“Uncle Lu, Aunt Lu, you’ve returned.” Shi Fa Ke stood in the courtyard, seeing that it was indeed Lu Ting and Xu Feiqiong who had entered, and spoke hurriedly.

As soon as Xu Feiqiong entered, she saw Shi Fa Ke and smiled. “A’Ke, you’ve come.”

“Yes, I came to wait for news. Aunt Lu, how did your discussion with Madam Zhu go?” Shi Fa Ke asked somewhat impatiently.

Xu Feiqiong smiled slightly. “The wedding date has been set for May.”

Shi Fa Ke’s eyes widened immediately, simply amazed. Clearly yesterday Madam Zhu had said she would refuse the marriage, yet today the wedding date was already set?!

“How… how did you manage it?”

Let her learn from this experience too! If she had Aunt Lu’s skills, why would she worry about not becoming a great matchmaker?

Shi Fa Ke’s bright, sparkling expression amused Xu Feiqiong, who couldn’t help but pinch her little face. “Where are your thoughts wandering? Madam Zhu and I are old acquaintances. Previously, Madam Zhu had some misunderstandings about Zhuxi, but now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, naturally we reached an agreement.”

Hearing this, Shi Fa Ke momentarily forgot about learning from experience and said in bewilderment, “…Elder Brother Lu? What does this have to do with Elder Brother Lu?”

“Zhuxi is the groom, so how could it not be related?” Xu Feiqiong said with a smile, as if completely unaware that she had just dropped a bombshell.

What?

Shi Fa Ke was stunned by this bombshell and looked even more dazed.

When Lu Chi couldn’t contain himself and came out, he saw exactly this dumbfounded expression on Shi Fa Ke’s face, and immediately looked at his troublesome mother with some dissatisfaction… Mother was teasing A’Ke again!

He had originally wanted to explain this matter to A’Ke himself.

And there was also the matter of coaxing A’Ke into calling him “Second Brother Lu” earlier!

As soon as Lu Chi appeared, Xu Feiqiong immediately saw that on her son’s already injured face were several additional black claw marks, making it look quite spectacular indeed, as if it were… soot from a pot? This little couple certainly knew how to play. She looked at her son teasingly, and receiving her son’s dissatisfied look, Xu Feiqiong coughed lightly and said as if to cover up, “Oh my, it smells so good. Did you make food? I’m just hungry.”

Speaking thus, she pulled the dazed Shi Fa Ke into the kitchen. “Oh my, how sumptuous!” Xu Feiqiong looked delighted. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? We’re just in time. Lu Ting, come quickly, let’s eat together.”

Lu Ting looked at the table full of dishes, frowned slightly but said nothing, and turned to cut a piece of cured meat down from the beam.

Shi Fa Ke was brought back to her senses by a wave of appetizing aromas. She instinctively looked toward the man who was standing at the stove stir-frying… uh, Uncle Lu?

Seeing his practiced movements, it seemed… he cooked quite often normally.

Shi Fa Ke suddenly remembered the indescribable expression on Lu Chi’s face earlier when she had said that Aunt Lu must be an excellent cook… Mm, she now roughly understood what that meant.

Soon, a plate of stir-fried cured meat with bracken was brought to the table.

Shi Fa Ke noticed that although Aunt Lu had praised her and Lu Chi’s cooking skills, the dish she picked at most frequently with her chopsticks was still that stir-fried cured meat with bracken.

“A’Ke, you eat too.” Noticing Shi Fa Ke’s gaze, Xu Feiqiong enthusiastically served her a chopstick-full into her bowl. “Your Uncle Lu’s cooking is exceptional, and this cured meat was also cured and brought by him. Unfortunately, bracken doesn’t keep well, so we bought it fresh in town. When you have a chance to visit us in the future, I’ll definitely let you try authentic stir-fried cured meat with bracken – it’s much more delicious than this.”

“You’ve been wronged.” Lu Ting looked heartbroken as he listened. “Should we go back in a few days?”

