I was a queen in ancient times, no, a maid!

After Sun returned, she sent someone to deliver the butler's token to Zhao Rulan.

Dingxiang took it and brought it to Zhao Rulan.

"Madam, this is the butler token sent by the first wife."

Zhao Rulan was in a lazy mood and didn't care much. "Just put it in the box."

After giving the cloves to Xiangling to collect, he walked up to Zhao Rulan and said, "Madam, why are you doing this? You can use the excuse of taking care of the baby to push away the job of managing the Lu family. It's better not to deal with this mess."

"I would like to not care, but the power of the head of the family is in my hands. From now on, I will not be so passive."

Zhao Rulan didn't really want to take charge of the Lu family's affairs, she just wanted to take over the power of the Lu family's housekeeper.

After this, food, clothing, housing and transportation were all in the hands of Sun and even the old lady.

Ding Xiang was very happy, "It is still up to you, Madam, to take action. From now on, you will be in charge of the Lu family. I wonder who dares to bully you, Madam."

"I married into the Lu family not to show off my nobility and discipline others, but they saw that I was not competitive and thought I was easy to bully."

"This time they touched my weak spot."

No one can touch her child.

Being a mother makes you strong, which means that by becoming a mother, a woman can become stronger for her children.

This is what Zhao Rulan is like now.

***

After the eldest lady Sun left, Cheng Yu withdrew. The eldest lady asked her to leave to give Cheng Yu some time to rest.

Zhao Rulan said that she would give Cheng Yu some free time first, and then let him go out and look for a good location to buy a shop in spring after the New Year.

You can't just buy things from the shops in Kyoto City.

Especially if the location is good, this shop will cost at least a thousand taels, plus the money to bribe the government, and go through the business procedures and registration to facilitate future tax payments.

There's money to be spent everywhere.

Cheng Yu didn't understand it at first, but later she learned a little from Zhao Rulan's words and was surprised.

She wanted to open a shop in Kyoto, but this idea was a bit naive.

After the power of managing the Lu family was handed over to Zhao Rulan, everything returned to normal.

In terms of diet, the first wife's side was still the same as before, but for the old lady, Zhao Rulan asked the people in the small kitchen to send a dish made by Cheng Yu to the old lady every day. In fact, if Zhao Rulan didn't eat the dish, she would give it to her wet nurse Zhang Mama, or share it with Ziwei and Dingxiang.

Now it has been sent to the old lady, who still thinks in her heart that the second wife is a filial son.

It seemed that the old lady's diet had changed, but in fact, Zhao Rulan didn't spend much money.

Soon, it was the Chinese New Year.

This year, Zhao Rulan didn't plan to hold a grand New Year's Eve dinner, so she just prepared a simple table.

Chef Cheng Yu was asked to be the head chef, and Madam Li and Mother Wang did not go. After all, the New Year's Eve dinner would be prepared in the big kitchen. The one who assisted Cheng Yu in preparing the New Year's Eve dinner was Chef Gao from the big kitchen, and the one who assisted him was Mother Li from the big kitchen.

The people who cut the vegetables and prepared the side dishes were He Hua and a few others.

Seeing Cheng Yu coming to the big kitchen to prepare, Hehua was naturally the happiest one.

She quietly walked up to Cheng Yu and said, "I was wondering, the eldest lady is in charge of the household, why doesn't her people come to the kitchen? From now on, will the kitchen also be managed by the eldest lady?"

Cheng Yu smiled and said, "Don't you see what day it is today? Today is New Year's Eve. I am here to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner."

"The mistress said that I will come today to help Chef Gao prepare the Lu family's New Year's Eve dinner tonight."

Chef Gao, who was sitting inside, stood up immediately after hearing Cheng Yu's words.

Chef Gao has been a chef in the Lu family for his entire life. The Lu family has supported him, and he has developed a lot of bad habits.

"I thought she was a powerful person, but she turned out to be a yellow-haired girl."

Chef Gao's words were filled with contempt and disdain.

The last time Cheng Yu came to the big kitchen and cooked for a few days, the old lady praised her highly. But later, when she ate the food cooked by Chef Gao, she always felt that the taste was not right.

The old lady was unhappy with the meal and was dissatisfied with Chef Gao, saying that his cooking was not as good as Cheng Yu's.

This really angered Chef Gao.

Therefore, he also felt a bit of resentment towards Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu has always respected the elderly and loved the young, but the prerequisite is that the elderly are not fools and the children are not naughty kids, only then can she do it.

If she meets someone who is rude and unreasonable, she doesn't want to respect him and would rather go up to him and beat him up.

"Why don't you go and tell the old lady about this? Chef Gao, I respect you as an experienced chef and don't want to argue with you. Besides, I came to the kitchen to follow the arrangement of the mistress to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner today."

Chef Gao said, "I'm the one who prepares the New Year's Eve dinner every year. When did someone else start preparing it?"

"Chef Gao, this is my decision."

A cold voice came from outside the door. Everyone turned around and saw the mistress in a scarlet cotton coat.

Zhao Rulan now holds the two steward tokens of the Lu family, so she is naturally the mistress of the Lu family.

"Before I joined the Lu family, I didn't care who cooked what meals in the Lu family, but now, I am in charge of the Lu family. The second master is in charge of the Lu family's external affairs, and the affairs of the inner house are decided by me, the mistress."

"But, madam, the old lady didn't tell me about this in advance..."

Zhao Rulan frowned when she heard this.

But Chef Gao is an elder of the Lu family, so she couldn't say anything too cruel.

"I have asked Dingxiang to consult with the old lady. Yu'er and Chef Gao will prepare this year's New Year's Eve dinner together."

The old lady didn't care about the people under her and didn't even send anyone to talk to Chef Gao.

Or maybe it was said that Chef Gao deliberately made this mess today.

Cheng Yu hurried forward and helped Zhao Rulan in, "I will follow the madam's instructions."

See Cheng Yu has expressed his opinion.

Nowadays, the affairs of the inner house are really managed by the second wife, and she is the one to be consulted for purchasing things.

Chef Gao also said reluctantly that he would follow the lady's arrangements.

Zhao Rulan was very satisfied with Chef Gao's attitude.

It seems that this person still needs to be more assertive.

Ma Shan is ridden by others, and people are deceived by others.

"Then prepare the New Year's Eve dinner tonight. We still have half a day left. Hurry up and buy the ingredients that are needed but not in the kitchen. There are a few inappropriate ingredients in the list that Chef Gao prepared earlier. I have already noted them. Go buy the rest according to that."

Chef Gao felt worried. Could it be that the lady had seen something?

Everything was fine in previous years, so what could go wrong this year?

Thinking of this, Chef Gao felt relieved again.

Chef Gao is the head chef in the big kitchen. Those who are responsible for purchasing are all his relatives. He has the final say in the big kitchen. Even if he asks someone to deliver the food from outside, they will take kickbacks for the high-priced food.

No one cared about it before, and he was bold in doing it. Now the second wife has to manage the kitchen herself.

As the head chef of the big kitchen, Gao Daming was naturally a little worried.