When Bai Zhiyi saw the servants bringing food boxes to Yang Yaozu, she thought to herself, "So Yang Yaozu also doesn't like the coarse grains here, and he had the servants go outside to buy some."
Thinking about how she had only eaten coarse flatbread for two meals since arriving at noon, and had drunk a lot of plain water, she felt a little wronged. Accustomed to a life of luxury, she had only eaten a palm-sized flatbread for two meals, and now her stomach was empty and she was hungry.
When the servant came out, she called out, "Young man, did you just bring food to Eunuch Yang?"
The male servant wiped his sweat and bowed, saying, "It's Miss Bai. Eunuch Yang doesn't like the food at our General's Mansion, so he sent us on horseback to the Youzhou Restaurant to buy some."
Bai Zhiyi asked, "What did you buy?"
"Eunuch Yang ordered eight dishes and a soup. There's Eight Treasures Duck, boneless meat..."
"No need to say anything," Bai Zhiyi interrupted him, "Go and buy me the same one too."
The male servant bowed and scraped, saying, "If Miss Bai wants it, I'll go buy it right away. You can pay me later."
Bai Zhiyi said, "Hurry up!"
After watching the male servant run around the corner, she arrived at Yang Yaozu's door and knocked: "Eunuch Yang, I am Bai Zhiyi."
Yang Yaozu's voice, muffled and unclear, rang out from inside: "Miss Bai... come in, come in."
Bai Zhiyi pushed open the door and saw Yang Yaozu sitting at the table, holding a duck leg in each hand and stuffing his mouth full of meat. On the table in front of him were eight food boxes filled with chicken, duck, fish and meat, which smelled delicious.
Bai Zhiyi was already hungry, and she secretly swallowed her saliva as she looked at the food. Being a lady of noble birth, she didn't show it and smiled, saying, "Eunuch Yang, it seems the food at the General's Mansion still doesn't suit your taste?"
Yang Yaozu swallowed the food in his mouth, put down the duck leg, wiped his eyes, and sighed.
Seeing that he was eating so much delicious food but looked unhappy, Bai Zhiyi asked in confusion, "Eunuch Yang, you seem a little unhappy?"
“How can I be happy?” Yang Yaozu raised the duck leg in his hand and shook it. “These bastards are trying to rip me off. They dare to ask me for a hundred taels of silver for just one Eight Treasures Duck.”
Bai Zhiyi was taken aback and asked, "That much money?"
"They said the vegetables themselves weren't expensive, but the main problem was that they had to rush to Youzhou City to buy them, and two horses were exhausted on the way. Each horse cost 250 taels, so the cost alone was 500 taels."
Bai Zhiyi forced herself to remain calm and said, "These dishes add up to... quite expensive, right?"
"Nine hundred taels." Yang Yaozu sighed, then picked up the duck leg again. "That's almost as much as His Majesty's meal."
Bai Zhiyi turned and walked out, saying, "Eunuch Yang, I have something to attend to, I'll be going now."
"Take care, we won't see you off."
She went out the door, hurriedly lifting her skirt and walking in the direction the servants had left. After a few steps, feeling it wasn't fast enough, she started running.
She ran past a courtyard and bumped into two maids who were walking towards her. Seeing how anxious she was, they stopped and asked, "Miss Bai, what's the rush?"
"Have you seen a servant who is so tall... wearing clothes like that...?"
Bai Zhiyi described the appearance and clothing of the male servant who had just delivered the food. One of the two maids said, "I understand, Miss Bai is referring to Zhang San, who is in charge of meals for guests in our household, right?"
"Yes, it's Zhang San. Where is he?"
The maid looked towards the main gate of the General's Mansion and said, "He just rode back on horseback, it seemed he was delivering food to Eunuch Yang. Now he's riding out again, I wonder which guest he's going to buy food for this time."
Another maid said, "Miss Bai, I'm not trying to be mean, but your guests from the capital are really picky. It's one thing that Eunuch Yang, who lives in the palace, can't get used to our simple meals, but even his attendants are so fussy."
Bai Zhiyi found the words particularly sarcastic, but since the person hadn't named anyone, she could only laugh it off and return to her room.
There were no blankets or mattresses. She slept for half the night under her cloak.
It wasn't November yet, and the room was still fairly warm. But the bed was too hard, and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling sore all over, with a stiff neck like I'd had a sore throat. In a fit of pique, I sat up and waited for dawn.
The maidservant brought in a basin of water for washing her face. Seeing her sitting on the bed with her eyes closed and swaying, she quickly put the basin down and came to her side.
"Miss, what's wrong?"
Bai Zhiyi was dozing off when she heard the maid's voice. She forced her eyes open and asked, "What time is it?"
"Two quarters past the hour of Mao (5-7 AM)".
Bai Zhiyi suddenly opened her eyes: "You told me yesterday that Young Master would be back at Chenshi?"
"Yes."
"Then hurry up and get me dressed and ready!"
Bai Zhiyi suddenly stood up, her back cracking with a sound. She frowned, clutching her lower back, and said, "It really hurts..."
The maid helped her to the table and sat her down, saying, "Miss, why are you in such a hurry? The young master won't give you a kind look when he sees you."
"Shut up, sincerity can move mountains." Bai Zhiyi picked up a mirror and looked at her face. "How can I see the young master looking like this... Oh, what happened to my eyes?"
The maid turned to the side and took a closer look. Bai Zhiyi's lower eyelids were dark, like panda eyes. She laughed and said, "Miss, you haven't rested well. You have dark circles under your eyes."
"Still laughing? Bring me the powder!"
Seeing that Bai Zhiyi was angry, the maid quickly shut her mouth, opened the makeup box, took out a powder compact, and handed it to Bai Zhiyi. Bai Zhiyi dipped her finger in the powder and applied a thick layer around her eyelids.
I finally managed to cover up my dark circles, but as soon as I blinked, the powder started falling off in a blur, and after a few blinks, the dark circles reappeared.
Bai Zhiyi angrily slammed the powder compact on the table: "How can this be? Young Master will definitely laugh at me if he sees this."
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