Guilan stumbled and ran to the side gate of the Earl's mansion, where the old woman at the gate recognized her.
Seeing Guilan's flustered appearance, he was taken aback, "Miss, what's going on...?"
"Get out of the way, quickly go in and announce my arrival."
Not long after, Granny Gui from the aunt's room came and took her away.
As soon as Guilan entered, she tried to run wildly to the Madam's courtyard, and even Granny Gui couldn't stop her.
She had no choice but to run behind Guilan, though her legs couldn't keep up with Guilan's pace.
As soon as I stepped into the courtyard, before I could even catch my breath, I heard Guilan inside kowtowing and begging the madam to save Guixiang.
"Madam, hurry up! If you are any later, Sister Guixiang will either die or be crippled."
Gu Ting said the old women weren't allowed to stop; if they stopped for even a moment, they themselves would take another blow.
When Granny Gui heard this, she almost fainted.
Even Jiang Shiyi was incredibly shocked, "Where is your young lady?"
"Miss rushed forward to protect him, but Gu Ting wouldn't let her stop!"
"This pushover! He's been getting himself manipulated by such a useless piece of trash!"
Jiang Shiyi cursed Xu Shaoqing a few times in anger, and then ordered, "Gather 20 servants and come with me to the Gu residence as guests!"
Guilan finally breathed a sigh of relief, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, bursting into tears.
The lady allowed her to stay at the Earl's residence, and Guilan's parents came to pick her up and take her home.
Meanwhile, Jiang Shiyi led her men to the Gu residence in a menacing manner.
After informing the gatekeeper, the second wife could only respectfully come over and escort her inside.
After all, this is no longer the Marquis's residence. We don't have his official rank anymore, so not only do we have to come and pick him up, but we also have to treat him with respect and invite him in.
Poor Gu Ting, he had just been slapped more than 30 times and was lying there while the maid applied medicine.
When Jiang Shiyi came in, he was stunned for a moment. She seemed a little unfamiliar, after all, he hadn't seen Jiang Shiyi many times!
In that brief moment of distraction, Jiang Shiyi caught him in his mistake.
"To not kneel and pay respects to a lady of high rank is far too arrogant for a commoner like him!"
Come on, give it a good beating!
Before Gu Ting could react, he was pulled up by the people Jiang Shiyi brought and kicked in the back of his leg.
Caught off guard, Gu Ting was kicked to his knees. He was incredulous. Did these guys have some serious illness? Did they take pleasure in beating him?
After kicking him to the ground, Jiang Shiyi's attention was no longer on him.
Where is Xu Shaoqing?
Zheng Jin chimed in, "They just sent a doctor to treat her personal maid; she should be in that room."
Jiang Shiyi angrily went to Guixiang's room to find Xu Shaoqing.
Upon seeing her arrive, Xu Shaoqing pouted unhappily and, like Gu Ting, did not get up to greet her.
Jiang Shiyi rushed over and slapped her across the face!
Xu Shaoqing asked incredulously, "Mother, what are you doing?"
"Don't call me that! What do you want? You idiot, Guixiang is your personal maid, she's your pride."
How could you be so stupid as to be humiliated and beaten by a piece of trash?
Mentioning Gui Xiang being beaten made Xu Shaoqing feel bad, but she didn't want to talk to Jiang Shiyi properly.
"Then she was beaten because she went back and became your spy, betraying me! That's why her husband beat her."
If anyone's to blame, it's you all!
Jiang Shiyi couldn't help but laugh, a laugh born of anger. She was so angry that she laughed out loud.
She closed her eyes. "I won't say any more to you here. Where is Guixiang's indenture? Give it to me."
"No!"
As a result, Xu Shaoqing got slapped again.
"Take it out!"
After receiving another slap, Xu Shaoqing was subdued and went back to her room to get a small makeup box with a hidden compartment at the bottom.
The hidden box contained the indentures of Lin Mama, Guixiang, and Guilan.
Jiang Shiyi took them all, and then had Guixiang carried to the carriage he had brought.
No one even glanced at Xu Shaoqing before leaving. Even Granny Lin followed Jiang Shiyi.
