Chapter 14: Driven Out of the Residence

Cheng Yunjian lived in the front courtyard and had vaguely sensed something; he asked nothing, silently following by his father's side, occasionally looking up at Cheng Xi who stood on the other side.

He did not know when it had happened, but this eldest sister was already completely different from the one in his memories.

The current her was like a sharp Sword, wounding others and wounding herself.

Li Shi steadied her daughter and led them onto the carriage; before leaving, she glanced at the plaque of Cheng Fu—one day, she would return!

She wanted to see if, without Cheng Zhouxing here, a lone girl like her could hold onto this place!

The humid summer breeze saw off Li Shi's party, and there were not many people left in the residence.

The vast mansion instantly turned quiet; Cheng Xi was not a person who liked liveliness, so she did not feel any inconvenience with fewer people.

However, it would not do to have no manager in the residence, so she asked Zhao Mama; she remembered that Zhao Mama had a son named Zhao Kang, and because Li Shi was very wary of Zhao Mama, her son had been sent away after working in the residence for a few years.

Hearing that the Eldest Miss still remembered her son, Zhao Mama hurriedly called him back to serve the Eldest Miss, and thus Cheng Xi made Zhao Kang the steward.

Zhao Mama was stunned, "Eldest Miss, he has never been a steward before; I fear he might not do well."

"If he hasn't done it, he can learn; it's no big deal," Cheng Xi said.

Although Zhao Kang did not speak much, he was a man of action; overnight, he settled everything in the residence and even invited a physician to treat Jinxiang's injuries. After Jinxiang woke up and learned that her own mother and younger brother had taken benefits from Li Shi to sell her out, she cried for half the night.

Cheng Xi had thought Jinxiang would come to beg her, to plead for her mother and younger brother, but she did not expect her not to come at all; she nodded in satisfaction.

She was still clear-headed and not a fool.

The Incense Bait owed to Li Zhi'an had yet to be made; Cheng Xi did not like to owe debts, so she wrote a prescription and had Zhao Kang go to Liang Popo's place to buy the items.

Zhao Kang went happily but returned in a daze; he had never been to Ghost Street in all his life, and thinking of Lao Wutou's gloomy expression and the room full of strange things, he felt his skin crawl.

The Eldest Miss was truly different from before.

Cheng Xi only slept for one hour before getting up to work like a corporate slave; she did not want to spend a single day in the life of owing debts and paying them back.

To say making Incense Bait is simple is simple, and to say it is difficult is difficult; if this were before she transmigrated, this little bit of work would have been too easy for her—she wouldn't even need to move her hands, as the people around her could just rub it together and it would be done.

But now, she did not have so many disciples to act as her beasts of burden, so she could only roll up her sleeves and do it herself.

The table was covered with the things she had bought; she reached out and opened a jar, and a faint fragrance wafted out.

She had not expected that this space-time actually had phoenix marrow.

She put the phoenix marrow into a stone mortar and pounded it with a stone pestle, strike by strike.

Mulan heard the commotion and came out; upon seeing this, she hurried over, "Eldest Miss, how can you do such rough work? This servant has strength; let me do it."

Mulan took the pestle away without a word and began pounding away with a clatter.

Since someone was doing the work for her, Cheng Xi did not insist; her current physical strength was insufficient, and although the phoenix marrow did not look like much, it was still strenuous to pound it into a powder.

She called Zhao Kang over and told him to kill a rooster on the spot and bring her a bowl of chicken blood.

Zhao Kang did not ask why and soon brought both the rooster and the chicken blood.

Cheng Xi then had Zhao Kang trim the meat off the rooster and mince it into a paste.

Zhao Kang was sweating profusely while wielding the knife, and the courtyard was filled with the sound of chopping meat.

Taking advantage of this gap, Cheng Xi prepared the other ingredients. Once the phoenix marrow and minced chicken were ready, she poured them into a Jade Bowl, added the chicken blood, adjusted the ratio bit by bit, and finally rolled them into small balls.

Before the balls were even finished, a strange fragrance slowly drifted out.

Mulan said softly, "Eldest Miss, why is it so fragrant?"

She was so tempted she wanted to take a bite; it was too fragrant.

Cheng Xi looked at the expressions on her and Zhao Kang's faces and said with a smile, "Humans cannot eat this; it is for Demon Beasts. If you two ate it, you might turn into Demon Beasts."

Their expressions changed instantly; Zhao Kang ran off, and Mulan muttered, "The Eldest Miss only knows how to scare us."

Cheng Xi's eyes carried a faint smile, "Why don't you try it? If you really turn into a Demon Beast, I'll just raise you for the rest of your life."

Mulan:...

"This servant will go tidy the room." Mulan ran off as well.

The Eldest Miss's personality had become lively since she returned, and she even knew how to tease and scare them; she liked this Eldest Miss much more than the one who was always frowning before.

Placing the Incense Bait out to dry in the sunlight, Cheng Xi leaned on a lounge chair to enjoy the cool under the osmanthus tree.

"Eldest Miss, Director Jiang of the Tongtian Division has arrived," Zhao Kang said as he entered to report.

"Invite him in," Cheng Xi replied. Although the summer sun was scorching, she liked it very much; basking in the sun could drive the cold out of her body.

"Eldest Cheng Miss, this subordinate has come to collect the items." As soon as Jiang Boyu entered the courtyard, he smelled an overbearing fragrance; it was so alluring that he could not help but swallow his saliva.

Cheng Xi removed the cloth from her face, stood up, collected the blood-red Incense Bait into a palm-sized Jade Box, and turned to hand it to Jiang Boyu.

"Can this thing really lure out the Four-Eyed Demon Fox?" Jiang Boyu asked curiously.

If it worked, they would save so much effort; that the Eldest Cheng Miss had such skills was truly unexpected.

Thinking back on how the Cheng Family kept calling her a waste, if the Cheng Family didn't want such a waste of an Eldest Miss, he would be more than happy to have her as a younger sister.

Cheng Xi nodded, "Barring any accidents, he will love to eat it."

"Barring any accidents? Then what if there is an accident?"

"It must be that your skills are insufficient and you startled it, scaring it away before it could even take a bite."

Jiang Boyu:...

Pretend he said nothing.

He put away the jade container and took his leave of Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi lay back down lazily.

Jiang Boyu suddenly stopped, hesitated for a moment, looked at Cheng Xi, and said, "Eldest Cheng Miss, I heard that Lady Li went to the palace today to seek an audience with Li Taifei; you must be careful."

Li Taifei?

Cheng Xi rummaged through the original owner's memories for this person and thanked Jiang Boyu.

Jiang Boyu strode away; he had done his part by giving a warning, and palace matters were not something a Director like him could meddle in.

Cheng Xi closed her eyes, not taking any Li Taifei to heart.

Who would have known, that evening someone from the palace arrived to convey a message from Li Taifei, asking her to enter the palace the next day to attend a banquet.

Cheng Xi sent the person from the palace away with a dark face; Li Shi truly would not give up until she saw the Yellow River, really thinking that by bringing out some Grand Concubine, she could make her bow her head and let their whole family move back?

What a joke!

The next morning, she washed, changed her clothes, and boarded a carriage to enter the palace; upon reaching the palace gate, she discovered quite a few carriages gathered, so she had Mulan go and ask, only then learning that there were actually quite a few young ladies entering the palace today.

Cheng Xi found it a bit strange; to deal with her, this Li Taifei was putting on such a grand display?