From slave trader to the Immortal Lord of Ten Thousand Laws

The Xu family mansion.

In the kitchen.

Xu Lian, wearing an apron and with her long legs outstretched, was slicing meat with a knife at the table. All around her were busy servants and kitchen helpers, people coming and going, and pots, pans, bowls and dishes clattering and clanging.

"Snapped!"

The woman knocked over the glazed dish, which shattered on the ground.

"Yunniang, what's wrong with you? This is the seventh dish you've accidentally knocked over today!"

The old woman in charge wasn't very old, but she had high cheekbones, sharp eyes, and a thin mouth, making her look exactly like a mean-spirited person.

At that moment, she was pointing her finger at Yunniang and scolding, "Are you so desperate for a man that you've gone mad?"

"Look at Xu Niang, she may be a bit slow-witted, but she's quick and efficient." As she spoke, she turned to Xu Lian, who was chopping meat at the chopping board, and smiled. She touched her newly tailored clothes and said, "Most importantly, she knows how to be filial."

"Granny Wang, I know I was wrong."

Yunniang's face turned pale, and she lowered her head, not daring to look directly at the head maid.

The head maid, however, was relentless. She poked Yunniang's forehead with her finger while spewing barbs:

"Hmph! You actually know you were wrong?"

"Old woman, you seem so distracted; you're probably still thinking about which man you slept with last night!"

"ah--!"

Yunniang screamed and collapsed to the ground in a panic.

These words really felt like a thorn, firmly embedded in her heart.

The head maid was startled by Yunniang. She patted her chest and was about to scold her again when she saw Yunniang with her face downcast and her hair disheveled, as if she was about to be ruined.

He hurriedly stepped back and said:

"Yunniang, please don't do this. This old woman has granted you half a day of leisure. You should go back and rest properly..."

"Waaah..."

Yunniang did not answer, but covered her face and sobbed.

Upon hearing the crying, everyone in the kitchen immediately stopped. Those picking vegetables stopped, and those chopping meat put their knives down on the cutting board. They all turned their heads and looked at Yunniang.

The head maid paused for a moment, but then fell silent.

"Child, what's wrong?"

"Granny, I'm fine."

Yunniang wiped away her tears and cried for a while.

When she looked up again, all that was left were two red eyes, her face already dry of tears.

The stewardess couldn't say anything more.

The kitchen was bustling with activity again.

During the Great Qian Dynasty, the common people followed the principle of "working at sunrise and resting at sunset." Ordinary people ate only two meals a day: one was the morning meal, also called "yong," which was eaten at Chenshi (7-9 AM) and was the main meal; the other was the evening meal, also called "sun," which was eaten at Shenshi (3-5 PM) and was usually leftovers from the morning that were heated up and eaten.

However, royalty and nobility ate three meals a day, and emperors even ate four meals a day to show their noble status.

Although the Xu family was not royalty, they were still one of the most prominent and wealthy families in the capital. Therefore, their food, clothing, and daily necessities were on par with those of a prince. The masters would scrape together a few leftovers, which would be enough to feed the servants for a while. As a result, the servants of the Xu family could eat three full meals a day.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The head maid knocked on the clapper.

This is a signal to serve the servants their meals.

So the servants who were off duty rushed into the dining hall in a great hurry.

The Xu family treated their servants very well.

In the morning, a large bowl of white rice porridge is served with two eggs; at noon, meat patties or white steamed buns are served, and each person is given a large bowl of millet rice mixed with fresh seasonal vegetables and a few thin slices of meat that are fried and glistening with oil; for dinner, the leftover soup from lunch is taken, cooked together in one pot, and eaten as a mixed dish.

...

"Dinner's ready."

Jiang She left the back room and walked to the dining hall, but instead of sitting there, he filled a bowl with rice, took it to the kitchen door, and squatted down to eat.

This was not what he wanted.

However, Jiang She had always done this before his death, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow suit.

"Tap tap tap!"

Light footsteps echoed in my ears.

Jiang She raised his head.

But then Yunniang walked over with a bowl and chopsticks and put all the meat slices that she herself couldn't bear to eat into Jiang She's bowl.

Jiang She did not refuse, because Yunniang always did so.

She only told Xiao Suntou and Jiang She, "Martial artists need to eat plenty of meat," and from the day she started working, she saved all the meat slices for Xiao Suntou and Jiang She. But she didn't know that these few thin slices of meat wouldn't actually give them much strength...

