“This servant will first explain the points to be aware of. Your Ladyships may ask about anything you don’t understand or didn’t hear clearly after this servant has finished,” Wet Nurse Ye paused, her face wreathed in smiles. “Oh, listen to this servant’s mouth. Your Ladyships are all one-in-a-hundred clever and capable people. How could you not understand such a simple task?”
This high praise was heaped upon them all.
In truth, they all felt they definitely wouldn’t understand after hearing it just once. But with Wet Nurse Ye’s words, they grew suspicious—could it be that the others could remember it all? Never mind, it was better to wait and see if someone else would ask.
Perhaps it really was that simple!
Just as the show-girls were thinking this, Wet Nurse Ye continued, “There are special chopsticks for arranging dishes for His Majesty, and there are fifteen taboos regarding their use. Violating any one of them is grounds for punishment.”
Hearing of fifteen taboos, the show-girls’ faces filled with anxiety.
This is just the beginning, Yun Jiao thought. She hasn’t even mentioned the taboos for the soup spoon yet. The Imperial Kitchen’s knife work is excellent, but it makes the food difficult to pick up once it’s coated in sauce.
After Wet Nurse Ye spoke without a break for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, she asked with a smile, “Is there anything Your Ladyships did not understand?”
Everyone looked at each other.
“Since Your Ladyships have understood everything, let’s put it into practice.”
There were two square tables in the room, each laid with an identical set of soups, rice, and dishes.
Wet Nurse Ye divided the nine show-girls into two groups, her eagle eyes watching them intently. She would immediately point out even the slightest mistake.
But, who would go first?
Everyone’s gaze focused on Consort Ji. After all, she was the only one with the rank of Consort. Since she was to take precedence in all matters, she should also set an example. Knowing it was useless to refuse, Consort Ji stepped forward with a placid expression.
On the other side, however…
“Yun Daying is so composed, she must be very confident. Why don’t we have her go first?” Attendant Zhang said suddenly.
Hearing this, Yun Jiao glanced at her. “Since we are going by rank, I don’t mind going first. I just want to know, is Elder Sister planning to yield the rank of Attendant to me as well?”
“How could that be?”
“That’s right, how could that be?”
Faced with Yun Jiao’s retort, Attendant Zhang’s face flushed red. She hadn’t expected this particularly quiet, seemingly gentle and timid Daying to actually dare to talk back to her.
“Why is it so slow over here?”
Seeing no movement from their side, Wet Nurse Ye turned her head and called out Yun Jiao’s name. “Your Ladyship Yun, you go first.”
The previously blushing Attendant Zhang immediately beamed with delight.
Wet Nurse Ye demonstrated first. Her movements for arranging dishes and ladling soup were as smooth as flowing water. Even with heavily sauced dishes, she managed not to spill a single drop. Throughout the process, neither the spoon nor the chopsticks touched the sides of the bowls, a picture of serene elegance.
“Your two Ladyships, please begin with Her Ladyship Ji.”
Yun Jiao and Consort Ji stepped forward and began portioning out the dishes in the order Wet Nurse Ye had shown.
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the two of them.
Some wanted to see them make a fool of themselves, while others hoped to learn from their mistakes.
As a young lady meticulously groomed by the Ji family, Consort Ji indeed had a few tricks up her sleeve. She quickly composed herself, not seeking to be as fast and perfect as Wet Nurse Ye, but only to hold the food steady. Aside from accidentally crushing a piece of soft tofu, she actually completed the process quite steadily.
Wet Nurse Ye nodded. “Your Ladyship did very well. However, you should be a bit faster next time. We can’t let His Majesty eat cold food.”
Consort Ji gave a reserved nod, indicating she had taken the lesson to heart.
“Your Ladyship Yun, it is your turn.”
Yun Jiao steadily took the chopsticks.
No task for serving people in the imperial palace was easy. The chopsticks used for arranging dishes were even heavier than the red-gold engraved chopsticks used by the consorts, which was already a trial for delicate, high-born ladies.
Although Yun Jiao had reloaded six times, arranging dishes was not a skill that could be mastered in a day or two.
She could only succeed about three times out of ten.
And all she needed to do was to produce one of those three successful attempts.
Under everyone’s gaze, she calmly… sent an egg flying.
Countless eyes followed the egg’s parabolic arc. Before the egg could free-fall to the ground, Yun Jiao decisively reloaded!
The egg was back in her hand.
This time, she succeeded, calmly placing the egg onto the small, colorful porcelain dish.
The others stared at Yun Jiao, dumbfounded.
They had thought Consort Ji’s performance was already quite good, but they hadn’t expected Yun Daying to be even more skilled and elegant. She was decisive and fluid, effortlessly achieving perfection.
“Please instruct me, Wet Nurse.”
After finishing everything, Yun Jiao put down the chopsticks with a smile.
Wet Nurse Ye was so surprised that she couldn’t think of a single fault to find.
She was just a Daying who had newly entered the palace, and this was her first time learning the rules of serving the emperor… Wet Nurse Ye secretly made a mental note, deciding to report this matter to the Empress.
This was because the current Son of Heaven had a particular trait: he liked smart people who learned things quickly.
If Yun Daying caught the Emperor’s eye, she might become even more favored than Consort Ji.
