Chapter 10 Embarrassment
As soon as Li Fugui and Duan Jingtian left, Mrs Wang glared at Su Wan fiercely: “Look, it’s always because of you that the Wang family leaves a bad impression on Master Duan. You are a jinx.”
“I really don’t know what kind of trouble you will cause for the Wang family in the future. Also, let me tell you, when you go out, don’t tell others that you are engaged to Luo Sheng.”
“Luo Sheng is now a well-known figure. If people knew that you two were engaged, they would laugh their heads off.”
Wang Luosheng passed the imperial examination last year and became a scholar. Everyone in Qingshi Village looked up to Wang Luosheng and his family. This made it seem that Su Wan, the child bride, was not worthy of Wang Luosheng.
Wang Luosheng also thought to himself that Su Wan was indeed his nemesis, and he must get rid of Su Wan in this life before Su Wan made a fuss about marrying him.
Su Wan wanted nothing more than what Mrs Wang said. The Wang family didn’t want to marry Su Wan, and Su Wan didn’t want to get married even more.
Wang Luosheng walked up to Su Wan and said coldly, “You must have heard what mother said just now.”
Wang Luosheng’s attitude was condescending, and Su Wan really didn’t want to pay attention to him.
Seeing that Su Wan didn’t respond, Wang Luosheng raised his voice a little more: “My parents took you here and gave you food to eat, which is a great favor. Don’t be so foolish as to wish for anything else.”
According to Wang Luosheng’s words, he would not marry Su Wan, which was exactly what Su Wan wanted.
But Su Wan changed her mind and pretended to be innocent: “Brother Luo Sheng, did I do anything wrong? We do have an engagement.”
Wang Luosheng said impatiently: “You don’t understand what people say, so I won’t tell you anything. Anyway, I’m telling you, if you say nonsense in the Duan family, you won’t be able to cook in the Duan Mansion anymore.”
Su Wan: “But if I don’t go to Duan’s house to cook, then you won’t be able to read the books in Duan’s house.”
Wang Luosheng choked and left in anger.
Su Wan hurriedly said, “If Brother Luo Sheng doesn’t like it, then I won’t say anything. Brother Luo Sheng, don’t be angry.”
Wang Luosheng became even more annoyed and walked faster.
Su Wan just wanted to make Wang Luosheng dislike her so that he would take the initiative to clarify to the world that she was not his child bride.
The matter of child brides cannot be concealed; it must be clarified.
Early the next morning, the Duan family’s carriage came to pick up Su Wan again.
As soon as Li Fugui walked in front of Mrs Wang, Mrs Wang spoke up: “Hey, Steward Li, you don’t have to come to pick up Su Wan to go to Duan Mansion. Instead of taking this time, you might as well come and pick up my Sheng’er to the school every day. My house is far from the school, and Sheng’er has to walk for a long time on the road. It’s not a big deal for Su Wan to walk these few steps.”
Li Fugui’s expression changed, but he still said patiently, “Madam Wang, I want to discuss something with you. My master likes the food cooked by Miss Su Wan very much. He wants Miss Su to make midnight snacks for him every day. Of course, the salary will be doubled. However, it would be too late to make midnight snacks so let Miss Su live in Duan Mansion from now on. There are many spacious rooms for guests in Duan Mansion.”
When Mrs Wang heard this, she thought that if the wages were doubled, Su Wan would be earning the money of four people.
Su Wan had heard what Li Fugui said, so she lifted the curtain and came out: “Steward Li, I’m willing to go.”
As soon as Su Wan finished speaking, Wang Luoxue’s urgent voice rang out: “Why are you going? You can’t go.”
Su Wan was not here yesterday, and Wang Luoxue suffered a lot. Not only did no one prepare clothes for her or give her water to wash her face, but she also didn’t have a good meal the whole day so Su Wan can’t go.
Su Wan ignored Wang Luoxue’s words and whispered to Mrs Wang next to her: “Aunt Wang, the wages will be five times. With this money, you can even hire a maid to serve you.”
Mrs Wang thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. When Su Wan was taking care of the family, although she treated her as a maid, she could not tell others that there was a maid in the family. If she could really invite a maid back this time, how glorious it would be for her in Qingshi Village.
If she could get this money, she could not only hire a maid, but also wear whatever she want and eat whatever she want. This deal is quite profitable.
Mrs Wang was overjoyed but deliberately put down her expression. She leaned close to Su Wan’s ear and whispered, “Pay me your wages immediately after you get them. If you dare to spend a penny more, you can forget about getting married to my son.”
Su Wan nodded.
So Mrs Wang said to Li Fugui straightforwardly: “It would be a good idea to let Su Wan cook for Master Duan.”
Li Fugui helped Su Wan move all her belongings from the woodshed onto the carriage.
