DBB – Chapter 11: Tea and Pastries
The next morning, much to Jinchao’s surprise, Gu Jinrong came to Qingtong Courtyard to pay his respects.
Her younger brother was not someone who frequently visited her. Jinchao invited him to sit and have some tea, then personally went to prepare some pastries.
Gu Jinrong frowned. “Elder Sister, why are you doing this yourself? The maids can handle it.”
Jinchao smiled. “You’ve been away at Qifang Hutong for over half a year—you haven’t had any of the pastries from home. I recently learned how to make some and thought I’d prepare them for you myself. It won’t take long. If you find it dull, there are plenty of books in my study you can read while you wait.”
Gu Jinrong was taken aback. He had no idea that Jinchao could even make pastries, let alone that she read books.
He had always assumed she was just as the rumors said—a beautiful but empty-headed young lady, utterly ignorant and willful.
Then again, having books didn’t necessarily mean she read them. Perhaps she just kept them for appearances.
Stepping into her study, he was greeted by rows of bookshelves filled with neatly arranged volumes. He felt a twinge of pity for those books—did their owner even appreciate them?
Liuxiang, who was attending to him, said, “The Young Miss reads often. These books were recently delivered from Jizhou.”
The study was furnished with a zitan wood desk adorned with a blue-and-white porcelain brush washer, a brush rest, and a fine Chengni inkstone. A chaise lounge stood by the window, half-open to reveal the snow-covered courtyard. Beside it, a single white porcelain vase held a few wax plum blossoms, filling the air with their delicate fragrance. The walls were not decorated with famous calligraphy but instead featured a simple ink painting of bamboo, inscribed with the following verse:
“In seclusion, jade hues intertwine,
Morning and evening, misty greens divide.
A rustling sound breaks winter dreams,
Roots entwined in mossy lines.
Gradually veiling the sunlit threshold,
Drifting clouds part at the curtain’s edge.
If not a guest of Mount Yin,
Who else would cherish such a friend?”
This was a poem by the old master Shaoling!
The words eased the tension in Gu Jinrong’s mind. Reading them, he felt a rare sense of tranquility.
Meanwhile, Qingpu was still in shock—her mistress was actually preparing food with her own hands!
Jinchao kneaded the dough while speaking to her. “It’s nothing extraordinary. I’ve watched the kitchen maids do it and found it quite simple.” Her technique was decent, though she lacked strength. Seeing this, Qingpu relaxed a little.
Jinchao, however, thought to herself—I really have grown too accustomed to a comfortable life. My hands have lost their strength. Back in her past life, when she lived in that tiny courtyard, she had once been strong enough to lift an entire water vat on her own. She had also learned how to cook during those days—idle as she was, she had to find something to occupy herself. Shiye and Wansu, one from Sichuan and the other from Shaanxi, had taught her both northern and southern cuisine.
How ironic—she had once looked down on learning such skills, yet in the end, they became what she excelled at the most. Meanwhile, the talents she once prided herself on, such as music and calligraphy, had fallen into neglect. Perhaps it was time to pick them up again…
Qingpu didn’t understand. “Why go through the trouble of doing this yourself?”
Jinchao paused. She was not someone who liked to explain herself—usually, she preferred to let results speak for themselves. But if she wanted to grow closer to Qingpu, she needed to let her understand her reasoning.
“I’m not unaware of what people say about me.” She rolled out the dough, sprinkled it with toasted black sesame and crushed peanuts, then layered it with sugar. “Jinrong has spent months studying away from home. He must have heard the rumors—along with whatever mischief is being stirred up here. In his eyes, I’m probably nothing more than an arrogant and ignorant noble daughter—perhaps even worse than that. If I want to grow closer to him, I must first change his perception of me.”
She had long stopped caring about outside gossip. Hadn’t she suffered enough slander in her past life?
She recalled the one time Gu Jinrong had come to see her in her past life. Their father had recently passed away, and he had looked utterly desolate. He had spoken little but had finally said, “Elder Sister, I have wronged you. It’s better for you to stay well in the Chen household than to return to the Gu family…” His smile had been lifeless, his spirit utterly defeated.
Before leaving, he had given her two thousand taels of silver.
At the time, she hadn’t understood his circumstances. Later, she learned of the horrors Song Yiniang and Gu Lan had inflicted upon him. Thinking back, those two thousand taels had likely been everything he could spare.
And yet, he gave it all to me—the elder sister he once despised, the one he never wanted to see.
Perhaps blood ties still held weight, after all. Even at the end, he had cared.
Recalling the tall but broken man he had become, Jinchao could not bring herself to ignore Jinrong now.
