CHAPTER 48

Wang Luoxue asked happily, “When will Su Wan come back?”

Mrs. Wang walked into the house and said, “She’s already packing her things. She’ll be here soon.”

Wang Luoxue immediately threw away the broom and went back into the room happily, waiting for Su Wan to come back to work.

Wang Luoxue was thinking that now that Su Wan was back, there would be a lot of work waiting for her to do. There were already two large basins of clothes piled up at home, and it would be just right for Su Wan to come back and wash them.

The kitchen at home was full of greasy dirt, and Su Wan could clean it up after she came back.

There was also dust on the furnishings in the room, and the bedding on the kang should be taken out to dry in the sun. Wang Luoxue didn’t think Su Wan was that important before, but after Su Wan left, Wang Luoxue was bogged down in those inconspicuous trivial matters every day and was busy to the point of being exhausted every day.

Also, when Su Wan comes back, she must ask Su Wan to cook a few dishes for the family. She hasn’t had a single delicious meal these days. Even though she eats some meat from time to time, none of them are as delicious as what Su Wan cooks.

Wang Luoxue now realizes that this family really cannot do without Su Wan. From now on, she will let Sister Yunyan be her brother’s wife and let Su Wan be his concubine. This way, she can have the best of both worlds.

Wang Luoxue went back into the house and painted her eyebrows and eyes. Thinking back to the time when Su Wan was around, she felt like she was living a god’s life. She would have to be a little nicer to Su Wan in the future. She was still of some use.

Wang Luoxue put on a set of peach blossom makeup, put on her few clean clothes, and looked left and right in front of the mirror.

Wang Luoxue looked in front of the mirror for a long time but didn’t see Su Wan coming. She walked into the yard with a puzzled look on her face and asked her mother Wang, “Mom, shouldn’t Su Wan come? Why hasn’t she come yet?”

Mrs. Wang was sitting on a chair in the yard, basking in the winter sun. When she heard Wang Luoxue’s question, she raised her eyes from her daze and said, “It should be soon. She was packing up just now. I think she bought a lot of things in Qingzhou Prefecture and had a lot to bring back, so she was slow.”

Wang Luoxue was already anxious, and when she heard Mrs. Wang say that Su Wan had bought something from Qingzhou Prefecture, she became even more anxious. “Then, mother, I will go and help sister Su Wan pack.”

As Wang Luoxue spoke, she trotted towards the gate.

“Wait.” Mrs. Wang called out to Wang Luoxue.

Mrs. Wang waved her hand towards Wang Luoxue, motioning for her to come back. Wang Luoxue walked to her side with a puzzled look on her face.

“How can you be so impatient, kid?” Mrs. Wang deliberately lowered her voice. “You don’t understand it either. If she comes to our house on her own initiative and cries and begs us to take her back. Then from now on, we can do whatever we want with her.”

“If you go to the Shen family and help her pack up and bring her back, then it will be us begging her to come back. Then, it won’t be so convenient to order her around.”

“Mom, you are so smart. It’s true. I must learn more from you in the future.” Wang Luoxue admired Mrs. Wang very much.

Mrs. Wang nodded with satisfaction. She was very happy to receive her daughter’s praise.

In the backyard of the Shen family, Su Wan and Shen Yaya tidied up the small vegetable garden at the back. They picked up the vines entangled on the fence and the dead grass and leaves in the garden and took them to the woodshed to burn as firewood.

After Shen Lin finished sweeping the yard, he filled the water tank at home and went to the backyard to place the chestnut horse he bought from Qingzhou Prefecture.

The backyard of Shen Lin’s house is very spacious. When Shen Lin’s father, Shen Laoer, was alive, he built several thatched rooms. One of the rooms was slightly larger and could be used as a stable.

Shen Lin made a horse trough with wooden boards and used a large wooden basin as a horse drinking bucket. In this way, a simple stable was completed. Because there was only one horse, the place was very spacious and much larger than the stable where the horse lived at the horse seller’s place.

It is best to raise horses in the countryside because there is plenty of fodder. Shen Lin put the hay he had cut in the fall in the trough, and the horse immediately went over to chew it.

Shen Lin took this opportunity to clean the stables. Since Su Wan bought the horse, Shen Lin decided that he would be in charge of all the work related to the horse and the carriage, so that Su Wan would not have to endure this hardship.

After Su Wan and Shen Yaya cleaned up the stables, they went to the kitchen, and Su Wan tried to make the soup base for spicy hot pot.

Because she was planning to do this business, Su Wan had already bought some seasonings from Qingzhou Prefecture. What she had to do now was to stir-fry these seasonings together.

Because the original owner had a talent for cooking and seasoning, Su Wan often made boiled fish and spicy hot pot at home in the 21st century and fried the base ingredients by herself. So it was not difficult to make a base ingredient by herself at this time; it was just a matter of how to make a more delicious base ingredient.

Add ingredients such as chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and star anise to the clear oil, then add onions, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. The Shen family’s kitchen is then filled with a strong, spicy aroma.

Su Wan cooked the first pot of soup base. Shen Yaya came up to smell it and said to Su Wan, “Sister Su Wan, I am drooling when I smell this. It must be delicious if we use it to cook.”

