Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 284 - 36: Reunion (Part 2)

Meeting should be done sooner rather than later, preferably before anyone notices.

So in the afternoon, Hong Sheng announced that Ruan Jiu and Tie Dan were to come to him for instructions. He also assigned two relatively weaker soldiers to fill in as kitchen soldiers.

This decision, of course, sparked discussions among the subordinates, but seeing that the newly appointed Hundred Commander and Squad Leader had no expressions, they understood that they knew and agreed to it.

Then Hong Sheng dropped another bomb.

"I’m currently short of two secretaries. If you think you can handle the job, you can volunteer yourself. Although you still need regular training, it’s not as formal as a Junior Ninth Rank Clerk, but the monthly salary is 500 coins more than the elite soldiers. You should all think it over carefully, but if you’re just a charlatan, don’t bother. I might not be that educated, but my wife has studied, so you can’t fool me."

These words, though said jokingly, were taken seriously by everyone. Those thinking of bluffing and taking shortcuts gave up, while those who knew a few characters were tempted to try.

Afterwards, Hong Sheng called out Tie Dan, who was in disbelief, and Ruan Jiu, who pretended to be in disbelief. He patted the two boys on the head and said, "Come to my house for dinner tonight; my wife said she’ll give you a good meal so you don’t look like little chicks."

Then he casually said to Ruan Yu, "If it gets too late, come and pick them up."

Because Hong Sheng seemed so casual and open, two soldiers in the team exchanged glances and shook their heads, thinking he really just intended to take care of the two kids. After all, Hong Sheng was well-known for taking care of his soldiers.

Hong Sheng had been in the army for a while, and it was impossible that he didn’t know about the Ruan family’s boys not being favored by their superiors. Now openly taking care of the youngest Ruan, could this be an example to show his men that following him meant good care?

Complicated people tend to overthink simple matters, commonly known as overthinking.

At this moment, Hong Sheng didn’t know that the spies monitoring the Ruan family had already devised reasons for his actions. If he knew, he would laugh himself awake from his dreams.

However, the actions of these two spies were observed by the Ruan family.

They had long since known who the spies were. After all, in eight years, if Qin Dusi couldn’t figure out such minor details, he wouldn’t deserve his reputation as the Northwest Emperor.

Ironically, these two spies were the ones with the best relations with the Ruan family among the entire Northwest Army. To monitor them closely, not only did they not kick them when they were down, but they would also lend a helping hand sometimes.

It’s truly a drama of "you don’t know I’m watching you, and you don’t know I already know you’re watching me."

However, at this moment, seeing the look of sudden realization on the two spies’ faces made the Ruan family feel uneasy. What exactly did you two understand!

Back at home, Susu, who never got nervous even when meeting princesses and noblewomen like the Princess Consort, now felt a bit lost.

Even though it was Ninth Son coming home for dinner, not Sixth Son, Susu’s heart raced, "thump, thump, thump..."

Susu had asked about the evening dinner three times already, even Linlang, who was a bit naive, wondered if their mistress was getting forgetful.

Susu took a deep breath under the worried gaze of the young maid and regained her usual elegant demeanor, without much explanation, fearing that elaborating would make it worse.

"You all can leave now. Call me once Ruan Jiu and Tie Dan arrive."

The young maids saw that their mistress had no desire to chat, so they had to leave.

In the bedroom, the kang table in the middle of the bed was pushed aside. On the bed were two inconspicuous bundles: one wrapped in gray satin, the other in black silk. Inside were things Susu had instructed Shuimo and Linglong to prepare for Ninth Son and Tie Dan.

There were two pieces of cloth: one dark blue fabric, and one dark green satin. Each piece was large enough to make three sets of clothing for an adult.

Two boxes of candies, fruit-flavored hard candies brought by Susu from the Capital. These may not be very precious nowadays, but in ancient times, they were among children’s favorites.

Two strips of meat and two fish. Although those without families live and eat in the barracks, the Ruan family had a small courtyard on the mountain due to their special status. However, it was quite far from the Hong family, almost into the forest area. If any wild beasts came down, they would be the first victims.

This was also why Hong Sheng’s suggestion for Ruan Yu to pick up Ruan Jiu raised no suspicions, for fear that Ruan Jiu might be carried off by a wolf cub.

The Ruan family was definitely ostracized; even during meals, they were shortchanged. When receiving rations, Ruan Yu’s first task was to find medicine for Ling, the second was to buy food.

No choice, a growing boy like Ninth Son in the family of five couldn’t get enough to eat in the camp and had to return home for watery porridge just to sleep.

Tie Dan didn’t live in the barracks either. His father had a few fellow comrades. Initially, they didn’t know how ungrateful his brothers were. By the time they found out, Tie Dan had already joined the army, so they could only take extra care.

Currently, Tie Dan lived with a friend of his father’s family. Tie Dan wasn’t foolish either, offering half his rations as rent and board, and the lady of the house agreed to let him stay.

It was also due to Tie Dan that Susu could openly give some practical items instead of directly rewarding with silver.

Just yesterday, Susu heard from Hong Sheng that her brothers were not allowed to leave the barracks except for battles, as they were prisoners assigned to military units, not free soldiers.

Prisoners differed from regular military households; even their pay was half that of regular soldiers.

They had to report to the Military Supply Officer for any purchases, who would then buy the items using the money they provide.

This, of course, wasn’t specifically targeting her brothers; it was a regulation set by the Founding Saint Martial Emperor.

At these thoughts, Susu felt utterly frustrated with the forebear who crossed before her.

She looked again at the bundle and noticed a purse inside, containing two small gourd-shaped silver nuggets, weighing around three qian each. The gourd vines formed a small round hole, making them exquisite enough to be pendants.

Susu looked at these items, quite a generous gift for a little soldier, but the rest could only be secretly given to Ninth Son.

Susu took a locked jewelry box from her traveling trunk. Inside were jewelry she brought from Duke Li’s Mansion and a stack of silver notes, her entire fortune, and a portion set aside by Seventh Sister for Sixth Brother.

No one would suspect that this small box contained nearly four hundred thousand taels of silver notes, even Hong Sheng didn’t know.

Among them, two hundred thousand taels belonged to Sixth Brother, but these notes were more of a danger than a blessing; Susu decided to keep them for him until he actually needed them.

Thinking it over, she put everything back and instead took out a money box containing some gold and silver nuggets and scattered silver coins.

Susu picked out all the scattered silver coins and placed them in a large pouch, amounting to about sixty to seventy taels.

Though her brothers would be overcharged and under-supplied when buying through the Military Supply Officer, they had to make purchases as cover for the items she would smuggle in later.

Considering Ling’s health, which seemed poor, Susu retrieved a box of ginseng slices and some ginseng nourishing pills brought by Old Madam.

Bird’s nest would be too conspicuous, so Susu packed a big bag of snow-white Fuling Cream. Even without milk or goat milk, it could be stirred with boiling water.

She also prepared a small bag of millet, a small bag of green rice, a bag of red dates, a bag of brown sugar, and a bag of rock sugar, each about the size of an adult male’s palm.

Fortunately, Susu had anticipated meeting her brothers in the camp, so she had packed nearly two large boxes filled with everything conceivable, now wishing to give it all to Ninth Son. But seeing the gray satin bundle clearly larger than the black silk bundle, Susu had to give up.

She stuffed five catties of white flour into the black silk bundle to make the two bundles look about the same size, then clapped her hands, tying the bundles.

Just as Susu finished tying the bundles, she heard the door open and quickly closed the trunk lid. Fen Dai lifted the curtain and entered, "Ma’am, Ruan Jiu and Tie Dan are here!"