The very next morning, Hua Zhi had barely finished breakfast and made her way to the front courtyard when she found the peaches already piled into a small mountain. People were still streaming in, carrying bamboo baskets on shoulder poles, tipping basket after basket of peaches onto the ground.

A faint fragrance of fruit drifted through the air. Though the golden season of autumn had not yet arrived, the feeling of a harvest was already upon them, and one’s spirits could not help but lift.

“Young Miss, please have a taste.” Fu Dong held out a small dish — the yellow flesh had been peeled, and it looked plump with juice. She speared a piece on a fork and placed it in her mouth; the sweetness went straight to her heart.

“Pick out the good ones and send some back to the residence — send quite a few.”

“Understood.”

Hua Zhi surveyed the courtyard she had redesigned from her own sketches. The detailed work would need to be done inside, but the initial preparations had to be completed outdoors. Worried about sudden changes in the weather, she had ordered a canopy erected. Concerned about the heavy water usage and potential flooding, an extra drainage opening had been added at the courtyard’s central well.

Twenty servant women and maids, all dressed in tops and trousers with sleeves and cuffs tied close, were busy at work near the courtyard well — some fetching water, some washing, some lifting baskets — all with smiles on their faces. Sunlight fell on them, fell on the water, and reflected back in a dazzling brightness. It was a scene full of vitality.

Hua Zhi, who preferred quiet, nonetheless enjoyed watching such lively scenes as a bystander. After observing quietly for a while, she gave her instructions in a gentle voice: “The peeling cannot be done the way you have been doing it — the speed is far too slow. Have someone boil a pot of hot water. Put the peaches in and let them cook for a short while, and the skin will peel right off. You must pay strict attention to cleanliness — handle everything as carefully as you would when preparing food for the masters of your own household. If this gives anyone reason to find fault on account of hygiene, I will not take it lightly.”

“Understood. Your servant will keep a close watch.”

Liu Qi was stretched too thin to oversee everything, so Hua Zhi had no choice but to assign Bao Xia to manage things. The people she could trust were few, and this was the Hua family’s very first commercial venture — there could not be even the slightest mistake.

“Have the ceramic crocks all been properly prepared?”

“Yes, as per your instructions, they have all been washed and then boiled.”

“Follow the ratio I gave you for the rock sugar — do not be stingy with it. These things are easy to make well; as long as no one is careless, nothing will go wrong.” Had there been enough time, she would have preferred to order a batch of attractive blue-and-white porcelain jars — they would have looked far more refined. For now she could only make do with these ordinary white-glazed crocks with purple-patterned designs. Of course, she had also prepared a batch of finer crocks, and the price point for those would naturally be quite different.

After finishing several more detailed arrangements, she heard Liu Juan report from outside: “Young Miss, Miss Shao Yao has arrived.”

Ever since signing the permanent contract, Liu Juan had taken to calling Hua Zhi “Young Miss.” To her mind, addressing her as “First Young Miss” was different from “Young Miss” — “Young Miss” was what only one’s own people could call her.

And indeed that was how it had become. Hua Zhi herself could not recall when the servants attending to her had begun making this distinction, but as far as she knew, it was not something practiced in the rooms of her other sisters.

“Hua Zhi, are you planning to sell peaches?” Shao Yao walked in tossing a peach in one hand. When outsiders were present, she still wore her veiled hat.

“It is a new way to preserve and eat them. Not only peaches — I have also sent someone to the Jiangnan region to purchase tangerines. You have a sweet tooth, so you should enjoy eating them.”

Shao Yao’s eyes brightened — not only for the sake of the food… well, partly for the food. Everything here at Hua Zhi’s was far too delicious; what could she do? But more than that, it was the fact that Hua Zhi had remembered she loved sweets.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“Everything is prepared. I will come to you when I need something.”

Shao Yao lifted her veiled hat to reveal eyes curved with a smile. “Make sure you do come to me — I am very capable.”

