"Isn't this our courtyard's portion?" Jingui asked, surprised by Jinzhi's shock. "A young servant just came and delivered these. I suppose you missed him."
"But..." Jinzhi looked at Shen Xuan, hesitating to speak, then closed his mouth.
Shen Xuan instantly caught his expression and said, "Jinzhi, speak."
Given Shen Xuan's permission, Jinzhi stammered, "I... I went a bit late, and all the food in the main kitchen had already been distributed. I asked the cooks to make some more, but as soon as they heard I was from Shen Ger's courtyard, they were quite disrespectful."
"I saw that the masters' meals were long gone from the kitchen. There were only some leftovers, what the servants had eaten."
Everyone knew Shen Xuan came from the countryside, and today the shizi had returned but didn't see him, suggesting he was very angry.
Coupled with Bai Shi's indifferent attitude, the Xue family's servants were quick to judge, naturally showing him no respect.
"How could that be?" Jingui was also furious upon hearing Jinzhi's words. However, he looked at the food box on the table and asked somewhat confusedly, "Could this food box have been delivered to the wrong person?"
"But the main kitchen didn't seem to be making these dishes today," Jinzhi said, looking at the dishes in the food box.
He had walked around the main kitchen and saw many leftover scraps, none of which were the ingredients for the dishes in the food box.
Shen Xuan thought for a moment before asking, "Are there also small kitchens in the Marquis's mansion?"
Many noble families, besides the main kitchen, also had small, separate kitchens for certain courtyards. When Shen Xuan was in the Duke's mansion, Lady Shen often used a small kitchen to stew desserts for him.
"Madam, the shizi, and the second young master's courtyards all have small kitchens," Jingui said after some thought.
"Concubine Wen also has one," Jinzhi added. "When Sister Tian gets hungry at night, she'll make her snacks." His elder sister worked for Concubine Wen, serving her daughter, Sister Tian, so he knew about this.
"Does Shen Ger think these dishes were mistakenly sent from one of the small kitchens in another courtyard?" Jingui asked Shen Xuan after some thought. "Small kitchens are private kitchens set up within each courtyard, and all their expenses come from that courtyard. And small kitchens are located within each person's own courtyard, so they shouldn't be mistaken."
Shen Xuan nodded upon hearing this. "I see."
He got up and walked to the table, circling the plates of delicious food. These dishes were made with great skill, looking no worse than those from outside restaurants, and they were all his favorites... He had just arrived in the capital today.
In this Marquis's mansion, Bai Shi and the second young master were eager to use him to provoke the shizi, so they likely wouldn't harm him.
And though the shizi was annoyed by him, judging by Lady Ye's attitude today, they valued their reputation in the capital, so they wouldn't act against him so quickly.
As for Concubine Wen, she was merely a concubine, and she had a daughter, so she wasn't involved in the struggle for family property; she definitely wouldn't act either.
Shen Xuan thought long and hard but couldn't figure out who would send such a lavish meal to poison him today.
But he was even more baffled as to who would pay out of their own pocket to send him such a good meal for no reason.
Shen Xuan pondered until his food was getting cold, and his stomach grew increasingly hungry. He simply asked Jinzhi to catch a chicken from outside and fed some of the dishes on the table to the chicken first. Jingui and Jinzhi, though perplexed, did as they were told.
About fifteen minutes later, the chicken that had eaten the food was still hopping around lively. Only then did Shen Xuan feel relieved enough to eat the meal, sharing the leftovers with Jinzhi and Jingui.
The dishes were indeed well-made, retaining their flavor even after cooling. Jingui and Jinzhi had always been the lowest-ranking rough servants in the Xue mansion, only having been promoted to third-rank because they served Shen Xuan.
They had never tasted such good food before! They ate until oil gleamed on their mouths, completely emptying the plates and even licking their fingers clean.
"No matter who sent it, this food is really delicious!" Jingui said, patting his round belly after eating his fill.
"Exactly, even if it was sent by mistake, we benefited from it," Jinzhi also said. "Tomorrow, we'll have to go to the main kitchen early to get food, otherwise we might not have such good luck today, and we might go hungry."
After the two cleaned up the dishes on the table, Shen Xuan sent them back to rest, also telling them not to mention anything about dinner to anyone else, especially Mama You.
"We certainly won't say anything. What if someone finds out the food was delivered to the wrong person and goes to complain?" Jingui patted his chest and then turned to leave.
But Jinzhi stayed behind and said, "Mama You said we should take turns on night duty, and it's my turn tonight. I'll sleep in the adjacent side room, Shen Ger. Just call me if you need anything."
Shen Xuan: "..."
'It seems escaping tonight won't be so easy either...'
He walked to the courtyard gate and peered out. In the Marquis's mansion, every so often, a servant was on night watch carrying a lantern.
These wealthy families were always heavily guarded to prevent fires and thieves. Not to mention the servants guarding both the front and back gates, Shen Xuan returned to his room thoughtfully, thinking that he would have to wait for a moment when everyone was relaxed to escape.
It was his first night sleeping in the Marquis's mansion, and with his thoughts about dinner, it was past midnight before he finally fell asleep.
