A pair of chopsticks picked at a dish of fried greens and at a dish of vinegar meat. The holder was Yuan Ruolan, a girl near marriageable age with fair skin and dark brown eyes that seemed to sit a little too close together. She was the eldest legitimate miss of a gentry family (1), an honour merited by her father who held a jinshi degree (2), working as an official in Bianjing as the Bureau Director in the Ministry of Revenue. Though it was a mid-level post, it was respectable, stable and more than enough. Because of it, she wore clothes made of brocade, damask, gauze and even occasionally silk. Her black long hair often hung upon exquisite silver hairpins topped with imported pearls or jade, while her hands were as soft as cotton puffs. Dealt with a good card in life, each and every one of her becks and calls were answered by her two personal attendants and servants.
"Eldest miss, would you like me to fetch the cakes that Fang'Er had bought this afternoon?" Asked one of the two standing servant girls. She held her hands together respectfully behind her mistress. She had slightly down-turned eyes and a mole by her left eye.
Ruolan nodded, but momentarily turned around.
"Actually never-mind Qin'Er..." Ruolan sighed. "Yesterday, father said I look chubbier. If I eat this cake, he might have even more to say."
The other servant in the room smiled: "If you crave something sweet, Qin'er could get some sliced fruit. There's no point in eating to starve."
Ruolan seemed to consider it for a moment, then looked at Fang'Er then Qin'Er with a mischievous smile: "That's a good idea. Eating is one of the pleasures of life."
Suddenly, with the sound of pattering feet, a servant girl burst into the room with a flustered expression, bowing.
Ruolan, surprised, quickly helped the servant girl up: "What's wrong? Quickly, quickly get up." The servant girl stood up and though seemed out of breath, whispered into her mistress's ear. Beads of sweat glistened by her temples, her chest heaving up and down.
As she heard the news, Ruolan wrinkled her eyebrows and took a deep breath. When the servant girl finished, Ruolan seemed reluctant to accept what was said.
"Are you sure Xiao Chun?"
The servant girl nodded: "Master and madam received the news just now through the Wang family's eldest son. They're still talking in the host room. I only know because Madam's personal attendant told me in the kitchen. They told everyone to leave."
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1 The term "gentry family" (士紳) refers to a socially elite household distinguished by education, landownership, and official status. Gentry families gained their position primarily through success in the civil service examinations, which allowed male members to hold government office. These families typically owned land, valued scholarly pursuits, and played leading roles in local society, acting as intermediaries between the state and common people. Gentry status was not strictly hereditary but was maintained through education, exam success, and official service.
2 The jinshi (進士) degree was the highest level of the imperial civil service examinations in the Song dynasty. Passing it qualified a candidate for government office and marked them as part of the elite scholar-official class.