In the end, Little Lu couldn’t resist his cravings and bought five jin of oranges.
Hee hee (^ω^)
They had combed through every stall in the market. Shuisheng and Gong Ze were carrying large bags and bundles, while Lu Youling clung to Gong Ze’s arm, peeling and eating oranges.
Any young woman who passed by looked at them with envy.
Times were tough, and everyone was poor. Who could afford to buy snacks? If you had the money, you’d be better off buying meat and rice to support your family.
Only a girl who was both pampered at home and from a well-off family could go shopping and buy one or two little treats. But the three of them—Lu Youling, Gong Ze, and Shuisheng—were carrying bags and bags of food, so much that the two men could barely hold it all.
And the man Lu Youling was clinging to was dressed in a neat Zhongshan suit, looking every bit like a big-city gentleman.
Not only was he refined, gentle, and polite, but his eyes were also full of nothing but the person beside him. His affection was impossible to hide. Whenever the two of them locked eyes, his expression softened noticeably—clearly, he doted on the girl immensely.
On top of that, he was generous with his money and even had a servant following him. And he was wealthy.
He was already so perfect, but on top of all that, his looks were exceptional. Girls passing by stole glances at him again and again.
No wonder they could never find such a good man.
Turns out all the good men were already married!
Sigh…
Lu Youling noticed the countless envious looks falling on him. He was startled for a moment, then realized what was happening. He clung to Gong Ze’s arm and couldn’t help but smile goofily.
That’s right—my boyfriend is just that perfect!
You don’t have one, do you?
Hehe~
Along the way, Gong Ze also bought a can of malted milk powder—a hot commodity in this era.
Malted milk powder back then wasn’t like the tasteless, off-brand versions of modern times. It was not only delicious and nutritious, but also free from all kinds of random additives.
That one can of malted milk powder cost Gong Ze two silver dollars—roughly three hundred yuan in modern terms.
All the snacks they had bought combined didn’t even add up to the price of that one can.
A whole half a pig cost only five silver dollars.
Thinking about how expensive the malted milk powder was, Lu Youling and Shuisheng felt heartbroken. Gong Ze, however, didn’t think much of it.
“Drinking some of this every day will help with your growing pains,” Gong Ze said decisively, paying for the only can of malted milk powder in the store.
“But it’s so expensive—we might as well have bought meat…” Lu Youling cradled the can of malted milk powder with a pained expression.
“We’re buying meat too,” Gong Ze said with amusement. He asked the butcher to cut him some pork ribs, lean meat, and leaf fat.
Unfortunately, beef was hard to come by—they had come too late.
Gong Ze had to settle for buying some mutton instead.
The whole reason Gong Ze had come to town was to buy meat and nutritional supplements to help Lu Youling build up his body.
His own wife, of course, deserved to be carefully nourished. Watching Lu Youling, thin as a rail, how could Gong Ze not feel distressed?
He had been painstakingly feeding Lu Youling every day, and only then had his sunken cheeks filled out just a little.
After buying the meat, the three of them couldn’t carry anything else, and Gong Ze had spent most of the money he brought. So they made their way out of the market and went to the meeting spot agreed upon with the villager who drove the donkey cart.
When the villager returned, they loaded their purchases onto the cart.
“Wow, you bought quite a lot,” the villager said, clicking his tongue in surprise at the sheer amount of things they had.
Hearing the unspoken complaint in his tone, Gong Ze understood that the man was worried about his donkey having to carry both people and goods. So he cheerfully handed over a pack of snacks as a gift.
The man accepted it, revealing a grin full of teeth yellowed from tobacco smoke, and didn’t say anything more.
The villager climbed onto the donkey cart and gave his whip a flick.
“Off we go~”
·
After returning, the two of them first took Lu Youling home. Apart from Shuisheng’s share, the meat and other food were left at Lu Youling’s house.
Not long after Gong Ze and Shuisheng got back to the Gong residence, a servant woman came running to say that the old woman had invited him over for a meal.
