Translator: 247reader

TLC: Tygris

Chapter Five: Opening a Small Kitchen

In the year since Chu Yi had traveled through time, life had been relatively good thanks to Lady Yan’s orderly management. As for her living any better, it was unlikely to happen . Concubine Yu had passed away several years ago, and living in a place like this, life was always better with someone to protect you. The other daughters, like Chu Xin, were visibly living better lives than Chu Yi.

Chu Yi’s food, clothing, and other expenses were all within the Duke’s Mansion’s allotment. Clothing, needless to say, included four sets of clothes for each of the four seasons. As for food, in addition to three meals a day, she also received snacks and fruits.

There were two plates of dim sum every day, made by the Duke Chu Mansion’s main kitchen, and the taste was pretty good.

Most fruits and vegetables were seasonal.  At a time when many people could not even eat cabbage in winter, Chu Yi was very content to be able to eat pears and grapefruits.

As for dried fruit, that wasn’t considered part of her allotment. The last time she had been able to eat some was over a month ago, during the Lunar New Year. Chu Yi had peeled a few extra pieces on the main courtyard table, but she did not dare to consume them too openly. If she gobbled them down in public as though she’d never had any good food before, she’d anger Lady Yan and cause trouble for herself.

Unexpectedly, the Yong’an Marquis Mansion served dried fruit for their guests. She hadn’t made this visit today in vain.

The early spring was still chilly, so the banquet would be held in the main hall and along the corridors. In these areas, thick curtains hung and charcoal braziers burned to keep the noble guests from feeling chilled.

There were a few cold dishes on the table. Chu Yi glanced at them once, then looked away. She followed Lady Lin forward into the warm interior.

There were quite a few people sitting inside, all dressed in fine clothes. They were gathered in groups of three or five and chatting amongst themselves. Chu Yi didn’t know anyone, so she would speak to whomever Lady Lin spoke, and then silently make a note in her heart.

Lady Lin had thought at first that she would lose face during this visit, but she didn’t. Everyone was courteous, and those who saw Chu Yi generally praised her.

After they had made their last greetings, Lady Lin ordered the maid to replenish the fruits and snacks on the table. “Try some and see if you like them.”

Chu Yi nodded. On the table, she could see sugar-roasted chestnuts, ^[1]Táng chǎo lìzǐ (糖炒栗子), or sugar-roasted chestnuts, are a popular Chinese snack and street food. The shell is partially split, then the whole thing is soaked in melted sugar before it’s roasted. pistachios, hickory nuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, and myriad fruits. It seemed that the Yong’an Marquis Mansion really attached great importance to their young heir’s first birthday banquet.

Chu Yi peeled two chestnuts, a handful of pine nuts, a handful of pistachios, and several hickory nuts.

She found the hickory nuts the best: salty-sweet, crispy, fragrant, and easy to peel. The pine nuts and pistachios were also good; they were uncommon items, and she ate a lot of them. Chestnuts, though, were sold on the street, so she only ate two, just to taste them.

By the time she had finished eating these, it was about time for the banquet to begin..

A first birthday celebration naturally included a Zhuazhou Ceremony. ^[2]During a Zhuazhou (抓周) Ceremony, the child is set in the midst of several items; the first one they pick or show interest in is an omen for their future life. The ceremony has its origins in the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the fifth and sixth centuries AD, and less formal versions are still often held at first birthday parties today. The young heir grabbed a book. Everyone praised this as a good omen, saying, “He must be Wenquxin descended to earth. ^[3]Wenquxing (文曲星), literally “Star of Literature,” is a Chinese god responsible for scholarly success. A number of famous historical officials, including the famous Justice Bao, gained reputations as “Wenquxin descended to earth” themselves. He will be a Zhuàngyuán ^[4]The Zhuàngyuán (状元) placed first in the highest of the official examinations and could generally expect a good post and a bright future as an official. in the Palace Examination and bring his family honor.”

