It was already shocking enough that Xu Su Ying had passed down the craft she used to support her family to her daughter. But incense formulas were rare, a major skill on par with medical prescriptions, food recipes, and wine formulas. How could someone just learn another family’s craft without Xu Su Ying’s express permission?

Even if Qing’er had casually mentioned during their last chat that she could teach Xiang’er if she wanted to learn, she was still a new bride. She was probably just being polite, not wanting to embarrass Xiang’er, and so made the promise.

’But as her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, how could they be so tactless?’

’This is her family’s heirloom craft. She should only learn it if the other person genuinely wants to teach. Otherwise, wouldn’t they be forcing her hand?’

But she couldn’t say it like that, for fear of damaging the bond between her daughter and Qing’er.

So, Mrs. Zhao said, "Your brother and sister-in-law are together. Are you really going to go over and disturb them? If you can’t sit still, go embroider some handkerchiefs. Didn’t you say last time that you wanted to personally make a set of clothes for your little nephew when he’s born?"

Xiang’er was young, after all, and was quickly coaxed by Mrs. Zhao. She enthusiastically went to do needlework with her mother. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

A brazier was brought into the south room, and the space indeed became much warmer.

Seeing Zhao Jing pick up his Wolf Hair brush and begin to write with intense focus, Chen Wanqing also picked up her small scale and began weighing out the required incense powders one by one.

She had been studying incense for seven years and considered herself somewhat skilled, but compared to her mother, she paled in comparison.

Take this simple act of weighing, for example. Every time, she needed to measure carefully to get the right amount of powder, but her mother didn’t.

Her mother could easily estimate the amount just by scooping the powder with a copper spoon. The margin of error was usually minuscule, never more than a few tiny increments.

’When I can do that,’ she thought, ’I suppose I’ll finally be a master in my own right.’

Completely engrossed in her own work, Chen Wanqing didn’t notice when Zhao Jing turned his head to look at her.

The room was dim, the light poor, yet in such faint light, her face was fair and radiant, like a pearl of the finest quality. Her every move captivated his very soul.

Zhao Jing suddenly wondered, ’Was inviting her over to make incense and share the brazier with him really such a good idea?’

’With her here, his mind was completely focused on her.’

’It seemed that even the air he breathed was filled with her faint fragrance. His very soul was beyond his control, governed only by her every mood.’

...

On the twenty-third and twenty-fourth, Chen Wanqing made a large batch of stick incense and incense pills, placing them all on drying racks to air-dry in the shade.

Only when the drying racks were completely full did she stop and go to her parents’ home to help out.

The snow hadn’t stopped yet, but it had lightened.

The villagers had all cleared the snow from their doorsteps, creating a path wide enough for an ox-cart to pass, in case a family had an urgent matter to attend to or people needed to travel to the county seat to buy goods for the New Year.

Xu Su Ying had no time to shop for New Year’s goods. She was running her two sons ragged, directing them to pack up everything in the house.

’Sons were certainly not as easy to manage as a daughter. If Chen Wanqing were here, would she even need to worry about these things? Her eldest daughter had her own initiative and a methodical way of packing everything up.’

’But with her two sons, it was a different story. They were both pampered boys who had never lifted a finger, and they were identically useless.’

You’d tell one to pack up the things in his room, and he’d say, "Mom, should we take the table? What if the books get wrinkled if I pack them with the clothes? And the bedding? If we take it, won’t we have nowhere to sleep when we come back?"

As Chen Wanqing walked through the door, she saw her mother with her hands on her hips, yelling, "Why would we take that worthless table and chair? Haven’t I already told you? All the furniture in the county town is newly made! We’re leaving the old stuff here."

Yao’an ducked his head. "It’s just... I’ve grown attached to it."

"You’ve had those books of yours for years, and I haven’t seen you grow attached to them. Asking you to read for a while is like pulling teeth. And now you say you’ve grown attached to this worthless table and chair? What’s next? Should I set up an altar so you two can become sworn brothers right here and now?"

Verbally shredded by their own mother, the two brothers felt like they had seen their savior when their older sister arrived.

With tears of excitement in their eyes, they thought, ’This family really can’t function without our older sister!’

Chen Wanqing rescued her brothers from their suffering and said to her mother with a smile, "Are you on your period? Why are you so cranky?"

It just goes to show how considerate daughters are. Xu Su Ying was, in fact, on her period.

Because she had spent too much time soaking in cold water in her younger years, it had left her with a chronic ailment. Now, whenever her period came, her back would ache, her abdomen would cramp, and she would feel miserable all over.

And to make matters worse, her two sons were being so dense, she was angry enough to go on a rampage right then and there.