Chapter 21: Probing

Yao Shi poured Shen Shihua a cup of tea and said with a smile, “Husband, have some tea first, then sit down and listen to me.”

Shen Shihua drank the tea in one gulp. It was hot weather now, and he had just broken out in a sweat at Xiaowan’s place. Although Xiaowan had served him a lot of tea afterwards, he was already thirsty on the way back.

Yao Shi turned to Shen Mingzhu and said, “Mingzhu, go see if your grandmother is feeling better.”

“Yes, Mother.” Shen Mingzhu tactfully left the east room.

Only then did Yao Shi explain the matter in detail, “…If we can help the guests of Welcome Inn find their lost items, then Welcome Inn will owe us a favor. With this connection, will it be difficult for our winery’s wine to be sold at Welcome Inn?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Shihua grasped Yao Shi’s hand and laughed, “Haha, my wife is indeed clever! If we can cooperate with Welcome Inn this time, our winery will definitely become the largest winery in the Chu State.”

He squeezed Yao Shi’s hand.

Although Yao Shi was well-maintained, her figure had become somewhat out of shape after giving birth to two children, and she was also getting older. The feeling of holding her hand was not as good as that of Miss Xiaowan’s.

However, Yao Shi was smart and capable, and he still respected his wife very much.

Back then, the steward who came to pick up the person gave Gu Shi one hundred taels, and that night someone stole the one hundred taels and gave it to their family, asking them to help keep an eye on Gu Shi’s family. This gave them the capital to expand the winery.

With the capital and Yao Shi’s skillful hands, she learned all of Shen Chongshan’s winemaking techniques, and the winery grew bigger and bigger.

A blush appeared on Yao Shi’s face, but unfortunately, there were still important matters to deal with, “Husband, who would be more suitable to report to the authorities tomorrow? I originally wanted Xiaoxi to go, but she is Mingzhu’s maid. If she goes, it will make others think that Mingzhu asked her to report to the authorities, and I’m worried it will affect Mingzhu’s reputation. After all, the preliminary selection will start after the New Year, and now is the time to accumulate a good reputation.”

Shen Shihua pondered for a moment, “You’re right, I’ll go discuss it with Father.”

After saying that, he stood up and left with large strides.

~

At night, Gu Shi tossed and turned, unable to sleep, worried tha black-clothed men would come to the door.

Xingnong was always alert when she slept. With Gu Shi like this, she couldn’t sleep at all, so she asked, “Grandmother, what are you afraid of?”

In the darkness, Gu Shi was stunned for a moment, and she vehemently denied, “What is Grandmother afraid of? Did Grandmother wake you up? Go to sleep! Grandmother’s foot just hurt a little, and she couldn’t sleep, but it’s much better now, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Grandmother, why are you afraid of us making money?”

“No, I’m not afraid of you making money! You child, don’t overthink it.” Gu Shi denied loudly, and halfway through speaking, she realized that she was too agitated and lowered her voice a little.

Xingnong: “Is it because of Aunt and Uncle in the capital?”

Apart from this, Xingnong really couldn’t think of any other reason.

Gu Shi didn’t expect Xingnong to be so sensitive and smart.

She fell silent for a moment, thought about it, and felt that it was better to talk to this girl and scare her so that she wouldn’t make money anymore.

She carefully considered her words and said, “Yes, after your aunt went to the capital, she offended a very powerful person. That person has a very noble status, and she wants to make things difficult for us, to get revenge on your aunt.”

“Do you remember how Grandmother’s foot got injured?”

The original owner was still young at that time and had no memory, but she had heard about it later. Xingnong said, “Did you accidentally break it?”

“No, before, Grandmother’s large embroidery pieces could earn more than ten taels, but whenever Grandmother earned a little money, she would encounter thieves or robbers. My foot was broken by robbers during a robbery.”

Xingnong’s eyes turned cold.

“So, don’t make money anymore in the future, okay? Otherwise, you will be the one who gets hurt. You must promise Grandmother about this, otherwise you move to that house by yourself, and we won’t go there to live, so as not to implicate you.”

