Shaoshang was an action-oriented person who did what she said. Having made up her mind to be considerate and caring toward Ling Buyi, she wished she could transform overnight into an old married couple with him. However, just like when she’d resolved to study hard years ago—between making the vow and actually achieving qualitative improvement in her grades, there were still four unit exams, two midterms, one final exam, plus one whole-school mock test.

Thus, her first attempt at being considerate to her fiancé went as follows—

“…I originally wanted to invite you back to my house to eat bamboo fungus, but you haven’t rested properly these ten-some days. I’d better send you home first. While I’m at it, I can experience your residence’s kitchen staff’s skills!”

“What about your reputation? Your propriety?” Ling Buyi’s lips curved in a smile.

“Let them scatter with the wind.” Since breaking off the engagement was impossible anyway, reputation and such could just go into the wind power plant.

Shaoshang pulled Ling Buyi back to the small carriage, full of enthusiasm as she invited him to sit in the carriage while she rode the horse.

Ling Buyi looked puzzled: “Then why don’t we ride in the carriage together?” Isn’t this a two-seater?

“Aiya, you don’t know—no wonder that teacher who gave the carriage had ill intentions. These seats look spacious but can actually only fit two women. Last time when A’Yao and I sat together we were squeezed so tight a needle couldn’t fit between us. You’re even larger than A’Yao—how could you fit…” The girl answered very eagerly.

A cool breeze drifted leisurely into the alley. The Cheng residence servants quietly and orderly retreated some distance.

Ling Buyi looked at the girl for a while, silently helped her back into the carriage, climbed onto the fine horse himself, and said nothing.

All the servants: Lord Ling has such good cultivation, truly a gentleman’s bearing!

A good beginning is half the battle—Shaoshang firmly believed this. In this life, aside from official careers and scholarship where she couldn’t help, what remained were just four things: clothing, food, housing, and travel.

Ling Buyi’s residence was bestowed by the Emperor—classically dignified, magnificent and gorgeous. After the evening meal that day, Shaoshang looked around inside and out, feeling her shallow knowledge had nothing to add or subtract. In the end, she only planned to transplant some red damask flowers growing outside her quarters to the inner courtyard.

Ling Buyi raised his brows with a smile: “I’m a single man living alone—why would I grow flowers?”

“Eh, great minds think alike!” Shaoshang was both surprised and delighted. “Actually I don’t love growing flowers either, but Mother said the area around my quarters was all green bamboo and ivy—it needed a patch of bright flowers to look good, so she picked the hardiest, easiest-to-grow red damask flowers to plant. If you don’t like them, I’ll move over a few pots of my newly planted garlic shoots—not only can you cut and eat them at will, they also repel insects… What do you say?”

Ling Buyi: “…Let’s stick with the red damask flowers.”

Compared to residence arrangement, more urgent was the picking-up-and-dropping-off behavior that had just been internally criticized by the Emperor before her day off. Shaoshang solemnly announced to Ling Buyi that he must no longer rise early and return late to escort her.

“Then how can I see you a bit more?” Ling Buyi lowered his eyes.

Shaoshang had already thought it through: “I won’t take the shortcut anymore—I’ll enter from the south side of the palace city. You wait for me outside the palace gates and we’ll go in together. If it’s a grand court assembly day, after reaching the Southern Palace’s Zhaozheng Hall you stay behind and I’ll go to the Northern Palace on my own. If it’s a small court assembly day or His Majesty isn’t holding court, we’ll walk to the Northern Palace together. How about that?”

“Then won’t you have to wake up half an hour earlier?”

Shaoshang waved her hand very heroically: “No matter—I can doze before Her Ladyship, and at noon I can even sleep soundly.”

Ling Buyi felt a sweet sensation in his heart but said: “You’re at Changqiu Palace to study under Her Ladyship. If you’re delayed because of me, wouldn’t that be…”

Shaoshang silently cursed him for being cheap after getting a bargain and said with a stern face: “One cannot focus on two things at once. Either I devote myself wholly to Her Ladyship and palace affairs, or I devote myself wholly to you. Pick one.”

“…Then devote yourself to me.” Ling Buyi said softly. His face, usually condensed like cold jade, slowly bloomed with a faint pink hue.