As a thousand thoughts raced through Wet Nurse Ye’s mind, Yun Jiao saw that she was silent and took a few steps back, returning to the end of the line.
“Your Ladyship Zhang, it’s your turn.”
Wet Nurse Ye came to her senses and called out Attendant Zhang’s name.
Watching the effortless performance of Wet Nurse Ye and the first two, many of the others, including Attendant Zhang, began to feel a sense of wishful thinking. Perhaps it wasn’t as difficult as they had imagined? But the moment Attendant Zhang took the chopsticks, she cried out in silent misery—they were too heavy!
She couldn’t even hold them steady, so how was she supposed to use them to pick up the delicate, soft, and slippery tofu?
Because she was mentally unprepared, her face didn’t show it, but her mind was already in chaos.
After crushing the tofu for the third time, Attendant Zhang’s face flushed crimson.
“You must hold the chopsticks steadily and not panic, but you cannot use brute force. Making a mess of the dishes in front of His Majesty is a major taboo. Your Ladyship must remember this.”
Attendant Zhang lowered her head, her eyes gradually turning red.
Her only consolation was that if it was this difficult for her, it surely wouldn’t be any better for the others.
Unexpectedly, although the subsequent show-girls didn’t perform very well either, their expressions were normal when they took the chopsticks, completely unsurprised by the unusual weight. Some even showed a look of relief. During the meal, Attendant Zhang pulled another show-girl aside and asked, “The chopsticks the Wet Nurse gave us were astonishingly heavy. Weren’t you surprised at all?”
“It’s all thanks to Yun Daying!” Attendant He said with a smile. “I saw how well she did, that even the Wet Nurse couldn’t find any fault, so I asked her for pointers on what to pay attention to when arranging dishes. Yun Daying held nothing back and gave us some tips. She’s a bit quiet and doesn’t like to join in the bustle, but she’s a truly wonderful person.”
The other show-girls chimed in with agreement.
In their descriptions, Yun Jiao was a “born genius” who wasn’t conceited about it, but was instead very humble and likable.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” Attendant Zhang fumed.
“You were the second one right after her, how could she have told you? If you’re going to blame Yun Daying for that too, that’s just too unreasonable.”
Faced with Attendant He’s retort, Attendant Zhang thought for a moment and said, “She could have pulled me aside and told me the important points, just to be fair.”
Attendant He stared at her for a long moment. Instead of going along with her words to give her an out, she shook her head and said, “I don’t think you wanted to ask Yun Daying for advice. I think you’d rather she didn’t give any of us tips, so we could all be embarrassed together. That would have suited you just fine!”
He Shujin had a straightforward personality, and her words ripped away Attendant Zhang’s final veil of decency.
Attendant Zhang’s face fell. “I think she’s deliberately targeting me, and just wants to put on a good face for you all. Don’t get tricked by her.”
“You don’t need to worry about that, Attendant Zhang.”
The two of them weren’t speaking loudly, but they weren’t trying to hide it either.
The other show-girls who heard them began to spread the word.
Those who had received Yun Jiao’s guidance all felt that Attendant Zhang was not someone to associate with, and they all went to warn Yun Jiao.
“Did that really happen?”
Yun Jiao, who had watched the same scene play out seven times, tried to feign surprise, but gave up after a second due to her terrible acting. “Forget it, let her be. As long as you all know I don’t have any ill intentions, that’s enough.”
One of the benefits of repeatedly reloading was that it gave her an excellent temperament.
What was there to be angry about?
If she was truly upset, she could just rush over, give the other person a couple of good punches, and then reload to restore her peace of mind.
Yun Jiao’s looks were of the most widely appealing kind of “pretty.” Her face was full and fair, her skin whiter than jade. She was neither stunningly glamorous nor coldly aloof, possessing a beauty that appealed to men and women, young and old. She wasn’t tall, being the most petite among this year’s show-girls, which further stirred others’ protective instincts.
Now, seeing that she didn’t hold a grudge over anything, the show-girls who had been helped by Yun Jiao felt a genuine pang of sympathy for her.
“It wasn’t your responsibility in the first place!”
“Exactly, Younger Sister Yun is too nice.”
“It’s a good thing Younger Sister Yun wasn’t assigned to the same room as Attendant Zhang, or wouldn’t she be bullied to death?”
Yun Jiao thought for a moment. “I’m not that weak and easily bullied. If she tries to make trouble for me to my face, I won’t let her succeed either.”
With the golden finger of reloading in her hand, she would never end up on the losing side.
“Younger Sister Yun, how did you cultivate such a good disposition?”
“I’ve been through too much and gotten used to it.”
Everyone understood, thinking that Yun Daying must have suffered a lot at home to have become so accustomed to it.
Little did they know, the “getting used to it” Yun Jiao spoke of was getting used to going back to the past.
But right there in the Yan-Chi Imperial Palace, there was someone who was not used to it.
On the thirteenth day of the sixth month of the second year of the Taichu era, Xie Zhihang had been trapped on this day for a full twelve times.
The twelfth time he watched the memorials he had finished reviewing revert to their original state, this workaholic emperor, who was praised for having the bearing of the late Empress Xiaozun Haotian Duanyou Kangyi Zhaoyu Zhuangcheng Shougong Qinxian Chongxi Peitian Xingde Shusheng Xian, finally had a mental collapse.