Transmigrated Female Official

After leaving the private school and getting into the carriage, Chu's mother began to scold Chu Yinuo again: "Didn't I tell you not to bring any pickled foods or pastries to the private school anymore? Why are you still secretly bringing them?"

Chu Yinuo knew she had caused trouble, so she didn't dare to say a word and kept her head down.

"Alright, Mother, if anyone's to blame, it's you first," Chu Qingluo chimed in, believing her mother was the real culprit.

"Blame me?"

"Yes, of course. You were the one who asked Yinuo to bring the sour products to the private school to promote them. Otherwise, his classmates wouldn't have asked him for them, and he wouldn't have brought them today."

Speechless after being refuted by Chu Qingluo, Chu's mother could only straighten up and stop scolding Chu Yinuo.

"Look at the radishes in that jar of pickled vegetables. They're all a dark yellow color, clearly not fresh enough. Luckily, this batch of pickled vegetables is still being pickled and hasn't been sold yet, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble it would have caused," Chu Qingluo said.

"Yes, that was really close!" Chu's mother felt uneasy just thinking about it.

"But I really can't understand how Mother could be so careless about the preservation of pickled products? Or did Mother try to save money by buying some stale radishes?"

Upon hearing Chu Qingluo's words, Chu's mother's eyes widened in disbelief: "How could that be! Do you think I'm that kind of person?! Would I lose myself for such a petty gain?!"

"So that means Mother didn't personally inspect the pickling process?"

"Ahem... That's because I'm busy with the pastry shop, I'm very busy." After saying that, Mother Chu emphasized again, "But I personally supervised the sealing process, so it was absolutely sealed properly."

Chu Qingluo pouted helplessly and asked, "Then who bought this batch of ingredients?"

After thinking for a moment, Chu's mother said, "There are only two people in charge of purchasing for the kitchen. We can find out by asking when we get back to the manor."

……

Upon returning to the Chu residence, Chu Qingluo and her mother's first action was to go to the backyard to inspect the batch of pickled goods that was being prepared. Sure enough, the radishes mixed in had turned yellow, and they immediately summoned the two male servants in charge of purchasing the goods for questioning.

The two men were brought before them. The older man was Uncle Ya, who had followed Chu's mother for many years, while the younger man was Xiao Douzi, who had only been in the household for a few years. Because he was learning to shop from Uncle Ya, the two addressed each other as master and apprentice.

The first question Chu's mother asked Ya-shu was, "Did you personally go and buy the ingredients for the pickled products that are being made in the backyard?"

Uncle Ya thought for a moment and replied, "I sent Xiaodouzi." Seeing Madam Chu's serious expression, he asked again, "Madam, what happened?"

When Xiaodouzi heard Chu's mother ask this question, he immediately became nervous and waited anxiously for what she would say next.

"The radishes used in this pickled dish weren't fresh. I'd like to know what happened?"

Uncle Ya then tugged at Little Bean, who was still in a daze, and said, "What are you still standing there for? Quickly explain to Madam where you bought the radishes. Didn't you buy them from the vegetable farmer Luo that I took you to before?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaodouzi's expression changed, and he stammered, "Master... the day you asked me to go buy the vegetables, it rained a bit, and Luo the vegetable farmer's place is quite far away..."

"So where did you buy it? Stop dawdling and tell me." Uncle Ya was sweating bullets for him.

"As soon as I left the mansion, I saw someone carrying several loads of radishes and sheltering from the rain. I noticed that the radishes were big and round, so I casually went over and asked him..." At this point, Xiaodouzi swallowed and continued, "His radishes were cheaper than those of Luo the vegetable farmer, and it was raining. He said that if he didn't sell all the radishes in his load, he wouldn't have anything to eat for dinner... When I heard that, my heart softened, and I thought that we were going to buy radishes anyway... so I bought them all from him."

"You brat!" Uncle Ya stamped his foot in exasperation, then apologized to Madam Chu, "Madam, please calm down. It's all because I didn't discipline him properly. That's why Xiao Douzi was lazy and made a mistake. Please don't blame him."

"You mean, someone is selling radishes right outside our door?" Chu Qingluo asked.

“Yes,” Little Bean replied.

Chu Qinglu thought that if it were her, she probably wouldn't have gone to such lengths either. Since things had come to this point, it was fortunate that nothing bigger had happened, so she said, "Mother, Xiaodouzi didn't do it on purpose. Let's just consider this a lesson learned."

Mother Chu nodded, saying regretfully, "That batch of freshly made pickled vegetables in the backyard has been wasted." Then, she said to Xiaodouzi, "I'll deduct a month's wages as punishment. Do you feel wronged?"

Little Bean quickly waved his hand and said, "I'm not wronged, I'm not wronged." His uncle, who was standing next to him, also thanked Madam Chu and Chu Qingluo on his behalf, "Thank you for your magnanimity, Madam and Miss!"

"Sigh—" Mother Chu couldn't help but sigh. "Go and get rid of all those pickled vegetables in the backyard; they've all bubbled and are unusable. Also, from now on, you must be careful when buying ingredients. Wasting money is a small matter; it would be terrible if someone got a stomachache!"

"Yes, yes, yes," Uncle Ya and Xiao Douzi nodded repeatedly in response.

……

Because it was well past dinner time, Chu Qingluo stayed in the main hall and ate a little something with her mother before returning to Ningxiang Courtyard.

It was already past 7 PM when she returned to her room. Gongsun Yu was sitting at the table reading. Seeing her come back, he quickly stood up and said, "You're finally back."

"Yeah, it was quite a day." She smiled and turned her neck.

"I heard that Yinuo brought pickled vegetables to the private school and caused trouble?"

"Yes, a child got an upset stomach." Chu Qingluo recounted what had happened to Gongsun Yu, then sighed, "Why are there so many things going on lately?"

Gongsun Yu looked at her with concern and said, "Don't think about your troubles. I've already asked Jiuwei to prepare the hot water." Then he gave her a knowing smile and said, "Since our Qingluo is so exhausted, why don't I give you a back rub?"

Chu Qinglu chuckled and asked him, "Young Master Gongsun, when did your skin become so thick?"

He scooped her up in his arms and said with a laugh, "It's always been like this. Would someone with a thick skin steal a sachet?"

She thought about it and realized that made sense.

"Besides," Gongsun Yu said, "didn't you also say that with my leisurely personality, even you, as an observer, get anxious for me?" He lightly pecked her cheek, then added, "I can't let you get anxious for me anymore." With that, he turned and carried her behind the screen to bathe...

……

Just two days after the acid scandal, another wave of trouble has arisen.

Chu Qinglu was busy in the clothing store when her mother's male attendant suddenly rushed over, saying that her mother had been taken away by people from Shuntian Prefecture!

Shuntian Prefecture was essentially the same as the government office in Yancheng.

Chu Qingluo told him not to rush and to explain clearly, "Why was my mother taken away by the people from Shuntian Prefecture all of a sudden?"

After the male attendant rambled on for a while, Chu Qingluo finally understood that the middle-aged woman she had met at the private school had gone to Shuntian Prefecture to file a complaint, saying that Chu's mother was selling stale food, which had caused her son to suffer from abdominal pain.

"Wasn't her son's illness cured? Why did she suddenly cause such a fuss in Shuntian Prefecture?"

"I don't know either, but the lady was taken away by the people from Shuntian Prefecture!"

Chu Qingluo couldn't figure it out and decided to go to Shuntian Prefecture to check on the situation. Gongsun Yu also said he wanted to go with her.

They hadn't even left the store when another woman walked in...