After leading her into the side room, Chunliu told her to make herself comfortable, then turned and went out to fetch a bowl of white fungus and red date soup, along with a plate of Yunpian cake and a plate of Bazhen cake.
"These two are both nourishing foods, specially prepared by the kitchen on Madam's orders. Even if you hadn't come, someone would have been sent to deliver them to you later."
An Ruosu picked two pieces of each pastry and handed them to her, smiling, "Sister knows I don't care for these. Rather than letting the kitchen staff benefit, it's better for you to enjoy them."
Since Chunliu still had duties to attend to and didn't have time to eat just then, she took out a handkerchief, wrapped all four pieces of pastry, and tucked them into her sleeve. She then instructed, "Please wait here for a little while, Miss. Madam will be finished soon, and I'll come fetch you as soon as she's done."
An Ruosu said, "Go ahead, Sister. I promise I won't wander off."
Chunliu smiled and withdrew. An Ruosu then beckoned Bihe over and teased, "Look how eager you are. Sister Chunliu has left, and no one will scold you. Go ahead and eat."
Bihe giggled, "I knew you'd be good to me, Miss." But she dared not eat first. Instead, she selected a piece of Bazhen cake, which An Ruosu preferred, and offered it to her. Only after seeing her eat it did she dare to have some herself.
An Ruosu didn't care for these pastries, and there was a reason for this.
In her previous life, she had lived in a new era—what kind of snacks hadn't she tried growing up? For her, the only advantage of ancient pastries was that they were made with clean, wholesome ingredients.
But for someone whose palate had been spoiled by modern industrial additives, no amount of clean, wholesome ingredients could make up for the gap in texture and flavor.
Moreover, she hadn't been reborn in her original body but through Taichuan. Her current physical form had never been exposed to modern industrial additives, so even slightly flavorful things tasted quite good to her.
This created a strange phenomenon: psychologically, she knew these pastries weren't anything special, yet physiologically, she found them rather enjoyable.
This Quantum Superposition State made her feel quite awkward. Her dislike for these pastties was, in part, an escape from this discomfort.
But those around her didn't know this. They simply assumed she was born into wealth and had enjoyed the finest things since childhood, so even the rarest delicacies seemed ordinary to her.
Her mother, Zhou Shuyu, would often hold her in her arms, stroking her while saying with a mix of affection and exasperation, "By the time you were born, your father had already been promoted to the third rank, and our family had grown even wealthier. And you, being born with a weak constitution—what good things weren't reserved for you? We've spoiled your palate."
To this, An Ruosu would play dumb, smiling without a word.
After about half an hour, Chunliu came running to fetch her: "Third Miss, the visitors outside have left. Madam knows you're here and asked me to come invite you right away."
Glancing at the pastry plates, now mostly empty, she gave Bihe a meaningful look. Seeing the young girl's guilty expression, she stifled a laugh inwardly and pretended not to notice, leading An Ruosu ahead.
Bihe, trailing behind, truly thought Chunliu hadn't noticed and quietly sighed in relief, though she couldn't help but become even more respectful.
Upon entering the main hall, they saw Zhou Shuyu seated in an armchair draped with dark python-patterned satin, with several jars of tea leaves placed on the table. An Ruosu hurried forward to pay her respects: "Your daughter greets Madam. May Madam enjoy boundless blessings."
"Come here quickly." Zhou Shuyu beckoned to her, and when she drew near, pulled her into an embrace. First, she felt her hands, finding them warm, then touched her face, noting her good complexion, before nodding in satisfaction. Pointing to a tin canister of tea leaves, she said, "That's a five-year-aged white tea, perfect for a child to drink. Take it back with you. For one, white tea nourishes the body, and for another, you're at the age where you should start learning to appreciate tea."
An Ruosu thanked her and asked, "Do my brothers and sisters have some too?"
Zhou Shuyu smiled and replied, "Don't worry, they all do. Aren’t these on the table for them? They were all set aside according to their preferences."
An Ruosu glanced casually and saw the Tieguanyin her eldest sister liked, the Maofeng her second sister favored, as well as the Zisun tea her eldest brother enjoyed and the Liu’an tea her second brother preferred.
In addition, there were also teas suited to the tastes of her father, mother, and the two aunts, all accounted for.
Seeing her curious gaze, Zhou Shuyu took the opportunity to teach her: "See? None of these businesspeople in the capital are easy to deal with. Today’s visitor, Manager Xu, brought over a dozen types of tea, and just happened to cover the preferences of our entire family."
Regardless of how he had gathered the information, his connections and methods were not to be underestimated.
An Ruosu asked, "Did someone in our household let it slip?"
Zhou Shuyu chuckled, "It’s not exactly that they let it slip. Our family has just arrived in the capital, and if the people in charge of various purchases want to establish themselves here, they naturally need to build connections with all sorts of people, which inevitably involves treating others to drinks. After a few cups of warm wine, when asked about harmless details, they naturally let it out."
For this large family to establish themselves in the capital, it wasn’t just An Jieshan and Zhou Shuyu, the husband and wife, navigating various circles. The stewards and stewardesses, both senior and junior, each played their part.
Having spent so much time by her mother’s side, An Ruosu gradually understood why wealthy families, well aware that servants might take advantage of opportunities to embezzle household funds, often turned a blind eye.
It wasn’t just because many stewards were deeply involved in the family’s private affairs and held many secrets, but also because they truly contributed both merit and hard work, genuinely putting in effort for the family.