Shaoshang wrinkled her delicate nose at him, looking quite mischievous.

“As for evenings, it depends on whether you’re busy. If you’re busy, I’ll go home later. For dinner we’ll mooch off Changqiu Palace, and after eating we’ll slowly go home—consider it digesting and exercising. If you’re not busy, come eat at my house.” This way the Emperor should be satisfied, right? To show sincerity she was really going all out.

“We can also mooch off His Majesty. His Majesty’s inner palace has two kitchen staff with excellent skills.” Ling Buyi was quite shameless about relying on his elders.

Mentioning food, Shaoshang’s heart brightened.

That night returning home, she had A’Zhu find the black pottery small stewing pot she’d specially commissioned craftsmen in Hua County to make, cleaned it thoroughly and dried it under the moon, then baked it dry for use. From her observations, cooking techniques at this time hadn’t yet reached the later era’s endless variety. People mostly considered roasted and pan-fried foods beautiful, prizing fish and meat as precious, but this wasn’t healthy.

Facts proved that steamed and boiled foods were healthier. Thus under her intervention, even braving Mother Cheng’s strong dissatisfaction, the Cheng residence’s daily meals now included large amounts of vegetables and boiled foods and soups.

Southerners naturally excelled at making soups with endless variations, intuitively talented. Whether from mountains or fields, rivers or streams, Shaoshang could readily add ingredients to soup.

Thereafter, Shaoshang tried every morning to wrap a pot of soup in a warming nest and bring it to the palace gates for Ling Buyi. Sometimes the soup was too time-consuming and labor-intensive, so she could only use a small bamboo basket to carry processed ingredients into the palace. She’d borrow a small red clay stove from Granny Zhai, set up her glossy small black pottery pot, and let it simmer gurgling and bubbling—fortunately this was a palace without palace intrigue, and the Empress had complete control in Changqiu Palace. Otherwise she wouldn’t dare even if killed.

Whether at noon or evening, when Ling Buyi came to Changqiu Palace, he’d see the small girl guarding the soup pot in the corridor, her cheeks flushed red from the stove fire, fine sweat seeping out like pearl and shell fragments adorning her face like floral ornaments, then she’d smile at him from afar.

In an instant, he suddenly understood what his adoptive father often called “the breath of daily life” meant.

Just as that old teacher from childhood had said, Shaoshang was someone who combined ruthlessness with perseverance. She’d originally most detested these fussy kitchen matters, but now having decided to treat it as a mission to accomplish, she could spare no effort in pouring in dedication and wisdom. Things to clear the lungs, moisten the throat, brighten the eyes, reduce internal heat, boost energy… Ling Buyi’s heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and stomach were all nourished by her in turn—only she dared not nourish his kidneys and yang.

Before long, she discovered Ling Buyi’s current favorite was a dish of fish ball and ginger clear soup—removing fish meat and deboning it, crushing and kneading it into small fish balls, simmering in clear broth, garnishing with tender green vegetable threads and fine yellow ginger threads—light and delicious.

Seeing the girl busy and diligent these days, the Empress surprisingly developed some rare sourness and teased: “…Perhaps I can retire successfully now. The whole palace is spreading news of your virtuous reputation.”

“Really? Everyone says I’m ‘virtuous’?” Shaoshang was delighted beyond measure—she really hadn’t expected this.

The Empress pretended to glare: “Virtuous toward your husband-to-be, yes, but your filial reputation isn’t evident!”

Shaoshang was confused: “I… where am I not filial? Did Father and Mother come complain to you…?”

“I mean His Majesty and myself—where’s your filial piety!” The Empress put on a stern face.

Shaoshang understood—wasn’t this just “see once, split in half”? Street rules, everyone understood, just follow them.

Previously, to be cautious, Shaoshang had organized all utensils meticulously, with ingredient portions precise enough for Ling Buyi to finish in one go, only three or four-tenths full—but now changes were needed.

The Empress was different from Ling Buyi, preferring sweet and glutinous flavors. Shaoshang had no choice but to research sweet soups and sweets. Unfortunately, there was no high-purity white sugar or rock sugar at this time. She’d tried using maltose in soup, but the flavor wasn’t pure and sweetness insufficient.

