Ancient Foodie Survival Guide Chapter 18
Translated by Serena Love
Edited by Azure and unsaltedfish
Chapter 18: Sister-in-Law Making Trouble
Jiang Shuyao looked at the anxious little girl in front of her, feeling somewhat helpless. Stinky tofu wasn’t that smelly, right? If it were durian, then she could understand a little.
"It's not dirty, it just smells weird, but it tastes delicious." She said and threw the stinky tofu that Xie Yao had bitten into her mouth. "Look, it's really edible."
Xie Pei watched Jiang Shuyao eat the black-gray stinky tofu, as if she herself had taken a bite of the foul thing, causing her expression to sour. She said, "Ever since Ah Yao was young, he was always very frail and sickly. The food that enters his mouth has to be meticulously prepared. You can eat it yourself, but how can you give it to Ah Yao casually?"
Jiang Shuyao didn't intend to let Xie Yao eat more, after all, the tofu was fried. She was also afraid that his stomach could not bear it.
She explained, "I just gave him a taste, as a snack."
She put down the dishes and faced Xie Pei's "old hen shielding her chicks" appearance and felt very wronged. "Children are at an age where they’re naturally greedy for food. His poor appetite probably has a lot to do with how his everyday meals are bland and lacking in novelty. Look at him. He usually stops drinking milk after only one or two sips, but he loves the double skin milk pudding I made for him. Oh, and he can eat several pieces of cake as well.”
Xie Pei thought that Jiang Shuyao would definitely apologize after her stern reprimand, but she didn't expect her to retort slowly, making her unable to speak for a while.
"Besides, I am your elder sister-in-law. Why do you yell at me like this? Is this the so-called etiquette and rules of you noble ladies?"
Xie Pei choked, what do you mean by "you noble ladies"? Wasn’t she a noble lady as well? As if she disdained to be included with them.
"What right do you have to be my sister-in-law?" Xie Pei became angry when she said this. "Who in this city doesn't know that my Third Brother is outstanding and talented, and there are very few people who are worthy of him. You don't deserve him at all!"
Jiang Shuyao had already eaten her fill, and with nothing better to do, she didn’t mind trading a few barbs with Xie Pei. She smiled faintly. “Why right? Simply because I married your elder brother; I am the wife he took in a proper, formal marriage.”
Those words struck a nerve in Xie Pei, her face was pale with anger, but she was actually extremely lacking in actual quarreling experience. After holding back for a long time, she could only say sadly, "Third brother obviously should marry a woman with both virtue and talent. A wife who fell in love with him at first sight and a union of heaven and earth, but you interfered and ruined his marriage..."
Jiang Shuyao immediately interrupted, "Does he have a sweetheart?"
Xie Pei could not follow her thoughts, and the distress that had just been brewing was dispelled by Jiang Shuyao. She replied in a daze, "There is no one else."
"Then that's that. If your brother had a sweetheart and married me because he cared about what others said, he's not firm in his heart. If your brother doesn't have a sweetheart, wait until he has one and I'll leave. Anyway, only I will have the reputation of being abandoned. People in the world only give pointers and restrictions to the abandoned wives, but there are no young men who will be criticized for remarrying. Therefore, your brother does not suffer from this marriage, and I will also have retribution.” Jiang Shuyao used this sophisticated trick to her heart's content.
Xie Pei was stunned by what she said, "But...but..."
While she was considering her response, she saw a chubby figure swaying behind Jiang Shuyao, stretching out their white and fat little hand.
Looking closely, it was Xie Zhao who came out of nowhere, standing on his tiptoes, preparing to steal the stinky tofu that Jiang Shuyao placed on the wooden table.
"Ah Zhao!" Xie Pei no longer bothered arguing with Jiang Shuyao and called out, “What’s gotten into you? Has the mansion ever lacked anything for you, or shortchanged you in any way? Do you really have to eat something so foul it’s beyond words?”
Xie Zhao poked his head out from behind Jiang Shuyao and curled his lips. "Aunt, you don't know right from wrong."
Xie Pei's eyes widened in shock, she pointed to herself and asked in disbelief, "I can't tell right from wrong?"
Xie Zhao nodded. He might not be able to spout grand principles, but he did know how to reason. He said, "You don’t even know whether the food Third Aunt made can be eaten, or whether it tastes good or not, but you rushed over and accused her That's wrong."
Xie Pei was left for words, choked with both anger and hurt. "Who do you think I'm doing this for?"
Xie Zhao was young and didn't know how to save people's faces. He directly said "But Third Aunt is very good to us, why are you doing this to her?"
"Xie Zhao! Why did you turn your elbows outwards!" Xie Pei felt angry and betrayed by his words.
Jiang Shuyao felt that she was too loud, so she covered Xie Zhao's ears and said disgustedly, "Speak softly, don't frighten the children by talking so loudly."
Jiang Shuyao really knew how to irritate people.
Xie Pei's chest throbbed from her gentle "stab". She grew up watching over her two nephews while Jiang Shuyao was only here for a month. On the contrary, she was the one who looked like an outsider. She stomped her foot and said, "Why are you showing off, pretending to be kind!"
Right after she spoke, Xie Yao, who was hugged by her, suddenly broke free from her embrace and ran to Jiang Shuyao silently, pulling Jiang Shuyao's sleeve to look at her.
