La luna brilla intensamente sobre las montañas desiertas y las flores llenan el cielo

Capítulo 6

Feng Ning asked in surprise, "Wasn't the engagement already invalid?"

"The document states that the Long and Feng families are to be related by marriage, but it does not specify which generation. So although the old men meant that the marriage should be between the children, the document is valid for the grandchildren as well."

"So Long San was forced to marry me?"

"At first, the Feng family insisted on marrying the eldest son, but the eldest son already had a wife and did not want to marry again. So the Feng family then asked the second son to marry them. The second son was naturally unwilling as well, so the matter became quite tense. Later, the third son couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in to say that he would marry the second son, and if the second son refused, he could get out. Only then was the matter settled."

Feng Ning opened her mouth in surprise: "Third Master is truly courageous in making sacrifices."

She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she was involved in the matter. Granny Yu secretly pondered this, wondering if she was genuinely stupid or just pretending. The strange thing about the Feng family's forced marriage was that their targets were the eldest son, who was an official, and the second son, who was in charge of the household. Although the third son was also handsome, they didn't seem to care about him.

The two families lost contact inexplicably back then, and now their sudden insistence on sending a daughter over is indeed surprising. For over two years, this Feng family daughter has made several mistakes in the Long family, ultimately failing to gain any advantage. She attempted to steal a secret treasure from the Long family, but instead stole a fake one and escaped. After being caught, she claimed to have amnesia. What a coincidence!

Feng Ning was unaware of what Granny Yu was thinking. She then asked, "Have my parents come to see me?"

"some."

"In your opinion, are I close to my parents?"

"They must have a good relationship."

"Do they know I'm being disliked here? What have they done for me?"

These words left Granny Yu speechless. Feng Ning's frankness after bumping her head was truly remarkable; she wondered what tricks she had used. Granny Yu composed herself and replied, "Madam lives quite well in our Long family. While we Long family aren't exactly philanthropists, we've never mistreated our daughter-in-law. Providing her with such good food and lodging is something we can be proud of."

Feng Ning recalled the cold, desolate room and the way everyone avoided her; how could she possibly be happy with good food and lodging? She sighed inwardly and could only continue asking, "Why did I fall into the river?"

Granny Yu narrowed her eyes: "How do you know you fell into the river?"

“When I woke up, I found myself on the shore…” Feng Ning paused, finally concealing the fact that a man had asked her something. She continued, “At that time, I touched my head and found blood. Then someone came over with a torch, and I passed out again.”

"What about what happened before that?"

"I don't remember."

Granny Yu took a sip of tea and decided to take drastic measures: "Madam, ever since you left the Long family and were injured, our Long family has discovered that a family heirloom is missing."

Feng Ning stared wide-eyed in surprise, pointing to her own nose: "You mean, I stole it?"

Instead of answering directly, Granny Yu said, "When we found Madam on the shore, she was dressed in night clothes. Before the accident, Madam had been inquiring about the whereabouts of this treasure. When the manor discovered Madam's disappearance, they also found the treasure was missing. I am just a servant and cannot make a rash judgment, but it's such a coincidence that Madam injured her head and lost her memory. This is troublesome. Perhaps Madam really does know the whereabouts of that thing?"

Feng Ning was stunned, ignoring her sarcasm. She remembered the night she was injured, when the man whose face she hadn't seen clearly searched her body and asked, "Where's the stuff?" Could he be referring to the Long family's treasure? Had she really done such a despicable thing?

She met Granny Yu's gaze, shook her head, and uttered with some difficulty, "I really don't remember anything."

Granny Yu didn't miss a single expression on her face, and finally said, "This matter of delusions is neither a big deal nor a small one. I'm afraid she might have encountered some evil spirit in the river and been possessed. I'll make some arrangements. For Madam's sake, it's necessary to find a high monk and choose an auspicious day to perform a ritual." Feng Ning was still feeling sad about what she might have done, and didn't pay attention to what Granny Yu said. She simply said "Oh" in agreement.

Feng Ning was listless all day afterward. She took a sullen nap, but still felt down, so she went to the kitchen and stole Long Er's afternoon snack again—this time not steamed buns, but crab roe shumai. (Purchase and add to favorites)

Holding the large bowl of shumai, Feng Ning quietly ran to the tallest tree in the house. She suddenly had an urge to go up and take a look. She went up. She didn't know she knew martial arts before. She just felt that she could get up there. Anyway, she lightly touched the ground with her toes, slapped the tree trunk with her palm, and lightly leaped to the top of the tree.

