Lady Zhu Wu resumed her previous warm and attentive attitude toward Madam Yuan and her daughter, visiting them daily to inquire after their well-being as if no unpleasantness had ever occurred between her and Fengxian. Before Fengxian's departure, she even persuaded Ling Tao to have Madam Yuan move back into the main residence.
Aunt Xu marveled at this, but when she mentioned it to Fengxian, she expressed concern that Lady Zhu Wu might have ulterior motives and that this move was part of some scheme. Upon hearing this, Fengxian said, "Lady Zhu Wu is indeed not a kind-hearted person. Previously, when she sent the Pearl Chicken, she deliberately mentioned the name 'Filial Pheasant' in front of Mother and me, likely to remind Mother to have me serve the chicken soup to Father as a gesture of filial piety. She also anticipated that Father, who favors Lady Jiu, would think of giving the Filial Pheasant soup to Lady Jiu, who was still in her postpartum confinement, to nourish her body. Since Lady Jiu is her greatest rival, Lady Zhu Wu would naturally have long understood her dietary preferences. She used the taboo of walnuts, mushrooms, and Filial Pheasant to harm Lady Jiu's health and then seized the opportunity to have Lady Jiu lose her personal maid..."
Aunt Xu suddenly understood and asked, "But if any part of this plan had gone awry, wouldn't the Filial Pheasant soup have failed to reach Lady Jiu?"
Fengxian nodded. "That's possible, but even if Lady Jiu didn't drink the Filial Pheasant soup, Lady Zhu Wu would still have gained favor with Mother and me by using the Filial Pheasant. In the end, it would have benefited her. No matter how the Filial Pheasant was delivered, she wouldn't have lost."
Aunt Xu sighed. "Lady Zhu Wu's intentions are malicious. How can you bear to leave your mother and entrust her to such a person?"
Fengxian replied, "In this household, whether I stay or leave, I won't be here for long. If I don't go to Pujiang, Father will soon marry me off, and Mother and I will still be separated. I might as well take a gamble with Father and Lady Zhu Wu. If I can enter the palace, Father will have expectations of me, and Lady Zhu Wu will have reservations about me. Neither would dare mistreat Mother. If I fail to be selected, I will agree to marry Yin Qi in place of Third Miss, which would solve a major problem for them. I imagine they wouldn't neglect Mother afterward. If they provoke my displeasure, I have ways to make their hard-won marital alliance uncomfortable—this marriage would be in vain, and they might even face repercussions for Third Miss's escape from the marriage... After I leave, the one who might oppress Mother isn't Lady Zhu Wu but someone like Lady Jiu, a young concubine who is currently favored but foolish and arrogant. That's why I explained the stakes to Lady Zhu Wu and asked her to protect Mother. She would also be willing to use Mother's status as the legitimate wife to restrain the other concubines, hence moving Mother back to the main residence—it's like 'holding the emperor hostage to command the nobles.' Afterward, she will surely hire a renowned physician to treat Mother. Currently, she is the one in the residence most afraid of anything happening to Mother. Though she is not a good person, she is at least not foolish. She weighs pros and cons and knows how to deal with the other concubines. For now, entrusting Mother to her is the most suitable option. After I leave, I hope Aunt Xu will continue to take good care of Mother. If anything goes wrong at home, please try your best to inform me. Whoever bullies my mother, I will find them and settle the scores one by one."
Aunt Xu admired Fengxian's wisdom but couldn't help worrying about her future. Wiping away tears, she said, "Your strategy is certainly sound, but many young ladies must have registered for the selection in Pujiang. If you aren't chosen, won't you have to resign yourself to marrying that man with hysteria?"Fengxian raised her eyes to the sky, where a lone goose was struggling to fly toward a sea of clouds edged with gold by the sunlight. After watching for a long time, the bright light made her eyes ache, yet she kept them open, resisting the urge to blink, maintaining a quiet, standing posture. To Aunt Xu, and also as if to herself, she said, "Don't worry, I will definitely be selected."
