Mo Zi walked into the kitchen courtyard.

Setting aside Zhang Shi and her sons’ quarters and the small kitchen that came with Third Miss’s courtyard, the meals for the Qiu household’s hundred or so people all came from here, and the bustling scene was evident at a glance. The most senior person in this courtyard was Old Woman Liu, who had served the Qiu family for over thirty years. Her ancestors had once served in the emperor’s kitchen. Therefore, although Old Woman Liu was loyal to the deceased first madam, that is, Third Miss Qiu’s birth mother, and had some friction with Zhang Shi, her irreplaceable culinary skills forced Zhang Shi to swallow her anger and endure.

The unmarried Old Woman Liu had taken in the orphaned Bai He as her goddaughter, imparting all her culinary skills without reservation. The kind-hearted Bai He also treated Old Woman Liu as her own mother with filial devotion. Now, Bai He’s skills were on par with Old Woman Liu’s, yet she still came over whenever she had free time. She claimed to be learning, but really it was just to help the elderly woman in her fifties.

Without needing to enter the kitchen, Mo Zi saw Bai He busy by the well.

“I thought you’d learned some new good dish, yet here you are doing the work of a little maid. When I tell Lu Ju later, she’ll surely say that if you’re washing vegetables, you might as well guard her door instead.”

Bai He raised her head, the sunlight reflected in the water basin illuminating her face like a silver plate, her features harmonizing with gentleness and quiet grace, her personality proper and conventional. Yet the small black beauty mark beside her mouth made her smile pretty.

“Mo Zi? You came out, who’s attending the young miss?” Bai He was also someone wholeheartedly devoted to Third Miss Qiu.

To have obtained such loyal and devoted maids, Third Miss Qiu could be called fortunate. However, Mo Zi didn’t count herself among them. At most, she was working for Third Miss Qiu, receiving monthly wages to do work for someone, upholding the professional ethics of “you’re good to me, I’ll be good to you.”

“The young miss took Lu Ju to Ninth Miss’s courtyard and told me to come find you to return.” Mo Zi answered steadily.

“Oh.” Without asking what it was about first, Bai He quickly scooped up the vegetables into a rattan basket, wiped her hands on the white cloth apron over her spring skirt, picked up the basket, and while speaking, walked inside, “Wait for me a moment.”

“I’ll wait for you outside the courtyard.” Mo Zi disliked the crowd here.

Bai He entered the kitchen to set down the vegetables, then picked up a white porcelain soup cup that had just come off the stove, took an orchid-patterned bowl, placed them on a peachwood tray, and went out through the small door to her godmother’s room.

Old Woman Liu had been feeling unwell these past two days and had been resting in her room.

“Godmother, I steamed a cup of clear crucian carp soup, quickly drink it while it’s hot. The young miss called for me, I must go back first. I originally wanted to help you, but the young miss only has us four maids.” Bai He poured out a bowl of tofu-white soup, blew on it to cool it, and handed it to her half-reclining godmother, “After the banquet is over, I’ll speak to the young miss and come back to take care of you.”

“After lying down for two days, I’m much better.” The fish soup was delicious, her daughter’s culinary skills had reached perfection, and Old Woman Liu was gratified, “You just go, devote yourself to caring for Third Miss, don’t worry about me.”

Bai He poured another bowl of fish soup and placed it in her godmother’s hands, “Fish soup nourishes the body and dispels illness, you must finish it, not leave a single drop.” Toward her mother, the normally steady Bai He also revealed a girlish coquettish manner.

“Good, good.” How could Old Woman Liu refuse?

“Then I’ll go and come right back.” Bai He walked out of the room, called over a little maid, gave detailed instructions, and only then felt slightly at ease.

Carrying a three-tiered red lacquered food box out of the courtyard, she didn’t see Mo Zi anywhere. Thinking she couldn’t have left for no reason, Bai He searched the nearby area for a while. Sure enough, in a secluded spot against a wall, she saw Mo Zi sitting on a flower platform with an eight or nine-year-old little maid whispering in her ear.

Bai He had intended to walk over, but discovering that the little maid was Nanny An’s granddaughter Xiao Hua, she remained where she was.

