The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 991: Chapter 968: Prestige Amidst Chaos 36

Mrs. Xu was cooking in the big kitchen at home.

She was steaming rice and making a large pot of soup, while Anning took a few kids to the small kitchen to stir-fry dishes.

She changed up the dishes she made, all in the name of teaching the kids how to cook.

The children were still young and not set in their ways. Anning wanted them to learn a variety of things, figuring that whatever they learned could only benefit them.

The girls were willing to learn and were quite enthusiastic about it.

Anning watched them steam fish and stir-fry several dishes before asking Xiao Yin to call Xiao Yuan for dinner.

During dinner, Anning talked to Xiao Yuan about the Old Madam’s situation.

The children at home listened in, but they didn’t say anything.

Xiao Yuan thought for a moment: ”Later, you take two taels of silver and deliver it to the main house.”

Anning nodded: ”Alright, understood.”

Anning took out a golden hairpin encrusted with gemstones: ”Tomorrow, sell this for money. We haven’t had a harvest lately, and both household and external expenses are significant. Sell this to tide us over for a while; once the wheat is harvested, we won’t need to buy grain.”

Xiao Yuan put the hairpin in his pocket: ”Tomorrow, I’ll take Lao Si and Lao Liu to the seaside for a bit, you stay and look after the house.”

Anning glanced at Xiao Song and the others: ”It’s fine, with a few kids here, nothing will happen at home.”

The boys instinctively puffed out their chests: ”Dad, with us around, no one dares to bully our family.”

Xiao Yuan smiled and served more food to the boys: ”Alright, you’re all grown now, when Dad’s not around, you must protect your mom and your sisters; the family will rely on you in the future.”

The boys felt grown-up after the praise, feeling more determined to guard their family.

The next day, early in the morning, Xiao Yuan set out with Xiao Jin and Xiao Ling.

Xiao Song and Xiao Hui also left early.

Anning didn’t go to the main house but gave two taels of silver to Xiao Ying to deliver.

When Xiao Ying came back, he looked particularly upset.

Anning asked him what was wrong, and Xiao Ying said angrily: ”Aunt scolded us, saying Mom is stingy, only sending two taels of silver, saying what can be done with two taels, and even saying Dad is unfilial, only listens to his wife, and is a coward.”

Hearing this, Anning felt a surge of frustration.

Mrs. Zhao was getting more and more unreasonable.

Back in the Duke Ping Mansion, she at least kept up appearances and wouldn’t lash out so rudely, but ever since coming to the South Yi, Mrs. Zhao was getting increasingly petty.

Anning thought to herself, thank goodness they had split the family; otherwise, living in the same courtyard as someone like Mrs. Zhao, one would get sick from anger.

”It’s alright, she can say what she wants, our conscience is clear.”

Anning patted Xiao Ying’s head: ”Hurry back to your room to write, your dad assigned you ten pieces, you must finish them today.”

Xiao Ying agreed and Anning continued: ”Call your brothers over, you’ll teach them reading today.”

Xiao Ying called Xiao Bai and others to his room to write, while Anning went about her household chores, and also locked herself in her room to make some medicine pills.

Xiao Yin and Xiao Fu, along with the other girls, were also working in their room.

Xiao Fu was sewing with Xiao Yun, while Xiao Yin was playing with Xiao Yi.

Tired from playing, the two grabbed some snacks from the table to eat.

While they were playing, they heard a commotion in the distance.

Xiao Yin hurriedly ran outside, and Xiao Yi followed.

When they got outside, they saw Anning also heading out.

The three of them left their home and saw several women heading towards the main house’s residence.

”What’s going on?”

Anning caught a woman to ask.

The woman laughed and said: ”Everyone’s going to watch the commotion, they say there’s a fuss in your Fifth Uncle’s place, seems like your Fifth Uncle’s newly-taken concubine beat up both of them.”

Anning was taken aback: ”What do you mean by that?”

”I still don’t know, we’re just about to see.”

The woman laughed as she spoke to Anning and then called her friends along to walk toward the main house.

Xiao Yin pulled Xiao Yi and said to Anning, ”Mom, let’s go take a look.”

Anning didn’t stop them, waving her hand, ”You two be careful, don’t stay too long, we’ll be eating soon.”

”Got it.”

Xiao Yin dragged Xiao Yi off in a flash, disappearing from sight.

Anning shook her head with a smile, went back to finish the medicine pills, and then tidied up the classroom in the front yard.

