He Zhiran took the opportunity to go to the backyard to gather firewood while her sisters-in-law were preparing the ingredients.
She happened to pass by the straw sheds where the He and Li families were staying.
Although called straw sheds, to He Zhiran these were more like animal pens.
She guessed since there were no horses brought by the passing guests today, these pens were left empty.
It was really difficult for those officials to come up with the idea of letting them stay here for a night.
The straw sheds were quite spacious, supported by several large pillars and covered fully by hay.
At first glance, they were much better than spending the night outdoors last night.
However, from a distance, she could already smell a stench of foul odor coming from the sheds. Without blocking their noses, those people probably could not fall asleep.
At the moment, the Li and He families were fighting over the spaces, both wanting to stay more inside, hence the yelling with necks stretched and faces flushed red.
He Zhiran chose to ignore them and went straight to the backyard.
But trouble came looking for her when she was not asking for it.
The He brothers had been pushing the wooden carts for a day. Learning from Li Rou'er that it was He Zhiran's idea, they had long held grievances against her.
Seeing her walking alone now, they immediately had the idea of venting their anger on her.
Seeing He Zhiran had walked far away, the two brothers did not continue arguing with the Li family. They strode towards He Zhiran with frivolous tones.
"Little slut, it was you who made us brothers work hard pushing those wooden carts the whole day. If we don't get some sweetness from you today, we brothers won't be able to sleep well tonight."
He Zhiran had always been vigilant. When she passed by the shed earlier, she had already noticed something wrong with the two brothers and was on guard against them!
Hearing the frivolous and grating voices behind her, she stopped and turned around, looking at them calmly.
In the capital city, He Ming and He Liang were often involved in bullying men and overbearing women. Facing what they intended to do now, they were quite experienced.
Seeing He Zhiran stop, He Ming approached her with an evil smile, while reaching out with his disgusting claws.
"Let brother have a feel first."
He Zhiran nimbly dodged He Ming's roaming hands. At the same time, she quickly squatted down and punched him hard in the stomach.
Taking advantage of He Ming's pain, He Zhiran swiftly stood up and swept his legs with hers.
Losing his balance, He Ming stumbled forward.
He Zhiran seized this opportunity to strike him again.
Her actions were almost seamless, leaving He Ming no chance to retaliate.
When He Liang realized things had gone wrong, he rushed over to help. But He Ming had already been beaten down.
Facing He Liang's attack, He Zhiran did not go easy. With a few simple grappling moves, she took him down as well.
Although she had beaten the two brothers down, He Zhiran still showed restrain.
After all, these two still needed to keep pushing the wooden carts tomorrow. Breaking their arms or legs would hinder their labor.
"This is a warning for you two. If you dare to provoke me again, it won't be as simple as making you suffer a bit like today."
Having said that, He Zhiran directly ignored the resentment from the brothers and casually dusted herself off before leaving arrogantly...
As for whether they would report this to the officials, He Zhiran was not too concerned.
After all, no one else saw her take action. Who would believe that she, a weak woman, could take down two burly men?
After gathering some firewood, He Zhiran returned to the kitchen.
Her sisters-in-law had already prepared the ingredients, now just waiting for her to personally cook.
He Zhiran simply made four dishes with one soup: braised pork with broad beans, cold cucumber salad, vinegar-cooked bok choy, scrambled eggs with scallions, and a milky white fish soup made by simmering carp.
He Zhiran's cooking skills were just average. Fortunately, she knew many recipes and had seasoning blends like Shisanxiang to help.
The dishes she made immediately conquered everyone's taste buds.
The officials would occasionally rush to the kitchen door to peek. Seeing the dishes plated, someone immediately ran to report to Peng Wang.
This time, instead of personally handing out the fish like last time, He Zhiran let her sisters-in-law first serve the officials.
She brought the rest to Lady Mo's room for everyone to enjoy together.
As for the Xie and Fang families, it was inappropriate to give them too much favor, lest they become unappreciative. Even helping should be gradual.
Therefore, relatively less food was given to the Fang and Xie families. Superficially, it was to take care of the elderly and children.
Even so, they were still very grateful to the Mo family.
In such difficult times, for others to share some of the fine food with them was already a tremendous favor.
Their resentment towards Mo Jiuye seemed to be cast aside for now.
Although Mo Jiuye was no longer pretending to be unconscious, he still had to appear weak and immobilized in front of others.
Therefore, his meals were personally delivered by He Zhiran to their room.
Seeing the colorful and aromatic food, Lady Mo and her daughters-in-law were so moved they nearly cried.
Mo Hanyue clung tightly to He Zhiran's arm.
"Sister-in-law, did you make all these dishes?"
Not waiting for He Zhiran's reply, the eldest sister-in-law spoke proudly, "These dishes are all made by your sister-in-law. Doesn't just looking make your mouth water?"
Mo Hanyue nodded vigorously, her bright eyes full of admiration for He Zhiran.
"My sister-in-law is the best. Not only does she know medicine, she is also fearless when facing those officials, and has such amazing cooking skills too."
As she spoke, Mo Hanyue had already rested her head on He Zhiran's shoulder.
"Sister-in-law, I'll just follow you from now on. I must learn all these skills from you."
Seeing the innocent and pure little sister-in-law, He Zhiran stroked her messy hair.
"Alright, as long as Hanyue wants to learn, sister-in-law will teach you."
Alone in the room, Mo Jiuye took a bite of the dishes.
His first feeling was that these must have been made by He Zhiran.
Those sisters-in-law definitely did not have such skills.
Not knowing if he felt lucky, the corners of Mo Jiuye's lips slightly curled up unconsciously.
At Lady Mo's command, the women immediately started eating.
Maybe because they hadn't eaten anything good these two days, they felt today's dishes were especially appetizing.
The full four dishes and one soup were eaten up almost completely.
Similarly, the officials felt He Zhiran's cooking was even more delicious than those restaurants in the capital city.
Especially that braised pork, fatty but not greasy, leaving one craving more after eating it.
Just as the officials were competing to grab food into their own bowls, He Ming and He Liang were helped over.
They knelt directly in front of the officials.
"My lords, please serve justice for us brothers!"
Seeing the arrivals, Peng Wang immediately scowled.
"What happened?"
He Ming quickly moved forward, "My lords, relying on your protection, Miss He beat us brothers into this state."
As he spoke, he lifted his shirt, revealing the purple-blue mark on his stomach.
"My lords, look, this is where He Zhiran hit me. And here too." He Ming continued lifting the back of his shirt.
He Liang also came forward to show the officials his bruised areas.
The officials looked at each other, clearly disbelief in their eyes.
There were rules for escorting exiled prisoners. It was expressly forbidden for prisoners to fight amongst themselves.
Of course, whether it was truly prohibited also depended on the officials' moods.
