Chapter 73: Creditors at the Door

Pear Moon rose early, stewing refined congee on the small stove for Shen Shi’s breakfast before hurrying back to the small tea room to prepare snacks.

In summer, mornings and evenings were still cool, but the days grew quite hot.

Pear Moon insisted on fresh food, preferring to wake early and work harder rather than serve leftovers from the previous night.

Autumn Abundance often scolded her, calling her a fool for going to such trouble—after all, it wasn’t for herself, and if a mistress like Shen Shi got a stomachache from spoiled food, it served her right.

Pear Moon paid her no mind. To master the kitchen, one couldn’t fear trouble—it made no difference whom the food was for.

In the height of summer, when the heat was intense, even fresh food risked spoiling if left out for too long, let alone overnight.

Fortunately, Ningguo Mansion had its own ice cellar, and ice was available from the fifth month onward.

Every morning when the courtyard gates opened, the steward’s office would send over a delivery.

Large blocks of ice were used to fill Shen Shi’s Bing Jian. With one large and one small Bing Jian in the main chamber, the room stayed cool and pleasant.

The large Bing Jian, made of rosewood bound with copper hoops, stood in the main hall for cooling—a fairly ordinary sight.

But the small Bing Jian in the dressing room, crafted from huanghuali wood, was far more luxurious. Its inner lining was tin-plated, while the exterior was adorned with gilded patterns.

Beneath its gold-lacquered lid was a small sliding panel. When pulled out, it could chill a crystal jar placed on top, cooling fresh fruits and sweet drinks in no time.

These two Bing Jian were part of Third Mistress Shen’s dowry, given to Shen Shi when she married.

The Shen family prided themselves on their integrity, refusing to use ice even during the hottest days of summer, relying instead on lotus seed soup to beat the heat—so the Bing Jian had gone unused.

The small tea room also received its share of ice, stored in an old Bing Jian to chill fruits and cold beverages.

After a busy morning, everything was finally in order. Pear Moon wiped her sweat with a handkerchief.

Shen Shi was visiting the Tan family, and aside from silk fabrics and jewelry as gifts, the most important offerings were food items.

Summer was the season of abundant fresh fruits and preserves, so these were naturally indispensable.

Pear Moon selected the finest and most beautiful, arranging plates of avocados, grapes, sugarcane, and sweet lotus root.

Then Granny Zhao sent someone from the main chamber with agate dishes, bringing over twenty or thirty fresh lychees.

These lychees were large, plump, and crimson in color, chilled on jade plates with ice, their sweet fragrance wafting from afar.

Such premium lychees were beyond the reach of anyone in the capital except the imperial family and nobility—even with silver in hand, ordinary people couldn’t buy them.

After all, Granny Zhao had some insight: when sending gifts to high-ranking ladies, rarity mattered more than extravagance.

A plate of these exquisite lychees would be more impressive than offering dragon liver or phoenix marrow.

Pear Moon dared not be careless, quickly fetching a double-layered food box for packing.

Inside, she packed plenty of crushed ice, cushioned with fine Songjiang cloth to preserve the chill.

The preserves included jade bee frost, honey-preserved cherries, sugared fragrant herbs, and milk sugar hazelnuts, all arranged in fruit boxes.

Additionally, five sacrificial red lacquer plates were filled with patterned steamed crispy sweet cakes.

Just as the four vermilion lacquer plum boxes were neatly packed, commotion erupted from the servants’ quarters.

Before long, Huan Huan and Autumn Abundance came running, laughing so hard they nearly doubled over.

Early that morning, Autumn Abundance had been spreading rumors everywhere, deliberately inciting Xiang Hui’s creditors.

“Sister Xiang Hui serves Fourth Miss with such diligence, it’s almost unbearable. Just to fetch two buckets of bathwater, she quarreled with Xiao Yue and Granny Fan—even Granny Zhao couldn’t stop her. Who knows how much Fourth Miss has rewarded her?”

Xiang Hui had lost money buying pepper and had no savings of her own, leaving her creditors seething with resentment.

Though they knew Shen Si Jier was poor and unlikely to give out much silver, they couldn’t resist Autumn Abundance’s clever persuasion.

“Fourth Miss is to become the second wife, last night she presented shoes and kowtowed, the first wife was so delighted, picking out her favorite clothes and jewelry for her, giving two large bundles and a dressing case. Xiang Hui rushed to flatter her, managing to get quite a few gold and kingfisher feather headpieces to wear. She really is clever-tongued and diligent, no wonder she’s so well-off!”

Upon hearing this, these people immediately grew furious.

Xiang Hui owed them silver and refused to repay it, acting like a stubborn piece of meat, claiming she had no money.