The selection of palace attendants for the Bureau of Palace Provisions in Pujiang was conducted over three days. The first day was the physical examination, the second tested knife skills, and the third required preparing three dishes using different techniques.
With the hope of entering the palace, young women from Pujiang flocked to the selection. Many between the ages of twelve and twenty who could cook at least two dishes came to register. On the first day, hundreds of women waited outside the Pujiang County government office to enter for the selection. However, after the physical examination that day, only a little over thirty were qualified to participate the following day.
Inside the government office sat several eunuchs sent from the palace. They first assessed the women’s appearances, immediately dismissing those who were noticeably ugly, too fat, too thin, too tall, or too short, not allowing them to enter. Those who passed the initial screening were then led into an inner chamber and handed over to female officials for a detailed physical examination.
The female officials worked in pairs, sharing a room. Each time, one woman was allowed inside and ordered to remove all her clothing until completely naked. They meticulously examined the woman’s skin, requiring no hemorrhoids, ulcers, black moles, birthmarks, or scars. They also instructed the women to walk and exhale; those with odors from their mouths, noses, armpits, or feet were immediately disqualified and sent away. Then, just as Fengxian had anticipated, they had the candidates lie on a couch, where two female officials took turns inspecting their private parts to determine if they were virgins.
Zhenzhen passed these tests. One female official promptly took a soft ruler to measure her: height, foot length, shoulder width, hip width, the length from shoulder to fingertip, the length from fingertip to palm, and the length from thigh to foot—all were meticulously measured and recorded by another female official with a brush. Zhenzhen stole a glance and saw the official writing a numerical evaluation for her: "Skin smooth and clean, proportions well-balanced."
Fengxian also successfully advanced. After receiving their notifications, the two stepped outside, where they saw some of the eliminated women crying, others indignantly recounting how a small scar had led to their disqualification, and most leaving resentfully under the curious gazes of onlookers. Among them were many skilled cooks they knew well. Zhenzhen and Fengxian couldn’t help but sigh in relief, feeling fortunate.
The knife skills assessment took place the next day in the backyard of the government office. Each participating woman was provided with a table, a cutting board, knives, some oil for lubricating the blades, and related cleaning supplies. They were given three ingredients: scallions, radishes, and fish. They were required to use their knives to cut and slice, with the freedom to decide the shapes and patterns.
The chief examiner for the day was Qin Sishan, the Director of Palace Catering from the Bureau of Palace Provisions. She appeared to be in her forties, with fair skin, a slender figure, and a graceful appearance that could be described as beautiful. However, her gaze was cold and stern, unsmiling, giving off an unapproachable aura. The current county magistrate, Shen Peiran, treated Qin Sishan with utmost respect, bowing deeply and addressing her as "Inner Lady" whenever he had a request. Yet Qin Sishan always maintained a distance of several yards from him, responding only with a few terse words each time, cold and aloof, merely conveying her meaning without allowing any further conversation.
As the competition began, each woman eagerly grasped her knife and started processing the ingredients, chopping, slicing, splitting, or carving, as if trying to turn these ordinary ingredients into blooming flowers.
Qin Sishan left the main seat and strolled among the women, her sharp eyes fixed on their cutting boards and the hands holding their knives. Whenever she found something worth observing, she would stop and watch, her gaze like a blade sweeping between the cutting board and the woman she was scrutinizing.She quickly selected several women for the first round of elimination and ordered them to be escorted out, exempting them from the subsequent tests. The reason was that after cutting the scallions, they had neither changed knives nor cleaned their knives and cutting boards before starting on the next ingredient.
As someone who had learned to cut scallions under the meticulous guidance of Teacher Lin, Zhenzhen naturally did not make such a basic mistake. Changing knives, washing knives, alternating between changing and washing knives, and cleaning the cutting board—she handled every step without the slightest ambiguity. When slicing fish for the Slicing Fish dish, Zhenzhen followed Lin Hong's instructions, first wiping the knife with the fish belly's fat, earning a pause and an approving glance from Qin Sishan, the Director of Palace Catering.
