The Marquis' Wife

Lu Lian's treacherous solution

"Calm down. Tell me what the hell is going on?". Adelia's chest throbbed in pain, this was the first time she had been betrayed by anyone else after living in this world, she said, the feeling he had not felt for a long time made him panic and hate but he inhaled a deep breath of trying to calm down.

"Today not so many are buying cakes at the De Xiang cake shop, I do not think anything because it is natural that there is a profit to lose but there are customers who report that many people prefer to buy cakes in the newly opened store in the eastern block because it is cheaper, and there are many people who prefer to buy cakes in the newly opened store in the eastern block because it is cheaper, they sold it for 500 copper coins per piece".

Adelia bit her finger angrily and closed her eyes trying to stay calm.

"Have you bought a cake there and compared it to our cake?".

"Eh?" Lu Niang realized that he was panicking and immediately reported to his master without thinking of anything.

"Ma-sorry mistress. The servant was very panicked when he heard that and immediately reported without doing anything". Lu Niang immediately knelt down apologizing.

"stand. It's not your fault, now tell Uncle Shi to buy a cake at that new store and compare it to our cake flavor. Tell Lu Cai to find out who the owner of the cake shop is? Is Lu Lian with them?".

"Good mistress". Lu Niang felt calmer as he watched Adelia remain calm giving orders.

After Lu Niang left, Adelia hit the table so angrily that her hand felt pain. Although he had predicted it, he was still hurt by the betrayal Lu Lian had committed, for a moment he regretted not selling the damned girl but he thought that it would be the same if he chose the option because Lu Lian would definitely use the knowledge he learned from her for his own benefit.

He knew that there was no impervious wall in the world, sooner or later the innovation he did will certainly be plagiarized by others because of the uniqueness he has because let alone here in the modern world that already has perfect laws about piracy of a product or science is still plagiarized but when it happens he still feels angry.

"Calm Adelia. Didn't you expect this when Lu Lian ran away? After all, this is not your original creation, you are just using the information you get from the modern world".

Adelia continues to suggest herself to be calm, the most important thing now is not panic but the solution to this problem, the solution so that her efforts do not affect her opponents.

Adelia's finger knocked monotonously, thinking of a solution yet she let out a long sigh, she had to wait for the report from Lu Niang to be able to think of a proper solution.

"Madam, this is the cake I bought from Liangwang's shop". Lu Niang placed the cake he had bought in front of his master.

Two pieces of white and red tart and cupcake are beautifully located on a ceramic plate but no one admires them.

"This is all?".

"Yes madam. It seems like they can't make liquid chocolate like the mistress did".

Adelia disagrees, liquid chocolate can be made easily. "If Lu Lian was with them then they could also make liquid chocolate. They do not do so because there are no stocks of oblong acid fruit".

Lu Niang nodded. Yes, Adelia also doesn't make liquid chocolate anymore for the same reason.

Adelia divided the cake into three parts. "You also eat this cake and compare it to our own".

The outside and inside cake decorations were not as neat as Adelia made and it became a plus for them, she tasted every cake and raised her eyebrows because of the sweeter taste.

"This cake is sweeter than De Xiang cake but no tastier than De Xiang cake. Customers will easily get bored and return to buy cakes at the De Xiang cake shop so do not worry, the basic cost is also greater because it uses a lot of sugar. I'm sure they'll raise the price if they want a big profit".

Lu Niang and Shi Hanxi also tasted the cake and agreed with Adelia's opinion. "This cake is not as good as the mistress's. I'm sure Liangwang's pastry shop won't have much effect on us".

Adelia nodded in agreement. "Do you know who the owner is?"

"We're getting word that the shopkeeper is from the Liang family and whether Lu Lian was there or not I'm still investigating her madam" Shi Hanxi reported, he was also surprised when he heard there was a cake that was the same as the cake he sold.

"Do you know about Liang's uncle's family?".

"The Liang family is a business family that belongs to the family in Cheng city but there is nothing in Qincheng city, they sell cloth and ready-made clothes".

"Do they have any backing officials? Be it local or interlocal or backing from a family of scholars?".

"They married their daughter as a concubine to the mayor's son".

Adelia's stunned. "A legitimate son or a concubine's son?"

Adelia thought quickly, her intuition saying that this was related to her husband. "When did the rumor go?".

"About 6 months ago" Shi Hanxi replied confusedly.

Adelia opened her skeptical mouth, she even laughed speechless. Looks like his intuition was right, 6 months ago was the same time as the incident of a group of people who made a riot at his cake shop until he brought the case to court.

Although she was sure, Adelia still made sure. "Find out if the rumor spread after the slander case I brought to court or before the incident, and also find out whether Liang Wei ever had Lu Xiang's problem, use the money from the store and find out as much detail as possible".

"Good mistress". Lu Niang and Shi Hanxi replied.

About the court case, though, Lu Xiang did not tell who the mastermind was telling the group of people to riot at De Xiang's shop so Adelia thought that the mastermind was an enemy of Zhao Fan but it didn't seem so. He could not ask Lu Xiang and Zhao Fan directly because they were in Fucheng.

