"Wait! I'll pay!" Madam Qian shouted again.
She could tell that this wretched girl was trying to trick her out of her money!
She never expected that she, the one who always tricked others, would be the one getting played!
At that moment, she regretted it deeply.
She knew that what the girl said was at least half true. Once this matter was reported to the authorities, she and her daughter would definitely lose their jobs.
Feng Dizhu cared most about reputation and power.
Wen Ran stopped again and even turned back.
Wen Nuan reached out her hand, palm up: "Two taels of silver, hurry up. We need to get back for dinner. I'm starving. If I get sick from hunger, you'll have to pay the same amount for medical expenses."
Madam Qian looked at Wen Nuan bitterly, her eyes full of venom, as if she'd been poisoned: "Aren't you afraid your mother and grandmother will lose their laundry job?"
Wen Nuan replied, "Don't worry about it. From now on, my mom and grandma won't need to do that kind of work anymore. Hurry up—the longer you stall, the higher the compensation for lost time!"
Madam Qian was so furious she ground her teeth. She couldn't afford to lose that silver!
"I don't have any silver on me right now. I'll give it to your mother tomorrow when she comes to do the laundry."
Just then, a woman was passing by so wennuan deliberately said loudly, "That lady over there doesn't have money. Can you help by letting her daughter go fetch it?"
Hearing Wen Nuan's voice, the woman turned her head to look and then walked toward them.
Seeing her expression change, Madam Qian quickly pulled out two taels of silver and twenty cents to hand over. "Two taels of silver—now get lost!"
Madam Qian looked at the silver, her face twisted with pain, as if every organ in her body was aching—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and stomach!
Wen Nuan said, "Apologize!"
Don't think just paying money is enough!
Madam Qian trembled with rage, glaring hatefully at Wang and Wu, and gritted her teeth as she said, "I misunderstood, I'm really sorry! Is that good enough my ancestors ?"
"Don't call us ancestors! My mom and grandma aren't as shameless as you!" Wen Nuan stuffed the silver into her pocket.
At that moment, the woman walked over, frowning at Madam Qian: "What's going on?"
Madam Qian's blood was rushing to her head, and she nearly fainted. Embarrassed, she forced a smile and said, "Manager Zhang, nothing's wrong. I owed them money, just a bit tight on cash right now. I'll pay them back later."
Wen Nuan gave her a calm glance and handed the torn clothes back to the old Madam Qian: "Miss Qian, you ripped this outfit. Make sure you confess to the master and pay for the damage!"
Wen Nuan exposed her because she was worried Madam Qian would try to retaliate.
For poor people, saving up even a few coins isn't easy.
"What! You tore the young lady's clothes?" The woman snatched the clothes and her face changed dramatically.
Madam Qian nearly fainted. Seeing the woman didn't know anything but not daring to explain, she nodded and said, "I—I wasn't careful. I'll go to the madam to receive punishment!"
And with that, Madam Qian turned and left.
Wen Nuan no longer paid them any attention. She clasped the hands of Madam Wang and Madam Wu, leading them away.
"Mother, Grandmother, you must've been terrified. Let's go home and have some chicken porridge to scare the fright away!"
Hearing that, Madam Qian grew even more furious.
That wretched girl—no conscience at all!
Frightened? Eating chicken porridge to recover from the fright? She was the one who had been scared half to death!
They weren't eating porridge—they were drinking her blood and tears!
Heartless little brat! A devil with a black heart and a hungry stomach!
Just thinking about how she'd failed to squeeze anything out of the Wu women—didn't even get a pair of worn shoes—plus losing two taels of silver for the young miss's damaged clothes... It totaled four taels of silver lost, and she even let the little handmaid slip away. The thought was suffocating.
She truly felt like she didn't want to live anymore.
—
While Madam Qian was wallowing in despair, the Wen family walked home with light hearts and bright smiles.
Wen Ran was full of admiration as she looked at Wen Nuan.
"Third Sister, how did you know it was the young girl who tore the dress?"
The women of the Wang and Wu families were equally curious. Why didn't she just say it was Madam Qian who ruined the clothing?
Wen Nuan replied calmly,
"It was a girl's dress. That woman has coarse hands and dirty fingernails. She's not fit to serve by a master's side… so…"
She explained her deduction without pride, just quiet confidence.
Wen Ran's eyes lit up with admiration.
"Third Sister, you're incredible. You could even figure out that much."
