Chapter 341: Mandarin Ducks of the Same Fate
The speed of her movements and the earnestness of her voice took Wang Yongzhu by surprise for a moment.
Just moments ago, she had been feigning weakness, clumsily trying to help, leaving the mountain goods scattered all over the ground, but after witnessing Wang Yongzhu knocking Wang Yonggui unconscious, Lady Sun became remarkably agile, quickly gathering up the mountain goods and packing them into a bag.
Then, she reported cautiously, "I... I’ve finished cleaning up..."
Old Granny Zhang inspected the ground, didn’t find anything left behind, glanced at the table, saw that the noodles in the bowl had been nearly all picked out, leaving roughly half a bowl’s worth, the saucepan was still overturned on Laosan’s head, and a few shreds of cucumber remained in the vegetable dish.
Old Granny Zhang dumped the remaining noodles into the vegetable dish, soup and all, making up roughly half a bowl, "Today, I’m going to lay down the law for you. In the Wang Family, nobody gets a free meal. If you want to eat your fill, you’ve got to work for it. I’ll assign chores to you every day. Finish them and you get to eat, don’t finish and you go hungry! Do you hear me?"
Lady Sun’s backer, Wang Yonggui, had already been knocked out. Where dared she oppose? She meekly agreed, "I hear you, Old Madam."
"Furthermore, the concubines of the Wang Family don’t have the right to sit at the table for meals; they eat something inferior to ours. Today, since you’ve just entered the house, I’ll give you some face, and let you eat the same as us. Take your bowl and go eat over there," she said, gesturing for Lady Sun to take the dish and leave.
Lady Sun really didn’t want to take it, but her stomach was growling with hunger. She had never suffered or felt such indignity before; in the past, a sultry look, a bit of coquetry, a few tears, and the men would all come flocking to her. Despite her unsavory reputation, she hadn’t had to endure such treatment for many years.
The situation now was beyond her control, and she wasn’t foolish. She knew this was the Wang Family’s way of showing her who’s boss, so she bit back her tears and took the dish.
Old Granny Zhang didn’t care whether Lady Sun felt aggrieved or not. She liked to cry? Well, there would be plenty of time for that later.
The Wang family had all eaten their fill, leaving Lady Lin and Lady Jiang to clean up the table, while everyone else went inside to wash up.