As autumn gave way to winter, while An Ruosu’s lessons gradually increased, An Ruoyu’s classes became fewer and fewer.
After the New Year, she would turn fifteen, the age when it was time to consider marriage prospects. As the weather grew colder and the New Year approached, Zhou Shuyu had to take her and Aunt Wu to visit various households, leaving no time for academic pursuits.
By the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Shuyu simply gave Mr. Sun, the painting teacher, a break and kept An Ruoyu by her side to help manage the family’s social obligations.
Gifts for the master’s superiors had to be sent proactively, while return gifts needed proper recording and handling; gifts from the master’s subordinates required careful logging and preparation of reciprocation; local officials who sent charcoal tributes and specialties, and those who did not, each had their own specific recording methods.
The simplest of these tasks was receiving women sent by various branches of the clan. Since they were all family, and An Jieshan held the highest official position in the entire clan, even minor mistakes were unlikely to be criticized.
As Zhou Shuyu put it, "Our An family daughters are all raised to the standard of a household matriarch. Even if they were to marry into the eldest branch as the principal wife, they would be more than capable."
As for learning so much that might not necessarily be used?
Whether it would be used was one matter; whether one could make use of it was another.
Zhou Shuyu always said, "What if? What if it does come in handy? If you don't know how, wouldn’t people point at my nose and scold me for being incompetent?"
An Ruosu watched coldly as An Ruoyu, from the end of November onward, became so busy every day that her heels seemed to hit the back of her head. She wished she could split herself into two, and no longer had time to come and chat. After leaving the main house, she would return directly to her own room, wash up, and collapse into bed.
If she had to compare this intensity to something, she felt that even during her final year of high school, she hadn’t been this exhausted.
This realization made her shudder, and she suddenly felt a little grateful that she was the third daughter of the family and didn’t have to marry into a high-ranking household like her eldest sister.
Their family was considered relatively simple in terms of population, yet there were still so many social obligations to handle. She could hardly imagine how exhausted her eldest sister would be during festivals and holidays after marrying into the Su family, which had served as officials for three generations, and eventually taking over the household management.
With her mother and second sister so busy, An Ruosu consciously avoided disturbing them. Every day, aside from attending the morning and evening greetings, she stayed quietly in her room reading and writing, or learning how to make Daluozi from Honglian.
Sometimes, when Aunt Wu or Concubine Zhu had free time, they would visit her with their specialty snacks, worried that Zhou Shuyu was too busy to look after her and that the servants, thinking her young and easy to fool, might intentionally or unintentionally neglect her.
This was the first New Year after the An family returned to the capital, and also the first New Year An Ruosu had ever spent in Chang’an City.
To be honest, it wasn’t as interesting as she had imagined, and it couldn’t even compare to when the family was in Shandong.
Every day was either attending banquets or hosting them. There were male guests in the front courtyard, female guests in the rear courtyard, and stewardesses sent by various relatives. The flow of people was continuous and unending.
Zhou Shuyu, afraid that the crowds might jostle An Ruosu, had specifically instructed her not to go out. If she felt bored, she could take her maids to kick shuttlecocks or play Tiaobaisuo in the courtyard.
Speaking of shuttlecock kicking, Concubine Zhu was an expert. The shuttlecock made with pheasant feathers and copper coins seemed to have a magnetic connection with her feet. Whether she kicked it forward, backward, sideways, or even in circles, it simply wouldn’t fall.
An Ruosu clapped her hands while counting beside her. At most, Concubine Zhu kicked 109 times in one go.
The reason it was 109 wasn’t because the shuttlecock fell, but because Concubine Zhu simply ran out of strength. Catching the feathered shuttlecock in her hand, she panted heavily and asked triumphantly, "How was that?"
The watching maids and elderly women all clapped and cheered, and the younger ones surrounded her, begging her to share her secrets.
Concubine Zhu was not stingy either. With a hearty laugh, she pulled An Ruosu into her arms and gathered everyone in a circle, teaching them how high to kick, when to catch it, and how to exert force when catching…
Everyone followed her method and made progress to varying degrees, making the scene even more joyful.
In the blink of an eye, spring arrived. The imperial court resumed its official duties, and An Jieshan, freed from the busyness of social engagements, immediately plunged into the tangled mess of officialdom.
One day, four women arrived at the house. Their clothing and style were quite different from the women of the capital, appearing more refined and gentle.
Honglian sent Bihe to Aunt Wu’s place to fetch silk threads. When she returned, she was excited and shared the news, sparking curiosity among all the maids in the courtyard.
The two sisters were sitting in the pavilion brewing tea, with An Ruoyu teaching her younger sister how to perform Diancha—one of the games young ladies of noble households would play during gatherings.
In An Ruosu's view, so-called Diancha was somewhat similar to modern latte art. However, she had never learned either skill and had no foundation whatsoever, so she could only obediently follow her second sister's instructions.
Suddenly, a commotion was heard, and An Ruoyu ordered Tang'er to go see what was happening.
Not long after, Tang'er returned, smiling as she said, "It was Bihe who saw four women dressed in particularly unusual attire going to pay respects to the madam. When she came back and told everyone, they all grew curious. I asked her carefully about how those women were dressed, and from what Bihe described, it seemed like the fashionable attire from Yangzhou."
Tang'er's ancestral home was in Yangzhou. She had been sold several times by human traffickers before finally arriving at the An household. When she left home, she was already eight or nine years old, so she remembered many things and recognized the clothing styles of her hometown.
Author's Note:
Not enough words for the ranking list, will post another chapter tonight at 9 PM.