Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 23 The Taste

The second uncle's room was decorated in an extremely elegant manner. In the flower hall outside, there was a single-panel screen, in front of which were placed a soft couch, an incense table, candlesticks, and an incense burner. On the left and right sides were thrones, and on the incense table was a set of tea set in the color of sky blue after rain.

The flower hall and the inner room are separated by three nanmu wood primrose-colored silk screens, which are embroidered with the story of Lu Yu's search for tea. The floor is covered with a thin carpet, which has been scented with agarwood, which is a favorite of my second uncle.

The attendant noticed that the window was slightly ajar, which made the agarwood scent in the room less intense. He nodded and pointed out a few places that needed adjustment.

Meng Shu stood respectfully to the side, head bowed, listening intently, but inwardly she was grumbling. She had heard that her second uncle was nearing sixty, but he was extremely particular about his appearance, even the incense he used to scent the house had to be of just the right strength.

As Meng Shu left the room, her attendants went to serve Manager Tang. Just as she was about to go to the back room to inquire about news from the shop's staff, she saw Dong Gua arrive.

"Just now I saw Green Willow go into the old lady's courtyard. I was worried that you might be too busy with the managers coming to Langya Courtyard today, so I came to see if there was anything I could help with."

Meng Shu pulled Dong Gua to hide under the shade of a tree. "The head stewards who are attending the council meeting tonight will all be having a banquet in the front yard, so we don't need to serve them. Just make those two kinds of tea pastries for me tomorrow, and I will be very grateful."

Yesterday, when we finished making the tea pastries, we almost used up all the tea leaves. Aunt An took them to give to the old lady, and when she came back, she brought back black tea and what is said to be excellent Longjing tea, so we have no shortage of ingredients for making pastries.

"Come on, who was the heartless one who was bossing me around in the small kitchen yesterday? I didn't see you showing any concern for me." Donggua tapped Meng Shu's forehead a few times. She didn't know how Meng Shu's mind worked so fast. She was confused after doing it dozens of times.

Meng Shu hurriedly massaged Hao Donggua's shoulders and back, and said with a smile that she would make her two undergarments with her monthly allowance before she would stop.

Just then, the last head manager arrived with his entourage.

The head manager of Yongtai Money Shop looked quite young, probably not even thirty years old. He directed two employees to carefully carry a sealed box, and there was no one else following behind. Since Xia Zhu wasn't there, Meng Shu hurriedly stepped forward to lead the way.

Manager Qian's room was next to Second Uncle's. He seemed very familiar with Langya Courtyard, and didn't say anything when he saw a beautiful but unfamiliar young maid leading the way.

The chubby Donggua followed behind Meng Shu. When they got close to the box, the money shop clerk hurriedly said that there was no need to help. Only then did Meng Shu notice that the box was different from the boxes brought by the two shopkeepers in front of her. This box seemed to be heavier. The two clerks in front of her were burly and strong, but they still looked like they were struggling.

Upon arriving at the room, a maid quickly brought a basin of water and a towel. Meng Shu instructed the men carrying the box to carefully place it under the window. However, one of the men lost his balance due to a lack of strength, causing one side of the wooden box to hit the wall.

The shop assistant glanced nervously at Manager Qian beside him, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he was not angry. After the shop assistants went down to be settled with the servants of Langya Courtyard, the old servant next to Manager Qian also gave Meng Shu and the others a purse as a reward.

There were about a hundred coins in her purse. Meng Shu decided to distribute them among everyone. When she returned to her room, she gave half of the twenty or so coins she had received to Donggua. "Good sisters should share half when they meet. Here you go, little Donggua."

Donggua accepted it with a grin, stuffed it haphazardly into the purse at his waist, sniffed and casually said, "The smells are different everywhere in your Langya Courtyard. You must have dried gardenias in your room, they smell really nice."

Meng Shu took out a few sachets from the sewing basket, picked one out and handed it to Dong Gua. “It’s really amazing. Your sense of smell is so sensitive. I’ve been making sachets these past few days. Because I don’t like strong fragrances, I asked Steward Cao for some dried flower petals from last year. You can even smell them.”

