Chapter 004: Hibiscus Egg Soup

At this table, there were originally seven people, all unmarried girls from the mansion, without distinction of primary or secondary status. However, Yuhua always followed by Mrs. Yu's side, so she could only be counted as six. Now, Huanhua also did not sit here, so the large round table had an empty corner.

Fifth Miss Yanhua said, "Why is Eighth Miss not sitting here?"

Liu Li also wondered. According to her impression, even though the Qi family valued her, they could not get past her indifferent attitude. She remembered that in her previous life, Huanhua had sat at the same table with her for this meal.

Yanhua looked at Liu Li and saw her only picking at the matsutake mushrooms in front of her. She said, "The egg custard is also delicious. You should try it." Then she pushed the egg custard towards Liu Li.

Liu Li thanked her but did not touch it.

Seventh Miss Suhua swallowed a bite of mixed mushroom roll and said, "Fifth sister, just eat quickly. She's just a country girl, what does she know about good food and bad food?"

Yanhua sneered, "Why look down on people?" She then had a servant scoop two spoonfuls of the egg custard into Liu Li's bowl and said with a smile, "Go ahead and eat it."

Fifth Miss was definitely unexpected. At this point, Liu Li had to reluctantly accept it. The golden and tender egg custard slid onto her tongue. Upon careful tasting, she found a slight bitter taste amidst the freshness. In an instant, Liu Li understood the "enthusiasm" behind this. Huanhua, who had suffered years of torment in the He family, could definitely taste the bitterness from the indigo ear powder in this egg custard.

In recent years, the nephew of the He family's maternal uncle, under the care of the old lady, had started a medicinal business. He regularly provided medicinal herbs to the family, including the easily obtainable indigo ear roots. Indigo ear not only had medicinal properties but also had a laxative effect. Huanhua had left no room for mercy in this spoonful of egg custard, which was enough to make Liu Li suffer from diarrhea during the upcoming scripture recitation. If the old master He knew that this potential heir of the He family was foolishly eating something that would upset her stomach in such a solemn occasion, he might have her chopped and fed to the dogs ahead of time.

Liu Li understood it in an instant. But it was too late. She had already swallowed half a spoonful, which was enough for her to endure for the day.

"How is it?" Yanhua still smiled.

Liu Li nodded and put the bowl down with both hands. "It's really delicious."

Suhua at the opposite end pursed her lips. Fourth Miss Shuhua finished rinsing her mouth, wiped her lips with a handkerchief, glanced at Yanhua, and then left gracefully. Sixth Miss Zhenhua quickly drank a sip of tea and said, "Fourth sister, wait for me!" She also got up and walked towards the young masters' table.

Only Liu Li, Yanhua, and Suhua were left at the table. Yanhua sneered at Shuhua's back, "What's with the attitude?" Suhua seemed oblivious to the undercurrent and continued to eat her meal. In no time, she had finished three honey-glazed carved birds. Yanhua tapped her with chopsticks and said, "Look at how fat you are, and you're still eating!"

Suhua wiped her mouth in distress, grabbed a handful of small olives, and ran away.

Liu Li's stomach was already feeling uncomfortable, but she had to pretend to be calm for now. Seeing that Yanhua was in a good mood eating the eggplant, she slowly took a bite or two to avoid arousing suspicion. The indigo ear poison was not acting fast, but she had to resolve it before the scripture recitation began. She saw Huanhua getting up and walking towards the back courtyard, probably to relieve herself, so she said to Cuiying, "I'll also go to the backyard."

In the backyard, she saw the maid Huangying looking around the back wall, as if afraid of some trap. She asked Cuiying to wait at the door and then went around the partition wall. After a quick look at the terrain, she went straight to the back alley.

Behind the alley was a small courtyard where the servants who worked in the back garden lived. Since it was far from the front yard, it also had its own small kitchen and outhouse.

At this time, everyone was in the Buddha hall, and the entire courtyard was empty. After relieving herself, she came out and suddenly saw someone coming out of a room in the middle of a row of houses. The person was dressed in a green jacket and looked somewhat familiar, but their actions were very secretive. She was afraid that a thief had come out in broad daylight, so she carefully hid around the corner and waited for the person to leave before coming out again.

When she passed by the door, she couldn't help but push it open to see what was inside. However, she was disappointed. The room was very simple, and the only valuable items were a red embroidered shirt hanging at the head of the bed and a pair of embroidered shoes on the footstool. There was a delicate porcelain plate on the round table, which looked like it was worth a few copper coins. She reached out and lifted the plate, only to find a plate of warm mung bean cake underneath, with a hairpin adorned with red coral stuck in the middle, very eye-catching.

From the warmth of the cake, it was clear that the person who had just been there was not a thief but had brought food. She wondered why they were being so secretive.

But now was not the time to worry about this. She closed the door and hurried back to the Buddha hall.

When she arrived back at the partition wall, she heard Cuiying outside saying, "This is strange. Where did she go?" Then she heard Biyun complaining, "I told you to follow her, but you went to chat with the young ladies. Now we're in trouble. If the master finds out, he'll punish you!"

Liu Li was relieved that she had returned in time. She was about to speak when Cuiying said, "Everyone knows that the master has a main wife. Now the main wife hasn't even looked at her properly. Wanting to be a proper young lady is not that easy! Only you take her seriously!"

Liu Li sneered inwardly upon hearing this. She went back to the outhouse to wash her hands before slowly coming out again. Cuiying was leading the way to the front hall, and Biyun followed.