Min had ordered the private kitchen to prepare this meal: five dishes and a soup. The main dish was steamed lamb, cooked with cow's milk, almond cream, and five seasonings for its nourishing benefits.
Mostly, it was because Min had noticed how frail Jian Ruonan was. Although she and Jian Chuxue had been born around the same time, she was half a head shorter than Jian Chuxue and as skinny as a bamboo pole.
She seemed to have no strength at all, either. Min often saw her slouching or lying down, looking utterly drained. Who knew how badly she had been mistreated on the estate?
So all the dishes today were gently nourishing. Besides the lamb steamed in milk, there were lamb stewed with radish, pheasant and wild mushroom soup, jujube seed cakes, and wild duck braised with Job's tears.
Min privately resolved to build up Jian Ruonan's little body within six months. Once she was healthy again, Min would teach her proper manners.
Jian Ruonan did indeed have some deficiency of vital energy and blood, but the real reason she was always slouching or lying down was laziness.
Had she known that putting on weight meant learning proper manners, she would not have eaten quite so happily.
[This little lamb is ridiculously tender! It melts in my mouth-melts in my mouth!!]
[This little pheasant is delicious too, and these wild mushrooms! So savory my tongue is about to fall off!!]
[This is delicious, that's delicious too! Delicious, delicious, so delicious!]
[I didn't K, I didn't K, dinosaur kang-lang kang-lang-lang, dinosaur kang-lang kang-lang-lang~~~]
Min: "..."
Was there something wrong with this child?
Jian Zhang's departure had not affected Jian Ruonan in the slightest. Bowl in hand, she kept her head down and dug in. Once she was about half full, she looked up and saw Min holding her bowl with a thoughtful expression.
[Huh? Dad's gone. Why isn't Mom eating either? What's my sister thinking about with her bowl in her hands?]
Min: "..."
The itch of curiosity was simply unbearable.
The Marquis's Estate was tightly guarded; outside men could not enter the inner courtyard. Who could possibly be so resourceful that he had already tangled himself up with Wei before night had fully fallen?
Min ate two bites of food, then finally could bear it no longer. She set down her bowl. "Keep eating. I'll go check on your father."
Jian Ruonan kept her head down and continued eating. Suddenly, Jian Xilu put down her bowl too.
"Ruonan, would you like to get familiar with the Marquis's Estate? I'll take you out for a stroll."
After seeing her mother leave, Jian Xilu had also become so distracted by curiosity that her mind was elsewhere.
Jian Ruonan: "..."
[A stroll? During dinner?]
[Can't we go after we finish eating?]
"I've finished," Jian Xilu said.
Jian Ruonan said, "...You eat so little."
Jian Xilu said, "Ruonan, I heard the two night-blooming cereus plants by the west side gate are about to flower. Would you like to take a look? They're right beside the plum grove near the west side gate."
The west side gate!!
Wasn't that where Wei was having her affair?
Jian Ruonan desperately wanted to feast on the gossip in person, but she could not bear to leave that table full of delicious food.
Jian Xilu said, "We'll have someone keep the dishes warm over a stove. We can carry on eating when we return from viewing the flowers."
Jian Ruonan set down her chopsticks and eagerly trotted off after Jian Xilu to see the night-blooming cereus.
With her stomach half full, Jian Ruonan really could not walk fast. Afraid they would arrive too late to see anything, Jian Xilu had an older maid carry her.
The maid who did the heavy chores ran like the wind with Jian Ruonan in her arms, leaving Jian Ruonan's head full of question marks.
[Is my sister hauling me off to sell me?]
Jian Xilu lifted her skirts and strode along swiftly. "If we're late, the flowers will have wilted, and we won't get to see them."
Everyone said a cereus bloom was fleeting. Its flowers opened for only an instant, so they really would miss them if they arrived late.
Jian Ruonan marveled inwardly: [My sister's as lovely as a fairy, and she really does have refined tastes. She's going to such lengths just to admire some flowers.]
Jian Xilu: "..."
Still in the maid's arms, Jian Ruonan had only just approached the plum grove when she heard a man and a woman talking inside the artificial rockery beside it.
