Min had ordered the small kitchen to prepare this meal: five dishes and a soup. The main dish was steamed lamb, cooked together with milk, almond cream, and a blend of five seasonings for its nourishing properties.
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 and as skinny as a bamboo pole.
She also seemed to have no strength at all. Min often saw her slouching or lying down, looking utterly drained. Who knew how badly she had been mistreated at the Farm Estate?
So everything served today was gently nourishing. Besides the milk-steamed lamb, there was lamb stewed with radishes, wild pheasant and mushroom soup, jujube-seed cakes, and wild duck braised with Job's tears.
Min privately resolved to nurse Jian Ruonan's little body back to health within six months. Once she had filled out, Min would teach her proper manners.
Jian Ruonan did indeed suffer from a deficiency of blood and vital energy, but the real reason she was always slouching or lying down was laziness.
If she knew that putting on weight meant having to learn manners, she would not have been eating so happily.
[This lamb is ridiculously tender! It melts in my mouth. Melts in my mouth!!]
[This little wild pheasant is delicious too, and these wild mushrooms! They're so savory my tongue is about to fall off!!]
[This is delicious, that's delicious. Delicious, delicious, everything's 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 buried her head in her food. Once she was about halfway full, she looked up and saw Min holding her bowl, looking deep in thought.
[Huh? My dad's gone. Why isn't my 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 heavily guarded; outside men could not enter the inner courtyard. Who possessed such remarkable powers that he had managed to get tangled up with Wei before the sky had even gone completely dark?
Min took two bites of food, then finally could not stand it anymore. She set down her bowl. "You girls keep eating. I'm going to check on your daddy."
Jian Ruonan continued to bury her head in her food. Suddenly, Jian Xilu also set down her bowl.
"Ruonan, would you like to get familiar with the Marquis's Estate? I'll take you out for a stroll."
Seeing her mother leave, Jian Xilu was also so consumed by curiosity that her mind had wandered away.
Jian Ruonan: "..."
[Why go strolling at mealtime?]
[Can't we go after we finish eating?]
"I'm finished," Jian Xilu said.
Jian Ruonan said, "...You eat so little, sister."
"Ruonan, I heard the two epiphyllums beside the west corner gate are about to bloom. Would you like to see them? They're right beside the Plum Grove by the west corner gate."
The west corner gate!!
Wasn't that where Wei was having her affair?
Jian Ruonan desperately wanted to go enjoy the gossip in person, but she could not bear to leave this whole table of delicious food.
Jian Xilu said, "We'll have someone keep the dishes warm over a stove. Once we come back from admiring the flowers, we can keep eating."
Jian Ruonan set down her chopsticks and happily trotted off after Jian Xilu to see the epiphyllums.
With her belly half full, Jian Ruonan really could not walk fast. Afraid they would arrive too late to see anything, Jian Xilu had a serving woman carry her.
The woman, accustomed to heavy labor, ran like the wind with Jian Ruonan in her arms. Jian Ruonan's head was full of question marks.
[Is my sister hauling me off to sell me?]
Jian Xilu lifted her skirts and strode swiftly along. "If we're late, the epiphyllums will have wilted, and we won't get to see them."
Everyone said an epiphyllum's bloom was fleeting. Its flowers opened for only an instant, so they really would miss them if they were late.
Jian Ruonan marveled inwardly: [My sister is like a fairy descended from heaven. She really does have refined tastes, going to such lengths just to admire flowers.]
Jian Xilu: "..."
Still in the serving woman's arms, Jian Ruonan had only just approached the Plum Grove when she heard a man and woman talking inside the artificial rockery beside it.
"My darling... sob, sob... I'm so ill-fated... we still couldn't save our child..."
"Lian'er, it wasn't your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's Min... it's all that venomous woman's fault. She made you suffer..."
"My darling, I've only just miscarried. My body is still unclean... we can't... ah..."
Indecent sounds rose from inside the rockery.
"Lian'er, you can use your mouth. Lian'er, I want you so badly. Lian'er... Lian'er, tell me, who's better, my brother or me...?"
"My darling, you're so awful... mmph..."
The rustle of clothes being removed came from inside the rockery, accompanied by moans and gasps that were utterly unfit for anyone's ears.
Jian Xilu immediately covered Jian Ruonan's ears.
Jian Ruonan: ??
"You're still young," Jian Xilu said. "I don't want your ears sullied."
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, and its broadcast was much clearer than anything she could hear in person.
[Enjoying gossip on the scene really is thrilling! If only I could see the picture too!]
The system said, [Nan Nan, work hard to earn points. Once you have enough, you can upgrade me, and then you'll be able to see the picture.]
[Stop trying to KTV me.] Now that she was back at the Marquis's Estate, with delicious food and drink every day and so many servants attending her, wasn't life as a lazy salted fish perfectly comfortable? Why do any missions? [Quit yapping. You're getting in the way of my gossip!]
By the time Jian Ruonan and Jian Xilu arrived, Wei's maid and Jian Lang's manservant had both been bound, gagged, and dumped beside the path.
They did not dare get too close and watched from a distance, maintaining a perfectly coordinated silence. The sisters were enjoying the gossip so much that they had completely forgotten where the epiphyllums were.
A little closer, beside the rockery, Min stood guard with her people.
The family of four who should have been sharing a happy meal together had now all assembled here.
Jian Zhang stood outside the rockery, his beard bristling and his eyes bulging with rage!
The sky was not yet completely dark, but the light in the Plum Grove was dimmer still. Jian Zhang waved a hand, and the manservants behind him took out flints and lit the lanterns they held.
In an instant, dozens of lanterns flared to life, flooding half the Plum Grove with light.
The two people inside the rockery were startled and fell silent at the same time.
"My darling, why is it so bright outside?"
"Lian'er, don't be afraid. Let me go out and see which blind fool dares interrupt my pleasure!" The illicit lover sounded rather arrogant.
"Lang, do be careful."
"Don't worry, Lian'er. Who in this estate would dare get on my bad side?" As the Second Master of the Marquis's Estate, Jian Lang had never feared anyone except his father and his elder brother.
His outer robe hanging loosely from his body, one hand holding up his trousers, Jian Lang had barely stepped out of the rockery when he saw Jian Zhang standing to one side, his face dark as he stared 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 manservants swarmed forward, and moments later, Wei was dragged out.
Wei's hair was disheveled and her clothes in disarray. At the sight of Jian Zhang, her teeth chattered with fear. After she was thrown to the ground, she trembled like grain in a shaking sieve.
Jian Zhang was truly beside himself with rage. He glanced at Jian Lang and snarled, "It isn't even dark yet! What are you two doing here?! Huh?!"
Sprawled on the ground, Jian Lang shouted, "Brother, Brother, I came to admire the flowers!"
[Oh, it really is my second uncle.]
[Admire flowers? It's pitch-black in that cave. Groping flowers, more like. With an excuse 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 painfully difficult time suppressing her laughter.
Before you continue