“I know, I will.” Hua Zhi smiled in return, her gaze soft. Shao Yao was the most uncomplicated, straightforward person she had met across two lifetimes. To think that someone who had been so well-sheltered and protected still bore a face full of scars — one wondered what extraordinary strength of heart it must have taken to face such disfigurement and yet keep that child-like, untainted spirit. If it had been herself, she honestly did not think she could have managed it.

More and more peaches kept arriving. After estimating how many could be processed that day, Bao Xia instructed the workers to carry the rest directly to the cellars.

Hua Zhi washed her hands, then personally went through every step from start to finish — from peeling to the final stage of sealing the crocks with wax — demonstrating as she explained. Every maid and servant woman responsible for the work listened with great attentiveness.

Hua Zhi then stood by and watched as they worked through the steps themselves, correcting them wherever they went wrong, until each one had successfully produced a crock of preserved peaches to her satisfaction. Only then did she return to the rear courtyard, content.

Shao Yao had stayed by her side the whole time, biting into a peeled peach as she asked: “Is it not said that ladies of good families never let their hands touch common labor? How do you know how to do all this? And eating cooked peaches — this is the first time I have ever seen such a thing.”

“Of all the things you have eaten here at my place — is there any of it you could find elsewhere?”

Shao Yao thought it over, then shook her head. True enough, there was not. Right — and adding this to the list was not strange at all. Having instantly reasoned this out, Shao Yao went back to happily eating her peach, her mouth full of sweetness.

“Leave a little room in your stomach — Fu Dong is making sweet and sour pork at midday.”

Shao Yao had a mouthful of peach that she could neither swallow nor spit out. She had eaten the sweet and sour pork once before — it was incredibly delicious!

She chewed it down hastily and swallowed, but stopped bringing the piece in her hand to her mouth. Moving closer to Hua Zhi, she asked, “What else is there? Do you know how to make braised pork knuckle?”

“Not for midday, but you can place your order with Fu Dong — she can make it for dinner.”

“Dinner…” Shao Yao was a little deflated. “I have to go back this afternoon. There are matters to attend to.”

“Then shall I have her make it tomorrow at midday?”

Shao Yao pursed her lips. “I will not be able to come over for the next few days.”

Hua Zhi did not press for details. In any case, a group commanding such formidable martial strength could only have significant backing. She smiled and said: “Then come when you have finished your business — Fu Dong is not going anywhere.”

The two of them went inside. Hua Zhi kept no one in the room to attend on them, and Shao Yao removed her veiled hat. Having worn it for so long, her forehead was already damp with sweat.

Hua Zhi handed her a handkerchief. “I will likely stay here another half a month or so. Surely half a month is long enough for you to finish your business.”

“It should not take that long — unless someone is very gravely wounded.”

“If I return to the city, will you be able to find me?”

“Yes.” Shao Yao gave a firm, decisive nod, not daring to say that the Hua family’s affairs had long since been laid out on the Shizi’s desk.

“Well then, that is settled. Come in through the back gate. I will let them know to expect you.”

Shao Yao immediately brightened, and her face — scarred as it was — somehow did not look unpleasant once you had grown accustomed to it.

The two of them spent their time together in easy comfort. Most of it passed with one busy at her own tasks while the other amused herself — Shao Yao would sometimes read through a medical text, or take out medicinal herbs and tinker with them. Whether it was because Hua Zhi could not be without medicine day in and day out, or because of those herbs of Shao Yao’s, the fragrance of medicine in the room grew stronger and stronger — until the maids who came and went carried the scent of medicine on their clothes as well.

When Shao Yao left, Hua Zhi handed her a cloth pouch — heavy enough to feel substantial when held. “Something to gnaw on when you are bored.”

The scent of star anise made Shao Yao take several deep sniffs. She pulled one piece out and examined it. “What is this? Meat?”

“Dried meat — it can hold off hunger in a pinch.” Even though every effort had been made to slice it thin, it still fell far short of dried beef in terms of flavor, and Hua Zhi did not particularly enjoy it. The senior maids, on the other hand, were quite fond of it. “Beef would be much better, but unfortunately beef is not easy to come by.”