Marquis Yong’an, overjoyed, indulged heavily in wine. Chu Yi, who sat with the female relatives, did not touch any alcohol.

There were ten people at her table. Next to Chu Yi sat Lady Lin. Everyone at the table was a relative of the Yong’an Marquis’ Mansion, and they were all familiar with Lady Lin. There was some small talk during the meal, and as Chu Yi ate, she listened. The southern-style fried meatballs were good, as was the salty braised pork belly. But it wouldn’t do to take too much of any one dish; including a few small portions from each of the other dishes would suffice to fill seven-tenths of her belly.

After dinner, before returning to the Duke’s Mansion, Lady Lin accompanied Lady Xu to see the guests off and say her goodbyes.

There was reluctance on Lady Xu’s face. “Younger Sister, come back often. Third Younger Sister, too. Just treat this place as your own.”

Lady Xu was meticulous in her duties and had also prepared a return gift for her married younger sister-in-law, Lady Lin, which she had a servant bring onto the carriage.

In contrast to their earlier trip, Lady Lin was full of smiles in the carriage. She said to Chu Yi, “When we get back, go to the main courtyard and pay your respects to Mother. Of the two boxes of dried fruits, one will be given to Mother and you can take the other box back with you.”

Chu Yi dodged the offer. “This was given to Eldest Sister-in-law. How can I accept it?”

Seeming unconcerned, Lady Lin said, “We are a family, so why should we care about these things? Just see it as my gift to you.”

She knew that her third younger sister had no concubine-mother and that her life in the Duke’s Mansion was comparatively difficult. Her elder sister-in-law had given her some dried fruits, and she had seen in the main hall that Chu Yi had enjoyed them.

Lady Lin used to eat these often. Besides, she had plenty of money, so she could simply buy some whenever she wanted to eat them.

This was the second time that Chu Yi had ever heard Lady Lin say such words. Thinking back to the time when they had paid their respects together, Lady Lin had also said that family members shouldn’t care about empty formalities, but only with reluctance. At that time, she seemed to have been carrying resentment.

Chu Yi smiled and said, “How dare I not listen to what Elder Sister-in-law says? Thank you, Elder Sister-in-law.”

–

After returning to the Duke’s Mansion, she went to the main courtyard to pay respects to Lady Yan.

Lady Yan said to Chu Yi, “You’ve bustled about for an entire day. Go back and rest. You don’t have to come over tonight.”

It was nice to be relieved from the evening greeting. It was dark and cold in the evenings, and Chu Yi didn’t want to go out. She replied with a “yes” and then took her leave, returning to her own courtyard.

Lady Lin stayed and talked for a while. Chu Yi guessed that she was a topic of conversation.

But she couldn’t hear it, and couldn’t investigate it, so she simply stopped thinking about it.

Liuxia carried her box, which was quite large. After heading inside, untying her cloak, and drinking some hot tea, Chu Yi finally opened it and took a look.

The outer box contained a storage box, which was divided into four small containers, one each of hickory nuts, pistachios, pine nuts, and chestnuts. The box was beautiful and the arrangement was exquisite. It was probably specifically intended as a gift box.

Quite good.

Chu Yi smiled and said, “Let’s keep it in view.”

After giving the instructions, Chu Yi washed up, combed her hair, and took a nap.

She had guessed correctly; Lady Lin and Lady Yan were indeed discussing her.

Lady Lin gave the dried fruit to Lady Yan, saying that it was a little gift from her sister-in-law. Many of the items were rare, so it was a respectable gift. It also gave face for her sister-in-law to bring them back to her.

Lady Yan didn’t pay much attention to these things. She asked about the young heir. “Can he walk yet? What did he grab during the Zhuazhou Ceremony?”

Lady Lin said, “Yes, he can walk; he even reached up to hug me. And he grabbed a small book.”

“It’s good to grab a book. He’ll pass the Palace Examination in the future.” Lady Yan smiled. “It’s a good omen.”

