Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly held her breath.
The little thief landed softly, acting as if she had returned to her own home. Without even lighting a lamp, she felt her way to the pot in just a few steps. Xue Li listened quietly to the movements; it seemed the person lifted the pot lid and sniffed the aroma of the food.
“Mmm, smells so good… Is this… Surpassing Meat Bun?”
The low voice sounded in the night, its tone quite clear and beautiful, causing the fox-like eyes peeking out from the earthenware vat to widen slightly—this little thief was actually a girl?
Feeling a sudden surge of curiosity, she strained her eyes wide open. By the pale moonlight outside the window, she watched the person carefully pick up a Surpassing Meat Bun.
The sound of swallowing saliva seemed magnified a hundred times in the darkness. The person took a huge bite of the food. The crispy, oil-fried outer skin of the Surpassing Meat Bun crumbled in her mouth, erupting with a crisp crunch. As the fragrance overflowed, even Xue Li herself couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.
She’s eating it with such relish!
No, no, what does it matter how deliciously she eats! Daring to steal from her, the great Xue Li, she would make her suffer the runs to pay for it!
After wolfing down one bun, the female thief seemed to have swallowed too hastily and nearly choked to death. She had to pat her chest vigorously, coughing softly twice. Once she caught her breath, she picked up a second one and continued stuffing it into her mouth. As her teeth chewed, the crisp sounds rang out in succession, like firecrackers going off.
Seeing her eating so heartily, Xue Li secretly calculated the time in her head.
Sure enough, after just a few bites, the hand holding the food suddenly paused. Immediately after, her other hand clutched her lower abdomen. Her body gradually curled up into a ball, and a cry of pain escaped her lips.
“Ugh… it hurts, hurts, hurts! Could it be… that cook is actually selling spoiled food?” the female voice complained.
“How dare you say I sell spoiled food?” Suddenly, a lamp was lit, its warm yellow glow instantly illuminating the entire kitchen. A voice spoke faintly, “If I had known you were coming to my kitchen to steal food, I really should have left some leftovers specifically for you to enjoy.”
The female thief looked up in sheer astonishment, only to see a young lady with a beautiful face stepping out of an earthenware vat. Holding a rolling pin, with a slight arch of her brow, she glared down at her with perfect composure.
The female thief assessed Xue Li, and Xue Li likewise assessed her. This little thief had such a delicate and pretty appearance, with fine eyebrows and bright white teeth—why must she resort to such illicit deeds?
Startled, the female thief forced herself to stand up, intending to escape through the window. But having taken just one step, another wave of cramps hit her stomach. She stumbled and fell to the ground. “Ouch, my stomach…”
“You little scoundrel, stop resisting!” Xue Li poked her stomach with the rolling pin and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “How did that Surpassing Meat Bun taste just now?”
The female thief froze for a moment. Then, realizing what had happened, she pointed at her angrily: “You actually poisoned the food!”
“As a cook, how could you do such a thing? How chilling this would be for the diners who buy your food!”
The person spoke with such righteous indignation that it made Xue Li laugh. “Others buy it, you stole it. Since the method of obtaining it is different, naturally, what you eat is also different.” Xue Li squatted down to look at her. “Besides, I didn’t poison you.”
Cold sweat seeped from the female thief’s forehead as she gritted her teeth. “Then… then why does my stomach hurt so much?”
“Oh! I remember now. Perhaps when I was making the sauce, I accidentally sprinkled Croton frost into it, mistaking it for ginger powder.” Xue Li feigned helplessness and sighed in annoyance.
“…” The female thief panted with anger. “You did that on purpose!”
“Hey! Words are empty without proof, do you have evidence?” Xue Li said slowly and leisurely. “Now, why don’t you tell me why you’ve been sneaking into my kitchen to steal food for days on end?”
“How can a starving person seeking food be considered stealing?” The female thief actually sounded self-righteous, shooting her an annoyed look. “I’ve been observing you for nearly two weeks. As a cook, how can you waste food like this?”
