Chapter 49: Turning an Enemy Into a Friend

 

Translated by Gumihou

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com

 

Thank you Kirindas, Abastika, moto and F.J for your comments!

[Gumihou: I’ve been waiting for this chapter~ though it’s a little shorter than the rest.]

 

They spent just over a little half a shichen(1 hour) over the meals, just in time for lunch. As the rest of the kitchen staff all happily placed the noodles and side dishes into food boxes, Ms. Xue continued to stick to Su Nuan Nuan’s side and peppered her with questions. Clearly, she intended to steal as much knowledge as she could from her.

Su Nuan Nuan was not at all stingy, she did not bother to hide anything as she bluntly revealed all her tricks. Furthermore, she did it all quite naturally, which really touched Ms. Xue’s heart. In this world, don’t bother mentioning one’s master, even one’s teacher probably would not be as generous, ah.

How could she not know her own social station? Was there any reason for first madam to butter her up? This was clearly done out of sincerity, the purest type of sincerity!

Su Nuan Nuan never even dream that what she considered as normal sharing would gained her a loyal servant that would follow her for life. From this day onwards, the somewhat snobbish Ms. Xue now stood firmly at her side. Naturally, as a true and faithful servant, she intend to hug Su Nuan Nuan’s thigh as tightly as possible, refusing to let go even at the threat of death. Unfortunately, the little marquis also intended to curry favour with first madam, otherwise she would have ordered the kitchens to send all the ingredients the madam wanted over to Mei Yue Lou. She was torn between two masters, what if she offended first madam and was denied access to these wonderful recipes?

When the food were all properly packed up, personal maids of the various madams came over. Since most of the people were dining at old madam’s North Court, their appearance were all very neat and presentable.

Su Nuan Nuan took off her apron, and was the first to leave the kitchen, followed by Hong Lian and Xiang Yun, behind them trailed the maids carrying the boxes of food. A train of 20 people trooped down the path with their fancy appearance and ornate food boxes, looking very grand and majestic. They were all marching out of the kitchen when a loud ‘meow’ was heard. A black shadow dashed out of the grass and ran straight at Su Nuan Nuan.

Su Nuan Nuan was caught off guard, she leapt up with a sharp, ‘ah!’ and fell backwards. Luckily Hong Lian managed to catch her. Her movements were like lightning, as she caught her mistress, a hand shot out to grab the culprit. Su Nuan Nuan felt something soft and furry touched her arm and grabbed on as well. It took her a couple of blinks to realized that she was looking at a black and white stripe cat, a large and fluffy cat, with two freakishly large eyes watching her every movement carefully. Su Nuan Nuan knew in her bones that if she were to offend this great cat, this creature would not hesitate to swipe her face with its claws.

“Miao…”

Cat and human stared at each other, the cat meowed again, it’s body began to arch up. Though the cat was large in size, it was clearly thinner than it should be. However, instead of looking weak, its lean built looked agile and powerful, like an old veteran with strong battle experience. Su Nuan Nuan guessed that this wondering cat was probably a pack leader in its past, otherwise it would not have exuded such aura.

“Surely this cat doesn’t belong to the mansion, ba?” Su Nuan Nuan was not the least bit afraid. She grabbed its two front legs and held it up, and just sort of hold it out for Ms. Xue. Domesticated cats within the palace would not be so thin or dirty, this beast had to be a wild roaming one.

“Meow meow meow…”

The large mottled cat puffed up with anger, its long tail waving side to side dangerously. However, no matter how it struggled, it could not get away from Su Nuan Nuan’s grasp. Just as it opened its mouth to bite, a sharp scream was heard. One of the maid, dressed in red with green patterns, ran out from the group maids gathered together. She pointed fiercely at the large cat. “To think this beast actually dares to come back, our Madam has been looking for it all this while.”

“Madam?”

