Daily life of working as a substitute bride for a wealthy family

Xiang Ran explained: "I'm going to walk around the back door and wait until the early morning before leaving. The room is too stuffy. If you are worried, you can send someone to go with me."

Aunt Zeng grabbed her arm and said, "No need. You probably can't leave tonight. My young lady is missing! Her passport is still with Butler Su. She promised to cooperate this afternoon... but she took advantage of us setting up the pavilion and just left. She left a note saying she had something to do in Q City. Butler Su is on his way to the high-speed rail station now. I don't know if he can stop her in time."

"What?" Xiang Ran was confused.

At this time, the old cell phone in Aunt Zeng's pocket rang.

As soon as I pressed the answer button, the voice of Xiao Zhu, the Su family's handyman, came from the phone: "Aunt Zeng, President Sheng has been waiting at the waterside pavilion for a long time. He asked me to take him to the room to find the young lady. Is the young lady in the room now? Can you take him there?"

Aunt Zeng: "No, that won't work. Tell him to go to the waterside pavilion right away."

"Who's going?"

"Miss Xiang, please be kind and help me hold it up for now." Aunt Zeng took the bag from her hand and pushed her towards the waterside pavilion. "Anyway, if you want to leave, I can't let you go right now. Let's talk about everything after Butler Su comes back, okay?"

-

Sheng Yang met Xiang Ran in the water pavilion.

"Why are you all sweaty? Didn't you change your clothes?"

"Oh!" Xiang Ran took off his coat and started to talk nonsense, "I changed into the inner one."

"Have you prepared... nice underwear for me?" Sheng Yang's gaze lingered on her chest.

I wonder what she has prepared under her ordinary T-shirt...

Xiang Ran knew that he had strayed from the topic again.

"No, it's a T-shirt."

"No, it seems like this is what you were wearing just now. The neckline seems to be the same."

Xiang Ran pulled him to sit down: "You're mistaken, husband."

It’s okay if you see it wrong, it’s not the point for men.

Sheng Yang sat down.

-

Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sky is clear and the moonlight is bright.

Although the moon is not as full as it should be, it is still very bright.

The climate in Jiangnan this year is a bit abnormal. The weather is so hot that the osmanthus buds have not even bloomed at this time of year. In previous years, the sweet-scented osmanthus would have been fragrant during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

A small Jiangnan garden was built in the Su family's villa. Although several willow trees by the water fell down due to the typhoon, the bamboo on the shore was still there, as well as many unknown flowers with a strong fragrance.

The table in the waterside pavilion was filled with yellow crabs and chrysanthemum wine. Several screens as thin as cicada wings were also very old, which added a bit of classical flavor to the place.

It can be seen that Su Yue put some thought into it, and there is actually a guzheng placed here.

Xiang Ran's scalp tingled.

Guzheng was also her dream when she was in elementary school, but she didn't know how to play it.

But she wasn't afraid that Sheng Yang would force her to play it later.

She has learned how to divert men's attention in the past few months.

"Yiqing, what kind of wine is this? It smells so good." Sheng Yang picked up the wine pot and smelled it.

Xiang Ran had no idea what kind of wine this was. Maybe it was brewed by the Su family themselves.

Aunt Zeng always proudly told her that the Su family had some secret recipes, such as how to cook some Chinese medicine pastes, and how to make some lip balms and traditional rouge by themselves.

If Su Yiqing were here, perhaps she could tell some stories.

Too bad she didn't know anything.

I sniffed it and it smelled like chrysanthemum.

So he said, "This is probably - chrysanthemum wine."

Sheng Yang smiled and said, "You're welcome. I've prepared such a big hairy crab. Do you want to peel it for me?"

Xiang Ran reluctantly reached out, picked up the crab, and untied the rope tied to the crab.

Sheng Yang's eyes fell on her wrist, his face a little stiff: "What? Did you put away the bracelet I gave you when you went to change clothes just now?"

"Well, I'll wear it again in a few days."

Sheng Yang grabbed the crab and said, "Oh. Let me peel it for you. You didn't eat much dinner just now... I'm worried you don't have the energy to peel it."

Xiang Ran thought it would be good if he wanted to peel crabs.

