While others brought back various lanterns from their outings, her grandson returned with a package of glutinous rice balls.

Facing his grandmother’s teasing gaze, Lin Yan pressed his lips together and smiled with lowered eyes, “I went out for a while, got hungry, and stopped at Shen Records for a snack. Proprietress Shen was very kind and asked me to bring some back for grandmother to try.”

Madam Jiang opened the box lid to look, somewhat curious, “Are they sweet?”

Seeing his grandmother’s childlike expression, Lin Yan smiled, “Yes, black sesame filling.” Then he called for a servant to cook some for his grandmother, “Just try a few in the evening. They might be hard to digest.”

Soon, the servant brought a small bowl of tangyuan on a tray, containing only four balls. The kitchen had added some osmanthus honey to the soup, making it smell fragrant and sweet.

The Senior Madam scooped one out, gently blew on it, and bit into it, releasing the thick black filling.

After slowly finishing them, Madam Jiang nodded, “Sweet, glutinous, and fragrant. Only a skilled beauty like Young Miss Shen could make these.”

‘Beauty’ – Lin Yan coughed lightly and smiled with a nod, “Yes.”

“I wonder if your future wife will be skilled in the culinary arts. If she had even half of Young Miss Shen’s skill, you’d be blessed.”

Lin Yan smiled slightly and lowered his eyes.

After thinking, Madam Jiang continued, “But you don’t have a discerning palate – you eat everything the same way. If you marry someone skilled in cooking, and she serves you a carefully prepared shark fin soup, but you eat it like it’s glass noodles and only say ‘good’ when asked about the taste, wouldn’t that be quite unfair to her?”

Lin Yan looked up, meeting his grandmother’s somewhat disapproving yet concerned gaze. He pressed his lips together but couldn’t help smiling helplessly.

Madam Jiang laughed, and the serving maids joined in.

Maid A Su, who had served Madam Jiang for many years and was quite familiar, laughed and said, “How can the Senior Madam tease the young master so? He’s just not like some young men with their glib tongues.”

Madam Jiang nodded with a smile, “That’s his disadvantage, being like a closed bottle. Fortunately, he has a handsome face – he can use that to win over a young lady.”

The maids again consoled the Senior Madam with laughter.

The night watch drums sounded outside, and Lin Yan stood up, “It’s getting late, Grandmother should rest.”

Madam Jiang nodded, “You should sleep early too.”

Lin Yan bowed again and withdrew.

Behind him came faint voices: “The Senior Madam worries too much. Our young master is talented and handsome – there’s no need to worry about finding him a wife.”

“If he could marry someone with a lively personality, their temperaments would complement each other nicely…”

‘Lively personality’ – Lin Yan’s steps faltered.

“Young Master, walk carefully.” The corridor guard bowed.

Lin Yan nodded and walked along the corridor, leaving his grandmother’s courtyard.

Arriving at his study, Lin Yan sat at his desk, casually picked up a travel journal from the box, flipped through two pages, then put it back and pulled out some practice calligraphy books from underneath.

Childish regular script wrote from the Book of Songs: “Who says you have no clothes? Let us share my robes! The quiet lady is beautiful, waiting for me at the corner of the wall.” Characters like “clothes,” “robes,” and “beautiful” were written well and circled.

Looking at the different handwriting in the comments behind: “A Ji’s characters, some lying, some sitting,” “lying and sitting, straightforward and unrestrained” – Lin Yan’s lips curled up. He put the practice book back in the box, thought for a moment, then tucked it back in the middle and called out to his attendant outside, “Tomorrow, deliver this box of books to the young lady at Shen Records.”

The attendant acknowledged.

Shortly after breakfast, Shen Shaoguang received these books.

Liu Chang bowed and said, “The young master asked me to deliver these to the young lady.”

Shen Shaoguang smiled and thanked him.

Liu Chang bowed again and withdrew.

Yu San came out from the kitchen, and looked at the book box – do young masters nowadays give gifts so openly? But examining the plain wooden box, Yu San thought it rather unrefined…

Shen Shaoguang opened the lid and took out the top book to read.

They were old books – Yu San understood. They must be rare volumes, deliberately placed in such a simple wooden box to differentiate from ostentatious luxury. This Young Administrator Lin was quite calculating…

Seeing Shen Shaoguang’s focused expression, Yu San pursed his lips – ah, these young ladies… and walked straight to the back courtyard.

It was a collection of Six Dynasties poetry, mostly landscape pieces. The marginal notes had some familiar handwriting, but more was unfamiliar. “At fifty, hang up the official’s cap and drive the carriage back to Spring Woods” – Shen Shaoguang sighed emotionally. He never realized his wish to retire at fifty and return to seclusion. Life was so unpredictable.

Shen Shaoguang picked up the book box. A Yuan wanted to help, but Shen Shaoguang shook her head, “Go about your work.”

Yu San came in with a piece of cured meat, heard this, and pursed his lips – young ladies become so affected once they’re in love…

Shen Shaoguang returned to the back residence and slowly looked through the books in the box. The “father” in the books gradually merged with her memories – the gentle, humorous husband and father, the literati who loved mountains and gardens, the elegant and dignified noble son, the Vice Minister of Rites with many suggestions for the imperial examination system, and the man who wept blood before the throne that Minister Li had mentioned.

Shen Shaoguang also found “her own” practice calligraphy books.

She had inherited the original body’s calligraphy and painting skills, but the more she practiced, the fainter the original’s influence became. Now comparing them, they almost looked like they were written by two different people.

