The Lucky Heiress

Indeed, the disputes he was involved in were more than Xu Heyou could bear, and so he dared not rashly engage too much with him.

Chu Lan realized his own recklessness, and also keenly sensed his major improprieties concerning Xu Heyou.

Under normal circumstances, he should not have acted with such insufficient consideration, and these are things he should have thought through beforehand.

Chu Lan looked at Wei Ruo, unable to come back to his senses for a while.

Wea Ruo couldn’t see his face, so she was unable to gauge his thoughts from his expression.

“I’m sorry, I was being reckless.” Chu Lan apologized to Wei Ruo, his face serious.

Seeing his apology, Wei Ruo didn’t say anything more.

“I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t waste any more of your time.

After finishing speaking, Wei Ruo turned and entered the homestead.

This time Chu Lan did not stop her, and after Wei Ruo entered the homestead, Chu Lan also left with his people.

Returning to the homestead, Wei Ruo’s face still looked somber.

“Miss, are you still upset about Master Zhu’s matter? He was wrong to deceive you, but in this servant’s opinion, he doesn’t seem like the type to repay kindness with ingratitude.” Xiumei comforted Wei Ruo.

“Xiumei, the timing and location of Zhu Zongyu’s injury were too coincidental, I’ve always been reluctant to think too deeply about the relation between the two.” Wei Ruo said.

“What kind of coincidence?” Xiumei asked, puzzled.

“The time of Zhu Zongyu’s injury, and the time the seventh prince was injured are almost identical, as is the time he left the homestead and the time the seventh prince was found.” Wei Ruo said.

“No way, that… that person is…” Xiumei was so surprised she covered her mouth with her hand.

Could it be that her Mistress unknowingly saved the life of the seventh prince?

But the prince doesn’t even know who it was that saved him.

“There is a high probability, I haven’t verified it, but I also don’t want to verify it, in the future, the farther we are from him, the better.” Wei Ruo’s dislike for Chu Lan was deep in her bones.

When Wei Ruo rescued Zhu Zongyu, she did not know about the attack on Chu Lan and his ensuing injuries. When she did learn about it, she was immediately confronted with the plague. She didn’t have time to ponder the implications.

Later, when she encountered Zhu Zongyu again in Wang Village, his demeanor and attire gave away his unusual identity, which led to Wei Ruo harboring strong animosity towards him.

Wei Ruo knew this hostility wasn’t just because he had deceived her, but also because another possibility had crossed her mind.

She just didn’t want to verify it, because what had happened had happened, and verifying it was of no help. It would just add unnecessary annoyance.

Xiumei obediently nodded, and then asked, “Then… will your identity be revealed?”

Wei Ruo replied, “We can only hope he doesn’t investigate. If he investigates thoroughly, I’m sure he’d find out.”

The identity of Xu Heyou does not exist, Wei Qingruo is the actual owner of the homestead. This can be hidden from commoners, but it can’t be hidden from the seventh prince. If he wants to investigate, her identity will be exposed.

Since it’s not something she can control, Wei Ruo isn’t planning to worry about it anymore.

In the following few days, Wei Ruo didn’t see Zhu Zongyu again. It seemed he took her words to heart.

Afterward, Wei Ruo also heard that in Capital City, the sixth prince had been accused of ambushing the seventh prince and punished as a result, losing his position and being confined to his mansion.

Of course, what came next was the news that the seventh prince had officially reported to the military camp. Due to his injury from the ambush, his taking office was delayed by several months.

Moreover, Wei Ruo heard an unconfirmed rumor: an old case from many years ago in the Capital City had been reopened. It seemed to be related to Empress Xu’s maiden family, Xu Guogong, who had died years ago.

However, all these matters were unrelated to Wei Ruo. She listened for amusement, focusing wholeheartedly on her own business.

Wei Ruo recently increased the frequency of her visits to Stone Village. First, because her distillery needed her presence more frequently. Second, because of the issue of replacing the rice seedlings.

Thanks to Shi Dayou’s insistence, nearly two-thirds of the rice seedlings in Stone Village were replanted. The remaining third were deemed fine by Shi

Dayou.

Through their interactions, Wei Ruo learned from the villagers that Shi Dayou was able to become the village head at a young age because he had saved the villagers of Stone Village. He not only helped resolve the village’s problems related to irrigation, but he also managed to save their collapsing rice crops one year. That’s why he had won the villagers’ affection and trust.

Consequently, this time around, when Shi Dayou figured out there was an issue with the seedlings, the villagers chose to believe him and worked together to replant the seedlings.

Although this increased their workload, in order to ensure a good harvest and avoid going hungry this year, everyone cooperated without complaint.

During her time in and around Stone Village, Wei Ruo made a surprising discovery.

There was a bamboo forest cultivated near Stone Village, where morels grew.

This was a rare delicacy.

When Wei Ruo asked the villagers about this, they didn’t even know that these were edible mushrooms, and treated them as harmful snake eggs, destroying them when they came across them.

This made Wei Ruo complain about their wastefulness.

Once you peel off the ugly black exterior, the insides reveal the tender and fresh morel, a valuable delicacy.

Wei Ruo told the villagers about it, but they didn’t believe her.

“Master Xu, you’re saying this white thing is a delicacy?

The villagers looked sceptical.

“If you don’t believe it, I’ll cook a dish with it for you to taste.” Since words were not enough, Wei Ruo decided to show the villagers directly.

So, Wei Ruo borrowed Shi Dayou’s kitchen and, with Xiumei’s help, cooked two dishes with morels.

The dishes were stir-fried bamboo shoots with eggs; and morel soup.

The recipes for both dishes were not complicated, because the morels themselves were already very delicious and too much cooking would destroy their original flavor.

After the dishes were cooked, Wei Ruo took them to the courtyard.

At this time, there were quite a few people in Shi Dayou’s courtyard, including Shi Dayou and his family, and some villagers.

They all had come running to verify the truth behind Wei Ruo’s claims about the ‘snake eggs’ on the mountain being a delicacy.

Seeing the villagers were still somewhat disbelief, Wei Ruo tasted the two dishes in front of everyone.

Once Wei Ruo had eaten them, the others became more assured and crowded forward to get a taste themselves.

In this era without MSG, the umami flavor of the mushrooms was very exciting to their taste buds.

Wei Ruo and Xiumei’s cooking skills were also superb, enabling them to create wonderful flavors from simple home cooking.

Eating Wei Ruo’s dishes, villagers who usually had a rough diet, each expressed their amazement.

They were now thoroughly convinced that the thing they had long disregarded as snake eggs was indeed a mountain delicacy.

Shi Dayou remarked with regret, “It’s a pity that these don’t grow in large quantities in the mountains, they cannot fill our stomachs like rice and flour.