Before Fusheng had crossed over, she had been a cook—and a cook with a deep family tradition in the craft.
Her maternal grandfather had been a renowned chef throughout the surrounding villages. Having only one daughter, he had chosen to take in a son-in-law through matrilocal marriage. After gaining this granddaughter of his, he naturally passed on all his skills to his gifted granddaughter, hoping she would carry on the legacy.
As a famous rural chef, he had accumulated a modest fortune—not enough to make them wealthy, but certainly enough to make the relatives' eyes burn with envy.
On her grandfather's side, the village held deep clan traditions, believing that without a son, no one would be able to smash the funeral basin to send the deceased off. Thus, since Fusheng's family had only her as the sole grandchild, those relatives within the five degrees of kinship had long since assumed that the family property was destined to belong to them.
When her grandfather was teaching her his skills, those relatives were quite displeased. They conveniently forgot that her grandfather had not married off his daughter—he had taken in a son-in-law, and Fusheng could likewise bring in a husband. They only clamored that a girl would eventually marry out anyway, and that learning the craft would only benefit outsiders. Better to teach their own sons instead.
But her grandfather was a stubborn man. He had seen through those relatives' ill intentions. Aside from a few apprentices he'd taken in his younger years, once he discovered that his granddaughter had a natural gift for cooking, he taught only Fusheng. He even went so far as to draft a will early on and had it notarized, ensuring that from a legal standpoint, those relatives couldn't touch a single cent of the family property.
Yet her grandfather had ultimately underestimated those shameless wolves. Like uncivilized savages, they treated notarization and law as if they were nothing but air.
Even now, whenever Fusheng thought back on her previous life, she couldn't help but sigh—if not for the gas tank explosion that had taken everyone in that house together, she might well have been "erased" by those wolves who held the law in utter contempt!
She had seen plenty growing up just how "united" those so-called clansmen could be.
Still, that gas tank explosion had taken away a whole batch of those wolves. Those who had schemed for money got nothing—instead, they lost their lives. Thinking about it, Fusheng felt quite satisfied.
Even though she too had lost her life and ended up in this ancient era where even bathing had no heater, forced to grow up all over again from childhood.
"Did Lady He teach you something new?" Yang Tieniang wore a slight smile, her gaze at Fusheng carrying a hint of approval. "Meat-filled buns won't be ready in time for breakfast. After the morning meal, come with me to the market to take a look."
The market was set up outside the city walls, held once every three days. Today happened to be market day.
Fusheng nodded. Since she had risen early and hadn't yet washed up, and her elder sister Lansheng happened to be calling her while carrying a basin of water, Fusheng rolled up her sleeves and headed toward the vegetable plot by the south wall as Yang Tieniang turned and went back inside.
That was where the sisters washed up every morning. The tooth powder, washbasins, and face towels were set out each day by whoever boiled the water or drew it, placed on the brick platform beside the vegetable plot—their designated washing spot.
"How many slaps did Eldest Brother get today?"
Lansheng shoved the toothbrush into her younger sister's hand, casually opened the box of tooth powder, and held it out to Fusheng, her eyes darting toward the eastern room of the north house where the sound of loud reading drifted out.
Ever since Fusheng had taken charge of Junsheng's "life and death" matters, Lansheng had asked this question almost every day.
It was simply because Junsheng had a rather thick skin. In the first couple of days, Fusheng had to resort to all manner of martial force to subdue him. Every morning, Lansheng, his own elder sister, could witness a lively spectacle full of vigor.
Only in these past few days—perhaps because Fusheng had put more strength into it, perhaps because Junsheng had learned to repent, or perhaps because Junsheng had become addicted to the delicious food Fusheng made after learning culinary skills—the daily waking ritual had become much faster than before, and its entertainment value had diminished somewhat.
Unable to see the chaotic scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping, Lansheng could only count the number of slaps Junsheng received.
Yesterday it took a full four slaps before he got up. Today the whole family rose late, and the grandmother was angry. Lansheng dared not defy the grandmother's authority to go watch her brother make a fool of himself.
"Two."
Fusheng put the toothbrush coated with tooth powder into her mouth, the slightly astringent taste spreading across her palate.
The tooth powder used for cleaning teeth in this era was quite effective, but the Zhu family could only afford the cheapest kind—a large jar costing just fifteen wen, enough to last their family of thirteen for a month. Apart from its poor taste, it had no other shortcomings.
In the tooth-cleaning shops of Wenzhou City, both toothbrushes and tooth powders came in several grades. A few days ago, when her mother Hu Xiangdi, who didn't want to go out, sent her on an errand to buy tooth powder, the shop assistant, seeing she was a new face, led her through a full introduction from start to finish.
From the cheapest bamboo-handled pig-bristle toothbrush to the unaffordable ox-horn and ivory-handled horsetail-hair toothbrushes; from the cheapest green-salt, soap-bean, and plant-ash tooth powder to the high-grade medicinal-scented tooth powder that sounded expensive just hearing about it…
In modern times, Fusheng had also bought expensive toothpaste, and she hadn't noticed much difference.
