After the unexpected windfall, Shen Hui’s daily joys, aside from eating, revolved around counting her money. She would repeatedly handle the copper coins until they gleamed brightly, then tuck some into a pouch and place it under her pillow, sleeping more soundly than ever before.
But she was no miser.
After dividing the money, she entrusted others to buy various gifts: a box of rouge for her aunt, Madam Xu; osmanthus hand cream for Qing’er and Chun Tao; a wolf-hair brush for Aunt Duan…
When it came to her younger sister, however, Shen Hui found herself at a loss. Recalling Shen Wei’s faded and washed-out clothes, she decided to visit the Embroidery Workshop to have a new set of garments made for her.
The Embroidery Workshop was nestled beside the Plum Blossom Garden, adjacent to the Procurement Office. Its location was excellent—standing in the courtyard, one could look up and see the lush evergreen pines and cypresses beyond the left wall, while to the right, branches from a persimmon tree stretched over, adorned with charming orange-yellow fruits.
Unlike the relaxed and casual atmosphere of the Beast House, the Embroidery Workshop was orderly and quiet, with only occasional whispers and a few maidservants passing by to relay instructions.
Shen Hui had little emotional attachment to the original host’s mother, who had been an embroiderer. Yet, witnessing such a pleasant scene, she couldn’t help but sigh for that woman.
“Have you thought it through? The prices here at the Embroidery Workshop aren’t cheaper than those outside the estate. Besides, we must finish the tasks assigned by the masters before we can spare time for your order,” said an embroiderer, noticing Shen Hui’s money pouch and knowing she was there for clothing. She kept her head down, splitting silk threads, and pointed the way. “These two pieces in my hands are for the masters. There are also several small garments for senior maidservants waiting. You can go over there and ask. But don’t ask the embroiderers in green skirts—they’re young maidservants trained just half a month ago. Their embroidery skills are average; you might as well do it yourself.”
Shen Hui nodded in thanks and was about to leave when someone called out to her.
“Sister, are you here to have clothes made?” Behind her, a young embroiderer in a pale green skirt smiled warmly, her tone friendly. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take your order. I don’t ask for extravagant tips—just that you spread the word about me to others. My name is Guyu. I can make pouches, handkerchiefs, undergarments, shoes, and socks. Though my stitches may be a bit rough, I work quickly.”
Guyu pulled a stack of silk handkerchiefs embroidered with playful dogs and butterflies from her sleeve.
“Alright. Do you know how to read? I’ll write down the measurements and requirements for you,” Shen Hui said, accepting the finished handkerchief Guyu handed her. It was passable, and she nodded in approval.
“You’ve asked the right person, sister. Among all the young embroiderers in green skirts, I’m the only one who can read.” The young embroiderers, who weren’t assigned embroidery frames, sat on small stools around low tables, sewing garments. The items beside them varied, but only Guyu had a small jar of charcoal ash nearby, with a few charred twigs stuck inside for writing. “Look, before you, there was another sister named Shen Wei. She wanted to order a set of Hu-style clothing for her older sister—bright red with a pair of deer embroidered on it. I can write all those characters.”
Ink, brushes, paper, and inkstones were expensive, and Guyu couldn’t afford them.
Was this a case of hearts in harmony?
“What a coincidence. A Wei is my younger sister, and the clothes are for her,” Shen Hui said with a smile, surprised that Shen Wei, given her timid nature, had ventured to the Embroidery Workshop to order Hu-style clothing for her.
Guyu clapped her hands together. “That truly is a coincidence! As they say, there’s no story without coincidence. I’m not a greedy person. The silk top will cost five hundred coins, the skirt four hundred and twenty coins. The Banbi you chose is made of Yizhou brocade, which is more expensive—four hundred and fifty coins. We also have to get the fabric from the storeroom, so there’s no room for discounts. But I have some leftover silk gauze here—I can cut a few silk flowers for you and Sister A Wei.”
"How old are you this year, eleven?" She wasn't quick at arithmetic, but she made no mistakes. Shen Hui admired her even more.
"Replying to elder sister, I am indeed eleven," Guyu answered crisply.
"Truly impressive." Shen Hui cheerfully took out money. "Here's one and a half taels for you. Keep the rest with you. When the weather turns cold, I might come back to have a new set of bedding made."
When commissioning a seamstress to tailor clothes, one normally had to pay for the labor, leaving little copper coins left. She intended to build connections and had no desire to haggle over every penny.
