The daily life of a concubine's daughter

Chapter 172 Isolation

Shi Mingzhu felt jealous. She saw Shi Yao turn around and go to the old Duke, chatting and laughing with her grandfather. Her brothers would occasionally talk to her.

In the past, the brothers ignored Shi Yao.

She felt even more sad.

Shi Yao is really a person who knows how to take advantage of loopholes. Even after being punished and reminded to reflect on her mistakes, she still wants to compete with her for favor and alienate her relationship with her brothers.

When everyone saw her coming, they hurriedly welcomed her in and surrounded her to ask her if her job as a housekeeper was hard.

Leaving Shi Yao alone while burning a fire.

Shi Mingzhu's sour heart eased a little, and she said with a sweet smile: "I heard from the kitchen that your food supply has been cut off. I came to see what's going on."

Shi Mingkui pointed at the boiling cauldron and said with a smile: "We can make it ourselves and eat that."

Today it was Shi Yao's turn to light the fire. Shi Yao raised her red face and smiled brightly: "Big sister, how about trying it with us? I like Eighth Brother cooking the best. He cooks the best. The other brothers are not so good."

Shi Mingzhu felt a pang in her heart, "We"?

So soon, Shi Yao and her brothers became "us"?

She glanced at the old Duke secretly. Her grandfather asked Shi Yao to come to the ancestral hall, under the pretext of "reflecting on her mistakes", but in fact it was to cultivate the relationship between Shi Yao and her brothers, and by the way, to cultivate the father-daughter relationship between her third uncle and Shi Yao.

Unfortunately, my mother, the third aunt, fell ill, and the sisters-in-law gave up on things. The only one in charge, the fifth sister-in-law, was not very useful. She could not leave the household chores and could not join her brothers.

The eighth brother Shi Minghui said nothing, stepped away from Shi Mingzhu, and continued to stir the porridge with a large iron spoon.

The fifth sister Shi Mingying sneered: "Second sister, you are disgusted with us."

Shi Mingkui was chopping wood just now. He wiped his sweat, took a big gulp of water, and said with a smile: "Second sister is right. Old Eight's cooking skills are indeed better than ours."

Each of them spoke a few words, and although some expressed disdain for Shi Yao, there was also a hint of intimacy in their tone.

Shi Mingzhu became more and more flustered, and smiled, "Since my second sister has invited me, it would be disrespectful to refuse. I have done nothing, so I have the audacity to eat here. Grandfather, is this okay?"

The old Duke laughed and said, "It's best for you two brothers and sisters to get along with each other. What's wrong with that? Zhuzhu, come here and tell grandfather how you are doing as the housekeeper? Is anyone giving you a hard time? Grandfather supports you."

The old Duke was originally sitting with Shi Yao, but because of the smoke, Shi Yao said she was afraid it would be bad for his lungs, so she asked him to sit further away, leaving two or three empty seats between the two of them.

Shi Mingzhu came over and asked someone to place a cushion. She sat on the ground between the old Duke and Shi Yao. When she sat down, her skirt spread out, like a blooming flower, bright and charming.

Shi Yao raised her eyebrows slightly, smiled, added a few more firewood, and made the fire under the cauldron burn brightly.

Shi Mingkui and others stopped chopping wood and gathered around.

Only Shi Yao was left to cook and Shi Minghui was left to cook.

After standing or sitting for a while, everyone could no longer stand the smoke and fire and moved away.

Shi Mingzhu covered her lips with a handkerchief and coughed softly.

Shi Mingying was busy protecting her, pushing her to sit under the tree beside the courtyard wall, looking at Shi Yao, and deliberately said loudly: "Sister, such a delicate person, can't be suffocated. Sister, you have been working hard as a housekeeper these days. I will pour tea for you, but it's a pity that there are no snacks in the ancestral hall. Zhuzhu, are you hungry?"

