Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family-Chapter 1043 - 1042: Liu Sisi’s Counterattack

Ms. Gao was startled!

Seeing that Liu Sisi’s expression wasn’t right, Ms. Gao realized she had overstepped and quickly knelt down to admit her fault, "Princess, it was I, the old servant, who lost my composure! I, on behalf of Chen’er, thank the Princess for your profound affection."

"Hmm! Since you are satisfied, I the Princess am relieved! Stand up, attend to your duties, your loyalty to I the Empress is well-known and is certainly etched in my heart."

"Yes! I, the old servant, will bear it in mind and dare not forget!"

Ms. Gao didn’t dare raise her head, trembling in fear as she knelt on the ground.

"Remembering is good, you may withdraw," said Liu Sisi, her voice especially calm.

"Yes, the old servant will take her leave."

Ms. Gao wiped the sweat secretly dampening her back and only then did she exit the room.

"Wait!"

Liu Sisi’s cold voice came from inside, "You are penalized two months’ salary. Reflect carefully on where you went wrong. Until you understand, do not come to see me."

Ms. Gao trembled all over, surprised she turned back to look at Liu Sisi and quickly nodded in agreement before she withdrew.

Liu Sisi still sat immovable as a mountain, her gaze distantly admiring the cherry blossoms blooming outside the window.

Even these servants dared to scheme against her—it seemed she had been too peaceful for too long, so much that these people had forgotten her iron-fisted authority! So long that they thought of her, Liu Sisi, as a toothless tiger, a sick cat that lost its whiskers!

It was indeed time for a careful reassertion of her power!

When Di Yelei returned exhausted in the evening, he saw a little maid laying out the dishes, but Ms. Gao’s figure was nowhere to be seen. A flash of astonishment crossed his eyes, yet he thought nothing more of it and turned to sit on the chair beside Liu Sisi, only then scrutinizing her.

Liu Sisi had noticed Di Yelei’s entrance long ago, yet unlike usual, she did not go forward to greet him and continued eating the food in her bowl by herself.

"What’s the matter today? Why is the meal served just for one?"

Di Yelei asked curiously, glancing casually over the meals on the table. A light fare of one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and one soup, just enough for one person and clearly not prepared for him, caused his brows to furrow instantly.

Liu Sisi’s eyebrows did not move in the slightest as she ate from her bowl.

Di Yelei didn’t receive an answer and looked up curiously at the little maid whom he didn’t quite recognize, "Where is Ms. Gao? Why don’t I see her? Who are you, and why are you serving here?"

The little maid, frightened, fell to her knees, hastily reporting, "Reporting to Old Master Marquis, Nanny Gao, she fell ill, fearing contagion to the Princess, hence she commanded this slave to attend to the Princess. I am Fuling, originally a third-class maid from the outer court, in charge of laundering clothes for the inner court. It’s normal for Old Master Marquis not to have seen this servant and find me unfamiliar."

"Quite a smooth talker, too," Di Yelei commented, not asking further; after all, these years it had always been Ms. Gao attending to Liu Sisi. Such a situation could only happen if she was ill, couldn’t it?

"Stand up! Attend diligently, and if there’s any slip-up, even dismemberment by five horses would be too light a punishment for your sins. Understand?"

"This servant understands, yes, Old Master Marquis."

Fuling bowed and then rose to continue serving beside Liu Sisi.

From beginning to end, Liu Sisi didn’t say a word, focusing solely on the cooked dishes in her bowl, as if oblivious to the interaction between the two.

Di Yelei’s furrowed brows still hadn’t relaxed, and watching the diminishing plate of cooked dishes, he could no longer stay calm and coughed loudly twice, "Someone! Bring up another portion of the same dishes."

Soon, there was a response from outside the door, and a trusted servant entered, "Reporting to Old Master Marquis, the kitchen fire has been put out, and won’t be lit until tomorrow morning at 3 a.m. at the earliest. Old Master Marquis, what do you think..."

"What? Since when is there such a rule? Who made it?"

Di Yelei was shocked! At the Marquis Mansion, the kitchen always had a fire going, and one could have delicious food at any time. Could it be that things had changed since they left?

"It was I who gave the order."

Liu Sisi, who had been quietly eating her meal, finally spoke. She leisurely finished the last piece of vegetable and took her last bite, rinsed her mouth with chrysanthemum tea, took a handkerchief to wipe her mouth, and then turned to face Di Yelei.

"Old Master Marquis, you don’t know the cost of salt and rice when you don’t manage household affairs. On this trip out of the capital, you brought over fifty of your subordinates and soldiers, each with a dozen or so followers and concubines of varying numbers. Including the two thousand personal followers, coachmen, warhorses, mules, hard laborers... and so on, every single one of them needs food, water, and firewood. The firewood alone used every day amounts to over ten thousand jin. It’s a huge expense."

Liu Sisi laughed briefly, "So I gave orders to put out the fire after 5 p.m. At the very least, we can save twenty piculs of firewood every day, which is equivalent to saving the work hours of four or five people. It also saves a lot of money. Old Master Marquis, don’t you also think this method is good?"

Good? What’s good about it?

He almost always came back late. Didn’t that mean, from now on, he would return home every evening without any delicious food to eat?

Di Yelei opened his mouth to retort, "So what? Even if we have many followers, they’re all well-trained and cut their own firewood from the mountain, which doesn’t concern the problem you mentioned."

"Old Master Marquis, you only know one aspect of the issue and not the other. Although they’re cutting wood on the mountain, just in one day, they would clear an entire mountain top of trees. At this rate, within less than a year, the surrounding hills will be devoid of trees, and the fierce beasts of the mountains would roam free with no obstructions, and then come down the mountain at will. Have you considered the consequences of that, Old Master Marquis?" Liu Sisi didn’t relax in the slightest, arguing strenuously.

This is purely absurd reasoning!

If Di Yelei couldn’t see that Liu Sisi was deliberately making things difficult for him, then his time in this world would truly be in vain!

"...I don’t care about the rest, but the manor must at least keep one pot of fire burning!"

What kind of home is it without warm dishes?

Liu Sisi scoffed coldly, "Is the Old Master Marquis intending to take back control of the backyard that I manage? That’s fine as well; it saves me the trouble. Please wait a moment, Old Master Marquis, I will hand over the official keys right now."

As she spoke, she turned to instruct someone to fetch the keys.

"Nonsense! When did I say that?"

Di Yelei massaged his forehead with a headache. Liu Sisi’s relentless pestering was making him feel overwhelmed and exhausted.

"I just said to keep at least one pot’s fire from being put out, so food can be prepared."

"Are you suggesting I should issue one order in the morning and change it by evening? Isn’t that a major taboo for the military? Have you forgotten, Old Master Marquis?" Liu Sisi’s voice unaccountably escalated by eight degrees.

"No! I didn’t mean that, I’m saying..."

Di Yelei attempted to explain, but Liu Sisi caught him on his words, leaving him unable to express the countless excuses he had.

In the end, he could only slump down dispiritedly, lowering himself in a pitiable manner, "Sisi, I have been busy outside all day, and I still haven’t had my meal! Doesn’t it distress you to see me like this?"