People of high rank and great authority were often suspicious by nature, just like His Majesty the Emperor.
He had secretly sent a trusted aide to investigate whether anything unusual had happened in the Li Family recently. On the one hand, he did not believe that the ice-making method had come from the hands of a young girl who still smelled of milk.
On the other hand, he suspected that Official Li had some ulterior motive.
He felt that a person without any desires or demands would never become an official!
What His Majesty did not know was that Li Weidong had taken the civil service examinations solely to support his family.
After secretly observing and investigating for several days, the trusted aide reached a conclusion.
The most unusual thing about this family was that they made delicious food every day, while he could only hide in the shadows and watch them.
With tears streaming down his face.
“You say the Li family’s daughter is indeed clever and has a fondness for studying culinary arts?”
What did that have to do with making ice?
His Majesty was displeased.
As for the secret guard, he found the whole matter difficult to put into words. He simply could not understand how any girl could suddenly get the idea to scrape the walls of a latrine.
“This subordinate learned that the Li family’s daughter has a stronger curiosity than ordinary people.
“Last year, she saw the Hu people selling plants she had never seen before and insisted on spending all her savings to buy them and taste them.
“A few days ago, she discovered a layer of whitish powder seeping out from the corner of the latrine wall. Out of curiosity, she scraped it off and set it alight.
“The Li family’s eldest son even received a thorough beating because of it.”
“What does the Li family’s eldest son have to do with this?” His Majesty asked, puzzled.
“The Li family’s eldest son led his classmates from the Four Gates school in skipping class to scrape the wall…”
“Afterward, Miss Li felt sorry for her brother and hired several hundred children to scrape walls throughout the city…”
“Other than that, there is nothing else unusual about the Li Family.”
“What about Li Weidong?”
“Li Weidong returns home as soon as he leaves the government office every day. There is nothing unusual about him.”
His Majesty waved his hand. “Continue keeping watch on Li Weidong.”
Could it be that he really had been overthinking things?
For now, it appeared that the saltpetre had indeed been discovered accidentally by the Li family’s daughter.
Set alight, it burned; soaked in water, it…
The affairs of the world were full of accidents. A recipe worth a fortune had appeared out of nowhere.
What a pity that it had not been discovered in time for midsummer.
Now that the weather was growing cooler, the recipe would not be of any use this year.
“Someone, prepare an imperial edict!”
After understanding the entire sequence of events, His Majesty prepared to confer the title of Commandery Princess on her during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
At that moment, Li Sushu was troubled by the discord between Haitang and Xiaohong.
Xiaohong was another one of her maids, whose special duty was to fan her at night.
The summers were stifling, and Xiaohong was her personal fan.
Now that the weather had grown cooler, Xiaohong no longer worked the night shift and had returned to being the young lady’s constant little shadow.
In truth, the two of them had neither argued nor quarreled. The atmosphere between them was simply strange. Other than what was required for work, they did not say a single word to each other.
Li Sushu wanted to persuade them to make up, but she had no idea where to begin.
She did not even know what they were upset about.
In that case, she would just pretend she did not know!
Li Sushu stood up and patted her cheeks. With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, she planned to teach the kitchen how to make snow-skin mooncakes.
The ingredients had to be prepared first. Rice flour and glutinous rice flour were easy enough; they could grind those at home.
The wheat starch, however, would take more effort and required an additional process.
First, the wheat had to be hulled and ground into flour. Then it had to be washed with water. After the starch was separated out, what remained was wheat starch.
There were quite a lot of things that needed grinding. Well, she would have to give Nanny Zhang some extra money.
Nanny Zhang was the rough-duty nanny in her courtyard. Because Li Sushu spent all day researching food, Nanny Zhang had more work to do than the servants in the other courtyards.
As a result, Li Sushu occasionally gave her some reward money.
That way, Nanny Zhang would not feel resentful.
Li Sushu called for Nanny Zhang and instructed her, “Go to the storeroom and take five jin each of glutinous rice, rice, and wheat. Hull them carefully and grind them into flour.”