During the Slicing Fish section, Qin Sishan eliminated several more women because they had used sesame oil, vegetable oil, or animal fats such as lard or mutton fat to coat their knives, which would impart an off-flavor to the fish slices.
After the remaining women finished processing the day's ingredients, Qin Sishan inspected each of their works one by one. However, she first examined not the ingredients on the cutting boards but the placement of their knives and the cleanliness of the tables, both above and below.
The processed ingredients were all placed on serving plates, but there were no specially designated knife stands on the tables. At this moment, Qin Sishan observed where each woman had placed her knife on the cutting board, checking whether the blade lay flat in the center of the board, with the tip not protruding forward and the handle not exposed at the back, and whether the spine or edge of the knife extended beyond the board's boundaries. Any slight deviation, or worse, placing the knife with the blade facing downward and inserted into the cutting board, resulted in elimination. Additionally, she scrutinized whether the knives and cutting boards had been cleaned, whether waste materials had been placed into containers prepared in advance under the tables, and whether there was even a speck of garbage or water stains on or under the tables.
One woman demonstrated exceptional knife skills, carving a radish into a peony flower and slicing the fish into chrysanthemum shapes, both remarkably beautiful. However, upon noticing the radish scraps she had casually tossed under the table, Qin Sishan still announced her elimination. Magistrate Shen, admiring the perfectly carved flower shapes, felt deeply regretful and quietly asked Qin Sishan if she could make an exception and allow the woman to proceed to the next round. Qin Sishan flatly refused: "Knife skills can be practiced, but inherent coarseness is hard to change. Her knife skills have reached such a level, yet she still casually discards waste during such an important test—this shows just how careless she is. Such a person is unfit to enter the palace."
Fengxian paid careful attention to maintaining cleanliness, and her finished works were also excellent. The scallions were split into several strands from the middle, pulled into thin, curled scallion threads; the radish was carved into a rose shape; and the fish slices were cut straight and pushed into lychee-like forms, with knife marks uniform in depth and pattern. As a result, she passed smoothly.Zhenzhen did not cut anything in fancy patterns. She chopped the scallions into small pieces, sliced the radish into shreds, and cut the fish into fillets—all standard techniques. However, her cuts were uniform and neat, with thickness and thinness precisely measured. After handling the ingredients, she thoroughly cleaned the knives, cutting boards, and even the tabletop, leaving not a trace of mess. Qin Sishan, who had already been impressed by her use of fish belly fat, rarely offered praise in front of everyone: "As Palace Food Attendants, we serve the imperial family and nobility. Matters related to food must be handled with utmost care. Unclean ingredients or utensils can lead to illness entering through the mouth, affecting the health of our esteemed patrons. Therefore, Palace Food Attendants must first cultivate good hygiene habits. This young lady washes her hands before and after handling different ingredients, cleans the knives and cutting boards simultaneously, properly disposes of waste after handling ingredients, and tidies the surrounding area spotlessly—very much in the style of our Palace Food Attendants. Moreover, she used fish belly fat to wipe the knife, which not only lubricates the blade to prevent the fish fillets from sticking but also avoids contaminating the fish with the odor of other fats. This shows she is particularly meticulous and sensitive to flavors. With such attention to detail, mastering exquisite knife skills would not be difficult for her. Today’s selection aims to find precisely such individuals."
Zhenzhen felt as if in a dream, gradually realizing with a mix of shock and delight that Qin Sishan’s words meant she could advance to the next round. With great effort, she kept the upward curve of her lips within a graceful range and, under the envious gazes of the other girls, composedly bowed and expressed her gratitude to Qin Sishan.
When walking home with Fengxian, Fengxian asked with a smile how it felt to receive Qin Sishan’s praise. Zhenzhen raised her hand to her forehead in the direction of Wuyi Mountain and said sincerely, "I thank Teacher Lin, whose cold gaze forced me to wash my hands dozens of times a day."
(To be continued)
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