Chapter 28: Success

Chapter 28: Success

Boiling water must be added in several stages. As the stream of water is poured, one must rapidly whisk the tea with a bamboo whisk, then pour again and continue whisking. This process is repeated until the tea takes on a milky white hue and a layer of white froth rises in the bowl, resembling winter snow resting upon fresh milk. Only then can the tea be considered properly prepared.

This art of whisking tea is not something everyone masters. In the Great Yuan Dynasty, almost every scholar and gentleman knows how to do it, and among others, only the children of wealthy households are specifically trained in the skill—though the focus is primarily on the legitimate heirs.

The Ba family employs a master specifically for this purpose, tasked with teaching the art to their children. This master was hired by the First Madam, who focused her attention on the legitimate daughters. As Yunjiao was not valued, she had only picked up the basics while tagging along.

Later, as she grew older, Concubine Qian bit the bullet and spent a small fortune to find a highly skilled tea mistress to teach her exclusively. Thus, even though she was a daughter of a concubine, her tea-whisking skills were top-tier, in no way inferior to the legitimate daughters of grand families. She could even create landscape paintings or transcribe poems and songs within the tea froth, though she had no interest in displaying such talent before Shen Changdong.

Shen Changdong stood quietly to one side, observing her as she focused on the tea. Her small face looked serene and elegant; the longer he looked, the more refined she appeared. He truly wondered how this little sister-in-law had come to look like this. Even just watching her without doing anything at all was a feast for the eyes.

"It is done!" Jianjia exclaimed happily.

Yunjiao set down the whisk, lifted the bowl of tea, and presented it to Shen Changdong with a charming, radiant smile. "Brother-in-law, please enjoy the tea."

Shen Changdong felt immense joy in his heart. He took the tea bowl and asked with a grin, "Did you know I was coming, and did you prepare this bowl of tea just for me?"

"That goes without saying," Yunjiao replied with a coy smile, not a trace of disgust on her face.

Hearing this, Shen Changdong was overjoyed. He tilted his head back and heroically drained the tea in one go.

Yunjiao pursed her lips as she took back the empty bowl, the small dimples at the corners of her mouth deepening.

For the past few days, Shen Changdong had stayed until lunchtime before reluctantly taking his leave. Aside from caring for her grandmother, Yunjiao spent her time idly sitting with him, never once showing a hint of impatience.

Today, after sitting for about an hour, Shen Changdong frowned to himself, feeling a sudden discomfort in his gut. He stood up, intending to bid her farewell.

"Why is Brother-in-law leaving so early today?" Yunjiao rose, her expression filled with concern. "Did I say something improper that made you angry?"

Although Shen Changdong desperately wanted to stay and continue enjoying her soft, gentle words, he could not withstand the pain in his abdomen no matter how hard he tried. He had no choice but to feign normalcy, waving his hand dismissively. "Little sister-in-law, you worry too much. That is not the case at all. It is just that I suddenly remembered I have matters to attend to elsewhere, so..."

He refused to admit the truth. Having finally won her warm smiles, it would be far too unromantic to admit he was suffering from a stomach ache and desperately needed to relieve himself.

"Is that true, Brother-in-law?" Yunjiao lifted her small face, clearly unconvinced, and stepped forward to examine him. "It doesn't quite look that way to me!"

Shen Changdong’s face went pale, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. "It is true, truly. I have never lied to you."

"Since that is the case," Yunjiao murmured thoughtfully after a moment, "Grandmother is asleep, and I have nothing else to do. Why don't I accompany you?"

Under normal circumstances, if Yunjiao had suggested this, Shen Changdong would have been overjoyed—he might have even danced for joy. But at this critical moment, with a secret, unspeakable agony, he was both annoyed and resentful. He was certain he had eaten something bad for breakfast. He cursed the chef’s ancestors to the eighteenth generation in his mind, vowing that once he had dealt with his urgent situation, he would go to the kitchen and scold the cook to vent his frustration.

"There is no need," Shen Changdong said, clenching his buttocks and taking a difficult step forward. "I will come back to speak with you once I am finished."

"Very well," Yunjiao said. Seeing the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, she guessed that the time was ripe. She stepped aside lightly and smiled softly. "Safe travels, Brother-in-law."

Shen Changdong could not bother with formalities and rushed out. He was already barely holding on, and the delay in speaking with Yunjiao had made it worse. If he tried to return to his own quarters, he feared he would have a messy accident before reaching the latrine.

Shen Changdong stood at the doorway, struggling with his decision, before turning and darting into the backyard of Qixia Courtyard.

There was a latrine in the backyard.

A latrine, as the name suggests, was a small room containing a deep circular pit that occupied almost the entire space, as deep as two or three men were tall. Because it resembled a large vat, it was often called a "latrine vat." In the Great Yuan Dynasty, some people referred to relieving oneself as "going to the vat."

Commoners were less particular; they would fence off an area with straw or corn stalks, leaving an opening to the south for light and access. They would dig a deep pit in the middle and place a few flat stones at the entrance. Such latrines were quite dangerous; the elderly and children could easily fall in if they were not careful.

The Qian family, being merchants, were naturally more refined than the common folk. In their latrine, after the deep pit was dug, the bottom was tamped down, and the sides were plastered with yellow clay mixed with chopped rice straw to prevent leakage. Wooden boards were placed over the top, leaving only an opening. A carpenter had been hired to make a chair with a hole in the seat, just large enough to accommodate an adult’s posterior. By placing this chair over the pit, one could sit while relieving themselves, which was extremely convenient and carried almost no risk of falling in. This chair was known as a "latrine seat."

Beneath the vat was a channel leading outside, allowing for easy cleaning so that the courtyard would not be filled with a foul stench during maintenance. The vat was usually cleaned once or twice every spring. There was no need to hire people to carry the waste; local farmers were eager to collect it to fertilize their crops. A single word was all it took to have it cleaned thoroughly.

It was currently mid-winter, the time of year when the vat was at its fullest.

As it happened, Shen Changdong used every ounce of his remaining strength to reach the latrine. He rushed inside, tore open his belt, and sat down on the latrine seat. Before he could even let out a sigh of relief, he felt a void beneath him, and his entire body plummeted downward.

"Ah—!"

No matter how ruthless or cold-hearted he was, he could not overcome the terror of falling headfirst into a pit of excrement.

He reached out and grabbed the latrine seat, but it was just a flimsy prop and tumbled down along with him. With no time to think, he jerked his legs upward, hooking them onto the wooden boards on either side, and his body stopped just in time.

He had barely let out a breath of relief when he looked down and immediately began to retch. He was hanging upside down over the vat, half of his head submerged in the filth, the stench overwhelming. He wanted to scream in rage.