The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 053: A Small Fortune
Madam Wang explained, "We agreed upon the salary, it is one and a half tael of silver, and in the other purse, there is two taels from our Old Sire, we dare not undermine the Old Sire, so the family branches had added another tael each."
When Xia Yue Chu first heard about the silver tips, she was still thinking that it could at most be a couple of hundred copper coins, never had she expected that it was so much. With her present circumstances, it was considered to be a small fortune.
In fact, Madam Wang herself was taken aback when she saw that the Old Sire gave two taels of silver as rewards straight away.
You had to know, in this kind of rural area, some families here would not be able to save up to one tael of silver throughout the entire year, five taels of silver were enough for many people to spend frugally for a year or two.
However, Madam Wang was not a person with tight hands and small eyes (Meaning: stingy hands and petty heart), she was fully capable in their household accounting and expenditure.
Previously when her eldest daughter got married, she specially hired a master chef from a big restaurant in the city, including the transportation, including their lodging and food, their conditions were flamboyant, and their attitude were arrogant. A trip for him required another seven to eight kitchen assistants.
The cutting of ingredients and the measuring of ingredients were all done by the kitchen assistants, his only responsibility was the last procedure of finalizing the seasonings of the food.
Just like this, the charged was two taels of silver per day, the salary of the kitchen assistants and extra tips were calculated separately.
That was to say, Xia Yue Chu being a bumpkin from a countryside village, because she did not have any reputation, thus the cost of her wage was harshly lowered from the very beginning.
Now that she had eaten two meals cooked by her, even those whom Madam Wang recognized as people who had seen the grandiose side of the world could not help but praised her continuously. Giving her the silver now would be worthy of her skills, and it would become a convenience for their future interactions.
Madam Wang had the intention to maintain a good relationship with Xia Yue Chu in her heart, but still, she wanted to test her reaction.
Afterall, having excellent skills showed only one aspect, the character of a person was also highly important.
Xia Yue Chu listened to Madam Wang's words.
Her eyebrows were slightly raised, and a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, but there was no fluctuation on her expression.
She was very confident in her craft, thinking back to the beginning, when she was the main chef for top private banquets, her busiest period had advance booking packed up to three years later.
Even if she had to work hard from scratch now, with her ability, it would not be a problem for her to return to her peak. It was only a matter of time.
She was thoroughly surprised that the Cui family would be waving such a big hand (Meaning: being very generous). Then looking at Madam Wang who appeared to be exuberant.
It seemed that although the Cui family no longer ran around, digging for ginseng in the deep mountains, they were not just simply living from the rent of their land, their family asset was truly immeasurable.
But these were not important things for Xia Yue Chu to consider now, she did not try to reject*, she accepted the purses with grace, and thanked Madam Wang gratefully.
Seeing her calm demeanor, Madam Wang grew even more impressed, nodded and commented, "No wonder Shu Qing keeps saying that you are not someone who belongs to a pond (Meaning: someone who has the capacity to surpass the current level of work and advance to a bigger stage), now it seems that his assessment is more accurate. I will be thick skinned today to make an agreement with you, if our family have any big events in the future that requires a banquet celebration, we will be troubling you then. My only worry is that with your capabilities, your success will surely be flourishing, and by then it would be hard for us to invite you again."
"Madam, your words are the adversity of my death (Meaning: being granted too much fortune at once that it becomes unbearable to the point of harm), if there is anything going on in the household, you only need to send me a message through an errand runner in advance... ..."
Before she had ended the last sound of her words, there was a voice of a maiden fiercely rebuking coming from outside the window. "Who is it? What are you doing sneaking around the window like a ghost?"
Xia Yue Chu turned her head and looked out the door, only to see a little girl who appeared to be the servant maiden, pulling and dragging Xue Qin into the room.
"Madam, this person here was eavesdropping from outside the window, and she tried to run as soon as I shouted, I'm afraid she is here thieving while we are busy with today's event!"
Xia Yue Chu frowned looking at Xue Qin.
Xue Qin avoided her gaze, her expression was a little flustered, her eyes were spinning fast, she was merely missing a written note on her face which labelled her as a bad person. No wonder the servant would catch her and bring her in.
Although Xia Yue Chu was extremely annoyed in her heart, but since she was the one who brought her to this place, she could only help her find an excuse. "Xiao Qin, why did you come over here? Didn't I tell you to wait for me in the kitchen for a while? How can you be so undisciplined to be wandering about at the Sire's house."
Although Xue Qin was flustered at this time, fortunately, she was not an idiot. She followed the flow of what Xia Yue Chu had said. "Sister-in-law, I've been waiting for a long time and haven't seen you back. I was afraid you had left without me, so I was looking for you. Who knows that I lost my way."
"So it turned out to be someone who followed Sister Xue here, we are all from the same side, no problem." Madam Wang diffused the tension of the situation light heartedly with a smile, signaling the servant to release Xue Qin.
The servant maiden loosened her hold, but she still had some doubts in her heart. If she was genuinely here to seek someone, why would she need to eavesdrop from the outside like a thief?
However, she could see that Madam Wang was giving Xia Yue Chu face (Meaning: not making things difficult for her), so she could only suppress her doubts.