The servant woman who came was not the one Gong Ze had driven away before, but the other of the two women who served the old woman.
“Invite me over for a meal?” Gong Ze asked, intrigued.
“Yes, today the old woman had the kitchen make quite a few delicious dishes,” the servant woman said with a welcoming smile.
“…”
This was a rare occurrence.
Gong Ze thought to himself—had the old woman changed her ways? Why was she suddenly being so polite to him?
Ever since he had returned, Old Lady Gong had been nothing but critical and contentious.
She was probably up to something again.
Gong Ze said, “I see. I’ll go after I wash my hands.”
The servant woman immediately said, “Good, good. Then I’ll go back and report to the old woman.”
After the servant woman left, Gong Ze slowly washed his hands with soap. Shuisheng, who was watching the door outside, came in and couldn’t help saying, “Second Master, why has the old woman suddenly changed her attitude? I think there’s definitely something wrong with this.”
“Mm, your Second Master has a good idea of what’s going on. We’ll find out when we go take a look.”
After drying his hands, Shuisheng handed him a tin of cold cream. Gong Ze scooped out a bit and rubbed it into his hands. It wasn’t that he was being overly delicate—it was just that as the weather grew colder, without some kind of protection, his hands would get frostbitten.
With that done, Gong Ze took Shuisheng and headed to the back hall.
At the door, Gong Ze lifted the thick curtain and stepped over the threshold. The first thing he saw was the table laden with a feast of meat dishes.
Gong Ze’s gaze landed on the old woman with surprise, and he said with a smile, “Has the New Year come early? Auntie is usually so frugal—what made you willing to make so many delicious dishes?”
Twenty whole dishes filled the table. A steaming braised pork hock glistened with sauce. A suckling pig had crispy skin and tender, juicy meat inside. Slices of spiced beef were arranged like flower petals, with a small dish of dipping sauce in the center. There were even a few kinds of game—animals that would later be classified as protected species in modern times.
Ten meat dishes, four vegetable dishes, and four cold plates.
Plus a pot of stewed hen soup ginseng, cordyceps, and mushrooms, and a dessert.
With such an abundant dinner laid out before him, Gong Ze understood instantly.
At this level of extravagant luxury, Old Lady Gong had finally made up her mind to kill him.
The old woman held a string of jade Buddhist prayer beads in her hand. As soon as she saw him enter, she looked up and put on a somewhat affectionate smile. “Second son, you’re back? Come in, come in. Your aunt has something to tell you.”
The smile on Gong Ze’s face deepened. He walked to the table and sat down, looking at the old woman with a gentle expression. “What does Auntie want to say?”
The old woman sighed, looking somewhat embarrassed. “There have been some misunderstandings between us, mother and son. But they were all just trivial matters.”
“It’s true that I held some prejudice against you because you’re not my own flesh and blood. And since you’ve been away from home for so many years, I was afraid you had no feelings for the family. That’s why I was a bit hard on you. That was my fault.”
After this conciliatory apology, under Gong Ze’s increasingly softened expression, the old woman revealed a voice and manner that the original owner had only ever seen her use with his elder brother—a gentle, motherly tone.
“Second son, only the two of us are left in the Gong family now. Your father is gone, and your elder brother is gone too.”
At this, the old woman’s eyes grew moist and red. She twisted her handkerchief and dabbed at a few murky tears.
“Let’s stop fighting and just get along.”
“From now on, you can run this household however you want. Your aunt will listen to you in everything. In the future, you’ll marry a wife and have children, and carry on the Gong family name.”
She seemed to have yielded after Gong Ze had driven away her personal servant woman.
After this heartfelt speech, she even ladled a bowl of soup for Gong Ze and personally placed it by his hand.
“Consider this bowl of soup your aunt’s apology to you.”
Gong Ze looked at the tempting, nourishing bowl of chicken soup before him. He paused for a moment, then took it and said to the old woman with a smile:
“I didn’t expect Auntie to care so much about me. It seems I misjudged you earlier. Since you’ve said all this, then let it be.”