The feeling of having her leg forcibly broken was too terrifying. At that time, she didn’t know why she was always robbed of her money, and she even reported it to the authorities. As a result, the authorities couldn’t find anything. Later, it was Village Chief Gu who was familiar with a constable at the yamen and knew something, so he reminded her.

Xingnong frowned, offended someone with a very noble status? She needed to test how noble it was, “Grandmother, only when a person is stronger than the other party will they not be bullied by the other party.”

Gu Shi was stunned for a moment when she heard this. Shen Chongshan had said similar words.

She thought of the scene where Xingnong directly grabbed Shen Mingzhu and threw her out today.

This child’s temperament was really becoming more and more like her husband, and she had also inherited her husband’s immense strength.

But, stronger than the other party?

“Impossible. That’s the Em…” Realizing that she almost said it, Gu Shi hurriedly shut her mouth and changed her words stiffly, “It’s too late! Go to sleep! You girl, don’t be so ambitious. Living a peaceful life is better than anything else.”

✿✿✿

“Em…? Could it be the Empress Dowager?”

“Why did Shen Ruolan offend the Empress Dowager?”

Xingnong thought about it for a moment: “!!!!”

Could it be that the so-called uncle married a princess after going to the capital and became an imperial son-in-law?

Apart from this reason, Xingnong really couldn’t figure out why Shen Ruolan would offend the Empress Dowager.

After all, the Empress Dowager’s status was there, who would dare to offend her?

Xingnong turned on her side and muttered in a low voice, “That’s true. Even the storybooks say that even the emperor wouldn’t dare to touch those high-ranking and respected ministers easily.”

A person who deliberately bullies you will not stop bullying you just because you are submissive. Instead, they will become even more aggressive because of your weakness.

Just like some people like to tease turtles that retract their heads because they retract their heads as soon as they are touched.

If it were a tiger, would they still dare?

Gu Shi trembled all over when she heard this.

After a long while, she sighed and said, “Go to sleep!”

Make herself stronger?

How could they, a widowed mother and her children, become stronger?

How could they become high-ranking and respected?

Xingnong knew that it wouldn’t be so easy to change Gu Shi’s mind, but as long as there was a glimmer of hope, no one would want to struggle in a life of hardship.

Even if Wen Ruiqing married a princess, was it Shen Ruolan’s fault? The Empress Dowager making things difficult for them was simply unreasonable!

She just didn’t know how Shen Ruolan was doing in the capital?

~

The next day, the family got up at the time of the rooster crowing as usual.

After Xingnong fell asleep last night, she had the same dreams all night, all about the original owner’s memories.

Her head was a little swollen at the moment, but she still got up.

Because of the hot weather, she had stewed bone soup and the meat was also cooked last night.

Xingnong made a bowl of noodles with the bone soup.

The noodles made from wheat grown without pollution, chemical fertilizers, or pesticides had a particularly strong wheat aroma. Even if it was just clear soup noodles, the noodles had a natural sweetness of wheat.

It was so delicious!

Except for Gu Shi, who felt like she had eaten a meal worth of silver and was heartbroken, everyone else ate happily.

After eating the noodles, Gu Shi hurried to town to work.

Xinghui went to Peach Blossom Village. The renovation of the house started today, and he went to help. Xingnong asked him to take twenty jin of rice to make porridge.

The milk candy from last night had hardened. Xingnong cut it into pieces. There was half a sheet of clean oil paper in the kitchen, and she cut the oil paper and wrapped the candy pieces one by one.

After finishing, she said to Xingqing, “I have to go to the city for something.”

Xingqing and Xinghui were indeed dragon and phoenix twins. They even came up with an excuse for Xingnong, “Sister, are you going to the restaurant to sell the recipe? Come back early!”

Xingnong: “…”

~

After entering the city, Xingnong went straight to the bookstore, “Shopkeeper He.”

When Shopkeeper He saw Xingnong, his eyes lit up, as if he had seen the God of Wealth!

He immediately stood up: “Miss Shen is here! Let’s go to the backyard to talk.”

There were many people in the bookstore, all looking at this scene in surprise.

They wondered in their hearts, who was that girl?

But no one guessed Xingnong’s identity.

Some even interpreted the shopkeeper’s excitement as nervousness, guessing that Xingnong was a relative of the shopkeeper, coming to sponge off him.

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