Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 16: Sugar Pancakes

Chapter 16: Sugar Pancakes

Deputy General Zhang and every personal guard present sucked in a sharp breath in their hearts.

So… so strong.

She had not even used a single curse word, yet she had managed to talk a man into fainting.

This woman could not be underestimated! Too ruthless. Truly too ruthless!

Liu Hao was dragged away by the personal guards.

Deputy General Zhang looked at the sky, then at the ground, and finally scratched his head before walking over to Xia Heng.

“We owe you for this, Miss Xia.”

“Don’t take what he said to heart.”

“Ah, there are all sorts of people in the Zhenbei Army, but I’ve never seen a heartless thing like him before. For the sake of the Zhenbei Army, the general has already done everything he can!”

Xia Heng quickly nodded to show she agreed.

Looking at Xia Heng’s obedient expression now, Deputy General Zhang felt all the more certain that her sharp-tongued attack just now had been forced out of her.

Who could keep a good temper after being poisoned and threatened? The fact that she had only said a few words instead of stabbing him to death was practically merciful.

“Don’t you worry, Miss Xia. The General’s Mansion won’t give outsiders any chance to take advantage of you! Just stay here properly. No one can touch you!”

Deputy General Zhang still had to hurry off to interrogate Liu Hao, so after giving her that firm promise, he took his leave.

Xia Heng slowly walked back to her own courtyard.

From a distance, she saw someone crouching by her door. When she went closer and looked carefully, she realized it was Chuqing.

In the middle of the night, Chuqing was holding a bundle in her arms. Perhaps because it was too cold, she had tucked the bundle close against herself as she crouched at the doorway.

She was leaning against the door, her head bobbing again and again, as if she might fall asleep squatting there at any second.

Xia Heng hurried forward and gave Chuqing a push.

“Why aren’t you sleeping in your room? What are you doing here?”

The young girl jolted awake as if from a dream.

“Ah, you’re back! Here.”

Chuqing wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth as she handed the bundle to Xia Heng.

“These are sugar pancakes Aunt Zhao made. She asked me to bring a few over for you.”

When Xia Heng took the bundle, she accidentally brushed against Chuqing’s icy little hand and immediately pulled her into the room.

“Why are you being so polite with me? The door wasn’t locked. Couldn’t you have come in to wait? You just had to crouch outside. It’s not like I have anything valuable in here.”

As she spoke, she lit the charcoal brazier and urged Chuqing to get onto the bed first and warm herself up.

Chuqing sat at the edge of the bed wrapped in a quilt, wrinkling her nose as she urged Xia Heng to hurry up and taste whether the sugar pancakes were good.

Xia Heng opened the cloth wrapped around the outside of the bundle. Inside was another layer of oil paper. On such a cold day, the sugar pancakes were still slightly warm.

She took a bite. The brown sugar inside had already solidified a little, so it was not hot enough to burn her mouth anymore, but it was truly sweet.

“Sweet, right? When I saw Aunt Zhao making them, I got so greedy. I ate one as soon as it came out of the pan. Nearly burned the skin right off my mouth, but it was so good!”

As Chuqing spoke, she smacked her lips. Xia Heng handed her another sugar pancake, but Chuqing waved her hand and did not take it.

“I’ve already eaten! These are for you!”

“Aunt Zhao started kneading the dough as soon as she heard Deputy General Zhang and the others were taking action tonight.

“She must have been worried that you, a young girl, would get frightened at night and come back after swallowing a bellyful of cold wind.”

Xia Heng’s chewing slowly stopped. In a small voice, she asked, “Aren’t you afraid I might have deceived you? So many people were mobilized in the middle of the night.”

“But if even one person can be saved, then of course we have to save them.”

Chuqing’s eyes shone brightly.

“And I know you would never lie to me! They poisoned you, but you still didn’t help those bad people harm the general. Ah Heng is a good girl!”

Chuqing paused.

“Don’t worry! Everyone in our General’s Mansion is super protective of our own!

“Honestly, this is beyond ridiculous. After all these years, this is the first time the General’s Mansion has ever produced a traitor like him.”

“But you know what? It’s actually kind of rare! I really want to go take a look and ask him what he was thinking.”

After Xia Heng told Chuqing what Liu Hao had said at the end, the round-faced young girl was outraged beyond measure.

“He’s farting nonsense!”

Perhaps startled by her own sudden profanity, Chuqing swallowed, but still continued.

“Everyone in the mansion, from top to bottom, are old retainers who followed the Old Marquis all the way here.