Maybe if he delays a little longer, Su Yue can get Su Yiqing back from the high-speed rail station.

So she smiled and nodded: "Okay, thank you, husband."

Sheng Yang skillfully and elegantly used the eight crab pieces to open the shell of the plump crab and concentrated on peeling the crab roe, as if he was a master of intangible cultural heritage demonstrating his unique skills on the spot.

Not long after, he put the crab meat and crab roe in the crab shell and handed it to Xiang Ran.

Place all remaining crab legs and crab meat in a small dish.

Xiang Ran looked at the results of his hard work and admired him sincerely - if Sheng Yang didn't go into business, but became a craftsman or a chef, he would definitely do very well.

Small dishes of vinegar, shredded ginger, soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine were laid out one by one.

In such an elegant environment, eating crabs so elegantly,

This really overturned Xiang Ran's impression of food.

For people living in the mountains, eating is largely to fill their stomachs.

I once heard from my high school history teacher that in the past, due to inconvenient transportation in mountainous areas, there was a lack of salt and sugar, so people used spicy food to go well with their meals.

The prosperous Jiangnan region has convenient sea and land transportation. Salt and sugar are just daily necessities for the ancient people in Jiangnan, so the dishes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang tend to be sweet.

Who in my hometown would have the leisure time to eat something?

Usually she and her aunt went to the mountains to pick mushrooms, carrying only a few ripe potatoes in their arms, and would not come back until dark.

As for crabs, she had seen them too, the crabs in the stream, which were said to have no meat.

But the hairy crabs here are really plump and delicious.

It is true that the local environment and climate determine the local crabs.

For the first time in her life, Xiang Ran ate crab without getting her hands dirty and even ate so much crab meat.

After finishing one crab, Sheng Yang peeled another one and handed it to me...

Su Yue hasn't come back yet.

You can't always eat crabs, right?

"Wife, why are you always looking around? There's no one here, not even a servant. Besides, there's a screen blocking the way. Are you shy about eating crabs? I didn't do anything." Sheng Yang laughed at her.

Xiang Ran felt bitter. She had only a few hours to escape, but now she was on a pirate ship again. She didn't even want to eat crabs.

"By the way, didn't you say you would play the piano for me? The guzheng?" Sheng Yang stood up and wanted to walk towards the guzheng.

Why are you bringing up something that is not related to the topic?

Xiang Ran pulled him back, her eyes moving: "Sit down!"

Sheng Yang sat down next to her: "What?"

"drink wine!"

"Okay, how much can you drink?"

Xiang Ran smiled and said, "Don't worry, I can drink a few cups."

Sheng Yang looked at the wine glasses filled with crushed ice and asked, "Your wine glasses are quite exquisite. One has a plum blossom pattern, and the other has a bamboo pattern. They have ice cubes pre-placed in them. What's the story behind them?"

Xiang Ran smiled and said, "Um... a gentleman is like a bamboo, so men should use a gentleman's cup and women should use a plum blossom cup."

This is of course nonsense.

Although Xiang Ran didn't know the name of this cup, in her opinion, flowers represent women and bamboo represents men, which can't be wrong.

Sheng Yang poured the wine from the pot into the cup.

Xiang Ran raised the plum blossom cup: "For—"

The dog man smiled and asked, "Tell me, why?"

"For this moment! Do it!" Xiang Ran replied.

Sheng Yang raised his glass and toasted with her: "Well, for this person and this scene!"

Xiang Ran was already thirsty after eating crabs, so she drank the wine a little quickly and finished half of the glass.

Why is this wine so sweet? It tastes really good...

So she drank the remaining half cup.

But soon I felt hot all over, and a little dizzy, and I couldn't even sit still.

Sheng Yang also drank the wine and felt that the alcohol content was okay, not too high.

Seeing Ran already looking dizzy, he couldn't help but doubt that her claim of being able to drink a few glasses of alcohol was a bit exaggerated.

But she still wanted to drink and even wanted to snatch the wine from his glass.

Sheng Yang naturally refused.

He pounced on Ran and snatched it away.

She pounced and fell into Sheng Yang's arms.

Sheng Yang grabbed her shoulders and laughed, "You little rascal, you're quite the drinker."