They had lived in Ningzhou for many years and retained so of Ningzhou’s customs. On New Year’s Eve, performances were held—so sang opera, others perford shadow plays, and so perford dances, among other activities.
After lunch, Feng Wan and Feng Ling arranged to go out with their close friends. There was a New Year’s Eve lantern festival on the street, and various neighborhoods also prepared New Year’s Eve programs. Apart from the Lantern Festival, New Year’s Eve was the liveliest ti of the year.
After Fengyu returned to Plum Garden, Qiuxiang and Chunlu brought the ingredients to the small kitchen. Fengyu personally kneaded and rolled out dough while Chunlu and Qiuxiang rested their chins in their hands, watching her handle the sticky dough. All the maids covered their mouths, laughing. Fengyu knew she had failed again. This was the annual exclusive entertainnt for the maids at Plum Garden, where they could see the usually calm and composed Third Miss fumbling about in her task.
"Miss, add a bit more flour."
"That’s too much, you’ve added too much..."
"You’re not kneading hard enough; let help you," Chunlu said.
Fengyu shook her head and refused, earnestly kneading the dough herself. The maids surrounded her, offering verbal guidance, while Qiuxiang walked around the courtyard with a little basket picking plum blossoms to brew plum blossom wine and make plum cakes. With the maids’ directions, the dough was nearly done. After letting it rest, Fengyu flattened the dough and made noodles.
The small kitchen was lit, and water boiled in the pot. Fengyu clumsily chopped the at and vegetables, then later added them with the noodles once the water boiled. Chunlu held back her laughter, lowering her head silently, not stopping her. Fengyu prepared two bowls of noodles, their thickness uneven, and the beef had clearly been overcooked. Fengyu also sprinkled a great deal of chili powder onto them, forming two fiery-red bowls of beef noodles.
Once the noodles were cooked, Fengyu placed a square table in the southwest corner of the courtyard, setting the noodles on top along with so fruits and at. Clearly, these noodles were ant as sacrificial offerings.
Very few people used noodles as offerings. The Feng Family had a family shrine, and privately performing rituals away from the shrine was strictly forbidden. Fengyu obviously was not offering these to her ancestors.
Feng Shu had once asked about it, but she didn’t answer. The elderly matriarch also indulged Fengyu without questioning further.
Every New Year’s Eve, Fengyu personally made two bowls of noodles, burned gold and silver paper money, bowed with utmost formality, and knelt to perform the ritual, never delegating it to others.
From noon, Fengyu prepared the noodles, performing the ritual for an hour in the wind and snow. Qiuxiang and Chunlu feared she might catch a cold and urged her to return indoors. Fengyu didn’t want to wear herself out either, so she went back inside after completing the ritual.
After completing her prayers, she stood up and went to Songhe Garden to accompany the elderly matriarch. As she approached the outer courtyard of Songhe Garden, she glimpsed the silhouette of the lady of the house departing and was too late to greet her. Since the palace banquet, Fengyu and the lady of the house had a good rapport; the latter was also kind and gentle. Despite occasional disagreents between the Feng Family’s first and second branches, they had always maintained harmony.
The elderly matriarch greeted Fengyu eagerly to share good news—Feng Wenrong’s family letter had arrived, reporting a joyous occasion: his wife was pregnant. The lady of the house had co to share the happiness, and the elderly matriarch was visibly delighted. Feng Wenrong was the sole male descendant of his generation, and having few male heirs was a constant source of worry for the elderly matriarch. Feng Wenrong had been raised with utmost care from a young age, and even minor health scares had left the elders in great distress. Only when he reached the age of ten with robust health did the matriarch and lady of the house relax.
After achieving high honors in the imperial examination, Feng Wenrong married Princess Ning Ru, the legitimate daughter of Earl Jin’an, Yuwen Minghui. Although Earl Jin’an bore the Yuwen na, he belonged to an extrely peripheral branch of the royal family. By Earl Jin’an’s grandfather’s generation, their lineage had drifted far from the imperial bloodline. The Yuwen Royal Family had endured for three centuries; with the imperial family’s expansion and splintering, the nobility had grown abundant. The Earl Jin’an title persisted only because this branch had behaved prudently for hundreds of years, avoiding imperial power struggles. Wealthy yet idle, they held no real authority.
