Yuniang's scheme was one that would wound the enemy a thousand-fold while losing eight hundred of her own.
Her plan had been to knock Fusheng down at top speed, then, while Fusheng was crying out in pain, take the opportunity to feel around her satchel and hide that precious handkerchief.
She would then tuck it into her trousers—even if they searched her person afterward, they would never dare strip her pants.
But while she did indeed charge forward, things went nothing like she had imagined.
Fusheng seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. Just as Yuniang was about to collide with her, she took two large strides forward.
Perfectly dodging the impact.
The cobblestone path was anything but smooth, and Yuniang had thrown her full weight into the tackle. She hit the ground hard—gritting her teeth through the pain was the least of her worries.
It was already early summer, and clothes were worn thin. Beneath Yuniang's patch-upon-patch garments, there was nothing but her belly band.
When she hit the ground, her clothes tore and her skin scraped open, blood beading on the wounds.
Fusheng was startled.
She had quickened her pace because she wanted to reach Lady He's house sooner—not because she had eyes in the back of her head. Nor had she expected Yuniang to try to push her from behind.
It was the sudden heaviness of Yuniang's footsteps, the gust of air from her fall, and the force of her landing that let Fusheng guess her intentions.
Fusheng had already disliked Yuniang because of earlier events; now she loathed her even more.
There was no one else on the road, and Yuniang had fallen badly…
Had it been anyone else, Fusheng would have done the kind thing and helped them up.
But this was Yuniang, who had tried to push her and reaped what she sowed… Fusheng dared not help her.
She could already imagine it—if she helped today, by the time she returned from Lady He's house, Yuniang would spin some tale to Granny Zhang, and Granny Zhang would twist things around and blame Yuniang's fall on her…
And then there would be another exhausting, infuriating brawl.
Yuniang, sprawled on the ground, lifted her head. One look, and Fusheng edged even farther away.
Yuniang's nose was split open, and she had knocked out a tooth. When she cried, her mouth hung open, a bloody, gruesome sight.
Whether from pain or unwillingness to get up, Yuniang stayed lying there, reaching a hand out toward Fusheng.
And Fusheng?
She stood there, looking dazed, as if frightened senseless.
At least, that was how it appeared to Qingnu, who had just come out carrying a basin of water to toss.
Lady He had run into some ill-omened business while attending a banquet at Fuqu Village. She had returned home last night and finally managed to find some pomelo leaves. This morning she boiled the water, washed her hands, and considered the bad luck dispelled.
She told Qingnu to toss the water out the door, to cast the misfortune away, and only then would it be done.
Qingnu was thirteen this year, her figure already shooting up. She wore a narrow-sleeved jacket in osmanthus yellow and carried a copper basin in her hands. Her brow was furrowed, the corners of her mouth turned down, her face wearing an expression of "bad luck, be gone!" as she prepared to fling the water out.
But before she could complete that smooth sequence of motions, she spotted Fusheng standing there in a daze.
Following Fusheng's gaze downward, she saw Yuniang, mouth bloody and gruesome.
That gave her a start. She casually tossed the basin's water at the roots of the great willow across the way, tucked the basin under her arm, and hurried over, pulling Yuniang up with some effort.
"By the Heavenly Grandmother!" Qingnu hauled Yuniang to her feet, then turned to Fusheng and asked, "Third Lady, what happened here?"
The question was quite intriguing. Clearly, it was Yuniang who had fallen and was in a terrible state, yet she did not ask about Yuniang—she only asked the dazed Fusheng.
It was obvious that in Qingnu's heart, Yuniang, as a junior apprentice, was not as trustworthy as Fusheng.
Fusheng was not frozen in shock; she was simply thinking about how to handle the situation before her. Fortunately, Qingnu had come out, saving her the trouble.
"I was walking ahead when I suddenly heard heavy, hurried footsteps behind me. When I turned around, Yuniang had already fallen like this."
The matter was very simple, and Fusheng naturally told the truth.
Yuniang was still wailing loudly, looking utterly pitiful, but Qingnu's gaze toward her had changed.
Fusheng only knew about the half-bowl of meat, but Qingnu—Lady He's adopted daughter and senior disciple—knew far more.
Things like the half-bowl of lard left over from cooking, a handful of Chinese toon leaves that Lady He had specially set aside for herself, a small bowl of crispy bone fish kept for the fire-tending maid to snack on…
In the few months since she had come to learn cooking, Yuniang had been suspected of having sticky fingers more than once, but every time they could not catch her in the act, and they could not rashly search her person.
Lady He had long since told her personal maid Meimei, the kitchen's fire-tending maid Yinxing, and her adopted daughter Qingnu that the moment they caught Yuniang red-handed, they would send Yuniang back as an apprentice.
Otherwise, without evidence, Yuniang's mother-in-law, Granny Zhang, would make a fuss and cause trouble.
Qingnu had roughly guessed what had happened before her eyes.
But Yuniang was in such a state, and she was still Lady He's disciple—they could not simply ignore her.
"Can't you just walk properly? You had to show off and end up falling like this—are you happy now?"
The words sounded harmless enough, but to Yuniang's ears, they were extremely uncomfortable, like a thorn pricking her.
Her gaze fell on Qingnu's hand supporting her, and she felt that all her thoughts had been seen through by her senior sister Qingnu… perhaps not just Qingnu, but Fusheng as well.