Surrounding counties did have scattered sugarcane cultivation, with juice extracted as “zhe syrup” for drinking. The marketplace also sold “stone honey” imported from the Western Regions, but the former couldn’t be used in cooking, and Shaoshang considered the latter both expensive and heavy with impurities. This was an era without advanced acids, so she could only purchase zhe syrup or sugarcane herself, then boil and refine it repeatedly to extract sugar crystals. With chemistry knowledge as foundation, she naturally avoided many mistakes in the process—it just consumed too much firewood and was too wearing.

Not until the small cash box nearly hit bottom did the wood smoke in the Cheng residence ease. Shaoshang had obtained sufficiently sweet syrup, which could make fruit candies and milk candies and such snacks (Cheng Little Zhu & Cheng Little Ou with starry eyes), cold dress fruits and vegetables (Mother Cheng also found her more pleasing to the eye), and make various sweet soups.

However, this syrup didn’t preserve well. Shaoshang simply went all out making things while it was summer—now double-skin milk, now honey milk pudding, then white sugar cake (actually not white, Shaoshang shrugged), even once baking pastries in Changqiu Palace’s rear kitchen. That sweet, gentle fragrance capable of melting souls drifted out several miles, nearly drawing in several officials who were discussing matters at the Secretariat at the time.

The Empress had originally had some summer cough. After this round of nourishing care, not only did the cough improve, her complexion became much more rosy. Granny Zhai was delighted beyond measure and treated Shaoshang even more intimately, entrusting her with some personal matters she wouldn’t even tell Luo Jitong.

Where there are people there’s conflict. Thus busybodies whispered in Luo Jitong’s ear: “Elder Sister, you’ve served Her Ladyship in Changqiu Palace since childhood. She’s only been here a few days and already surpassing you.”

But Luo Jitong smiled holding her red bean and millet sweet soup: “Before winter I’ll be departing to the northwest to marry. But for her, the palace is half her in-laws’ home. Now she’s just showing filial piety to her future parents-in-law early. She and I are different.”

Later, when this reached Shaoshang’s ears, she couldn’t help sighing: “Sister Jitong is truly clear-sighted and bright-eyed.” Well then, even the young ladies below couldn’t stir up conflict—this palace truly had peaceful years with no wind or waves.

The Empress smiled: “If she were so easily provoked, how could she have stayed in the palace so long?”

“Those who tried to provoke—Your Ladyship doesn’t plan to hold them accountable?” Shaoshang frowned.

The Empress shook her head: “Clear water holds no fish. The palace is lonely—we can’t forbid them even speech.”

Shaoshang secretly shook her head.

Some things Shaoshang could shake her head and move past, but some things she couldn’t help adding a word about.

From the first time Shaoshang showed filial piety to the Empress with food, even if the Empress didn’t save the Emperor’s portion, she still sent it to Noble Consort Yue’s palace. Shaoshang worried in her heart—food was most prone to dark scheming. What if something happened in the future?

The Empress said calmly: “She won’t. She knows I won’t either.”

Shaoshang gazed at the Empress’s determined expression and said no more.

By late summer, Shaoshang used the last portion of syrup to make the Emperor a pot of finely textured crushed nut and glutinous rice soup. The Emperor ate it nodding repeatedly, then sighed: “Shaoshang, you’re so clever and dexterous. Unfortunately, this sugar-making method shouldn’t be promoted nationwide—best not let it spread. Everyone loves delicious things, but the realm only has so much manpower and resources. If such sweets became widely pursued by wealthy clans, every household would grow sugarcane instead of grain, yet outside there are still those starving from hunger.”

Shaoshang naturally understood what this meant. She respectfully said: “Your Majesty, your subject knows your meaning. National strength is finite—it must be used where it should be used.”

“Then where should it be used?” The Emperor deliberately teased the young girl, drawing a glare from the Empress.