The gap between nobles with power and those without was vast; Jin’an Earl Mansion existed as an empty title, easily revoked if the emperor was displeased. Without capable heirs, its decline would be swift. In the early days of the Yuwen dynasty’s establishnt, nurous dukes and earls had been appointed. Now, many of their titles had been stripped, with only a few remaining families.
That Earl Jin’an and Princess Ning Ru favored the Feng Family stemd from three reasons: Feng Changlin and Feng Changqing’s remarkable achievents, the Feng Family’s longstanding wealth and upright family culture, and Feng Wenrong’s exceptional talent and promising future, accompanied by his handso appearance. After succeeding in the imperial examination, Feng Wenrong married and brought Yuwen Minghui to his official posting. The husband and wife were affectionate, and now there was finally good news that delighted Fengyu.
The lady of the house intended to send several trusted older staff to care for Yuwen Minghui, but the elderly matriarch intervened. Yuwen Minghui, true to her na, was intelligent and tender. Feng Wenrong’s letter ntioned that his wife managed their household impeccably, maintaining close relations with local officials’ wives, skillfully navigating social circles. Considerate and thorough, she was entirely capable of managing her affairs. The elder staff of the family, however, often fell into the trap of overestimating their importance; if they said or did sothing displeasing, it would be difficult to resolve such misunderstandings from afar, potentially causing more harm than good.
"Sister-in-law is pregnant; our aunt’s worries are finally laid to rest," Fengyu said sweetly. "Grandmother, now you can look forward to holding your great-grandchild."
The elderly matriarch laughed and said, "Wenrong has been performing admirably in his position. If he sustains such results for another year, he could be promoted further. After spending four or five years away, they should eventually return to the capital."
"Grandmother, what’s so great about the capital? Outside the capital, there’s actual work to be done, but in the capital..." Fengyu hesitated before saying with a smile, "Grandmother, once Sister-in-law has her baby, I’ll accompany you to visit them."
"That sounds wonderful!" The elderly matriarch said with a laugh. "I haven’t traveled far away in a long ti."
The grandmother and granddaughter eagerly imagined their future travels, and soon the conversation shifted to Feng Wan. Her situation was the greatest source of anxiety for the lady of the house—Feng Wan was already eighteen and unmarried, an exceedingly rare case in the capital. Yanyang won typically were matched shortly after their coming-of-age ceremony, and by seventeen at the latest, marriage agreents would be settled. Feng Wan’s delayed matrimonial arrangents had beco quite unusual.
"Didn’t Aunt and the Zhang Family have a good conversation?" Fengyu said. "Zhang Boxin has already been released from prison, and Imperial Uncle Lv’s case didn’t implicate him. The main issue lies in whether Elder Sister has feelings for Zhang Boxin."
Feng Wan maintained a calm attitude, entirely allowing her parents to decide. Fengyu recalled the archery feast, during which Zhang Boxin and Feng Wan seed to have little interaction. While the lady of the house wished to ally with the Zhang Family, Fengyu had Zhang Da investigate Zhang Boxin. Though he had so flaws in his past, he was not comparable to soone like Li Pengfei. His parents were reasonable people, though the family’s network of relationships was very complicated. Mr. Zhang had a favored eldest illegitimate son whom he particularly valued. Fengyu refrained from ddling in Feng Wan’s marital affairs, rely summarizing her findings to the elderly matriarch, leaving the decision to the elders.
The elderly matriarch could only regret that she had let the lady of the house handle Feng Wan’s marriage, resulting in delays due to overly high expectations. Liu An, the top scholar, had been an excellent candidate, but they had missed their chance. Now, it was too late to lant. She did not wish for Feng Wan to marry into the Zhang Family. Although the Zhang Family was one of the seven prominent families, boasting illustrious descendants, Zhang Boxin would not lead the family in the future. While protected by the family’s power, he might achieve modest success; he wasn’t particularly degenerate. However, the Zhang Family’s complex relations ant Feng Wan would likely suffer greatly if married there. If her husband were caring and solely devoted, it would be fine. Yet with three or four concubines, Feng Wan would likely endure decades of hardship before finding comfort.
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