Chapter 72: One More Bowl (1)

Chu Lian was brimming with anger, but at the same time, she also had the urge to burst out laughing.
When had that fellow He Changdi seen her disobey the rules of a virtuous wife? Was it carved on her forehead somehow? Ooh, she was so frustrated!
She didn’t expect him to leave any sweet words for her, but at the very least, there really wasn’t any need for him to leave a warning like this, right? That guy was off his rocker!
Chu Lian could feel anger oozing from every pore on her body. She waved at Senior Servant Zhong and the two maidservants. “Since my husband has sent you here… Senior Servant Gui, help them get settled in.”
Ah? She was letting them go just like that?
Senior Servant Zhong held back the twitching of her mouth and quickly raised her head to peek at Chu Lian. While there was clear anger on her soft, young face, Third Young Madam didn’t seem to have any other thoughts.
She couldn’t resist thinking to herself, ‘This isn’t right. If it were any other newly married young madam, and they found out that their husband didn’t trust them, they would definitely run off to their mother-in-law to complain and show how aggrieved they feel.’
But all this Third Young Madam did was puff up in anger and forget about doing anything else?
Was this young madam simply too naive or too forgiving?
“Senior Servant Zhong, this way please.” Now that Senior Servant Gui knew why Senior Servant Zhong was here, although her tone still seemed polite on the surface, she was clearly putting some distance between them.
Senior Servant Zhong could only bob in greeting before following Senior Servant Gui, bringing Wenqing and Wenlan with her.
Senior Servant Gui arranged for Senior Servant Zhong to stay in the room next to hers, while Wenqing and Wenlan were stationed next to the other personal maidservants, with one room for each of them.
Chu Lian’s gaze unconsciously drifted towards Wenqing and Wenlan as they were leaving. She noticed that their footsteps didn’t make a sound, even though their motions were swift. Her eyebrows slowly drew together.
At the same time, Mingyan came running in, her footsteps resounding loudly on the floor. A lightbulb went off in Chu Lian’s mind as she realised how the two new maidservants were different from the rest.
They obviously walked without any noise. She had watched enough movies to know that these kinds of people were most likely martial artists. Perhaps these two maidservants practised some martial arts?
Chu Lian put these thoughts to the side and made a note to ask Senior Servant Zhong about it the next time they met.
She met Mingyan’s gaze and asked, “What’s wrong? Why are you in such a rush?”
Mingyan carried a small wooden box in. “These are the gifts that the matriarch and Eldest Young Madam sent in gratitude for the desserts Third Young Madam sent. They said the desserts were delicious!”
Chu Lian opened up the wooden box, only to see a jade bangle and a golden hairpin.
Her eyes lit up. She had just been worrying about her lack of funds, and the matriarch and Eldest Sister-In-Law had just sent some over. However, Chu Lian knew that this was only due to their consideration of He Sanlang’s departure. Otherwise, how could they possibly have sent such a heavy gift in return for her sending some desserts? That was something that was expected of her as a junior family member.
She waved at Fuyan to indicate that she should put away the gifts.
After such a delay, it was already nightfall. She hadn’t eaten properly in the morning or afternoon, and her stomach was growling. Thus, Chu Lian led Xiyan and Jingyan to the kitchen.
Senior Servant Zhong, Wenqing, and Wenlan had just finished moving in when they spotted Chu Lian’s slender silhouette. She glanced in the direction that Chu Lian was going and her eyes widened. “Third… Third Young Madam is heading to the kitchen?”
Wenqing stood on her tiptoes and peeked over. “Momo, there’s only the kitchen in that direction.”
A glint of contempt flashed through Senior Servant Zhong’s eyes. A pretty face and poor manners — truly a young miss from the House of Duke Ying. A declining family couldn’t be expected to raise their daughters well, after all. Honestly, how could the mistress of the house personally go into the kitchen to watch the cooks make dinner? Others might think that the Jing’an Estate was starving their Third Young Madam!
Chu Lian had no idea that Senior Servant Zhong would even see her actions in such a way. She was just really hungry. Her journey to the kitchen was to see if there were any new ingredients to use.
Inside the kitchen, Chu Lian noticed that there was a bamboo basket filled with all sorts of mushrooms and fungi on the chopping board. The corners of her lips raised. She ordered Xiyan and Jingyan to start making noodles and to begin boiling some soup in preparation for a pot of fresh mushroom noodles.
Noodles were easy to digest. Even if she ate too much, there wouldn’t be any harm.
While rolling out the dough for the noodles, Jingyan’s face was flushed red from her exertions. She spoke excitedly to Chu Lian, who was sitting to one side. “Third Young Madam, I’ve only ever seen these mushrooms and fungi steamed. I didn’t know you could actually put them in soup.”
Chu Lian: ……
So the nobility in the Great Wu Dynasty ate mushrooms by…. steaming? Who invented such a weird cooking method? If she ever found out, she would beat them to death!
No wonder the kitchen servant had told her that these mushrooms weren’t worth much! They had been brought over simply for a change in taste.
Mushrooms were usually fresh, and contained lots of nutrients. In the modern world, some wild mushrooms could even sell for sky-high prices! Here, no one cared much for them…
They were seriously wasting valuable ingredients here.
“Put the mushrooms into the pork bone soup later, and add some milk. The noodles will become even more fragrant if you do that.”
“Ah! Really?” Jingyan’s cheeks flushed even more when she thought of the delicious meal she would soon get to have. Her speed of noodle-making increased further.