Chapter 36: Food and Drink

Shen Shi remained ill for several days, and the matter of entering the palace to apologize was never mentioned again.

It seemed the palace didn’t care about the invitation incident—Madam Ning had only brought it up to spite her.

In noble households, if a mother-in-law wanted to discipline her daughter-in-law, it was the easiest thing in the world.

Standing in the courtyard for half a day as punishment didn’t even count as a minor reprimand.

Shen Shi hadn’t expected her mother-in-law to tear off all pretense and actually punish her by making her stand in the courtyard. She had no way to counter it.

So, she responded by sticking to her original plan—continuing to lie in bed and feign illness.

The eldest young mistress was ill on and off for a month, and the small kitchen in Phoenix Ripple Courtyard fell into complete chaos.

The overseer, Mama Hu, did no proper work all day. Instead, she either accompanied Granny He stewing meat and drinking wine or pilfered things openly and secretly for her own home.

The supplies meant for the small kitchen were all privately divided among a few of them, leaving those below to suffer.

This time, it wasn’t just the Ning family’s lifelong servants who suffered—even the servants who had accompanied Shen Shi from her maiden family were affected.

Every day, the communal meals consisted only of coarse rice and watery vegetable soup, utterly tasteless.

Pear Moon ate pickled vegetables mixed with rice for several days in a row and felt her teeth growing sharp.

At her age, she was particularly fond of tasty food. Starving until her stomach felt hollow, she even dreamed of gnawing on her fingers.

One day, watching Mama Hu slaughter a chicken, she could no longer resist. Seizing the moment when Mama Hu wasn’t paying attention, she stole two sets of chicken offal.

She washed the chicken intestines, gizzards, and hearts, then secretly marinated them with leftover wine lees.

Pear Moon had also saved some dried star anise and dried ginger, and she broke off a sprig of cassia twig, adding them all to the chicken offal.

Returning to her small room, she closed the doors and windows, secretly set up a clay pot on the charcoal stove, and stewed a large bowl of chicken giblets.

The three of them mixed it with coarse rice and devoured it, not leaving even a drop of the broth.

“Thank goodness Xiao Yue knows how to cook! I wish Mama Hu would slaughter a chicken every day!”

After finishing the meal, Autumn Abundance and Huan Huan thought about having to eat watery soup with rice again the next day and grew even more despondent.

Eat stewed chicken giblets every day? What kind of good fortune would that be!

While stewing the chicken giblets, Pear Moon heard Mama Hu cursing someone in the kitchen.

She viciously yelled, cursing the little bastard who stole the chicken offal, wishing them a gut-wrenching, agonizing death.

Tomorrow, forget about chicken offal—she wouldn’t even be able to steal chicken blood.

“We really have no choice—let’s buy something to eat.”

Pear Moon had just saved up a little money. Though reluctant to spend it, filling their stomachs came first.

Even the most skilled cook can’t make porridge without rice—she had all the skills but no ingredients.

In Ningguo Mansion, the masters were particular about not eating improperly butchered meat and disdained many lowly foods.

Back when Aunt Cao was in charge of the kitchen, Pear Moon could use kitchen scraps to make decent meals for the few of them.

Fish offal, crispy lard cracklings, goose feet, chicken claws, pig blood, and offal, along with extra seasonal vegetables—they could all share some.

Now, with Mama Hu in charge, she was extremely mean and stingy. When she stole things, she took everything, not leaving even a withered blade of grass for others. Even the storehouse was so empty it could starve rats.

Huan Huan’s face had grown thin from hunger, and Autumn Abundance, unable to eat her fill, spoke much less than before.

Fortunately, her godmother, Madam Liu, sent Pear Moon some salted duck.

Seeing the watery vegetable soup in Pear Moon’s bowl, she suppressed her anger and cursed a few words.

After all, Phoenix Ripple Courtyard was Shen Shi’s domain, and no one dared to cross Mama Hu now.

Madam Liu couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She took Pear Moon and the other two to the Main Kitchen’s stove for a proper meal.

The Main Kitchen served braised pork with preserved mustard greens, stewed greens with lard cracklings, lamb offal and vermicelli soup, and rice without barnyard grass.

Every dish had a touch of meat and smelled delicious. Pear Moon wolfed down three bowls.

In principle, the coarse maids from Phoenix Ripple Courtyard weren’t allowed to eat here.

But the overseer of the Main Kitchen, Granny Qin, saw them looking like wolf cubs that had starved for three days and didn’t say anything else.

Eating a few extra meals at the Main Kitchen was fine once or twice, but it couldn’t go on for long.

The next day, when Jade Ink heard about it, she also sent them some food.

The Tranquil Study didn’t have a kitchen, so she could only occasionally send some pastries. They couldn’t rely on her all the time.