“How many people died on the battlefield? The orphans and widows of the Zhenbei Army were all settled by the Old Marquis and the general!

“Tell him to go outside and ask around-which household’s servants don’t even have indenture contracts?”
“If not for the Cang Family, how long would any of us have survived in this world? Who knows if even our bones would be left!”

As Chuqing spoke, her eyes turned red.

“That ungrateful, treacherous dog! Why couldn’t he just be content?”

“Sigh. There are people like that everywhere, really.”

Xia Heng hurriedly handed Chuqing a handkerchief.

“As for me, everyone calls me a young lady of the Xia Mansion.”

Xia Heng pressed her lips together, then slowly told Chuqing about her background.

“But in truth, Father never cared much for girls. At home, it was always either beatings or scoldings.

“People call me a concubine-born young lady, but if not for the General’s Mansion, I would have been sent somewhere else to become some man’s plaything.”

“To be honest, I can’t bring myself to respect or love him. They poisoned me. At first, I thought this might just be how my life would go. Who would have guessed that last time, when I went to Putuo Temple, by some strange twist of fate, I managed to find the antidote?”

Xia Heng pinned the whole antidote matter squarely on Putuo Temple. In any case, everything had been a complete mess back then, and the poison really had been cured. If it had not happened then, when else could it have been?

“When a person can live properly, who would want to go courting death?”

Xia Heng’s voice gradually lowered. With just a few sentences, she made Chuqing cry all over again.

“Once you’re in the General’s Mansion, you’re one of us! No one else gets to interfere with you.

“Let’s just take good care of the General! The General’s Mansion won’t treat us unfairly.”

Chuqing wiped her tears while patting Xia Heng on the shoulder.

Whoa! That strength in her hand! She nearly sent Xia Heng flying.

After the two of them finally poured out their hearts to each other over sugar cakes, Xia Heng saw Chuqing off. By then, it was already the latter half of the night.

Fortunately, neither of them had to get up early for work tomorrow. According to Chuqing, the young servant Cang Chuli had sent out on an errand had returned.

The job of serving him personally had gone back to that young servant.

Even Chuqing had retreated to the second line.

And so, starting the next day, Xia Heng’s daily routine became slacking off, going to Chef Xiang for free meals, and helping Chuqing with the occasional odd job.

Putting aside the dangers she had run into, this job was honestly much happier than her old modern 996 days.

With no need to clock in at a fixed time, Xia Heng wrapped herself up in her quilt like a little dumpling.

Happily, she opened the Sign-in Mall. After completing today’s sign-in, Xia Heng had another 35 points.

Five points came from signing in. Of the other thirty points, ten came from Deputy General Zhang, ten from Aunt Zhao, and ten from Chuqing.

It seemed points could be earned repeatedly from the same person. With 35 points happily in hand, Xia Heng felt as if she had come back to life!

That’s right! This was how it should be! Why be a villain? Why go courting death?

For people, the most important thing was knowing which way the wind blew!

Xia Heng was as happy as a little hamster. After counting her points, she opened the mall again!

Sigh. Her self-defense weapons had all been confiscated by Cang Chuli, and she did not have any special needs at the moment, so she would hold off on buying anything for now. Otherwise, it might just get confiscated again.

Hmm, the clothes were so pretty! But she did not need them right now either! Same with the medicine, no need to buy it yet! The food section…

Egg tarts! Spicy strips! Both were two for one point!

What should she do? Buy them or not? Xia Heng felt like she had encountered the greatest dilemma of her life!

“The greatest regret in life is dying before you’ve spent your money!”

The instant that classic line surfaced in Xia Heng’s mind-

Click, purchase, pay points! Her impulsive order was complete!

She had just resolved a problem yesterday! She would just count this as a reward for herself!

Xia Heng comforted herself.

One bite of egg tart, one bite of spicy strips. No matter where you went, no one would pair things like this, but Xia Heng ate with remarkable delight!

Eating snacks while browsing the mall-wasn’t this happiness right here?

Huh? Crop seeds!

Xia Heng stopped when she scrolled down to this section.

Potatoes! Sweet potatoes! Tomatoes!

They were only one point!?

In an instant, a hundred ways to cook these ingredients formed images in Xia Heng’s mind!

Ever since she had arrived here, Xia Heng had not eaten any of these foods!

What she ate the most were radishes, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplants, and the like!

Although there were plenty of varieties, as a Chinese person, who could possibly say no to potatoes and sweet potatoes?

Her little vegetable garden! It was time for some new products!