Chapter 32 : Adopted Daughter

Having subdued Hongshan, Yuxi was in a good mood.

She continued saying a few more words, “Your cousin is a bitter person, but the most crucial thing is that she is timid, so she is easily being trampled by other people’s feet.” To be the Old Madam’s personal maid servant, one had to have two brushes (Chinese idiom : be skilful at certain extent), therefore it excluded the possibility of having a temper or being weak. The only thing left was her fear of abandonment. When you had misgivings in your heart, you would give in again and again.

Hongshan was horrified. She didn’t even told her about what kind of person her cousin was. “How did Miss know that my cousin is timid?”

Yuxi chuckled, “Your father is a man with high position in Duke of the State’s official residence. Will he be afraid of a juren? Your cousin must have some misgivings if she submits to humiliation. “

Hongshan said with a bitter smile, “What Miss meant was, my cousin was afraid that her children would suffer, so she was ready to compromise. Now, she has agreed to take concubines for her husband.”

Yuxi said, “Your cousin’s concession will only make her family becoming even worse and her bitter days will not stop despite that.”

Hongshan felt a little sluggish as she looked up at Yuxi and said, “Miss, I haven’t received less of my cousin’s kindness before, so I want to help her.”

Yuxi actually felt that Hongshan had a good temper as she knew how to repay back her favor, “Tell your cousin to say these to her husband, the rushing fear of sorrow, the sorrowful fear of the horizontal, the horizontal fear of not killing. There are many juren in the world, not many more than your brother-in-law, and not a few less than him. As long as your cousin dare to throw caution to the wind, then your cousin would not be the one in fear, but your brother-in-law.”

Hearing this, Hongshan felt shocked and she immediately kowtow to Yuxi, “Thank you very much for Miss’ advice.”

Yuxi laughed and said, “Don’t be too busy kowtowing to me. If your cousin does not dare to do it, then, what I have said become meaningless. “ In fact, as long as Hongshan’s cousin stood up for herself, there would be nothing for her to be afraid of.

Thinking of her last life, Yuxi suddenly was in a bad mood. Speaking of which, she had also become a doormat because she was too weak. Unlike now, which servants of the Duke of the State’s residence dared to show their face in front of her?

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Teacher Song declared that she would have holidays, which lasted until after the Lantern Festival. That meant it would be more than twenty days of vacations for her.

Yuxi didn’t slack off despite the long holiday. She still wrote big characters honestly that night and took out the qipu (Chinese chess manual) to ponder.

Seeing this, Mama Shen could not help said, “Miss, didn’t Teacher Song said that your painting is good? So, why doesn’t Miss painted more?” Diligence made perfect, and if you didn’t practice all the time, you would not learn well.

Yuxi answered simply and clearly, “Not interested.” No matter how well she painted, she could not become a famous artist. In fact, even if Yuchen’s painting was sold for a huge sum of money later, it was because of her identity, not because her painting was really worth that much money.

Yuxi knew how much weight she had. She had good qualifications, but only higher than the average person, though far when compared with Yuchen. However, one’s energy was limited. If one wanted to learn everything, one could not learn anything well. So now, except for the time she studied in class, she would spend her spare time on chess and embroidery. Painting was just a passing thing. Learning chess was to better train one’s abilities in all aspects. Embroidery was because she had a deep foundation in this stuff. She could do it well even if she was given a little time, saving time and trouble.

Mama Shen did not flinch from Yuxi’s remark. Instead, she said, “Miss, you still have to learn painting well. In the future, when you go out to socialize after you married, you will have a skill to attract attention.” In fact, she thought that it was best to learn a musical instrument, which was also much pleasant for people to listen to. It was just that, no matter how she persuaded, Yuxi would not willing to learn.

Yuxi didn’t want to listen to Mama Shen’s nagging any more, as she couldn’t understand why it was right to do according to their thought. No, it was actually to follow the path set by the Old Madam. One Yuchen was enough, so why dragged her along? “As you can see, I am very busy everyday and have no time to paint.”

Mama Shen glanced at Yuxi and saw no displeasure on her face. She continued saying, “As long as Miss doesn’t spend all Miss time on chess, Miss will have time to paint.”

Yuxi pulled a face because of her family. “I know what to learn and what not to learn. I don’t need you to teach me.” She gave Mama Shen some face, then she still opened a dyeing workshop (T/N: I believe this sentence supposed to be an idiom, but I can’t find anything about it online or maybe I had searched for it the wrong way. I, personally believe it means the same thing as give someone an inch, they’ll take a mile. Probably. – sweating – ).

Hearing Yuxi’s harsh words, Mama Shen’s face turned choking red.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Mama Fang entered the residence.

Mama Fang was now wearing a new pine-colored long jacket, a combed bun, pinned with a long red-gold hairpin on her head, and gold earrings on her ears. She looked like a wealthy old lady.

Yuxi saw Mama Fang and said with a smile, “These days, mama has been working hard.”

Mama Fang touched the long hairpin on her bun and said with a smile, “It is also because of me towing some of Miss’ blessing.” People in Duke of the State were all liked to look at people served their dishes (Chinese idiom : acting snobbish). If she came dressed in plain and shabby clothes, they would certainly looked down upon her. Now, she specially dressed with riches and honor to return to the residence. This also could make everyone to be more convinced that her baozi shop did made money.

Yuxi waved the crowd back, leaving only Mama Fang inside the room. She then asked, “Mama, have you brought all the things I asked you to bring?” She made a list for Mama Fang and asked her to purchase the items listed in the list.

