Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 423: Gossiping and Harboring Bad Intentions

Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Gossiping and Harboring Bad Intentions

Seeing his wife in a daze, Shen Wenchen couldn’t help but worry. He gently held her icy hand and said softly, "My older and second brothers’ new courtyards aren’t far away, just across the street, and only half a quarter’s walk from us. If you miss your parents-in-law, we can invite them to live with us."

"Never mind."

Nanzhi shook her head and sipped her soup slowly.

Currently, her mother and father had shops to attend to. If they really moved to the Lord’s Mansion, it would only interfere with their matters seeing her in this state every day.

She was feeling somewhat slow.

The business at Sānweìjū was not bad. As the weather cooled, the number of people eating barbecue decreased. Hence, thanks to the excellent craftsmanship of Xu Chou and Lun Daliang, they relied on their soup to revive the restaurant’s business.

Although it couldn’t compare to the initial days when they earned hundreds of taels per day, they could now bring in a steady income of fifty or sixty taels daily. Additionally, they also managed to sell around twenty taels of wine every day.

The Lin Family’s food shop was thriving. As Sun Cui’s belly grew by the day, Chen Qiulan and Mrs. Lin took over the business front. She could only handle the preparatory work; sometimes, when the business was too good, the three women were busy until late at night.

Consequently, the visits to the Lord’s Mansion to see Nanzhi decreased.

Originally, Nanzhi, feeling pent up at home, thought about inviting some friends over. However, counting those she could invite, only Miss Zeng and a few other female managers came to mind—Miss Zeng was currently learning how to manage the shop so she couldn’t come, and the relationships with the other managers weren’t very close. In the end, she could only read her books at home to pass the time.

Shen Wenchen had been busy lately, occasionally having to leave the city for a few days. Only those few kids, who were usually idle, would stay at home and chat with Nanzhi.

Days passed this way into half a month, leaving Nanzhi feeling anxious.

Shen Wenchen left the city a few nights ago, saying it would take five to six days at the earliest for him to return. The scholars at the academy had also taken nearly two hundred children on a field trip to the suburbs yesterday. Suddenly, she was alone in the house, once again.

Ma Po was around forty years old, and although she was efficient, she was very quiet. On normal days, apart from reminding Nanzhi to be careful, she would only silently do her chores, so she was a bit too quiet.

Looking at the gloom outside the window, Nanzhi lost interest in the soup in front of her.

"Madam, this soup nourishes blood and Qi, it’s good for both you and the young master." Seeing Nanzhi’s frown, Ma Po immediately murmured.

"I don’t want to drink this kind of soup anymore." Nanzhi gave a little push to the porcelain bowl before her and looked a bit sullen.

Drinking soup every day, she felt like turning into a soup container.

"Madam..." Ma Po understood that recently Nanzhi had been served many soups, so it was normal that she didn’t want to drink anymore. However, given her poor appetite, compared to eating food, she could drink a little more soup. The past few days, her complexion looked better after doing so.

"Ma Po, I’m fine. I just want to eat something sour. Go to the kitchen and get me some," said Nanzhi, knowing that Ma Po, although she doesn’t speak much, was quite soft-hearted and wouldn’t really force her to eat meat or drink soup. She used a slightly coquettish tone.

"Alright, I’ll go get some sour fruits for the madam. If you don’t want to drink the soup, just leave it there."

Ma Po curtsied and then exited the room.

Watching her stride out of the courtyard, Nanzhi moved the bowl of soup a bit farther away.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes without seeing Ma Po returning, Nanzhi started to wonder. She was about to go and see for herself when she noticed Ma Po returning with a grim expression.

"Ma Po, what’s wrong?" Seeing her face as gloomy as if it could drip water, Nanzhi couldn’t help but crease her brows.

As Ma Po had been specially invited by Shen Wenchen to take care of her, there weren’t many in the mansion who would dare to disrespect her. How did she manage to return from the kitchen in such a foul mood?

"Madam, I overheard something while in the kitchen just now."

Ma Po curtsied and told her what she had heard.

She hadn’t entered the kitchen when she heard the kitchen ladies gossiping with the maid.

If it was just gossip, she would have disregarded it, but they claimed the madam had abused her power to oppress others and had tried to kill a maid who had previously worked under her.

She felt something wrong, so she went into the kitchen. As soon as the kitchen lady saw her, she closed her mouth.

The two little maids also ran away with pale faces.

If this matter were handed over to someone else, one would only punish the servants and hide it from the master.

But Ma Po was a Yan City native and was most informed about such matters. She was very clear about the incident involving Qian Er and had seen the announcements from the officials. Now that it was being brought up again, she feared it was for an ulterior motive.

"Really?" Nanzhi raised an eyebrow, took her hand warmer and headed to the kitchen.

Ma Po, fearing she might catch a cold, fetched a shawl for her. Only then did she follow Nanzhi to the kitchen.

They had just reached the kitchen when they noticed two sixteen or seventeen-year-old maids whispering to each other. Nanzhi didn’t show much emotion, but Ma Po frowned.

These two maids were really out of line.

They had just got scolded for gossiping a short while ago and here they were doing it again? What was going on?

Also, why were the maids in the kitchen dressed this way?

She hadn’t paid much attention before, but feeling it wasn’t right, she noticed their dress now.

The Lord’s Mansion itself didn’t have many maids, and those rare ones were assigned elsewhere. The only people who could have a chance to be in contact with the Lord were those in the kitchen.

Ma Po mostly understood the cunning thoughts of these maids. Seeing that they hadn’t noticed her yet, she cleared her throat lightly.

Hearing a noise behind them, the two little maids stopped talking, turned around, knelt down, and shut their mouths immediately.

They were both sold into this mansion with silver about a year ago.

At that time, there were rumors all over Yan City that Shen Wenchen was a bad omen. In addition, his affair with Su Tao was described in great detail, so some families started having some cunning thoughts.

Both their families had spent fifty taels to get them into the Lord’s Mansion.

Because Shen Wenchen didn’t like being served by maids, they had not been reassigned a different position even after a year. However, it was also because they had been doing odd jobs in the kitchen the whole time.

They were only able to stay when Shen Wenchen sold off the mansion’s maids half a year ago.

Two months ago, when the Lord got married, and news of the Lord’s wife being pregnant spread, they felt hopeful again.

Whenever the mistress of the house is pregnant, she would usually arrange two concubines for her husband. This not only demonstrates the open-mindedness of the mistress, but also accounts for the man’s propensity to cheat.

Both of them were of suitable age and decent-looking. Now that there were few maids in the house, if the madam were to harbor any intentions, they would no doubt be the best choices.

Delighted about this, they started being less attentive in their work. They were slacking off when they were discovered, and coincidentally, it was the main person involved. With their faces changing from green to white, they could only kneel on the ground and await their fate.