Lady Lin said, “That’s what they said. Today’s banquet went smoothly. Third Younger Sister performed very well. When she spoke up, she always defended her Second Elder Sister. Everyone she met praised her appearance, and I think she’s quiet and easygoing. I didn’t expect her to be so steady at such a young age.”

When talking with others, she never lost face. Chu Jin was outstanding and competitive, and Chu Ying seemed to have no temper at all. But Chu Yi had suffered no losses and saved face for others. Everything was just right.

Lady Yan hadn’t expected Lady Lin to have formed such a high opinion of Chu Yi.

Hearing wasn’t believing; she still needed to see for herself. “That’s good; all the painstaking efforts of myself and the Lord Duke haven’t been wasted. After all, you have suffered because of Ying’er’s matter…”

Lady Lin’s heart tightened. Hurriedly, she said, “How could that be? Second Younger Sister is ill, and returning to Lunan to recuperate was her last resort. I hope that Second Younger Sister will recover and return home soon.”

Whether her words were true or lies, Lady Yan still felt relieved upon hearing them. “As parents, we can’t help but worry about our children. Now, at home, Yi’er has helped to reduce our worries, but everything still depends on you and Yuancheng.”

Lady Lin lowered her head slightly as she listened to the lecture, rejoicing internally that she had heard Chu Yi’s words today. Otherwise, if she’d borne even a hint of a wronged expression right now, a resentful seed would have been planted in her mother-in-law’s heart.

What her mother-in-law had said was correct. The Duke’s Mansion relied on their menfolk. No matter how sensible a girl was, she could only add flowers to brocade. ^[5]Jǐn shàng tiān huā (锦上添花), adding flowers to brocade, means enhancing something already beautiful – depending on context, a similar English idiom could be either “cherry on top” or “gilding the lily.”  When used negatively, it’s usually contrasted with bringing someone charcoal to burn through the snow.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law exchanged a few more words before Lady Yan tiredly rubbed her eyebrows. Seeing this, Lady Lin tactfully took her leave.

The box of dried fruit was still on the table. The Duke’s Mansion had no shortage of such things. With a wave of her hand, Lady Yan asked Nanny Chen to put it away.

Nanny Chen finished cleaning up and knelt down to massage Lady Yan’s legs and relieve her fatigue. “I think the Eldest Lady is very satisfied with the Third Miss.”

The Eldest Lady would only have been so happy if Chu Yi had helped to gain face.

Lady Yan nodded. She suddenly thought of her two daughters.

It was just that by missing Chu Jin and Chu Ying, it seemed as if she was unappreciative of Chu Yi. The Third Miss was a good girl.

Even if she cannot be my biological daughter, she should still be treated well.

Lady Yan felt a bit guilty. “Nanny, send this box to the Third Miss, and add some other items as well.”

Lady Yan didn’t have to worry about what to add; Nanny Chen could take care of it.

Nanny Chen went to Yixia Pavilion. After hearing that Chu Yi had fallen asleep, she laid the gifts down.

Nanny Li offered her a money purse, but Nanny Chen refused to take it. She would inevitably come to Yixia Pavilion again in the future, so there was no need to accept a reward every time.

Chu Yi slept for more than an hour, and when she woke up, it was nice and warm under the quilt.

Lady Yan had said that charcoal would still be distributed for another half-month, but Chu Yi was afraid of the cold. If it was still cold afterwards, she would use her own money to buy charcoal from outside.

There were now more than 120 taels of silver in her account, as well as all that jewelry, so Chu Yi was willing to be generous with herself.

It had already been Wei shi ^[6]Between 1 and 3 PM when Chu Yi returned. She asked the maid and found out that it was now three ke past Shen shi. ^[7]So, roughly 3:45

With no need to go to the main courtyard to pay evening respects, she was thinking about what she wanted to eat.

Actually, Chu Yi wanted to open up her small kitchen – but once the kitchen was opened, she would have to keep it open all the time. She could not first make the request of Lady Yan and then say that she didn’t have enough silver to eat. That would be so embarrassing.

