Tangli Fried Snow

Every morning when Shirley wakes up, she feels refreshed, her skin is moisturized, and even her hair is shinier than the day before.

The first lesson after breakfast was choosing clothes. Lin Wanjun prepared a lot of beautiful clothes and accessories for her to practice her sense of style.

This is a perfect match for her major; she studied fashion design at the University of Sydney, and her aesthetic sense was centuries ahead of its time.

Nowadays, women's clothing mostly consists of skirts and jackets. She chose a light purple gauze jacket with narrow sleeves and lace trim, paired with a smoky brown gauze skirt with gold-flecked phoenixes and peonies. The jacket was decorated with camellia patterns, making it exquisite and elegant.

Song Dynasty clothing emphasizes simplicity and elegance, with gentle and understated colors and exquisite workmanship. Decorations are limited to piping and cuffs, and the belt must reach below the knee, making it an extremely important accessory. She chose a deep purple one to match. A fashionable woman's go-to outfit is wearing lingerie as outerwear, meaning the delicate bra must be shown to look good. She picked a white one with gold embroidery. Wearing the set together, the colors are perfectly matched, refined and elegant, and very beautiful.

Lin Wanjun praised her fashion sense.

After getting dressed, the next step is to comb hair, which is a big project. Only a skillful person can do the most popular hairstyles. Among the four servants brought this time, there is a clever little girl named Xiao Tao'er. She is only thirteen or fourteen years old, but she has four or five years of experience in hairdressing. She started learning various hairstyles from her grandmother when she was nine years old, and now she is a seasoned hairdresser.

Xiao Tao'er is clever and skillful. Based on Xue Li's face shape, she chose a simple and elegant hairstyle for her: a middle parting with double hairpins, a round high-footed hairpin inserted at the top of her head, and small pearl and filigree hairpins on both sides. She also paired it with a pair of gold earrings with floral patterns in the same color. A well-bred young lady with a touch of playfulness and poise appeared in the bronze mirror.

Lin Wanjun gave her a comprehensive critique from head to toe, providing detailed explanations on how to wear and coordinate various outfits.

In the State of Song, commoners were only allowed to wear white and black clothing; only those with official titles or members of the royal family and aristocratic clans could wear other colors. She also emphasized the special attire required of noblewomen, such as headbands, face rings, pearls, and floral decorations.

Besides women's clothing, Lin Wanjun also prepared some men's robes, shirts, trousers, hats, and shoes. She focused on introducing the selection and matching of clothing and hats for different occasions, learning this so she could choose clothes for her future husband. There were even more styles for men, with more than ten kinds of hats alone. The two of them spent a whole hour learning about clothes, shoes, and hats.

These things can't be learned in a day. Today we only learned the basics, which can be considered an introductory class. Lin Wanjun said, "Today we only learned the basics. From now on, we will break it down and explain it in detail every day."

Sherry was very interested in these things and didn't feel tired at all. She readily agreed, and Lin Wanjun praised her for her eagerness to learn.

The second lesson is about skin management.

Not only do I need to take care of my face every day, but I also need to take care of my whole body.

Facial skin management involves exfoliation, applying pearl powder, and then massaging with essential oils. Full-body skin management also includes unblocking the body's meridians.

Lin Wanjun even checked the hair under her arms and in her bikini area. As she looked, she said, "You naturally have less body hair, so you don't need any extra treatment. But if these areas happen to be too thick, you'll have to remove it."

Sherry gasped and asked, "What should we do?"

Lin Wanjun said, "Apply the sticky beeswax, wait for it to dry, and then peel it off forcefully!"

"Hiss~" Just hearing it made her feel pain. Sherry breathed a sigh of relief, thankful she wouldn't have to endure such torture.

It was already noon when I finished my skin treatment.

Let's move directly to the third lesson.

That is to learn about the various delicacies and wines that only nobles could access.

The food at that time was not much different from that of modern times. Wheat cultivation was well-developed, and there was a variety of pasta dishes, such as sesame seed cakes, braised meat, and fried dough sticks. Street food like these was also available.

Papaya juice, sweet bean candy, and chilled glutinous rice balls are also available, as well as perilla drink, white wine, and agarwood water.

Thanks to advancements in metallurgy, iron pots have become common in every household, leading to a wide variety of stir-fries and refined dishes. As the saying goes, "one should not be too particular about food," and the food of the nobility is more exquisite and refined. For example, these past few days we have been eating crab-stuffed oranges, goose yolk soybeans, large naan cakes, honey-fried kumquats, lotus seedpod fish dumplings, and crispy fried peony flower slices.

Lin Wanjun kept her promise and fed Xueli a variety of meals every day, explaining to her in detail what each dish was, how it was made, how to eat it, and when to eat it.

It's tough on her, this good sister-in-law, to eat a meal that goes from hot to cold, yet still manage to eat well without gaining weight.

I sample several fine wines every day; today I've brought Xiangquan, Yingyu, and Jinbo.

Lin Wanjun said, "The color, alcohol content, and aroma of each type of wine are different. You need to rinse your mouth first and then savor it slowly. You don't need to drink too much. Just let the wine swirl around in your mouth. The longer it stays, the more you can appreciate its beauty."

Its subtleties can only be understood intuitively and cannot be explained in words.

She was completely exhausted after finishing the meal.

The good news is that you can take a nap after lunch.

The bad news is that I also have to learn music, chess, calligraphy, and painting this afternoon.

For this purpose, Jin Qingyan even specially invited a teacher over.

The teacher's name was Xu Jinhuan. He was about forty or fifty years old, thin and vigorous, with three strands of beautiful beard, single eyelids, and a high nose bridge. He had a bit of the look of a handsome middle-aged Korean oppa.

Upon their first meeting, the two exchanged greetings. Mr. Jinhuan, seeing her clever and quick-witted demeanor, was quite pleased with her as a student and asked her, "Have you been exposed to the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting?"

Sherry replied respectfully, "I only know the basics."

Without further ado, the gentleman got straight to the point, first testing her by stroking his beard and asking, "What are you best at?"

Shirley studied her skills at Baihualou for two years and became an expert in playing the guqin.

Of course, she wanted to show off her skills by playing one of her signature pieces for her husband, and she chose "Little Chongshan".