Leaving the Embroidery Workshop, she headed straight for the Servants' Kitchen, eagerly anticipating the barbecue she had promised Shen Wei earlier.
This barbecue was entirely her idea. She requested a small stove to slowly build the fire, and all ingredients were skewered on cleaned and sharpened branches, mimicking the night market food stalls.
Rarely getting to eat well, she didn't fuss over the cost and ordered plenty of meat. Lamb leg meat was cut into small pieces and mixed with zhuyu and pepper. Chicken legs were a must. Duck breast, rich in fat, was sliced thin—charred, it tasted delicious. Beef tripe and intestines were marinated in advance. River and seafood were hard to come by, but dried fish and small green shrimp were enough.
Shen Hui's mind was filled with thoughts of the upcoming meal. She worked diligently, helping Shen Wei skewer the meat. "Do you know Guyu from the Embroidery Workshop?"
"Elder sister already knows." Shen Wei was startled, her cheeks quietly turning red. "I wanted to wait until I got the Hu-style clothing to surprise you."
"Even the cheapest set of Hu-style clothing costs over a thousand copper coins. You're quite generous." Shen Hui winked and nudged her playfully with an elbow, grinning. "Thank you, little sister. You're so kind."
Hu-style clothing was all the rage across Great Qi—short jackets with turned-down collars and narrow sleeves, simple and dashing. Paired with a fur hat and leather boots, it was equivalent to a modern fashionista decked out in trendy pieces.
"If elder sister hadn't taken me away from the manor estate, I wouldn't be where I am today." She blushed, not daring to look at Shen Hui. "All the meat is skewered. Let's eat quickly."
The stove fire burned brightly, heat rising. Drops of oil dripped down, sizzling and smoking, filling the room with fragrance.
"When it comes to eating, you, Shen Hui, are undoubtedly the best among the Servants in the wangfu." Nanny Zhang looked at the sisters' handiwork and couldn't help but chuckle. "Aside from lighting the stove, preparing all this isn't troublesome. If the maidservants serving the masters in the rear courtyard were as easy to please as you, I'd truly be at ease."
"This morning, Consort Cui's senior maid sent a young maidservant over, saying she had no appetite and wanted something not salty, spicy, or oily but still flavorful. No matter what else Nanny Zhang asked, the other side just said to let the kitchen make whatever, but it had to be delivered within half an hour." Even the good-natured Shen Wei frowned slightly. "We tried for a while, making botuo in a mushroom broth and adding two small spoonfuls of scallion oil we made earlier, but that senior maid still barely ate a few bites."
"Now I understand." Shen Hui pursed her lips, thinking to herself, what a terrifying client this was. "It's just pure harassment, isn't it?"
"Nothing more than taking out frustrations from the master on the kitchen." Nanny Zhang said disdainfully. "A Wei, from now on, don't handle the meals for the Servants in Consort Cui's courtyard yourself. Leave it all to Cook Wu."
Though Nanny Zhang kept to the kitchen, her connections remained. She was well-informed and knew Consort Cui was unhappy about her adopted son, the Second Young Master's, marriage arrangements, taking it out on the Servants. The favored Servants, having suffered mistreatment, then bullied those beneath them in turn.
Few were as clean and particular as Shen Wei, while Cook Wu was the sloppiest, washing her hands only a few times a day.
Shen Wei worried about causing trouble. "Is that really appropriate?"
"Where's the problem? As the saying goes, a gentleman takes ten years to seek revenge, but we're not gentlemen. We settle scores on the spot." Shen Hui clapped her hands in approval.
"Sister Xiangyun, listen, I wasn't lying to you." Outside the window, chattering voices drifted into the kitchen. "Our Ah Hui's mind is so clever, I don't know how it grew. She's full of witty reasoning, speaking so amusingly."
"Come, come, this Sister Xiangyun is a maid serving Consort Zhao." Chun Tao spoke quickly with a sharp, clear voice like a bird's chirp, always reminding Shen Hui of the hwamei kept under the Beast House corridor. "What are you all eating tonight?"
"Barbecue. Skewering prepared ingredients on whittled branches and roasting them over the stove fire." Shen Hui raised a meat skewer.
"I've only seen Hu merchants in the West Market sell food like that, but they only sell mutton and lamb intestines." Xiangyun sounded slightly doubtful. "Can dried fish be roasted too?"
"Everything can be roasted." Shen Hui personally took charge, sprinkling a little sesame on two skewers of salted fish jerky and roasting them for her. "Sister, try these."