The tree was indeed tall, its branches swaying gently in the wind. Feng Ning sat on it, swaying back and forth, but she wasn't afraid at all. She looked down at the entire Long Mansion and could even catch a glimpse of the street scene outside the mansion's gate. As she looked around, she stuffed shumai into her mouth, finishing the whole bowl, and felt much better.

The chef's cooking is truly excellent, she thought to herself, staring blankly at the gates of the Long residence. She had absolutely no recollection of what lay beyond those gates. Unfamiliar streets, unfamiliar faces—had she ever been outside before?

In truth, everyone and everything in this house was a stranger. She had thought her husband could help her, but now she hadn't even seen him. Disappointed upon disappointed, she simply didn't want to see him anymore. After all, everyone said they weren't close. According to Granny Yu, he was even forced to marry her, so how could they be close?

Feng Ning sat on the treetop, swaying back and forth, thinking and thinking, and felt unhappy again. She felt that she needed a bowl of snacks to comfort her, but based on her experience over the past few days, there was only one snack every afternoon, and it seemed that apart from her second uncle, no one else liked it.

But she really needed a bowl of food. What should she do? Feng Ning jumped down from the big tree and decided to go back to the kitchen to check, just in case there was anything to eat.

And it really was there! On the stove were steaming glutinous rice balls, made by shaping minced meat, diced bamboo shoots, and shiitake mushrooms into balls, rolled in glutinous rice, and steaming fresh. Each one was round, plump, and fragrant, tempting her. Without hesitation, Feng Ning decisively poured all the balls into a bowl, grabbed them, and ran.

Someone entered the kitchen, and in the distance outside the back window, servants carrying axes were heading to the backyard to chop firewood. Feng Ning reacted quickly, leaping onto the kitchen roof with a light touch of her toes. The saying "the most dangerous place is the safest place" suddenly popped into her head, though she couldn't remember who had told her it.

She hugged the large bowl and began to eat with relish. As she ate, she could hear noises coming from the kitchen below. It turned out that Chef Tang and another cook were chatting. First, the cook asked, "Chef Tang, I heard that the shumai were stolen. What are you going to use to explain this?"

Then Chef Tang replied, "Luckily, I had some bamboo shoot and mushroom balls to make soup for dinner, so I just rolled some rice and steamed them. Second Master likes to eat these too." Chef Tang got angry again as he spoke, "If I find out which bastard did this, I'll kill him."

Feng Ning, who was on the rooftop, was taken aback. She quickly stuffed another meatball into her mouth, making sure she was full before being slaughtered.

The cook said, "Don't be angry. There shouldn't be any problems this time. No one would steal twice."

The chef snorted and said, "I'll learn my lesson from now on. Once something is in the pot, I must never leave the kitchen. I'll also have to prepare two sets of dessert ingredients as backup."

Upon hearing this, Feng Ning nodded repeatedly from the rooftop. "Preparing two portions is good; one of them will be hers." She was quite happy at the thought of having something to eat from now on. She didn't mind that the meatball in her mouth wasn't fully cooked; she thought it tasted exceptionally good.

A moment later, a roar suddenly came from the kitchen: "Damn it, which damned bastard is it that's going to eat even the meatballs? They're not even cooked through! Eating, eating, all they know is how to eat... What are we going to do?"

The cook hesitated before suggesting, "How about you, Chef Tang, try steaming glutinous rice and shaping it into rice balls?"

"Hmm," Feng Ning wondered, "Would it taste good?" Unfortunately, she never got to try it. Because from that moment on, Chef Tang never left the kitchen, giving her not a single chance. The outcome of this incident was that, it was said, Second Master Long personally inspected the kitchen and finally found an empty bowl on the roof.

The next day, Feng Ning's food intake doubled for all three meals. Someone even instructed Xiao Qing to pass on a message to her: "Eat your fill, and don't cause trouble." It wasn't until much later that Feng Ning realized that Second Master Long thought his sister-in-law was deliberately trying to steal his food.

But she didn't realize that the empty bowl revealed her martial arts skills, making her motives for marrying into the Long family even more suspicious.

Author's Note: Continuing with the 8 PM update schedule! I finally remembered what I was going to say yesterday: I don't have many drafts left, in fact, I ran out by chapter five. I'm trying my best to keep up with the 8 PM schedule and quickly get back to writing. If there are any changes to the daily update time, I will post an announcement in the synopsis, so please pay attention to the synopsis.

5

5. The Third Madam of the Dragon Clan was robbed in the dark...

After being warned by Long Er, Feng Ning did behave herself for a while. Granny Yu came to visit her every day, whether to monitor her, to torment her, or to be tormented by her, it was unclear.