After two days of eating salted duck with rice, Pear Moon’s mind began to wander again.

Shen Shi pretended to be sick every other day, and the kitchen courtyard wasn’t busy, so everyone was left to their own devices.

She wanted to continue her small food business, and using it to supplement her meal expenses was the best idea.

But she couldn’t sell pickled radishes anymore—for one, making them took up too much space, and for another, they were too plain to eat.

She wanted to make something that could fetch a good price and also be something she could eat herself.

Salted duck was an excellent choice—savory and delicious, it went well with rice and could serve as a treat when there was no meat.

Pear Moon was familiar with the craft of salting ducks; the trouble was buying fresh duck eggs and bringing them into the estate.

She took advantage of a free moment to find Madam Liu, asking where duck eggs were bought and requesting her godmother to help her buy some.

Not even two days later, Pear Moon, along with Autumn Abundance and Huan Huan, carried a large basket of fresh duck eggs back through the side gate.

In addition to ordinary red-oil salted duck eggs, Pear Moon also made spiced salted duck eggs with added seasonings.

Fresh duck eggs cost five coins each, and with the cost of wine, salt, spices, firewood, and other materials, the total expense was about eight coins.

She planned to sell the red-oil salted duck eggs for twenty coins and the spiced salted duck eggs for thirty coins.

Pear Moon calculated carefully: for the three of them, thirty coins a day was enough to eat well, and anything left over would be profit.

Her little plan was well thought out—in seven or eight days, she would start making a profit.

But unexpectedly, early that morning, Jade Ink came to find her, saying that Miss Ning wanted to see her.

Miss Ning lived in the Jade Truth Pavilion, located in the backyard of Madam Ning’s Brocade Prosperity Hall.

A winding, carved corridor surrounded three main chambers, with a two-story embroidery tower at the back.

Several blush-pink crabapple trees, white jade fishbowls filled with white lotus and goldfish, and many golden birdcages hung along the corridor.

The elegant and tranquil small courtyard exuded a faint floral fragrance—Pear Moon had never been inside before.

“Xiao Yue, come take a look. Can you make all these pastries?”

Miss Ning sat on an embroidered soft cushion, smiling as she looked at Pear Moon and handed her a slip of paper.

“Do you know how to read? Let Jade Ink read it for you.”

The handwriting on the paper was delicate and graceful, likely Miss Ning’s own, filled with the names of various pastries.

Jujube paste and yam cake, lotus root starch and osmanthus sugar cake, soft cheese cake, poria and milk cake, sugar-steamed chestnut flour cake.

Pear Moon recognized many of the characters related to food and quickly nodded.

She knew how to make all these pastries, having learned from her godmother, Madam Liu, when she was young.

Seeing her nod, Miss Ning smiled and asked, “Would you dare to make them in front of others?”

Why wouldn’t she dare?

Pear Moon might not have many other skills, but when it came to anything involving food, she was most confident.

“These pastries are commonly eaten, and this servant can make them in front of others.”

“What a clever child, and so articulate too. Miaotong, bring some candy for her to eat!”

Miss Ning was very pleased and grabbed a handful of candies and preserved fruits, telling Miaotong to take Xiao Yue aside to eat.

“Miss Tan’s cook doesn’t know how to make local pastries. I promised her last time that I’d bring a cook from our estate to teach them. I originally planned to find someone from the Main Kitchen, but I didn’t want to trouble Mother. Jade Ink, the Xiao Yue you recommended is excellent.”

So it was about going to the Tan family to make pastries.

In just a few days, Miss Ning and Miss Tan had become as close as sisters.

Jade Ink smiled and said, “When it comes to steamed and baked pastries, Aunt Liu from the Main Kitchen does them well, but taking her would seem too grand. Xiao Yue is Aunt Liu’s goddaughter, and she’s just as skilled.”

This kind of good fortune falling into her lap was something Pear Moon could only dream of.

Given how generous Miss Tan was with her spending, tomorrow’s reward money was sure to be plentiful.

Just thinking about it made Pear Moon excited, already planning to use the reward money to buy some delicious treats for a feast.

She smiled gratefully at Jade Ink.

Pear Moon was from the small kitchen of Phoenix Ripple Courtyard. Miss Ning, being well-mannered, had sent Miaotong over to inform them.

Mama Hu was secretly drinking wine in the kitchen, half-drunk and half-sober, and readily agreed.

Early the next morning, Pear Moon changed into a water-red silk dress and jacket, combing her hair into a sleek maid’s bun.

Miaotong took her to the Main Kitchen, where they selected many ingredients for making pastries, piling them together with the gift boxes.

Only then did they board the carriage, following Miss Ning’s sedan chair as they left the Duke’s residence.