Chapter 6

Finally, they went out the door of Old Shen Family’s house.

After walking just a few steps, Dabao, who had been waiting on the side, ran over to grab the basket on Yin Xiaoman’s back, but she quickly dodged.

“Take this, hold it carefully, don’t spill it.” Then Xiaoman put the clay pot in Dabao’s hands.

Dabao stared at the white flour in the pot.

He was stunned for a moment, then an expression of disbelief and joy spread across his face.

“Flour! White flour!” he exclaimed loudly in surprise.

“Yes, flour, white flour!” 

Yin Xiaoman was also affected by the child’s unabashed joy. She reached out and ruffled his head, repeating the words in a silly way like he did.

After saying that, she burst into laughter herself.

She grabbed one child in each hand and loudly announced, “Let’s go, we’re going home! Mama will make you white flour cakes!”

“Flour! Flour! Flour! Flour!”

Dabao was clearly overwhelmed by the constant stream of surprises and had no idea how to express his feelings.

He could only repeatedly shout the word at the top of his lungs, as if there was no other way to show his happiness.

His voice was clear and loud, with no hesitation.

The older brother’s excitement obviously spread to Erniu as well.

She no longer allowed Yin Xiaoman to hold her hand and instead skipped over to Dabao’s side, stretching her neck to peer at the pot.

When she finally saw what was inside, she smiled with squinty eyes, and loudly shouted, “Cake, cake, cake!”

“Flour! Flour! Flour! Flour!”

“Cake! Cake!”

The two children, like two little fools, sang in harmony, shouting over and over again without tiring, their sweet and crisp laughter and cheers echoing along the way home.

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Finally, they arrived home.

After settling the two children, who were still full of excitement, Yin Xiaoman entered the kitchen alone.

As a former Imperial Kitchen Head Maid, her culinary skills were naturally excellent.

Moreover, today her mood was good, and she was eager to show the two children her cooking abilities.

However, when her gaze fell upon the salt jar on the stove, which had only a thin layer of salt at the bottom, the smile on Yin Xiaoman’s face vanished again.

A clever woman cannot make a meal without rice.

Even if she had all the skills, without ingredients, it would be in vain.

Earlier, Shen Mancheng had asked her to make dumplings for the children when she came back, but making dumplings required not only white flour but also vegetables and meat.

And those were things the family didn’t have, so she had wisely changed the dumplings to cakes.

In Yin Xiaoman’s opinion, making a steamed bun for the children wasn’t difficult. Even if she couldn’t make cake without sugar, she could at least make steamed white flour buns.

But she had underestimated the family’s poverty. It was just like now—she couldn’t even find yeast for the fermentation.

Sigh.

“It would be great if I could go back to the Imperial Kitchen.” Yin Xiaoman sighed from the depths of her heart.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly felt a moment of dizziness.

When she regained her bearings, she found herself in an extremely familiar environment.

The camphor wood tables and chairs, the willow wood bed, with curtains that she had personally sewn hanging above it. On the cabinet next to the bed, there was the pouch she had casually thrown there before leaving!

Yin Xiaoman couldn’t help but rub her eyes.

This was clearly the room she had stayed in at the palace!

Could it be that she had… traveled back again?!

Yin Xiaoman’s heart began to race.

She walked back and forth through the room, as if in a dream.

The more she walked, the dizzier she became.

Just before leaving the palace, her sisters and subordinates had followed the usual custom of sending her off with gifts.

These people were all palace maids or eunuchs, so the gifts they gave her were certainly not anything valuable.

They were mostly the foods they excelled at making, or clothes, shoes, socks, and fabrics they had sewn for her.

Yin Xiaoman had planned to pack these up before leaving the palace, and now, just like that morning before she had left, they were all neatly arranged on the central table of the room.

Peach blossom pastries, date cakes, honey twists, crisp biscuits… all soft and fragrant as if they had just been baked.

Looking at those familiar foods, Yin Xiaoman instinctively swallowed.

She casually picked up a piece of almond candy and put it into her mouth.

She immediately felt moved by the sweet taste as she squinted her eyes.

Her stomach, however, felt even emptier.

She picked up a crisp biscuit, about to take a bite, when her gaze unintentionally landed on a clay pot in the corner.

The pot was filled to the brim with milk.

She wasn’t sure when it had become fashionable for the favored concubines in the palace to use milk for bathing.

It was said that this made their skin as smooth as cream and as white as jade.

As the Head Maid in charge of the Imperial Kitchen, even though Yin Xiaoman never cared about these things, she couldn’t stop the people below from wanting to show their respect.

Though she couldn’t bathe in milk like the noble consorts, there would always be someone who quietly left a small jar of it in her room, so that she could use it to nourish her face or soak her hands when she had the time.

Over time, Yin Xiaoman had grown accustomed to it.

But at this moment, looking at the full jar of milk, her mind couldn’t help but drift to the thin faces of the two children, so gaunt they looked like they might wither away…

She couldn’t help but sigh subconsciously: “If only I could take this milk back and cook it for the two kids to drink.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Yin Xiaoman felt another wave of dizziness.

When she regained her senses, she found herself back in the dilapidated kitchen.

To her shock, the very same jar of milk, now nearly overflowing, was sitting on the stove!

She was so startled that she staggered backward several steps.

Her mind went completely blank for a moment, unable to process what was happening.

After a long pause, she hesitantly said: “I want to go back to the Imperial Kitchen.”

In the blink of an eye, she was back in her small room.

The items in the room were still exactly as they had been before.