Kushen/kuh-seng

Image credit to duoclieu via pharmacognosy (Flavescent sophora root (Kushen)-Sophora flavescens Ait., April 18, 2012)

Mama Fang pointed to the parcel she had brought and said, “Miss, I have brought everything! Miss, what do you buy these things for?“ Miss’ list was also bizarre. She demanded things like kushen, centipede, musk, etc. Among them, musk and centipede also needed to be in powder form.

Yuxi did not hide her words towards the mama who would be involved in the process and said, “I accidentally saw a prescription for removing scars in an ancient book and wanted to give it a try. If it is well made, I will sell it. At that time, we will have plenty of money and mama will not have to work so hard. “

Mama Fang felt that Yuxi was joking, “Miss, it costed me more than forty taels of silver to buy these herbs. Can this jade paste be sold back to the Benma (T/N: Probably a name of a medicine shop?) ?“

Yuxi smiled and said, “How would mama know if we haven’t try? If we really mix the ointment according to recipe and sell them out, by then, we will make a lot of profit.“ Selling them into the inner Palace was something unneeded for her to explain. While in the market, a really good scar cream box would sell for several silvers each. By personally creating the ointment, it will certainly fetch a good price.

The things Mama Fang brought were not complete, It was missing a single ingredient, pearl powder. However, the price of pearl powder was too expensive. If it was not cost-effective to buy it outside, then, Yuxi wanted to get it from inside the residence.

Mama Fang felt a little distressed and said, “I was afraid of losing money.” The main reason was that she didn’t believe that Yuxi could create any scar-removing ointment. She also thought that Yuxi was only wasting money.

Yuxi smiled and said, “If we can make it, it will be one to ten-thousand (Chinese idiom : highly profitable). If we can’t make it, we only a loss a few tens taels of silvers. I can still afford to lose that much.” She wanted to buy a property with the money she earned from selling the ointments. She was not ambitious either. She wanted to buy one or two storefronts and one or two hundred mu (unit of area equal to one fifteenth of a hectare) of fertile lands, which could ensure that she would not need to worry about money in the future.

Mama Fang knew that Yuxi had a big idea and she could not stop her. She said, “Miss, the business of baozi shop now is getting better and better. With that, it will make more and more money. Last month, it made more than forty taels of profit !”

Image credit to sanda via Wikipedia by Ghostexorcist (Lei tai) .

Yuxi nodded her head and said, “Mama, the recipe for the baozi stuffing must not be known to other people. Otherwise, someone will want to fight on the leitai (Chinese old words : to take up a challenge at someone).“

Mama Fang smiled and said, “Miss is too oversensitive. It’s just a matter of stuffing. Where is it worth for people to cast their eyes on?”

Yuxi looked at Mama Fang with a not to accept as correct (Chinese idiom : to disapprove) face and could not help but gave out a wry smile. It was also fortunate that the Duke of the State’s business reputation also took care of outside matters. Otherwise, if the baozi shop was managed according to Mama Fang’s idea, it would have been closed down long ago. “Mama Fang, the recipe of the boazi stuffing must not being told to others, unless it is given with a life contract in your hand.” Having a life contract meant having the power to fight back and not worried about being betrayed.

Mama Fang listened to Yuxi’s words and said with some embarrassment, “Miss, I want to take a disciple and teach her how to make baozi.”

Hearing this, Yuxi immediately asked, “Does mama has a candidate?” If there was no candidate, Mama Fang mother would not have told her directly.

Mama Fang nodded and said, “Well, the child’s name is Xiao Wei. She is 12 years old this year and lives in Shangyuan Street, not far from my shop. She is a cute and filial child, very likable and quick at learning. If I were to teach her, I believe it would only take me three months for her to be good in making them. “

Yuxi asked, “How did Mama Fang knew her?”

A smile appeared on Mama Fang’s face. “Xiao Wei’s mother always come to the shop to buy baozi. Gradually, we knew each other after meeting a lot.” Actually, Mama Fang and Xiao Wei’s mother talked a lot with each other, creating a good relationship between the two.

When Yuxi heard that Xiao Wei’s mother had bought the steamed buns, she did not ask any other questions, but straightforwardly asked the main question, “Did the other party promise to sign the life contract?” There were good people in the world, but there were more bad-minded people.

Mama Fang shook her head and said, “Miss, Xiao Wei has already made a promise. How can I ask her to sign the contract? However, both families have promised that if I accept Xiao Wei, even if she marries in two years, she can still continue working in the baozi shop, as long as she is paid monthly wages. “

Yuxi looked at Mama Fang’s smiling face and sighed slightly in her heart. Nine times out of ten, the family had watched the baozi shop started making money and came up with the idea of asking for the stuffing recipe. It wasn’t that Yuxi looked down on Mama Fang, but from Moju and Motao who were trained by Mama Fang that she knew about Mama Fang not being a very sharp kind of person. Even if she was being calculated, she would not even know. “You can’t teach her.” This will directly said that Mama Fang could not teach, not that she could not teach without signing the contract.

The smile on Mama Fang’s face froze. “Miss, why can’t I teach her? That child is really good, filial and sensible.”

Yuxi was keenly aware that there was still something else in that statement by Mama Fang, “Mama, do you still having anything else to tell me?”

Mama Fang’s said somewhat unnaturally, “Xiao Wei is a lovely child. I have promised to recognize her as my daughter.”