Chapter 198 - Going to Cour (2/2)

Xiaocao deliberately showed a proud expression. If it hadn’t been for the oil in her hands, Zhang Quan’s wife would have hugged her fondly. Seeing the soft tofu on the kitchen table, Yu Xiaocao rinse the tofu under water, cut up the remaining two century eggs, and put them on top of the tofu. After that, she poured a sauce on top and completed the dish ‘century eggs and tofu’.

Zhang Quan’s wife made the dish ‘chicken stewed with mushroom’ and some wheat flatbread. It was the last stock of wheat flour that the Yu Family had, so it caused Madam Zhang to have a burst of heartache.

On the other stove, Xiaocao made ‘pork stewed with vermicelli’, which was a dish the northerners liked to eat. She also cooked several vegetable dishes with oyster sauce. Since the Zhou Family’s factories started production, Xiaocao, as a shareholder, had never lacked condiments such as oyster sauce and MSG. She could also get an unlimited amount of vermicelli and century eggs whenever she wanted. It was said that the money would be deducted from the dividend, but Third Young Master Zhou had always been generous towards her, so he wouldn’t really care about such a trivial matter.

The bailiffs were very satisfied with this meal and repeated praised that the food was delicious. In particular, Head Bailiff Yue, who had eaten at Zhenxiu Restaurant before, had even said, “I didn’t expect that there would be such an excellent chef in this remote village! This culinary skill is almost as good as the head chef of Zhenxiu Restaurant! It’s nearly impossible to eat the dishes ‘century eggs and tofu’ and ‘pork stewed with vermicelli’ outside of Zhenxiu Restaurant. I never expected that your Yu Family has such connections and are able to buy vermicelli and century eggs, which aren’t available on the market…”

Yu Bo, who was beside them, hastily said, “What connections would my family have? It’s just that my second brother has a good relationship with the owner of Zhenxiu Restaurant, so he’s able to get these vermicelli and century eggs. In order to entertain our honored guest, we have cooked all of them.”

“Your second brother indeed has some connections. Zhenxiu Restaurant’s oyster sauce dishes is a secret recipe, yet he also got to learn it? Your second brother’s relationship with the owner of Zhenxiu Restaurant must be really close ah!” Head Bailiff Yue put aside his contempt in his heart and revealed a trace of smile on his face.

Seeing that the bailiffs were eating happily, Yu Bo become even more enthusiastic. People often said: ‘It’s easy to see the King of Hell, but it’s difficult to please the little goblins.’ These bailiffs often used their status to act like a tyrant. Today, it was thanks to his younger niece that they were able to please these fellows. In the afternoon, they wouldn’t cause too much trouble for them at court.

After eating lunch, Yu Hai, who found out that this daughter was summoned to court this afternoon, quickly loaded the two carts of watermelons and followed his daughter and the bailiffs to town. On the road to town, there were also Madam Zhang and her son, as well as Old Yu, who followed them because he was worried.

They had specially loaded fewer watermelon on the Yu Family’s horse carriage so that the bailiffs could sit on it. Xiaocao skillfully sat on the shaft of the donkey cart. When the bailiffs came, they had walked until their feet hurt. Since they were able to get a free ride on a horse carriage on their way back, their originally frustrated feelings had gotten slightly better. So, they didn’t make things difficult for them.

When they arrived in town, Xiaocao, Madam Zhang, and Yu Bo were taken directly to the yamen. Yu Hai, who was worried about his daughter, didn’t have time to care about his carts of watermelon and rushed to Fang Zizhen’s residence in town.

It just so happened that he ran into Fang Zizhen, who had just returned from the prefectural city and hadn’t even had time to dismount from his horse, in front of the entrance of the Fang Estate. This guy was even more of a fool for his daughter than Yu Hai. As soon as he heard that his precious daughter was summoned to court, he promptly turned his horse around and dashed towards the yamen. He was afraid that his daughter would be frightened by the guys in the yamen if he got there too late.

The gatekeeper of Fang Estate saw that his master had directly rushed to the yamen without even getting off his horse, so he hastily reported it to the head steward. The head steward naturally knew how important Miss Yu was in his master’s heart, but he still needed to inform the madam of the master’s return.

At this time, Lady Fang was in her sick niece’s room. When she heard that her daughter was taken to the yamen by bailiffs, she immediately left behind her niece, who had just taken her medication, changed into the attire of a third-rank noble madam, and went to the yamen in a carriage. When she thought about how scared the delicate and weak Xiaocao might be in front of the cruel and harsh bailiffs of the yamen, Lady Fang repeated urged the coachman to drive faster.

On the other hand, Yu Xiaocao, the object of her parents’ worries, was currently curiously looking around the county yamen like it was some tourist attraction. There was a row of bailiffs standing on each side of the court hall with a wooden rod in their hands, while a wooden desk was placed right across from the entrance. On top of the wooden desk, there was a judge’s gavel and a bamboo tube with several wooden sticks inside. Behind the wooden desk, the four grand and imposing characters of ‘be honest and upright’ were written and hung on top.

Head Bailiff Yue saw that the little girl had no fear in her big, round eyes, but she had an obvious look of curiosity instead. He couldn’t help but cough and remind her to kneel down in a low voice. Xiaocao finally noticed that Madam Zhang and her son had already kneeled down in front of the court hall and were trembling in fear.

She scratched her nose, knelt down reluctantly, and muttered, “Wicked ways of the old society…”

Before transmigrating, except for being punished to kneel by her mom for misbehaving when she was a child, Xiaocao had never really kneel in front of anyone before. Ever since she had transmigrated, her poor, little knees had to suffer. During the New Year, she had to kneel in front of her elders for New Year greetings. When acknowledging her godparents, she had to kneel down and kowtow. When she accidentally offended the young royal prince, she had to kneel and apologize. She also had to kneel down when she carelessly said the wrong thing in front of Fifth Lord… Ay! She touched her own poor, little knees. Would this cause calluses?

Just as she was complaining, she got startled by the shouting of ‘the court trial shall begin—‘. When County Magistrate Wu came out from the rear hall, he saw a small, thin figure widening her eyes in shock and sitting on her own legs. She looked just like a frightened little squirrel. He almost didn’t maintain his dignified appearance and laughed out loud, but he looked at Xiaocao with a gaze that was filled with smiles.

With her big, round eyes, Yu Xiaocao stared at County Magistrate Wu, who was dressed in an official’s robe, as he walked out of the rear hall in big strides. His appearance really gave off the feeling of someone who sang Chinese opera. She blinked her eyes, shifted into a more comfortable sitting position, and waited for the show to begin… uh, no, for the trial to begin.