My Wife is a Frustrating Genius!!! - Chapter 7

Lu Jiahe hurried all the way to the entrance of Cheng Yi’s courtyard before turning around, panting heavily as she looked at the woman behind her. Her expression seemed to say, “Hurry up and open the door, I’m exhausted and need water!”

Cheng Yi frowned slightly as she stepped forward to unlock the door, thinking to herself, Didn’t Lu Jiahe claim she didn’t know where my house was? How did she manage to walk here on her own?

By now, Lu Jiahe felt like her shoulders no longer belonged to her. The moment she entered, she rushed to the well, dropped the basket from her back, and immediately began searching for a cup to drink from.

Seeing her anxious and furtive behavior, as if she were looking for something suspicious, Cheng Yi quickly blocked her path. “What are you searching for? Are you up to no good again?”

“Water. I’m so thirsty. I need water! do you have a cup?” Lu Jiahe wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Cheng Yi studied her with a skeptical gaze for a moment before relenting. “Follow me to the kitchen.”

The two entered the kitchen one after the other. Cheng Yi lifted the lid off the large pot, then took a clean bowl and scooped out a ladle of cooled boiled water before handing it to Lu Jiahe.

Lu Jiahe accepted the bowl and gulped down the lukewarm water in one go. “Can I have another bowl? Still thirsty.” Even after finishing a whole bowl, she still felt parched.

Cheng Yi glanced at the empty bowl before silently refilling it with another scoop of water.

“Ahh!”

Lu Jiahe drank greedily, as if she were a traveler who had just emerged from the desert. After draining the bowl, she even let out a satisfied sigh.

“Need help washing the potatoes? I’ll do it.” Lu Jiahe set the bowl on the stove, thinking that barging in and demanding water had been terribly rude. Hoping to make up for it, she offered to help prepare the mashed potatoes.

“Wash them.” With that, Cheng Yi turned and walked out.

Standing at the kitchen door, Lu Jiahe watched Cheng Yi’s retreating figure in confusion. She was fine just a moment ago. Why the sudden coldness after two bowls of water?

Cheng Yi hadn’t planned on making mashed potatoes today. For one, she hadn’t dug up enough potatoes. Secondly, after selling them for a while, many taverns in Bianjing had started copying her, causing her daily earnings to dwindle. So tonight, with Lu Jiahe around, she decided to try something different and let her be the taste tester.

Still puzzled, Lu Jiahe sat by the well washing potatoes, just like the night before. But she had barely finished a few when Cheng Yi stopped her.

Cheng Yi picked up the basket and, noticing Lu Jiahe’s questioning look, explained, “No mashed potatoes today. I’m making something new for you.”

“Something new?” Lu Jiahe stared at her, baffled. “But I thought the mashed potatoes were really good.”

Cheng Yi narrowed her eyes. “Doesn’t matter how good they are. Once too many people sell the same thing, it loses value.”

“Don’t ask too many questions. Just wait and eat.” She carried the basket into the kitchen, then returned to take the washed potatoes from Lu Jiahe.

Lu Jiahe stood and followed her inside, lingering in the kitchen to “help” or rather, get in the way while Cheng Yi cooked.

The two of them bustled about for nearly two hours before finally finishing the preparations. Only after Cheng Yi had packed the rice, stir-fried potato slices, and scrambled eggs into wooden boxes did she let Lu Jiahe carry them to her own room.

“What kind of meal is this?” Lu Jiahe asked, puzzled as she looked at the food arranged in the wooden box before her.

“This is called a boxed meal. It lets people enjoy several dishes at once without being too expensive,” Cheng Yi explained, picking up her chopsticks to take the first bite. “Try it yourself.”

Lu Jiahe, still somewhat confused, picked up her chopsticks and took a bite. “Delicious!”

Although the Lu family was famously wealthy in Bianjing City, with a dedicated chef hired to cook for them, she felt that Cheng Yi’s cooking had an indescribable flavor, utterly delicious.

“How much do you think I should charge for this? Should I sell just one dish or keep it as a combination of three?” Cheng Yi turned her head to look at Lu Jiahe, who was devouring her meal beside her.

Lu Jiahe puffed out her cheeks and stared at her, swallowing the food in her mouth before replying, “The eggs and rice are the most expensive ingredients here. If you price it too high, fewer people will buy it. If you price it too low, it’s not even worth making.”

Cheng Yi nodded in agreement. Though the three-dish boxed meal offered a more balanced and nutritious meal, in the current social climate, it wouldn’t sell well. It might be more cost-effective to just sell a single-dish rice bowl.

“Alright, hurry up and eat. After we finish, we’ll sleep and get up early tomorrow to work.”

Hearing this, Lu Jiahe widened her round eyes and glanced at Cheng Yi before lowering her head and quickly polishing off every last bite in the wooden box. She then stood up, took both boxes, and voluntarily went to the kitchen to wash them.

After Lu Jiahe left, Cheng Yi sighed quietly to herself. She hadn’t expected this person to stay with her for two consecutive nights. She got up to fetch bedding from the cabinet, only to turn around and see Lu Jiahe meticulously wiping the table clean with a cloth.