Uh… Shi Fa Ke didn’t know what to say for a moment and silently lowered her head to eat. She tasted the stir-fried cured meat with bracken that Aunt Lu had served her – the cured meat was aromatic, fat but not greasy, and the bracken was refreshing to the palate. It was truly delicious.

Even like this… it was still wronging her?

Xu Feiqiong was ungrateful, however, rolling her eyes at Lu Ting. “We’re not going back. The children’s birth charts haven’t been matched yet, the betrothal gifts haven’t been sent, and A’Qiao and I haven’t seen each other for over twenty years. I promised to go find her for a chat later.”

Shi Fa Ke was somewhat surprised. Could the A’Qiao that Aunt Lu mentioned be Madam Zhu?

It seemed that Aunt Lu and Madam Zhu were indeed good friends.

Just as they were eating, Lu Zhuxi returned.

His expression didn’t look very good. When he saw everyone sitting together eating, he paused for a moment, then looked at Xu Feiqiong. “Mother…”

“You can rest assured. The wedding date has been set for May.” Xu Feiqiong smiled as she stood up and ladled him a bowl of rice. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Quick, wash your hands and have a bite.”

Hearing this, Lu Zhuxi’s tense expression finally relaxed, and his whole person became lighter. He turned to wash his hands and sat down to eat.

After taking a bite, he suddenly looked up at Lu Chi suspiciously. “What happened to your face? New medicine?”

Shi Fa Ke was startled and immediately felt guilty. The soot on Lu Chi’s face! She had done that!

Lu Chi glanced sideways at Shi Fa Ke, seeing her extremely guilty expression, and felt somewhat amused. The corner of his mouth curved up slightly as he pretended not to know. “Mm? What’s wrong with my face?”

Seeing his blissful expression, Lu Zhuxi became even more baffled. “Those five black claw marks on your face…”

Oh, he understood now.

Those small claws – apart from Miss Shi sitting right there… it probably couldn’t have been anyone else.

No wonder this brat was so blissful.

Lu Chi pretended to touch his face, then looked at the black soot on his fingertips and showed a surprised expression.

Lu Zhuxi couldn’t bear to watch anymore. It was an eyesore.

Xu Feiqiong couldn’t help but laugh.

Shi Fa Ke silently lowered her head to count rice grains, pretending she didn’t exist. Aunt Lu definitely wasn’t laughing because she knew this was her doing! Definitely not!

“Zhuxi, what happened just now? Did something occur?” After laughing, Xu Feiqiong looked at Lu Zhuxi with concern.

His expression had been quite poor when he returned earlier.

“Among the items Golden Mansion sent, many had been tampered with. Using inferior goods to pass for superior ones was bad enough, but there was a pair of gold-inlaid jade bracelets that had actually been repaired from broken bracelets.”

Repairing broken bracelets using gold-inlay jade techniques was not a problem in itself, but these were all intended as betrothal gifts. On such a joyous occasion, sending a pair of broken bracelets was inauspicious.

Xu Feiqiong was also stunned, then said, “Shen Qing probably didn’t know about this. It’s likely that his subordinates were negligent.”

“Mother, with Shen Qing’s capabilities and methods, do you think he can’t manage his subordinates?” Lu Chi glanced at his mother and got straight to the point.

“Shen Qing is not that kind of person.” Lu Ting was silent for a moment, then spoke a fair word.

Honestly, though he was displeased with that boy coveting A’Qiong, he absolutely couldn’t do such a thing.

“Uncle Shen indeed didn’t know about this matter. I roughly know who did it.” Lu Zhuxi said.

Everyone at the table looked at Lu Zhuxi.

“Uncle Shen’s daughter, Shen Tongyun.” Lu Zhuxi took a sip of soup and said indifferently.

“How could it be little Tongyun… she’s Qi Niang’s daughter.” Xu Feiqiong frowned. This was even harder for her to accept than if Shen Qing had done it. She was Qi Niang’s child, and Qi Niang was so gentle…

Qi Niang had originally been her personal maid, always reliable and loyal. Later, when she was to be married, she chose Qi Niang as her dowry maid.

