Chapter 20 Pilfer food (2)
This was the third day after Chen Hui had knelt.
There were no large pieces of meat and large jars of wine. Instead, it was still that congee and a few small side dishes. There was no meat.
Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu didn’t call Chen Hui to go do the laundry again. This was the benefit she got after “kneeling”. The heavens should have pity on her. What she wanted was obviously another benefit, okay? If they could give her a bowl of fragrant braised pork, she would be happy to do the laundry every day!
“Xiao Tiao, I have to do something,” Chen Hui said solemnly.
“Wait for me here. I will be back soon.”
“Lady…”
Chen Hui raised her hand, “No, no need to say more. I have decided. It is useless to say more.”
“But…The kitchen is full of people right now. If you go there now, you, you wouldn’t be able to steal anything to eat.” Xiao Tiao insisted on finishing what she was going to say.
Chen Hui, “…Then, I will wait for a bit.”
Chen Hui’s treatment has not been improved much. Only one thing, the door of Plum Yard was not locked again.
Therefore, after seeing no hope of eating meat, Chen Hui decided to take action herself. According to the description of Xiao Tiao, a former staff of the kitchen, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, there was a high probability that there would be no people in the kitchen. Even if there were people, it would be very few people, enough to give Chen Hui the chance to steal things. It was just that if that exasperating eunuch was not at home during daytime, the kitchen would only prepare simply meals except for the lunch of Lady Jiang. Lady Jiang had never liked meat or fish, so, it was very likely that Chen Hui wouldn’t be able to find any delicious meat.
Chen Hui felt that this possibility was not enough to dispel her desire of going out to find out.
The estimated time was almost there. Chen Hui asked Xiao Tiao to stay in the yard and watch over it. If by chance anyone came, she should say that she (CH) was taking an afternoon nap. Anyway, it was broad daylight. Usually that exasperating eunuch wouldn’t come when he was still at work. As for the other people, she didn’t care.
Chen Hui changed into the simplest clothing and walked carefully all the way to the kitchen. Thanks to her luck, she didn’t meet anyone along the way. It let her smoothly come to the outside of the kitchen.
The kitchen was a semi-open building with total of four stoves. If a banquet had to be held, all the stoves could open fire together. A large pile of firewood taller than a human was placed on the wall not far behind the row of stoves. In front of the stoves, there were four tables of two by two.
Chen Hui walked over with her waist bend down. When her eyes swept over, she discovered that someone was washing things by the well. Her heart skipped a beat. Because the other party was facing the direction of the four square tables, she squatted and didn’t dare to move. After a while, that person finally finished washing things and left. Chen Hui hurriedly went in. She still had her waist bent and didn’t dare to be unbridled.
There were scattered things on the four tables in the middle. There were food ingredients and leftovers. Chen Hui rummaged for a while but didn’t even find a chunk of meat. She casually grabbed two small pears. She wiped one and began to eat. She hid the other one to bring back for Xiao Tiao. With a pear in her mouth, she came to the stove again. She was surprised to find that one of them was still warm and the lid was tightly closed…
Chen Hui’s eyes lit up. She hurriedly lifted the lid. A rush of heat hit her face. when the steam dissipated, she saw something in the warm pot, which was a steamer. She opened it curiously and found out that there was only the broth of soup. After sniffing, she was sure that it was chicken soup with a lot of ingredients. The chicken soup was here, what about the chicken?
She put the chicken soup that she didn’t have any interest in, back to its original place. She went to the other stoves. Fortunately, she found the whole chicken that she wanted in the second stove…Ai, so small. It was only a bit bigger than her palm…whatever. It is fine as long as it was meat!
Being small have the benefits of being small. Chen Hui finished the pear in three bites and threw it under the table. She wrapped the chicken directly with a handkerchief, turned and left.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she got to the kitchen door, a woman walked towards her. Chen Hui braked and walked slowly with her head down.
That person looked rather indifferent. Seeing someone coming out, she subconsciously stepped to a side. Then, she looked up. When she saw the person in front of her clearly, the other party called out, “Lady Chen!”
Damn.
Hearing this somewhat familiar voice, Chen Hui paused after she got to know who it was. Immediately, she pretended to not have heard the other party call her, lifted her leg and walked away quickly. The meat that she found was hers. She would never return it! When she caught them off guard, took the meat back and shared it with Xiao Tiao, could they still make her vomit it out?
Thinking about this, Chen Hui quickened her pace even more. When the person at her back saw that she didn’t respond at her call, she also stopped calling and just went back to the kitchen in confusion.
Chen Hui walked in a hurry. All the way, she looked tense and fearful. As she walked through the arched door between the Xichang House and the kitchen, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her. She dangerously came to a halt and almost bumped on the other party.
“Sorry,” Chen Hui lowered her head to apologize. She originally planned to bypass the other party and go back to Plum Yard, but in the next moment, the stranger servant who almost ran into her, grabbed her arm. At the same time, she heard a noise not far in front.
Chen Hui’s heartbeat quickened immediately and she was alarmed. She was just stealing a chicken to eat, did it need to cause such a big battle?
…Wait, wait, not right. There was no telephone here to communicate over long distances. How could the maid named Ziyu who she almost ran into at the kitchen, inform the people in front yard? Wait, wait, could it be that someone already went to Plum Yard, discovered that she was not there and thought that she had escaped? So, they came after her?
Before Chen Hui could think of a reason to why, the servant who grabbed her arm, suddenly showed a dagger. The cold blade pressed against her neck, making her whole body instantly go cold.
What was the situation?! She just stole a chicken. The crime isn’t worth dying for, right? Or, was it that the exasperating eunuch finally couldn’t tolerate her anymore and decided to directly kill her? Or was it that Lady Jiang felt that by killing her, she would be more at ease to avoid future troubles?
What interrupted Chen Hui’s thoughts was the tense voice of the person next to her, “Don’t move, after you help me escape here safely, I will let you go!”
She exhaled carefully, lest her breathing movement was too over and she accidentally cut her throat. This person didn’t belong to Li residence. Somehow, he came in and had been discovered. He could only take her as hostage.
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