Chapter 11

Chapter 11: They Actually Fought?

While Su Xuan Ming bled money at the tea shop, Gu Nan Xi had her own troubles.

“This egg custard isn’t as tender as usual.”

She scooped up a spoonful of crab roe egg custard and frowned at it as if it had personally betrayed her.

Lu Mei glanced around. The servants were keeping their distance, pretending to be very busy with nothing at all. Only then did she lean in and whisper, “Master, this servant checked the head chef’s room. None of the ingredients are fresh.”

Food was heaven. And for someone determined to lie flat, good meals were half the point of living.

“How unfresh are we talking?” Gu Nan Xi asked.

“Bok choy leaves full of worm holes, dried fruit that’s been sitting for years, eggs that smell odd—and even the crabs are dead.”

Gu Nan Xi went numb. Without good food, lying flat lost most of its joy.

“Why are things like this?” she demanded. “Have the servants become that bold?”

Lu Mei’s expression tightened. “This servant asked around. The manor used to have long-term merchants it worked with. Prices were higher, but the quality was guaranteed.”

“But a few days ago, Li Ning Jing announced she would cover the expenses. So the purchasing work fell to her father and brothers.”

Gu Nan Xi understood instantly. Buying with someone else’s money and buying with your own were never the same.

The Li family wasn’t wealthy to begin with. Supplying a place as large as Marquis Manor meant one thing: cutting corners until they bled.

Understanding was one thing. Eating rotten leaves was another.

Gu Nan Xi opened the cash box and lifted out a string of copper coins. “Find a few errand men. The night market hasn’t closed yet. Go buy something edible.”

Lu Mei hurried off.

This dynasty’s commerce was lively enough that errand men delivered meals like clockwork. Thinking of how Gu Nan Xi’s appetite had been larger these days, Lu Mei ordered a feast: drunken crab, spicy canned lung, thin noodles, ginger shrimp, and Ding Feng Restaurant’s lamb-fat chive cakes. The list was so long she had to call more errand men and split the purchases.

When the food reached Gu Nan Xi, it was still hot.

“Money is wonderful,” she murmured, biting into the spicy canned lung with genuine reverence.

Chili peppers hadn’t spread widely yet, so the heat came from garlic and similar spices. It was sharp and fragrant in a way that made her eyes brighten.

She’d only taken a bite when Su Yun Yan came charging in, sobbing.

Gu Nan Xi didn’t even blame the guards. With this girl’s brute strength, who would dare stop her?

“Mother,” Su Yun Yan cried, “I can’t live like this anymore! A bowl of papaya stewed bird’s nest, and they used broken scraps!”

The more she cried, the more tragic her life sounded to her.

Before she’d even been born, her father had gone to the borderlands. More than ten years—no return, not even once.

One brother had Grandmother’s indulgence. The other was frail from being born early, always the apple of Mother’s eye.

Only she was the spare, the one nobody doted on. And now even her bird’s nest came as scraps.

“I went to question Jing Niang’s father!” Su Yun Yan gulped air between sobs. “Do you know what he said? He said whole bird’s nest and broken bird’s nest are both bird’s nest! You’re still eating swallow spit anyway, so what’s the difference?”

Gu Nan Xi couldn’t deny there was logic there. Unfortunately, a pampered girl like Jiao Jiao didn’t live by logic.

It wasn’t right or wrong. It was just a clash of what people considered acceptable.

Gu Nan Xi was still figuring out how to soothe her when a young maid appeared at the doorway and whispered urgently to Lu Mei.

Lu Mei’s eyes lit up as if she’d been handed a lantern in the dark. She ran over, cheeks flushed with excitement. “Master! Li Ning Jing and the eldest son are fighting!”

Su Yun Yan stopped crying so fast it was almost impressive. She wiped her face with her handkerchief and sprang to her feet. “Where? Let’s go!”

Gu Nan Xi, who had just finished every storybook in her room, felt the same itch for fresh entertainment. “Let’s.”

Lu Mei hesitated. “But, Master… you’re still confined.”

Gu Nan Xi tapped her forehead. “Stubborn girl. Call a few strong servant boys. Carry a bamboo chair out. I’ll lie on it. If my feet never touch the ground, I’m not breaking the order.”

Su Yun Yan’s eyes went round with awe. “So that’s what ‘confined’ means!”

Mother and daughter didn’t even bother dressing up. They rushed toward the noise.

In the back garden, a pretty woman stood with her hands on her hips, scolding a taller man so hard his head nearly sank into his chest.

Gu Nan Xi glanced at the distance and signaled Lu Mei. “Closer. Toward the rockery. We won’t hear anything from here.”

The servant boys were panting, shoulders burning under the chair, but the thought of watching Li Ning Jing’s humiliation gave them strength they didn’t know they had.

And then Gu Nan Xi spotted someone else crouched behind the rocks.

“Old Two,” she said calmly, “what are you doing here?”

Su Yun Ting jolted, then turned and relaxed when he saw his mother and sister. He motioned quickly. “Lower your voices. They’re in the middle of it—don’t alert them.”

Su Yun Yan narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you say you were so angry you couldn’t get out of bed? How do you have the energy to sneak here?”

Su Yun Ting grinned. “This is better than a hundred-year ginseng. It’s just that Brother is too spineless. If it were me, I’d bite back.”

“Try not to anger your second sister-in-law,” Su Yun Yan warned, almost sincere. “With your weak body, any woman could slap you into the air.”

“Shut up,” Su Yun Ting hissed. “Watch.”

The sky had darkened. The three of them huddled behind the rockery, barely daring to breathe.

Jing Niang’s voice carried clearly, sharp as a blade.

“Su Lang, you’re blaming me now? Do you know I nearly emptied the Li family’s wealth just to be with you?”

She wiped her tears, but her anger didn’t cool.

“Other nobles can’t stand me. They’re boycotting my family’s business. Did I ever come to you to complain? The petty people in this manor won’t accept me either. They smile to my face and carve me up behind my back.”

“I thought you understood me,” she snapped. “But what did you do? You went to a tea house and spent a hundred taels! Are the tea leaves made of silver? Is the water brewed from gold?”

Su Xuan Ming’s voice came out weak, pleading. “Jing Niang, I… I just need you to help me this once. The IOUs are already written. If they come to the door to collect later, it’ll be humiliating.”

“Humiliating?” Jing Niang laughed, short and furious. “What status do you think you have? You’re only the eldest young master of Marquis Yong Chang Manor. You haven’t even secured the heir’s position. What airs are you putting on?”

Su Xuan Ming looked as if someone had slapped him. Still, he didn’t raise his voice. He swallowed and tried another path.

“Jing Niang… what if you return the steward’s authority to Mother? With Mother handling things, I can pay the debt back within a month.”