It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

I don’t know what the wife of the governor and Fu Nulang said in the room. Fu Nulang walked back to her yard in a hurry, no longer as graceful as before.

Tingying and Baoqin in the courtyard were waiting at the gate early with lanterns in their hands. As soon as Fu Nulang came back, they immediately replaced Yile and welcomed her into the bedroom.

Even from a distance, Jiang Yan could sensitively sense that the moment Fu Nulang stepped into the dormitory, her mood became bad.

Jiang Yan followed Yi Le and stood quietly in the courtyard outside the bedroom. Through the window frame, they could vaguely see the light and shadow like wide sleeves flying in the house, followed by a few faint muffled sounds.

Was Fu Nulang criticized and reprimanded by the Governor's wife? Or was she heartbroken that she didn't leave her dinner? The latter speculation was more about Jiang Yan's personal desire.

They did not have a proper meal while they were on the road. It was already dusk when they entered the city of Heding Prefecture. They stayed in the courtyard of the governor's wife for nearly half an hour... It was dark at this time and it was already midnight, which was long past the usual dinner time.

Jiang Yan was starving, and her mind was screaming for food.

I don’t know how long it took, but Baoqin came out and asked Yile to go to the big kitchen to get some food for the girl.

Seeing Baoqin turn around and go back to the girl's room, Jiang Yan quietly took Yile's sleeve and asked in a low voice: "Where are we going to eat?"

……

Jiang Yan followed Yile to the main kitchen of the mansion. Except for the light from the lantern Yile took from Baoqin, the whole way was dark.

Jiang Yan was a little puzzled as to how this mansion could be both luxurious and shabby, with half of the house occupied by guards and the other half empty.

The extravagance meant that she had only stayed in the governor's wife's courtyard for a short half hour, and had been listening to a maid boasting about the exquisite and precious ornaments in the lady's room, which were worth a fortune.

Even the tables, chairs and tea sets in the servants' room were made of top-quality materials. Any one of them was worth half a year's food rations for a family of five from outside the city.

The word "shabby" means that when walking between the courtyards, there are no pre-lit candles on the stone tables along the way, and everyone has to rely on their own lanterns for lighting.

Could it be that after the hour of Xu, the candles in the mansion would be extinguished to prevent fires? When the girl returned to the courtyard just now, it was also dark. The few of them had no lanterns and relied entirely on the moonlight to walk.

Moreover, Jiang Yan stayed in Fu Girl's Courtyard for a while and only saw five people including himself. Yi Le, a personal maid, had to go and get food in person. There were so few people, which did not seem like the configuration of a wealthy family like the Governor's Mansion.

The guards were gathered in the area leading from the gate of the Governor's Mansion through the front yard. The guards and servants were densely packed, with one guard every ten steps. When you reached the back yard, there were fewer guards.

As for the "empty house", Jiang Yan and Yi Le didn't encounter anyone on their way to the kitchen. When they finally arrived at their destination, the kitchen was unattended and the door was closed and locked.

Jiang Yan didn't know whether to praise the Governor's Mansion for being so lenient and kind to its servants, or to regret that she hadn't complained enough along the way...

"Sister Yile, are the chefs in the kitchen taking a break tonight?" Jiang Yan broke the silence.

"I don't know either." Yile's long-standing composure was replaced by a state of bewilderment. She had lived in the mansion for five or six years, and this was the first time she had encountered such a thing.

"Then are there other kitchens where I can get food?"

Yile shook her head. "No, apart from the front yard of the adults, there is a small kitchen in the yard of Mr. Yu and his wife. There is no other one."

Although Jiang Yan was still wondering why the "Young Master Yu" mentioned by Yi Le was ranked higher than the wife of the governor, it didn't matter now.

Yile was a little at a loss: "Let's go back and report to the girl first."