Nonetheless, Xue Qin's eyes had been glued onto Xia Yue Chu's figure. She had heard it clearly from outside the window just now. She had actually made more than five taels of silver from this event.
It was so much money, she had never seen it much in her life.
Thinking back to earlier on, when she was so elated to receive thirty copper coins in wages and another ten copper coins in tips, but now she could not help loathing herself for being so cheap and closed minded.
Xia Yue Chu had received her payment, and she had found Xue Qin. She did not plan to linger on, so after thanking Madam Wang, she dragged Xue Qin out of the Cui family.
As soon as the two of them stepped through the door of Cui's house, Xia Yue Chu immediately flicked off Xue Qin's hand and walked quickly by herself in front.
Xue Qin quickly caught up with her fasten pace and lowered her voice, "Sister-in-law, I have never thought that you would make so much money by coming out to cook for a meal. There are more than five taels of silver in less than a day!"
Seeing that Xia Yue Chu did not respond or disagree, Xue Qin thought she was feeling guilty, and chided insolently. "You also know, if Mother finds out about how much money you make, she will definitely not let you get away with it. Why don't you give me half of the money and I will not tell Mother about it when we go back, otherwise... ..."
Xia Yue Chu became more and more angry as she heard it, stopping abruptly, and turned to look at Xue Qin.
Xue Qin could not stop her momentum and crashed into Xia Yue Chu, then she was forced two steps back and capped over her nose and lamented in her annoying voice. "You are hitting me to death, what for to stop so suddenly!"
"Xue Qin, why did you show up outside other people's main room just now, you know it better than anyone else in your heart. I found an excuse for you in front of the master of the house, that is for the fear of damaging the Xue family's reputation, you are not reflecting on yourself yet now you dare to threaten me? It's really funny, who exactly gave you that confidence?"
Xue Qin's gaze was sent into a frenzy, she did not expect Xia Yue Chu to be so keen and sensitive, she was so busy that she was spinning on the spot, but she managed to notice her little hidden intentions.
"What mess and nonsense are you blabbering, I don't know what you are talking about." She forced herself to calm down. "I am talking to you about the money matters, don't try to distract the topic."
"If I had known that you had laid your plans upon the Cui Young Sire, even if you were going through the three procedures of crying, creating havoc, and threatening to kill yourself at home, I would have never brought you here."
Xue Qin panicked, but after thinking about it, she did not do anything bad, what was so terrible.
"What do I have to reflect on? He is an unmarried man and an unmarried lady. So what even if I had a crush on him, it is not something shady that cannot be shown to others."
Although those were the words she said, Xue Qin's volume became lower and lower, fearing to be heard by others.
Xia Yue Chu's expression grew dark, and she stated coldly. "Marriage matters have always been arranged according to parents plans and matchmakers' introductions since the ancient times to the present. And it is not for a big unmarried lady to anyhow wander and loiter in someone else's house, who knows if you are there to create a coincidental encounter or if you are there to break the porcelain (Meaning: hurting oneself then blaming the target to blackmail and rip them off)?"
"You... ..." Xue Qin was after all an unmarried big lady, her face flushed with anger when she heard this, with tears were forming in her eyes, she pointed at Xia Yue Chu but could not speak.
"No matter how much money I make, it's also earned by my own ability and work hard, it's what I made cleanly and fairly, I'm not afraid no matter who you tell this to. As for who you like, it has nothing to do with me. But I solemnly warn you, if you use me as an excuse to approach the Cui family's young sire, then don't blame me for not leaving you any face."
"That's enough of you! Are you now capable of speaking so harshly? Then let me see how you are going to not leave me any face!" Xue Qin came back to her senses by this moment, she had not expected that she was almost frightened by Xia Yue Chu, it was a joke as huge as the heaven.
"As the saying goes, the barefoot people are not afraid of those wearing shoes. If I make a huge scene regardless, would you say there will be a higher chance for your brother to divorce me, or is it more likely that you will not be able to get married?"
The more Xue Qin listened, the paler her face became, and her body was slightly trembling.
"If you don't believe me, just try it!" Xia Yue Chu glared at her and said so word by word, then turned around and walked away.
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Translator Notes:
*Rejecting a good offer, by right, usually in Chinese traditional practice, it is polite to be rejecting a wonderful offer that is made to you, because it demonstrates your humble attitude and prove that you are someone who is down to earth, with the mentality of 'I don't deserve this' or 'you flatter me'. Then when the offer is made again, you would know that this offer is made sincerely, so you can proceed to accept. If not, it could simply be that the host was being polite, and accepting right away in this case could show that you do not have a self-awareness and you do not know your own place. Crude.
So there is an underlying push and pull factor in the traditional Chinese customs. Although it is dilly dally wishy washy, it has certain implications behind it, so it's pretty interesting too.
But in this story, Madam Wang was actually a straightforward person who was trapped in the traditional customs, we see how she was limited to building better relationships with her careful manner, perhaps being overly careful, and then the breakthrough came after she got drunk and with the help of wonderful food and atmosphere. So from her perspective as she was testing Xia Yue Chu's reaction, she found an appreciation for Xia Yue Chu's straightforwardness, and instead of finding it rude, this was consistent to Madam Wang's true nature thus it all made sense.
Translated by YellowBean.