The Ger's Contract Marriage [BL]
Chapter 59: Young Mistress of Nanshan Estate

Chapter 59: Young Mistress of Nanshan Estate

"The girls and I will go to the main kitchen to get some supplies for tonight, but we need to stock up on food and livestock for the winter."

The dining room still held an intimate atmosphere, with the three men—two men and a ger—satisfied with their meal.

Empty plates were neatly stacked on the table, evidence of their enjoyment of the meal. Although they hadn’t had a chance to compliment the ger’s culinary skills, the clean dishes spoke for themselves.

A playful tone had dominated the conversation moments ago, but Xu Feng knew it was time to transition to more serious matters.

As the new young mistress of the Xuan family and the owner of the Nanshan estate, he couldn’t afford to let the servants control him, take advantage of him, or look down on him and his people.

He wasn’t fond of power games, but sometimes they were a necessary evil in life. He had a role of power he couldn’t hide from.

Xu Feng’s words were met with understanding nods as he continued, "We may also need more hands to help maintain the estate through the winter months."

Xuan Jian began to raise a question, but Xuan Yang anticipated his thoughts. He grasped what Xu Feng meant when he had chosen only three young servants for the raggedy ox cart the day before—a subtle display of power.

Keeping the remaining servants would weaken Xu Feng’s authority as the new owner of the Nanshan estate.

The use of the shoddy cart indicated how poorly Steward Wu and the other servants had treated their new young mistress.

Even Xuan Jian found it hard to believe that the elders of the Xuan family hadn’t noticed. They were deeply entrenched in backyard politics, unlike Xuan Jian, and were well-versed in these tricks and games.

"They’ll go to the main house with the rest tomorrow," Xuan Yang clarified, firmly supporting Xu Feng’s decision.

Xuan Jian appeared momentarily puzzled as he tried to piece together some of the information he was missing.

"The Nanshan estate doesn’t have a carriage," Xu Feng began, and upon hearing that the village ger needed to purchase the small amount of pork they had eaten that day, Xuan Yang’s brows furrowed even deeper, signaling his growing concern. Things were worse than he had initially thought.

When they were cooking, the greed in the two servant girls’ eyes showed just how rare meat was for them. Who knew if this first meat they had eaten in days?

Even with the wedding feast the day before, the girls were still greedy for such a small piece of meat. Still, when they were dishing food after Xu Feng went to change, they added 75 percent of the meat for their young mistress.

"We needed to use the ox cart and my private money," Xu Feng continued, "while Steward Wu enjoyed meat with the other servants in the house." He paused for dramatic effect, knowing that Xuan Yang was well aware that Steward Wu had access to a carriage while he was in Nanshan the previous week.

"It would be one thing if there was no meat or no carriage, but there was both, and neither was available to me and my servants."

Xuan Jian quickly caught on this time, "What livestock do we need for the winter with so few servants to watch them? The estate already has a few animals, enough to last us through the winter. We can hunt more in the spring and purchase an ewe when a child is born."

Xu Feng forced a smile that bordered on a grimace. Clearly, he was in a bad mood. He hadn’t come to complain; he just wanted to inform the two men of his plans for the next day. But here he was, venting about the injustices of backyard politics.

Being a young mistress was hard work.

"The great Steward Wu slaughtered all the livestock," Xu Feng dropped the bombshell.

"What?" Xuan Jian exclaimed with visible outrage, rising from his seat to pace around the room.

Xuan Yang remained calmer but couldn’t hide the noticeable pulsing of veins on his forehead.

Xu Feng almost regretted speaking up. He didn’t want to appear so helpless in front of the two men, but he had barely arrived when all of this started happening.

He barely entered the door, and couldn’t make too much of a scene until now.

"He claimed the funds sent from the main house weren’t enough to cover the food expenses for the wedding day."

Xu Feng glanced between the pacing Xuan Jian and the seated Xuan Yang, wishing he could bring back the peaceful mood. It was obvious the two men didn’t often have peaceful times as part of the Xuan family.

He liked seeing both Xuan Yang and Xuan Jian smile, he should have kept his plans to himself.

*sigh*

Xuan Yang rubbed his forehead as he contemplated the situation and tried to release the stale breath. Even Lady Xuan, despite her greed, understood how much Steward Wu had pocketed from the wedding funds.

He would need to address this issue. He couldn’t see eye to eye with Lady Xuan, but she needed to control her people.

"They say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his belly," Xu Feng started, ready to break the tension in the room. "If I have to conquer two men’s bellies, I need more food at my disposal. After all, I have two husbands."

Xuan Jian smiled at the ger’s comment, finding it very cute.

Even the typically serious Xuan Yang had to admit that the ger was cute, strange and unreserved, but cute.

.

.

.

After the men and their entourage left Xu Feng wanted to head back to his room and take a nap. His bed was seriously calling his name. But, he needed to strike while the iron was hot.

They were heading to the main kitchen with Xu Feng present this time. Let him see what food they would hide from this young mistress!