Before Lu Niang and Shi Hanxi left, Lu Fang knelt down and hit his head on the floor repeatedly apologizing.

"I'm sorry my mistress. Lu Lian caused a big problem to you!! Servant and husband servant will do anything as long as the madam does not sell us! We had no idea that Lu Lian would do that to the madam. Please don't sell us madam!". Lu Fang continuously hit his head to the ground until it bled.

Adelia let out a resentful breath. "Wakeup. Do you want to kill yourself in front of me?". Lu Fang's words made her emotions return.

Lu Fang no longer hit his head to the floor but remained prostrate. His body shook violently knowing that their son had made a big mistake to make one of his family die. "Please don't sell us madam. Servant please!!".

Feelings of anger, pity and resignation mixed in Adelia's chest but she could not do anything in the face of the situation. Pardon you? Will apologizing solve the problem? However if he sold the Lu Fang family back then the same situation would happen again, the only way to overcome that is to eliminate the people who know the recipe of the cake if he does not want to hire them again but Adelia is not crazy enough to do so.

"Go back to work". Adelia could not say anything to Lu Fang over what the problem was and was a little sick of seeing Lu Fang as it would make her remember Lu Lian. He missed Lu Xiang who was able to calm his heart, subconsciously Adelia cried out all her gloom in silence.

Later that night Lu Cheng and Lu Shan found out that there was someone plagiarizing the cake that their store was selling and were worried but Adelia calmed the two down and said that it was no big deal.

After being satisfied crying and calm, Adelia can think clearly. His cake shop took the highclass road so a cake shop that sells cakes equal to cheap prices did not have a big effect on his store even though they improved the taste and quality because the influential family did not care about the price but satisfaction from buying in a high-end store. Just as is the case in the modern world like fashion, although there are the same qualities as the original product but the rich are more concerned with satisfaction due to praise compared to the price they pay.

After all, the taste of Liangwang store cake will not be the same as the cake made because it has lotus well water that can increase the taste of food.

The next day after Adelia got the answer as she thought that Liang Wei often looked for trouble with Lu Xiang while still at the Academy and knew that Liang Wei was the mastermind of the case that he brought to court.

"Spread rumors about Lu Lian. Tell him that Lu Lian is a runaway slave from the Xie Hsien family and betrays her by leaking the tart cake recipe to the Liang family. Tell the truth and use Lu Xiang and Juren Zhao's names". He did not care about Lu Fang and Lu Cai's reaction as he destroyed their daughter's reputation, after all they had no right to be angry because this was the fault of Lu Lian herself who was loved but instead asked to fall.

Shi Hanxi nodded in understanding and immediately executed Adelia's orders. That day rumors spread in Cheng town about Lu Lian as a runaway slave and betraying Xie Hsien's family by giving Liang's family valuable tart recipes on condition of making her Liang Wei's concubine.

Another rumor is that Liang Wei became the mastermind of the slander to destroy the reputation of the De Xiang cake shop because of envy of Xie Hsien and dislike of Juren Zhao Fan who preferred Xie Hsien over her.

Liang Wei who heard that became panicked and vented at Lu Lian, he met the girl at a small inn on the outskirts of Cheng when she wanted to be raped by a group of thugs and helped him. Lu Lian said that she knew the De Xiang store's tart recipe on the condition that she had to make it as a concubine.

Of course he accepted happily, the concubine had no effect on him. But he doubted if he wanted to open the same cake shop because it would be easy to get caught and it was not good for his family because they fought Xie Hsien but Liang Kun, who was not the best, his father gave a solution that the recipe was also handed over to mayor Li to be their family backing.

With such backing he was not afraid of fighting Lu Xiang because he was only a Hsien scholar and if he passed the examination then it would only be a Fu scholar. If mayor Li did something then Lu Xiang's family couldn't do anything.

But he did not expect that Adelia knew that she was the mastermind of the slander and even did something crazy like using Zhao Fan's name to suppress her. Mayor Li would naturally not interfere if regarding Juren Zhao Fan, Liang Wei continued to beat Lu Lian, not caring about the girl's agonizing cry to vent all her frustration.

"Calm Liang Wei. There is no point in hitting this concubine, the most important thing now is to find a solution to overcome this problem. If not then not only Juren Zhao but also mayor Li will be facing us".

Lu Lian crawled into a corner of the room after Liang Wei let go. She thought that telling her husband what she knew would bring her happiness and be the most beloved concubine but it turned out to be wrong.

Lu Lian did not expect that Adelia could spread news of what she was doing, he thought that Adelia would not have the heart to do anything because her nature was too good because she knew the risks she would face if her former employer did that but she was also wrong in that.

Lu Lian hated the ungrateful Liang Wei for what she did and Adelia who destroyed everything. His body that was trembling in fear was invisible in his eyes that were staring blankly full of hatred.

Lu Xiang who was in Fucheng did not know what was happening in Cheng city and focused on the second session exam.