She wondered about the high-grade tooth powder of this ancient era…
The rinsing cup was brought to her lips. Fusheng cast aside the impractical thought, took a mouthful of water, swished it around a few times, rinsed clean, and washed her face. Only when she looked up did she realize her elder sister Lansheng had been hovering right beside her the whole time.
"Why is Sister staring at me?"
Kitchen smoke had already begun to rise. The three daughters-in-law of the Zhu family, along with Meisheng, were all crowded inside—there was no room to step foot in, so her help wasn't needed.
Yang Tieniang had moved the cart for selling wontons and dumplings at the stall out of the storage room, and with the cooperation of the third son, Zhu Bingwen, was stopping under the big locust tree for their daily scrubbing—no need for her hands there either.
Old Master Zhu had just thrown on his clothes and was heading toward the north room with her unlucky father, clearly going to check on Junsheng's studies.
"Sister wants to go watch Brother study?"
Fusheng looked at Lansheng's face—though only nine years old, it was already showing signs of comeliness—and felt a slight puzzlement. Her sister, cut from the same fiery and fierce mold as their mother Hu Xiangdi, had once been enthusiastic about studying for a few days, but that was entirely to learn flowery words for cursing people. Old Master Zhu loved to catch the younger generation reading, and she had always avoided it.
Now she was looking at her like this… Could it be that her vocabulary of curses wasn't enough, and she wanted to find an opportunity to study without being watched by Old Master Zhu?
"My dear Third Sister," Lansheng clearly had something else in mind. She cupped Fusheng's face—half-covered in facial cream—and rubbed it, spreading the cream evenly: "Are your ears stuffed with chicken feathers? That Granny Zhang next door is cursing the mulberry while pointing at the locust tree again! Want Sister to curse her back for you?"
Only at Lansheng's words did Fusheng notice the incessant barking from Granny Zhang's yard next door.
Fusheng frowned. She truly couldn't muster any fondness for that Zhang family next door—the old one was unreasonable, the young one stole things, and the one in between was lazy and gluttonous.
"Pay her no mind, lest Mother-in-law gets annoyed with you." Fusheng applied face cream to the other side of her face, then shoved the jar into Lansheng's hands and rubbed it in evenly.
Granny Zhang next door had long-standing grudges with their family over street stall business, and in recent days new grievances had been added. Her granddaughter Yuniang and Fusheng had both apprenticed under Lady He, the renowned cook of Wenzhou Prefecture who lived on Tianshui Lane. Originally, the two had been equally clumsy, cut from the same mold, both destined to be scolded by their master. But a month ago, Fusheng suddenly had a "moment of enlightenment," and her progress and her master's regard left Yuniang far behind.
Recently, Lady He had been invited to prepare a wedding banquet for Squire Qian in Fuqu Village. Since Fusheng and Yuniang were young and had learned little, she didn't bring them along but instead gave them a few days off. Before the break, Lady He had already begun teaching Fusheng simple filling preparation, while Yuniang was still practicing knife skills.
Granny Zhang couldn't stand Yuniang being inferior to Fusheng, and with the old grudge against Yang Tieniang, that tiger of a woman, weighing on her mind, she had been supervising Yuniang's practice day after day. Not only did the sound of chopping ring out from morning till night, but she also hurled veiled insults at every opportunity.
The gist of it was always that Fusheng was cunning and knew how to curry favor, that Lady He gave Fusheng special treatment, and that Yuniang was a wooden-headed fool with a dull belly. Occasionally, she'd mix in complaints blaming their Zhu family for the ingredients Yuniang wasted in practice.
Granny Zhang sold stuffed flatbreads, and the vegetables Yuniang used for knife practice weren't exactly wasted—Granny Zhang knew this well, but she simply couldn't be bothered to watch her tongue.
She only made veiled digs, never outright accusations, so aside from Lansheng occasionally twisting her words back at her, and the pregnant Third Aunt Cao Sanqiao letting out a sarcastic remark or two when annoyed, no one in the Zhu family paid her any mind.
After all, since she hadn't said anything outright, rushing to confront her would be beneath them. Especially considering that, on the surface, the Zhang family couldn't hold a candle to the Zhu family in any way.
When neighbors on Tianshui Lane mentioned the Zhu family, they called them the scholar's household; when they mentioned the Zhang family, they called them Granny Zhang's flatbread stall.
Even for the sake of Old Master Zhu's "scholar" title, the Zhu family had to maintain more dignity.
"True enough," Lansheng smacked her lips. "Granny Zhang just recycles the same old words, just like her flatbreads—if not for the generous amount of sesame seeds adding some fragrance when chewed, they'd be utterly tasteless too."
Having said that, Lansheng caught sight of Yang Tieniang, who had finished wiping down the cart. She tilted her head in thought, then said quite seriously to Fusheng, "Third Aunt, you and Mother-in-law are heading to the grass market today. If you run into that Granny Zhang the moment you step out the door, your ears won't get a moment of peace!"
Fusheng briefly considered the possibility, accompanied by the rhythmless chopping sounds from Yuniang next door.
Surely… it couldn't be that coincidental!