Back at the small courtyard, the maids had already set out breakfast.
Yun Xi looked it over, the general’s household’s breakfast was just as plain as its sprawling estate: millet porridge, flatbread, a few small side dishes, nothing refined, nothing elaborate, nothing lavish…
It was completely different from what she’d imagined ancient noble-household meals to be like! Weren’t ancient people supposed to be obsessed with refined, elaborately prepared food? So how had the general’s household ended up looking like such a mess?
Or, heavens, what kind of world had she even landed in?
Surely they hadn’t dumped her all the way back in prehistoric society?
Her thoughts churned inside, but on the surface she remained composed as ever.
She wasn’t about to lose her cool over a simple breakfast.
But the original Yun Xi truly had once broken down over exactly this.
Although Yun Xi had inherited the original’s memories, she’d only skimmed the general outline without dwelling on the details. Seeing the breakfast now, though, some of those finer details suddenly surfaced in her mind.
The original Yun Xi had never understood the food in the general’s household, it wasn’t much better than what she’d eaten at home. Her own family had been modest, eating simply, as was normal. But for the general’s grand household to eat food like this too, could it mean they looked down on her?
This had been one of the sources of pressure weighing on her.
In fact, had she simply paid attention, she would have noticed that the entire general’s household ate this way, top to bottom, it had nothing to do with her at all.
But these were thoughts she could never voice to anyone, and the emotions building up inside her had no outlet.
Later on, she’d had no mental energy left to carefully learn anything about the general’s household at all.
Yun Xi sighed inwardly on the original owner’s behalf. People really shouldn’t be so sensitive, sometimes it’s better to be a bit dull.
Later-generation psychologists had said something like: dullness of sensitivity is a means and a form of wisdom for winning a good life, people should learn to cultivate this dullness, learn to focus their attention more on themselves, stop obsessing over the outside world and others’ judgments, and return their focus inward to their own hearts.
The original Yun Xi had simply been too sensitive.
Because of this, she hadn’t spent much time with her nominal son either. The Mu family had probably worried on both fronts, afraid the child would add to her psychological burden, and afraid she might vent her pent-up emotions on him. So they’d simply kept the two from interacting much.
None of this was an issue for Yun Xi. She’d just let things take their natural course.
At breakfast, Yun Xi drank two bowls of porridge.
She didn’t touch the flatbread, which looked rock-hard. What if she couldn’t even bite through it? That would be embarrassing.
Although this possibility was unlikely, the original Yun Xi had been born and raised in this world and should be well-adapted to such things, and since she was now using this body, there was no reason for such a problem to occur, she still felt a bit anxious about it psychologically.
After a simple breakfast, Mu Sheng went to his study to handle some matters. He was on “marriage leave” for the next couple of days, so he didn’t need to attend court or go to his office, he only needed to handle some matters at home.
Yun Xi sent the maids off to their own tasks, then sat down at her dressing table to look herself over.
The bronze mirror’s clarity wasn’t as good as glass, but she could still basically see clearly. The original Yun Xi and her own original appearance were about seventy percent alike, though the original looked rather more youthful still. If she grew into herself a bit more, the resemblance might increase.
Yun Xi’s own natural bearing had been bright, bold, and unrestrained, the original body’s temperament, by contrast, leaned quiet and reserved. Her eyes were beautifully shaped, clear and expressive, glinting with life, a face that was gentle and delicate at its base, but with the outer corners of the eyes tilted slightly upward, lending a touch of allure.
Yun Xi was basically satisfied with her looks. Although the original body’s skin wasn’t especially smooth to the touch, and her hands had some thin calluses from manual work, none of it was a real problem. Skin could be cared for properly, and a bit of callus on the hands was hardly worth worrying about.
In her previous life she’d lived in comfort, yet the calluses left by her sports had been even thicker than these.
Thanks to a reader’s comment, the author specifically looked into the clarity issue of bronze mirrors, and after the polishing process, bronze mirrors really could be quite clear.
Bronze mirrors were considered rare and valuable items in ancient times. Bai Juyi wrote in “Exchanging the Mirror for a Cup”: “I wish to trade my pearl case’s bronze mirror for a golden cup of white jade wine.”