But which of the old women in this courtyard had money to spare?

They all had just ten or eight taels saved for their coffins, which she had swindled away. Who wouldn’t be anxious?

Now, hearing that Xiang Hui had received jewelry and reward silver, several creditors refused to let it go and rushed straight to find her.

At that time, the third-rank maids had just gotten up, washing their faces and combing their hair on the large shared bed.

Three or four old women swarmed in, dragging Xiang Hui straight off the kang, hitting and cursing her, demanding repayment.

Xiang Hui had been up half the night and hadn’t even rubbed her eyes open yet, hurriedly begging for mercy: “Aunties, give me two more days! I’m not going anywhere, beating me won’t get you any money!”

The creditors didn’t believe her, rummaging through her bedding.

Under the pillow, they found a pair of gold gourd earrings, which could be exchanged for ten or eight taels of silver.

The quick-handed one didn’t let anyone snatch them, immediately pocketing them.

The others turned the bedding upside down, not even leaving a needle or thread behind.

A pair of gold earrings wasn’t enough to cover the debt, but it was better than nothing. Xiang Hui had no choice but to settle the account with them.

Autumn Abundance was beaming with joy, nearly laughing herself over.

Hearing about the gold gourd earrings, Pear Moon quickly asked, “Were those gold earrings the ones Fourth Miss wore? At yesterday’s banquet, all the young ladies wore gold bead hairpins with gemstone inlays, only Fourth Miss wore an old silk flower, even plainer than the maids. She only had that pair of gold gourd earrings on her entire person. Xiang Hui actually took them from her? She must be mad for money.”

Huan Huan, tying her apron, tended the fire, while Autumn Abundance washed cups and brewed tea. Both of them spat in disdain.

“If she weren’t out of her mind, would she have dared to make such a fuss last night? Not getting any advantage here, she became so arrogant and shameless, bullying the Shen family’s young lady. Fourth Miss must have been frightened by her and had no choice but to take off her jewelry and give it to her.”

After tidying up the tea room, Shen Shi got up.

Maids and old women lined up and entered the Warm Pavilion, carrying water and incense to serve her as she washed her face and combed her hair.

Four meal-serving women had already brought food boxes from the kitchen to set up breakfast in the Side Hall.

Pear Moon changed her clothes and followed, carrying a box of tea and pastries, waiting under the corridor to be summoned.

Shen Shi sat at the dining table, but Shen Si Jier was late.

She sent a second-rank maid to invite her from the west wing. The maid returned, not daring to speak, only waving to Granny Zhao at the door.

Just as Pear Moon was curious, Autumn Abundance returned from seeing the commotion, leaning against the corridor railing and whispering, “The west wing is in chaos! Xiang Hui is standing with arms akimbo, cursing Fourth Miss! Fourth Miss is crying and wants to kill herself!”

Everyone heard this and craned their necks to look, faintly hearing crying from the west wing.

No matter how poor and unwelcome Shen Si Jier was, she was still Shen Shi’s own younger sister.

Xiang Hui, a mere third-rank maid, had truly gone mad?

So Granny Zhao sent Zhi Qing with others to check, and only then did they get the exact news.

It turned out that two of Xiang Hui’s creditors, after taking the gold gourd earrings, refused to settle the account and wanted to check the quality.

Using cutting shears to break the earrings open, they discovered they were not pure gold.

The outside was gold-plated, the inside filled with mercury beads.

Who knows how old they were, already tarnished black and unsightly.

The old woman, furious, grabbed Xiang Hui by the hair and slapped her several times, refusing to settle the debt.

Filling gold jewelry with mercury to add weight was a common trick used by small gold shops to cheat people.

Xiang Hui was too young and naive to understand such matters.

Seeing it wasn’t pure gold, she immediately flew into a rage, thinking Shen Si Jier had deceived her.

She grabbed the two broken pieces of the gold gourd and dashed like a wisp of smoke to the west wing room, barging into the Warm Pavilion and throwing them right into Shen Si Jier’s face.

“What kind of proper mistress dares to trick me with fake gold? I’ve served in this courtyard for over three years and have never seen such a shameless young lady! Using rough mercury beads disguised as gold to wear—are you trying to kill me? Though I’m a servant, I’m still a proper living being. How dare you try to harm me?”

Shen Si Jier, who had been aggrieved all night and had put on new clothes that morning but worried no one would help style her hair, was momentarily stunned when Xiang Hui kicked the door open and unleashed a torrent of abuse like spilled dog’s blood.

Seeing the concubine’s gold gourd pendant broken into several pieces, oozing dark mercury beads, her face instantly turned deathly pale.