Shi Mingzhu took off the purse from her waist, took out the bulging handkerchief, opened it, and found it was full of osmanthus cakes. She smiled:

"I'm afraid you're hungry, so I brought some sweet-scented osmanthus cake. Each of you can have a small piece to fill your stomach. Grandfather, I know the rules of the ancestral hall, so can I make an exception this time?"

After saying that, she picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and fed it to the old duke's mouth.

The old Duke took it and ate it, smiling: "Okay, for Zhuzhu's sake, I'll break the rule today."

The brothers hurriedly thanked their grandfather and Shi Mingzhu, calling her "good sister, good sister" over and over again.

Shi Mingkui smiled and said, "Girls are more considerate."

Shi Mingying smiled and said, "Zhuzhu is considerate and knows how to care for the elders and brothers."

Shi Mingzhu blushed, looked at everyone, chuckled, and handed the handkerchief to Shi Mingying: "Fifth brother, you talk the most, so I punish you by distributing sweet-scented osmanthus cakes to everyone!"

Shi Mingying didn't care. He took it and gave one piece to each person. When there were two pieces left, he turned around suddenly and stuffed one of them into Shi Mingzhu's mouth.

"Try the cakes that my sister brought. I think she must be hungry after walking here from the inner house."

The sweet-scented osmanthus cake touched Shi Mingzhu's lips and could no longer be passed to others. Shi Mingzhu had no choice but to accept it: "This..."

The number of pieces of osmanthus cake was just right for the number of people in the ancestral hall. If she ate one piece, there would not be enough to go around.

Shi Mingying stuffed the last piece of osmanthus cake into Shi Minghui's mouth, and as if she suddenly realized something, she exclaimed, "Second sister, what should I do? The osmanthus cakes have all been distributed, and there is nothing left for you! Hey, if I had known, I would have given my share to you. After all, you are the youngest."

The atmosphere of laughter among the crowd suddenly stopped.

Shi Mingzhu's face was flushed, holding the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in her hand, she didn't know whether to eat it or not: "It's all my fault, second sister, I'm sorry, it's my fault that I didn't prepare two more pieces."

Shi Mingchen didn't like sweets. He hadn't even eaten the cake in his hand yet, but seeing Shi Yao looked so pitiful, he raised his hand and opened his mouth. When Shi Mingkui glanced at him warningly, he immediately stuffed the cake into his open mouth and ate it as if nothing had happened.

The old Duke smiled but said nothing.

Shi Yao smiled angrily and said, "If you want to blame someone, blame grandfather. For so many days, he has only talked to us about the order of seniority and never mentioned Kong Rong giving up his pears.

Fifth brother is the most careless in his work. The other day, I asked you to cook, but you stirred the rice porridge so much that there were rice grains all around the food pot. Fengzhou was hit by a flood, and the people had no grass roots to eat, but you wasted food, and grandfather punished you.

Don't look at me, I won't cry for a piece of osmanthus cake, Aunt Liuhua!"

Aunt Liu Hua, who was waiting outside, hurried in, knelt down and saluted and asked, "What do you want, young lady?"

Shi Yao took off the purse from her waist, took out the snacks inside and ate them, smiling: "Grandfather said that he would make an exception for my elder sister today, it's unprecedented!

Go quickly, tell the kitchen to bring me all my food for today, not a single dish can be missing! I can finally have a good meal! Remember, bring me dinner too, my grandfather said, today is an exception!"

The old Duke laughed instead of getting angry, pointing at Shi Yao and saying, "You little girl, you are using my words to make trouble for me! Forget it, since I asked you to make an exception, then I will make this exception. However, I will only allow you to make an exception."

I knew this girl wouldn't suffer any loss.

Shi Yao ate a piece of chestnut crisp, and after swallowing it, she smiled with her sparkling eyes bent: "Thank you, Grandfather! Big sister, thank you for not having enough cakes to share, so I can take advantage of you, hehe! Fifth brother, thank you for your 'Ming Ying does not give up the pear'."

She raised her chin proudly, ate the cakes happily, and fed the leftovers to the ants.