Harem Daily Life

Mother Hua was an impatient person; if she said she wanted to invite a nanny and a cook, then she had to invite them immediately. Hua Yuerong was originally going to the shop the next day, but once the nanny arrived, she couldn't go out.

"My two young ladies, I used to be a maid in the palace. When I left the palace to get married at the age of twenty-five, many families would ask me to be their tutor before they got married, to teach them etiquette. The second young lady can learn less, but the eldest young lady must study hard and master all the palace rules and etiquette." As she spoke, Granny Fang handed each of them a pair of knee pads.

Hua Yurong looked at the knee pads with some doubt in her heart. Before she could ask, Granny Fang said, "You are still young ladies, so your parents naturally don't want you to kneel. But after you get married, there will be more rules and you will kneel more often. These knee pads are for you to use when you kneel to pay your respects. It's okay for the second young lady, but for the eldest young lady, there are many rules in the palace, and kneeling to pay respects is a common occurrence. With these knee pads, you will suffer less."

Hua Ruyan gloated, "The Zhou family wouldn't want me to kneel all the time. Some people are so eager to get married that they'll end up like slaves, having to kneel to everyone."

Hua Yue Rong ignored her and silently put on her knee pads.

Granny Fang then formally began teaching them the proper way to bow, saying, "Your body should be straight, your head upright, your hands placed just right, and your eyes gentle but not seductive." She then demonstrated the proper way to bow.

As expected of someone from the palace, Granny Fang exuded elegance in every gesture. If one didn't know that she wasn't from a noble family, one might mistake her for someone from a high-ranking household just by looking at her demeanor.

Hua Yurong tried her best to learn, but the complicated movements and details made her flustered. Sometimes she was so focused on her hands that she forgot her head, and so focused on her back that she forgot her eyes. Hua Ruyan watched her comical appearance and sneered from time to time. Granny Fang said unhappily, "If the Second Miss finds it boring, she might as well go and rest. After all, your future husband's family may not care about etiquette at all."

That's a rather harsh statement; it's a roundabout way of saying that Hua Ruyan married into a family that doesn't know proper etiquette.

Hua Ruyan was already angry because her marriage prospects were not as good as Hua Yuerong's. When she heard that she was being looked down upon by a teaching nanny, she became even angrier and sneered, "Nanny Fang, watch your words, or I will have my mother invite you back, and you will not be able to earn ten taels of silver."

Granny Fang ignored her and focused on teaching Hua Yurong. She demonstrated everything for Hua Yurong: how to stand, how to kneel, how to speak, how to accept gifts from nobles, how to greet different people, and how to sit with her husband. Even though Hua Yurong was only practicing a few movements repeatedly, her forehead was still soaked with sweat by the end of the morning.

As noon approached, Granny Fang looked at her earnest expression and nodded slightly with a smile, saying, "With this kind of tenacity, Miss will surely be able to establish herself in the royal family in the future."

Hua Yurong still had to learn how to cook from the cook. As soon as Fang Mama finished, she hurriedly went to the kitchen.

"I'm good at cutting vegetables, so I'll teach Miss how to cut various vegetables first." The first cook stepped forward, put an apron on Hua Yurong, and began one-on-one teaching.

Hua Yue Rong followed suit, and although her knife skills weren't great, she managed to cut the vegetables without cutting her hand.

"I'm best at making noodles, so I'll teach Miss how to make steamed buns, mantou, dumplings, and wontons."

After a series of actions by the second cook, Hua Yurong tried to follow suit, but the bowl in front of her was always either too much flour or too much water. She would add water when there was too much flour and add flour when there was too much water, eventually ending up with a huge bowl full of flour.

"Alright, alright, not every family likes noodles. Miss, you should learn how to steam rice." The second cook looked at the huge bowl of noodles, her heart bleeding. She could only try to salvage the situation by turning it into big steamed buns.

Hua Yurong hadn't expected that steaming rice required taking it out halfway through and then steaming it again, and even rinsing it to fluff it up. She thought that as long as the rice was put into the pot, it would cook on its own. Hua Yurong steamed a pot of rice following the example of the third cook, but after taking a bite, she immediately spat it out.

The third cook sighed, "Fine, I'll add some more water and cook it into a pot of porridge." She took a pot of undercooked rice to the side and placed it next to the bowl of noodles. The Food Victims Alliance was officially established.

When the fourth cook saw that the first three cooks had failed to teach the person how to cook, she lost even more confidence in the cooking process.

As expected, Miss Hua was either afraid of getting splattered with oil or couldn't control the heat and burned the dishes. By the time the three dishes were finished cooking, they were unrecognizable.

After finishing her meal, Hua's mother came over to check on her daughter's studies, only to find three bowls of dark, unappetizing things. She frowned and asked, "What...what are these?"

Hua Yuerong pointed to: "Scrambled eggs with scallions, stir-fried pork with green peppers, and tofu with fish-fragrant sauce."

Flower Mother: "..."

"Hehe, well... how about we just forget about it? When you get married, your mother will send ten cooks with you, so you won't have to go into the kitchen anymore." With this cooking skill, even the prince might want to call off the engagement!

"Mother, please don't lose faith in me, okay? At least... at least the food is cooked." It didn't look like noodles, it wasn't even steamed, and it didn't look like rice, it wasn't cooked at all.

The cooks, numbered five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, stood in a row. They were thinking that they didn't necessarily have to earn the teaching fees from the Hua family. Running away now would save them half a day's work time.

Hua Yurong studied cooking in the kitchen for three days in a row. Finally, her mother intervened and forced her to stop learning to cook. She also paid the ten cooks double their wages and asked them to leave.

"Yueyue, if you keep learning like this, your hands will be ruined. These are hands destined for calculating wealth, not for cooking. Let's accept our fate!" Mother Hua said earnestly. If her daughter stayed in the kitchen for even one more day, their Hua family kitchen would be completely destroyed. A stove that would need to be rebuilt, broken dishes, wasted food... Good heavens, even the richest family shouldn't waste money like this!

Hua Yurong looked defeated. She went back to her room and washed herself thoroughly, finally getting rid of the smell of cooking oil all over her body.

"Miss, don't be discouraged. Actually, I think there will definitely be cooks in the Prince's mansion in the future, maybe even imperial chefs. You're going to be a princess, so naturally someone will serve you. You don't need to cook yourself, and it doesn't matter whether you learn or not." The little maid beside her quickly comforted her, unable to bear seeing her young lady so frustrated.

Hua Yuerong said dejectedly, "I didn't expect that a bowl of delicious food would be so hard to come by. It seems that I can only earn more money. With money, at least I can buy whatever I want to eat. Xiaowen, have the steward prepare a carriage. Let's go to Sihai Restaurant for dinner. I've been tasting the dishes I made these past few days. I've been too cruel to myself. I need to eat something good to make up for it."

Xiaowen nodded happily. She had been tortured by the young lady's dishes for the past three days, acting as a guinea pig to test the food. Finally, she could go out and eat and drink with the young lady.