Translator: Flying Lines

  The next day both the first and second household of the Xiaos each took a chicken, having also prepared two jins of pork, and then went to the town.

  When they arrived in town they went to Lord Wong’s house.

  As they reached the gate of the house Wong Mudan was surprised. “Gee, this is what I call an upper-class family. There are also two stone lions in the front of the gate. Look at the tall walls and the big house! This is a house with a real yard, isn’t it? The walls of our yard are made of fences and theirs are made of real bricks and tiles.”


  Chen Ju also stood there stunned and then said, “Sister-in-law, Baozhu has indeed married into wealth. But will it be that she doesn’t want to recognize us, her poor relatives, anymore?”


  “Impossible. We’re a family after all. blood is thicker than water so how could somebody not recognize their own relatives?”


  Xiao Tieshu then went to knock at the door. It didn’t take long before a servant came out and asked them what they wanted. Xiao Tieshu said that they were here to look for Xiao Baozhu.

  “Xiao Baozhu?” The servant had not remember this name yet.

  “She is the one who married your young master as a concubine days ago,” said Xiao Tieshu with a smiling face.

  The servant did not remember until now. As soon as he mentioned Xiao Baozhu he showed a disgusted face. “Oh, that one. What do you want from her?”


  “I’m her elder uncle and these are her third uncle, third aunt and elder aunt,” said Xiao Tieshu.

  The servant noticed that there were a bunch of people standing behind who also had two chickens and a small chunk of pork with them. He then asked, “Are you here visiting?”


  “Yes, we haven’t seen Baozhu for a long time. When she got married we didn’t know and haven’t given her any gifts, so we are now bringing two chickens for her to eat……”


  Xiao Tieshu had not finished but the door was shut with a “thump”.

  The whole Xiao family were stunned on the spot. They had no idea what had happened.

  The servant shut the door and went to tell Butler Wong that the Xiaos had come and wanted to see Xiao Baozhu. He also asked Butler Wong if they could come in.

  Butler Wong had worked for the Wongs for such a long time that he had met various people. He knew all the tricks that people played even without looking.

  Humph, another bunch of people who are here trying to cling up to the upper-class through their relatives. Didn’t they want to see Xiao Baozhu? Then he would let Xiao Baozhu go out to see them……

  The Xiaos were still waiting outside and didn’t know whether they should go back or continue to wait here.

  Wong Mudan said, “Why should they be like that? Can’t they just let us know if we can see her or not. They just leave us here like we are beggars.”


  Chen Ju said, “We’re not beggars. Our husbands are working in the government office. Talking of backgrounds, ours are far better than most of the villagers. Why should they look down on us?”


  The two women had done themselves up today. Wong Mudan fished out the outfit she wore the day she got married. Although the outfit was way too small for her now and squeezed her fat together, she thought it looked very flattering, making her look like a plump rich lady.

  Chen Ju followed suit. In order to make herself look younger, she placed a lot of chrysanthemums in her hair. Her head was now covered with chrysanthemums.

  After another while the door opened and their hopes lifted again.

  It was the servant again. He asked, “Are you here to see Xiao Baozhu? Follow me.”


  The Xiaos looked at each other and became excited. They were finally able to go to the Wongs to see Baozhu.

  When they were about to go in through the front gate the servant shut the door again.

  “.……” The Xiaos did not know what the servant was up to.

  Although the servant closed the door he shut himself out also. He then said to the Xiaos, “Follow me.”


  So……they did not go in through the front door?

  Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu had been hanging out with people in town for a long while and knew the rule of the upper-class: When the upper-class people greet their guests, if they are important guests of the masters’, they will of course enter through the front gate and be welcomed by the masters in person. However, if the guests have a much lower social status they have to enter via a small back door. The people who enter from the back door won’t be guaranteed to see the master.

  As expected, they walked a long way to a small lane where there was a small steel door. Xiao Baozhu was waiting there.

  When she saw her elder and third uncles, Xiao Baozhu was also surprised. Why are those people here?

  The servant took the two chickens and the pork chunk from the hands of Wong Mudan and Chen Ju and added, “If you want to chat, make it quick. Xiao Baozhu, you only have a quarter of an hour. Don’t keep your work waiting.”


  Xiao Baozhu nodded and then replied carefully, “I see!”


  The other Xiaos saw this and were all shocked.

  Isn’t Baozhu the young mistress here? Why does she listen to a servant? She’s not a concubine? Or is a concubine’s status that low in this family?

  “Elder uncle, third uncle, elder aunt, third aunt, how come you are here?” asked Xiao Baozhu.

  Wong Mudan could not hold it back anymore and said first, “Oh, Baozhu, you……I heard that you married into a wealthy family, so we’re here to visit you, but why do you look like someone who isn’t respected? What on earth are you doing in there? Aren’t you a concubine? But being a concubine shouldn’t be like this, should it? You have to take orders from a servant.”


  Xiao Baozhu realized why they came. She smiled bitterly. “Elder aunt, third aunt, I’m not a concubine here, I’m just a servant. I’m sorry that you built your hopes up for nothing.”


  They had also wasted two chickens and two jins of pork.