"Second Master... sob, sob... my fate is so wretched... I still couldn't save our child..."
"Lian'er, it isn't your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's Min... It's all that poisonous woman's fault for making you suffer..."
"Second Master, I've only just miscarried. My body is still unclean... You mustn't... ah..."
Indecent sounds came from inside the rockery.
"Lian'er, you can use your mouth. Lian'er, I've missed you so much. Lian'er... Lian'er, tell me, who's better, my brother or me...?"
"Second Master, you're awful... mm..."
The rustling of clothes being removed came from inside the rockery, along with moans and gasps that were utterly unfit to hear.
Jian Xilu immediately covered Jian Ruonan's ears.
Jian Ruonan: ??
Jian Xilu said, "You're still little. I don't want this filth polluting your ears."
Jian Ruonan looked at her sister. Jian Xilu's eyes were bright and sparkling.
With her ears covered, Jian Ruonan could no longer hear anything, but she did not mind. She still had the system, whose commentary was much clearer than anything she could hear on the spot.
[Feasting on gossip in person is so exciting! If only I could see the footage!]
The system said, [Nannan, work hard to earn points. Once you have enough, you can upgrade me, and then you'll be able to see the footage.]
[Stop trying to KTV me.] Now that she was back at the Marquis's Estate, with good food and drink every day and so many servants waiting on her, wasn't being a salted fish perfectly comfortable? Why do any missions? [Quit yapping. You're interfering with my gossip feast!]
By the time Jian Ruonan and Jian Xilu arrived, Wei's young maid and Jian Lang's manservant had both been bound, gagged, and dumped by the path.
They did not dare get too close, watching from a distance and remaining quiet in perfect unspoken accord. The sisters were having so much fun feasting on the gossip that they had completely forgotten where the cereus flowers were.
Closer to the rockery, Min stood watch with her people.
The family of four who should have been sharing a happy meal together had now all assembled.
Jian Zhang stood outside the rockery, his beard bristling and his eyes bulging with rage!
Night had not fully fallen, but the light in the plum grove was even dimmer. Jian Zhang waved a hand, and the manservants behind him took out flints to light the lanterns they carried.
In an instant, dozens of lanterns lit up, illuminating half the plum grove as bright as day.
The two people inside the rockery were suddenly startled and fell silent at the same time.
"Second Master, why is it so bright outside?"
"Lian'er, don't be afraid. Let me go out and see which blind fool dares interrupt my fun!" The illicit lover sounded rather arrogant.
"Lang, do be careful."
"Don't worry, Lian'er. Who in this household would dare cross me?" As the second master of the Marquis's Estate, Jian Lang had never feared anyone except his father and elder brother.
His outer robe hung loosely over him, and he held up his trousers with one hand. The moment Jian Lang emerged from the rockery, he saw Jian Zhang standing to one side with a dark expression, staring coldly at him.
"Ah, Brother... Brother... what are you doing here...?"
Jian Zhang lifted the hem of his robe and kicked him.
"Aah-!" Jian Lang clutched his stomach and fell to the ground.
Jian Zhang ordered the manservants behind him, "Drag the person inside out here!"
The servants surged forward, and before long, Wei had been dragged out.
Wei's hair was disheveled and her clothes were in disarray. At the sight of Jian Zhang, her teeth began to chatter in terror. After being thrown to the ground, she shook like chaff in a sieve.
Jian Zhang was truly beside himself with fury. He glanced at Jian Lang and shouted, "It isn't even dark yet! What are you two doing here?! Huh?!"
Sprawled on the ground, Jian Lang cried, "Brother, Brother, I came to admire the flowers!"
[Well, well, it really is Second Uncle.]
[Admire the flowers? It's pitch-black in that cave. Feeling up the flowers, more like. With excuses like that, even Xi Menqing would have to kowtow to him!]
[Love really is a beam of light-so cuckold-green it's making my dad glow!]
"Pfft-"
Jian Xilu could not hold back and burst out laughing.
Hidden behind the rockery, Min was also having a terrible time suppressing her laughter.
Before you continue