No, perhaps she knows.

But what can she do even if she knows? She can still save herself from eating it.

"Splash!"

Springtime is sunny, but the weather can change in an instant.

Rain started falling in the courtyard, but clear clouds still hung in the east.

"Yunniang, why isn't Little Sun here?"

Jiang She sat down under the eaves with his bowl in his hand, taking shelter from the rain, and glanced at Yunniang.

Yunniang stammered, "Brother Jiang, Brother Sun said he still has a few moves he hasn't memorized yet, and he needs to study them diligently. We can't let you lose because of his mistake."

Tomorrow he will be going to the young lady's courtyard to compete with Liu Shun. Little Sun is a little nervous, which is understandable.

But Little Sun would come to the kitchen door every day, squat down to eat, without fail, 365 days a year.

But today it has not arrived.

It's really strange.

"Strange, very strange!" Jiang She frowned. "These two are definitely hiding something from me!"

However, the "speaking skills" he obtained from the Third Madam were insufficient. The Third Madam had indeed practiced these skills, but she only focused on practicing them for murder and bedroom arts.

Even if it were used, it would only lead to people killing each other, or have the effect of a sleeping potion.

However, it cannot be used for questioning.

Jiang She pondered for a moment, then glanced at Yunniang's eyes: "Yunniang, why are your eyes red? Did you cry?"

Upon hearing this, Yunniang hurriedly rubbed her eyes: "Oh dear! Brother Jiang, I got chili peppers in my eyes!"

"You weren't crying, were you?"

"It wasn't from crying."

"..."

Jiang She frowned, about to ask again, when a pair of beautiful feet slowly came into view.

Looking up, he saw it was Miss Xu.

"Madam Xu?"

Here, give this to the mud to eat.

Madam Xu grabbed a chicken leg, munching on it, and handed Jiang She a clay bowl.

There was a chicken leg left in the bowl, sprinkled with some scallions for garnish.

This was a chicken leg that Madam Xu had spent most of a gold brick to bring back from the Hundred Gold Banquet at Zuixianlou, the number one restaurant in the capital. Although it looked ordinary after she skillfully cooked it, the taste was really delicious.

"Give me?"

Jiang She was stunned.

He considered his relationship with Madam Xu to be merely casual, so how could their relationship have become so close after they had sex that morning?

That's impossible.

She doesn't know that I'm the one controlling her.

"Um."

Madam Xu nodded: "Spread the mud."

Jiang She asked, puzzled, "Why are you giving me this chicken leg?"

He was taken aback, but Yunniang burst out laughing, then glared at Jiang She reproachfully:

"Brother Jiang, you're not being fair. Someone else is taking care of you, but you don't even tell Brother Sun and me. I was saving these slices of meat for you, but I should have saved them all for Brother Sun."

"This...I..."

Jiang She looked left and right, and for a moment he was speechless.

"Madam Xu, you..."

"Then you'll have to pay back your debt!"

Pay off debts?

Jiang She was completely bewildered: "Wife, what debt do you owe?"

Madam Xu blinked and said seriously, "It's a debt of gratitude, isn't it? I still owe you for that time you rode me so hard that night."

No, something sounds a bit off about that.

Jiang She frowned, turned his head to look at Yunniang, and saw that her face was pale and her pupils were timid.

"Yunniang, what's wrong?"

Jiang She grabbed her and asked.

Yunniang didn't reply, but stared blankly at the word "riding".

ride...

ride....

ride!!

"ah--!"

Yunniang screamed, as if all her strength had been drained away, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Yunniang! Yunniang!"

Jiang She called out several times, but Yunniang did not wake up. Just as he was about to lean over to help her and carry her to the clinic, he glanced over and saw Madam Xu standing behind him, seemingly oblivious, her eyes vacant, engrossed in eating the chicken leg in her hand.

"Madam Xu, quickly go and summon the doctor."

"oh."

Madam Xu said "Oh," and with her lips slightly parted, she tore off a large piece of chicken leg, skin and all.

She was eating.

Jiang She watched.

Eyes imbued with wisdom and divine sense can see many things that others and cultivators cannot.

At that moment, he watched as a wisp of crimson-orange smoke, like smoke or rosy clouds, rose from the chicken leg and was eaten by Madam Xu, skin and all.

"What is that?"

Jiang She was stunned.

Immediately afterwards...

He then noticed that the combat power displayed above Madam Xu's head had instantly increased from "55-100" to "100-100".