Chapter 326 Slaughtering the Fat Sheep Again
After washing up, Lin Yuesha went to bed early and fell asleep quickly.
In the dead of night, with only a dim oil lamp burning in the room, Lin Yuesha yawned, jolted awake by hunger.
She vaguely saw a white shadow flash before her eyes, which startled her, and she quickly sat up.
"Sister Yue Sha, it's me."
Bai Youran held a teapot in her hand, poured herself a cup of water, and her stomach rumbled.
She smiled sheepishly and said helplessly, "I'm too hungry to sleep."
"Me too."
After sleeping for a few hours, the soreness in her body subsided a little. Lin Yuesha stretched and put on her clothes.
In the dead of night, after the other young ladies had all gone to sleep, Lin Yuesha, who was familiar with the old woman in the kitchen who did odd jobs, went to get some food.
“Bringing the food back would be too easy to be discovered, so let’s go to the kitchen and find something to eat.”
Lin Yuesha made the suggestion, and Bai Youran responded without hesitation. The two tiptoed out of the house.
In the kitchen, the old woman was still on night duty. Upon seeing Lin Yuesha, she immediately smiled and said, "Miss Lin, you've come to the kitchen in the middle of the night, are you hungry?"
Miss Lin has a big appetite; she took away two bowls of noodles last night. The old woman was used to it. "There are a few leftover chive dumplings. Miss Lin, if you don't mind, you can take them."
"Thank you very much, Auntie."
The chive boxes smelled too strong, so Lin Yuesha wouldn't eat them, but she could sell them.
After wrapping it in oiled paper, Lin Yuesha thanked the old woman and decided to give her a little something in return, as she knew that if she ate someone's food, she would be obliged to do so, to prevent the old woman from talking nonsense.
"Wait for me for fifteen minutes, I'll roll out the noodles."
There was plenty of rice and flour in the kitchen, so a little less wouldn't be noticed. Lin Yuesha asked her mother-in-law to start a fire, and she chopped some pickled bamboo shoots and red chili peppers to make three large bowls of pickled bamboo shoot noodles, sprinkling some pork floss on top.
"I never knew Miss Lin had such skill!"
The old woman was dumbfounded. She had never seen a cook so efficient when she worked in the kitchen, and the food tasted delicious.
"Auntie, I have a big appetite, and I'm never full enough for dinner, so..."
Lin Yuesha's meaning was clear: she wanted the old woman to do her a favor and not talk about it. If word got out, others would want to benefit from it, and she couldn't bring herself to do that.
"Of course, of course!"
The old woman slurped her noodles loudly, and it took her a while to reply to Lin Yuesha, "My two daughters-in-law and I will take turns keeping watch tonight. I'll tell them tomorrow that you can use the stove as soon as you arrive."
The old woman was willing to do her a favor, so Lin Yuesha nodded in satisfaction. She and Bai Youran ate noodles, and their stomachs felt warm as they walked to digest.
The night was quiet and dark, making the courtyard seem even more spacious.
Lin Yuesha took a deep breath. The wind was a little cool, but it had a sweet taste.
Just two days after arriving at the girls' school, Lin Yuesha began to miss her family. Her stepbrother lived at Changqing Academy, which was not far away.
"Sister Bai, you go back to sleep first, I'll go back later."
Lin Yuesha shook the oil paper package in her hand. She needed to sell the chive boxes to make money. Even if it was free, it would be good to do someone a favor.
There was no movement in the next room; Zhao Fundie and Zhao Jingya were still asleep. Lin Yuesha wandered around and came to the door of the Li sisters' room. There were rustling sounds and voices coming from inside.
"Sister, I want to eat Shuangfuji's roast duck, that golden, crispy duck skin wrapped in a pancake..."
Li Ruoshuang also woke up hungry. She pulled Li Ruoxue aside and whispered to her that they had finally arrived in the prefectural city, but they hadn't been able to eat anything good, and to make matters worse, they weren't even full.
"Stop talking, I'm hungry too."
Li Ruoxue looked distressed. She wanted to spend money to ask the kitchen for some food, but she was too lazy to get up. She urged Li Ruoshuang to go instead, but the brat was even lazier than her.
The two were talking when there was a knock on the door.
Who's that in the middle of the night?
After dawdling for a long time, Li Ruoshuang finally opened the door and was taken aback when she saw Lin Yuesha. "What are you doing here?"
"Sister Ruoshuang, this is a small token of my appreciation."
Lin Yuesha wore a fawning smile, reminding herself that she was a businesswoman now, and it wouldn't hurt to be a little obsequious.
"What's this?"
Li Ruoshuang opened the oil paper package, inside were several chive dumplings, golden in color, but cold.
The two sisters would never normally look down on such coarse food, so she curled her lips in slight disgust.
“I went to the kitchen, but there was really nothing good there. I had to pay the old woman in the kitchen to get what I had.”
Lin Yuesha's face was sincere, and she said cautiously, "I've always been outspoken and don't know how to speak properly, but I have a truly sincere heart."
This statement was so hypocritical that Lin Yuesha herself felt like vomiting, but she had to say it.
On his first day at the girls' school, he slaughtered a fat sheep and earned more than eighty taels of silver, enough to buy a good book.
Lin Yuesha planned to inquire with Bai Youran and Bai Dingfeng about where she could buy books or articles with insights and annotations from famous authors.
With her elder brother's birthday approaching, a few pairs of socks as a gift were a bit meager. Xiao Qi was so good to her, always considering her needs, so as his younger sister, she naturally felt it was only right for her to do her part.
"All right."
Li Ruoshuang didn't give them much of a hard time when food was delivered in the middle of the night; the sisters were hungry and it was good to have some food.
"I'll go to the kitchen tomorrow and see if I can make something delicious to send over, but I'll need to bribe someone, and I'm short of money."
Lin Yuesha rubbed her hands together, too shy to speak.
"Short on cash? Just say you need money!"
Li Ruoshuang couldn't stand it. Just yesterday, she had taken a hundred taels of silver from the two sisters for cleaning a chamber pot. It was practically free money.
Forget it, I'll just treat Lin Yuesha as a maid and give her a reward.
Li Ruoshuang didn't care at all. She casually took out two silver ingots from her purse, stuffed them into Lin Yuesha's hand, and slammed the door shut.
With silver in hand, Lin Yuesha revealed a satisfied smile. There was no cost involved; the silver was free.
Two silver ingots, a total of two taels of silver. It's good to be rich; you can be so capricious when it comes to money.
After putting away the silver, Lin Yuesha left.
...
Before dawn, the sound of clappers being struck rang out again. Having learned from her previous experience, Lin Yuesha got up quickly.
The morning was spent practicing standing postures, while in the afternoon, embroiderers came to teach the young ladies needlework.
“From the moment I entered the girls’ school until I left, I had to practice standing posture every day.”
Granny Kang glanced around and nodded to Lin Yuesha. She had improved a bit since yesterday, but she was still far from being a proper young lady from a respectable family.
The most crucial thing is to cultivate one's temperament, yet these young ladies are far from it.
"As a well-bred lady, one must never be noisy or chattering, but rather be reserved, calm and composed in the face of adversity, and never forget one's proper demeanor at any time."
It is often in times of crisis that a person’s ability to adapt is truly tested.
“It’s different at the girls’ school than when you’re taught by a tutor or caregiver at home. I won’t show any leniency.”
A glint flashed in Granny Kang's eyes, and Lin Yuesha's heart skipped a beat; she was about to suffer again.
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