She also rewarded Nanny Zhang with one hundred coins.
Nanny Zhang accepted the money with a beaming smile. After thanking her for the reward, she promptly went off to work.
Although working in Third Miss’s courtyard was somewhat busy,
Third Miss gave generous rewards, and one could also learn things here. The other nannies would fight tooth and nail for the chance to serve in Third Miss’s courtyard.
She had to work hard and could not let anyone find fault with her or sow discord between her and Third Miss.
Li Sushu pondered. Now that the ingredients for the snow-skin wrappers had been arranged, only the fillings remained. What kind should she make?
The most common choices were red bean paste and lotus seed paste.
She planned to mix pumpkin and sweet potato into the wrappers. That would make the mooncakes more attractive in color.
She also needed to prepare molds, but she was not very good at drawing.
She would ask Li Yueyue to help draw the molds. Li Yueyue often drew patterns, so drawing a few mooncake molds should be no problem for her.
Li Sushu led Haitang to Li Yueyue’s courtyard for a visit. The two maids had already agreed that one of them would accompany her for a day while the other stayed behind to watch the courtyard.
Li Yueyue was sewing a new dress for herself. When she saw Li Sushu arrive, she picked up the half-finished dress and said, “You came at just the right time. Come and take a look. What kind of embroidered design should I put on this dress?”
Li Sushu took the dress and examined it for a while before saying, “Embroidering a design would take too much effort. Why not make some silk flowers and sew them irregularly along the hem…”
Li Yueyue’s eyes lit up. How had she not thought of that?
With lifelike silk flowers sewn along the hem, it would certainly be the only one of its kind in Chang’an City!
“Little Sister, you should make a dress like this too. We can wear them out together. They’ll definitely look good.”
“All my clothes are made by Mother. Whatever style Mother makes, that is what I wear.” Li Sushu was not skilled at needlework, so all her clothes for the four seasons were made by her birth mother, Concubine Zhao.
She did not particularly like dressing up either. Her clothes for all four seasons were kept simple, making it convenient for her to go out and wander around.
“All right, then…” Li Yueyue was a little disappointed.
Some people liked wearing matching clothes with their sisters, while others disliked wearing the same style. Li Yueyue was the former.
“I wanted to ask you to help me draw a few mooncake molds. We can make mooncakes ourselves to eat,” Li Sushu said, revealing the purpose of her visit.
“Mooncake molds? Can you draw them in the shape of little rabbits?” Li Yueyue had no desire to draw the ordinary round designs that were everywhere. She wanted to make a mooncake shaped like a little rabbit with her own hands.
“If a carpenter can carve it, I have no objection.”
“Have the steward find the best carpenter in the city to carve the molds for us!” Li Yueyue shouted excitedly, waving her hand.
Li Sushu teased her. “But I can only afford a mediocre carpenter. I don’t have enough money.”
Li Yueyue thought about it, then returned to her bedroom and brought out the mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer box in which she kept her money. She handed it to Li Sushu.
She said seriously, “If there isn’t enough, make up the difference with my money.”
Li Sushu did not take the box. She waved her hand and laughed softly. “I was only joking. Whatever kind of molds you draw, we’ll make them!”
Li Yueyue happily put the lacquer box away and said excitedly, “Really? I’ll go draw the designs right now!”
Wonderful! She could have the mooncake molds she liked, and she could keep her pocket money too.
To be honest, she was just a tiny bit reluctant to spend her own money on ordering the molds. She needed to save her money to buy silk flowers and jewelry.
But having her younger sister pay to make something she liked made her feel a little guilty.
Li Yueyue struggled with the matter for a while, then abandoned the half-finished design and ran toward her bedroom.
“What are you going to do?” Li Sushu called after her.
Before long, Li Yueyue came running back with the mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer box in her arms. She resolutely held it out to Li Sushu.
“Here!”
Take it quickly, or she would start regretting it again.
Li Yueyue was crying inwardly. Her monthly allowance was not enough for everything she wanted to buy.