Then he shifted gears. Gong Ze stood up, ladled a bowl of soup for the old woman, and handed it to her.
Appearing deeply moved, he said to her sincerely, “You drink too, Auntie. Today, let this soup stand in for wine. From now on, you are my dear aunt, and I am your own son.”
But his eyes remained fixed on the old woman.
The old woman immediately took the bowl and drank most of it.
A flicker of surprise crossed Gong Ze’s eyes. His guarded expression relaxed, and he nodded before drinking his own soup.
It seemed as though he had been wary of poison, but seeing that the old woman dared to drink it, he believed her words.
The old woman was so pleased with herself that she nearly burst out laughing.
Hah, a little bastard born from a cheap concubine—what does it matter if he’s read a few books? He’s still as stupid as a pig! She’s outsmarted him!
He thought he was being so clever, watching to see if I drank the soup, and that I wouldn’t notice? Hmph~
She had anticipated that Gong Er, that little bastard, would be suspicious. So she deliberately toasted him with the only bowl of soup on the entire table that hadn’t been drugged.
That way, Gong Er would think something was wrong with the soup and wait for her to drink it.
And when she drank it without hesitation, he would let down his guard.
He would think she had simply been worn down and was extending an olive branch with this lavish dinner.
Besides, she wasn’t an idiot. Why would she poison him all at once?
The old woman clicked her prayer beads between her fingers, replacing her acerbic smile with a kindly one. But in her heart, she was thinking about how to make Gong Ze ing the poison slowly, and how many days it would take for the accumulated dose to kill him.
The more she thought about it, the more perfect her plan seemed.
During the meal, the old woman wore a doting mother’s smile and kept piling food onto Gong Ze’s plate. Gong Ze’s expression grew increasingly moved. They chatted amiably, and their previously frozen relationship seemed to gradually thaw.
Not until after dinner, when Gong Ze left.
The smile on his handsome face melted away like snow, returning to calm.
[Big Boss,]
“I know.”
The system waved its little chicken wing, its entire glowing orb settling on Gong Ze’s shoulder.
Gong Ze led Shuisheng back to his courtyard, then gave him an order: “Go to the kitchen and see what they did with the leftover food. Be discreet. Don’t let anyone notice.”
“Understood, Second Master.”
After Shuisheng left, Gong Ze and the system speculated about what exactly the old woman had drugged him with.
“In Fenshan Village, everyone’s just an ordinary person. The kinds of poison she could get her hands on are limited—pesticide, arsenic, rat poison.”
[Big Boss, how are you feeling right now?] The system asked worriedly.
Gong Ze closed his eyes and carefully assessed himself for a moment, then shook his head. “The dose is probably very small. I might need to eat another meal like this tomorrow before I feel anything. Or maybe it’ll show up later tonight.”
The system said, [Huh? You’re going to eat it again?!]
Gong Ze smiled slightly. “Of course. Since she’s handing me the evidence, why wouldn’t I take it?”
[But pesticides are full of heavy metals. They’ll put a significant and irreversible burden on your kidneys and body. Don’t go too far and actually end up in trouble, Big Boss.]
“It’s fine,” Gong Ze said casually. “You’ve forgotten about Lu Youling’s spiritual spring water.”
The system suddenly understood. [Oh yeah.]
Lu Youling’s favorability toward Gong Ze had already surpassed 70. More than once, Lu Youling had secretly slipped spiritual spring water into Gong Ze’s cup. He thought Gong Ze hadn’t noticed, but Gong Ze had seen it all.
Suddenly, the system thought of something, and its tone became very pointed: [Wait… You’re not planning to use this self-harm to make Lu Youling feel sorry for you, are you? To keep him from developing feelings for the protagonist top, Feng Xueping, like he did in the original story when he shows up?]
Gong Ze: …
Gong Ze smiled faintly.
The system: … Damn it. There’s just no way to know how many schemes this bad guy has up his sleeve!
Grrr, ＝”＝凸
Leave a Reply