Chapter 3: Snobbish

 

Translated by Prosperousfood dot com

Edited by Gumihou

Re-Host at kitchennovel dot com

 

“Missy, you….” Xiang Yun looked at Su Nuan Nuan’s sparkling eyes, and scratched her head. “This maid feels that Missy is somehow different from before, but Elder Sister Hong Lian just won’t let me say it.”

“Nonsense, how could I be the same? Do not forget, I am someone who had just escaped the shadow of death.” Su Nuan Nuan rolled her eyes at Xiang Yun. “How do you think I managed to escape? The King of Hell personally informed me that my lifespan has not reached its end yet. To compensate me for mistakenly harvesting my soul too early, he had gifted me with some interesting skills!”

“Missy… how is it that this maid doesn’t understand a word you said?” Xiang Yun continued to stare at Su Nuan Nuan with cow like eyes. Elder Sister Hong Lian is certainly right, ah. This Missy is really different. But, this Missy is also really nice, ah. In the past I dare not speak to Missy like this at all.

“En, it’s only natural that you do not understand me.” Su Nuan Nuan muttered, at Xiang Yun’s wide eyes, she cleared her throat authoritatively and said. “Well, all you need to know is that your mistress is a now phoenix reborn. I have gone through cleansing fire and have left by past behind, understand?

It’s also fine if you don’t understand. Your mistress is a wise and a rare genius with a cool intellect, a great beauty whose very bones are made from jade, so how could a simple little maid like you understand?” fuh, that last sentence was really over the top, Su Nuan Nuan almost threw up from the disgustingly narcissistic words that dribbled out of her mouth.

“Oh, oh, it really is Missy! These are words Missy often said.” Xiang Yun nearly leapt up in happiness. “This is too wonderful. It really is Missy! This maid must have been suffering from some kind of weird nightmare thinking that you’ve switched to someone else.”

Oho! So that woman liked to brag about herself like this? This- how shameless, such thick face, ah. Nuan Nuan wiped the sweat from her forehead and heaved a sigh of relief. This girl is really easy to trick, however, that Hong Lian looks like a sharp one.

However, no need to worry, if that girl tries to test me, I have all of Su Meng Nuan’s memories with me. More importantly, I have this super useful iron clad excuse, recovery from the brink of death, snatching life from the jaws of death, ah. It is perfectly natural that women who came back from the brink of death to be a little different, right?

“Missy, Xiang Yun…..”

Hong Lian’s voice echoed from the back entrance. Su Nuan Nuan and Xiang Yun turned around to see Hong Lian standing in a pool of sunlight. Her expression in shadows.

“What happened? Did you get anything from the kitchen?”

Su Nuan Nuan dusted her hands on her skirt and walked over. A look at Hong Lian’s face immediately told her all she needed to know.

“Missy, the kitchen told me to inform you that they dared not to give us food. If the accounts do not tally, then the kitchen will be in trouble.” Hong Lian sighed, and shook her head. “Please endure a little longer, this one shall appeal to Madam Yun.”

“Appeal to Madam Yun? And be mocked and ridiculed by that woman’s servants?” Su Nuan Nuan snorted. So, this was the life of a big house. Want to know why there’s a saying that goes ‘A Fallen Phoenix is Worth Less than a Chicken?’ This situation fits that phrase perfectly.

“What could we do? If Missy doesn’t want to rock the boat, we can just quietly eat whatever the kitchen gives us sooner or later. Surely they would not dare to just give us nothing, ba?”

The one worry that Hong Lian was most concerned about was the condition of her mistress. They really were in dire traits. The little marquis loved beautiful women, had great influence and power over his peers and underlings, and was friendly with the royal family. He was popular with the princes too. Women that he took into his mansion were all ladies of high social standing, distinguished bloodlines or great beauty. Now that her precious Missy’s family, the Duke of Ping had been reduced to slaves, within this palace of intrigue, their words might as well be wind.

“Depend on those people? Good ingredients are wasted on them, there is cooking a disgrace.” Su Nuan Nuan frowned and muttered. “Just as well it’s the end of spring. So, we should be able to eat the vegetables in the garden in a few more days. But what should we do about rice and flour, and condiments? I can’t just magic them out, ba? The kitchen… humph! Since when did kitchen staff dare to look down on me?”

Hong Lian gave a bitter smile, not only the kitchen staff, even the sweeping ladies from the courtyard dared to openly glare at her, a highly placed lady’s maid. Still want the kitchen staff to give them face? Hong Lian really admired Missy’s optimism. Still want to eat delicious food? From her point of view, she estimated that in 10 days or half a month, the kitchen would probably cease bringing food over at all. When that happened, even if they do not commit suicide, death would come knocking.

Su Nuan Nuan too did not think that she would meet with such bitter test so soon after surviving starvation and strangulation. She spent most of the day seated, head tipped to one side in thought. She really did not want to create a scene in the kitchen if at all possible, however, it looked like she had no choice. This was a matter of life and death.

“Hey, you two. Do I have anything from my dowry left?”

When they returned to the room, Su Nuan Nuan sat down on a chair and began to work her brain furiously. At least those time spent reading ancient China lightnovels weren’t wasted, she soon hit upon a solution in the form of her dowry. The Marquis of An Ping was said to be as rich as a small country, surely that slag Duan Tingxuan would not shamelessly suck up his wives’ dowry for himself, ba? It won’t be too difficult get him to spit some out, ight?

“Of course Missy’s dowry is quite considerable. Only, when Duke of Ping got into trouble, the master had to use up most of it to curry favour with some officials and got them to speak well on behalf of Missy’s family. Otherwise, the emperor would have had the whole family killed in a fit of rage. That last quarrel with the master was actually about this. Thousands of gold from the An Ping coffer had been spent on bribes, too. The master said that you’ve actually… squandered quite a lot in the past, and…”

Su Nuan Nuan waved her hands, “Fine, fine, I understand. My dowry is all gone, right? And I even owe that slag man Duan Tingxuan, thousands of gold, right?”

Looking at the stunned expression on her two servants’ face, it suddenly occurred to her that her words were rather… crude. She immediately knocked herself on her head, “Ahem, I just remember! My brain must have been scrambled by that darn suicide attempt, some things stick while others falls out, it’s so annoying.”

“It’s already a great stroke of fortune that Missy have escaped death. Please don’t be alarmed by your memory loss.” Hong Lian immediately reacted to her Missy’s anxious face and automatically came forward to sooth. Not knowing that Su Nuan Nuan was currently beating herself up for her own bad acting. Curses, no wonder acting is such a well-paid job. It’s already been two days, even if she could not seamlessly become the character, she had to at least increase the level of her acting skills, ah.

“Missy, what should we do?” Xiang Yun had already came to see her mistress as the mastermind and backbone of their little operation. On her side, she felt that things looked bleak and getting bleaker by the second and accidentally blurted out her little plea. Completely forgetting that brain work was actually Hong Lian’s domain.

“What else could we do? I’ll have to personally storm the kitchen.” Su Nuan Nuan slapped the table and stood up. Humph! Slag man, you owe me this much. You already married Su Meng Nuan for three years, you should at least compensate for wasting her youth, right? I’ll be taking some rice, flour, oil and salt. Actually, all that is actually quite cheap, you know? Never mind, let’s hit the kitchen a few more times otherwise we’ll be the one making a loss. Even though Su Meng Nuan’s already dead, but as her representative, I shall demand compensation on her behalf.

 

 

[Gumihou: Yeah! Demand compensation!]

 

  ^_^

Translated by Gumihou

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