn't expect it to be true."
Sheng An calmly echoed, "That kind of person is indeed quite wicked. Fortunately, your father is the prefect, so she didn't go too far with you."
Tan Qingrou shook her head: "She wasn't worried about my father. Before she came to my house, she caused a big problem in Pingzhou. My father was extremely busy during that time and it took him a lot of effort to resolve it."
Sheng An asked, "Is this major event the assassination of the head of the Chi family in Pingzhou?"
Tan Qingrou was surprised that she knew, and quickly nodded: "Yes, that's it. So Sister Sheng has heard about it too."
After saying that, she sighed: "Although my father severely punished the murderer and found that it had nothing to do with Princess Shanmin, the Chi family is not satisfied. I heard that they have already appealed to the Emperor. I don't know what the final result will be."
Sheng Anxin thought to himself, "Princess Shanmin is so favored. Even if this matter is brought before the Emperor, she will be completely absolved of any responsibility."
Tan Qingrou had such a bad impression of Princess Shanmin that she couldn't help but speak ill of her to Sheng An:
"Princess Shanmin seems to have taken a fancy to a man. She has been having people search for his whereabouts all day long, and she even asked my father to send people to investigate, but my father brushed it off. Before she returned to the capital, she had a man with her. At first glance, he was quite handsome, like a dashing young gentleman."
The young girl, still quite naive, didn't see anything wrong with Princess Shanmin's pursuit of men, and even questioned Princess Shanmin's taste and judgment.
"I don't know if she's keeping male concubines. If she is, she should keep good-looking ones. Otherwise, if she only finds men with this kind of appearance, the entire princess's mansion wouldn't be enough for her male concubines to live in."
However, this man's temperament was eight parts similar to that of Brother Jin Nian. When she saw his back, she almost thought it was Brother Jin Nian who had come to Jinling to visit her brother.
Tan Qingrou thought this to herself and didn't take the similarity seriously, so she didn't mention it to Sheng An.
Sheng An was both amused and exasperated. He gently patted the little girl's hand and said, "It's fine if you say it in front of me, but if your brother finds out, he'll definitely teach you a lesson."
Tan Qingrou stuck out her tongue, looking playful and cute: "I'll tell Sister Sheng that Brother won't know, and he also really dislikes Princess Shanmin."
Sheng An asked curiously, "Is it because Princess Shanmin bullied you?"
Tan Qingrou nodded: "That's one reason. Another reason is that when we met, Princess Shanmin said that my brother's ears were ugly and should be cut off and regrow, which made my brother angry."
Tan Zhenlin has a baby face and his appearance cannot compare with Xu Jinnian's, but he can still be described as handsome and refined. However, his prominent ears are too noticeable and make him stand out at a glance.
Sheng An was speechless. This Princess Shanmin's title contained the character "Shan" (善), but whether she spoke or acted, she had nothing to do with kindness.
Tan Qingrou then complained a lot about Princess Shanmin, such as how she stayed in the Tan residence for half a month and caused chaos throughout the entire household, and how she would whip the maids who served her if she was slightly displeased.
Madam Tan was very anxious about this, so she found a pretext to confine Tan Qingrou, her sister, and Tan Qingrou's cousin to their quarters, telling them not to leave their courtyard unless necessary.
Tan Qingrou and her younger sister were very obedient and stayed quietly in their own yard. Tan Qingrou's older cousin couldn't stand it and secretly ran out to play when no one was looking.
In the end, he was noticed by another nobleman, the Sixth Young Master, and the day before yesterday, he even went to the capital with the dowry given by Madam Tan.
Given Princess Shanmin's ruthless and domineering nature, Tan Qingrou was very worried that her cousin would not make it to the capital alive.
Five catties of beef wasn't much, so Sheng'an didn't cook it into a dish to sell to customers. In the end, he braised half of it and made the rest into beef soup. He gave one portion to each of Tan Qingrou and Tan Zhenlin, and the rest was for his family to enjoy.
Lying in bed that night, Sheng An mentioned Princess Shanmin to Xu Jinnian, recounting her actions in Jinling.
Xu Jinnian didn't say anything, but brought up another matter: "In the first month of the year, Xu Huaining saved a man who was the son of a scholar. This life-saving grace led Xu Huaining to become the scholar's apprentice, and he is now in the city."
Sheng An asked astutely, "Is there something fishy about the rescue?"
Xu Jinnian hummed in agreement: "It was his scheme. Liu Huazhi happened to have something on him, so she used it to blackmail Xu Huaining into marrying her ahead of schedule."
Sheng An clicked his tongue: "Liu Huazhi has really grown up; she even knows how to use someone's weaknesses to threaten them."
Xu Jin chuckled and whispered in Sheng An's ear, "An An is so clever. She captured my heart and made me willingly fall into her clutches, unable to escape her grasp."
Sheng An nudged him: "You're lustful and you still have the nerve to say that?"
Xu Jinnian took her hand and gently stroked it in his palm: "It wasn't lust at first sight."
Sheng An didn't believe it and grumbled, "You said yourself that you recognized me the moment you saw me. Isn't that lust at first sight?"
Xu Jinnian stubbornly held her in his arms, his hands tightly wrapped around her: "It's just a feeling, it has nothing to do with lust. After all, in terms of beauty, An'an is no match for her husband."
Sheng An: "..."
The reason was so compelling that she was speechless.
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