Chapter 38

Seeing that familiar figure, Xu Qinyu knew that her and Fourth Brother’s plan had succeeded—Old Master Wen had written a release letter for Concubine Gui.

The reason it was a release letter and not a divorce or separation was because Concubine Gui, even though she had been elevated to a concubine due to her daughter becoming an empress, was still not considered a proper wife. In simple terms, a concubine was just a title. Even if they wanted to separate, it wouldn’t be the same as a legitimate wife; only a release letter would suffice. If Madam Wen were still the empress, the Wen family might have feared her and given a divorce letter.

In short, a concubine wasn’t considered a proper wife, and even if they went to the authorities, they couldn’t get a divorce—only a release letter would truly sever ties.

Seeing Concubine Gui’s hunched figure, Xu Qinyu called back to the house.

“Mother, Grandmother is back.”

Madam Wen and Ning Jie’er heard the call and rushed out. They helped Concubine Gui into the house. She indeed had the release letter and twenty taels of silver. Xu Qinyu hadn’t expected Old Master Wen to give Concubine Gui twenty taels of silver.

Twenty taels were twenty taels, though it wasn’t much, it was still silver and could be kept as Concubine Gui’s private money.

While wiping her eyes, Madam Wen went to the kitchen to prepare food and heat water, planning to give Concubine Gui a good wash after breakfast.

Xu Qinyu also breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Pei Weixuan.

Pei Weixuan looked at Yuniang, feeling a warmth in his heart.

There were no leftovers from breakfast, as Xu Qinyu always cooked just enough for the family.

Concubine Gui was weak and couldn’t eat anything too nourishing. Since there was still fish at home, Xu Qinyu made fresh fish porridge.

While she cooked the porridge, Madam Wen heated water and helped Concubine Gui wash up. Seeing the sores under Concubine Gui’s arms from the prolonged use of ointment, Madam Wen’s hands trembled.

The ointment inevitably caused some harm.

Concubine Gui gently touched Madam Wen’s cheek and smiled warmly, “Yan’er, don’t worry. Mother is fine. Xuan Ge’er said that I’ll recover quickly once I stop using the ointment.”

Madam Wen had a beautiful name, Wen Yan.

Concubine Gui hadn’t brought any change of clothes, so she wore Madam Wen’s clothes. Madam Wen was already quite slim, but Concubine Gui found her daughter’s clothes a bit loose.

When the two came out, Concubine Gui was clean and fresh, and her hunched back was a bit straighter.

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, “Grandmother, I made some fresh fish porridge for you. It’s good for your stomach.”

As Concubine Gui sat in the kitchen eating the porridge, she was surprised by its smooth, rich flavor and the tender, non-fishy fish. She couldn’t help but look at her granddaughter-in-law in amazement.

When her daughter was the empress, Concubine Gui lived well in the Wen family, enjoying all kinds of delicacies, even imperial banquets. But none of those compared to her granddaughter-in-law’s cooking. This fish porridge was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.

Concubine Gui even felt fortunate to have left the Wen family. Otherwise, it would have been a disaster if the Wen family knew about her granddaughter-in-law’s culinary skills.

Suddenly, Concubine Gui became worried, “I left the Wen family because of tuberculosis. If the Wen family finds out about Yuniang’s successful food business and claims I have tuberculosis, making people afraid to buy Yuniang’s food, what should we do?”

Xu Qinyu smiled and reassured her, “Grandmother, don’t worry. Once the medicine’s effects wear off, I’ll take good care of you, making you healthy and rosy. No one will believe you had tuberculosis. People aren’t blind; they’ll see the truth. Even if the Wen family insists, we won’t admit it. We’ll say it was a misdiagnosis. As long as you take good care of yourself, we have nothing to fear.”

People with tuberculosis look very thin and have poor complexion. As long as Concubine Gui’s health improves, everyone will be able to see the difference. They will never admit to faking an illness. Even if it comes up, they can say it was a misdiagnosis by the doctor. She feels a bit sorry for those two doctors.

