When Heir Zheng reached the outer courts parlour, he saw two young men dressed in black robes, already seated and waiting for him.
He quickly strode forward, and the two young men stood up to welcome him.
"Heir Zheng."
"Ah, senior brothers, please don't stand on ceremony. Please call me Tiancheng. Sit down, sit down."
Of the two young men, one of them was exceptionally handsome; of course, that was Xiao Bojian. The other young man, Qi Minhe, lived in the same place as Xiao Bojian. He had a square face and thick eyebrows, and he looked a little old.
Qi Minhe came from one of the great clans of Jiangnan, and he was very loyal to his clan. The two young men were top students of the Imperial College. They were both about twenty years old, the time when many youths were filled with lofty aspirations.
When Qi Minhe saw that Heir Zheng had come holding a container in his hands, he found it strange and asked, "Tiancheng, what are you holding there?"
Heir Zheng chuckled secretively and invited the two of them to sit by a table. He then ordered the maidservants to pour some sencha for them.
He placed the container on the table carefully and said, "These are snacks from the Jingan Estate."
Qi Minhe was born from nobility and was used to all sorts of delicacies. He was extremely particular about anything he ate. Having studied at the Imperial College for more than three years, Qi Minhe knew all about the food served in every single estate in the capital. He had researched the topic until he knew it like the back of his hand. The Jingan Estate's snacks were famous, but he had never had the chance to try any before. When he heard that Tiancheng was currently in possession of some, he was both surprised and elated.
Xiao Bojian blanked out for a moment; the Jingan Estate was Chu Lian's husband's family. The image of the young man he had seen accompanying Chu Lian in the Ying Estate flashed through his mind.
With elegantly arched brows, a cold aura, and thin lips, that man had placed himself between him and Chu Lian, held onto her hand, and left, without even letting him have another look at her.
Heir Zheng noticed that Xiao Bojian was in a daze. "Senior Xiao?"
"We'll be enjoying these snacks all thanks to you then, Tiancheng."
Heir Zheng smiled freely and opened up the container, which still felt cool. There was thick cotton cloth stuffed on the inside, keeping heat out of the box and maintaining the cool temperature inside.
When Heir Zheng saw the desserts within the box, he froze for a moment. "This.."
"Tiancheng, what happened?"
Heir Zheng brought out the desserts in the box, still a little shaken. "Look at this."
He had eaten plenty of different snacks before, including even the ones from the palace, but never had Heir Zheng ever seen such beautiful, distinctive snacks like these before.
Xiao Bojian and Qi Minhe were equally stunned.
Qi Minhe lamented, "No wonder everyone says that the Jingan Estate's snacks are the best amongst the noble families. They are indeed extraordinary."
The water droplet lying upon the lotus leaf trembled like a real dewdrop.
However, Heir Zheng frowned slightly.
Qi Minhe noticed that he looked a little off, so he called to him, perplexed. "Tiancheng?"
Heir Zheng looked up at the two men. "Truth be told, I've eaten the snacks from the Jingan Estate many times. They really are as delicious as rumoured, but it's the first time I've seen a dessert like this."
After saying so, Heir Zheng recalled what his grandmother had told him when she had given him the desserts. Grandmother had said that these were made by the new Third Young Madam of the Jingan Estate.
When he remembered that, Heir Zheng quickly sent his personal manservant off to the inner court to ask the old duchess.
"Oh? Has House Jingan changed the way they make their pastries?" Qi Minhe chuckled.
"Grandmother told me that these were made by the Third Young Madam of House Jingan."
The other two didn't notice when Xiao Bojians entire body stiffened; it was a cruel coincidence that the next joke out of Qi Minhes mouth was, "The Third Young Madam of House Jingan? Eh? Isn't that the granddaughter of Old Duke Ying?"
He turned to Xiao Bojian. "Bojian, Old Duke Ying is your sponsor. Have you seen this Third Young Madam for yourself when you were at the Ying Estate?"
Even though his body was still a little stiff, Xiao Bojian replied with a normal expression, "Although I lived in the Ying Estate for some time, how could I, an outsider, possibly have entered the inner court of a duke's estate? Don't joke around."
He had an open face and good looks, so it was hard for people to doubt him. Qi Minhe quickly apologised. "I went too far."
They chatted as they watched the maidservants pour sencha for them. Finally, the manservant that Heir Zheng had sent to the old duchess returned.
"How was it?" Heir Zheng asked.
The manservant slightly bowed to show his respect as he said, "Reporting to the heir. The Jingan Estates resident pastry chef passed away in a kitchen fire two days ago. The desserts that the duchess brought back today were indeed made by the Third Young Madam of House Jingan. She even named the dessert as raindrop mochi."
Heir Zheng was a little stunned. What a pity that the amazing pastry chef was gone just like that. However, a cook was just a servant to the nobility; if they were gone, then they were gone.
Heir Zheng didn't say anything more and waved the manservant away.
"Come, let's stop talking. I was told that these desserts don't keep for long. Senior brothers, why don't you have a taste?"
They took up little silver spoons and tasted each of the desserts. Heir Zheng and Qi Minhes eyes lit up, and they only had praise for the desserts.
There was something special about pairing the refreshingly smooth raindrop mochi with sencha.
Only Xiao Bojian dwelled on his bitter feelings alone, a dark glint flashing through the depths of his eyes.
He thought of the girl who had now become the Third Young Madam of House Jingan: a tender, gentle, brave and careful woman. If not for her engagement, perhaps she would be personally brewing soups for him at home right now.
