Tantai Heqing glanced at Tantai Wenwang and said, "Unlikely."
Tantai Wenwang asked: "Are there any bolder ones among your pretty boys?"
Tantai Heqing smiled scornfully, none of the pretty boys she raised was like a mouse seeing a cat when they saw her, "No..." but one person suddenly appeared in her mind.
If we were talking about being bold, that pretty boy didn't think there were many men who dared to look at her.
However, he had just been beaten yesterday, so there was no way he could come to peek while injured.
Tantai Wenwang saw his sister's expression and gritted his teeth and said, "Did you think of someone?"
Tantai Heqing did not answer directly, but asked: "If you see him again, can you recognize him?"
"I can't guarantee it. The light was too dim and he had his face covered."
"Can you recognize his voice?"
"He didn't make a sound from the beginning to the end."
Seeing that he had successfully focused his sister's attention on the flower picker, Tantai Wenwang secretly rejoiced.
At this time, Tantai Heqing came back to his senses and said: "From tomorrow on, you will not be allowed to step out of the mansion. You should study at home, otherwise I will not be polite to you."
Tantai Wenwang said "ah".
Tantai He said coldly: "If you were not my brother, I would have killed you long ago."
…
The next day.
Xie Fu originally thought that the burglary in the inner house last night would cause a storm in the city, but it turned out to be calm.
Could it be that the flower picker was allowed to escape?
Even if the flower-picking thief ran away, there was so much noise last night, at least there was news.
This made Xie Fu feel a little strange, but he couldn't take the initiative to ask without asking.
Xie Fu walked into the kitchen.
In the kitchen, there was a woman in her forties who was preparing breakfast. Perhaps it was because she had been working all year round, and because she had gained weight in middle age, she had a very strong figure.
This middle-aged woman is Aunt Wu who takes care of Xie Fu and Zhu Ming, two pretty boys, who have two meals a day.
Xie Fu called out politely: "Auntie."
Aunt Wu turned her head, not hiding the impatience on her face, "Why are you in a hurry? It will be ready soon. You don't have to work every day, so why are you thinking about eating?"
Xie Fu said: "No, I want to make some food myself."
Aunt Wu was stunned for a moment. Xie Fu was already looking for things on his own, but other than rice, he couldn't find any of the ingredients he wanted.
Aunt Wu said angrily: "I said Mr. Tu, what do you want to do?"
"Call me Mr. Xie from now on." Xie Fu said and asked: "Aunt, do you buy all the meat and vegetables that you usually buy?"
Aunt Wu said in a strange voice, "Who is it if it's not me?"
"Well, I want something, and you can buy it for me later."
Fu Xie read out what he wanted smoothly: "gorgon seeds, white tuckahoe, yam, japonica rice, lotus seeds, lilies... buy me more of each."
Aunt Wu looked stunned and probably couldn't react.
Xie Fu asked: "Do you remember?" Xie Fu could write it down with a pen, but it seems that Aunt Wu may not be literate. In this world, paper is expensive and books are expensive. In addition to the scholarly family, few ordinary people are literate.
Aunt Wu said displeased: "Are you ordering me around?"
Xie Fu smiled and said, "Can't I order you?"
Aunt Wu smiled coldly, showed a look of disdain, and said strangely: "You really think you are a master, you are just a pet raised by the young lady, don't take yourself too seriously, let me tell you straight, I do it every day I’m just here to feed you two and let me do other things, no way!”
A woman dared to climb on his head to defecate, which shows how low his status in the house is.
Xie Fu has had enough! With a smile on his face, he said: "I went to see the lady yesterday, and she asked me to eat well, sleep well, and be at peace."
Aunt Wu looked in disbelief, "How dare you go find Miss!"
Miss Tantai was very strict with her servants. The servants in the house were very afraid of her. They were like meeting a tiger. They would never run into her if they could avoid her.
Even if they had to bump into each other, most of the time they would keep their heads low, trying not to let her notice or find fault.
So Aunt Wu seemed very surprised and shocked when she found out that Fu Xie had been beaten with a cane just the day before yesterday and that he dared to go to the lady yesterday.
Fu Xie did not answer Aunt Wu's question and continued: "But obviously I don't eat well."
As he inspected the meal the mother-in-law was cooking, he said, "Aunt, there's not even any meat. It's a bit shabby. We all know that to raise a good horse, you need to eat good fodder."
Xie Fu's words were a bit self-deprecating.
Aunt Wu said angrily: "What do you mean, you mean that I can't serve you well?"
Xie Fu smiled and said: "Aunt, I would like to ask, how much money does the mansion give you every month to spend on this meal? Is the lady stingy, or are you secretly deducting the money?"
When Aunt Wu passed by Xie Fu and exposed it so directly, her face suddenly changed and she became angry and said: "Don't...slander me."
Xie Fu chuckled, which made Aunt Wu feel flustered.
In silence, Xie Fu said calmly: "I will buy the things I want later, and we will be in peace from now on, otherwise I will have trouble with you in the future."
As he spoke, he read out what he wanted again, giving Aunt Wu a step down.
Aunt Wu listened seriously now.
After Xie Fu left, Aunt Wu snorted coldly, "You're a dirty piece, you have a dirty face, what's the point of being proud of? If the lady is in a bad mood, I'll kill you."
Ever since Miss Tantai started raising pretty boys, I don’t know which batch this is.
But when you see new people smile, you hear old people cry. You men have this day too.
After breakfast, Xie Fu specially chatted with Zhu Ming about their hostess Tantai Heqing.
Xie Fu also learned more about the head of the Tantai Mansion.
Seven years ago, Tantai Heqing's parents personally escorted a boatload of high-quality fabrics to Hangzhou. Unexpectedly, the boat capsized halfway, her parents died, and the fabrics were gone.
At that time, the Tantai family was running into difficulties, and they relied entirely on this shipment of fabrics for turnover. This situation undoubtedly made things worse.
During the mourning period of his parents, creditors came to collect debts. Only fifteen-year-old Tantai Heqing stepped forward and promised to pay off the debts for his parents.
At that time, Tantai Heqing's younger brother, Tantai Wenwang, was only twelve years old.
After Tantai Heqing took over this mess, he slowly paid off his debts and made the Tantai family's fabric business bigger and bigger...
After hearing this story, Xie Fu felt that she was an amazing and responsible woman, and couldn't help but think of the violent coughing sound, and the weight and hardship contained in that coughing sound.
Fifteen years old, for most ladies, is the prime of life, almost the age when marriage can be discussed, but this woman carries the entire Tantai family forward with her weak body.
Seven years have passed, why is she still single and why hasn't she married yet? Even if she doesn't want to marry outside, she can at least recruit a son-in-law.
Why would she rather ruin her reputation and become a pretty boy?
It was just a matter of raising the pretty boy, but she treated the pretty boy like a sparrow, indifferent, and didn't even play with him.