Su Wan originally intended to use this base for cooking, but Shen Yaya’s words reminded Su Wan that this base can be used not only for Malatang and spicy hot pots but also for vegetables.

Su Wan planned to use this base material to fry a pot of spicy hotpot and send it to the Yang family at noon. The brothers of the Yang family were upright and fair. Su Wan intended to let Shen Lin make friends with these brothers of the Yang family, as Shen Lin’s family was bullied by Old Man Shen and Eldest Shen because of their small number of members.

Mrs. Wang and Wang Luoxue waited and waited, but Su Wan did not come to the door to beg. Finally, there was a knock on the door. Mrs. Wang deliberately hesitated for a while before walking over to open the door with a proud face.

Mrs. Wang slowly opened the gate of the courtyard. The person standing outside the gate was not Su Wan, but women like Su and Li who were on good terms with Mrs. Wang.

It is winter now, there is no work in the fields, and the women have nothing to do, so they just visit each other’s homes every day.

Recently, these women like to visit Mrs. Wang’s house the most, for the simple reason of seeing Mrs. Wang and to make fun of her.

A few days ago, the news that Mrs. Wang was going to hire a maid spread to every household in Qingshi Village. The women in Qingshi Village were very envious of Mrs. Wang. They also lived in the same village, but they had to run around every day, doing laundry and cooking, while Mrs. Wang could enjoy a leisurely life.

It really made people jealous and envious.

However, Mrs. Wang’s good days did not last long. Everyone in the village knew that the two maids of the Wang family were not very capable. They did not even work as well as Su Wan did. Everyone also knew that Su Wan was clumsy, but these two maids did not even work as well as Su Wan. For a while, the gossipy women in Qingshi Village seemed to gloat over the Wang family’s misfortune, feeling fortunate that the money spent was not worth it.

Not long after, the Wang family dismissed both maids. This made the women who had envied and jealous, especially Sun and Li, the two fake sisters of Mrs. Wang, feel a lot more balanced.

When they came to visit Mrs. Wang these days, they could see that she was very busy. They liked to see such scenes, which made them feel very comfortable.

Now, these people came again.

Seeing that it was Sun and the others, Mrs. Wang was a little disappointed. A few days ago, these women saw her working herself and said some sarcastic words to her.
Mrs. Wang was still secretly annoyed with them.

As soon as Mrs. Wang opened the door, Mrs. Sun said, “Sister Wang, why did you take so long to open the door? You must have been too busy with work to open the door for us.”

Mrs. Li said, “Sister Sun, please don’t blame Sister Wang for being slow to open the door. Sister Wang doesn’t have a maid now, so she is too busy.”

Mrs. Wang felt as if her heart was stabbed by a knife.

The ladies, including Mrs. Sun and Mrs. Li, didn’t even wait for Mrs. Wang to invite them in and walked in on their own.

Seeing that Wang’s yard was not very tidy, Mrs. Sun started to bring up the issue, “Sister Wang, why don’t you hire a maid? If you hire a maid, you can have some free time and chat with us sisters more when you have time.”

Mrs. Li said, “Sister Wang, is it possible that you don’t have enough money?”

Mrs. Wang has always regarded herself as the rich and superior person in Qingshi Village. What Mrs. Li said directly hit the point where Mrs. Wang was most proud.

Mrs. Wang raised her chin slightly and said, “Of course the money is enough, but the two maids are not good at their work, so I fired them.”

Mrs. Sun pretended to feel sorry, “Then Sister Wang will inevitably suffer from the hardship in the future. Alas, I really can’t bear to see Sister Wang do such rough and tiring work. Sister Wang has always been the one who lives the most comfortable life among us sisters.”

Mrs. Wang, “Although I have dismissed my maid, I don’t have to do the work myself. My Luosheng is so outstanding that there are people who are eager to come and work for me.”

When Mrs. Li heard this, she thought  Mrs. Wang was bragging. It was true that Wang Luosheng passed the imperial examination, and many girls admired him, but no girl was willing to work for the Wang family.

Mrs. Li asked, “Who is it? Which girl is it?”

Mrs. Wang said proudly, “Who else could it be? Su Wan. Su Wan was not feeling well a few days ago, so she was worried about working for my family. Now that she has recovered, she wants to come back to work for the Wang family.”

The women who came in were all dumbfounded. Is Su Wan a fool? Everyone knows that when she owed money to the clinic, the Wang family immediately cut off all ties with her. What is she doing…

Mrs. Sun asked again, “If Su Wan comes to help occasionally, I’m afraid she can’t do much. It’s better to hire a maid.”

Mrs. Wang raised her chin and said, “Who said she would come here occasionally to help with the work? She is going to live in the Wang family and work. Now, she is packing her luggage at the Shen family. In a while, she will bring her things over to work for my family.”

“Although Su Wan is not as good at work as Luoxue, she can still do some work.”

Several women thought that Su Wan’s head might have been kicked by a donkey.

One of the women said, “I think that Su Wan is not only good at rough work; she is also good at delicate work, such as cooking.”

“When I was rubbing corn in the threshing ground a few days ago, I smelled the fragrance of the food that Su Wan brought to Shen Lin from afar, which made me drool.”