The first person to taste this new, delicious raindrop mochi would have been him. The person showing off his perfect wife in front of his fellow students would also be him.
Under the cover of his broad sleeves, his hands curled into fists until his knuckles turned white.
Meanwhile, back at the Jingan Estates Songtao Court, Chu Lian was peacefully sleeping, completely unaware of all that had transpired.
After eating the desserts with the servants, Chu Lian had retired to her bedroom.
There was a small study by the bedroom she shared with He Sanlang, and it was meant for her use. It wasn't very big, but since it was right next to the bedroom, it was convenient.
Chu Lian whiled away her afternoon inside the small study. The books she had brought over from the Ying Estate were placed on the bookshelves here, as well as the books that the Jingan Estate had added on. There weren't many of them. On the bottom most shelf, there was a pear blossom wood container with copies of some of the works by a few famous calligraphy masters.
In the original story, although Chu Lian hadn't been exceptional in calligraphy, her handwriting had still been neat, delicate, and pretty.
Chu Lian didn't have any big ambitions, but she still understood that her calligraphy skills weren't good enough. She couldn't even read all of the traditional Chinese characters in that comedy book she had been reading she usually just guessed at them.
Thus, come afternoon, Chu Lian sent away her maidservants and left Xiyan to guard the door outside. Then, in the safety of the study, she practised her writing in secret, making use of an empty book that she had found earlier.
After writing for two hours, Chu Lian tossed the previously empty book into the charcoal brazier and burned it. She had a good memory, so the two hours of practice was good enough to learn over a hundred or so characters. Chu Lian was pretty satisfied with her progress.
Following her calligraphy practice, Chu Lian sent Xiyan out to bring back the box she kept her money and accessories in. She wanted to see exactly how much money she had.
Senior Servant Gui watched from the side.
First, Chu Lian looked at the public account books, where the expenses of their courtyard had been recorded. Every month, they would be given a stipend from the Jingan Household. Of course, the salaries of all the servants in their courtyard were to be paid from this stipend.
There were almost eighty taels of silver in the public account. These were saved up from the time when He Changdi had been the sole master residing in this courtyard, and when there had been fewer servants around.
Otherwise, in most situations, the stipend wouldn't be enough to cover the monthly expenses, and they would have to fork out a portion of their own personal accounts.
Chu Lian put down the account books and ordered Xiyan to open up the chest where they kept the silver for daily expenses. It was a huge chest with several layers, but only the first layer contained anything: a few silver ingots, some loose silver pieces, and a few strings of bronze coins.
There were fifty taels in total.
Together with the silver she had gotten on the day of her wedding, and after giving Senior Servant Gui a hundred taels, she only had four hundred taels left with her.
She hadn't saved much from when she was still living at the Ying Estate. Furthermore, her mother had died when she was young, so she didn't have any silver lying around.
In total, she only had about four hundred and fifty taels of silver she could use.
Although Chu Lian's expression didn't change at all, Senior Servant Gui and Xiyan appeared to be holding back their emotions.
Their mistress had lost her mother at a young age, and wasn't in favour at the Ying Estate. Chu Lian's stepmother, Third Madam, had kept Third Young Madam's dowry in her clutches. Third Master wasn't on her side either. The Ying Household all thought that their Sixth Miss must have had some tremendous luck to marry into the Jingan Estate, and that she would be rolling in riches. The misses of the second branch were all jealous of her, so of course, none of them would contribute anything to the dowry of Sixth Miss.
If not for the Jingan Estate adding on a little to the dowry, then this pitiful amount would have been mocked by all.
As a legitimate daughter of the family, her dowry couldn't even be compared to the dowry of an illegitimate daughter who was favoured.
After marrying into the He Family, Sixth Miss had also been treated callously by Third Young Master
It was fortunate that their Sixth Miss wasnt upset over her marriage, otherwise she would have probably gotten sick from anger.
Chu Lian wasn't bothered by what the servants next to her were likely thinking.
She picked up the last box.
This was her accessory box, and she had kept it since she was a young girl.
After so many years, she only had this one box of accessories. Looking down at the box, Chu Lian felt a pang of sympathy for the original owner of this body.
At the very least, she was a legitimate daughter of a dukes estate. However, her clothing and accessories were way too poor for her status. No wonder her personality had warped like that.
Anyone's personality would change if they grew up in such an environment.
Chu Lian retrieved the key she carried on her and opened up the box.
The craftsmanship of the box was exquisite. There were ten layers in total, and each layer was lined in bronze. There were even complicated-looking patterns carved on top.
The bottommost layer in the box held the accessories she had been given when she was just born. Senior Servant Gui had told her that she had probably worn them when she was around a year to three years old.
There weren't many accessories she could wear in her infancy. So, this layer only had a few pairs of gold bracelets and anklets, as well as some necklaces and flowers made from gold and pearls. After rummaging about in the box, there were even a few good jade ornaments. It was clear that the original Chu Lian had been treated well when she had just been born, since she was Third Master's first child.
The accessories in the second layer were the accessories she had worn after she had turned three.
There were a few head accessories, but it was obvious that they weren't as exquisitely made as the ones from her infancy. As she went through the layers, there were fewer and fewer accessories that were actually worth something. After the age of ten, there wasn't even a single gold accessory in the tray.
All the accessories in the box weren't fit to wear now, because they had all been used before. Chu Lian picked out a few jade ornaments that had sentimental value, then sorted the gold accessories from the silver. She passed them to Senior Servant Gui and instructed her to have them melted into gold and silver pieces for future use.
After organising the box a little, Chu Lian turned to the accessory case she was currently using.