Yuniang lifted her eyelids and glanced at Fusheng, who had followed them inside—she must have known something, which was why she dodged and made her fall like this!
Zhu Sanniang was even better at hiding her cunning than she was!
With Yuniang in such a state, she obviously could not continue learning cooking today.
Lady He had already been feeling uneasy because of the unlucky business she had encountered in Fuqu Village. She had just washed away the bad luck with pomelo leaf water, only to be met with the sight of blood at her doorstep, and she felt her head spinning.
She had Meimei fetch some medicine for Yuniang's wounds, then had Qingnu escort the girl back home. Only then did she have the presence of mind to speak with Fusheng.
"I hadn't planned to teach you anything new today anyway—I only wanted to test you on the old lessons, have you practice your basic skills, and learn a bit about ingredients. Given the current situation, my head is too foggy to muster any energy. Sanniang, go review all the basic skills I've taught you. When your sister Qingnu returns, have her check your work, and then she'll make you some Divine Spirit Cake and Crispy Golden Solo to eat."
Having said this in a weary voice, Lady He leaned on Meimei's hand and returned to her room, leaving Fusheng no chance to even present her gift.
Looking at Lady He's retreating figure, her "bad mood" was plain to see.
Fusheng knew this was not the right time to offer gifts, so she simply carried her small satchel and headed to the kitchen of Lady He's home.
Because she was a cook, Lady He's kitchen was larger and more spacious than most others'.
At this moment, only the fire-tending maid Yinxing was in the kitchen.
Apart from Fusheng and Yuniang, the two youngest apprentices, Lady He's household—counting the old man who drove the carriage—numbered only five people in total.
Among them, Yinxing, the girl who tended the fire, was the youngest at just eight years old.
Unlike Meimei, who had been bought as a child and raised by Lady He's side as a personal maid, Yinxing had been taken in by Lady He when she was four.
Yinxing had told Fusheng this herself just a few days prior.
She said that year, Lady He had gone to the neighboring county to work as a cook and passed through Yinxing's village, where she encountered Yinxing's father trying to sell his children because he had too many.
Originally, Yinxing's father had already settled on a price with the madam of a brothel in town, but someone had told Yinxing that if she went with the madam, she'd die without even a place to be buried. So Yinxing ran.
While running, she ran into Lady He, who was kind-hearted and paid more than the madam had offered to buy Yinxing back.
Back then, Yinxing was still called Baniu.
Later, Lady He thought Baniu wasn't a pleasant name, and since it happened to be the season when ginkgo ripened, she gave her the name "Yinxing."
Originally, Lady He had intended to raise Yinxing as an apprentice, but who would have thought—Yinxing's tongue wasn't nimble and her hands were clumsy. After two years of teaching, she was still a muddled mess. She couldn't learn anything else either; the only thing she did well was tending the fire, so she could only serve as a fire girl for the time being.
To have caught the madam's eye, Yinxing was naturally pretty, and she'd been born with a smiling face and two dimples.
She loved to laugh anyway, and with the dimples adding to it, her smile was all the sweeter.
Seeing Sanniang come in from outside, and since there was nothing to do in the kitchen at the moment and no need for her to tend the fire, she simply picked up a plate and came over.
"Sanniang, eat!"
Her relationship with Fusheng was quite good—because she loved to talk, and Fusheng never found her annoying.
What was on her plate were emei jia'er, the most common type of breakfast snack in the marketplace. Shaped like moth eyebrows, they had a dough wrapper stuffed with vegetables and meat, then deep-fried.
However, the ones on her plate looked far more refined than those sold on the street. One glance made it clear they were either made by Lady He's hand or by Qingnu.
The one she handed to Fusheng was the prettiest of the bunch.
In Yinxing's view, you gave the prettiest one to a friend.
Fusheng took the emei jia'er, flashed Yinxing a sweet smile by way of greeting, and then took a bite.
Lotus root and meat filling, with a distinctive savory freshness—it must have had shrimp added, minced and seasoned.
It was Qingnu's favorite way of making it—Fusheng had heard that Qingnu's hometown was by the sea.
"I heard something seemed to happen out front—what exactly was it?"
Yinxing hadn't gone out front earlier. She'd only heard someone crying for a while, and then Lady He called Sister Qingnu to go do something.
Right now, she was completely baffled!
Fusheng finished the jia'er in a few quick bites and, while washing her hands under the eaves, explained:
"Yuniang fell. Her nose was broken, her tooth was knocked out, and she was hurt on her body too. Master called Sister Meimei to apply medicine and called Sister Qingnu to take her back!"
Though Fusheng felt that Qingnu taking the girl back would definitely stir up extra trouble, like with Granny Zhang, that was bound to happen anyway, so she didn't say anything more to Yinxing about it.
Yinxing, upon hearing this, felt a bit regretful.
"She's being sent back today—will she come again tomorrow?"
She was still thinking about that small bowl of crispy-boned fish!
Although being a kitchen maid to a female cook meant she never went hungry, that bowl of crispy-boned fish was something she had been craving for a long time—it was a small bowl that Lady He had specially fried for her while making fish fillets!
The meat was tender and the bones crisp, sprinkled with pepper and salt—it was supposed to be her own private delight!
"If only she never came back! I can tell her heart isn't in learning to cook anyway!"
Yinxing muttered.