Xu Shaoqing was left standing alone in the spring breeze, looking disheveled.
………………………………………………………
Wang Yan didn't expect to see Guilan again so soon.
However, only a few hours later, Guilan was led by her family to their stall for a meal.
"This restaurant specializes in spicy dishes, but you're not the one who likes spicy food the most."
Guilan's mother brought her over to eat something good to calm her nerves.
The signboard had only been back for a day when Wang Yan and her team received a business deal, which could be considered a great start.
But we didn't have many ingredients at home, and we still needed to taste a few dishes ourselves, right?
Guilan's mother became a little impatient upon hearing this. She had originally come to buy spicy tofu, thinking that any tofu would be fine, but now that there were so many other dishes, she could have just served them directly.
"Bring us whatever you have. If it's not enough for one plate, just give us a discount later!"
Aunt Wang then happily accepted the tael of silver and asked Wang Yan and Fatty Wang to cook for them.
Wang Yan was in charge of cooking, while Fatty Wang helped with chopping vegetables and tending the fire.
The other dishes are easy to make; the shredded chicken skewers, fried chicken strips, and sesame tofu chicken skin are all readily available.
A batch of silver thread tripe has been prepared and is ready to use, and the glutinous rice cakes have also been steamed.
Even if you don't have ready-made boiled sliced pork, as long as you have all the ingredients, it's not difficult to make.
The tricky part is making this lily bulb sweet soup; we didn't have time to buy lilies today.
Left with no other choice, Aunt Wang went to three shops before finally finding a bunch of soaked lilies at a shop selling sweet soup.
There are water chestnuts here, and they're already soaked. Aunt Wang was planning to make some soup for dinner.
Steam the lily bulbs and fox nuts for 15 minutes. While the lily bulbs are steaming, brew a pot of osmanthus tea.
Pour the steamed lily bulbs and fox nuts into a pot, then pour in the brewed osmanthus tea to cook the lily bulbs.
After 15 minutes, pour the soup into a soup bowl, drizzle with three circles of honey, and sprinkle with dried osmanthus flowers. The lily and lotus seed soup is now ready.
The method itself isn't difficult; the reason they're in such a predicament today is that they're out of lilies.
The two ingredients, lily bulbs and fox nuts, are cooked to perfection, resulting in a soft and tender texture without losing its shape, a fragrant and delicious taste, and a sweet and nourishing flavor.
Guilan herself loves desserts, and it took her a bowl of soup to recover a little.
Her mother put two more fried chicken strips on her plate, saying, "Eat up, eat more."
Don't be too scared, it'll be alright. Guixiang was rescued, wasn't she? A few lashes are nothing, she'll be fine in a while.”
Guilan didn't reply to her mother, not because she didn't want to. She was coughing from the chili powder sprinkled on the chicken strips and couldn't speak.
It took another half bowl of lily soup to recover.
This is too exciting! Guilan looked at the chicken strips in her hand.
Wang Yan grinned. It seemed she had put in too much chili. Next time, she would halve the amount of chili.
Wang Yan only heard a sentence or two when the dishes were served, which seemed to be about Gui Xiang being beaten, but she didn't understand anything else.
Wang Yan didn't go up to say hello until Guilan left.
Guilan was very quiet today, mostly eating with her head down.
When it came time to serve food, she would just wait for her mother to put food in her bowl, so she didn't see Wang Yan when she came to serve the dishes several times because she was looking down.
In the end, they were charged 800 coins for the meal, which was considered a discount.
Because there weren't many slices of meat in the boiled pork slices, and there was only half a plate of glutinous rice cake.
……………………………………………………
After Guixiang was brought back to the Earl's residence, the female physician was already waiting at her house.
After placing Gui Xiang on the bed, I quickly went to examine her, prepare medicine, and apply it to her.
Jiang Shiyi did not go to her house. After all, Jiang Shiyi was the aunt of the aunt, and she could not keep going into the alley where the servants lived.
And Granny Gui was still waiting in the main courtyard for news. As soon as she entered the main courtyard, Granny Gui came over to help the lady.
