"Oh, actually, my lady, you don't have to worry about your husband's feelings. I've been running around outside these days and I'm quite tired. It's okay to eat some free food." Duan Tingxuan looked at Su Nuannuan with hope, hoping that his thick skin could come in handy.
"If that's the case, I'd better eat white rice and salted radish strips. I've been doing all three meals a day these days, and my arms are tired and sore." How could Su Nuannuan let go of the scumbag? She decisively cried out and sat down on the chair.
"Let's go. Since I'm the one chopping the beef, I might as well make more and send some to the old lady, the master and the mistress later." Duan Tingxuan put away his fan and stood up: Since he can't just sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor, he has to ask for more benefits for his parents and grandmother, which can be regarded as his filial piety.
"That's fine." Su Nuannuan smiled: It's the scumbag who's chopping the beef anyway, so just make as much as you can. It's better to make a big pot and get more than ten pounds of beef for him to chop, so that he won't be tired to death.
Honglian and Xiangyun, who were serving beside them, were stunned. Did their wise and powerful master overlook something? It was just cabbage and meatball soup. How many times had he drunk it? And he had to be controlled by grandma? This was too outrageous.
"It would have been fine if it was just my eldest brother who was powerful before. The first wife had many wives and concubines, and they were scheming against each other. Any instigation would always be a scene. Because of this, the master was also dissatisfied with my eldest brother. He often said that my eldest brother cultivated himself and governed the country, but he couldn't even manage his own backyard. This was actually a complaint. Who knew that my eldest sister-in-law suddenly changed her temper? The old lady couldn't live without her snacks and meals at all. She praised her in front of me more than once. Now, she simply moved back. She was a little afraid of us before. What about now? Ever since she adopted that cat, I knew that she would not give me any face. How can I live in the future?"
In Chunyu Courtyard, the second master of the Duan family listened impatiently to his wife's endless complaints and said unhappily, "Since you know that she is not the same as before, you should be careful. Keep your cat under control. Don't provoke her cat again. Otherwise, it will be in vain if you get bit. My eldest brother knows such a secret thing, what else can I hide from him? Maybe he has known my intention for a long time, but he is just playing cat and mouse here. Now we are not keeping a low profile and accumulating strength, but we are jumping around all the time. Do you think we are not dying fast enough?"
Shi stroked the cat on her knees and said bitterly, "Just endure, endure. You only know how to endure. What's the point of enduring until now? I don't believe that the master has become a spirit and can see through your thoughts. You were also careless. How could he catch you in such a thing? You were extorted of one thousand taels of silver for nothing. One thousand taels is enough for ten middle-class families to spend for three or four years."
"It was you who came up with the bad idea. You insisted that my eldest brother had a mistress. I went to look for her, but it wasted my time and energy, and I also angered him." Duan Tingye was furious when he mentioned this. He had severely complained to his wife, so how could Shi accept it? The couple was arguing. They heard a cough outside, so they quickly stopped talking. Then, the maid Guizhi beside Liu Min came in and said with a smile: "Second Master, Second Madam, our wife said that the master will have lunch at her place today. Please go over and eat."
"Oh, I see." Duan Tingye's face was full of joy. This was the convenience of having a favored mother. His father liked to stay with his mother, and he also had many opportunities to curry favor with her. So he hurriedly changed clothes with Shi and came to Liu Min's courtyard. Sure enough, he saw the old marquis Duan Ni coming over.
The father and son chatted for a while. The old marquis asked his son what he had been doing these days. Hearing that he was discussing with several noble sons about partnering in shipping business, he frowned and said, "None of these nobles in the capital has outstanding descendants. If you work with them, I'm afraid there will be no good results. Does your eldest brother know about this? What does he say?"
Duan Tingye's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately felt powerless: no matter how much his father liked his mother, or how dissatisfied he was with his elder brother's romantic and dissolute nature, in his heart, Duan Tingxuan's vision and ability were always higher than his own. Perhaps what his mother said about him trying his best to perform in front of his father and that he would definitely replace his elder brother in the future was just her wishful thinking. Maybe in his father's heart, he never planned to establish another heir.
Thinking about how shrewd and ruthless Duan Tingxuan was, Duan Tingye felt hopeless at that moment, but then he heard his father mutter, "Forget it. You are good at these things, but your elder brother is not as good as you. It would be good if he could build some connections. Although they are all playboys, as long as they are not friends who only care about food and drink, you can still rely on them."
This sentence gave Duan Tingye hope. He felt that his father did not trust and appreciate his elder brother as much as he imagined. What did he mean by encouraging him to build connections? Wasn't this just to prepare for the future? Once he could replace his elder brother, with the support of these noble sons, he would be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Thinking of this, his heart became more and more eager. Duan Ni never thought that his ordinary words would make his second son have so many thoughts. Seeing that it was already noon, he said to Liu Min: "Minmei, let someone serve the food, I am a little hungry now."
Liu Min agreed and asked Guizhi to go to the kitchen to serve the meal. After a while, the three wives came with food boxes and placed four cold dishes, eight hot dishes and two soups on the table. They bowed and left. Duan Ni brought Liu Min and Duan Tingye Shi to the table. The four cold dishes were pig's trotters with cucumber, pork liver with garlic sauce, pig skin jelly, and preserved egg and tofu. The eight hot dishes were roast chicken, roast ribs, braised pork slices, steamed carp, etc. There was also a big bowl of thick chicken soup and a big bowl of tofu and meat soup.
The old marquis frowned slightly, but Liu Min smiled and said, "The old marquis has always loved meat, and these dishes today are just to your taste. Would you like some wine?"
Duan Ni smiled bitterly and said, "I got drunk at Old Zhang's house the other day and had a headache for the whole day. I don't feel like drinking anymore these days. In this weather, it would be best if I could have a bowl of fresh soup."
Shi said quickly, "Since the master likes to drink soup, let the second master serve you a bowl of chicken soup. There are also some wild ginseng in the soup, which is the most nutritious."
Duan Ni shook his head and said, "No more. The people in the kitchen are getting more and more ignorant. Who would want to nourish themselves in such hot weather? It would only make me angry. Forget it, these greasy things make me not want to eat them. Let Guizhi go to the kitchen and see if there is any Tremella and Lotus Seed Soup for me to drink."
Everyone in the room was stunned, wondering what happened to Duan Ni, who always liked to eat meat? They didn't know that the old marquis had been having fun and feasting with friends these days, eating a lot of fish and meat every meal, and he was a little tired of it. Naturally, he no longer liked these dishes that he usually liked.
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