Chapter 13 Confession "Where's my creeper?"
Xu Cuiyun was born into a family of musicians and she gave up her profession before getting married. She met Bai Xiaonan when she was a singing girl, and that’s how she got the opportunity to marry into the family.
To be honest, the two people's backgrounds were comparable, but Xu Cuiyun looked more gorgeous, after all, she had to play and sing for the nobles. Her appearance, manners, clothes, makeup, and the occasions she went in were all more glamorous than those of a servant like Mancao.
She had no grudge against Song Jin, but she vaguely knew that moving to Meilin Courtyard was related to her. Plus, she wanted to see Ye Wenfu's good show, so she came to join in the fun. But she didn't expect to be rebuked by Song Jin as soon as she opened her mouth, and she immediately got angry.
Xu Cuiyun and Ye Wenfu were getting angry because they were the masters. Song Jin knew that Wen Ya hoped they would not be at peace, and she would not be really angry even if she beat them up. She just had to appease them on the surface, otherwise if word got out that the servants of the Bai family were bullying their masters, how would she, as the mistress, discipline her servants?
So when Song Jin saw Xu Cuiyun and Ye Wenfu coming towards her, an idea suddenly occurred to her and she turned around and ran away, leaving everyone in the kitchen standing there in a daze.
The master wanted to beat someone, so I ran away.
"Someone, stop her!"
Xu Cuiyun roared and Song Jin ran even faster. Everyone watched the figure walk through the teahouse, enter the octagonal door on the side and go to the corridor.
Ye Wenfu and Xu Cuiyun, along with the maids, chased after them, and at the same time called out to the head waiter Liu, asking him to take the servants to block the enemy.
Song Jin had anticipated this, so he did not run anywhere else, but went straight to the Meilin Courtyard in the backyard. The two concubines chased him to the doorstep, but the servants could not come in, so only a few maids and some nosy old women in the kitchen followed him.
Ye Wenfu called her a little whore and Xu Cuiyun called her a little bitch. Song Jin was too lazy to pay attention and stopped at the gate of Meilin Courtyard.
"The two aunts have arrived. Go to bed early. Granny Li will make eggs for you at noon tomorrow."
Ye Wenfu and Xu Cuiyun had not worked for many years. After running for a while, they were out of breath. They could not scold them anymore, nor could they catch up with them. The servants did not come in either. They were at a loss for a moment. After taking a few breaths and saying a few harsh words, they helped the maid into the yard.
Song Jin felt a little proud. It was indeed nice to sit under a big tree and enjoy the shade.
The unfavored masters in this courtyard are even more cowardly than the favored servants, because in the eyes of everyone, it is natural for masters to bully servants, but it is a great shame for servants to bully masters. Ye Wenfu and Xu Cuiyun were humiliated today.
But at the same time, everyone also felt that Song Jin dared to be so arrogant, he must have the support of the eldest grandmother behind him, and they wanted to curry favor with her even more.
So Song Jin went out of the backyard and met a few kitchen maids.
"Mancao, are you tired from running?"
"It's a good thing you came just now, otherwise I don't know how long we would have been in the kitchen."
"That's right, we're cooking for Grandma, how can that bother them? We're not starving them, but they have to make a fuss."
"They are used to showing off and they thought the master could back them up. Look how honest Second Lady is."
"That's right..."
......
Song Jin stood in the crowd, listening to everyone's comments on the concubines with a smile, and then he stated his request.
"Grandma Li, who's going to buy vegetables tomorrow? Grandma wants to eat tender spareribs, and she asked me to make them for her at noon tomorrow. The spareribs must be fresh."
When Granny Li heard that Wen Ya wanted to eat Song Jin's cooking again, she was very happy that she could learn from him. She said hurriedly, "No problem, no problem. I will go buy it myself tomorrow morning. I know all the butchers here well."
Song Jin thanked Granny Li with a smile, then said goodbye to everyone and went to Zizhu Garden alone.
It was already dark, and lanterns were lit in the Bai family's house. The dim candlelight illuminated the garden-style buildings. For Song Jin, who had stayed under incandescent lights for a long time, this place naturally had a hint of eerie atmosphere.
Song Jin quickened her pace towards Zizhu Garden, but when she was passing through the corridor, she suddenly heard someone calling her, which startled her.
When he turned around to look for the person following the sound, a face full of resentment appeared in his sight under the dim candlelight, and Song Jin felt that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.
"Crawly..."
In the dim light, Mrs. Chen spoke faintly.
"Mom? Why are you here? You scared me."
"Creeping grass..." Mrs. Chen moved her body leaning on the pillar, and walked towards Song Jin unsteadily, muttering: "Creeping grass..."
"Mom, I'm here." Looking at Mrs. Chen's face, Song Jin felt inexplicably nervous.
"Where is my creeper..." Two turbid tears suddenly rolled down from her dim eyes. Granny Chen asked with trembling lips: "Where is my creeper?"
Song Jin froze in place. She never expected that her mother, who had barely spoken a word to her, would suddenly ask her this question.
Song Jin herself has a weak bond with her family and is not close to her parents or relatives. After coming to this world, she cannot feel any closeness to Mancao's parents, who she is not familiar with at all. However, those two people treat her as their daughter.
