Chapter 3

Chapter 3

That was what she said, but I never actually saw her wash with plant ash.

Liar!

Feng Zhaoqiu had no idea what I was grumbling about. She pushed me out of the kitchen and told me to invite the neighbors next door over for dinner.

“Next door is the Jiang Family. There are five of them in all, but the couple and their eldest son are away doing business most of the year. Usually, only Granny Jiang and the Jiang family’s younger girl are home.

“The Jiang family’s younger girl is about your age. You two should be able to get along.”

I stood at the courtyard gate for a long while, unable to take a step out.

Highborn young ladies in the capital would never do such a thing. When hosting a banquet, who didn’t send servants with invitations ten days or half a month in advance? Since when did one have to go in person right before the meal to invite guests?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I slapped myself hard across the face.

This was not the capital, and I was no highborn young lady. My mother was a peasant woman, so I was a village girl. Where did I get the nerve to fuss over so many rules?

I pushed open the door and tried to walk the way Feng Zhaoqiu did. Somehow, I found a bit more composure.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the Jiang Family’s door.

The one who opened it was the Jiang family’s younger girl. Her skin was a little dark, and her eyes were big and bright. Standing there, she looked like a sturdy blade of grass.

She smiled and said, “You must be Auntie Feng’s daughter? Your eyes are exactly like Auntie Feng’s. So pretty!”

Exactly alike?

When I was little, I had often heard people say that too. Only, back then, they had been talking about Madame Yan and Luo Rou.

I had once held a mirror and examined myself from every angle, trying to find something on this face that resembled Madame Yan. But after searching and searching, aside from the fact that we both had two eyes and one mouth, there was nothing else even remotely similar.

Touching the outer corner of my eye, I asked, “You could tell at a glance?”

Jiang Rui said, “At a glance. Auntie Feng has phoenix eyes, and so do you. Only, you’re much prettier than Auntie Feng!”

Jiang Rui’s voice was not exactly quiet. Feng Zhaoqiu heard her, and her voice immediately came through the wall. “Auntie was pretty when she was young too!”

Just then, Granny Jiang came out of the main room. Puzzled, she asked, “What tail? Chicken tail? That’s tender. Save it for me.”

Granny Jiang was old, and neither her ears nor her legs worked very well anymore.

Jiang Rui stepped forward to support her and laughed. “Do you even need to say that? When has Auntie Feng ever not saved it for you?”

Feng Zhaoqiu had made a whole table of dishes. Chicken, duck, fish, and meat-it had everything. Jiang Rui teased, “It’s like New Year’s. I get to benefit from Sister Nianzhi’s arrival too.”

But dishes like these would never have made it to the table in a household of bells and cauldrons.

Among the nobility, substantial food was often considered inferior, while insubstantial food was prized. If they killed a chicken, they would not eat the meat; they would eat bamboo shoots simmered in the chicken broth. Those who ate meat were not as refined as those who ate vegetables, and those who ate vegetables were not as refined as those who ate flowers. Whoever could live on wind and dew was practically an immortal.

Feng Zhaoqiu had once been the daughter of an official’s family, so of course she understood that the best she could give me was still not as good as the scraps that slipped through Madame Yan’s fingers.

That was why, when Jiang Rui praised her, she looked a little guilty.

I saw it all. I picked up a piece of chicken and chewed it in big bites.

Madame Yan did not love me. Even letting a little slip through her fingers for me felt like a waste to her.

Feng Zhaoqiu loved me. Even when she offered up everything with both hands, she still felt she owed me.

If I still could not appreciate that, then I would truly be a fool.