Madam Qin sat properly in the hall, took the tea handed to her by a maid, and slowly took a sip. Her gaze fell on the young servant kneeling under the corridor outside the door.
“You are the one who stays by Shi’san-lang’s side at all times?” she asked.
Typically, young men of status were assigned servants to run errands for them. However, since Young Master Qin had a physical disability, the servants by his side not only served as errand runners but also as walking aids.
They remained by Young Master Qin’s side at all times, assisting him in sitting, lying down, and walking, never leaving his side to prevent him from falling into an unseemly situation.
The young servant kowtowed outside and responded affirmatively.
“That matter—what exactly happened? Tell me everything clearly,” Madam Qin said.
The young servant’s body trembled slightly, and he remained silent for a moment.
“I know what you want to say. Nothing more than ‘I don’t know,'” Madam Qin continued, her demeanor elegant as she slowly sipped her tea. “I don’t even need to ask to know what Shi’san told you all. But you don’t have to take his words too seriously—he knows very well that his instructions are useless. I am his mother. I must know everything about him. Even he himself cannot hide the truth from me or deceive me, let alone you servants. So don’t be afraid. Just say what needs to be said. Shi’san didn’t actually forbid you from speaking, did he? He only told you all to forget about it and never bring it up again. Am I right?”
The young servant kowtowed and answered, “Yes.”
A clever mother and a clever son.
If they already understood each other so well, why bother making the servants talk? Wouldn’t it be easier for mother and son to just sit down and discuss it directly?
“After asking you all, I will have a general idea and will naturally go speak with him,” Madam Qin said with a smile. “That way, I don’t have to guess my way through the conversation—how dull that would be.”
The young servant kowtowed.
“Madam, I don’t know if it’s true or not,” he said. “A few days ago, the young master was at the Zhou family’s residence and happened to witness Sixth Young Master arguing with his cousin. In the heat of the moment, the young lady suddenly claimed that she could cure the young master’s leg.”
“Zhou Liu-lang’s cousin?” Madam Qin asked with an intrigued smile. “Was it just childish nonsense?”
“No, Madam. Have you heard? There’s a rumor spreading in the city that the Zhou family has a lady who encountered an immortal,” the servant said, his voice carrying a hint of excitement as he lifted his head.
A maid immediately stepped forward, leaned in, and whispered a few words to Madam Qin. Madam Qin’s expression shifted—first to realization, then to slight surprise.
“Is it true?” she asked.
The maid nodded.
“Indeed, the rumor has spread throughout the capital, and even Doctor Li has vouched for it,” she said.
Madam Qin smiled thoughtfully, lost in contemplation.
“So, Tong Neihan has actually regained his youth? Then I suppose he’ll be taking another concubine soon,” she suddenly remarked.
The servants hadn’t expected Madam Qin to ponder for a moment only to arrive at such a conclusion. Their expressions turned awkward, and two of them even gave a light cough—subtly reminding her to mind her words and demeanor.
The young servant outside, who had initially been looking up, also lowered his head.
“If an immortal has spoken, then there must be a way to save him,” Madam Qin said. “Someone, prepare the carriage—I’m going to the Zhou residence immediately.”
She moved to rise, but the maids hurriedly stopped her.
“Madam, do you truly believe this?” they asked.
“Of course, I do,” Madam Qin replied without hesitation. “As long as my son can be cured, I don’t care if she claims to have attained the Dao through an immortal encounter or if she says she is the Celestial Maiden herself descended from the Nine Heavens—I would kneel and offer incense to her without hesitation.”
Thirteenth Young Master’s leg was indeed Madam Qin’s deepest sorrow. Though she always wore a bright smile, who knew how many nights had she wept in secret?
The maids exchanged glances.
“But just now, he said that the young lady was angered by Thirteenth Young Master and refused to treat him,” one of them said.
“If it were any other situation, someone saying such things out of spite wouldn’t be surprising,” another maid added. “But this young lady… The way she acts—someone offered her twenty thousand guan for help, yet she refused without even blinking.”
Madam Qin straightened her posture.
“Oh? So she’s not interested in money,” she remarked with a smile. “Well, that makes sense. With such a skill, what is money to her?”
She pondered briefly, then suddenly smiled again.
“If she doesn’t care for money, that makes things even simpler,” she said, setting down her teacup. “Someone, prepare the carriage—we’re going to the Zhou residence to propose a marriage.”
The maids had followed Madam Qin for many years, yet even after a lifetime by her side, they still couldn’t quite grasp her unpredictable way of thinking. One moment, she was talking about seeking a doctor, and the next, she had suddenly switched to matchmaking?
All the servants in the room stared at Madam Qin in stunned silence.
“Propose marriage for whom?” one of them asked.
The Qin family, after all, was a prestigious aristocratic clan with generations of high-ranking officials. When they arranged marriages, it was always with families of equal or slightly lower status. But the Zhou family… they weren’t even close to being considered “slightly lower” in the Qin family’s eyes.
Could it be a proposal for a distant branch member of the Qin clan? That might barely make sense.
“It’s for my son,” Madam Qin said with a smile. “A proposal to that young lady from the Cheng family.”
