On an afternoon in early autumn, Li Sushu stood beneath the eaves, directing the servants as they ground soybeans.
A ladleful of soaked soybeans was placed into the mill, followed by a ladleful of clean water. A broad-waisted, sturdy old woman pushed the mill with all her strength, and milky-white soybean milk slowly flowed into a wooden bucket.
After transmigrating into this world, Li Sushu had become a fourteen-year-old girl in the bloom of youth. Having been given the chance to live again and return to her youth, she was delighted and embraced each day with enthusiasm.
Her father was a middling official, a fifth-rank court official, and had one wife and one concubine.
She was the daughter of a concubine. Her birth mother had been brought into the household because of her beauty. Li Sushu resembled her mother and had grown into a graceful, charming young lady.
The principal wife of the household was a noble daughter from an eminent family. She was dignified and magnanimous and never made things difficult for mother and daughter.
Everything she ate, wore, and used was the same as what her legitimate sisters received.
Recently, the principal wife had been troubled because the restaurant under her name was doing poorly. Li Sushu therefore wanted to come up with some dishes that did not yet exist in this dynasty, so she could help ease her burden.
It happened to be soybean harvest season, and much of her father’s salary came in the form of soybeans. She had asked one of the household’s rough-serving old women to bring some over.
“Third Miss, the soybeans are ground. Are you going to make tofu?” Nanny Zhang wiped away her sweat with her sleeve and waited for her young mistress’s next instruction.
“We aren’t making tofu today. We’re making tofu skin.”
“Tofu skin?” Nanny Zhang often ate tofu, but this was the first time she had ever heard of tofu skin.
“That’s right. Pour all this soybean milk into a clean pot, then bring it to a boil…” Li Sushu carefully taught Nanny Zhang how to make the tofu skin, and Nanny Zhang listened with a look of worship on her face.
Her young mistress was truly amazing. At such a young age, she could study food and develop new dishes.
The main reason Li Sushu had Nanny Zhang make the tofu skin was that she was craving spicy strips.
Normally, the principal wife did not restrict the children. As long as Li Sushu brought along a maid and an old woman, she could go out shopping every few days.
Of course, she had to wait until the household’s old women and maids had finished the tasks assigned to them before she could leave.
The previous year, while visiting the market, she had discovered a fair-haired, blue-eyed foreigner selling potted plants. They were, astonishingly, chili peppers. She had paid a high price for them and had also bought more than half a sack of dried chilies, a full ten or so pounds.
She had then persuaded the principal wife to set aside two mu of land to grow them. After the manager of the family’s estate cultivated the plants, the household was now no longer short of chilies.
The principal wife had agreed to grow this never-before-seen ingredient because Li Sushu had taken all the monthly allowance she had saved over the years, along with all the gold and silver jewelry she had brought with her, and used it to buy the chilies.
At the time, Madam Wang had been both exasperated and amused. She had never seen such a bold girl, one who dared to imitate Shennong tasting a hundred herbs—and what was more, herbs she had paid a fortune to buy.
Even if that foreigner said they were edible, how could she use her own precious body to test them?
When Li Sushu had insisted on being the first to taste a dish containing the chilies, Nanny Zhang had been terrified. She was afraid that if she failed to stop her young mistress, she would have to taste them herself, but she was also afraid that something would happen to the young mistress after she ate them.
To Nanny Zhang at the time, it had been a life-or-death question no matter which way she answered.
Fortunately, Madam Wang did not know what had really happened. She had always believed that Nanny Zhang had tasted the dish first, and that Li Sushu had only eaten it after Nanny Zhang had suffered no ill effects.
It was also fortunate that only the two of them had been in the kitchen at the time. Li Sushu seemed not to know anything about the inner struggle Nanny Zhang had gone through.
Following her young mistress’s instructions, Nanny Zhang brought the soybean milk to a boil. Before long, a layer of pale-yellow tofu skin formed on its surface. She lifted it out with long chopsticks and laid it across the bamboo poles placed beside the pot.