After returning to the inner courtyard and taking off her outer cloak, Jiang Shiyi leaned against the soft couch and accepted a cup of Shuangjing tea brewed by Granny Gui.
With a sigh, Jiang Shiyi couldn't bring herself to drink the tea in her hand. She glanced at Granny Gui, who stood anxiously below, waiting for her reply.
"I've retrieved Guixiang and the others' indentures. From now on, these girls won't need to go to the Earl's mansion to serve the young lady anymore."
You should go home and rest for a few days, take good care of her, and go to the warehouse to get a ten-year-old ginseng to make ginseng soup to replenish her energy.
After thanking her for her kindness, Granny Gui hurried home.
When Guilan returned from eating out, she learned that Guixiang had also come back.
She shook off her mother's hand that was pulling on her sleeve and ran quickly to Guixiang's house.
Gui Xiang woke up now, having just taken her medicine. Zhang put a piece of honey in his mouth and a green plum in his mouth to wash away the bitterness.
Guilan couldn't help but cry and ran to her bedside, "Sister, are you alright?"
Gui Xiang, who was lying by the bed, tugged at her hand when she heard this. "It's alright. I heard from my mother that none of us need to go back to the Marquis's mansion anymore."
"I am very grateful to my younger sister for rushing out to deliver the message and saving me today."
Guilan wiped away her tears and shook her head. She wasn't smart, but she could distinguish right from wrong.
Guilan's mother followed behind and tried to pull her away, but Guilan refused to go.
He insisted on staying here to talk with Guixiang for a while longer, and luckily Guixiang was still full of energy and not sleepy.
Gui Xiang's mother then wanted to take the packed meals back home first.
"Give me the glutinous rice cake you have. This place makes really delicious glutinous rice cakes. Let Sister Guixiang try some too."
The white cake is pure white and smooth, with a chewy texture. When you pick it up and shake it, it sways from side to side. This pastry looks delicious.
Guilan placed another pillow under Guixiang's head, so that she could lie face down on the two pillows and eat.
I broke off a piece of glutinous rice cake, put the osmanthus-scented filling in my mouth, and it tasted just like its appearance—slightly bouncy and chewy.
And there probably wasn't much sugar added, or maybe none at all?
It doesn't taste as cloying as many pastries these days, but it's very fragrant. It even seems to have a faint osmanthus scent.
Wang Yan: Your taste buds are so accurate! Of course, the water she used to mix with the cornstarch was water that had been infused with osmanthus flowers.
Xu Shaoqing was also quite frightened today. After Guixiang and Guilan left, only Granny Lin was left in the courtyard.
Seeing that Granny Lin had carried all the boxes to the storeroom, it was clear that she wasn't planning on leaving.
Xu Shaoqing wanted to try to persuade her again; she still wanted to go to the country village.
Lin Mama grasped her hand. "Miss, if you really care about our son-in-law, you should listen to the Second Madam and not go down and cause trouble."
The reason why the old Marquis sent them to the countryside was also to silence any gossip, wasn't it?
If you want to help your son-in-law, then you'd better behave yourself and stay in the mansion.
Otherwise, if we were to go to the countryside with the Third Young Master in a grand procession, carrying gold and silver utensils, what would outsiders say about us?
They'll definitely say we went down there just to put on a show. It would be better to let the Third Young Master go down himself and let him suffer for a couple of days.
Although it's a bit sad, at least no one in the city will criticize us anymore.
Maybe he'll come back in a couple of years, don't you think?
Granny Lin looked at her again, "Besides, after a while we can sneak down to the estate and stay there for a while."
In short, going to the countryside with them now would be too conspicuous. It would also cause them trouble, wouldn't it?
Xu Shaoqing thought about it and realized that was indeed the case. Moreover, Gu Ting had hit Gui Xiang, which made Xu Shaoqing a little annoyed.
Although Gui Xiang was in the wrong, wasn't she trying to teach him a lesson? How could she just come up and hit him like that?
My mother was right about one thing: didn't Guixiang embarrass her?
Gu Ting is too reckless. Let's just leave him hanging for a couple of days.
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