I won't be a prince's concubine; I'll cook delicious food and raise two villainous cu

"It smells so good! It smells so good!!"

Old Wu shouted "Fragrant!" three times, his face full of praise. He himself couldn't remember how many years it had been since he had eaten such delicious food.

At this moment, his gaze toward Shen Yu was much gentler than before, full of appreciation.

"Excellent, truly excellent! My dear young lady, you are indeed a superb cook; I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Yu smiled slightly and replied gently, "Thank you for your compliment. As long as it suits your taste, that's fine."

Watching this scene, Li Xiaoyun thought to herself: Who was that just now, so anxious and questioning the other person's cooking skills...?

While Old Wu was still praising them, Li Erlang and Ya'er had already buried themselves in their food and started eating heartily, completely entering "dry rice mode".

Ya'er ate without restraint, like a chubby little hamster, her cheeks bulging with food.

She picked up a radish ball, then a slice of wild mushroom and meat, then scooped up a tender meatball. Her little hands were busy, as if she wanted to stuff all the delicious food into her mouth.

Especially the scrambled eggs with tomatoes; the sweet and sour flavor immediately awakened her taste buds, making her unable to stop eating.

Li Erlang also liked all the dishes on the table, but the one he liked best was the tomato and egg stir-fry. Its sweet and sour taste, paired with white rice, was simply a perfect dish to eat with rice.

Seeing the two children eating so heartily, Shen Yu gave almost all the eggs in her bowl to the brother and sister.

As Li Erlang was eating, he suddenly lost his appetite. His chopsticks paused, and he found it difficult to swallow.

Finally, he put down his chopsticks and said to Li Xiaoyun, "I'm going back to my room to read." Then he got up and hurriedly left the table.

Shen Yu watched his hurried departure, her heart filled with doubt: This was not the usual amount of food that treacherous official ate. Could it be that he was tired from running around town today?

After Shen Yu and Ya'er finished eating, Old Man Wu was drinking wine, and his interest was rising.

He chatted idly about all sorts of things, even recounting strange and mysterious tales. Shen Yu was afraid that Li Xiaoyun would glare at her again, so before he could even glance at her, she quickly covered her ears and ran back to her room.

Li Xiaoyun watched her back, still dressed in men's clothing, quickly disappear into the darkness outside the door. Silently, he picked up a bowl of wine, tilted his head back, and gulped it down. The wine slid down his throat, carrying a spicy taste.

"Come on, fill my bowl up again!" Old Wu shouted, slapping the table.

"Good lad, I didn't expect you to be such a good drinker! Come on, I'll finish this bowl with you!"

"Let me tell you another ghost story about a fox spirit seducing people..."

On the other side, Shen Yu wiped Ya'er's hands and face clean in the room, helped her take off her outer clothes, and let her lie down on the bed.

Ya'er lay in bed, clutching the blanket with her little hands, and looked up at the bed, asking, "Sister, are you really leaving?"

She heard everything her older brother said when he was angry today.

The eldest brother is upset that his older sister secretly took her and the second brother to town to sell mushrooms, right?

But she didn't dare to argue with her older brother; in fact, she was really happy today.

This was the first time in her life she had seen so many people, walked through such bustling streets, and seen such tall buildings.

Ya'er felt that this was the happiest day of her life.

Shen Yu paused abruptly as she covered the child with the blanket. Looking down at the child's expectant eyes, her voice softened: "Sister did something wrong and deserves to be punished, so she has to go."

Ya'er shook her head vigorously, her little face flushed red: "No, sister, my second brother and I are very happy, you didn't do anything wrong!"

Shen Yu reached out and touched her head, saying softly, "But your brother was angry because he wanted to protect you. It was your sister who acted too impulsively and didn't think things through. Now that I think about it, I really shouldn't have taken you to town without my permission."

"You can't do that again. You must listen to your two older brothers in everything, understand?"

Hearing this, Ya'er felt extremely wronged. Her eyes instantly reddened, and after blinking, tears rolled down her cheeks like beads from a broken string.

Shen Yu quickly raised her finger, making a shushing gesture: "Shh. A woman's tears are made of pearls, they can't be shed casually, otherwise they'll become worthless."

Ya'er nodded as if she understood, letting Shen Yu wipe away the tears on her face with a handkerchief.

Shen Yu patted her back: "Go to sleep."

Ya'er, however, still tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "And what about you, sister?"

Shen Yu smiled and said, "I still have some things to do, you should go to sleep first."

After saying that, Shen Yu sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, leaned against the wall, took out her sewing basket, and began to mend clothes by the dim light of the oil lamp.

Ya'er watched her shadow swaying gently in the firelight, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier until she was fast asleep, emitting soft snores.