After half an hour of work, several rows of bamboo poles hung with tofu skin had been set up in the courtyard outside the kitchen.
At last, they could proceed to the most important step. First, they heated oil in a small iron pan, then poured it into a large porcelain bowl filled with chili powder. The fragrant, spicy aroma made the little maid tending the fire cough until her eyes filled with tears.
Next, they passed the half-dried tofu skin through boiling water, let it cool, rolled it up, and cut it into appropriately sized strips. Then they mixed it with the freshly made chili oil.
Nanny Zhang first took a small bowl and put in some for Third Miss to taste. After seeing her young mistress nod with satisfaction, she brought over two attractive plates and mixed one with mild spice and the other with the usual amount of spice.
She then placed them in a food box. When Third Miss went to pay her respects to the principal wife, a little maid would naturally carry it along behind her.
“This is exactly the flavor.” Li Sushu wiped the corner of her mouth and said with a smile, “Make more of this tofu skin so everyone in the household can have a taste.”
Ordinarily, the masters ate in their own courtyards. Only during festivals did they gather in the principal wife’s courtyard for a meal.
“Right away!” Nanny Zhang slapped her thigh and answered happily.
The little maid tending the fire also broke into a grin and secretly laughed.
The family had always been generous. With a dish that was not particularly expensive, even the little maids in the residence would each be able to receive a few bites.
Li Sushu first returned to her own room to change her clothes and wash up. Only then did she lead two little maids to the principal wife’s courtyard.
There was one rough-serving old woman and two little maids in her courtyard, the standard arrangement in the household. The sons of the family each had an additional book boy.
There were several dozen people in the household, masters and servants combined, and the monthly expenses were substantial. The principal wife managed the household’s operations as well as its shops and estates. In Li Sushu’s view, none of it was easy work.
The way people got along was simple: if you treated me well, I treated you well. Her household had none of the schemes and betrayals found in the novels of her previous life.
Perhaps it was because her concubine mother was someone who neither fought nor sought favor and followed the principal wife’s rules in everything.
Perhaps it was because the principal wife was kindhearted as well and had never shortchanged her husband’s concubine or his children born of a concubine.
Before she even entered the courtyard, she heard a lively chatter coming from inside, accompanied by the excited voice of a child. It was her younger full brother.
When her younger brother had just been born, her birth mother had said that she was too ignorant and feared she would raise the young master badly. She had begged the principal wife to take the child and raise him.
The principal wife was broad-minded. Seeing that the concubine did not wish to raise the child, she had hired a wet nurse and brought the boy up in her own courtyard.
The principal wife in her household treated the role of wife almost like a profession. She was even more open-minded than a modern person like Li Sushu and had never been jealous or petty.
That was why her younger brother was so close to the principal wife. At his young age, he did not understand anything about being born to one woman or another. He only knew who sincerely treated him well.
Upon entering, she saw the little boy, as exquisitely delicate as a carved doll, nestled in the principal wife’s arms and acting spoiled. Wang Shi, in her early thirties and without a trace of makeup, had her hair simply pinned up with two jade hairpins. She looked gentle and enchanting.
A woman like that—if Li Sushu were a man, she would want to marry her too!
Her father truly had tremendous good fortune: a lovely wife, a beautiful concubine, and harmony between them. Perhaps her father had been the kind of man who saved the entire galaxy in his previous life!
“What delicious thing did Big Sister bring?” The sharp-eyed child was the first to notice her arrival.
Li Sushu first paid her respects to the principal wife. Madam Wang smiled and said, “Come, come, sit down. You’ve been busy all afternoon, haven’t you? Don’t tire yourself out.”
“I’m not tired, Mother. I only had to stand there and give directions. The maids and old women did the actual work. How could that have tired me?” Li Sushu exchanged a few playful words with the principal wife before turning to tease the child.
“Big Sister made a dish called oil-poured tofu skin. I hear children under three aren’t allowed to eat spicy food. Whatever shall we do?”
The child hurriedly protested, “Big Sister, I already had my birthday the other day. Did you forget?”
