Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Fat Chef and a few old friends had gathered for a meal. They were roasting an entire sheep whole, and they had also made lamb offal soup, lamb buns, and the like.
Some of them slaughtered the sheep, some chopped vegetables, some tended the fire, and some cooked. It was hectic, but everything moved in an orderly chaos.
Jiang Yunsui wandered around the kitchen once and came out completely dizzy, with no idea what she was supposed to do.
She even nearly got stepped on.
Fat Chef gave her a little push, shooing her outside.
“Go on, go play.”
Jiang Yunsui gave an obedient, “Oh.”
“Then I’ll go home and bring the chicks over.”
“And Zuozuo and Youyou too. They’re at the military camp.”
Old Shen stepped forward and wiped his hands on his apron.
“I’ll go bring Zuozuo Youyou out. Perfect timing; there are so many bones for the two of them to take care of.”
Jiang Yunsui said, “And Heiwa.”
“All right, got it.”
Jiang Yunsui ran back to the Ji Mansion and brought along the two ugly little chicks that were in the middle of molting.
“Nanny Zhou, I’m going to Fat Chef’s house. This peach is for you. It’s not as tasty as the peaches from the courtyard.”
Nanny Zhou nodded. “Oh, right, Suisui. There’s news from the Young Master.”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes lit up at once.
“Where is it? Where is it? Let me see.”
Nanny Zhou handed her a small slip of paper.
After unfolding it, she read it word by word.
“All is well. Do not worry. Don’t eat yourself too fat.”
Jiang Yunsui’s cheeks puffed up in anger. She was not too fat. She clearly looked very nice right now. Everyone said she had been raised well.
Jiang Yunsui muttered, “Did the pigeon get lost and fly in circles before coming back? It took so long to bring the message back.”
“Nanny Zhou, I’m going to write a letter to the Young Master.”
Nanny Zhou held her back. “Let the pigeon rest for two days. There’s no rush.”
Jiang Yunsui said, “Oh,” and went to look at the pigeon that had delivered the letter.
It looked a little thin. Had it gotten tired from flying?
She grabbed a handful of millet for it to eat.
“Then I’m leaving.”
“Wait. Do you want the mushrooms we dug up?”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
When Jiang Yunsui left, she had a big basket hooked over her arm, with several large mushrooms inside.
Behind her followed two chicks, cheeping away.
The tiny little girl waddled as she walked, plump and fair and exquisitely pretty. One glance was enough to tell she was the sort of child only a wealthy household could afford to raise.
“Kid. Hey, kid. Where did you get those mushrooms?”
Jiang Yunsui was just about to enter Fat Chef’s house when someone called out to her.
The man was dressed in gold and silver, clearly not short on money.
Jiang Yunsui tilted her head slightly.
“Are you talking to me? I dug the mushrooms from my own home.”
“Sell me the mushrooms in that basket.”
He fished out one tael of silver and tossed it onto the ground.
Then he reached out to take the basket.
Jiang Yunsui puffed up angrily and backed away two steps to avoid him.
“Not selling.”
With that, she turned to leave.
But the man seemed not to understand human speech. He grabbed Jiang Yunsui in one motion.
“I say, kid, don’t get greedy. One tael of silver is enough to buy all these mushrooms of yours.”
Jiang Yunsui struggled. “Let go of me! I’m not selling!”
The man snatched the basket from her hands. “You don’t know how to appreciate kindness, do you? I was in a good mood today and spoke to you nicely, but you still wouldn’t listen. Do you know who I am? If you offend me, lowborn scum like your whole family could die and no one would dare do a thing to me.”
He glanced at the plain, ordinary little residence in front of him.
Jiang Yunsui’s wrist hurt from being squeezed, and after being shoved, she fell onto the ground and began to cry.
Big bad villain. Super big bad villain who bullied mushrooms!
The two chicks cheeped and flapped over, trying to peck the man.
He did not take these two tiny chicks seriously at all.
But just as the man turned around arrogantly with the basket in hand, he crashed into a wall.