Yin Xiaoman collapsed onto the stool, sitting there for a long time, unable to calm the storm raging inside her heart.

She looked toward the place where the clay pot had been, only to find it was now completely empty.

Did this mean that she could take everything from the room back to Shuanggui Village?

With these fine foods, would she and the children no longer have to endure the coarse grains that scraped their throats for a long time?

At the thought of this, Yin Xiaoman was immediately filled with excitement!

Milk cakes! They were delicious and easy to digest—Erniu would definitely love them.

Honey twists, crispy and full of oil—Dabao had probably never eaten anything like them.

Her eyes began to gleam with anticipation as she couldn’t help but fantasize about how happy the children would look when they saw these treats.

But just as she picked up a plate of milk cakes and was about to leave, she hesitated and placed it back.

She suddenly realized that if she took these things back, she wouldn’t be able to explain them to the children!

After thinking for a moment, Yin Xiaoman walked over to the door, picked up a cloth bag, and pulled out two salted duck eggs.

These were given to her by Da Liu, who delivered vegetables to the Imperial Kitchen, after he found out she was leaving the palace.

He said his wife had pickled them by hand, guaranteeing they were full of oil, and told her to make sure to keep them for herself.

Having spent so much time in the Imperial Kitchen, Yin Xiaoman didn’t care much for the salted duck eggs. 

She had merely accepted them, touched by his sincere gesture, and casually took them.

But at this moment, she was incredibly grateful to Da Liu!

At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel deeply regretful for her usual carelessness.

Thinking about all the delicious food she had once casually handed out to the little maids, Yin Xiaoman’s heart ached.

If she had known it would come to this, not to mention other things, she should have at least kept some rice, flour, and oil in the room!

Rice, flour, grains, and oil?

At the thought of this, Yin Xiaoman’s mind suddenly stirred.

She muttered firmly under her breath. “Take me to the Imperial Kitchen.”

A wave of dizziness washed over her, and the surroundings shifted again.

Could it really happen?

Yin Xiaoman excitedly placed a hand over her chest, forcing herself to calm the heart that was racing so fast it felt as though it might leap out of her throat. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

But—

What greeted her eyes was a dusty grayness, a thick fog everywhere.

“I want to go to the Imperial Kitchen.” She repeated stubbornly, unwilling to give up.

The fog remained unchanged, and nothing had shifted.

It seemed that her hopes of getting rice, flour, grains, and oil were in vain.

A wave of disappointment swept through her heart.

“Let’s go back to the residence.” Yin Xiaoman sighed.

As soon as the words left her lips, the scene in front of her changed once more, and she found herself back in the familiar room.

This time, she carefully surveyed all her belongings, and to her surprise, she made an enormous discovery!

Since she had already decided to leave the palace, Yin Xiaoman had arranged for someone to buy a small house for her in the Capital City as a place to settle after leaving.

It was her place of refuge after leaving the palace.

Yin Xiaoman had lost her parents at a young age and was raised by her grandmother.

Before entering the palace, she had lived with her grandmother by the sea, earning a living by fishing and collecting seafood.

She had been in the palace for eighteen years, and after that, she never saw her grandmother again. She hadn’t even been able to see the old woman’s final moments before she passed away. Now, she had no family left in the world.

So that small house meant everything to Yin Xiaoman, it was her anchor for the rest of her life.

The renovation of the house had cost most of her savings and a great deal of effort.

After the house was completed, Yin Xiaoman used the opportunities when she had business outside the palace to gradually move her belongings there.

It could be said that the room in the palace, aside from some pastries and gifts sent by old friends, was mostly empty.

But now, Yin Xiaoman was shocked to discover that the belongings she had sent to the new house had somehow returned to the palace room.

Even in the small hidden compartment by the bedside, where she usually kept her valuable jewelry, there was now a redwood box she had never seen before. Inside it were the eight hundred taels of silver she had originally used to purchase the house!

Looking at the dazzling silver, Yin Xiaoman felt completely stunned.

She couldn’t even tell anymore which reality was true and which was a dream.

She collapsed onto the edge of the bed, her back drenched in cold sweat. Her mind was growing more chaotic, and she felt as if she had been paralyzed by some sort of spell.

“Mother! Mother!”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from not far away.

When she heard it, Yin Xiaoman shivered and finally regained her senses.

“Go out!”

She quickly whispered, and in the blink of an eye, she was back in the kitchen.

“Mother! They’re washed!”

Erniu came running in, holding three perfectly clean sweet potatoes, and threw herself into Yin Xiaoman’s arms.

“Mother, roast them, they’re sweet!”

She waved the sweet potatoes in front of Yin Xiaoman’s eyes, and couldn’t help but swallow as she spoke.

Yin Xiaoman couldn’t help but laugh at Erniu’s adorable little face.

This was the first time Erniu had asked her for something.

Even if the request was so simple and easy to fulfill.

“Alright!”

She affectionately kissed the top of the little girl’s head and said with a doting smile, “Mother will roast them for Erniu, roast them until they’re sweet and delicious.”

“Yes! Sweet, so sweet!”

Erniu smiled with her eyes squinted, she was so happy that her eyes turned into crescent moons, making anyone who saw her feel joy.

Looking at this little girl, who looked exactly like the Third Princess, whom she had watched grow up and had lost to illness, Yin Xiaoman felt the dark cloud that had been hanging over her heart disappear in an instant.

What’s real and what’s a dream didn’t matter anymore.

No matter where she was, what mattered most was living well.