Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 437 - 403: Chaos Returns to the Southern Border
Su Jingchen and Yu Xiaolian left Luocheng with only Zhao Sanyan and Cao Gen, along with a matron in her fifties, while the rest of the servants from Su Mansion stayed back in Luocheng.
The courtyard they rented was extremely small, but because it was close to the academy, the rent was unusually high, costing two taels of silver each month.
Su Jingchen and Yu Xiaolian lived in the first courtyard, while Zhao Sanyan and Su Jingyue shared the second courtyard with Cao Gen. Zhao Sanyan and the matron lived in the side rooms of the first courtyard. Though everyone had their own room, there wasn’t a single extra room left because Su Jingchen and Su Jingyue each occupied a room for their study.
As Su Jingyue’s new sister-in-law, Yu Xiaolian was worried she might neglect him in any way, so she took extra care in looking after him, making Su Jingchen occasionally send icy daggers with his eyes towards Su Jingyue.
The household had two scholars, yet there were no excessive rules and constraints. Yu Xiaolian’s married life was very comfortable, and she had long discarded any pre-marriage anxiety. Moreover, without in-laws, she was the mistress of the house, the boss, without needing to worry about anyone else’s mood.
Besides fretting over what to eat each day, Yu Xiaolian mostly spent her time curled up in warm bedding with a book, engrossed for the entire day.
Yu Xiaolian had started a life devoid of social interaction, staying indoors completely like a pampered hermit.
Zhao Sanyan knocked on the door and entered, "Miss, the young master asked Cao Gen to bring back the message that he won’t be home for lunch and that his academy classmates are gathering!"
Yu Xiaolian looked up from her book, rubbing her slightly sore neck, "Oh, I know. Then tell Matron Dai to make one less dish!"
"Alright!" Zhao Sanyan responded, turned around, shut the door, and left.
Yu Xiaolian put down her book, slipped into her fluffy slippers and climbed off the warm bed. Winter made her feel lazy; she hadn’t gone out even once since arriving at the Capital. Even when something was needed at home, she’d just send Zhao Sanyan and the matron to buy it in the street.
Back in Luocheng, she was bustling with the affairs of Zhenpin Pavilion and Immortal Music House, never having a moment’s rest, and had planned to give herself a long vacation once she reached the Capital.
But after only half a month at home, she found such a lifestyle rather dull; she had flipped through those books several times, with the stories being much the same, lacking novelty. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Yu Xiaolian peered through the window paper, seeing snow falling outside, and suddenly felt playful. Wrapping herself in her rabbit-fur satin cloak, she pushed the door open and went into the courtyard.
Picking up a dry branch under the tree, she started drawing in the snow.
Yu Xiaolian drew a cartoon version of Su Jingchen and then, holding the small branch, began to bombard the cartoon version of Su Jingchen.
"Su, how dare you socialize outside and not come home to eat with your newlywed wife after such a short marriage? You’ve got some nerve!
When you return, I’ll invoke household discipline, and give you eighty lashings, then make you wash my feet, hmph╯^╰
Ugh, why did I draw him so handsome? No, no, he recently ate too much chili and seems to have a pimple on his forehead, gotta add that."
Yu Xiaolian used the branch to poke a pimple on the head of the Q-version Su Jingchen.
With the pimple, the Q-version Su Jingchen’s whole aesthetic transformed, turning into a sleazy guy.
Yu Xiaolian looked at the pimple, which was about the size of an egg, tossed the branch aside, and laughed wildly with her hands on her hips.
"Hahaha... Uh... why are you back? Didn’t Cao Gen say you were gathering with classmates for lunch?" Yu Xiaolian looked at Su Jingchen walking closer, slightly guilty, unsure of when he returned or if he heard her whimsical words.
"Eighty lashings? Could you bear that?" Su Jingchen couldn’t help but enlarge the smile on his face as he stepped forward to adjust Yu Xiaolian’s crooked cloak.
He overheard her for sure, but Yu Xiaolian was puzzled. People with profound inner strength have extraordinary hearing and sight, yet she lacked those magical ’functions’?
"Why are you back?" Yu Xiaolian asked again.
"I never agreed to dine with them; it was their unilateral decision to send a message through Cao Gen," Su Jingchen felt it necessary to admonish Cao Gen, ensuring he doesn’t just relay any instruction given by someone else.
Today was merely a meal, trivial matters, but if a significant issue arises, Cao Gen might end up missing the point.
Yu Xiaolian led Su Jingchen into the main hall, "Cao Gen isn’t aware of these complexities, just scold him lightly and don’t delve too deep; the kid is narrow-minded, if you speak too harshly he might think we’re dissatisfied with him!"
Cao Gen, not very old, only fifteen years old this year, however, a bit single-minded, and Su Jingchen chose to keep him around because he’s loyal enough, and knows some martial arts.
Su Jingchen nodded, showing he knew how far to speak.
Ever since Su Jingchen and the others arrived in the Capital, they’ve always returned home for meals, with Yu Xiaolian designing menu variations each day. They chose to keep Matron Dai around mainly because her cooking was delicious and suited their tastes.
This morning, Su Jingchen and Su Jingyue went to the academy at dawn, and after Yu Xiaolian woke naturally, the first thing she did was finalize the lunch menu.
Celery shrimp, braised beef, braised fish, vermicelli cabbage, with rib lotus root soup.
The daily meals were all bought by Zhao Sanyan who went out for shopping. Items like shrimp were not found in ordinary markets; Yu Xiaolian took them from the supermarket and handed them to Zhao Sanyan, telling Matron Dai they were bought from the port market in the Capital.
Matron Dai never questioned where the items were purchased; she just cooked whatever the household bought without concern, being able to procure unusual items was a sign of wealth and connections. She ate the same food as the household, basking in some of their fortune reveling.
Besides shrimp, Yu Xiaolian hadn’t dared to bring out other peculiar items; things hard to explain, she shared secretly with Su Jingchen at home, and occasionally with Su Jingyue and Zhao Sanyan as well.
After Zhao Sanyan informed Matron Dai to make one less dish, Matron Dai didn’t cook the braised fish, but prepared everything else, and with Su Jingyue bouncing back indoors, the family officially started lunch.
Su Jingyue devoured the braised beef while talking to Su Jingchen, "Big brother, I heard our teacher say today that Great Meng Country started causing trouble again at the Southern Border, maybe there’s going to be war."
Su Jingchen had heard this too, as Great Meng Country suddenly faced an epidemic, resulting in many people catching it in Jie City, making the Southern Border chaotic and miserable.
"Back when Great Meng Country had peace talks with the Crown Prince, they promised not to disturb the border for three years, and now that the three-year mark has long passed, they haven’t broken their word.
However, continuously harassing them and just beating them every time isn’t a solution; can’t we handle them once and for all?" Su Jingyue asked his big brother, looking up.
