Chapter Twenty-Three Unyielding

  The maid opened the door and the servant girl outside hastily curtsied.

  The maid also returned the courtesy.

  "You've worked hard," she said.

  With a gentle smile and soft tone, she is truly knowledgeable and reasonable. Who would have thought that such a talented person would be treated like a servant by her elders?

  "The young lady of our house wants to have her meal," said the maid.

  "Yes, yes, everything is ready." The servant woman said hastily.

  "It's not too much trouble." The maid said with a smile, "Just a bowl of five-flavor meat porridge, radish shredded and mixed with salt and pepper, and stir-fry some yellow birds with salt and pepper would be fine."

  The women were stunned.

  What do you want? What porridge? Fried egg with salted pepper? Can orange be stir-fried?

  Isn't this troublesome?

  Does congee need five flavors? A handful of yellow millet? And also needs to be stir-fried with salt, pepper and orange peel? Good grief, what kind of eating habits are these.

  In Mr. Chen's house, Chen Shao and his brothers fell silent again.

  Old Mr. Chen fell asleep again after taking the medicine, and if it wasn't for Dr. Li watching by his side and saying that his pulse was calm and much better than before, they would have rushed to ask Mrs. Cheng to come over.

  She slept until daylight and got up slowly. She didn't even rush to eat the ready-made meal, but instead ordered a new one to be made. This woman's heart is really calm.

  "Sir, don't be anxious." Li Taishan said after a moment of contemplation. "I observed the young lady administering acupuncture yesterday, and it seemed to require great effort. The depth and shallowness had to be precisely controlled, with no room for error, or else the old master would have woken up immediately. So today, she must be even more meticulous, and that's why she needs to conserve her energy. As the saying goes, 'A hasty doctor is a poor one.' Moreover, since she appears so calm, it means she has a clear plan in mind. Sir, you should be pleased."

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  If it's like that, then this woman also has a reason to be excused.

  The old man who could sleep so soundly after just one injection must have used a lot of strength.

  "That's the reason. However, when a parent is ill, their child will worry. It's human nature." Chen Shao said.

  Li Taizhen nodded.

  "That's natural, that's natural." He said, twirling his mustache and blinking his eyes, "Come to think of it, I'm a bit hungry too."

  No, Dr. Li also stayed up all night.

  "Hurry up and bring lunch." said Madame Chen Shao.

  "No need, no need." Li Taisheng hastily shouted, hesitating for a moment. "Why not? Let's also have a serving of that dish pointed out by the young lady from the Cheng family. I heard it's quite flavorful."

  A bowl of five-flavor meat porridge, radish shredded and mixed with chili pepper and salt, stir-fry a handful of yellow sparrows...

  The people present couldn't help but recite it in their hearts, as if they saw the colorful and crispy food laid out before their eyes.

  Looks like it's going to be delicious...

  "Everyone has been up all night. Last night and this morning, we just ate something casually. Go tell the kitchen to make a portion according to the usual standard and send it over." Chen Shao said.

  On Saturday morning when Zhou Lang went to pay his respects, he saw four maidservants in his parents' courtyard being dragged away crying.

  "What a waste." Old Master Zhou scowled and continued to grumble.

  "What's wrong with this woman?" Mrs. Zhou also frowned and said.

  Zhou Lang made a courtesy call and knelt down after the ceremony.

  "What's going on?" he asked, although he already had an answer in his mind.

  "That fool actually let Mrs. Chen drive these few maids out," said Mrs. Zhou, "how could she do such a thing?"

  Why can't she do it this way? It's not like she hasn't done it before.

  Cao Guanshi didn't tell the details to Old Master Zhou and his wife, especially about being tricked by Cui's daughter-in-law and her maid. However, he told everything in detail to Zhou Liu Lang and Qin Lang Jun.

  What a narrow-minded woman!

  Shūroku put his fist on his knee and clenched it.

  "I'll go find her right now, and if she dares to be angry with me, I'll just take it. Why must we humiliate the Zhou family?" He said, suddenly standing up.

  Old Zhou scolded him sternly and told him to sit down.