Winter Melon was extremely pleased with herself; her sense of smell was second to none among everyone in the small kitchen.

“Mother An said that a sense of smell is extremely important for a cook. Take your courtyard for example. When you enter, in addition to the fragrance of flowers, there is a very faint scent of perfume, which is different from the perfume distributed by the manor. Someone in your courtyard must have been using perfume bought from outside.”

Since the head managers were moving in today, several maids had indeed bought face powder in advance to prepare for the occasion. Seeing that Donggua was engrossed in conversation, Meng Shu gestured for her to continue.

"Then there are the various floral scents. When we passed by the main house, we saw that several rooms were also filled with different incense, but one of the scents was somewhat similar to the smell in our small kitchen. It was like the aroma of stir-fried dishes with a hint of mustiness, similar to the smell of spoiled food."

Meng Shu was stunned. How could Langya Courtyard smell like this? She frowned and asked, "Where is this smell coming from?"

Donggua sniffed, thought carefully, and said, "We smelled it all the way back from the main house, but it got fainter and fainter, and we won't be able to smell it anymore in a while."

"So, this smell wasn't there when you first entered the yard?" Meng Shu asked, even more curious.

Seeing Donggua nod affirmatively, Meng Shu thought for a moment and guessed that the taste must have come from Manager Qian and his group. For some reason, she suddenly had a bad feeling.

Something unusual must be going on, and this feeling grew stronger and stronger. So, Meng Shu found an excuse to take Donggua and wander around Langya Courtyard, including all the rooms. There were still two hours before the banquet in the front courtyard. Manager Gong had not yet returned from Fu'an Residence, and Manager Qian was chatting with Manager Tang.

When they returned to the back room, Donggua confidently pointed out that the source was Manager Qian's room, and this time the smell was even stronger than before.

After this experience, Donggua remembered what the smell was like. It tasted very much like vegetable oil. Vegetable oil had just been introduced and was very popular at the time, and wealthy families preferred to use it for cooking.

This should have made Meng Shu realize that she shouldn't have brought vegetable oil to the council meeting, since the box should have been full of account books.

Seeing Meng Shu deep in thought, Dong Gua didn't mind. He said he needed to prepare the ingredients for making tea pastries the next day and left. Half an hour later, Lv Liu also returned to her room.

She excitedly recounted the various jewelry and gifts that Manager Gong had brought to the old lady, making Meng Shu feel envious for a while.

All the staff brought by the head managers were settled in a side room not far from the main house, separated from the room of Meng Shu and her maids by a wall. It was nearing evening, and the head managers were invited to the front yard for a banquet. Xia Zhu led all the maids and servants to the main kitchen of the public hall to get food, not only for their own people but also for the staff.

Taking advantage of this time, Meng Shu struck up a conversation with several honest-looking shop assistants. They quickly became acquainted, and Meng Shu took the opportunity to ask about the situation of tea gardens and tea shops on the streets of Lin'an, mainly about the channels through which outsiders sell tea, but she didn't find anything useful.

She then turned and carried the food box to the table of the money exchange clerks. Besides the two carrying the boxes, there were four other people dressed as money exchange clerks. "Brothers, please try the dishes from our main kitchen."

Seeing that the young maid in front of them had bright eyes and white teeth and was very enthusiastic, one of the waiters said that he had come here a few times with Manager Qian before and had eaten all the dishes in the main kitchen. He asked if there were any new dishes recently.

Meng Shu was secretly delighted; the words had come at just the right time. So she smiled and said, "The dishes haven't changed, but the taste has."

The guys were a little confused for a moment.

Meng Shu casually pointed to a vegetarian dish, her eyes sweeping over the people at the table.

"The oil used for this stir-fry has been changed from animal fat to vegetable oil, making it much lighter and more refreshing. You guys should definitely give it a try."

As she spoke, she emphasized the words "vegetarian oil," and sure enough, Meng Shu noticed a moment of panic on the faces of the two men carrying the box. Although they quickly recovered, Meng Shu still caught it.

It seems that Manager Qian did indeed secretly bring some vegetable oil.

Meng Shu squinted as she looked towards the main courtyard. Tonight, Langya Courtyard would likely be engulfed in flames...