Listening to the child's soft snoring, Shen Yu shook her head helplessly. After all, he was still a child, with a very carefree attitude.

She carefully folded the sewn garment and set it aside, then picked up a piece of fabric and began cutting it again, measuring it carefully.

Shen Yu didn't close her eyes all night, working until dawn before finally finishing the clothes she was making for Li Erlang.

Looking at the remaining pile of fabric, she had originally planned to make a dress for Li Xiaoyun as well.

But firstly, I hadn't measured his size, and secondly, there wasn't enough time, so I had to give up.

Forget it, just leave the fabric there. When he sees it, he can take it and have someone else make it, or keep it to make something else, it's up to him.

These fabrics were brought back from town by Li Xiaoyun.

Shen Yu used the fabric from her own old clothes to make a beautiful little outfit for Ya'er, and used the leftover scraps to make a pair of white shoes for her.

After finishing these tasks, she put down her sewing basket, tiptoed off the bed, and carefully avoided waking the sleeping Ya'er.

She opened her bag and poured out all the silver she had left over from yesterday, counting it carefully.

After thinking for a moment, she put only about a hundred copper coins into her purse and kept it close to her body, while the remaining seven taels of silver were neatly placed on the table.

Five taels of this money was the money Li Xiaoyun had spent on hiring a doctor for her, which she had to repay; the other two taels originally belonged to Ya'er and should naturally be left to the child.

Shen Yu let down her hair that was draped over her shoulders, combed it again in front of the bronze mirror, braided it into a long braid, and then tied it into a bun that was most common for country girls. She also tied a blue floral cloth ribbon in her hair and changed into a clean set of clothes.

She put another set of clean clothes into the bundle, tied it into a small bundle, tucked the blanket around Ya'er, and then quietly left the room.

When she arrived at the kitchen, she was surprised to find Old Wu fast asleep on a stool, snoring softly.

Shen Yu thought for a moment, then put the bundle aside, walked over slowly, and gently nudged Old Man Wu: "Old Man Wu! Old Man Wu? Wake up! Don't fall asleep here, or you'll catch a cold!"

Old Wu groggily opened his eyes, then suddenly sat up, looking around in confusion, utterly bewildered: "Where...where am I?"

Shen Yu patiently explained, "This is Li Xiaoyun's house in Qingshan. You drank too much last night and fell asleep here."

Upon hearing this, Old Wu instantly sobered up considerably. He glared at Shen Yu, waving his hands defiantly, and said stubbornly, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could that brat Li Dalang have outdrunk me? I'm not drunk, I'm going home right now!"

After saying that, he staggered to his feet, picked up his empty wine jar, and groped his way out the door in the dark, muttering to himself that he had only taken a nap and could not possibly have ended up sleeping at someone else's house.

Seeing that his steps were steady enough, Shen Yu figured he wouldn't run into any trouble, so she didn't stop him.

The sky was already beginning to lighten, with a hint of dawn appearing in the east, and a faint frost still lingered in the courtyard.

Shen Yu quickly turned around and went into the kitchen. She washed the rice and put it into the pot. She also chopped up the fried pork cracklings and chopped a handful of green onions that she had bought in town yesterday.

Looking at the few remaining termite mushrooms in the basket, she carefully washed and tore them into pieces. After the rice was half-cooked, she took it out and put the mushrooms into the rice water to cook together.

Soon, a pot of thick and fragrant mushroom rice soup was ready.

She spread out the rice she had scooped out to cool, then heated oil in a wok and made a bowl of fried rice with pork cracklings and scallions.

She only served herself a small bowl of fried rice, which she ate with the rice porridge until she was full. Afterward, she cleaned the stove thoroughly and put the remaining soup and fried rice into the stove compartment to keep warm, in case Li Xiaoyun and the children had nothing to eat when they got up.

After everything was tidied up, she closed the kitchen door, leaned her cane against the pillar under the porch, and took one last look back at the little wooden house where she had lived for some time. A trace of reluctance flashed in her eyes, but she still gritted her teeth.

The morning frost soaked her clothes. Dragging her injured leg, she limped into the gray sky, her figure gradually disappearing at the end of the mountain path...

When Ya'er woke up, she reached out and touched the bed beside her, only to find a cold sheet of bedding; her sister was nowhere to be seen.

She struggled to get dressed, climbed out of bed, and immediately saw the neatly folded new clothes and the exquisite new shoes at the foot of the bed.

It was made of pure white, smooth fabric with a subtle floral pattern. Ya'er reached out and touched it, admiring it so much that her eyes lit up instantly.

She grabbed the new clothes and stumbled out, shouting, "Sister, sister! Is this the new dress you made for me? Where are you, sister?"

But when she ran into the kitchen, she only saw her eldest and second eldest brothers sitting at the table, but she couldn't find Shen Yu anywhere.