As soon as Su Wan stepped onto the carriage, Wang Luoxue ran out in a panic with disheveled hair and shouted: “Su Wan, you can’t leave. What will we do with the housework if you leave?”
Su Wan and Mrs Wang were talking in a low voice just now, and Wang Luoxue didn’t hear them.
Mrs Wang grabbed Wang Luoxue and whispered to her the good news of using Su Wan’s wages to hire a maid and buy clothes. Wang Luoxue was delighted and let Su Wan go.
The carriage drove away from the Wang family’s gate.
Su Wan thought to herself that the Wang family always said that the work Su Wan did was just a trivial matter. The irony was that they themselves could not do such a trivial thing.
On the way, Li Fugui said to Su Wan: “Miss Su, don’t come back to the Wang family in the future.”
Su Wan guessed that it was Li Fugui who told Duan Jingtian about her situation in the Wang family, and thanked Li Fugui again and again.
Li Fugui smiled and said, “What’s there to thank you for? It’s just a small favor. I also want to thank you for giving me such delicious snacks yesterday. I took the snacks back home , my mother likes them very much.”
This time, Su Wan cooked three meals a day and a midnight snack for Duan Jingtian, and then lived in Duan’s house, away from the Wang family.
The servants of the Duan family all lived in the servants’ courtyard, but Duan Jingtian arranged a guest room for Su Wan.
Steward Li said to Su Wan, “The young master has said that young lady is different from other maids and servants. The young lady is considered a guest and cannot live with them.”
Indeed, in name, Su Wan is Wang Luosheng’s sister, and it is not appropriate for Duan Jingtian to treat her as an ordinary servant.
The guest room where Su Wan lived was very elegantly decorated. It was four or five times larger than the bedroom at Wang’s house where Su Wan could not even turn around. The room was fully equipped with bedding, toiletries, and even a small desk.
Li Fugui also told Su Wan that Duan Jingtian said that when Su Wan was not cooking, she could go to the study in the yard next door to read a book or something and should not feel restrained.
Su Wan is very satisfied with the current situation. Because the original owner admired Wang Luosheng, she was trapped in the small courtyard of the Wang family for the first twenty years of her life, doing heavy and tedious work, and had to endure the contempt of the Wang family and Wang Luosheng’s indifference and exploitation.
As long as people let go of their wrong obsessions, they will be able to gain a new world.
Cooking only three meals a day plus a midnight snack is a simple matter for Su Wan.
Although Wang Luosheng and Li Sheng would also come to Duan’s house for dinner in the evening, Su Wan would still need to cook for two more people. However, for Su Wan, this would not add much trouble. Compared with the heavy work at Wang’s house, cooking at Duan’s house was many times easier.
Tonight, Su Wan prepared stir-fried chicken, spicy beef, cold bamboo shoots and corn pancakes for Duan Jingtian and Li Sheng. She also added a dish of Su Wan’s homemade sweet orange soup. Duan Jingtian and Li Sheng both praised the dishes tonight.
(stir-fried chicken)
( spicy beef)
(cold bamboo shoots)
( corn pancakes)
After eating, the three of them went to study together.
After Su Wan finished making dinner for Duan Jingtian, she had some free time, so she opened the ancient book she had taken out from the study in the afternoon and began to read.
Duan Jingtian found that when he was with people like Li Sheng and Wang Luosheng who studied hard, he would unconsciously study harder.
Originally, Duan Jingtian also liked studying with Wang Luosheng, but what happened in the past few days made Duan Jingtian feel a little dislike for Wang Luosheng, and he was not as enthusiastic about Wang Luosheng as before.
After studying for two incense sticks of time, Wang Luosheng borrowed two books from the Duan family’s study. Just as he was about to get up and go back, he saw a little maid carrying a dish of duck blood and vermicelli soup into the study.
He said this was the midnight snack Su Wan made for the three of them.
As soon as the maid opened the lid, a fragrant aroma filled his nose.
Wang Luosheng suddenly felt something strange. When he was at the Wang family, Su Wan would bring him a midnight snack while he was reading at night, which might be noodles cooked in chicken soup, or small wontons with beef and radish, or a bowl of sesame dumplings.
Wang Luosheng always thought that Su Wan wanted to get close to him on purpose, which was why she had such a midnight snack. Who would have a midnight snack in an ordinary family?
Even though he always ate up all the midnight snacks Su Wan brought him, Wang Luosheng still felt disgusted. Su Wan used all kinds of tricks to get close to him.
Now Su Wan also made midnight snacks at Duan’s house, and Wang Luosheng had a strange feeling in his heart.
The three of them had a midnight snack. The red soup was spicy, the duck blood was fresh and tender, the vermicelli was smooth, and there were green chopped chives floating on top. A few bites drove away the coolness of the autumn night and the fatigue of studying.