With Qingpu and Granny Li assisting, she made a batch of pastries: delicate thousand-layer crisps, with golden layers alternating with red bean paste, deep-fried until crisp and sprinkled with sesame sugar; soft Yunzi ma leaf cakes, made from glutinous rice dough mixed with finely chopped ma leaves, steamed, and lightly dusted with sugar powder; and savory horned crisps, shaped like ram’s horns, filled with tender salted egg yolk, and coated with fragrant pepper salt.
Qingpu found the savory crisps particularly intriguing—she had never seen them before.
After washing her hands, Jinchao had the pastries sent to the study and followed shortly after.
Gu Jinrong, of course, had not actually been reading. He sat in a grand teacher’s chair, waiting.
Soon, Yutong and Yuzhu entered, setting down the plates and arranging chopsticks for him. The three steaming platters, placed on blue-and-white porcelain dishes, were enticingly fragrant.
Eating in a study felt a little odd to him—he had never done such a thing before.
Jinchao entered with a warm smile. “Why haven’t you started? Do you think my cooking is unworthy of trying?”
She spoke with affectionate ease. Gu Jinrong looked up at her. Her attire was simple and clean—her jet-black hair, adorned with only a single wooden hairpin carved with magnolia blossoms. He remembered that every time he had seen her before, she had been dressed extravagantly, covered in pearls and gold. Now, she looked so much more refined…
“Mother loves this pastry,” Jinchao said as she placed a piece of the Yunzi ma leaf cake onto his plate. “Since she is unwell, she can only eat lighter flavors. This one is soft and subtly sweet.”
Gu Jinrong took a bite and found that the pastry was indeed sweet but not overwhelming, with a faint herbal fragrance from the ma leaves. Though the outer layer was dusted with sugar, the sweetness was perfectly balanced.
“Elder Sister, your pastry-making skills are truly remarkable,” he praised sincerely.
Yet, a trace of doubt lingered in his mind. He studied Gu Jinchao carefully, but she only smiled warmly and placed another pastry on his plate. “…This kind of savory crisp is rare in the capital. Try it.”
Instead of eating, Gu Jinrong set down his chopsticks and hesitated for a moment. “The food isn’t the issue… I recently heard that you took one of Second Sister’s maids. Is that true?” His voice carried clear suspicion.
Gu Jinrong, however, set his chopsticks down. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Eating is secondary. I heard something recently—Elder Sister, is it true that you took one of Second Sister’s maids?”
His tone carried clear suspicion.
Jinchao raised her eyes to meet his gaze. Her heart turned cold.
She hadn’t dwelled on yesterday’s events—after all, it was natural for him to be closer to Gu Lan since they had grown up together. But she was disappointed at how easily Gu Jinrong could be swayed by others’ words.
He ‘heard’? Who else but Gu Lan would have told him such a thing?
In Gu Lan’s version of events, Jinchao was surely portrayed as an arrogant, domineering legitimate daughter who oppressed her concubine-born sister out of sheer entitlement. Gu Jinrong was still young, but he was old enough to discern right from wrong. Yet, without hesitation, he had believed whatever Gu Lan said and had rushed here, eager to seek justice for her.
Suppressing her anger, Jinchao kept her expression calm and replied evenly, “Yes, I did.”
Gu Jinrong immediately thought of Gu Lan’s subdued, long-suffering demeanor and how she had never been one to fight with others. Yet now, she had been forced into silence by Jinchao’s tyranny. In that moment, all rationality left him. Coldly, he said, “How can you just take one of Second Sister’s maids? You may be the legitimate daughter, but that doesn’t give you the right to oppress your siblings! If word of this spreads, won’t it tarnish the reputation of our parents? I think you should return the maid. You already have so many attendants—why must you take from Second Sister?”
Jinchao’s gaze sharpened. So this is how deep our rift runs… Every word revealed the deep-seated resentment between them.
Jinchao looked at him steadily and said, “Brotherly and sisterly harmony? If that is so important, then tell me—have you upheld it? I am your elder sister, and as the saying goes, ‘An elder sister is like a mother.’ Yet you come here, speaking to me with such disrespect. Have you been respectful and harmonious?”
“You say I took someone from your Second Sister. Did you even ask who this maid is? Did you consider whether she was important to Gu Lan or whether she came willingly? You rushed here in such a hurry to confront me, but have you thought about what happens next? If you take the maid back, where does that leave my dignity? And if you fail, where does that leave yours? You are twelve years old—no longer a child. So why do you still act so impulsively, doing whatever comes to mind without thinking it through?”
Her final words carried an unmistakable chill.
Gu Jinrong was stunned.
He had assumed that if Gu Jinchao didn’t care, he could simply take the maid and leave. And if she did care, they would have a heated argument—at worst, they would quarrel. After all, he had been dissatisfied with Gu Jinchao for a long time!
But he had never expected her to counter so sharply, pressing him at every turn until he was left speechless.
He had never realized that Gu Jinchao was this articulate.