Chapter 31: Sweet Interactions Between Husband and Wife
"Just a few simple home-style dishes, I'm afraid the old lady wouldn't even look at them. In your household, you need several chickens to accompany a single eggplant dish, while I only have a few simple dishes..." Yuan Hongqu joked.
"Sister Yuan, even if it's just a tomato and egg dish, I want to eat it!" Wang Xifeng said resolutely, as if she wouldn't give up until she got to eat a tomato dish.
"Have some self-respect! Once the tomatoes are grown, there won't be enough for you to eat!"
Yuan Hongqu found it difficult to connect the current Wang Xifeng with the one in the original novel.
The two chatted and laughed, and as they approached Rongyue Courtyard, Jia Lian, who was following behind, couldn't help but remind them.
"Feng'er, it's getting late, you should go to the old lady's place."
Wang Xifeng then realized with a start that they were almost at Rongyue Courtyard.
"It's alright. I'll go with Sister Yuan to check on the vegetables for the old lady and see how they're going. I'll take them to her in a bit. If you have something to do, go ahead and do it. Don't forget to find some rice for Sister Yuan."
"Remember."
Jia Lian felt a chill run down his spine: It seemed that Feng'er had completely forgotten about him while walking and laughing with Teacher Yuan. What did she mean by asking him to come and see Teacher Yuan off?
"Second Master Lian, you can't even think about my cherry tomatoes. I had them all put away. Anyone who dares to tell you, I'll skin them alive!"
Jia Lian was feeling down and was about to leave alone when he heard Wang Xifeng say something like that again.
"So you made me come along to see Teacher Yuan off just to get rid of me so someone could hide the tomatoes?" Jia Lian couldn't believe it. In Feng'er's heart, he was not only not as high as Teacher Yuan, but now he wasn't even as high as the tomatoes!
Wang Xifeng gave a mocking smile.
"Who just stole my tomato?"
"Hmph, don't worry! If I can't grow cherry tomatoes, I'll never eat them again in my life!" Jia Lian gritted his teeth.
"Second Master Lian has such high aspirations! I'm also looking forward to eating the tomatoes that Second Master Lian grows!" Wang Xifeng clapped her hands and laughed.
Jia Lian pursed his lips, a smile he himself didn't even realize he had shown, and turned to leave.
He needs to go to the estate to have the fields cleared out as soon as possible and get everything ready.
After Jia Lian had walked away, Wang Xifeng breathed a sigh of relief:
"Sister, I'm afraid I've already been exposed. Jia Lian has been acting very strangely these past two days. Just like now, the way he's looking at me is weird, and it's making me feel uneasy."
As she spoke, Wang Xifeng recounted to Yuan Hongqu everything that had happened from last night to today.
"I originally planned to come and find you a solution first thing this morning, but I was tied up with all sorts of things and couldn't get away. Do you think Jia Lian realized that I wasn't...?"
"No, not at all." Yuan Hongqu interrupted her, thinking to herself: You two are so sweet together, don't you even realize it?
“Feng’er, I think Jia Lian is madly in love with you. Let’s use the opportunity of Little Tomato to guide him onto the right path. Maybe when his family is searched later, we can have one less crime to commit.”
As an observer, Yuan Hongqu clearly saw the current situation of this couple, who had now embarked on the path of a bickering couple.
If Jia Lian had changed his ways and devoted himself entirely to Wang Xifeng, then the couple might have actually been able to have a peaceful end.
Wang Xifeng probably never imagined that she would be possessed by the soul of a naive and innocent girl, nor did she expect that Lian Er would be so fond of this type of girl and cling to her so tightly.
"Tch, whether he loves me or not, I don't care! As for looks, he's just so-so. I've seen plenty of handsome guys before, I'm basically immune to them now. As for education, although I may not be able to read a single word in public, I did go to university. I heard from the old lady that Jia Lian was a terrible student back then! I wouldn't even look at him!"
When Wang Xifeng heard Yuan Hongqu say that Jia Lian had fallen in love with her, she felt a little secretly pleased, but she didn't admit it at all.