When they encountered bandits on the wedding escort journey, almost everyone only cared about their own lives, fleeing and scattering. Only Qi Niang stayed with her throughout, and later even followed her into the bandit stronghold… At that time, she had said that since they had entered the stronghold, there was no longer any young miss or dowry maid – they were all the same.

But Qi Niang refused and continued to serve her.

Later, she inadvertently learned that Qi Niang had feelings for Shen Qing, so she married her to Shen Qing. Later still, when Golden Mansion’s manager retired and returned to the stronghold, and they needed to arrange someone to take over, Lu Ting favored Shen Qing and had him take over Golden Mansion’s business. At that time, Qi Niang had just become pregnant. She had originally been somewhat reluctant to let Qi Niang leave while pregnant, but Qi Niang had always been sensitive and thoughtful. She worried this matter would affect the relationship between Lu Ting and herself, so she insisted on leaving the stronghold together with Shen Qing.

That departure had lasted all these years.

These past few days, having just arrived in Copper Gong Town and being busy with Zhuxi’s wedding, and today having met A’Qiao and feeling quite moved, she was particularly nostalgic about the past. Since Zhuxi’s wedding was also settled, she had originally planned to visit the Shen family tomorrow to see Qi Niang and her daughter.

But now Zhuxi was saying that Qi Niang’s daughter had switched his betrothal gifts and maliciously included a pair of broken bracelets?

Xu Feiqiong’s mood became somewhat low.

Lu Ting saw this and felt heartbroken, but he was tongue-tied and could only keep making eyes at Lu Chi. This little rascal usually had endless grand principles – how could he be useless at the crucial moment! Having read so many useless books and having so much ink in his belly, why didn’t he quickly say something to comfort his mother!

Lu Chi received his father’s look, paused for a moment, then said, “Mother, sometimes people do change.”

Xu Feiqiong shook her head. “Qi Niang wouldn’t change.”

“Mother, how many days have you been in Copper Gong Town?” Lu Chi didn’t continue to argue with her but suddenly asked a completely unrelated question.

“Uh…” Xu Feiqiong was stunned. “Including today, three days in total. Why?”

“You are Qi Niang’s former mistress. Has she come to see you?” Lu Chi looked at her and asked.

Xu Feiqiong frowned slightly. “Ever since entering… entering your Lu family, I told Qi Niang that I no longer considered her a maid – we are the same kind of people. I haven’t had time to visit her, and she hasn’t had time to visit me. Isn’t that quite normal?”

“Mother, do you truly think it’s normal?” Lu Chi raised an eyebrow, his voice somewhat cold. “Fine, let’s not mention the former mistress matter. Mother, you haven’t had time to actively visit her because you just arrived in Copper Gong Town and have a pile of trivial matters. But that Madam Shen has lived in Copper Gong Town for a long time. If… her feelings for you are truly as deep as you say, what exactly could she be so busy with that she couldn’t even find time to come see you once?”

Xu Feiqiong was stunned.

“Lu Chi!” Lu Ting roared angrily. “I told you to comfort your mother – is this what you call comforting?!”

“Isn’t this comforting?” Lu Chi glanced at him with a very innocent expression. “I haven’t even mentioned that Miss Shen has always presented herself as the young mistress of Golden Mansion’s owner family in Copper Gong Town, clearly already treating Golden Mansion as her own family property. Now that elder brother has unknowingly made such a long list to gather things from her family’s shop, could she be pleased? Moreover, even if Shen Tongyun wasn’t pleased, one or two items would be manageable, but with such a large quantity of goods, does she have the ability to switch them under Shen Qing’s nose? Is it really her handiwork alone?”

No, you’ve already mentioned it, and babbled on quite happily about it too.

Xu Feiqiong’s face had already frozen.

Lu Ting was furious. “You little rascal, you’re adding fuel to the fire!”