“You’re just a petty thief, yet you’re lecturing me with such righteous indignation?” Xue Li found it amusing.
“You don’t believe me?” Seeing Xue Li’s expression, the female thief pulled out a small abacus from somewhere within her robes. Enduring the stomach cramps, she started loudly calculating accounts with her. “From what I’ve seen, you leave behind at least three catties of minced meat sinews every day when making Cloud Crisp Buns. Most of the time, you sell them off cheaply to the butcher for five copper coins, but how is that a cost-effective method? If it were me, I would definitely trim the fascia from those meat scraps and make them into minced meat paste. The meat paste could then be wrapped into the bamboo shoot and meat Cloud Crisp Buns, replacing thirty percent of the fresh meat. If this method were implemented, you could save at least four hundred copper coins a month!”
“Also! All the perilla leaves that got ruined by soaking were dumped into the slop bucket by you. But if you dried those perilla leaves, ground them into powder, and mixed them with the mint leaves in the sweet bean soup in a three-to-seven ratio, you could save at least one hundred and eighty coins compared to using only mint leaves every month!”
Hearing this, Xue Li was already somewhat amazed. She opened her mouth to speak, but was solemnly stopped by the girl raising her hand. “Wait, there’s more! The honey-bean and osmanthus-filled Cloud Crisp Buns become very hard to sell starting from the hour of Wei (1 PM – 3 PM). If you don’t want to lose money, you might as well scoop out their honey filling, melt it into syrup, and add it to the chilled perilla drink to make a honey-bean perilla shaved ice. The price of shaved ice is almost double that of the buns. This way, not only will you not lose your capital, but you’ll also turn a profit!”
Xue Li was stunned for a moment and lowered her head in serious thought. This little thief was actually right!
Suddenly recalling something, the female thief tapped her finger in the air. Her eyes lit up, and she clicked the abacus beads rapidly: “Today you had six unsold honey-bean and osmanthus buns left at your stall. If you rush to repurpose them now, you’ll still be in time to earn another sixty coins tomorrow!”
“…!” Xue Li was dumbfounded. Not only did this female thief not steal money, but she was also flicking an abacus to calculate accounts for her?
“And also, and also…” Probably because she was talking about a field she was interested in, the female thief seemed to have cast aside the pain brought by the Croton frost, pulling Xue Li to babble on incessantly.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Xue Li quickly called a halt, questioning in confusion, “You know exactly what kind of buns were left unsold at my stall and how many were left?”
“What’s so hard about that?” The female thief seemed deeply disdainful of this question, smugly raising an eyebrow. “I, a heroine, keep my eyes and ears open to all directions. If I didn’t even know how much net profit my target shop makes every day, how could I carry out my thefts?”
As soon as her words fell, the atmosphere suddenly stagnated.
She also seemed to realize that this sounded a bit strange and hurriedly patted her chest to make amends: “I, Jiang Xiyu, firstly do not bully the old, weak, women, and children, and secondly do not cheat commoners. I only set my sights on stealing wealth from local tyrants and evil gentry who violate the law, using it to relieve poor commoners. What is wrong with that? Ask your own conscience, have I taken even half a copper coin from your house these past few days?”
Xue Li just glared at her without speaking.
Stared down by this gaze, Jiang Xiyu felt guilty, and her chivalrous aura gradually weakened: “It-it’s just that I saw you had some leftover food every day. It was truly a pity to throw it away. Why not give it to the hungry to fill their stomachs, which could also be considered accumulating virtue and doing good deeds?”
“If I gave away my unsold food to others every day, over time, who would still buy the food at full price?” Xue Li raised an eyebrow, pointing out meaningfully, “After all, getting ready-made meals for free is so nice.”
“…That does make sense.” Knowing she was in the wrong, Jiang Xiyu scratched her head and smiled.
“So, Heroine Jiang, how do you plan to pay off the food you’ve eaten in my kitchen these past few days?” Xue Li smiled, tilting her head to look at her, lightly tapping the rolling pin against the palm of her hand.