By noon, Xiao Yin and Xiao Yi were back.

Anning had already set the table with Xiao Fu and others, and seeing these two girls come back sweating profusely, she quickly told them to wipe off the sweat, warm up by the fire, and then start eating.

Xiao Yin and Xiao Yi waited until their clothes were less cold from drying and sat at the dining table, Xiao Yin didn’t rush to eat, she just opened her mouth and started chattering about what happened.

So it turns out that Xiao Fang of the fifth house took a concubine because he needed someone to help with work. First, he disliked Ms. Jin, and second, Ms. Jin really couldn’t do much work.

But the women here from Southern Yi are different; not only can they do household chores, some who are physically strong can even handle fieldwork.

Xiao Fang had this idea, he spent quite a bit to bring a concubine home.

The concubine he took was taller than most men and very robust, but she wasn’t ugly, her features were somewhat delicate.

This woman’s surname is Lan, and she’s ranked fourth in her family, commonly known as Lan Sijie.

Despite appearing clumsy and foolish, Lan Sijie doesn’t speak much in front of outsiders, but internally she’s quite calculating.

However, no matter how calculating she was, it didn’t help; her family was poor and had several daughters before finally having a son. To build a new house for her brother, her mother accepted a hefty dowry and sold her.

Lan Sijie wasn’t unwilling, after all, living here is better than home.

After she arrived, Xiao Fang treated her fairly well; making sure she dressed warmly and had enough food, although she had more work to do. But Lan Sijie was strong, not afraid of work.

Thus, before long, she earned Xiao Fang’s favor at Xiao Family.

Xiao Fang disliked Ms. Jin’s uncleanliness and never visited her room, he always stayed over at Lan Sijie’s place.

Even though Xiao Fang favored Lan Sijie, Ms. Jin hated her with a passion, gritting her teeth in anger. Ms. Jin had small calculative schemes and was somewhat capable, often tripping up Lan Sijie. At first, Lan Sijie didn’t understand, but later she saw through it.

She told Xiao Fang about this, but he didn’t stand up for her, instead advising her to bear with Ms. Jin.

Despite disliking her, Ms. Jin gave Xiao Fang a son and was his legitimate wife, he didn’t look forward to divorce her.

Xiao Fang mainly looked down on the women from Southern Yi; divorcing Ms. Jin would mean marrying a Southern Yi woman formally, so he preferred letting Ms. Jin hold the title of legitimate wife.

Lan Sijie was angry seeing Xiao Fang not standing up for her, feeling upset.

Then, one day, Ms. Jin put some weakened body medicine in Lan Sijie’s food, and she discovered it.

Turns out, when Lan Sijie was young, she often followed an old doctor to gather herbs on the mountain, learning quite a bit of medicinal knowledge.

Her nose was particularly sensitive, able to smell many medicinal scents.

Ms. Jin’s technique of drugging was rough, just putting the medicine directly into her porridge, which Lan Sijie could detect while eating.

She detected it, immediately smashed the bowl, causing a commotion with Ms. Jin, and Xiao Fang just happened to see it, reprimanding Lan Sijie, saying she was just a concubine, Xiao Family couldn’t tolerate her insolence.

Lan Sijie was furious.

Immediately disregarding the legitimacy, the concubine hierarchy, just grabbed Xiao Fang and his wife and pummeled them, beating them until they cried for their parents.

Lan Sijie wasn’t satisfied, directly ran out causing trouble, cursing loudly that Xiao Family’s Fifth isn’t human, deceived her, clamoring for someone to stand up for her.

She wasn’t concerned about losing face, starting with Ms. Jin’s dirtiness, then Ms. Jin tripping her, and even called Xiao Fang a coward, basically cursing everyone around.

When she was at home, Lan Sijie often saw women behaving like shrews, she learned quite a few tricks, sat on the ground disregarding how dirty it was, rolled like a mud ball, both literal and figurative tantrums, cursing all the way to Xiao Family’s ancestors, basically having no one to fear cursing.

Xiao Fang was infuriated, went to scold Lan Sijie, only to be pinned down and beaten again.

Xiao Yin sat on the chair swinging her little legs, animatedly describing to Anning the scene she saw in the main house, ”Mom, you should’ve seen it, Uncle Fifth was knocked down by a single punch from Lan Sijie, Aunt Fifth’s face was scratched by Lan Sijie, I think it’s scarred...”

Anning smiled as she gave Xiao Yin some dishes, ”I know, hurry and eat your meal.”