Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Ye Jiayao made dumplings with pork and chives filling. She packed it, added some sauce, and asked Peng Wu to send it to second-in-charge and first-in-charge. After that, she went to work on the dumplings for Chunyu. However, she was still mad, so after it was cooked, she asked Song Qi to call for him. Song Qi, seeing the chance to suck up to his boss, happily obeyed.

Xia Chunyu was used to having Ye Jiayao call him loudly to eat, that it felt wrong when Song Qi called him today.

Ye Jiayao put the dumplings onto a plate and left the plate on the stove. Song Qi, not noticing anything different, simply took it away.

“Third-in-charge, these are the dumplings big sister made. Don’t they look good? It has cabbage and meat filling, they’re delicious. You should eat them while they are warm,” Song Qi boasted.

Xia Chunyu gave him a hard look. This guy was always so enthusiastic when it comes to food it was irritating.

He glanced at his woman and saw her busy herself in front of the stove. Xia Chunyu knew that she was ignoring him because even when she turned around, she would deliberately avoid looking at him.

I didn’t even say anything! Why is she mad?

The dumplings in the plate were orderly placed. Every dumpling was in the same size and had six folds each. The dumpling skins looked like crystal steam dumplings, and it looked very delicious. As he bit into one, the delicious soup came out from the filling and treated his mouth with incredible flavors. The cabbage was tasty and refreshing, and the pork was tender and fresh. The dumplings tasted amazing and very close to the authentic Jiang Nan style. Xia Chunyu really appreciated that she could take normal, and otherwise boring ingredients, and make it into a superb gourmet meal.

“Come on, let’s eat,” Xia Chunyu told Ye Jiayao.

Ye Jiayao pretended she didn’t hear him and kept on what she was doing.

Xia Chunyu frowned. This woman is so emotional.

“Uncle Jiang and Auntie Jiang are coming to eat dumplings soon. Big sister is still making their portion,” Song Qi explained.

Xia Chunyu just continued to eat dumplings by himself.

“Third-in-charge, third-in-charge, something happened!” Peng Wu shouted as he ran hurriedly inside.

“Spill it,” Xia Chunyu demanded. “Clearly.”

Peng Wu was from Shan Xi, and when he talked, he always rolled his tongue. When he was anxious, people could barely understand what he was saying.

“Third-in-charge, the spy has been seized. First-in-charge is interrogating him right now! He asked you to go there immediately,” Peng Wu said.

Xia Chunyu almost looked comical as he paused with a dumpling inside his mouth. “Really? Who?”

“A brother called Tong Hexiang from the seventh camp.”

Xia Chunyu put his chopsticks down as he finished chewing his dumpling. “Come on, let’s go have a look.”

“I’m going too!” Song Qi eagerly said.

Seeing Song Qi pipe up, Ye Jiayao wondered if there was anything fun to see.

As everyone left, Ye Jiayao felt angry. The dumplings would be cold when they come back, and they wouldn’t be as tasty as the fresh ones. She just wasted her energy cooking it for them!

Another thought popped into her head. If they have really caught the spy, it meant that Chunyu was not a suspect anymore, and the Broken Dragon Stone would be open again. She figured that a plate of cold dumplings was forgivable in the grand scheme of things.

After a while, Uncle Jiang and Auntie Jiang came.

“Where is third-in-charge?” Uncle Jiang asked.

Ye Jiayao tampered her annoyance down, and answered, “He was only able to eat half of his food before first-in-charge summoned for him. They said they’ve already found the spy.”

“They found him?” Uncle Jiang’s surprise was evident, yet, there was also something strange in his expression.

“That’s what Peng Wu said. Who knows how many they’ve found these days? This one might be a wrong one just like the others.” Ye Jiayao was taking on a negative route on this topic.

Uncle Jiang gave a little laugh. “That’s right.”

“Don’t worry about them, let’s just eat. Uncle Jiang and Auntie Jiang, do you like rice stem and meat filling?” Ye Jiayao asked. Dumplings with chives filling were already requested by Peng Wu so she couldn’t offer that. Song Qi and Chunyu both wanted to eat the ones with the cabbage and meat filling, and the only one left was rice stem and meat filling.

“I am fine with anything. Whatever you make, third madam, is tasty,” Uncle Jiang said.

Auntie Jiang smiled. “Of course! I’m sure it’s delicious, not like the pig food Old Yu makes.”

Last time, Auntie Jiang tried to win credit for third madam, and she offended Old Yu and some aunties in the kitchen. Not to mention, after that fiasco, third madam took over the job of cooking for second-in-charge. Old Yu was mad and he was taking it out on Auntie Jiang.

“The pot-stewed fowl made by Old Yu is not bad,” Ye Jiayao tried.

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“It still can’t compare with your cooking,” Auntie Jiang rebutted.

Chunyu didn’t come back for more than two hours. Ye Jiayao was slouched on the couch, resting her eyes, when she heard them come back. Reluctantly, she got up to get them food. It was her job, and no matter how unwilling she was, she still needed to do it properly. Especially now that she realized that she had such an unreliable donkey.

Peng Wu’s portion had not been cooked in the pot yet, so she went ahead on cooking it for him. Chunyu’s and Song Qi’s had already been cold so she just proceeded to fry their dumplings for them.

The three men sat around the table and continued to talk about the spy.

“I can’t believe that Tong Hexiang really admitted it!” Song Qi exclaimed. “It’s just hard to see! I won a lot of money from him by playing Double.”