Old Man Shen stood with two butcher knives in his hands, his face dark and fierce as he glared at the man before him.
Beside him, three dogs had surrounded the man, baring their teeth viciously.
The smile on Luo Pei’s face gradually froze.
“Y-you people…”
“You’ve got some nerve, kid. Coming right up to someone else’s door to bully them, then claiming no one would dare do a thing even if you killed our whole family?”
Old Man Shen’s presence was thunderous. He patted Luo Pei’s cheek with one hand, the gesture dripping with humiliation.
The group inside, having heard Jiang Yunsui crying, came rushing out as well.
Fat Chef waved the kitchen knife in his hand.
“Who was it? Which dog thief with a death wish bullied our Suisui?”
Seeing Jiang Yunsui sitting on the ground crying, their hearts ached.
They hurriedly picked her up.
“Why is Suisui crying? Let me see your hand. Does it hurt?”
Jiang Yunsui pointed at Luo Pei. “He stole my mushrooms. Those were for Grandpas to eat.”
In an instant, everyone’s eyes fell on Luo Pei.
Cold sweat poured down Luo Pei’s back, and his legs began to tremble.
After all, these old men had all fought their way off battlefields. When they fixed that dangerous stare on someone, an ordinary person simply couldn’t withstand the invisible pressure.
“What… what are you doing? I-I’m General Yang’s third son’s brother-in-law.”
“What the hell kind of twisted-up connection is that supposed to be?”
Fire burned in Fat Chef’s eyes as he slapped Luo Pei across the face.
Old Man Shen took the chance to snatch the basket of mushrooms back.
Luo Pei was knocked straight to the ground by the slap. Two of his teeth flew out, and his mouth filled with blood.
“Damn it, you really think I can’t lift a knife anymore, don’t you? Now any random mutt thinks they can bully someone right at my doorstep. A grown man picking on a four-year-old child, nothing but a spineless shrimp.”
“Y-you just wait…”
Luo Pei clutched his mouth and whimpered as he scrambled up from the ground and ran, still not forgetting to throw out a threat.
“Woof, woof!”
Zuozuo Youyou and Heiwa pounced after him. With a loud rip, they tore his clothes to shreds.
Luo Pei screamed in terror.
Watching his clothes turn into beggar’s rags in the blink of an eye, and seeing him flee with his tail between his legs, Jiang Yunsui finally broke into a smile through her tears.
Zuozuo came running back with a jade pendant in her mouth, while Youyou had a gold ring, both wagging their tails.
“Good dogs. You even know to bring money home.”
Old Man Shen picked up the tael of silver from the ground, blew off the dust, and stuffed it into Jiang Yunsui’s arms.
“Take it. Consider it compensation from that bastard.”
Jiang Yunsui nodded obediently.
“Besides your hand, does anything else hurt?”
She shook her head. There were still teardrops clinging to her lashes, her big eyes watery. Since she had just been crying, tear tracks streaked her face, and her little nose was red, making her look terribly pitiful.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Good. Let’s go eat. Don’t worry. With us old fellows here, that dog thing won’t get the chance to bully you.”
“If anyone bullies you outside from now on, come find us, got it?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded and answered in her soft, sticky little voice, “Okay.”
“These mushrooms really smell good. They’d be perfect in some mutton soup. Fresh as can be.”
“Are these termite mushrooms? They actually grow in this lousy place?”
Fat Chef said, “There’s plenty you don’t know.”
“Hurry up and cook. The lamb’s almost roasted.”
“You got it. If we’re making mutton soup, that’s exactly my specialty.”
“Give the lamb bones in that basin over there to the three dogs to gnaw on.”
Even the two chicks had rice to eat.
Jiang Yunsui soon threw the upsetting incident to the back of her mind. In the courtyard, she moved small stones aside, checking to see if there were any earthworms or little bugs underneath.
Whenever she found one, she would cry out excitedly and call the two chicks over to eat it, while she stood far away, watching them with wide, round eyes.