After studying hard, a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup like this can make people feel physically and mentally satisfied and at ease.
Wang Luosheng and Li Sheng finished their duck blood vermicelli soup and went home.
Along the way, under the moonlight, Wang Luosheng felt lucky that he had finally left Su Wan. Today in the school, Wang Luosheng had learned from Duan Jingtian that Su Wan would live in Duan Mansion in the future.
At Wang’s house, Su Wan fetched water for washing his face, poured water, and ground ink every day, trying different ways to get close to him, which made Wang Luosheng very annoyed.
The night was as cool as water. Wang Luosheng wrapped his clothes tightly. It was autumn, and he should take off his summer clothes and put on autumn clothes tomorrow.
Wang Luosheng returned home and was surprised when he entered the main room. The house, which was usually tidy, was now in a mess. The bowls from the family’s meals on the table had not been cleared away, and there were several oil and water stains on the floor. The dirty clothes that his father had taken off when he worked at the mill were placed on a stool, and no one had picked them up to wash.
Wang Luosheng walked around the mess and returned to his room, where he started looking for a fire starter in the dark. He searched for a long time but couldn’t find it and even got a bump on his head.
Wang Luosheng suddenly remembered that in the past, Su Wan came to light the lights in his room. When he was reading, Su Wan would come to add oil and pick the wick to make the lights brighter. Wang Luosheng was very annoyed when Su Wan did these things.
Wang Luosheng couldn’t find the tinder, so he called Wang Luoxue over. Wang Luoxue said in her room, “How can I find your things when you can’t even find them yourself?” Then she ignored Wang Luosheng.
Wang Luosheng was a filial son and would never bother his mother to come look for him. So he groped for a long time before finally finding the tinder. He lit the lamp, took out the book, and read until late at night.
After finishing the book and time to wash up, change clothes and go to bed, Wang Luosheng actually felt a little at a loss.
Shouldn’t the water for washing face and feet have been prepared and placed in the house? Now there is neither water for washing face nor water for washing feet. What should I do?
Wang Luosheng took a basin to fetch water, only to find that there was no hot water. If he wanted to wash his face and feet with hot water, he had to boil water.
Wang Luoxue is lazy and can’t be relied on, so he decided to boil some water himself. Wang Luosheng picked up the ladle and scooped water from the water tank, only to find that the water tank was also empty. If he wanted to boil water, he had to fetch water first.
There was no other way, so Wang Luosheng had to pick up the bucket and fetch two buckets of water from the well, then boil some water himself. After finishing all these and getting familiar with the situation, it was already late at night, and Wang Luosheng, exhausted, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
The next day, when Wang Luosheng opened his eyes, it was already bright. Wang Luosheng knew that he would most likely be late for morning reading.
Last time Wang Luosheng was late, the teacher let him off and told him not to do it again next time and he must not be late today.
Wang Luosheng got up in a hurry, thinking that he should wear thicker clothes today, but he couldn’t find where he put his thick clothes.
In the past, Su Wan would prepare clothes for Wang Luosheng to wear the next day according to the weather changes.
After searching everywhere without finding it, Wang Luosheng had no choice but to put on yesterday’s clothes again. He took a basin to fetch water to wash himself, only to find that there was no water in the water tank again.
Looking outside the house again, Mother Wang was pouring out the water in the basin. Needless to say, she used one bucket of water he fetched last night for washing herself, and the remaining bucket must have been used by other people in the family for washing.
Wang Luosheng really didn’t have time to fetch another bucket of water. He had no choice but to wet the towel with the remaining tea in the teapot, hurriedly wiped his face, and hurried to the school.
Wang Luosheng arrived at the school panting. Fortunately he ran fast, otherwise he would have been late.
Wang Luosheng walked into the school dormitory. As soon as he entered the door, his colleagues who were preparing to start morning reading in the room all looked at him.
Colleagues looked at Wang Luosheng in surprise. What happened to Wang Luosheng, who usually looked dignified and handsome?
His hair was messy, with a few things that looked like tea leaves stuck on it, his clothes were wrinkled, and his shoes were covered in mud. He looked very different from his usual clean and refreshing appearance.
A colleague with a good memory recalled that when Wang Luosheng came to the school a few years ago, he didn’t dress very well, and his clothes were often wrinkled. But two years ago, he suddenly changed one day. He dressed neatly every day, and his academic performance improved by several places, surpassing Li Sheng to become the top student.
Wang Luosheng’s status in the school has improved significantly.
But looking at him today, Wang Luosheng seems like the Wang Luosheng he was a few years ago.
A feeling of being brought back to reality.
Wang Luosheng felt a little strange and went to his seat with some doubts.
As soon as he sat down, his colleague next to him covered his nose and hid to the other side, saying, “What’s that smell?”