  Chen Ju asked, “But why should you be a servant in there? Doesn’t your sister-in-law own a restaurant in town? She’s making plenty of money and you can do a lot of other things, right? Why would you rather be a servant here?”


  Xiao Baozhu gave a bitter smile again. “This is my fate, I guess. Uncles, maybe you have heard some rumors and were convinced that I led a well-to-do life here and wanted to get to know your wealthy relative, but I’m sorry that I have to let you down as I do not yet have such skills.”


  Xiao Tieshu was also very disappointed looking at the poverty-stricken Xiao Baozhu. She looked much worse than last time he saw her and he could tell that she was doing manual labor in there.

  Xiao Tieshu then asked, “You don’t have the ability now but will you have it in the future?”


  Xiao Baozhu said, “Who knows? Anyway, I thank you all for thinking highly of me. I’m not sure what will happen in the future!”


  After Xiao Baozhu finished talking, she went back behind the steel door and closed it. She bowed to them before leaving. “I’m leaving you for now then. Have a nice day, everyone.”
……

  On the way from the back door to the courtyard Xiao Baozhu encountered a lot of mockery and taunting. Some of them spoke loudly on purpose.

  “Those people in her family really think she’s here as a mistress.”


  “Humph, those blind fools, so embarrassing.”


  “Maybe they were just coming to see her?”


  “Are you kidding, if they’re that kind then they should take her back so that she won’t suffer here anymore. Now our young master and young mistress are getting along so well that Young Master won’t even lay an eye on her. She can only be a servant here for the rest of her life.”


  “.……”


  Xiao Baozhu felt her heart ache. When she got back to the yard the maid called her to wash clothes saying that they had been changed by the young mistress. Xiao Baozhu could not say no. While she is washing the clothes she saw Qin Qingqing coming out from inside.

  Qin Qingqing brought a maid from her own home who was called Cui. Cui was lively and a social person, so although they had only come here for several days, she had heard all about Xiao Baozhu’s story and figured out Xiao Baozhu’s background as well. Cui was very loyal to her lady, so every time she saw Xiao Baozhu she would said “phew” to her in a despising way.

  Now Cui followed Qin Qingqing to come out and said “phew” again. “Someone thought that she could get Young Master’s affection just by seducing him in a nasty way, but she didn’t expect that, did she? Since she came, our young master hasn’t even laid his eyes on her but she’s still dawdling here. What a cheap slut.”


  Xiao Baozhu added some strength and almost tore apart the clothes she was washing.

  She hurriedly flipped it to the other side and kept washing as if nothing had happened.

  Qin Qingqing then said to Cui, “Cui, don’t talk this way. She’s also a sister, don’t sow discord between you and others.”


  “Sister? Miss, are you in a daze? Who wants to be sisters with that kind of person? You’d love to but I wouldn’t.”


  Qin Qingqing said, “I didn’t mean you. I mean her and me, perhaps we’ll be sisters in the future.”


  “That day will never come!”


  “It’s too early to tell.”


  Xiao Baozhu raised her head and looked at Qin Qingqing who actually smiled at her.

  There was no sarcasm in her eyes. She just looked gentle, tender and as beautiful as a fairy.

  Xiao Baozhu did not dare to look back at such a pair of eyes, so she turned away and kept washing the clothes……

  In “The Xiao’s Cuisine”.

  That day, a middle-aged man came into the restaurant. Li Hongmei went to serve him but the man did not order anything to eat. He only said that he was here too look for the cook.

  “What can I do for you?” asked Li Hongmei.

  “Are you the owner here?”


  “I’m the owner’s mother-in-law,” said Li Hongmei.

  Then the guy claimed that he was from the Chamber of Commerce. He said that he heard that the cook here had cooked a birthday banquet for others which was highly reviewed and her slicing skill was also superb. He hoped that if she was free she could go to the capital to participate a cooking contest.

  Although this was not the heyday of this dynasty, still, it was not a war-torn era with famine throughout the county. The lives of the common people were alright, so there were quite a few activities among the folk, such as a cooking contest, embroidery contest, calligraphy contest, poetry readings and so on.

  The middle-aged man did not meet Ye Xiaoxian in the end but only left an invitation for her. He said that if she was going to participate, she could take the invitation and go to the capital to register.

  Back in the kitchen Ye Xiaoxian was engaged in cooking, so when she looked at the invitation she was not that interested and tossed it away. She did not take the invitation and read it through until the night-time.

  As she had been here for some time she could now read the traditional Chinese and also write a little. After she read it she felt that actually she could just make an appearance there, because on the one hand, she could meet more helpful people and on the other hand, she could learn more local dishes.

  Four or five days before the contest began, in order to go to the capital Ye Xiaoxian had been making Li Hongmei and Xian study hard in improving their cooking skills so that they could replace her.

  Li Hongmei was thinking of taking Little Five along to the capital because, firstly, Little Five is a guy who could be used as her bodyguard and secondly, he could do some chores for her.

  However, one day before she left, Xiao Baoshan returned. Hearing that Ye Xiaoxian was going to the capital Xiao Baoshan immediately offered to go with her.