Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

63. New Rules in the Kitchen

Translator: Sissy That Walk

“I told my brother my plan, but he was being greedy, he acted in collusion with Imperial Censor Li in court, and they have impeached His Lordship! His Lordship thought I was involved, so he deprived my house managing power and gave it to Liu Heng, the Third Madam, then one thing leads to another, it’s Cao Mo who is managing the house! And do you know who is fanning the fire? It’s my sister!” Lady Lu burst into tears.

“Madam, I’m sure there’s some misunderstanding here, no way will you elder sister, the second miss of our Lu family do this to you!” Mammy Shao comforted Lady Lu.

“Mammy Shao, you are fooled by my sister too! My sister has long had designs to avenge me, for all these years in this manor she has been scheming against me. My maid Mingzhu is beaten to death already, Mammy Wang is dead too! I regret my life choice, I shouldn’t have fought with my elder sister, this is like living hell for me!” Lady Lu had shouted herself hoarse.

Mammy Shao cuddled Lady Lu, “Madam, don’t fret yourself like this, I will report this to your mother and ask her to send you some trustworthy maids!”

“No, mammy, send me Pan’er! I need to use her against Cao Mo! I will keep suffering as long as he is in this family! You know what mammy, that Cao Mo boy promised His Lordship that he will cover two hundred thousand taels of defalcation within three years!” Lady Lu grabbed Mammy Shao’s hand.

Mammy Shao was petrified, “Two hundred thousand taels of silver? Does he have any idea of how much money that is? How ignorant is he!”

“Mammy Shao, please let my mother know I’m suffering every day in this manor and I need Pan’er!” Lady Lu wiped her face, “Mammy, you might as well leave after lunch with me now that you are here.”

Hardly had Lady Lu’s voice faded away when Dongzhi asked outside, “To report to Lady Lu, the General Kitchen asks you what do you feel like for lunch.”

“Ask her to go away, I don’t want anything!” Lady Lu clenched her fists.

Mammy Zhao who replaced Mammy Xie asked outside the door, “Lady Lu, we have a new rule in the kitchen now, Young Madam says every house could order food and settle accounts monthly. If you are in no moon for food at the moment, I can just record it on my book.”

Mammy Shao stormed out from the room and she slapped on Mammy Zhao on the face, “My madam is indeed no longer managing the house, but she is still Lady Lu of this manor! And what are you, a servant in the kitchen, right? You need to treat my madam with more resect, remember? Tell you what, send all the dishes to Lady Lu, everything on the menu, no way will we save for your master at our own cost!”

Mammy Zhao rubbed her cheek, “Young Madam knew I would be slapped, he says he will give me a tael of silver every time I get slapped. So thanks to you, I just got one tael of silver! I don’t mind getting more slaps, Mammy Shao.”

Mammy Shao was choked, she had no idea Cao Mo would be this hard to deal with.

Mammy Zhao produced a menu from her sleeve, “I brought a menu with me, hmm, they are all good dishes, if Lady Lu wants all the good dishes, let me do a quick maths here, it’s about fifty taels. Let me ask you one more time, Mammy Shao, are you sure you want everything on the menu?”

Mammy Shao gasped, “You have so many dishes for one meal? Isn’t that too wasteful?”

“This is also a new rule made by Young Madam, every house should order what they want for the next day, if we have dishes left in the kitchen we can sell them outside, no way will we waste them or throw them away.” Mammy Zhao explained.

Mammy Zhao pointed at the menu and explained, “You see, there are so many options, staple food, dessert, porridge, cakes, you name it. The kitchen will deliver for free within ten dishes, and charge ten coins for each dish over ten.”

With that Mammy Zhao squinted her eyes and did a quick maths in the heart, “Mammy Shao, if you want everything on the menu, there will be about one tael of silver’s delivery fee, are you sure you want everything?”

Mammy Shao managed to regain her composure, “Let me have a look at the menu.”

Mammy Zhao handed the menu to her with a smile, Mammy Shao opened it and saw there were different sections on the menu, there were twenty kinds of fried dishes, twenty kinds of cold dishes, twenty kinds of steamed dishes, twenty kinds of soups… …”

“Tut tut tut, this is indeed too extravagant.” Mammy Shao couldn’t believe her eyes.

Mammy Zhao sneered, “I beg to differ! You can just order five dishes per day, and try different dishes every day, on that case you can always have something new, no one is asking you to try one hundred dishes for one meal!”

Mammy Shao narrowed her eyes and did some maths too, “No, if I want everything on the menu, it should be two hundred taels, why did you say it’s fifty taels?”

“Because I was talking about packaging separately. Young Madam says it’s more hygiene if we eat on different plates. The way we serve food now is different, we put everything on small plates and small bowls, and no way can anyone poison people any more, because you have no idea which plates belongs to which master.” Mammy Zhao explained proudly.

Lady Lu took the menu and selected twenty dishes along with two bowls of porridge.

Mammy Zhao presented Dongzhi a receipt in triplicate, one for themselves, one for the kitchen and one for the accounts.

Mammy Shao whispered, “Wow, that’s such a clever move, no one can tamper with food any more.”

Lady Lu felt a headache, she begged Mammy Shao one more time, “Please convince mother about Pan’er.”

Mammy Shao whispered at Lady Lu’s ear, “Madam, I need to tell you this great news, your Fifth Sister is now selected as an Imperial Consort! Trust me, Xiao Yugui dares not to bully you any more!”

About ten minutes later, a servant came to send the dishes with a cart.

Dongzhi asked, “Why is it you came sending the dishes? Where is Mammy Zhao?”

The servant replied, “Mammy Zhao is busy at the moment, please check on your receipt, this is what Lady Lu has ordered. Hopefully I didn’t make a mistake, otherwise I need to pay with my own money.”