  "This is not the time," he said, "Mr. Chen's illness is most important."

  Zhou Lang sat down again, his face tense.

  At this time, four more people came in and knelt down, two women and two maids.

  "Go and serve Miss Bao, be respectful and obedient, do whatever she tells you to do, don't say no or refuse," said Mrs. Zhou.

  The four men responded in unison and then retreated, led away by the steward.

  Ban Jin hugged a basket of clothes and walked out of the door with some difficulty. Two maidservants came running towards her, almost colliding with her.

  "Oh dear, watch out." They said unhappily.

  Half of the celery is busy avoiding on one side, bowing its head in apology.

  "Sister, why is it so hard to serve that Mrs. Cheng?"

  "Song's mother and her family are respectable people in front of their mistress, she said they would hurry up."

  With a loud thud, two young girls were startled and turned around to see that one of them had dropped her clothes basket on the ground.

  "Sister, you, you said Cheng's wife is..." Half of the words were trembling and asked, tears flowed down uncontrollably.

  Two girls looked at her and one of them recognized her, whispering to the other.

  "At first, Gongzi asked her if she was going or not, and then she really followed him, saying that she was originally a member of the Zhou family."

  "Ah, it's her, and she didn't even think about why Old Lady bought her back then."

  "What she thinks, only she knows."

  Liu Yu didn't mind being overheard by Ban Jin at all.

  The head of the celery drooped even lower, feeling cramped and uneasy.

  "Hurry up and go, don't be as unlucky as Song Mama and them."

  "Yes, I don't want to be driven out and return to Shaanxi."

  The two of them walked hand in hand and quickly left.

  Ban Jin followed closely for a few steps, but finally stopped and watched as the two girls walked away.

  "Daughter, daughter is not difficult to serve at all." She murmured, "She's very easy to talk to, as long as...as long as you're good to her, she'll be good to you..."

  Finally squatting down with knees clasped and sobbing uncontrollably, in the narrow alleyway, her figure became smaller and smaller.

  Because it was a fresh new look that had never been done before, the Chen family's kitchen was in an uproar for a while. Fortunately, there were many sparrows in early winter, and they hurriedly caught a big sack of them, trying three or four times before finally bringing them up.

  Jiang Yao took a sip and shook her head.

  "Miss, doesn't it taste right?" The maid asked hurriedly.

  "I thought this was a noble family in the capital, and the cooking would be exquisite," said Cheng Jiaoniang. "It turns out it's just a newly rich family, not yet at the level of refined cuisine."

  She said this and looked at the maid with a slight smile on her face.

  "It's still better than your home," she said.

  The maid giggled.

  "My dear, isn't our home your home too?" she said with a smile.

  Jiang Niang knew she understood, and once again curved the corner of her mouth without saying anything else. She slowly finished eating the porridge and radish strips, then put down her bowl and chopsticks.

  On the low table, the canary has not moved.

  "Bring a few more canaries."

  Li Taigong said, pointing at the empty plate, while a little boy beside him was happily pecking at a sparrow with his hand.

  My wife responded and hurried out, but just as she went out, she rushed back in a flurry.

  "Cheng's daughter has arrived." She exclaimed happily.

  Li Taigong couldn't eat anymore and hastily wiped his hands, stood up, kicked the little boy with one foot. The little boy finally reluctantly licked his fingers before following him.

  "Father, father." Chen Shao cried out in a trembling voice by the bedside, "Madam Cheng has arrived."

  Old Mr. Chen opened his eyes from his daze, his cloudy eyes turned over and saw a woman in plain clothes kneeling beside the bed.

  The room was dimly lit, but the woman in plain clothes stood out as particularly striking.

  She sat quietly on her knees, her expression unruffled, just like when she saw him that day the carriage curtain was lifted.

  "Daughter..." Old Master Chen struggled to sit up, "Can my illness still be cured?"

  Jiang Nang nodded.

  "It can be cured," she said, "just."

  Everyone present held their breath as they listened to her.

  This woman does things slowly and speaks slowly, it's really infuriating!

  "It's more expensive than before," said Cheng Jiaoniang.