Not knowing what method Mo Zi had used to win her over, the little girl often came to report news from the main courtyard.

When Mo Zi had mentioned this to the young miss at the time, Bai He hadn’t taken it too seriously, thinking what use could a little maid be?

But Mo Zi had said that Xiao Hua’s grandparents were Zhang Shi and her sons’ trusted confidants, her parents were also stewards with real power in the mansion, and she was an eight or nine-year-old girl—who would pay attention if she ran around playing everywhere?

At this moment, Xiao Hua finished speaking, her eyes bright and darting as she looked at Mo Zi, extending her small hand.

Mo Zi drew something from her sleeve and placed it in Xiao Hua’s palm.

Bai He was just curious about what it was when she saw the thing suddenly fly up. Under the sunlight, a butterfly with black and gold tassels flapped its beautiful wings. Unable to fathom how Mo Zi could hide a living creature in her sleeve, she looked more carefully, and the butterfly settled on Xiao Hua’s hand. As if what she had just seen was merely an illusion.

Xiao Hua exclaimed in delight, gently pinching the butterfly’s wingtips with both hands, her nose nearly touching it.

Then Mo Zi said something.

Xiao Hua nodded repeatedly, carefully tucked the butterfly into her sleeve, and skipped away.

Mo Zi stood up, and upon raising her eyes saw Bai He lost in concentration, slightly furrowing her brow. A child’s innocence wouldn’t lead her to think of complicated matters from a moving butterfly, but she didn’t want others to see it.

“What is it?” Having made up her mind, she approached Bai He and asked.

Bai He grabbed Mo Zi’s sleeve, lifting it high to peer inside, “Let me see, what else do you have hidden in this sleeve? A little rabbit? A little bird? You actually produced a living butterfly.”

Mo Zi’s vigilance relaxed due to Bai He’s rare playfulness, and she shook open her sleeve, “Go on with you. Tomorrow, I’ll go find rabbits and catch little birds to stuff in your sleeves and see how you dance about.”

“But I saw with my own eyes you pinch out a butterfly from your sleeve, its wings spreading open.” Bai He was truly puzzled.

“Two thin pieces of wood clamped together, colored to look like a butterfly, made to amuse Xiao Hua. You were standing far away, so you took it for a real butterfly.” Mo Zi explained simply. In reality, she had carved cedar wood into paper-thin pieces, using modern assembly methods, plus utilizing the principle of axis-driven movement to make the lightweight model spread its wings when meeting wind. How could it not deceive the eye?

“Made of wood?” Upon hearing this, Bai He suddenly understood, thinking that she had indeed been standing far away, so taking it for real was reasonable, “So you’re not only good at woodwork, you also have painting skills.”

“That’s called coloring, what painting skills does it need? Lu Ju’s embroidery is what’s truly good. Last time she embroidered a butterfly on a handkerchief and attracted a real butterfly.” The flexibility of her left hand improved daily. Each time she made a small plaything, from rough wood to lifelike appearance, even she herself was surprised by the results. If she spent her whole life beside Third Miss Qiu who managed silk, cloth, tea, and rice businesses, as mentioned before, it probably wouldn’t serve any great purpose. But somehow, she naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

The current days couldn’t be called the best. A whole household full of scheming and calculating each other, legitimate and illegitimate children secretly competing without distinction. Because the male masters were dissolute and unrestrained, there were also many improper servants and maids in the mansion who, following this atmosphere, all competed to climb the social ladder. This forced Mo Zi to rack her brains to tone herself down, avoid showing herself in everything, evading venomous eyes and scorpion gazes. Fortunately, there was Third Miss Qiu. This young mistress stood at the very tip of the wave in the Qiu household, attracting all the malicious attention, allowing her to fully practice the theory that the most dangerous place is the safest place.

“Exactly. The young miss praised her once, and she was so delighted.” Bai He was led away by Mo Zi’s words without noticing, “Did the young miss call me back because of tonight’s banquet? The kitchen is frantically busy. My godmother is ill, but most likely she’ll still have to cook herself. There’s one table of entirely vegetarian dishes—aside from her, who else has the skill to prepare that?”

Mo Zi’s heart stirred: The noble personages from the capital eat vegetarian meals?