After saying that, she complained again:
"Sister, after being here for so long, I've figured it out. Actually, all these things in the Rongguo Mansion are trivial matters. There's no need to get up early every day for meetings!"
"The important matters are all managed by the gentlemen outside. The inner quarters are nothing more than how much money is spent each day, what things are bought, whose relatives are we visiting today, whose daughter is getting married tomorrow and we need to send gifts... These are all routines. Just write down the notes and follow the routines... I yawn every morning when I hear them chattering about things."
"They even made me look at the account books. Luckily, I'm pretty good at arithmetic. I can spot the answers to simple addition and subtraction at a glance, and for the more complicated ones, I can do the mental calculations. With that, I managed to fool quite a few accountants. They all say, 'Second Madam is a genius; she can spot the errors in the accounts at a glance.' Actually, even a third-grade student could see it. If the numbers weren't all in capital letters, I could calculate even faster!"
Wang Xifeng spoke with a smug look on her face.
"But Sister Yuan, being the second wife is not a happy life at all. Especially now, being caught in the middle, with the old lady, the first wife, and the second wife all weighing on your head, it's not easy."
After listening to her complaints for so long, Yuan Hongqu went from criticizing Jia Lian to directly criticizing the housekeeper. This clearly shows that she has already taken on the responsibility of being the second mistress of the Rongguo Mansion and is now managing these matters.
She even said she didn't love Jia Lian?
If she didn't love him, why would she keep doing housekeeping for him?
Yuan Hongqu didn't embarrass her, and said to herself:
“Jia Lian is the heir to the family business. He will inherit the title of Rongguo Mansion, and you will become the Duchess of the State.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Xifeng's face turned suspiciously red, but she remained defiant:
"Am I supposed to fawn over him from now on? Bah, he doesn't deserve it!"
Yuan Hongqu chuckled twice.
"Let's go. We've been talking for so long. If we don't leave soon, the old lady will have her meal ready before we deliver the food. Is that appropriate?"
Wang Xifeng hurriedly followed.
In Rongyueyuan's kitchen, Xiangtao had already prepared all the dishes. The braised beef brisket in tomato sauce had been stewing for half an hour. The cold tomato salad was sliced into thin slices and arranged in the shape of hibiscus flowers with great care, dotted with sugar granules, like hibiscus flowers blooming in the snow, or like flowers that still proudly bloom on branches after frost.
"Xiangtao's cooking skills are truly excellent. The presentation is so exquisite that I wouldn't even dare to pick up my chopsticks if I were eating it," Wang Xifeng praised.
Xiangtao smiled slightly, but did not take credit. "Second Madam is too kind. It was only after Yuan Mama taught me several times that I learned how to arrange the plating. Before, when I made it and presented it to the young lady, she said that mine was too contrived and not as natural and skillful as Mama's. Second Madam, do you think this plating is too contrived?"
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Wang Xifeng said with a smile, waving her hand. “You should ask your Granny Yuan.”
Xiangtao looked at Yuan Hongqu expectantly.
Yuan Hongqu hesitated for a moment before speaking:
“You’ve done well enough. It’s just that our girl is a very intelligent child. She sees things with depth, which is different from what we see. That’s why she said that.”
“I think it’s fine. You used to always deliberately imitate the patterns I gave you, even down to the placement of each piece. Cooking doesn’t have to be that tiring. When you cook, you feel relaxed and comfortable, and others can feel it when they eat it. If you cook a dish with a heavy heart, others will naturally not enjoy it.”
Xiangtao nodded thoughtfully.
There's also a tomato and shrimp dish. The ingredients are ready, but Xiangtao isn't very confident about this dish; she's only made it once before.
She also made a tomato tofu dish, which was her own creation!
A piece of tofu was sent over from the main kitchen. It was originally intended to be used to make soup, but Xiangtao had a bright idea. She thought that the combination of white tofu and red tomatoes, regardless of the taste, would look very appetizing just from the visual impact.
Yuan Hongqu told her to prepare, while she tied on an apron and stood in front of the cutting board.
Fresh, large green prawns—Xiangtao wondered if her master intended to serve them with the shells on, or simply with the shrimp meat.
So the shrimp continued to swim leisurely in the basin, without any worry about its future fate.
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