Shen Shaoguang also saw the comments in the book, especially the two lines about “lying and sitting,” which made her smile.

If things hadn’t gone wrong, with such parents and the lovable brother in her memories, how would “Shen Shaoguang” have lived?

Admiring snow in winter, flowers in spring, practicing calligraphy and painting, feasting and playing, growing up pampered among silks and gauze, then after screening by father and brother, perhaps watching from behind a screen herself, marrying a “talented and handsome immortal youth” with appropriate family background, personal ability, and probably good looks…

Shen Shaoguang felt sorry for “herself” – such a fate had been abruptly cut short on that winter night at age ten.

It took several days for Shen Shaoguang to finish looking through these books. Because they affected her mood too much, after airing them out, she repackaged and sealed them away, then continued managing the current “Shen Shaoguang’s” life.

Entering the second month, the weather noticeably warmed. The ice on Qu River melted, creating rippling waves. Fish that had been dormant all winter came up to breathe, willow trees along both banks sprouted tender buds, and the wind grew gentler, no longer feeling cold against one’s face.

Coincidentally, after a spring rain, within days, Qu River bank, Le You Plain, the hills and woods outside the city, and even gardens and abandoned courtyards within the city showed spots of new green. Before the wild grass returned to green, wild vegetables emerged first to join in.

Young gentlemen and fashionable young ladies eagerly changed into spring clothes and went out to enjoy spring and nature. Many women and children carried small bamboo baskets to gather wild vegetables, either for their consumption or to sell in the city for extra income.

Shen Shaoguang was fortunate to buy many such wild vegetables.

In her previous life, Shen Shaoguang knew few wild vegetables, and it was the same in this life. A Yuan had to teach her – this is a green fern, this is a green vegetable, that’s wild ox herb… The largest pile Shen Shaoguang recognized was a shepherd’s purse.

“How do you eat all these?” Shen Shaoguang asked A Yuan.

“At the Xu family, the mistress would blanch them in boiling water and dress them with salt.”

Shen Shaoguang: “…”

When she asked Yu San, he had only cooked one or two kinds, so Shen Shaoguang had to experiment herself.

Blanched and dressed with crushed sesame, minced garlic, and vinegar; steamed with rice or wheat flour and dipped in seafood sauce, ginger juice, and sesame oil triple sauce; juiced to make glutinous rice green balls; chopped for chicken and wild vegetable soup; tender shoots stir-fried with eggs, or stir-fried with streaky pork strips, tofu strips, or glass noodles for mixed dishes, wrapped in spring pancakes…

Just as Shen Shaoguang had imagined, with wild vegetables added, spring platters became true spring platters, and as she had anticipated, these authentic spring platters were very popular. Many large households ordered them for delivery like Minister Li – his servants would come to order regularly.

Someone even wrote a poem: “Green silk tenderness on white jade plates, fragrant meat in jade-green pots” – there were no white jade plates or jade-green pots, but the vegetables were tender and the meat fragrant indeed.

Shen Shaoguang made full use of the wall outside her shop, preparing ink and brush, and invited the poetry-writing scholar to write his poem on the wall. Writing poems on walls was an elegant and common practice at the time. The slightly tipsy scholar gladly agreed, wielding the brush with ink, and in moments completed it in an extremely fluid and unrestrained semi-cursive script.

Shen Shaoguang clapped and praised highly, deciding to give this creative director a free meal today.

Receiving praise from the beautiful young lady, the scholar smiled proudly, very much wanting to compose another hundred or so poems.

Besides these cooking methods, even in later generations, the most classic use for wild vegetables was as filling. Shen Records’ fine wheat noodles now had several wild vegetable filling varieties, and there were excellent thin-skinned, generously-filled wild vegetable wontons.

Shen Shaoguang’s favorite was shepherd’s purse filling, followed by wild ox herb. Shepherd’s purse had a balanced, unique flavor and texture with a fresh taste, best paired with streaky pork for dumplings and wontons. When cooked and dipped in vinegar with garlic and sesame oil, one could eat almost a whole plate alone.

Wild ox herb had a slightly spicy taste, mixed with lamb to make meatballs and dumplings with more vegetables than meat, and also very fragrant.

When Lin Yan came, and ordered side dishes, Shen Shaoguang recommended these two seasonal main dishes that she considered the best, “The shepherd’s purse has a fresh spring taste, and wild ox herb brings out lamb’s natural fragrance. Both are excellent.”

Meeting Shen Shaoguang’s eyes that seemed full of spring brightness, Lin Yan looked away, “I’ll have the former.”

Shen Shaoguang smiled, “Very well, please wait a moment, sir.” As she turned, she suddenly stopped and looked at Lin Yan with a teasing smile. His somewhat embarrassed expression and deliberate avoidance of the word “ji” (shepherd’s purse), “Young Master Lin, you couldn’t have read my practice calligraphy books?”

Lin Yan felt his face heat up – how could such things be discussed openly? Glancing at Young Miss Shen’s unrestrained smile, Lin Yan pressed his lips together, “Your childhood writing was elegant, your current writing is lean and vigorous, just don’t let it become too unrestrained.”

“Heaven and Earth are the inns of all things, and Time is the passing guest of a hundred generations – in these brief decades, what does it matter if one is restrained or not?” Shen Shaoguang turned with a smile, her jade-like countenance radiant.

Lin Yan held his breath, saw her proud expression, and finally curled his lips into a smile.