The maids were utterly dumbfounded.
Thirteenth Young Master! A direct descendant of the Qin family—proposing marriage to a girl from the Zhou family’s maternal relatives!
Setting aside the vast difference in family status, just the people involved alone…
“Madam, how could that be?” one maid blurted out. “That young lady from the Cheng family… isn’t she a simpleton?”
“Isn’t that even better?” Madam Qin smiled slightly. “Shi’san is so intelligent—if he marries someone foolish, wouldn’t that save him a lot of trouble?”
The maids were speechless. They hesitated for a moment.
“Madam, you’re not joking, are you?” one of them asked.
“Would I joke about Shi’san?” Madam Qin said, looking at them seriously. “Since she doesn’t care for money, I’ll offer her something else—my son. What a woman desires is nothing more than a smooth life, a harmonious marriage, and a stable household.”
She paused here, her gaze shifting toward the door. The smile on her face gradually faded.
“As long as she can cure my son, I will ensure she has a stable home.”
Xu Bangchui kicked open the door of a back courtyard room, startling Sun Cai awake from where he had been sleeping on the floor.
“Sun Cai, get up already! Do you even know what time it is?” he shouted. “You stole a bowl of wine and then slept like the dead!”
Sun Cai quickly waved his hands in protest.
“It wasn’t wine, not wine! It was just wine dregs,” he hurriedly argued. “That stuff is basically just water! Can’t I even drink a bowl of water?”
Xu Bangchui glared at him and raised a fist as if to hit him. Sun Cai immediately curled up, covering his head.
“Hurry up, my sister is here,” Xu Bangchui said instead of striking him, then turned and walked out first.
Sun Cai hastily straightened his clothes, wiped his face haphazardly, and stepped outside, where he saw Cheng Jiao-niang already standing in the courtyard.
“Miss, you’ve come so early,” he quickly greeted her with a bow.
“Is the tofu ready?” Cheng Jiao-niang asked.
Sun Cai chuckled awkwardly while opening a nearby door.
“It’s ready, it’s ready. The tofu I made is definitely fine, but if you want it exactly like the one you brought, I can’t make any promises,” he muttered as he worked, lifting the stone press off the tofu and peeling back the cloth. Then, with a hint of pride, he pointed at the neatly shaped tofu. “Look.”
Cheng Jiao-niang nodded and gestured for her maid to take it.
“It’s actually not bad at all; people just aren’t used to it. It’s good for the body,” Sun Cai said, while cutting a piece of tofu and placing it in the maid’s bowl.
But the maid didn’t hand it to Cheng Jiao-niang. Instead, she stood in front of Sun Cai without moving.
“And that one,” she said, pointing to a box beside them.
Sun Cai shook his head.
“Miss, without the brine, the tofu won’t hold its shape,” he explained, moving the stone press aside and lifting the cloth, only to be stunned.
The tofu was perfectly white, tender, square, and smooth.
Cheng Jiao-niang walked over and nodded as she looked at the tofu.
“Looks like you got lucky, it turned out just right,” she said, while reaching out to brush her sleeve and using a knife to cut off a piece. The maid hurriedly took it and placed it into another bowl.
Sun Cai was still staring blankly at the tofu.
At Cheng Jiao-niang’s gesture, the maid handed him both bowls.
“Try it,” Cheng Jiao-niang said.
Sun Cai snapped back to his senses and, without using a spoon, reached out with both hands to grab a piece from each bowl. The one in his left hand was his own, and the one in his right was also his own, but the brine was from the lady.
He hesitated for a moment, then placed the tofu he made into his mouth. It was the familiar taste. He swallowed, then looked at the tofu in his right hand. He swallowed again, seemingly putting in a great effort to force it into his mouth.
Sun Cai’s eyes immediately widened, and he looked up at Cheng Jiao-niang.
“Is this price to your satisfaction?” Cheng Jiao-niang asked, looking at him indifferently.
This price… this price…
Sun Cai’s hands trembled as he looked at the tofu in his left and right hands.
The maid stepped forward and unfolded a packet of medicine in front of him.
Sun Cai still remembered the medicine packet. Yesterday, the lady had taken something from it, dissolved it in water, and then handed it to him to use for the brine.
Is this it? Is this the secret that turns stone into gold?
Sun Cai felt his throat go dry. He couldn’t help but swallow repeatedly, trembling as he looked at the medicine packet the maid was offering, but he dared not take it.
“Will you sell?” Cheng Jiao-niang asked.
So, this was what she meant by selling.
She was looking for someone who could make tofu. There were many people who could make tofu, but the secret recipe in her hands was one-of-a-kind.
The key to making tofu was the brine, and with a little observation, anyone could learn the craft. Afterward, what difference would it make? It would only mean getting paid a little to do the job. If this lady had wanted, she could have had one of her own servants make tofu, and Sun Cai would have been of no use. But instead, she had given this secret recipe to him.
Selling his skill to be a servant, in exchange for a unique technique—a magic touch that no one else possessed. This was a deal too good to pass up.
Without hesitation, Sun Cai grabbed the medicine packet, dropped to his knees, and kowtowed.
“Yes!” he shouted loudly.
