In a panic, Zhe Qing pulled back her hand, her face flushing as brightly as if she had applied layers of cosmetic rouge. She kept her hand tucked behind her back, the moist warmth of the touch still lingering against her skin. It instantly brought to mind the night she had kissed the back of Luo Tang’s hand.
Had Luo Tang felt that exact same sensation back then?
Trapped in a hazy daze, Zhe Qing turned her head away to avoid looking at Luo Tang, though this very movement exposed her burning, crimson ears.
She was embarrassed.
Noticing this clearly, Jiyao was delighted and blurted out, “I’ll have someone buy those for Miss Luo so she can eat to her heart’s content.”
Bursting with elation, she spun around and strode straight out of the room.
Heading out to find Gu Siwai, she immediately spilled the news: “She blushed.”
Gu Siwai was sitting by the window with a gloomy expression. Hearing this, she looked rather perplexed. “Who blushed?”
Beaming, Jiyao announced, “Your little Ah-Zhe.”
Jiyao excitedly recounted what had just happened: “The Prime Minister went to cover Miss Luo’s mouth tell me, if nothing at all had happened between them that night, would they be this intimate? Besides, she actually blushed! When have you ever seen her blush because of any other woman?”
Jiyao was practically radiating joy. Gu Siwai shot her a look. “Didn’t you say you disliked people from the Xiao family of the Grand Commandant’s estate?”
Jiyao countered, “Since the Prime Minister likes her, I can make an exception and like Luo Tang as well. Besides, her surname isn’t Xiao; it’s Luo. And the Luo family has money, too. Perfect, the Prime Minister is practically broke, so the two of them are an ideal match.”
Gu Siwai sighed. “You’ve truly lost your mind. You think everyone you look at is a match for Ah-Zhe.”
Jiyao stated righteously, “She’s already twenty-six, my dear! Twenty-six years old! Are you expecting her to end up widowed and single for life like the two of you? Never mind whether they’re a good catch or a bad one let’s hook one first and figure it out later!”
What kind of twisted logic is that? Gu Siwai refused to endorse such reasoning. “Ah-Zhe stated long ago that she has no intention of ever marrying.”
Jiyao argued, “If not marriage, then a covenant! They can live together, loving and cherishing one another.”
Ignoring her chatter, Gu Siwai knew she couldn’t make decisions on Zhe Qing’s behalf; she had to respect the girl’s own wishes.
Jiyao fretted, “If you think this is a bad idea, I won’t buy any nice food for Luo Tang. She wanted crystal dragon-phoenix cakes, folded goose pastries, mutton soup in a basin, and sliced raw fish, where on earth am I supposed to find the money for all that? I don’t spend my coin on outsiders!”
Sighing once more, Gu Siwai instructed, “Just take the money and send someone to buy them.”
Jiyao muttered, “I’m going to go check with the Prime Minister first.”
Inventing an excuse to send Luo Tang away, Jiyao told her, “My mistress would like a word with you.”
Luo Tang was a shrewd operator; she didn’t believe the excuse for a second, but since she was currently under someone else’s roof, she gracefully played along as a guest.
Once Luo Tang stepped out, Jiyao sat down and confronted Zhe Qing: “Tell me, did she bully you that night?”
Sitting in an arm-chair with her ankle still throbbing, Zhe Qing furrowed her brows in mild distress. Hearing the question, her eyes widened in shock. “Are you laboring under some kind of misunderstanding?”
“No misunderstanding at all. She wants to eat all those expensive dishes, so I need to figure out where you stand. In case the two of you end up parting ways as enemies in the future, I’m certainly not wasting money on a feast for her,” Jiyao reasoned, convinced of her own logic. You treat guests according to their standing.
Taking a deep breath, Zhe Qing found herself entirely at a loss for words, a youthful, stunningly pretty face flashing across her mind’s eye. Shaking her head, she urged, “Please don’t let your imagination run wild.”
With a soft hmph, Jiyao declared, “I’m going to go cook.”
Forget crystal pastries and crystal goose, they were going to have boiled cabbage with tofu and tofu with boiled cabbage for lunch.