She wouldn’t have to worry about the cook’s monthly salary, because the servants in the Duke’s Mansion were all allocated from the main courtyard and their monthly salary was paid uniformly.

However, she had to cook in the small kitchen and prepare whatever she wanted to eat herself. Naturally, she could not ask her di mother for money for the raw materials.

It was true that she had the silver now, but would it be possible to keep it open forever?

Just as she thought this, Chu Yi heard someone pushing the door open.

It was Liuxia, standing behind the beaded curtain in the inner room. She smiled and said, “Miss, Nanny Chen came in half an hour ago and brought a few things. Would you like to take a look?”

Chu Yi said, “Bring them in so I can see.”

As Liuxia went out to fetch the gifts, Chu Yi couldn’t help but think, “The main courtyard has been coming here to deliver gifts these days, which never happened before.” But, considering the matter from another angle, these were all things that she had earned, and so she felt at peace about it.

Not long after, Liuxia came back with three boxes in her arms. Chu Yi recognized one of them because she had just received one from Lady Lin when they’d returned at noon.

When she opened it, it turned out to be a box of dried fruits.

As for the other two, one contained a box of scallops. Chu Yi remembered that when she had first gone to the main courtyard for breakfast, there had been scallops in the small bowl of seafood porridge.

Though the Duke’s Mansion was powerful, it was the second month, and acquiring these foods from the seaside was difficult. It turned out that they were dry goods.

There was also something of the same kind in the other box. It smelled salty, but it was impossible to tell what it was.

It seemed that even if the small kitchen wasn’t opened yet, it would need to be opened. Chu Yi was reluctant to give this food away as gifts.

Chu Yi closed the box. “Among you all, I remember that Xiachan is the best cook. She made me some soup and it tasted excellent. I’ll move her to the small kitchen first.”

She would talk to Lady Yan about this tomorrow morning.

The first-class maids in the Duke’s Mansion received one tael of silver per month, the second- and third-class maids received half tael per month, ^[8]The salary for the second- and third-class maids is five qian (钱), with a qian, or mace, being 1/10th of a tael. and the cook’s salary was the same as that of a first-class maid.

Xiachan was a second-class maid, so Chu Yi naturally had to tell her di mother if she wanted to send her to the small kitchen.

But in her own courtyard, she still had the final say.

Liuxia was a first-class maid. She and Yunxia were in charge of all matters, big or small, in Yixia Pavilion. Listening, she nodded and said, “I’ll go talk to Xiachan right away.”

Chu Yi said, “Take all these things to the small kitchen.”

Liuxia replied in agreement and moved the items out.

Soon, Xiachan came in and kowtowed to express her gratitude. Once she had finished kowtowing, Chu Yi let her leave.

Now that she had opened up her small kitchen, she could eat more exquisite dishes. From now on, she could eat food from the big kitchen at noon and from the small kitchen at night.

Tomorrow morning, she would likely dine at the main courtyard.

The next day, after greeting everyone, as expected, Chu Yi heard Lady Yan say, “The Third Miss should stay for breakfast. Everyone else, if you have nothing else to discuss, you may depart.”

Chu Yi lowered her head. “Yes, Mother.”

During the meal, Chu Yi said, “Mother, I have something to say.”

Lady Yan replied, “Go ahead.”

Chu Yi said, “This daughter noticed that Xiachan in my courtyard was a good cook, so I moved her to the small kitchen.”

Lady Yan frowned slightly and thought back for a moment. “Her culinary skills are indeed good, meant for work in a kitchen. Your courtyard just opened its small kitchen, so it is inevitable that it will not be fully stocked. If you need anything, please tell the steward.”

The necessary utensils, the pots and pans, and the charcoal all needed to be prepared well.

These would make up the bulk of the expenses, so it would be best if Lady Yan paid for them. Chu Yi smiled and said, “Yes, Mother.”

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