The daily life of a concubine's daughter

Chapter 171 The bell rings and the cauldron eats, brothers, friends and sisters respect each other

Fu Nanjun sat firmly in the Handan Courtyard. Le Anning and Wang Fan were expecting even more chaos in the backyard, but they never expected that Shi Mingzhu took over the power of household management, took the key of the housekeeper, and started to manage the household in earnest.

In order to pave the way for her daughter, Zheng gave her all the manpower she could to help her manage the household and create a good reputation for her daughter as being virtuous and capable.

At noon, housekeeper Shi Mingzhu finally figured out the situation. She asked someone to deliver food to the ancestral hall, and asked Shi Mi to invite the seventh son Shi Mingchen and the eighth son Shi Minghui to come to Lanpei Courtyard.

She wanted to be a flower of eloquence and enlighten the two of them.

Shi Mi replied, "Miss, the old master ordered them to eat in the ancestral hall and not leave unless necessary."

Shi Mingzhu had no choice but to give up and planned to find another time to talk to them.

At the ancestral hall, the old Duke had people remove the exquisite and delicious meals, and asked people to bring a large cauldron. He also ordered a pile of firewood to be brought in, and some vegetables, rice, meat, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. He pointed at the large cauldron and instructed Shi Yao and others:

"From this meal on, you will cook your own meals in this big pot. I will eat from the same pot with you."

Shi Yao was in high spirits. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to show off her cooking skills, but unexpectedly, her brothers started to cook too.

The fourth brother, Shi Mingkui, is now the leader of the brothers. He naturally assigned tasks: "The fifth brother (Shi Mingying) and the sixth brother (Shi Mingmo) chop wood, the seventh brother (Shi Mingchen) cuts meat and vegetables, the eighth brother (Shi Minghui) washes rice and cooks, and I'm in charge of lighting the fire. Let's take turns tomorrow. Do you have any objections?"

The brothers replied: “No problem.”

Then they each went about their work in an orderly manner.

Shi Yao asked hurriedly: "Fourth brother, what am I responsible for?"

Shi Mingkui smiled and said, "The second sister will be responsible for serving grandfather."

Hearing that she would not be short of food and would not go hungry, Shi Yao felt relieved and sat down next to the old duke with peace of mind. She first praised her brothers for being good men and then pestered the old duke to tell stories.

She was quite interested in the battles that the old Duke had participated in in the past, and she was also interested in the victories won by her ancestors.

The old Duke happily told the younger generation about the glory of the past, and there was no old man who disliked it.

Shi Mingwei was wrapped in gauze and lying on a stretcher. Shi Jianan poured him a glass of boiled water. He glanced at the laughing grandparents and grandchildren from time to time, feeling secretly jealous.

As the saying goes, the youngest son, the eldest grandson, is the lifeblood of an old lady.

As for him, he has never been the apple of his parents' eyes because his parents have never looked down on him.

Among his sons, the fourth son, Mingkui, was the most promising and had caught the eye of his father, who was proud of him.

How come Shi Yao, a little girl with no talent and only knows how to stir up trouble, is favored by old men and women?

Shi Jianan thought for a moment, it would be great if he was a girl!

But, it’s just for a moment, so it’s better to be a man.

In just half an hour, the meat and vegetable porridge in the food pot was cooked.

Shi Yao finally found some work to do. She washed the dishes, distributed a bowl and a pair of chopsticks to each person, and the old Duke made porridge for everyone.

Everything was ready, and they sat on the ground. The old Duke said, "Let's eat!"

Only then did everyone start eating the porridge.

Shi Yao tasted it and found it not very delicious, but not bad either.

She gave her brothers a thumbs-up and made a circle gesture.

Shi Mingkui smiled back.

Shi Mingying snorted.

Shi Mingmo pretended to be blind.

Shi Mingchen rolled his eyes toward the sky.

Shi Minghui responded indifferently.

Shi Jianan glared at him, meaning: Stop making trouble!

Shi Mingwei probably wanted to say something, but he uttered an indistinct sound and choked. The rice porridge sprayed out of his nostrils and all over his face.