The courtyard was modest in size, featuring a front and back gate across two compounds, with the kitchen situated near the back, right next to the bedchambers.
Seated inside, Luo Tang heard the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of a chopper coming from the kitchen. Puzzled, she wondered if they were mincing meat.
With a slight, amused smile, Gu Siwai observed her and remarked, “You bear a striking resemblance to your mother.”
“Did you know my mother?” Luo Tang sat bolt upright, assuming a respectful posture. Having no access to the original owner’s memories, she knew practically nothing about her mother aside from vague hearsay, though she gathered she must have been a gentle soul.
Gu Siwai smiled warmly. “She was a woman of extraordinary wisdom. Back when the late Emperor began encouraging commercial enterprise amidst immense resistance, your mother voluntarily married into the Luo family. As the daughter of a Grand Commandant, she could easily have married an emperor and sat as Empress. Yet she chose to marry a merchant instead.”
Luo Tang was startled, instantly grasping the underlying political significance. “She was signaling to the entire empire that the imperial court placed high value on commerce.”
Gu Siwai nodded in approval. “Precisely why I call her a woman of profound wisdom and grand vision. I’ve heard she and your father shared a deep, devoted affection, though regrettably, they both passed away prematurely.”
Luo Tang nodded somberly. Gu Siwai continued, “Following your father’s death, the Luo family business plummeted into ruin.”
Here lay the crux of the matter. Luo Tang cut in, “My family’s steward embezzled the business assets and absconded with the fortune.”
“You don’t say?” Gu Siwai looked utterly astounded. “Such an outrageous miscarriage of justice under the sun, did the Grand Commandant’s estate seriously refuse to step up and seek justice for you?”
“Justice? Far from it. Just a few days ago, when I went to request some ginseng, they couldn’t even be bothered to acknowledge me,” Luo Tang said with suppressed indignation and underlying bitterness. Under such crushing circumstances, the original owner had lacked any means of self-preservation and perished from a simple case of the chills.
However, she had no intention of resigning herself to such a fate. Debts had to be repaid; she was certainly no spineless coward. Having inherited this body, she was duty-bound to shoulder the unresolved grievances and settle the scores.
She refused to let the deceased rest in eternal unrest, nor would she allow those who bullied her to continue living in unearned luxury and ease.
Fixing a steady gaze upon the young maiden, Gu Siwai seemed to read straight through her intentions. A smile broke across her face as she offered reassurance: “Your approach in getting close to our Ah-Zhe must have stemmed from this very plan, didn’t it?”
Our Ah-Zhe?
Luo Tang felt a prickle of irritation at the possessive pronoun. Zhe Qing belongs to me, how did she suddenly become ‘yours’?
Displeased, she retorted, “It wasn’t entirely calculated; that day was pure coincidence. I merely couldn’t fathom why she would drink that wine knowing full well it was tainted.”
That was a fair point. Knowing full well there are tigers in the mountain yet choosing to walk right into the tiger’s den, few people could wrap their heads around such logic.
Gu Siwai proactively argued her case: “And why did you choose to remain within the Xiao family knowing full well they were plotting to swallow your inheritance?”
Dropping the phrase “swallowing an inheritance” (chi jue hu), Gu Siwai completely transformed Luo Tang’s perception of her a brilliant talent unjustly buried among ordinary townsfolk.
Luo Tang quickly explained, “I learned that a woman must hold official rank before she can establish an independent household. I intend to sit for the imperial examinations to secure an official post, and then move out of the Xiao estate.”
“Splendid ambition!” Gu Siwai praised, genuinely impressed. The young maiden shone before her eyes like a brilliant firefly cutting through the dark, radiating its own unmistakable light.
She advised her young guest, “Do not act with undue haste, and never let them catch wind of your intentions. Otherwise, if you were to meet with a sudden end, not a single soul would bother to collect your bones.”
The Grand Commandant’s estate had endured across multiple dynastic transitions, and with a daughter serving closely within the imperial palace, an aristocratic clan of that caliber could easily resort to ruthless methods when cornered not something a newly matured maiden could hope to combat unprepared.
