In the kitchen of the old mansion, Yu Wan, her uncle, and her aunt were busy with tonight’s New Year’s Eve dinner. Yu Wan’s knife skills were good, so she was mainly in charge of chopping vegetables. Her aunt washed the vegetables while her uncle cooked.
This was the first time the two families had gathered for a reunion dinner after they split up. Although they didn’t say it, they were very happy.
Her uncle made a lot of dishes. There was chicken stewed with mushrooms, braised carp, leeks, and braised spare ribs with spicy sauce. These were Yu Shaoqing’s favorite New Year’s dishes. Although Yu Shaoqing wasn’t around, Ah Wan inherited his taste.
Other than that, there were also the lotus root stewed pork trotters, braised meat, fried spring rolls, and sticky bean buns that Madam Jiang and the children liked to eat.
“Why did you make braised mutton too?” Aunt asked. This dish was not simple. All the pots were used, and there were enough dishes.
Uncle smiled honestly. “Don’t you like this?”
Aunt blushed and said with a straight face, “Who, who likes to eat this!”
Among the New Year goods that Bruiser had earned with two scallion pancakes, there were a few nutritious seafood. Yu Wan took them all and let her uncle make them. Uncle’s culinary skills were good, and the seafood he made had no fishy smell at all.
This New Year’s Eve meal was quite sumptuous.
The dishes were ready and could be served at any time. Yu Wan walked into the courtyard and looked up to ask, “Big Brother, Second Brother, has the roof been repaired?”
Yu Feng replied, “Yeah, I’m coming down now!”
The two of them came down the ladder.
Yu Wan looked at the central room and said to Little Bruiser, who was chewing on a frozen pear outside the kitchen, “Go call Mom and Chenchen to eat.”
Little Bruiser looked like he was facing a great enemy. “No way!”
With that, he ran away.
“This child!” Yu Wan could only call them herself.
The village was not big. Although one lived in the east and the other in the west, it only took the time to drink two sips of tea to walk there.
“Mom,” Yu Wan called softly as she approached the door.
No response.
However, the moment she pushed open the door of the central room, she heard Madam Jiang laughing like a pig. That laughter was too devilish. Yu Wan’s heart trembled and she staggered, almost falling onto the door!
The laughter in the room stopped.
“Is Ah Wan here?” Madam Jiang’s gentle voice sounded sickly.
Yu Wan suspected that she had heard wrongly.
I… I must have heard wrongly. After all, my mother was a well-bred young lady, not a female bandit. How could she laugh like a pig?
But then again, what was my mother doing?
Yu Wan pushed open the door and saw Madam Jiang sitting on a chair with her back facing the door. She was holding rouge in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. In front of her was the person she had smeared on. It was the three little munchkins wearing bright red cotton-padded jackets, a big red flower on their heads, drawn eyebrows, and fiery red lips.
Yu Wan felt that her eyes were blinded.
On the other hand, when Uncle Wan went to Lotus Flower Village to return the cloth to Yu Wan, Yan Jiuchao also stepped onto the carriage leaving the manor. He was going to the palace. He sat in the carriage with a calm expression. The footman beside him brewed a pot of tea and gently poured it for him.
The carriage was bumpy, so it was also a skill to pour tea without spilling.
Yan Jiuchao did not drink it. He tapped the tip of his right index finger on the warm jade table a few times. “Slow down.”
“Yes.”
The coachman slowed the carriage.
This was the third time Yan Jiuchao instructed him to slow down after they left. No one asked why. Other than Uncle Wan, no other servant had the right to speak in front of Yan Jiuchao.
Eunuch Wang had been ordered by the Emperor to wait for Yan Jiuchao outside the palace gate. This was a treatment that even the princes had never enjoyed. However, Eunuch Wang waited for a full two hours but did not see the little ancestor. Just as Eunuch Wang was wondering if he should go to the Young Master Manor again, Yan Jiuchao’s carriage arrived.
Eunuch Wang was overjoyed! He raised his horsetail whisk and welcomed him with a smile. “Your Highness, you’re finally here! His Majesty has been waiting for you—”
He was interrupted by a shrill scream.
“Young Master, something’s happened!” Uncle Wan cried as he got off the carriage. He ran to Yan Jiuchao’s carriage and pushed Eunuch Wang away. “Little… Little… Little Masters are missing again!”
Eunuch Wang, who was pushed aside, even forgot to be angry. “Again?”
Uncle Wan said fearfully, “As soon as I returned to the manor, their nanny cried and told me that after Young Master left, they had been guarding the door. But they didn’t see the Little Masters come out, but Little Masters… Little Masters disappeared!”
Yan Jiuchao lifted the curtain and looked at Eunuch Wang. “Help me report to my uncle that I can’t eat New Year’s Eve dinner today. When I catch those naughty little fellows, I’ll definitely bring them into the palace to greet him.”
With that, he lowered the curtain and instructed the coachman to return to the manor, not caring how dumbfounded Eunuch Wang was.
“Hey, Your Highness, Your Highness… Your Highness!”
The carriage moved away.
Eunuch Wang chased after him for a few steps, panting so hard that his face was scrunched up. “Yan Jiuchao… Is the only one who dares to not respect the Emperor…”
Eunuch Wang went to the imperial study as if he was treading on thin ice and reported the truth to the Emperor. In order to show that he had really done his best, he did not hesitate to speak up for Yan Jiuchao. “…This is also human nature. The three little masters are the Young Master’s flesh and blood. If the Young Master isn’t nervous about them, who else should he be nervous about?”
It was unknown if the Emperor was convinced, but he did not harp on this matter. Instead, he asked, “Has he changed into the prince’s uniform that I gave him?”
Eunuch Wang opened his mouth and said awkwardly, “When the Young Master lifted the curtain, I took a look. He did not.”
The Emperor put down the half-finished memorial and pinched his aching glabella. He sighed helplessly. “He still refuses to forgive me…”