Concubine Gui was kidnapped and sold to a broker, then bought by the Cheng family, who were related to Old Madam Wen, to serve as a maid for Madam Cheng. She grew up with Madam Cheng after being bought by the Cheng family. By then, she had been kidnapped for several years, beaten and scolded daily, and had almost forgotten her own name. Madam Cheng gave her the name Gui Hua.

Now that she has left the Wen family, she is no longer their concubine or maid. She is Madam Gui.

After finishing the fish porridge, Madam Gui wanted to help with chores but was persuaded by Madam Wen to rest. She hadn’t been eating or sleeping well these past days, and her body was exhausted. Madam Gui knew her condition and understood that she needed to recover to avoid burdening her children and grandchildren. So, she went to rest in the west room.

The west room was the largest, and Madam Gui shared it with Wen Shi and Yuan Jie’er.

Before Madam Gui went to rest, Xu Qinyu formally introduced her to the other two members of the household.

Bai Yu and Mo Yu.

Bai Yu was nowhere to be seen. Since the weather had warmed up after the New Year, the little white snake didn’t need to hibernate and was awake every day, occasionally slithering over to Xu Qinyu for fish slices. At other times, it would find a place to coil up. It could no longer be called a little white snake, as it was as thick as three fingers. When Bai Yu first came to the house, it was only as thick as one finger, small and delicate.

Xu Qinyu also discussed with Pei Weixuan when to release Bai Yu back into the mountains. After raising it for more than three months, she felt a bit reluctant, but she knew that if it grew into a large python, she would be scared, and it might frighten others too.

Pei Weixuan said they would release Bai Yu back into the mountains in a couple of days.

As for Mo Yu, it hadn’t changed much; it had just grown a lot, weighing over ten jin. Xu Qinyu had raised it to be shiny and sleek. It loved sticking to Xu Qinyu and following her everywhere at home. At other times, it was very playful and liked playing with Bai Yu, trying to run around with it like when it was small. But Bai Yu had grown a lot and was always awake, so it couldn’t be carried around anymore.

Often, Bai Yu would coil around Mo Yu and roll on the ground together.

Sometimes, Xu Qinyu felt that Bai Yu was a bit like a hedgehog.

Madam Gui smiled and said, “I know all about it.”

When she arrived, she saw the little black panther. As for the white snake, she wasn’t surprised. Her grandson, Xuan Ge’er, had always liked keeping unusual pets when he was in the palace. Bai Yu was probably afraid of Mo Yu and had hidden somewhere, not in the courtyard.

Madam Gui settled down at the Pei family home.

In the following days, Xu Qinyu was busy making fish and braised intestines. She spent most of her time at home, thinking about what food to prepare to help Madam Gui recover.

Pei Weixuan checked Madam Gui’s pulse and found that she was still weak but had no major illnesses. With proper care, she could recover in one or two months.

Although Madam Gui still had a cough from the ointment, it wasn’t as severe as when she was at the Wen family.

Besides fish porridge, Xu Qinyu also made steamed meat with soda water for Gui Yiniang every day, which the two children at home could also eat.

Xu Qinyu even asked Uncle He if he could find someone in the village to buy cow’s milk or goat’s milk.

Goat’s milk and cow’s milk are very nourishing. Since there weren’t many people raising cows or goats in the town, it was hard to find goat’s milk and cow’s milk. So, she asked Uncle He to keep an eye out in the village.

After two days, Uncle He managed to find cow’s milk, likely from another village.

When Xu Qinyu asked, she found out it was from a neighboring village where a water buffalo had given birth to a calf and had extra milk. Water buffalo milk is also very nutritious but has a strong taste. Besides feeding the calf, the family didn’t drink much of it. Knowing they could sell the milk, they were happy. It cost ten wen per bucket, which was about eleven or twelve jin. The milk was freshly milked every day and delivered to Osmanthus Alley by Uncle He, along with the fish, in a small wooden bucket with a lid.