Shaoshang said clearly: “Naturally on grain, horses, and iron implements.” She couldn’t help pouting: “Your Majesty, Her Ladyship has already taught me to read ‘Discourses on Salt and Iron,’ plus that what’s-it by Minister Jia Yi… uh, I seem to have forgotten the name of that volume but I definitely read it…”

The Emperor took no offense but stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

Though Shaoshang’s face showed displeasure, her heart greatly respected this imperial couple. As the empire’s supreme rulers, could they not obtain whatever they wished to eat? They simply led by example, using frugality to restrain and guide the various wealthy clans and noble houses.

Actually, in later eras there was a dynasty famous for prosperity that could make exquisitely beautiful sky-blue celadon, whose incense blending methods crowned all dynasties, with cuju and other entertainments in abundance—unfortunately, that dynasty’s rulers and ministers failed the talented, diligent people, failed the brave, passionate soldiers, not using national strength on salt, iron, grain, and horses to励精图治.

In her shallow opinion, that dynasty’s governance tone was bribery—using wealth and honor to bribe inside and out, up and down. Bribing foreign enemies, bribing ministers. The former could give the court temporary peace; the latter could buy the civil official group’s praise of the monarch and that dynasty.

When the urgent moment of enemies at the gates arrived, this bunch of rulers and ministers simply committed a grand bribe, plundering innocent people’s daughters, using their blood, tears, skin, and flesh to bribe the savage enemies who ate raw meat and drank blood. The dark humor was that this group’s wives and daughters ultimately met the same fate.

Someone said effort and sweat don’t lie.

Shaoshang worked so wholeheartedly, using both brain and hands. Not only did her good reputation gradually overshadow her former stubborn and crude name, the Emperor saw it with satisfaction and with a wave bestowed her fifty thousand newly minted five-zhu coins as pocket money, also explicitly praising the girl as “quick-witted, filial, and pleasant, conducting herself appropriately”—then casually granted Ling Buyi two hundred households in fief.

Shaoshang was unhappy. She endured most of the day, but after the evening meal while sitting in the corridor with the Empress waiting for Ling Buyi, she finally couldn’t help muttering: “Praising me is praising me—what does it have to do with Lord Ling?”

The Empress smiled, speaking gently: “What’s his isn’t yours? You, even this you must fuss about. Perhaps these two hundred households are what His Majesty gave you for the expenses of boiling sugar.”

Shaoshang burst out laughing, then said wistfully: “Alas, before, whether praised or getting in trouble being scolded, it was all my own business. But now, when I speak well and act well, it’s Lord Ling’s glory. If I conduct myself improperly, I lose face for Lord Ling. Then where am I? Where is my self?” The small girl wore an adult expression, her tone sighing.

The Empress composed her expression and quietly watched her for a while before saying: “You’re splitting hairs. Following your logic, all those generals and strategists under His Majesty’s command would have no place of their own. When plans succeed and battles are won, it’s opening territory for His Majesty, unrelated to them. But if plans fail and battles are lost, that’s all His Majesty’s fault? Yet since ancient times, under this vast starry sky, those brilliant generals and strategists who dominated the realm—their names still shine brightly in the bright Milky Way.”

Shaoshang slowly raised her head, opening wide eyes to look outside the eaves.

“You were too isolated before, always thinking of self-generation and self-destruction, self-glory and self-shame. But this won’t work. You must learn to adapt, learn that when this mountain doesn’t open, open another. You can no longer follow your former plan of going far away with that Lou family young master, but does that mean in this city on the Luo River, the capital at the center of the realm, you cannot be yourself?”

Shaoshang felt as if a bright window had been opened. The gradually darkening indigo sky faintly revealed a few stars. Though very faint and pale, they existed nonetheless.

“Your Ladyship, you speak so well.” She turned back with a radiant smile, like a fresh breeze blowing across the hills.

The Empress, seeing this smile, felt her mood lift.

Shaoshang looked up at the horizon, thinking how ridiculous were the muttering, resentful, aggrieved woman’s actions. At bottom, she’d merely changed majors. But even in her previous life, could she have guaranteed her future employment would definitely match her major?

Now, she’d simply switched from science and engineering research to home economics and nutrition. Labor knows no nobility or baseness, professions have no high or low. Wherever needed, work hard there. She was herself. Did changing majors mean she was no longer herself? That would be too ridiculous.