Peng Wu said, “You can’t deny that he went down the mountain secretly. First-in-charge didn’t even have to torture him.”

“That’s because first-in-charge said that if he confessed the truth, he would spare his life and deal with him leniently. In the end, he was killed in front of everyone,” Song Qi said. All the things that first-in-charge said were just like a bait to get him to confess. Running down the mountain by himself would get him 100 canings, which is technically the same as a death sentence.

“Third-in-charge, what do you think?” Peng Wu asked.

“I hope it is him. I want the crisis in the village to be solved already,” Xia Chunyu answered.

When he realized that first-in-charge was going to kill him, Tong Hexiang’s eyes showed an incredible amount of fear. The scared and betrayed expression on his face made it seem like he blamed first-in-charge for breaking his word. Was he really dumb enough to believe that a spy can live? What did first-in-charge discuss with him that he was so surprised and unwilling when he faced death?

Was all of that just a trap that first-in-charge set? Was it just so that the real spy would think the crisis was gone and start to act without caution?

If he thought about it, that was not impossible. Why else did first-in-charge didn’t follow through and interrogated him more? He could’ve found out if he had any other accomplice in the stockade, and how he contacted the government. It was suspicious how the first-in-charge simply killed him without pumping him for more information.

“First-in-charge has already informed the whole village. How can that be fake?” Peng Wu asked.

Xia Chunyu sighed. “I’m just worried that Feng Chaolin had already contacted the government, and they are already taking action as we speak.”

Ye Jiayao listened quietly, remaining a wallflower, until the water in the pot boiled over.

Ye Jiayao opened the pot cover and took the dumplings out. “Peng Wu, your dumplings are ready.”

Peng Wu looked at third-in-charge. Third-in-charge hasn’t eaten yet and Peng Wu could not eat before his boss.”Big sister, I am not hungry. You can cook for third-in-charge first.”

Ye Jiayao didn’t care if he ate or not. She put a small spoon of water on the frying pan, then covered it for a moment. When she took the dumplings out of the pan, the skins looked deliciously shiny and golden from frying.

“The food’s ready you guys, come and take them yourselves.” Ye Jiayao took off her apron, glad that she has already finished work. “Clean the kitchen after you eat.”

I need to teach these men some lessons now! If they want to eat my food, then they need to behave themselves.

The three men looked at each other. Peng Wu was lost because he didn’t know what happened, he only noticed that their sister-in-law looked a bit strange today. Song Qi knew only a little bit of the reason, but it was Chunyu who knew exactly what happened.

“I’ll go get the food.” Song Qi shot up his seat hurriedly, afraid that third-in-charge would explode in anger. He already had a dark expression on his face as it is.

They were all starving as they weren’t able to eat their lunch until this late, that the dumplings tasted even more delicious than usual. The fried dumplings were especially tasty with their crispy skin and amazing texture. The three of them devoured their food like wolves until they were filled to the brim.

Song Qi and Peng Wu immediately cleaned up the kitchen while Xia Chunyu walked back to his room. He was wondering if he should do anything to appease her – even if he didn’t do anything wrong. He was just teasing her!Women are hard work!

He still hadn’t thought of what to do when he saw Ye Jiayao playing with Da Bao and Er Bao on the couch. “Didn’t we agree not to bring them inside the house?”

Ye Jiayao was angry and ignored him. She intentionally brought the bunnies inside to see what he would do. She figured that since she was in a bad mood, she can get away with doing things he wasn’t comfortable with.

Xia Chunyu looked at the wriggling bums of the rabbits nervously. He was afraid that the rabbits would shit on the couch.

“Can you just take them outside now?” Xia Chunyu saw her motionless and shouted impatiently.

The two small rabbits flinched and huddled near Ye Jiayao’s leg, looking at Xia Chunyu anxiously. Ye Jiayao touched the baby rabbits and said softly, “Be good, don’t be afraid. He is just loud, but he won’t do anything to you.”

“Ye Jinxuan!” Xia Chunyu has had enough of her ignoring him. She was getting braver in ignoring his commands, and he was not happy about it.

“Why are you shouting so loud? I am not a deaf!” Ye Jiayao gave him a hard look.

“Oh! I just thought you couldn’t hear what I was saying. What else could be the reason why you’re not doing what I told you to do?”

“Oh, I heard you just fine. The question is, why should I listen to you? Do you treat me well? In your eyes, I’m only a cook and the woman who does your laundry. I’m only someone who warms your bed and a toy that you can discard anytime. Well, since you don’t take me seriously, stop asking me for so much,” Ye Jiayao ranted passionately.

Xia Chunyu was furious. “I am treating you with more politeness and leniency than you deserve!”

F*ck you!   That is bullshit!  His words only served to add more salt to the wound, it was impossible for her not to get mad. She lifted her chin up and smiled coldly. “Politeness and leniency? Ha! I don’t need that Chunyu! You could shove your ‘politeness and leniency’ where the sun doesn’t shine!”

“Ye Jinxuan, my patience has a limit,” Xia Chunyu growled out, his jaw ticking in anger. This woman pestered him endlessly.

“Guess what, Chunyu? My patience also has a limit. I won’t take any more of you treating me like your servant.” Ye Jiayao saw him clench his fist tightly, obviously reigning in his anger. “What? Do you want to strangle me? Come on! What are you waiting for?”

They said that the first time a couple fight, there would be no winner. She refused to accept that. She must continue on with this argument until he caved to her demands.