Chapter 224 - Fighting Over Someone (1/2)

“Liu Ya!” Nanny Li swung her hand out to stop Liu Ya. She told Li Shi with a smile, “Second Old Mistress Sang isn’t wrong. I’m just a servant indeed! However, I’m indebted to Young Master and Young Mistress for thinking highly of me. You are our Young Mistress’s relative, it is our responsibility to welcome you to Ning Garden1 and serve you well. If you have any dissatisfaction, please wait until Young Mistress comes back before talking to her about it! Liu Ya, what are you still standing here for? Hurry and help Second Old Mistress Sang!”

“Yes, Godmother!” Liu Ya shot a glance and the other two servants went ahead as well to pull both Li Shi and Sang Yan with them. Li Shi opened her mouth and wanted to retort, but seeing Nanny Li’s stern look, the words could not escape her mouth. There was only a blank look on her face as she was pulled away.

After taking a few dozen steps, Li Shi returned to her senses. She quickly turned her head and shouted at Gu Fangzi while waving her hand, “Fangzi! Go back first. I’ll visit you when I have the time!”

Gu Fangzi and Lan Xiang giggled and nodded at her.

“That foolish countryside woman is very interesting! I didn’t expect Young Mistress to have such an interesting relative!” Lan Xiang jeered.

Gu Fangzi snorted and replied coldly, “That wretch, Sang Wan, is a wild and coarse countryside woman to begin with. A relative like her is well-suited!”

With that, they returned to Peony Park2 unhappily. Gu Fangzi hated the fact that she had talked too much just now and missed an opportunity. If she had known Nanny Li would come, she would have pulled Li Shi away.

Nanny Li, Liu Ya, and the others were startled by Li Shi’s thundering voice. Nanny Li had been living under the influence of rules in her lifetime. As such, she hated those who do not abide by the rules the most. There were words she wanted to say but did not do so at first. But when she shot a look at Li Shi, she unconsciously frowned and could not hold herself back any longer. Her feet came to a stop and said, “Second Old Mistress Sang, if you have anything to say to Miss Gu, it is more than enough to instruct a servant to deliver your message. By shouting so loudly, firstly, she might not be able to hear from such a distance; secondly, don’t you find it terribly tiring? And lastly, it doesn’t look dignified in front of the servants! Moving on, no matter how well you get along with Miss Gu, don’t call her by her name. Our Old Mistress dotes on her very much. If our Old Mistress were to see how casual you were, she will be unhappy and will fault Young Mistress for being irreverent!”

Li Shi was greatly discontented and replied, “Even though Fangzi was the one who allowed me to call her that?”

“Even Young Mistress doesn’t address Miss Gu by her name,” Nanny Li said without hiding her displeasure.Li Shi was embarrassed and responded with an ‘oh’ before going silent.

They entered Ning Garden, passed through the hallway and took a turn to the corridor on the left. They were greeted with many different beautiful flowers as well as the lofty and dignified house that was upright and tall. The doors were brand new and the red paint was eye-catching, and the whitewashed corridor was patterned delicately. Li Shi’s eyes were filled with admiration and she felt her eyes had not feasted enough. While in a daze, she almost knocked into a pillar.

Nanny Li led the two, mother and daughter, into the warm room where Sang Wan usually went. She invited them to sit on the soft couch and ordered the servants to draw some water for them to wash their hands and clean their faces before serving tea. Liu Ya had already instructed for two bowls of noodles to be cooked and she urged Nanny Li to take a rest. “I’ll be here! Godmother, please take a rest!”

Nanny Li was not fond of Li Shi, but since she was Sang Wan’s relative, it would be inappropriate for her to say anything. When she saw Liu Ya hurriedly chasing her away, she was aware of her intentions and said with a smile, “Serve her well until Young Mistress returns and let her handle the rest.” With that, she left.

Liu Ya let out a sigh of relief and promptly said with a smile, “Second Old Mistress, Third Missy, it’s neither early nor late now so I’ve called the kitchen to make two bowls of noodles for the both of you to enjoy. It isn’t early for you to go back as well, so I’ve requested for a few more good dishes to be served to you today.’

Li Shi was unhappy when she had heard Liu Ya had only prepared two bowls of noodles for them. However, when she seemed tactful enough not to chase them away, Li Shi said with a smile on her face, “It wasn’t easy for us to make a trip here from a far away, so I was thinking of staying here for a few days! Liu Ya, Sang Wan won’t chase us away, right?”

“Why would Young Mistress do that?” Liu Ya smiled but was grumbling about it deep down.

“Of course. Sang Wan has always been very conscientious!” Li Shi nodded her head with a beam. She gazed about the entire house in all directions and praised while clicking her tongue, “This Shi family is really rich. I’ll stay a few days and open my eyes to their wealth! Aiyo, we don’t even have such good material to make clothes, yet it’s being used as a tablecloth! Those gold, silver, and jade porcelain displays are really beautiful and dazzling to the eyes! They must cost a lot of money, right?”

Afraid that she would steal them away like Ren Zhixian, Liu Ya said with a smile, “I’m sure they aren’t cheap! What I do know is that these things are registered in the storehouse’s book and taken out using Young Mistress’s name. They will be changed every season, so when the time comes, they’ll have to be returned to the storehouse!”Li Shi responded with a ‘Oh’ and sipped two mouthfuls of tea before staring at the flower patterns on the blue and white teacup.

After a while, a servant came in with a red tray. Liu Ya stepped forward to receive it from her before signalling for her to leave.

“Second Old Mistress, Third Missy, please come and eat!” As Liu Ya said that, she served the two bowls of noodles onto the little round table one after the other.

“We aren’t very hungry, but thank you for your hard work!” As Li Shi said insincerely and got up, she thought to herself: Who has never eaten noodles? You should have prepared some delicious food for us since we came from very far away. Don’t think you can satisfy us with just a bowl of noodles! This servant is really becoming more and more petty!

After taking a seat in front of the table and seeing all sorts of ingredients on top of the thin white noodles such as dried scallops, hams, shrimp meats, winter bamboo shoots, and so on, as well as the fragrant and rich minced meat which smelled so savory, she could not help but swallowed her saliva subconsciously before taking out the chopsticks as her mouth itched to have a taste.

These noodles were cooked with a soup stock and were mixed with eggs into the best quality white noodles. With the skills of the kitchen staff’s cooking, how would it be the same as what Li Shi would normally have? Li Shi could not be bothered about anything else and slurped a few mouthfuls of noodles. She then felt more invigorated. She held her bowl up and slurped several large mouthfuls of gravy before she wiped her mouth and turned her head to Liu Ya. She said with a smile, “It’s really delicious, but it’s not enough without chili. Bring me some chili!”