The fish jerky was salty enough, needing no extra seasoning. Its already shriveled bones became completely crispy after roasting—salty, savory, pungent, and fragrant. No need to pick out bones; just crunch the whole thing with a satisfying gazhi gazhi.
"Do you have any cornelian cherry oil? It's not spicy enough." Xiangyun took a bite, blinked, her tense brows relaxing as her appetite was thoroughly whetted.
Chun Tao picked at roasted shrimp, advising, "Salted fish has a strong smell. If Consort Zhao, being pregnant, smells it and gets morning sickness again, wouldn't she blame you, sister?"
"It was Consort Zhao who sent me to eat." Xiangyun sighed slightly. "This pregnancy has been difficult for the Consort, with strange cravings. Before her nap today, she requested steamed fish, but the moment she tasted it, she started dry heaving—yet still wanted to eat it. So she sent me to the Servants' Kitchen to find some river or seafood, to bring back some flavor, better than nothing."
After giving birth to Third Young Master, Consort Zhao had suffered a miscarriage. When she became pregnant again, it was arduous, and the daughter she bore, Fourth Princess, was thus frail from infancy.
Seeing this, Empress Xue showed Imperial Grace, taking Fourth Princess into the palace to raise, ordering imperial physicians and female physicians to carefully tend to her, so she grew up safely.
"Ten months of pregnancy is truly hard." Shen Hui nodded her head.
"Yes, but the Consort is fortunate. The imperial physician once said the fetus in her womb is sturdy and healthy, likely to be a lively child after birth." Xiangyun stopped herself in time, not continuing to discuss her master, and smiled instead. "Little Sister Ah Hui, the way you eat is really amusing."
"Ah?" Shen Hui's cheeks were stuffed full. The beef tripe was chewy, and she was chewing vigorously.
"The leopard kept in your Beast House is called Jinyun, right?" Xiangyun gave a thumbs-up. "Although you wolf your food down, it's not crude—just like Jinyun. Just watching you eat makes me full."
"Thank you for the praise, sister." Shen Hui played dumb, grinning foolishly.
"On the day we arrived in the capital, Granny Duan mentioned she knew a maid in Consort Zhao's quarters, from the Shu region, who loved her cornelian cherry pickled fish. If I write to Granny Duan to buy the recipe, could you learn it?" After the meal, Shen Hui remembered this, guessing that maid was Xiangyun, and intended to help her sister curry favor.
Shen Wei thought briefly: "Probably yes. The weather is getting cooler, suitable for making pickled fish too."
Beast House.
"Liu'er, what are they doing?" Having returned from a full meal, Shen Hui originally planned to sprawl casually on the couch, imitating the plump leopard Jinyun's deep sleep, but hearing commotion outside, she looked and saw two people, one big and one small, moving things. She quickly called over Liu'er, who was watching the excitement.
"They say our Beast House is getting new staff, same rank as you, sister, second-class, staying next to you." Liu'er leaned in, discreetly pointing out a petite young maidservant for Shen Hui to see. "I suspect it's Granny Sun, who used to work under the Procurement Steward—Xiao Li's godmother."
Shen Hui knew which young maidservants were under her charge, but she often struggled to match names with faces.
"Procurement Steward?" she mused thoughtfully. "That's a position everyone scrambles to get into. To suddenly end up in the Beast House… it can't be…"
"You're right, sister. I could tell from Xiao Li's worried expression that her godmother, Granny Sun, must have gotten into trouble." Liu'er's face lit up with excitement as she discussed the matter. "Most likely, she was caught stealing or falsifying accounts. The procurement department is a mess—people get kicked out all the time. Counting from the start of this year, Granny Sun is already the third one."
"Godmother, let me help you with that." At the neighboring doorway, Xiao Li timidly offered, having already made the bed, she now tried to help Granny Sun carry her bundle.
But Granny Sun slapped her hand away. "You useless thing! How dare you come near me?"
"You'll both be working in the Beast House from now on, seeing each other day in and day out. It’s best to keep things peaceful." Shen Hui tapped the doorframe with the small wooden stick she used to play with the lynx, signaling the old woman to stop.
Shen Hui hadn’t intended to intervene, but with other young maidservants watching from across the way, she couldn’t just stand by and risk losing their respect.
"Thank you, sister. It’s not my godmother’s fault for hitting me—I’m just clumsy and delayed her rest." Xiao Li wiped her tears as she cried, but her eyes held a hidden gleam as she took the opportunity to size up Shen Hui.