Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 956 - 954_1

Chapter 956: Chapter 954_1

The three entered King Xuan’s Mansion through the back door, and after walking a hundred meters, they reached a fork in the road.

Xiao’er and Shangguan Xuanyi had visited King Xuan’s Mansion before, but they hadn’t had the chance to explore, and now that they had entered through the back door, they were a bit lost.

"Where’s the kitchen?" Gong Zixuan turned to Shangguan Xuanyi and Xiao’er.

"Who cares where it is? Do you think you’re actually a purveyor for King Xuan’s Mansion, responsible for delivering things to the kitchen? Find a place to hide these things and let’s go find the Princess," Xiao’er said, looking around for a place to stash the tricycle.

Shangguan Ruixi was silent for a moment: right, he would have to be a fool to still be thinking about this cart of meat and vegetables!

Just then, an old woman came down the road. Upon seeing them, she hollered, "Why are you back so late today? Hurry up and take these things to the kitchen."

She walked away after speaking.

Hearing this, Shangguan Ruixi had no choice but to follow her with the tricycle.

When they arrived at the kitchen, they didn’t get out of the vehicle, thinking of how they could excuse themselves and leave.

However, the old woman didn’t give them the opportunity to speak: "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and deliver the items to the kitchen."

The three exchanged glances, then silently dismounted the tricycle and began to unload the items.

After unloading the tricycle, the old woman gave further instructions: "One of you put the tricycle away, the other two help with fetching water and chopping firewood!"

Xiao’er blinked in surprise: when did procurement entail chopping firewood and fetching water?!

The three dared not speak up, communicating with eye contact instead. It was eventually decided that Xiao’er would put the tricycle away and go find Shangguan Wanru while the other two stayed to chop firewood and fetch water.

On their way to the kitchen, they had already noticed two tricycles parked near the back door, so they were not worried about Xiao’er finding a parking spot.

And so, Xiao’er rode off on the tricycle while Shangguan Xuanyi and Shangguan Ruixi went to chop firewood and fetch water, respectively.

Neither of them had ever done any work like this before.

Fortunately, even though they hadn’t eaten pork, they had seen pigs run and had a general idea of what to do.

The old woman glanced at their figures. They were the same people, but why did they seem so much taller?

"What have you two been eating lately that’s made you both grow so much?" the old woman asked curiously. She didn’t suspect that they were not the same people.

Hearing her question, Shangguan Ruixi deliberately deepened his voice: "We’ve probably been drinking a lot of beef bone soup recently!"

"What happened to your voice?" The old

woman turned back to look at him, sensing something strange about the three today.

"Caught a cold, cough... my voice has turned hoarse, cough..." Shangguan Ruixi feigned a series of coughs.

The old woman said nothing more after hearing this and bent back down to wash vegetables, but she made a mental note to make more beef bone soup for her son and grandson. They were too short!

Seeing the old woman did not suspect anything, both of them heaved a sigh of relief. Shangguan Xuanyi proceeded to chop firewood while Shangguan Ruixi fetched water.

Despite having seen others do it, operating a hand pump to fetch water was not an intuitive task. Shangguan Ruixi had seen the servants at home fetch water, gripping the handle and pushing it down, then lifting it up and pushing it down again, so the water would come out. But after repeating this process for some time, all he heard was the pump making strange noises, not a single drop of water came out. What was going wrong?

Shangguan Ruixi began to press down on the handle more quickly and more heavily, nearly snapping it off.

The old woman, hearing the noise, looked over and admonished him: "What did this pump ever do to you? Don’t you know you have to add water to it first? If you break it, can you afford to pay for it?"

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Ruixi hastily stopped. He added some water to the pump, then tried pressing again. However, the water quickly drained away, without bringing up any water from the well.

Shangguan Ruixi again added some water and continued pressing the handle. The water drained away, yet still no water came up from the well. After repeating this several times, still no water came out.

What exactly was going wrong? Was it making a fool of him? He clearly remembered watching the servants pump water this way. Where had he gone wrong?

Shangguan Ruixi didn’t dare ask anyone for fear of arousing suspicion. His brow broke out in a sweat from his frustration.

If he had known how difficult fetching water would be, he would have chosen to chop firewood instead!

Seeing that he had not managed to fetch any water after a significant amount of time, the old woman couldn’t help but stand up, walk over, and push him aside to show him how to do it: "What’s wrong with you today? After adding water, you have to push down hard and keep repeating to get the water to come up!"

While speaking, she demonstrated.

In fact, if the hand pump was new, with a well-functioning rubber gasket, water would not leak out, and one could simply pump continuously to draw water. However, over time and usage, the rubber gasket inside this hand pump had worn down, causing it to leak water, allowing air into the pipe, hence the need to add water and pump vigorously to draw water.

Anyone accustomed to using a hand pump would be familiar with this issue, as it would usually be brought up by the seller when you first buy it.

But as Shangguan Ruixi had never interacted with one, he had no way of knowing this. He could only offer a feeble excuse: "I caught a cold and don’t have the strength to do anything - can’t even fetch water."

Seeing him like this, the old woman waived him off: "Alright, alright, you go sit to the side. No need to help here."

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Ruixi quickly stepped aside.

The old woman looked back to Shangguan Xuanyi, wondering what trouble he’d managed to get into this time.

Upon looking, she gasped! It took ten days to chop all the firewood usually, yet now it was almost done in 15 minutes?!

The old woman quickly ran over, her face filled with disbelief: "Xiao Guizi, did you chop all this firewood? When did you get so efficient?"

Had this boy been slacking off all this while? Today he had finally exposed himself?

Who was Shangguan Xuanyi? His martial arts skills were unparalleled in the world. He could even split rocks with his bare hands, let alone a pile of firewood! It was done effortlessly, and every piece of wood was cut in neat lengths and sizes, as if measured with a ruler.

The old woman couldn’t help but pick up a piece of the firewood to examine it: "Xiao Guizi, is this how you chop firewood? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were making chair legs. This is too neat and smooth!"

Hearing her words, Shangguan Xuanyi paused: was it wrong to chop the firewood into neat pieces?

What was the person before him like? Couldn’t even chop firewood properly!

Seeing Shangguan Xuanyi standing there expressionless and silent, Shangguan Ruixi eagerly stepped in to explain: "Well, after drinking beef bone soup, his strength has increased, so naturally he can chop the firewood faster and better!"