Madam Wang gently patted Wen Nuan's head, beaming.
"Our little Wen is as clever as a thread through a needle's eye. If only she were a boy—the whole clan would be amazed. But she's perfect just the way she is."
Laughing and chatting, the group strolled back into the village.
As they neared the gates of the old Wen family residence, the Zhu household inside had just stirred from a nap. One of the women was about to step out and gossip with a neighbor when she spotted the group approaching.
With a loud bang, she slammed the courtyard gate shut.
Lady Yongfu, known for her sharp tongue, had already spread the news—how the women of the Wang family had washed clothes for a landlord's wife and now owed compensation.
Where would that little wretch get the money to pay? The Zhu woman feared they'd come knocking, begging for help from the old man of the house.
Deliberately loud enough for those inside to hear, she called out,
"Old man! There's no money left in this house! If you dare waste the money our son earned on those shameless beggars, then this old lady will take the children and leave! You can rot in poverty by yourself! Some people really have no shame—living off their son's hard-earned offerings and still wanting more!"
The bang of the gate made Madam Wang jump. Hearing the scornful words inside, her face darkened.
She snorted coldly and marched up to the gate.
But before she could speak, Wen Nuan took her hand and said loudly,
"Don't be angry, Grandma. Soon enough, they'll be calling you 'Ancestor'!"
That made Madam Wang laugh heartily.
"Fine! Grandma will be waiting!"
Inside, Madam Zhu rolled her eyes so hard they nearly stuck. She flung the door open, only to find the group had already turned the corner and disappeared.
She let out a dismissive snort.
"Call that wretch 'Ancestor'? In her dreams! She's nothing but a peasant, all calluses and rough skin. She'll never touch the fine silks of noble households. Let's see which of her precious granddaughter she has to sell next to pay her debts!"
---
When they returned home, Madam Wang and Madam Wu were stunned to find a large pot of steaming chicken congee waiting in the kitchen.
Out in the courtyard, a wild rabbit lay beside a basin filled with fresh river snails.
"Where did this chicken come from? Did you comb the mountains and dredge the rivers?" Madam Wang asked, frowning deeply, her voice laced with suspicion.
Wennuan turned her sharp eyes on Wen Ran, clearly trying to assess just how dependable this younger sister of hers truly was.
Wen Ran quickly stepped forward and confessed, "I caught the wild chicken in the mountains, and I gathered the river snails from the stream."
Madam Wu's face paled at the memory of an earlier scare. "You're still so young. Didn't I tell you not to play near the river? And now you're collecting snails from the water? Don't you remember what happened when your sister fell in?"
Madam Wang added, her tone stern and final, "That's right. You two children have no business near the river. What if something happened to you? If I ever catch you playing in the water again, I'll break your legs myself!"
"And another thing," Madam Wu interjected. "There are no wild chickens near the foot of the mountain. Tell me the truth—did you go deeper in?"
Wen Ran shook her head furiously, like a drumbeat. "No, absolutely not! I found it near the base, I swear!"
Before the women could press further, Wen Nuan hurried to ease their rising tempers.
"Mother, Grandmother, don't worry. We weren't playing down by the river. The snails were close to the shore—you only needed to bend down to scoop them up. We never went in. My health's been improving, and I can't stay lying down forever. I need to move around to recover properly. I didn't want to keep wandering around the village, so I asked Ranran to take me to the foot of the mountain. That's where I spotted two wild chickens and two rabbits.
Madam Wang's expression finally softened. The children had spoken sensibly and, as far as she could tell, honestly. Wen Nuan had never been one to lie. She nodded slowly.
"All right. Just promise me—stay away from the river, and don't go into the woods. Understand?"
Wen Ran nodded like a good little girl. "I understand."
Wen Nuan nodded as well. "Me too."
Of course, she thought to herself, I wasn't playing in the mountains or by the river. I was doing business.
"Grandmother, can we eat porridge? I'm starving."
Madam Wu and Madam Wang had planned to scold them a bit more, but at the mention of food, all concerns were set aside.
"You haven't eaten yet? Let's not wait—sit down and eat," Madam Wu urged.
She quickly brought the pot to the table.
The chicken congee was rich and fragrant, brewed with an entire bird. The other chicken and the rabbit were saved for supper, when Wen Jiarui and the others would be home to share the meal.
She knew that when children ate meat porridge, they needed something light to balance it out—some cabbage and a bit of the porridge water to soothe the stomach so she stirred fry some cabbage.