***
The next morning, Shen Xuan didn't open his eyes until the sun was high in the sky. Looking out through the window cracks, the sun outside was already bright, indicating it must be past chenshi (7-9 AM). Jinzhi and Jingui were already waiting outside his room.
Shen Xuan quickly got up and changed clothes. Jinzhi and Jingui heard movement in the room and pushed the door open. One helped him dress, the other brought water for him to wash up.
"Has breakfast time already passed?" Shen Xuan asked after washing up. He had woken up late again this morning.
Given the previous night's treatment, there probably wouldn't be anything to eat. He wondered if he should have Jingui buy some food from outside with money.
"The main kitchen has long since run out," Jinzhi said from the side. "However, someone just sent food for you again, Brother ger."
"Someone sent more?" Shen Xuan was even more surprised. "Was it the same young servant as last night?"
"It was a different maid," Jingui said. "There were also some clothes and ornaments, all placed next door. We'll bring them for you to see in a moment, Brother ger."
After combing Shen Xuan's hair, Jingui brought a food box from next door. Jinzhi carried a stack of clothes and a wooden box.
In fact, Mama You had already sent a batch of clothes and ornaments to Shen Xuan yesterday, so these clothes today were clearly not arranged by Mama You.
"Shen Ger, look," Jinzhi opened the wooden box he was holding.
Shen Xuan looked and saw several hairpins inside. At first glance, their styles were very simple, but upon closer inspection, the materials used were excellent.
Two of them looked like ordinary wooden hairpins from a distance, but holding them, one could smell a faint fragrance, and their grain patterns refracted a golden luster under the sunlight.
They were made from golden nanmu yinchenmu (a type of submerged, aged golden nanmu), which was more expensive than gold.
There were also several white jade or green jade hairpins, whose jade had excellent translucency; they were clearly not ordinary items.
Just this one box of hairpins alone was probably worth at least a thousand taels of silver!
Shen Xuan was startled, wondering who had sent him such valuable items. He put away all the hairpins from that box and had Jingui insert one of the ordinary silver hairpins given to him by Bai Shi. Then he looked at the clothes.
The fabric and styles of the clothes appeared quite plain; at first glance, they looked like ordinary fine cotton cloth, no different from what Bai Shi had sent yesterday.
But when Shen Xuan reached out to touch the fabric, he felt the difference. The material was extremely soft and comfortable, clearly specially treated, and incomparable to the ordinary fine cotton clothes Bai Shi had sent yesterday.
He casually put on a grass-green one. The clothes fit well, and the fabric was breathable and comfortable.
Although they didn't look particularly luxurious, they suited Shen Xuan's taste quite well. So, Shen Xuan wore this outfit and had Jinzhi and Jingui put away the remaining clothes.
He then opened the food box and saw five or six breakfast items inside: white congee, small side dishes, sanzi (fried dough twists), wontons, fried eggs, steamed dumplings, and noodles. Each item looked very appetizing and appealing, kept warm in the food box, still warm now.
This time, Shen Xuan didn't feed these meals to the chicken. Instead, he directly chose the wontons to eat, then shared the rest with Jinzhi and Jingui.
Although he didn't know who sent these things, he now knew that the sender had absolutely no ill intent.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered to send him so many clothes and ornaments, especially choosing styles that wouldn't attract attention.
'Could this person have an old connection with the Shen family?'
Shen Xuan thought for a moment and felt that this was highly probable. After all, he was a descendant of the Shen family.
It wasn't impossible that someone who had a past relationship with the Duke's mansion was specifically looking out for him.
He took out two pieces of clothing from the batch Bai Shi had sent earlier and gave them to Jinzhi and Jingui, also giving each of them a silver hairpin.
Afterward, he told them, "You absolutely must not let anyone else, especially Mama You, know about the things someone sent these past few days. Otherwise, these things might disappear later, and I won't use you two anymore either."
"Yes, we definitely won't say anything!"
"My lips are sealed!"
Jinzhi and Jingui both promised.
Though they didn't understand what was going on, working with Shen Xuan these past two days meant no heavy labor, good food, and gifts.
Shen Xuan was also easy to talk to and often let them roam freely in the courtyard. In Jingui and Jinzhi's eyes, where else could they find such a good master?
They had family members working elsewhere in the mansion, and even those serving in masters' courtyards were constantly busy all day, eating the same food as other servants.
With such a comparison, Jingui and Jinzhi naturally felt Shen Xuan was perfect in every way. They wished he'd marry Xue Fenglin soon and become a proper master in the Marquis's mansion.
That way, they could be promoted to second-rank attendants and continue serving him—what could be better?
Jingui and Jinzhi were Shen Xuan's personal attendants, spending the most time with him daily.
For Shen Xuan to find an opportunity to escape the Marquis's mansion, he first needed to win them over.
Fortunately, Shen Xuan's earlier pretense had made Bai Shi and Mama You somewhat underestimate him, leading them to casually pick two naive young ger from the mansion. They hadn't assigned trusted servants to strictly guard him.
Shen Xuan thought for a moment, then told Jingui and Jinzhi, "Oh, right. Next time someone comes to deliver things, take a close look. It'd be best if you could figure out which courtyard they're from."
"Okay!" Jingui and Jinzhi nodded in agreement.
Only then did Shen Xuan let them go play in the courtyard.
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