"Ah, my two sister-in-laws," the woman clad in dark cyan impatiently wanting to head home spoke a bit impatiently: "Both of you give a little leeway, alright? If we finish the task earlier, we can also wrap up sooner! I mean, come on! Sister-in-law, there really is no more chicken soup now, so just use ham, dried scallops, dried shrimp, eggs, winter bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and add some green vegetables to boil up a serving, how about that?"
"Fine! Let’s do that then!" Mrs. Gui, seeing her taking the initiative to back down, also did not insist any further and said: "There are portions for Third Master, his wife, the Second and Fourth young ladies, they must be hungry by now, you should make some extra!"
"Alright, got it! Anyway, one pot should be more than enough!" The woman in dark cyan cleaned and chopped the vegetables swiftly. The woman in jujube-red gave a cold humph without any warmth.
The aroma gradually wafted from the steaming iron pot, and soon a pot of noodles was ready. The scent made Mrs. Gui’s stomach grumble, and she had to hold back to keep from showing any unseemly reactions.
The competent woman in dark cyan quickly served the noodles into a large bowl and placed it into the food box, filling the interlayer with boiling hot water for insulation, then said to Mrs. Gui: "It’s ready!"
Mrs. Gui stood up, dusted off her clothes, took over the food box and turned to leave.
No sooner had she stepped out of the kitchen than the other two hurriedly followed suit, locking the door behind them as if they were afraid she would turn back and create more trouble, rushing off swiftly in different directions.
"What kind of people are these!" mumbled Mrs. Gui.
As it turned out, the foresight of the two cooks to flee was accurate. A gust of cold wind blew by, and Mrs. Gui instinctively squinted her eyes and misstepped, followed by a "snap!" as she fell, inadvertently sending the food box flying and tipping over heavily onto the ground.
Mrs. Gui stood frozen, mouth agape, barely moving for quite some time, like a statue.
"Why am I so unlucky! Had I known, had I known, I wouldn’t have accepted this damned task!" Mrs. Gui crawled over, repeatedly sighing in dismay, and opened the food box holding onto a sliver of hope, only to have her heart shattered.
A large bowl of noodles spilled everywhere, unfit for consumption!
"What am I to do! What am I to do!" Mrs. Gui was so anxious she nearly wanted to hang herself with a rope! She had gone out to fetch food for the Master, and now, after such a delay, she’d ended up not bringing anything back at all! And with the kitchen door now locked, she couldn’t even go back to make another bowl if she wanted to!
They say that desperation breeds ingenuity, and in Mrs. Gui’s moment of utter despair, an idea struck her - Sang Wan. Quickly she got up and hurriedly searched for Ningyuan.
At this moment, Sang Wan was cozily nestled with Shi Fengju in the warm pavilion, exchanging sweet nothings in affection. The two were practically in their honeymoon phase, harmonious as fish and water, the warm evening drawing them together, far sweeter than honey.
"Young master, Madam!" An incongruous voice called out from behind the curtain.
Shi Fengju was whispering endearments to his wife in his embrace when he heard the interruption, furrowing his brows and holding Sang Wan tighter to prevent her from leaving his arms, he asked with mild displeasure: "What is it?"
Liu Ya on the outside felt rather wronged, thinking to herself that the young master was in quite the foul mood today, seemingly disdainful of every single person he laid eyes on.
What had they done to upset him?
"It’s Mrs. Gui from Third Master’s side, she’s here to see Madam!" Liu Ya hurriedly said.
"Mrs. Gui?" Sang Wan quickly struggled out of Shi Fengju’s hold, got to her feet, adjusted her clothes, and touching her hair bun, she smiled at him: "Mrs. Gui coming at this time must mean she has an urgent matter. Is my clothing and hair bun disheveled?"
"No, they’re not disheveled at all! They look very nice!" Shi Fengju chuckled, tidying up the stray strands at her temples, and the two exchanged a smile.
"Let’s meet her here, no need to go out, after all, she’s not an outsider!" Shi Fengju said, pulling Sang Wan to sit down beside him on the chair, then raised his voice to instruct Liu Ya to let Mrs. Gui in.
"Madam, please have a seat! Is there something happening at Third Auntie’s side?" Once she came in, Sang Wan asked with a smile.
"Servant won’t take a seat," after a proper greeting Mrs. Gui quickly replied with a smile: "There is a matter that I would like to ask for Madam’s assistance with! Our Madam was tidying things up and forgot the time. When it was time to eat, the meal had gone cold! Here, Madam must certainly have a small kitchen, right? Could you spare a bowl of noodles? The Master and Madam, along with the two young ladies, haven’t eaten yet!"
"There’s been such an occurrence!" Sang Wan quickly replied with a smile: "That’s winter for you, meals cool down so quickly! Wait here for a moment, I will have someone make it right away!" With that, she called Liu Ya in and instructed her to personally go to the kitchen and give the order.