Li Sushu burst out laughing and repeatedly waved her hands, refusing to take the lacquer box.
Li Yueyue looked at her accusingly, thinking, Just take it already! What are you laughing at?
“Good sister, I really have enough money. Mother gave me a share of the profits from the new dishes at the restaurant,” Li Sushu said with a smile.
Li Yueyue thought it over. Her younger sister was indeed capable, and her finances were more comfortable than her own.
She could accept this benefit with a clear conscience.
Once she had cast aside her psychological burden, Li Yueyue breathed a sigh of relief and put down the lacquer box.
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony with you.”
Inside, she felt extremely proud of Sushu. Her younger sister was truly amazing!
“Come on, draw quickly. Once you finish, we still need to ask the steward for help,” Li Sushu said with a smile.
Li Yueyue nodded and lowered her head, beginning to draw with concentration.
Li Sushu nodded in satisfaction. Her hardworking elder sister was simply wonderful.
The drawing took up most of the day. In the middle of it, Nanny Zhang came to report that the three kinds of grain flour had already been ground.
Haitang reminded Li Sushu that it was almost time for a meal. Li Sushu told Nanny Zhang to go downstairs and rest, then continue in the afternoon.
Li Yueyue put down her brush. Her maid, Yuanbao, brought over clean water and served her as she washed her hands.
“Little Sister, have a meal with me. Don’t go back,” Li Yueyue pleaded.
Li Sushu nodded. “All right.”
She then instructed Haitang to have Li Sushu’s meal portion brought to her elder sister’s courtyard.
After the mistresses finished eating, the several maids took turns going downstairs to eat.
“I’m going back to rest for a while. I’ll come find you after I wake up.” Li Sushu put down her teacup.
“Can’t we take a nap together?” Li Yueyue protested, pouting.
Li Sushu shook her head. “No.”
She was not used to sleeping beside someone else.
The main reason was that the weather was still stuffy. Having a warm body sleeping beside her would only make it hotter.
After waking from her afternoon nap, Li Sushu sat on the bed in a daze. She had not yet fully awakened.
Xiaohong brought over clean water, and Li Sushu got up to wash her face.
Xiaohong handed her a clean towel and said, “Sister Hehua from Concubine’s courtyard came by. She said to ask Miss to visit Concubine’s courtyard and sit for a while after waking.”
Li Sushu put down the towel and took a sip of the flower tea Haitang handed her. “I understand.”
“Haitang, go to Elder Sister’s courtyard and tell her that I have something to do this afternoon, so I may not be able to go over. Xiaohong, go call Nanny Zhang. I have something to assign to her.”
Nanny Zhang arrived very quickly. She had been waiting in the courtyard all along and came as soon as she was summoned.
When Li Sushu saw Nanny Zhang, she did not bother with pleasantries and immediately explained in detail how to make wheat starch from wheat flour.
“Yes, Miss. This old servant has memorized it,” Nanny Zhang said respectfully.
“Once the wheat starch is finished, if you have time, select five jin each of good red beans and lotus seeds. Then choose several good pumpkins and sweet potatoes and set them aside.”
There was certainly no time to make mooncakes today, and she had not even found anyone to carve the molds yet.
She planned to prepare the ingredients first, so that when the time came, they would not be scrambling around trying to find anything they lacked.
After assigning the afternoon’s work to the maids and nannies, she led Haitang to Fragrant Addition Courtyard, where Concubine Zhao lived.
Concubine Zhao had called for her because the new clothes she had made for her were finished. She wanted Li Sushu to try them on and see whether they fit or needed alterations.
Concubine Zhao knew that her daughter disliked needlework and embroidery, so she had taken on the task of making clothes, shoes, and socks for her daughter.
She was idle anyway, was she not?
Her son was cared for by the principal wife, so she did not need to interfere.
As for her daughter, there were actually seamstresses who made clothes for her as well.
She was simply passing the time. Making several sets of clothes for her daughter each year would also help strengthen the bond between mother and daughter.
Ever since her daughter had moved out to live on her own, the two of them had not been as close as they once were.