“Is it food made with chilies? You shouldn’t have let Liang’er see it.” The principal wife put down the little boy, who was wriggling to get out of her arms, and gave Li Sushu an exasperated, reproachful look.
Li Sushu rubbed her nose, a little embarrassed. She remembered that when she had been three or four years old in her previous life, she had loved spicy strips. Whenever her parents refused to let her eat them, she would cry.
Children here ought to fall in love with this flavor too!
Li Sushu directed the maids to place the two plates of tofu skin from the food box on the table and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, Mother. I had Nanny Zhang mix one portion with mild spice. I thought it should be all right to let Liang’er have a taste.”
She then instructed a little maid, “Go fetch two cups of warm boiled water. If Mother and Little Brother find the flavor hard to get used to, they can rinse their mouths.”
Wang Shi smiled with satisfaction. “You really are a thoughtful girl. This dish smells wonderfully fragrant. Look at Liang’er—the saliva is practically about to run down his chin.”
Hearing this, Liang’er guiltily wiped at the corner of his mouth and protested with pursed lips, “I’m not drooling. Mother must be deliberately making fun of me.”
“Since Liang’er isn’t craving it, how about we wait for your older brothers and sisters to come pay their respects, then try the dish together?” Li Sushu suggested with a smile.
“I’m certainly not in a hurry…” Liang’er sucked in his saliva. One moment he stared at the tofu skin on the table; the next, he looked toward the doorway, gazing eagerly into the distance.
Seeing how ravenous her son looked, Wang Shi smiled kindly. “Your older brothers and sisters won’t come this early. We’re only testing the dish, so we won’t wait for them. Your sister is so considerate in everything she does. How could she leave them without a portion?”
“Mother truly knows everything. Before coming here, I instructed the kitchen to add this new dish to the dinner served in every courtyard tonight.”
As they chatted, the nimble maids had already set out three sets of bowls and chopsticks, along with three cups of warm water.
Then three little maids each brought over a basin of warm water to serve the masters as they washed their hands.
After tasting the dish, Wang Shi instructed the child, “Liang’er, no matter how delicious something is, you mustn’t eat too much at once.”
At this, Liang’er stuffed another large bite of tofu skin into his mouth with his chopsticks before finally putting them down. Covering his mouth, he said while chewing, “I understand, Mother.”
Wang Shi helplessly stroked the child’s head. “Don’t speak while eating. Wait until you’ve finished.”
Liang’er nodded vigorously. He chewed slowly, savoring the delicious flavor in his mouth. He was almost unwilling to swallow it.
Li Sushu also put down her chopsticks and looked expectantly at Wang Shi.
Looking at the young girl’s shining eyes, Wang Shi smiled and praised her. “This dish uses inexpensive ingredients. Although the chilies cost a little more, this seasoning is unique to our family. If we introduce this dish at our restaurant, it will surely sell extremely well!”
Moreover, the dish was suitable for both young and old. It was a fresh, novel dish found nowhere else in Chang’an, with a fresh new seasoning as well. It would certainly bring many new and returning customers to the restaurant.
Thinking of this, Wang Shi said seriously, “For every profit earned from selling this dish, Mother will give you half each month.”
That was still taking advantage of the child, but how could a family divide everything so clearly? The child was still young, and half the profit from a new dish would already be an enormous sum.
If she gave her any more, she would worry about whether it was safe for the child to keep.
She would save the rest and add it to the girl’s dowry when she married.
Li Sushu hurriedly refused. “How could I take that money? The family provides everything I eat, wear, and use. I’m already very happy to be able to help ease the family’s burdens!”
Wang Shi took Li Sushu’s hand and gently persuaded her. “You spent all your savings just buying these chilies. You’re fourteen now, and it’s time you learned how to manage money and how to dress yourself. How can you get by without having some silver in your hands?”
In truth, Li Sushu normally had almost nothing to spend money on. Material goods were too scarce in this era. Even when she wandered around the market from one place to another, there was rarely anything she wanted to buy.