"These two pastries are my grandmother's favorites. I make them for her every day," Qi Zhenzhen said slowly. "I know cooking can be hard on the hands, but it's nothing compared to the preferences of elders. Besides, with good care, they don't necessarily become rough. I'm not sure if my eyesight is poor, but my hands don't look any worse than Cousin Qing's?"
Qi Zhenzhen's skin was like congealed fat, fair and tender like a peeled egg, and her hands were like jade.
In contrast, Li Qing's hands, though also fair, were short and thick-fingered. They lacked beauty, appearing more like the blanched, plucked trotters of a pig.
Li Qing's face was flushed with shame and her expression was extremely unpleasant.
"Second sister, Cousin Qing is a guest. How can you be so rude? Apologize to Cousin Qing at once!" Qi Mingzhu frowned, looking as if she were admonishing Qi Zhenzhen for her lack of manners.
Qi Zhenzhen blinked. "What did Eldest Sister say that Zhenzhen doesn't understand? Did I say something wrong? No, I really do make pastries for Grandmother every day because she loves them. Shouldn't we, as juniors, show filial piety to our elders? And what I said is true, I take good care of my hands after cooking every day, so they aren't rough. They don't look any worse than Cousin Qing's. What's wrong with that?"
Who couldn't feign innocence? Qi Zhenzhen blinked her petal-like eyes, looking helpless.
What was wrong? By saying your hands are no worse than hers, you drew everyone's attention to your hands. Once they looked, it was immediately apparent whose hands were more beautiful, delicate, and tender.
Li Qing kept saying that cooking hurt her hands, but the result was that you, who didn't cook, were still not as good as her, who cooked every day. Was this not rude?
"Sister Mingzhu, why the need for an apology? Sisters speaking intimately should have no reservations, don't you agree?" Li Nuan said with a smile.
Qi Mingzhu was furious. She had spoken up to admonish them out of respect for the Li family. Now that someone from the Li family had stepped forward to say they didn't mind, it made her and Qi Zhenzhen's sisterly affection seem insincere. While it was true their affection wasn't close, in such a setting, one had to pretend to be close, otherwise, it wouldn't be someone's face being lost, but the Marquis's mansion's face.
Taking a deep breath, Qi Mingzhu put on a proper smile again. "Sister Nuan is right. I was being overly sensitive. After all, Sister Nuan, you are guests. If you were to suffer any grievance, I, as your elder sister, would feel very uneasy."
This was a veiled jab at Li Nuan for being ungrateful.
Li Nuan smiled. "My sisters are all very sensible. Before we came as guests, Grandmother had already instructed us not to behave as we do at home. My Qing'er is the most sensible, and my sisters treat her with genuine affection. How could she suffer any grievance?"
Her words also held hidden barbs, causing Li Qing, who was about to lash out, to restrain herself. This was not the Li family's residence; it was the Marquis of Changping's mansion. Causing trouble here, regardless of who was right or wrong, would cause the Li family to lose face. Although Grandmother doted on her, she knew her place. She could never overshadow the Li family's reputation.
"The peonies in this warm pavilion are blooming beautifully. They are much better than those cultivated in our mansion's flower rooms," Li Rou said delicately. "Don't you two sisters agree?"
Taking advantage of Li Rou's words, the unpleasantness of a moment ago was set aside. Everyone gathered around the peonies and began to talk.
Qi Mingzhu was known as a talented scholar, proficient in poetry. To everyone's surprise, Li Rou also possessed a deep understanding of poetry. The two of them, with the peonies as their theme, recited poems describing peonies one after another, leaving others unable to interject.
"Rou'er has studied poetry since she was young and has read almost all the books in our home," Li Nuan said softly from the side. "I'm not as interested in reading and calligraphy. If Grandmother didn't force me, I wouldn't bother. As long as I can read and understand incense formulas, that's enough. What's the use of reading so much if you can't take the imperial examinations?"
"To each their own?" Qi Zhenzhen smiled. "I'm not very fond of poetry and songs. I quite enjoy travelogues and strange tales. I read them when I have time."
"In that case, I like them too. Many travelogues and strange tales also record incense formulas," Li Nuan said.
"Sister Nuan is so fascinated by incense making?"
"I have no particular talent, and I'm not good at anything I try, except for incense making, which I truly love from the bottom of my heart," Li Nuan said with a smile. "It's just that incense making isn't a proper profession. My grandmother says I shouldn't be too engrossed in it. As a woman, one's destiny is to marry and raise children, not to indulge in such pastimes."
On this point, Qi Zhenzhen didn't know how to comfort her, so she took out the round box Li Nuan had given her. "Sister Nuan, I don't understand incense. I only found the scent pleasant just now, but I don't know what kind of incense it is?"
"This is Hundred Flower Fragrance," Li Nuan said, her eyes shining brightly. "Although it doesn't truly use a hundred floral scents, it's close. This is my specialty. Unlike the Hundred Flower Fragrance from incense shops, where the scents are mixed together, in this incense pellet, each day carries a different floral scent. The diffusion of the incense pellet is controlled. One pellet can be worn for thirty days."
Qi Zhenzhen exclaimed, "That's amazing."
It truly was amazing. Perhaps even the high-end perfumes developed in later generations didn't have such an effect.
Li Nuan's eyes grew even brighter. "I'm researching the Cold Fragrance Pellet, but it's always unsuccessful. Sister Zhenzhen, if the Cold Fragrance Pellet were successfully made, placing a pellet in a sachet during summer would be as cool as sitting by an ice basin, with a faint fragrance. Unfortunately, although I have the formula, I haven't been able to make it successfully."
This was too magical. There were actually such incense pellets. Indeed, the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated.
"Sister Nuan, don't be discouraged. You have a talent for incense making, so you will surely be able to make it," Qi Zhenzhen said. "This Cold Fragrance Pellet is so magical. If it were easy to make, it wouldn't be called magical, would it?"
Li Nuan nodded in agreement. "My sister is right. I was being too focused on the outcome. Incense making not only requires talent but also fate. Even with the same formula of incense ingredients, the scent produced by different people will vary. The consistent failure of the Cold Fragrance Pellet is probably because my fate with it is not yet strong enough."
The two women exchanged smiles. Their sisterly bond was truly forged at this moment.
"Your zodiac cloth dolls are very unique. I've never seen anything like them. The zodiac images I've seen before were all very formal, but yours are so cute," Li Nuan asked. "Did you make these yourself?"
"I drew the designs, and the maids made them. Don't laugh at me, Sister, but I can manage simple cloth dolls with my needlework. For these slightly more complex ones, I can't do them," Qi Zhenzhen smiled. "My aunt always worries that if I don't know needlework, I'll be disliked by my future husband's family."
"What's wrong with not knowing needlework? Mine is just so-so! My aunt has similar worries. I don't understand, when we get married, our families will surely have a sewing room. Why would they really need us to do it ourselves?" Li Nuan said dismissively. "They just think too much."