Su Nuan Nuan, looked at the maid, who quickly bent her body in greeting. “First madam, this fierce cat originally belongs to the second miss. Last month, it bit our Madam’s Persian cat. Madam was so angry that she wanted to have it beaten to death, who would have known that it would actually escaped so the servants so quickly. To think that it would show itself right now, clearly this thing has been hanging around stealing fish from the kitchen. Would first madam please hand over this cat to our Madam, our Madam would surely thank you.”

“So you have such a record behind you?” Su Nuan Nuan stared at the large mottled cat with some amazement. Then she said curiously, “The second miss? Your master has a soft nature, no wonder you escaped from her. Hmph! They say that the pets resembled their masters, who knew how your master managed to bring up a fierce thing like you, I can see that you’re a restless sort, independent and strives for improvement..”

“First madam…”

The maid felt faint at her words, she was even more shocked to find the first madam speaking to a random cat this way. Just what is going on, ah? From her words, it sounded like this first madam was praising this cat for bullying her mistress’ Persian cat, surely she was not thinking about taking this beast in, right?

When the thought occurred to her, the maid’s eyes widened. Then, she finally noticed Su Nuan Nuan staring at her calmly. “Hey, did you said that this cat escaped last month? So is second miss not planning to keep him any longer?”

The maid’s lips curled in disdain. “That beast bit our Madam’s beloved Persian cat, how could second miss still dare to raise it? Wouldn’t keeping a creature like that just provoke misfortune for themselves?”

Su Nuan Nuan made a show of nodding her head. “Is that so, very well, since second miss dare not raise it, I’ll take it in. I’m not afraid of provoking misfortune. This beast reminds me of myself, I like it very much.” She then handed the large cat, still dangling by its front legs, to Ms. Xue. “Find some water in the kitchen and give him a bath, after running around outside for so long, he probably has lice. After giving him a bath, just get someone to send it to me. This cat is really cunning, so make sure you don’t let it escape.”

Ms. Xue planned to hug this first madam’s thigh, so how could she refuse this trivial mission. Thus she quickly smiled. “Would madam please leave it to this servant, we’ll feed it with a little rice and fish broth first, guarantee it would refuse to leave after that.”

“Good thinking.” Su Nuan Nuan nodded in approval, and reached out to scratched the big mottled cat by the chin. She gave a slightly sinister he-he laugh, “Once you’ve eaten my food, you’ll be one of my people, ah no, my cat. Once I’m done with my duties, I’ll bring you back to Mei Yue Lou, there will be even more good things to eat there, I’ll guarantee you’ll turn into a fat cat after two months.”

“First madam… this, our madam…”

The maids were all stunned by Su Nuan Nuan’s action: Not only she did not bother to give face to the Madam, ah. This was just actively slapping someone’s face, ah. You want this cat’s life? Hehe, the more you want his life, the more I want to preserve it, moreover, I plan to spoil it so much that it turns into a fatty, think you can prevent me, huh?

Though everyone was thinking about this, none of them dared to let a slip of word out of their mouth. It was only maids who serve Surname Shi who could not smile at this, they could only watch with their mouths dropped open in horror. Before they could persuade her again, Su Nuan Nuan suddenly clapped her hands, and said mildly. “Oh, by the way, do tell your Madam, it’s perfectly normal for cats to fight. It would be nice if she give me some face and let these two cats turn their hostilities into friendship, ba.”

This was clearly bullying, ba.

The maid’s eyes turned red with agitation: Just what do you mean by turning the cats’ hostilities into friendship? This is clearly slapping our Madam’s face, ah. The action taken by first madam this time was too much, even if you’re angry with our Madam, you should still take status into consideration, ah. How could you take the side of a wild animal to dirty our Madam’s face?

However, these were all words that roiled and churned within their stomach. To be honest, so what if Surname Shi knew about this? She could not do anything to first madam, what could shrimpy little maids like them do? Aside from swallowing the teeth that had been knocked out by the blows[1], what could they do?

 

[1] Swallow the teeth knocked out by the blows – Swallowing one’s anger

 

  ^_^

Translated by Gumihou at kitchennovel dot com

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