She was so busy performing and preparing for the future that she had no time to maintain this family relationship. However, the parents were still the same parents. In their eyes, their daughter had changed.
But she didn't understand why Mrs. Chen would ask such a question.
"Mom, I am the creeper."
"You are not." Mrs. Chen said firmly, not allowing Song Jin to quibble: "You are not my daughter. She is not like that. Where did she go? Tell me where she went?"
Mrs. Chen became more and more anxious as she spoke. She threw herself at Song Jin, grabbed her collar with her rough hands, and questioned her.
"Where did she go? Tell me!"
His voice gradually became hoarse, but Song Jin was unable to tell the truth, so he could only reach out and hug the body that was almost unable to stand.
"She's fine."
Mrs. Chen's body suddenly froze, her eyes wide open, staring at Song Jin's face, a face that looked exactly like Mancao's.
"You're really...really not her?"
Song Jin smiled bitterly: "In her dream, she saw a fairy, who said that she had a good understanding, and if she stayed in the cave to practice, she would definitely become a fairy."
Mrs. Chen didn't move, and it took her a while to finally understand what Song Jin meant.
"Does she not want me as her mother anymore? How could she not want me as her mother and just leave without saying a word?"
Mrs. Chen burst into tears, and with her loosened hands she beat Song Jin's body desperately, and she slid to the ground.
Song Jin hugged the weak body that was half a head shorter than him tightly: "She refused, saying that her parents were still alive and she had not been filial enough, so the gods sent me to replace her."
Mrs. Chen refused to listen and buried her face in Song Jin's chest, crying non-stop, which soon attracted many people.
"What's going on? Why are you crying here?"
Song Jin patted Mrs. Chen on the back, not knowing how to explain, so he could only smile awkwardly.
Mrs. Chen cried for a long time before she raised her head from Song Jin's arms. She stared at Song Jin's face and tears fell again.
Faced with everyone's questions, she said nothing and turned away.
Song Jin watched Mrs. Chen's back disappear in the dim light, and his heart tightened.
One of the greatest tragedies in life is the death of the young by the old. Even if Song Jin wanted to pretend to be a weed, he couldn't hide it from some people. Even if he could hide it from their eyes, he couldn't hide their hearts.
Faced with Mrs. Chen's determined eyes and fierce questioning, she suddenly didn't dare to lie.
Mrs. Chen asked Song Jin and got the answer, but she kept silent. She never mentioned the incident that night to anyone, but she still acted as Song Jin's mother. Song Jin, on the other hand, became a little guilty and reserved since then.
The next morning, Song Jin got up early, washed up, and went straight to the kitchen without wasting a moment.
Granny Li went to the butcher to buy fresh spare ribs, while Song Jin went to the kitchen to ask other maids for some boiling water to soak the washed glutinous rice in advance.
After finishing all this, she didn't leave, but stood in the kitchen looking around. The condiments of the Ming Dynasty are somewhat different from those of modern times, and she wanted to see what the fermented black beans here looked like.
The black beans were not hard to find. She soon found them in the kitchen. She picked up a bean and asked everyone, "What is this?"
"This? This is Youshu, used for cooking."
It turns out that his name is Youshu. Song Jin called the wrong name yesterday. No wonder Wen Ya was stunned.
Thinking of this, Song Jin smiled, threw the fermented black beans back into the jar, turned around and bumped into Mrs. Chen's eyes.
Those eyes no longer had the despair of last night, and their faces had regained their calmness. At this moment, the two of them looked at each other, with light in their eyes, but they were afraid of being seen by others, so they quickly turned around and went to the stove.
Song Jin stood there awkwardly, holding the hem of his clothes with both hands, not knowing whether to go in or out. After thinking for a while, he moved to the stove and squeezed in next to Mrs. Chen.
"It's April now, the weather isn't cold anymore, don't crowd under the stove, it would be bad if your new clothes got dirty."
Song Jin smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, I'll wash it clean."
Mrs. Chen said jokingly, "Gods also wash clothes?"
Song Jin noticed that Mrs. Chen's eyes were on her face. She didn't dare to look at her. She just looked at the fire in the stove and replied, "Gods are similar to humans."
Mrs. Chen continued to stare at the face, feeling as if she were dreaming, both absurd and real.
Song Jin had not been in the kitchen for long when she met Granny Li who had returned from buying vegetables. Sure enough, there were a few spare ribs in the kitchen.
"Luckily I went early today. These ribs are in great demand. Mr. Chen ordered quite a few yesterday, saying they were going to hold a banquet today, and they had booked several butchers. If I wasn't familiar with Butcher Li, I might not have been able to buy them. If I need to buy them again in the future, I will definitely order them in advance."
Song Jin grabbed the ribs and smiled. It was a bit too much to make one portion, but it was enough to fill a tray for grandma.
"Mancao, how do you cook the spareribs today?"
Song Jin smiled and said, "Steam it. Cut it into small pieces and wrap it with glutinous rice. This dish needs to be cooked in advance. It will take a long time to steam."
"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you. Let's start preparing now."
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