Shi Yao covered her lips with the back of her hand and laughed out loud.

The brothers looked at her and Shi Mingwei helplessly.

The old Duke was all smiles. This girl was really fun and full of life. Even when she was crying and complaining about her grievances and making accusations, there was still a sense of joy about her.

After lunch, everyone sat in meditation and rested for half an hour. The old Duke started giving lectures again, focusing on loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, the way of a gentleman, the way of being a human being, the righteousness between husband and wife, the love between father and son, family honor and disgrace, etc. It was a riot of words, and he talked about whatever he thought of.

Although he had not read as much as those civil servants and could not quote from the classics at will, he had experienced a lot and could talk about various practical operations, life examples, and hearsay at will.

Shi Yao listened with great interest, but was troubled by having to write a self-criticism.

Fortunately, before school was over in the evening, the old Duke said, "The emperor ordered you to reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors, not to let you indulge in random thoughts. You must write a reflection paper every day and hand it in to me for inspection the next morning."

Shi Yao hurriedly raised her hand and asked, "Grandfather, the emperor didn't ask me to reflect on my mistakes, so I won't write it! I have to listen to the emperor!"

The old Duke laughed angrily: "The Emperor did not ask you to reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors, but I asked you to write that letter of repentance, so you can't skip it."

Shi Yao clasped her fists and raised them high above her head. Without moving her buttocks, she sat on the mat, bowed deeply to the old Duke, and shouted happily, "Grandfather is wise!"

That’s great! She only has to write one letter of apology, while her brothers have to write one every day. She makes a profit!

Her smug and joyful look was so dazzling that everyone knew what she was thinking.

The old duke laughed, the little girl only knew how to be sneaky and cunning.

Shi Mingkui smiled and shook his head.

The other brothers had different expressions.

Shi Mingchen and Shi Jianan were secretly jealous. Why did this girl win the old man's favor?

Shi Jianan raised his hand tremblingly, and was about to imitate Shi Yao's words, but the old Duke glared at him and said, "Shut your mouth!"

Shi Jian'an's face flushed and he put down his hand tremblingly.

Shi Yao and others burst into laughter.

In the evening, after dinner in the ancestral hall, everyone went their separate ways.

After Shi Yao ate two bowls of porridge, she felt her mouth was tasteless. Fortunately, Aunt Liu Hua and the others were smart and spent some money to make three side dishes for Shi Yao as a midnight snack.

Shi Yao satisfied her appetite and was content.

Today was another happy day.

The happiest thing is that more than two thousand taels of silver were seized during the house search yesterday. The ground was dug three feet deep and all the silver hidden in the rat holes was dug out.

Shi Mingzhen was furious.

Wan Zheng's family cried so sadly.

Banxia said: "The Third Master has never had any disputes with Wan Zheng's wife."

Shi Yao guessed that the two hundred taels of silver note in Wan Zheng's wife's sleeve was probably given by Zheng.

Humph, this aunt is still so evil and always wants to put herself above her in every way for her daughter.

The next day, the Shi brothers and sisters went to the ancestral hall to attend an ideological education class.

Shi Mingmo's face was swollen and one of his eyes was black and blue, but the tense atmosphere between him and Shi Mingchen had eased a lot.

Obviously, the punch was thrown by Shi Mingchen, and after that, the matter of Sixth Brother fooling around with the maid in his new room was forgotten.

Shi Yao was secretly happy and happily handed in a letter of repentance, while her brothers handed in a letter of reflection.

This went on for several days, and life became comfortable, with the front yard and back house finally at peace.

Shi Mingkui would occasionally chat with Shi Yao.

Once, Shi Yao's brush broke, and Shi Mingchen awkwardly threw her a new brush.

When Shi Yao turned to look at him, he was looking straight ahead with an arrogant and indifferent look, as if nothing had happened.

Shi Yao sneered, and at noon, she asked Muxiang to go back and get a new wolf-hair brush, and returned it to Shi Mingchen to thank him.

She didn't want to owe him anything.

And this scene happened to be seen by Shi Mingzhu.