Xie Pei watched the two little nephews turn against her completely, feeling very wronged. She was quiet for a while before saying, "You two can’t differentiate between right and wrong."
"Who doesn't know what is right or wrong?" As soon as her voice fell, a cold voice came from behind her.
Xie Pei was too familiar with this voice. Since childhood, she admired her Third Brother the most, and also feared her Third Brother the most.
At times when she acted up, Xie Xun needed only to cast her an expressionless glance to frighten her into trembling. Let alone hearing him speak in such a tone.
She suddenly called down and turned around to look at Xie Xun in a panic, "Th-Third Brother."
Xie Xun briefly glanced inside the room and quickly guessed what was going on.
He said to Xie Pei, "I didn't know you still had such a side. Have you learned all the rules Mother taught you?"
The tone was calm, gentle-sounding, but Xie Pei was most afraid of this tone.
"Third Brother..." Xie Pei's face turned pale with a "swish". She lowered her head and clenched her palms in terror.
Jiang Shuyao pressed the heads of two small dumplings with her hands. She did not feel as if she were the protagonist of this farce at all. She glanced at Xie Xun's face playfully.
Was this familiar coffin face something to be scared of?
Xie Xun didn't look at her anymore and said, "Don't come to this yard from now on."
Xie Pei looked at him in disbelief, then turned to look at Jiang Shuyao again. Suppressing her tears, she ran away in a hurry.
The two little ones also slid away, leaving Jiang Shuyao standing there in confusion.
Xie Xun stood by the door and glanced at Jiang Shuyao. Noticing her lowered head, he felt a little complicated.
Xie Pei did too much today, she should be feeling wronged and uncomfortable.
Since she insisted on marrying him in the beginning, she must have understood that she would be mocked and treated coldly by others. Was it worth it for him?
... Maybe she regrets it now?
He retracted his gaze, fearing that Jiang Shuyao would find him peeking. He was thinking about breaking the silence, but he heard Jiang Shuyao suddenly say,
"Huh? Where's my stinky tofu?"
Jiang Shuyao had been lowering her head to look at the wooden table just now when she noticed something amiss. On closer thought, wasn’t a plate of stinky tofu missing?
"That little guy..." Jiang Shuyao couldn't laugh or cry. It was always bad to eat too much fried food, but Xie Zhao was too greedy.
However, she was still very happy that her own food was recognized by others.
Seeing Xie Xun standing at the door of the large kitchen with his hands on his back, his long figure was melted into a line by the bright sunlight outside the door. She said, "It's so early today. I made stinky tofu. Would you like to try it?" Xie Xun was too thin. Men had to be a little stronger to look good.
Xie Xun was ready for her to sloppily grieve and cry, but she suddenly asked so abruptly without choking.
＊
Xie Pei ran out for a long time before she finally stopped.
She stood in place, trying to understand how she got in such an embarrassing situation.
She stood there in a daze, and no one dared to disturb her.
Until Xie Zhao, holding the plate, suddenly appeared.
"Aunt." He called Xie Pei, holding the stinky tofu in his hand.
The two ate as they walked, the younger brother took a bite, and he also took a bite. However, his mouth was a bit big, and it was almost gone after one mouthful.
Xie Pei wanted to cry when she saw this plate of stinky tofu.
Seeing her pitiful appearance, Xie Zhao thought she also wanted it. He was entangled and reluctantly pulled out a small piece.
"Aunt, do you want to eat?"
Xie Pei subconsciously wanted to open her mouth and say "I don't want to eat", but after seeing Xie Zhao's perfunctory question, and how he wanted to put it back on the plate without waiting for her answer...
She immediately changed her answer and said, "I want it."
Xie Zhao looked at her in bewilderment but still walked up to her.
Xie Pei squatted down, took the chopsticks, and smelled the scent of stinky tofu. She hesitated a few times and gathered the courage to stuff it in her mouth.
The gravy of stinky tofu was full of flavor, with a slight spicy taste of garlic which made her stunned as soon as she bit into it.
When she bit off the fried and crispy outer skin, the sauce poured into the inside suddenly exploded in her mouth. It was hot and delicious, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The tofu inside was juicy, and she could slowly taste the mellow fermented flavor after chewing.
The skin of the stinky tofu was quite chewy, fully covered with juice, and it had a fried aroma. The more you chewed, the better it tasted.
After swallowing, there was still a faint fragrance in her mouth, and the aftertaste was endless.
Xie Pei thought about the chewy skin blankly. It turned out that the black-gray skin that looked disgusting tasted like that when eaten.
Seeing that Xie Pei hadn't moved for a while, Xie Zhao suspected that she would want to eat another piece. He quietly retracted his hands, and called Xie Pei, "Aunt?"
Xie Pei returned to his senses, looked up at Xie Zhao, and remembered everything just now. The pale face gradually turned pink due to embarrassment.
Why was she making trouble?
Tears dropped from Xie Pei's eye sockets like broken beads.
Xie Zhao backed away in surprise. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, Xie Yao pulled him from behind him, motioning him to shut up.
The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed Xie Pei became. She used her cuffs to wipe away the tears, but they wouldn't stop. She simply buried her head in her arms, squatted on the ground, and cried "Waaaaaa".
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