Deeply familiar with the dark realities of power, Gu Siwai offered a practical strategy: “You ought to seek out Ah-Zhe and ask her to recommend you for a post in the imperial administration. Securing an official rank provides a protective layer, striking down a recognized imperial official is infinitely more difficult than snuffing out the life of an ordinary young girl.”
Murdering an imperial official constituted a capital felony that would trigger a full-scale state investigation.
Whereas killing a dependent young girl was frequently treated as a domestic family dispute with no vocal advocates, routinely dismissed without shaking the apparatus of the state.
Even if an investigation were launched, without concrete evidence, tracking down the perpetrator remained virtually impossible.
A bright, crescent-shaped smile bloomed across Luo Tang’s face as she expressed her heartfelt gratitude to Gu Siwai, though she quickly voiced her lingering doubt: “Will she actually be willing to help me?”
Gu Siwai chuckled softly, her tone laced with gentle amusement. “Didn’t the two of you spend an entire night together in an inn?”
Luo Tang: “…” Would you please listen to yourself right now?
At lunchtime, the dishes were served: pan-fried tofu, stir-fried cabbage, tofu soup, and a bowl of edamame braised with tofu.
Every single dish on the table featured tofu prepared in a different variation.
It looked as though someone had launched a violent assault on a local tofu stall and, having no other option, bought out their entire inventory to cook in every imaginable way.
Completely baffled, Luo Tang cast a questioning glance at Zhe Qing: Why is everything made of tofu?
Zhe Qing deliberately avoided meeting her eyes, picking up her chopsticks and keeping her head down. At that moment, Gu Siwai spoke up: “A-Yao, why is everything made of tofu?”
Jiyao replied blithely, “Tofu is tender (nen), and it feels smooth and comfortable to eat.”
Gu Siwai: “…”
She cast a sideways glance at Zhe Qing, caught the amusement flickering in Luo Tang’s eyes, and smiled knowingly.
Zhe Qing continued pretending she hadn’t heard a thing, while Luo Tang alone remained completely clueless. Even if tofu is tender, you can’t build an entire meal around a single ingredient! Who prepares a multi-course dinner centered entirely on one thing?
Tender tofu, could there be a hidden implication here? Luo Tang began introspecting. Am I somehow failing to catch the subtext?
Tender?
In a flash of insight, the penny dropped. Luo Tang instinctively reached up to touch her own cheek, she supposed her skin did feel rather tender.
Ah. Eating tofu (flirting / taking advantage).
Jiyao scooped out a massive bowl of tofu soup, slid it across the table toward Zhe Qing, and instructed warmly, “Eat more tofu, it’s wonderfully tender, isn’t it? I figured you probably don’t get to eat enough of it at home, so eat your fill today.”
Keeping her head bowed, Zhe Qing accepted the soup bowl and never lifted her gaze for the remainder of the meal. By contrast, Luo Tang noticed that the tips of her ears had turned completely crimson.
Zhe Qing was blushing again.
Today, Zhe Qing was wearing a pair of pure white jade earrings that highlighted her unblemished, dust-free elegance. Framed by the white jade, her ears looked like a pair of flushed, ripe berries.
Stifling her shock, Luo Tang hastily shoveled a mouthful of food into her mouth. Looking down, she realized she had scooped up a spoonful of plain tofu.
It required zero chewing and slid straight down her throat.
Having swallowed the tofu in a single gulp, she had no idea what it even tasted like.
Just as she finished swallowing, Jiyao dropped a forkful of cabbage onto her plate. “Eat this instead; you’re much better suited for cabbage.”
Chewing on her cabbage, Luo Tang kept stealing sidelong glances at Zhe Qing, who was sipping her soup in tiny, agonizingly slow sips, maintaining absolute poise and elegance throughout.
Eating cabbage, what was that supposed to imply?
A pig eating cabbage?
Luo Tang lifted her head and informed Jiyao directly, “I’d actually prefer some tofu. I don’t care much for cabbage.”
Jiyao retorted, “Have some of the pan-fried tofu then, your teeth are strong enough.”