She really does make herself at home!

Just like the previous night, one slept on the bed while the other slept on the table. Cheng Yi was especially curious. How could someone raised in luxury, pampered since childhood, not utter a single complaint about sleeping on a hard table?

The crow of a rooster pierced the sky, marking the end of a peaceful, dreamless night.

Uncertain about Cheng Yi’s plans for the day, Lu Jiahe had no choice but to sit by the well early in the morning, washing potatoes.

“Lu Jiahe! Does your family have any spare tables and stools?” Cheng Yi suddenly realized mid-cooking that she had no seating for customers if she were to sell rice bowls.

Hearing the call, Lu Jiahe looked up to see Cheng Yi standing at the kitchen doorway, glaring at her with a spatula in hand. The sight sent a shiver down her spine. “Yes, I’ll go home later and have someone bring them over.”

Cheng Yi, her eyes stinging from the cooking fumes, frowned until Lu Jiahe promised to provide the furniture. Only then did she turn back to the kitchen to continue cooking.

After a hectic morning, the two finally managed to prepare two large buckets of food, loaded them onto a cart, and set off.

Meanwhile, the Lu household was in chaos once again after Lu Jiahe’s late-night disappearance. The elderly Madam Lu had expected to have breakfast with her beloved granddaughter that morning, but after waiting for what felt like ages with no sign of her, she summoned Guo’er and Lu An.

The two knelt before the old lady’s couch with grim expressions, awaiting judgment.

“Lost her again?” Madam Lu glanced down at the pair with displeasure.

Guo’er thought to herself that she was truly like “the mute who eats bitter herbs, unable to voice their suffering” (Note 1)! How could she possibly control where her master went?

“Guo’er admits her mistake.”

“Lu An admits his mistake.”

Both lowered their heads, their actions already answering Old Madam Lu’s question.

“During these years you’ve been outside, has she always been like this?”

“Reporting to the Ancestress, while the young master was away studying, there were never any instances of him staying out overnight,” Guo’er replied, keeping her head down and not daring to meet the old lady’s gaze.

Old Madam Lu sighed in dissatisfaction as she stared at the two of them. “Go, find him and bring him back to me.”

“Yes.”

Guo’er and Lu An both stood up and retreated from Old Madam Lu’s room.

“Where do you think the young master could have gone?” Lu An frowned as he stood at the courtyard gate, looking around.

Guo’er crossed her arms and thought for a moment. “I know. Lu An, gather some people and meet at the gate. We’ll go bring the young master back.”

“You know where he is?” Lu An turned his head, puzzled.

Guo’er’s face twisted in indignation as she exclaimed, “Where else could he be? Probably in that alley again, helping that woman sell things!”

Just the thought of it made her blood boil. Never mind that her young master was the Lu family’s young lord. Her young master was, in fact, a real girl! How could she be out on the streets hawking goods for someone else?

As the two of them led a few servants toward the main gate, a gatekeeper hurried over to them.

“Aunt Guo’er, the young master is at the gate and asks for you and Lu An to come over.”

He’s back?

Hearing this, Guo’er and Lu An quickly rushed to the main gate with the others.

“Young Master, you’re finally back! What are you doing sitting here? Hurry inside!”

As soon as Guo’er reached the gate, she saw her young master sitting leisurely on the stone steps, lost in thought. She glanced at Lu An, and the two of them walked over to Lu Jiahe, helping her up.

“Have someone fetch a few tables, chairs, and benches from the storeroom and take them to that alley from yesterday,” Lu Jiahe said as she stood and dusted off her clothes. “Oh, and bring two pots of tea too. We might get thirsty later.”

?

Guo’er froze. What did that mean? Not going home, and even taking things from the house? What kind of bewitching potion had that woman given her young master? In just a few days, she didn’t even want to come home anymore!

“Young Master, the Ancestress has been looking for you all night! Why don’t you go see her first?” Seeing her young master about to leave, Guo’er quickly grabbed her sleeve.

Lu Jiahe turned her head slightly. “Fine, I’ll go see her. You take the things over first. I’ll join you shortly.” With that, she turned and headed back into the estate, leaving the two of them standing there dumbfounded.

Mindful of Cheng Yi’s stall, Lu Jiahe hurried to Old Madam Lu’s quarters to pay her respects.

“Grandmother, I hope you are well.” Lu Jiahe stood before Old Madam Lu and bowed.

“Rise. Did you sneak out again last night?” Old Madam Lu’s heart ached for her granddaughter and motioned for her to sit beside her.

Lu Jiahe nodded.

“With that same friend?”

[Nodding GIF]

“Ah!” Old Madam Lu shook her head. “Jiahe, how long have you even known this person? How can you keep running off to sleep at their place? Outside, you’re known as a man. If people find out, how will they ever marry in the future?”

After listening to her grandmother’s words, Lu Jiahe suddenly realized that Cheng Yi never seemed to care about her status. Whether at home or outside, she didn’t have the slightest notion of maintaining boundaries between men and women.