Aqiao's eyes flashed with anger, and she placed a food box in front of Qiao Zhao: "Look, young lady, this is the food that Hong Xian just brought back from the kitchen."
There are fixed rules for meals in the Bo's mansion. The girls' main meal is four dishes and one soup, plus a snack.
Aqiao put the dishes out of the lunch box one by one: a dish of braised chicken with mushrooms, a dish of Kung Pao rabbit, a dish of stir-fried rapeseed, a dish of cold shredded black fungus, a three-fresh soup, and a Ruyi roll as a snack.
"What is this? Why are there only two chicken heads in the stewed chicken with mushrooms?" Ah Man got angry when he saw it, and pointed at the stewed chicken with a black face.
Jiang Sijing cleared his hands, picked up the chopsticks, paused for a moment, picked up the Ruyi roll and slowly started to eat it, without touching the four dishes and the soup from beginning to end.
"Girl, although this stewed chicken with mushrooms is hard to eat, the other three dishes look good. You should try some," Aqiao advised.
"The three-fresh soup is too salty, the Gongbao rabbit is too sweet, the stir-fried rapeseed is still fresh, and as for the cold-mixed black fungus..." Jiang Si picked up the evenly chopped black fungus with chopsticks and said lightly, "Too much mustard was added. I'm afraid I'll cry after eating a bite."
"Miss, how did you know..." Ah Qiao asked as she stared at the deliciously presented food.
Ah Man was impatient, so he immediately picked up his chopsticks and tried everything. When he ate the cold-mixed black fungus, he quickly spat it out and said with tears in his eyes, "It's really as the young lady said. Did they change the cook today?"
Jiang Si put down his chopsticks and said with a smile, "It's not that the cook has changed, but our Haitangju has been given special care by the cook."
"Girl, do you mean they did it on purpose?"
Jiang Si smiled.
She had just offended Jiang Qian, so the meal had to be prepared in a fancy way. This method was really boring.
"How can this be? I'll go and settle the score with the cook!" Ah Man stormed out angrily.
Ah Qiao grabbed her and said, "Don't be impulsive. I'm afraid the cook doesn't have the courage to do that."
As she spoke, she glanced at Jiang Si with concern: "Miss, is it possible that the second lady came back and the second wife heard some gossips--"
Jiang nodded in approval: "Our Aqiao is really smart."
Ah Qiao's eyes instantly turned red: "Miss, why are you still joking at this time! The Second Madam has been the housekeeper for so many years, and all the servants in the mansion have to please her. If she deliberately makes things difficult for you, your life will be miserable in the future."
Ah Man was already furious: "I'll tell the eldest master, he loves the young lady the most, and he will definitely vent his anger on the young lady's behalf if he knows! Those evil-hearted people, if the eldest wife was still there, the second wife would be the housekeeper, but now they are bullying our young lady who has no mother——"
Ah Qiao suddenly pulled Ah Man and said, "Ah Man, please stop talking."
"Well, it's such a small thing that it's not worth you talking so much about." Jiang Si smiled, and there was no trace of anger in his tone.
"Girl, are we just going to endure this?" Ah Man stamped his feet fiercely. "My father once said that a kind horse is ridden by others, and a kind person is bullied by others. We have to endure it once and then we have to endure it all the time. Even if we endure it until we die, no one will feel sorry for us."
Jiang Si chuckled: "Uncle Jiang's words are rough but true."
Seeing that Jiang Si didn't take it to heart, Ah Man looked around and suddenly lowered his voice: "Why not let me put a sack on the cook and beat her up? I promise that no one will catch Xiao Braid."
Ah Man's father is Jiang Ancheng's companion and is very good at martial arts. Ah Man has been learning boxing and kicking from her father since she was a child. With her current skills, it is not a problem for her to beat two or three normal men.
"It's only a temporary solution." Jiang Si patted Ah Man's arm and said with a smile, "Ah Qiao, put these untouched dishes into the lunch box and don't throw them away. Ah Man, there are some things you need to buy this afternoon. I'll write you a list later."
Before Ah Man could say more, he was pulled out by Ah Qiao.
Standing under the eaves, Ah Man said angrily, "Is this the end of the matter?"
Ah Qiao glanced at the door and whispered, "Why are you in such a hurry? The girl must have known what was going on."
Ah Man was startled.
She still remembered that day when the girl, who had been depressed for many days, suddenly had a look in her eyes and said to her in a firm tone: "I want to cancel the engagement, Aman, help me."
She nodded hurriedly, but she was worried. But now that the girl had successfully broken off the engagement, the Duke of Anguo's Mansion still had to bear the consequences.
"You are right, girl, there must be a way." Ah Man finally smiled.
Jiang Si went to the study and wrote down a list.
As long as she bought everything on the list, she could prepare the medicine according to the prescriptions. Those "medicines" were the foundation of her future livelihood. As for the Second Wife's little tricks, she didn't want to take them to heart, and she even thought it was a waste of time to even raise an eyebrow at them.
Of course, complaining about wasting time is one thing, but she has no intention of swallowing her anger if she is bullied.
Jiang Si spent the entire afternoon fiddling with the white horn grass he had picked. Before he knew it, the light coming in through the window lattice had turned a soft orange-red.
Ah Qiao brought dinner from the kitchen. As usual, there were four dishes, one soup and one snack. This time, even the presentation of the meal was not that good, even without tasting it. One of the lotus root balls was mostly burnt, and the ginger smelled strongly of being burnt.
"Those damn bastards, are they going to give the girl leftovers to eat tomorrow?" Ah Man wanted to overturn the dining table and was so angry that he was walking around in circles.
"Put these in the food box, including the lunch, and follow me to Ci Xin Hall to pay respects to the old lady." Jiang Si didn't want to torture his stomach the next day, so he had to finish it quickly.
Old Madam Feng really enjoyed the feeling of her children and grandchildren paying respects to her, but after all, she was old, and she was somewhat exhausted from dealing with greetings twice a day, so she canceled the evening greetings.
At this time, the maid came to report that the fourth young lady came to pay her respects. Old Madam Feng had no intention of seeing her, but somehow she remembered that Jiang Si had the same dream as her, so she nodded and let her in.
"I, your granddaughter, pay my respects to you, grandma. May I know how your dinner was?" Jiang Si performed the greetings in a very proper manner, with no faults to be found in her manners.
"At my age, I have no appetite no matter how good the food is. I am not like you young people." Old Madam Feng sighed and raised her hand to gently rub her left eye.
For some reason, when she saw Jiang Si, she thought of the dream again. When she thought of the dream, her left eye seemed to hurt.
"I would like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to you. I, your granddaughter, have something to discuss with you."
"Can't you tell me tomorrow?"
Jiang Si smiled and said, "My granddaughter can't wait until tomorrow morning."
"Oh?" Madam Feng narrowed her eyes and became serious.
"Granddaughter, do you remember that after mother passed away, my eldest sister took away half of the dowry she left behind when she moved out?"
Old Madam Feng stared at Jiang Si with eyes as sharp as knives.
The eldest wife had three children. According to her wishes, half of Su's dowry was given to Jiang Zhan, and the other half was divided equally between the two granddaughters. But the eldest son disagreed, saying that it was a failure for a good man to take his mother's dowry, and insisted on dividing the dowry equally between the two daughters.
Because of this, she was very angry for several days.
What does the fourth girl mean by bringing this up?
"My granddaughter has grown up and wants to learn how to take care of her own dowry." Jiang Si ignored Madam Feng's sharp gaze and said righteously.