Rebirth: Contract Husband Falls in Love with Me-Chapter 436 - 223: Snatching People (Part 2)

Liu Ya was afraid that Mrs. Li would have the mind to casually take things away like the uncle-in-law did, so she smiled and said, "I guess it’s not cheap, right? I don’t know about this! These items are all registered in the warehouse, taken out and displayed for the season because of the status of the Shi family’s eldest daughter-in-law. When the season changes, they all have to be returned to the warehouse!"

Mrs. Li "Oh"ed, took a few sips of the tea in her hands, and couldn’t stop looking at the blue and white tea cup with entwined lotus designs.

Soon, a little maid came in with a tray painted in vermilion lacquer, and Liu Ya stepped forward to take it and signaled her to leave.

"Second lady, third miss, come and have a taste!" Liu Ya said as she successively served two bowls of noodles on the small round table.

"Actually, we’re not that hungry, sorry to trouble you!" Mrs. Li said half-heartedly as she got up, feeling quite aggrieved, thinking who hasn’t eaten noodles before. We’ve come from so far, and they didn’t offer something tastier, just dismissing us with a bowl of noodles! You stingy girl are getting more and more miserly!

Once seated at the table, the sight of various ingredients in the fine white noodles, like dried scallops, ham, shrimp, winter bamboo shoots, and shiitake mushrooms, topped with a rich and fragrant sauce, made her unconsciously swallow her saliva. She picked up the chopsticks and couldn’t wait to try a bite.

The noodles were made with stock and the dough incorporated eggs, resulting in the finest white noodles unlike the usual ones Mrs. Li ate. With the cook’s skills, how could it compare? Mrs. Li, not caring about anything else, slurped down a few mouthfuls, feeling rejuvenated. She picked up the bowl, sipped a few big mouthfuls of soup, wiped her mouth and turned to Liu Ya with a beaming smile: "It’s delicious indeed, just not spicy enough without chili, go get me some chili!"

"Yes!" Liu Ya answered, lifting the curtain to go out and ordered a little maid, soon bringing back a bowl of chili noodles.

Mrs. Li scooped a spoonful into her bowl, tasted it, added two more spoons until the entire bowl turned a thorough red, then satisfactorily continued to eat, commenting, "The chili from your mansion really isn’t great! It lacks a spicy punch!"

Liu Ya took a look at the fiery red bowl of noodles and felt a tingling on her scalp, chuckled and said, "The masters of the mansion don’t really eat spicy food; the young master and the eldest daughter-in-law don’t eat much of it either."

While they were talking, Mrs. Li had already swept through a big bowl of noodles like a whirlwind, leaving not a drop of soup behind, scraping every bit of green onion and minced meat from the bottom and the edges with her chopsticks and ate them all, smiling at Liu Ya, "Any more? Give me another bowl!"

Liu Ya was no stranger to Mrs. Li, but she had never seen Mrs. Li like this, suddenly stunned and forgetting to reply. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"What’s the matter? Don’t tell me there’s no more for a second bowl of noodles? The Shi family isn’t that stingy, are they?" Mrs. Li grew displeased.

"No, not at all, of course not!" Liu Ya secretly wiped away sweat, thinking she never knew this second lady could eat so much!

"It won’t be long before dinner time. If you eat too much now, how will you have room for dinner? Otherwise, shall I have someone bring a couple of dishes of pastries for the second lady to snack on in the meantime?"

"That’s fine too!" Mrs. Li nodded and saw her daughter leisurely eating one bite at a time, couldn’t help chastising, "Why do you do everything so slowly? Eat faster; the kitchen needs to clean up the bowls and chopsticks!"

Sang Yan had felt uncomfortable since she came in. Although the noodles smelled good, they tasted bland to her. Upon her mother’s urging, how could she continue to eat? She put down her chopsticks with a sullen face and said, "I’m, I’m done already, no more for me."

"Done eating?" Mrs. Li frowned. "What a waste! Eat some more! Weren’t you hungry at lunch?"

"Really, I’m full enough." Sang Yan shook her head.

"If you don’t eat it, I will, to avoid waste!" Mrs. Li reached out and pulled Sang Yan’s bowl towards herself, and quickly finished it off. Then she took a comfortable breath and turned to Liu Ya with a grin, "Liu Ya, bring the pastries quickly!"

"Mother..." Sang Yan felt embarrassed and tugged at Mrs. Li, casting an awkward glance at Liu Ya.

"What are you doing? Liu Ya is not an outsider! And so what if she was? Such good white noodles would be a pity to waste, don’t you agree, Liu Ya?" Mrs. Li gave her daughter a displeased glare.

"Second lady is right! I’ll go fetch the pastries now, just wait here," Liu Ya said with a smile, not finding anything wrong with Mrs. Li’s behavior. Having come from the countryside himself, he knew the value of food very well. It’s just the air Mrs. Li puts on that’s indeed disagreeable!

Inwardly, Liu Ya fervently hoped that the Shi family’s eldest daughter-in-law would come back soon. Such antics from the second lady, he dared not let someone else serve her, afraid it might turn into a joke.

Before long, Liu Ya brought over three or four plates of sweet treats like osmanthus cake, water chestnut cake, golden jujube cake, and cheerfully placed them in front of Mrs. Li. The two empty bowls, meanwhile, were taken aside, planning to take them to the kitchen to wash after everyone had left for the night—as shiny as mirrors, Liu Ya truly did not have the heart to expose them to ridicule.

"Hehe, the wealthy families indeed have a different air! Tsk tsk, look at how exquisite and pretty these pastries are made, just smelling them is already so delightful!" Mrs. Li held a crystal-clear water chestnut cake, admiringly praised.

Liu Ya feared she might wolf down everything like a tornado again, knowing these pastries brought were quite sweet and hefty. Quickly joining in with a laugh, she said: "Eldest daughter-in-law should try a piece of each to taste them. There are even more delicious foods for later this evening. I’ve instructed the kitchen to prepare a feast, so please save some room in your stomach! When you leave, I’ll pack several boxes of these pastries for you to take home and savor at your leisure!"

"Hehe, that sounds nice, that sounds nice!" Upon hearing there would be tastier foods at night and that pastries could be taken away, Mrs. Li immediately became more refined, sampling one of each kind before stopping.