With this bucket of milk, Xu Qinyu was delighted and immediately made caramel milk tea for everyone to drink.

Although the tea leaves weren’t the best, the milk tea was still very fragrant and sweet.

Madam Gui could drink some, but not too much. Xu Qinyu also made fresh water buffalo milk with ginger and almonds for Madam Gui, which was fragrant and rich without a strong milk taste.

Xu Qinyu was satisfied, drinking a large bowl of milk tea. Even Fourth Brother seemed to like the caramel milk tea, drinking two bowls and then glancing at Yuniang, perhaps feeling embarrassed.

On the first day, ten jin of water buffalo milk was used to make pure milk for Madam Gui, and the rest was made into caramel milk tea. Xu Qinyu also sent some to Xia’s family, where everyone enjoyed a bowl.

Even Zhu Zi and Xiao Cui had some, and the whole family drank the hot milk tea, feeling very content.

Xiao Cui couldn’t help but sigh, “Being part of Young Lady Xu’s family must be very fortunate.”

Young Lady Xu could make even milk, which others didn’t enjoy much, taste so delicious.

Madam Wu smiled, agreeing that marrying into Young Lady Xu’s family was a blessing.

That day, the aroma of sweet milk tea filled Osmanthus Alley.

In the following days, Xu Qinyu made caramel milk tea again and prepared double-skin milk, egg custard, ginger milk, milk cake, milk buns, and milk custard, trying all sorts of recipes.

Feng Ge’er and Yuan Jie’er were delighted with the variety of treats.

The milk buns were a simple version, made without yellow oil. They used egg, flour, sugar, milk, and oil, steamed and stirred three times to make milk custard buns.

Although she could make yellow oil, it was labor-intensive, so she didn’t bother.

The milk custard buns were very fragrant and had a flowing center. The water buffalo milk was limited, just enough for the family. To make milk custard buns and milk custard for sale, she would need a large supply of milk, which wasn’t feasible at the moment. However, ten jin of milk was enough to make a good amount of milk custard buns and milk custard.

The family had plenty to eat, and some were left to sell to the Xia and Officer Xu’s families—the milk custard sold for two wen each, and the milk custard buns for three wen each.

The milk custard buns were large, while the milk custard was small, about the size of a fist. However, the Xia’s and Officer Xu’s families preferred the milk custard buns.

Xu Yunlan from Officer Xu’s family especially liked the milk custard buns, never having tasted such a sweet treat before. She asked her father to bring more milk custard buns home in the evening. As she ate the milk custard buns, she felt both happy and conflicted, wanting to share the delicious buns with her good friend but also fearing her friend wouldn’t be able to resist. She remembered the county magistrate’s warning not to tell her friend Zhi Zhi about the talented chef in Yuanbao Town, fearing Zhi Zhi’s gluttony.

Zhi Zhi was the county magistrate’s daughter and Xu Yunlan’s close friend since childhood.

Zhi Zhi was very plump, and her weight had affected her health. Even Xu Yunlan could eat several milk custard buns in one sitting, so she worried about Zhi Zhi’s self-control.

As Xu Yunlan pondered, her little brother called out, “Sister, Zhi Zhi is here to see you.”

Startled, Xu Yunlan quickly stuffed a milk custard bun into her mouth and chewed it, almost choking. She hid the last bun in a small cabinet just in time.

Wearing a green silk dress with floral embroidery, Zhi Zhi bounced into the room.

Zhi Zhi was plump, with a round face and large, watery eyes, willow-leaf eyebrows, and rosy lips, making her a cute, chubby girl.

As soon as she entered, Zhi Zhi smelled the sweet aroma and grabbed her friend’s hand, asking, “Yunlan, what are you eating?”