This time, the prince, prepared for the situation, doused Su Sheng in water, but it still managed to scorch half of his sleeve. Jiang Songyi sniffed the burning smell and sighed, "They say dust ignites when it comes into contact with fire."
"I don't believe it!" Su Sheng wiped his black face and took out a lighter from his waist, "It must be that the flour is not spread evenly enough!" He raised his hand to sprinkle the third handful of flour, but the eldest princess's spatula had already hit the back of his head.
"You're looking for death!" The gilded armor poked his forehead, "Are you going to burn all your hair before you'll stop?" He suddenly chuckled - the eyebrows he had just drawn were blurred by sweat, leaving two ink marks on Su Sheng's forehead.
Jiang Songyi finally couldn't hold back her laughter, her almond-shaped eyes curved into crescents. Xin Yidao looked at her smiling face and suddenly reached out to brush the flour from her hair. As his fingertips brushed her earlobe, a spark erupted from the stove, casting a flickering shadow on the sides of their faces.
"Your Highness, did you know it would explode?" Jiang Songyi suddenly asked softly. Xin Yidao paused as she retracted her hand, her wide sleeves sweeping across the jade pendant at her waist. "The Taibai Mountain granary once caught fire because of this."
Su Sheng leaned over with his ears perked up: "Cousin, why didn't you tell me earlier!" He was too close, and the charcoal marks rubbed against Xin Yidao's sleeve. The prince lowered his eyes and brushed the cloud pattern: "I reminded my cousin."
The eldest princess grabbed her son's collar and pulled him away: "You deserve to be taught a lesson!" Turning around, she saw Jiang Songyi kneading dough on the chopping board, her slender fingers sinking into the snow-white dough. Suddenly, she remembered how this girl had protected the prince just now.
"Does the county lady understand the principle behind this?" Xin Yidao asked suddenly. Jiang Songyi's hands froze as she kneaded the dough. The scene where her master in her previous life had explained it came back to her vividly: "The dust is as fine as powder. When it encounters fire, it burns up instantly, and the air wave explodes."
Su Sheng squatted by the stove and drew circles with a fire poker: "This is unreasonable." Before he could finish his words, his mother slapped him: "It's more reasonable than your nonsense!"
As the sun set, the aroma of milk finally wafted from the kitchen. Jiang Songyi, clutching the steamer basket, turned and bumped into Xin Yidaoyi's arms. As he grasped her elbow, the steamer lid slipped to the floor, sending the milk cake tumbling to Su Sheng's feet.
"Mine!" Su Sheng rushed to pick it up, but the eldest princess slapped his paw away: "You're trying to grab something that fell on the ground. Are you the reincarnation of a starving ghost?" Jiang Shu looked at the people fighting and suddenly felt that the jade pendant around her waist was not so dazzling anymore.
As dusk stained the window paper red, Jiang Songyi placed the last piece of milk cake into her lunch box. Xinyi Daoyi suddenly reached out to tie the silk ribbon for her, his fingertips brushing the back of her hand. "The county lady is intelligent, and she understands everything immediately."
"Your Highness taught me well." Jiang Songyi looked down, noticing that the jade pendant on his waist matched hers to form a yin-yang fish. Su Sheng snorted sourly, his eyebrows drooping as he tried to grab the food box, only to be dragged away by the eldest princess by the ear.
On the carriage back home, Jiang Shu caressed the jade pendant around her niece's waist and finally sighed. The aroma of roasted chestnuts drifted in from outside the carriage curtains, and Jiang Songyi suddenly chuckled, "Aunt, do you know that during the dust explosion..."
"Stop!" Jiang Shu hurriedly covered her mouth, "Don't bring in another fool like Su Sheng!"
White mist from the steamer drifted over the beams. When Xinyi Daoyi lifted the bamboo lid, the aroma of milk mixed with osmanthus honey wafted out, startling the sparrows that were stealing from the beams. Jiang Songyi picked up a piece of milk cake with silver chopsticks. The icy skin trembled on the jade plate, making Su Sheng's eyes sparkle.
"Hot!" Su Sheng shoved the pastry into his mouth, jumping up and down from the scalding melt. His gold-threaded, soapy boots stomped on the ashes, leaving black marks on the hem of his brocade robe. He opened his mouth, breathing out, like a small dog with its tongue out on a hot summer day.
The eldest princess held her forehead and turned her head, the sandalwood chair creaking under the emerald armor. "When I gave birth to him, the midwife must have taken the wrong child." Before she could finish her words, she laughed out loud. As she was laughing, she suddenly stopped - Xin Yidao Yue's white robe was stained with flour, and she was wiping frosting off Jiang Songyi's fingertips with a handkerchief.
"Open a shop?" The prince said, trimming the edges of cakes and pastries with silver scissors, leaving crumbs in the cracks between the bluestone bricks. "I provide the recipe, and the county lady provides the money?"
Jiang Songyi's eyes suddenly lit up, and the pearl hairpins on her temples jingled softly. "If Your Highness agrees, I'll go to the West Market tomorrow to look for a shop!" She slipped a gilded abacus from her sleeve, and the beads clattered as her fingertips moved. "Thirty percent of the profits go to Your Highness, fifty percent for turnover, and twenty percent remains."
"I want half of it!" Su Sheng raised his hand with his mouth full of bubbles, his jade-inlaid belt still hanging loosely around his waist, "I'll help you taste it!"
Xinyi Daoyi suddenly coughed, his pale knuckles pressed to his lips. "If my cousin wants to eat..." He glanced at the embers in the stove, "Come to the East Palace every day at dawn to get it."
Su Sheng shuddered as he recalled the tragic scene of being blown away by the fire stick this morning. He turned around and saw Jiang Songyi's shoulders shaking from trying to hold back her laughter. The hem of her pomegranate-red skirt swept across the flour on the ground, gleaming like honey in the sunlight.
The princess stroked the rim of her teacup and suddenly sighed, "Daoyi's clothes were made three years ago, right?" She glanced at the prince's wide sleeves, which were worn thin by washing. "I'll ask the clothing bureau to send a few pieces of brocade tomorrow."
"No need." Xin Yidao put the last piece of milk cake into the lacquer box, "I'm used to wearing old clothes."
Jiang Songyi suddenly remembered the dividends for "Master Shuyuan" in the Treasure Pavilion account book—a full thousand taels of silver per month. She stole a glance at the prince's waist—the mutton-fat jade pendant had been replaced with a faded green tassel, which matched his plain robe.
"If Your Highness agrees to this deal," she deliberately tickled her abacus, "the first month's dividends will be enough to make a hundred new dresses." Amid the sound of golden beads colliding, Xin Yidao lowered her eyes and smiled softly, the Bodhi beads turning in a circle on her wrist.
Suddenly, muffled thunder rolled outside the window, and raindrops crackled on the green tiles. Su Sheng jumped up to close the window. The wet brocade stuck to his back, and the pattern of his pine flower undergarment was faintly visible. The eldest princess grabbed her round fan and threw it at him: "Go change your clothes!"
Jiang Songyi took the opportunity to lean closer to Xinyi and said, "There's a three-story shop in the west of the city, with a well in the backyard." The jasmine scent in her hair mixed with the sweet smell of milk cake, making the tips of the prince's ears slightly red. Just as he was about to answer, Su Sheng suddenly peeked out from the door frame. "Leave me a nice room! I want to eat Sushan on the second floor!"
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