The Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan

Chapter 26

Unlike her two elder sisters who lamented and cried at the news, when Minglan heard that there would be no need for her to attend class anymore, the first thing
she did was to order Xiao Tao to hand her a request for a leave of absence to Changdong – suspend those mornings of independent study for three days! Your
older sis wants to rest and recuperate.
After over a decade of studying in her previous life, Yao Yiyi was thoroughly sick of it. Attending Teacher Zhuang's classes had just been a way for her to find
out more about this time period she had landed in. After all, she could not always be bothering the young maids and servants of this household with questions
like, "what's the name of the emperor? Which one is he?" Yet with these few years of study, she had already gained all the knowledge of worldly affairs that she
ought to know.
For the past year, Teacher Zhuang had been shifting the focus of his lessons towards the writing of Eight-Section Essays and Political Analysis
(https://www.rebirth.online/novel/the-legend-of-concubine-daughter-minglan/26#[1]). All through her life, Minglan had only written Court Trial Records, which
never required comparison or contrast, and also never had a word limit. The moment Teacher Zhuang began his lessons, she would begin to feel drowsy. An excuse to escape from these classes was something she had been longing for for some time.
After dinner, she pushed her books aside, washed her little face and little feet, then happily went to bed. Having no need to worry about waking early the next
day, she slept sweetly that night and woke with a small lazy stretch, feeling well-rested and filled with energy.
It was now nearing the end of summer and beginning of winter. The sky was bright and clear and Minglan felt like a child whose summer holidays had just
begun.
After she had wished her elders good morning, she went to Cui Mama for a fishing rod and a fishing basket to the Manor's lotus pond to fish. Cui Mama knew
that Minglan had always been mature and sensible and acknowledged the effort she put into her studies as well as educating her younger brother and thus agreed
to this request. She even prepared a basket of bait and ordered Danju and Xiao Tao to take good care of Minglan and make sure she does not fall into the pond
lest she be eaten by the fishes. Minglan just kept nodding her head through the lecture.
In the Sheng Household there were two ponds. The larger one was close to the main buildings that housed Sheng Hong's wife and concubines. The smaller one
was truly tiny, and was close to the Hall of Peaceful Ages and the private school. The lotus, fishes, and shrimps of the larger pond already had people looking
after them. After some thought, Minglan headed straight towards the smaller pond and chose a spot. Danju had set up a small bamboo stool with a large silken
umbrella above. Yancao and Qinsang came, each bearing a pot of tea and a plate of fruits and desserts respectively, and they put those plates on top of a small
bamboo table.
Minglan felt that since this was such a display of pageantry, that she should at least catch a few more than a dozen fishes in order to fit this kind of display. But
then the more impatient she was, the less action there was in the pond.
Fortunately, Xiao Tao was from the countryside, so she had a lot of experience in catching fish and netting shrimps. She taught Minglan how to hook the bait in
and look at the buoy, and under the guidance of this great teacher, there were indeed two stupid fish were caught hook, line, and sinker.
The fish in the little pond were used to a peaceful life, and they've never been caught before, so they were all stupid and dumb. In just an hour, Minglan caught a
couple of fishes, and she was extremely pleased with herself.
Suddenly, she saw a dark shape in the middle of the clear pond water. Her heart raced as she grabbed a long net, and with the help of Xiao Tao, they swished it in
the direction of that dark shape. After a few swishes, everyone looked and saw that it was fat and sedentary soft shelled turtle, who was dumbly pawing at the net.
Overjoyed, Minglan jerked her hands, then took the stupid fish and the fat turtle along with her and hurried directly to the little kitchen in the western courtyard.
When Concubine Lin successfully entered into the Sheng Household, Old Madame Sheng increasingly became disinterested in interacting with other people. She
gave word that she wished to become vegetarian. She ordered a small kitchen with only five or six stoves to be made, and it was cut off from the rest of the
household.
This habit was brought along to the Deng Prefecture; the small kitchen was only responsible for the meals of the residents of the Hall of Peaceful Ages. When the
cooks saw the arrival of the Sixth Young Lady, who was much doted on by Old Madame Sheng, they all respectfully bowed with smiling faces.
Minglan poured out the contents of her creel. She ordered Danju to carry the tilapias and the soft shelled turtle somewhere to keep them in water, and five carps
would be immediately made into meals. Two of the carps would be prepared into two bowls of carp soup, and three of them would become two portions of
scallion seasoned carp fillet. Minglan used her memories from her previous life to give directions to the mamas in control of the kitchen. When lunch began at
noon, one portion was plated onto the table and another portion was sent to Cui Mama, Danju, and Xiao Tao.
In high spirits, Minglan sat at the table and looked towards Old Madame Sheng with her big, blinking eyes. But the Old Madame never started the meal and
instead she kept looking towards the doorway.
Upper class families had strict rules, if the elder didn't start the meal, Minglan dared not even touch her chopsticks. When she was just about to ask her
grandmother, the parting curtain of the door was lifted and an elegant figure wafted into the room. Minglan saw a clear picture of the person, and her mouth hung
open.
"Heng'er should eat more, you still have class in the afternoon, so don't go there hungry. Treat this place as your own home," Old Madame Sheng said kindly to
Qi Heng. She ordered Cui Mama to serve him more food.
Qi Heng smiled, his red lips contrasted against his pearly whites, and replied gracefully with a smile, "This fish is so delicious. Grandmother, you should also
eat... Hm? Why isn't Sixth Younger Sister eating?"
Minglan had kept her head buried inside her bowl, when she finally raised her head slightly. With a smile that didn't reach her eyes, she said. "You should eat,
you should eat."