In a moment of desperation, Jiang Xiyu clutched her stomach and said helplessly, “Lately, there haven’t been many wealthy gentry doing evil, and since I don’t steal from commoners, I’m a bit tight on money right now…”
“No money to pay it off?” Xue Li replied amiably. “That’s even easier to handle.”
“Young Lady, you truly have a beautiful face and a kind heart—” Jiang Xiyu was deeply moved in her heart. But the words of praise had just about left her mouth when they choked in her throat, dissolving into bubbles.
“Then tomorrow morning, I’ll tie you up and take you to the county yamen. At that time, you can speak your mind to the county magistrate.”
“Hey, hey, hey! Please don’t be hasty!” Having struggled in the martial world for many years, Jiang Xiyu still knew a thing or two about reading people’s expressions.
“What else do you have to say?” Xue Li’s tone was indifferent, looking as if the matter was already settled.
“I wonder if the Young Lady has any better solutions?” Jiang Xiyu’s face was flushed red from holding back the effects of the Croton frost. “I don’t have many strengths, but my bookkeeping skills are passable. If the Young Lady doesn’t mind, how about letting me work to pay off the meal costs?”
These words played right into Xue Li’s hands, but how could hiring an employee be so easy?
She feigned hesitation, pondering for a moment before saying, “It may be true that you uphold justice, but stealing the wealth of the gentry surely means you’ve long been wanted by the authorities. If I hired you, wouldn’t I be harboring a criminal, and end up going to prison with you in the future?”
“The Young Lady need not worry about that.” Jiang Xiyu held back the urgent call of nature, patting her chest to guarantee. “I have wandered the martial world for many years, so I still have some connections and channels. A perfectly clean household registration is naturally a piece of cake!”
With the thorniest issue easily resolved, Xue Li couldn’t help but laugh secretly in her heart, feeling as if this person was a gift bestowed upon her by Mother Heaven.
As early as when Jiang Xiyu was doing the calculations, she had taken a fancy to her skills.
She had always found bookkeeping the most headache-inducing, but doing business required it. Returning home after a busy day every night, she still had to struggle with the ledger, which was truly vexing. Right now, although this girl had a background as a thief, fortunately she robbed the wicked to help the poor, so she could be considered a righteous thief. There was no harm in employing her and observing her for a short while.
Xue Li cleared her throat. “If you work for me, I definitely won’t make you work for nothing. After you pay off these past few days’ food expenses, I will pay you forty copper coins a month in wages. However, besides managing the accounts, you’ll also have to lend a hand with the daily chores when I’m too busy to handle them alone. What do you think?”
“You mean, you’re going to pay me wages?” Jiang Xiyu’s eyes widened. “I thought I could just leave as soon as I paid off my food debt!”
“That may be so, but the world is at peace now. Do you plan to keep living like this forever, surviving by ‘eating meals from a hundred households’?” A look of appreciation flashed in the depths of Xue Li’s eyes. “Since you’re so good at bookkeeping, why not make a living off it?”
Hearing this, Jiang Xiyu was stunned for a long while.
Xue Li originally thought she was moved, but unexpectedly, the next moment she violently clutched her stomach, her face turning pale green: “Where… where is the latrine?”
……
Xue Li stood with her hands on her hips, watching the mung bean and licorice soup boiling in the pot. She looked up out the window; the night was deep, pitch black without a single light.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy yawn. Just as she was about to stretch her back, she saw Jiang Xiyu holding onto the wooden door frame, her face deathly pale, stumbling unsteadily into the room.
“Just how much Croton frost did you put in that sauce?” Jiang Xiyu’s legs were trembling. She practically collapsed onto the low stool, her expression a mix of grievance and frustration.
Since the two of them had essentially made peace, seeing her in this state brought a bit of guilt welling up in Xue Li’s heart, and her tone inevitably sounded a bit sheepish: “Just… not much, not much, only a small pinch… Oh my, here, hurry up and drink a few bowls of this soup while it’s hot. I guarantee you’ll feel better in no time.”