She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 275 - 274: The Bloodline of the Ye Family

Chapter 275: Chapter 274: The Bloodline of the Ye Family

Madam Yin was extremely astonished at Lian Gui’s answer, "Can business really be conducted in such a manner? Without any actual skills and relying purely on imagination, one can make delicious pastries?"

Duke An paid no attention to his wife, asking Lian Gui instead, "How about the pastries made by Qi Ye herself, does she possess the skills?"

Lian Gui replied, "I’ve heard that her soups and such are passable, but when it comes to dough-based pastries, they’re generally not that good, certainly much worse than those made by the kitchen maids. According to the folks at Anshun’s Household, even Nanny Liu and Nanny Zhou from the Wangfu make better pastries than the Young Lady. However, the Young Lady seems to have the ability to improve whatever food she sees."

Duke An furrowed his brows in thought but still couldn’t grasp the concept. He shook his head subconsciously and continued perusing the recipe book. After flipping a few more pages, he suddenly exclaimed, "Ah? What is this cheese here, and where did it come from?"

Lian Gui responded, "The cheese is a dairy product produced by His Highness Prince Yu’s Dairy Products Store, and currently, only the Qi family’s snack shop uses this ingredient. It’s said to be extremely expensive."

Cheese in here? Could it be the recently famed ingredient that His Highness Prince Yu presented to the palace? Startled, the Duchess picked up another handwritten manuscript beside her and started to flip through it.

Setting down the recipe book, Duke An said to Lian Gui, "After you left, the Sixth Prince sent several ingredients and pastry recipes to His Majesty from Yuyuan Prefecture, all made with an ingredient called cheese, a product from His Highness Prince Yu’s own industry. You’ve seen Prince Yu at the Qi family’s place. Could this cheese mentioned in the manuscript be the same as the one His Highness Prince Yu presented to the palace?"

Though His Majesty’s sons often presented exotic pastries to please the Emperor and the Imperial Consort and His Majesty had highly praised them, the Emperor did not describe these items in detail to others. Furthermore, Duke An would not utilize his connections in the palace to inquire about such matters, and thus he did not know whether the pastries and ingredients His Highness Prince Yu had sent matched those in the handwritten book.

Without even having to think about it, Lian Gui directly answered Duke An’s question, "It must certainly be the cheese mentioned in the Lady Qi’s recipe book. On my first day visiting the Qi family’s residence, His Highness Prince Yu and Lord Jiang, who was inspecting agricultural affairs, were resting at their house, and the Qi family served them cheese pastries."

Duke An’s frown deepened. According to Lian Gui’s words, the pastry recipes should belong to the Qi family and the dairy products to Prince Yu’s industry. There would be no problem with Prince Yu presenting these ingredients to the Emperor using the Qi family’s recipes, and moreover, the pastries praised by His Majesty would be beneficial for the reputation of the Qi family’s snack shop.

The problem was his own unimpressive granddaughter. How had she come to know how to make pastries? Ye Xinyan, spoiled by her mother’s indulgence, was notoriously ignorant. Even writing a few characters, she would scrawl them skewed and inadequately formed. Being in charge of managing things was one thing—some people naturally possess the capability to administer various affairs. But making pastries, especially the novel ones recorded in this booklet...

"Has Nanny Jin ever mentioned if, well... Qi Ye has had some sort of extraordinary experience that enabled her to learn so many skills? How come she knows how to make cheese pastries?" Duke An inquired.

"Replying to the Duke, it is said that Lady Qi took charge of Prince Yu’s Dairy Products Store and for a long time felt forlorn looking at the increasing amounts of cheese waste, until she later thought of grinding the cheese waste into a powder to use in pastries. The cheese pastries were first successfully made by Nanny Liu of the Wangfu, leading the effort."

Duke An looked at Lian Gui for a long moment without a word. He had sent someone to keep an eye on Xinyan, refraining from getting rid of her outright, all out of concern for Prince Yu’s warnings and to save face—never anticipating such an outcome.

"A person, no matter how much they change, should have some traces to follow. Lian Gui, in your opinion, where does Qi Ye’s intelligence come from?" Duke An asked.

Lian Gui was preoccupied with official business, clueless about where Miss’s transformation originated, still marveling at her unprecedented change. If he had to cite a major reason, it was her departure from the capital and Duke’s Mansion.

Lian Gui dared not speak such words, especially with the Duchess present. He answered in a proper and reserved manner, "I seem to have heard Nanny Liu from the Duke’s Mansion say to Nanny Jin that Young Lady is extraordinarily intelligent and sharp-witted. Her temperament naturally differs from the ordinary girls of other households and cannot be treated the same way. If the Young Lady were to be constrained like an ordinary girl, such talents would have no chance to emerge. Suppressing her relentlessly will probably lead her to express herself in other ways."

The Duchess was taken aback as she listened and felt extremely stifled, finding it absurd that such an explanation could exist. Was the folly and ignorance of her eldest granddaughter really something that Duke An’s Mansion had suppressed into existence?

She said, "Nanny Jin is becoming more and more clueless! Is she trying to imply that her master is extremely intelligent and that such intelligence has been greatly suppressed by Duke An’s Mansion, hence the unreasonable behavior? She really knows how to make excuses for her master’s absurd behavior!"

Lian Gui quickly bowed, "These were private remarks I overheard from people in the Duke’s Mansion with Nanny Jin. They might not be accurate." What other explanation could there be?

However, Duke An was inwardly struck by the statement, "Lian Gui’s words might not be wrong. There are many examples of such individuals. It’s just that they are mostly men who behave foolishly on a daily basis. If by chance they find the right path, they become exceptionally smart and capable, demonstrating their full talents."

The Duchess disagreed thoroughly. If that statement were true, wouldn’t it mean that both Duke An’s Mansion and her own son had suppressed Ye Xinyan, making the entire household responsible for her plight?

The Duchess said coldly, "No matter what is said, Qi Ye is merely someone with better opportunities, having many people supporting her. If she had to rely on herself alone, I fear she wouldn’t accomplish much."

Lian Gui glanced at Duke An and promptly responded, "Madam is right. Nanny Jin also said that it was not the Young Lady who knew how to handle affairs, but that she simply knew how to find people who did and to get their support."

Duke An nodded subtly to himself, acknowledging that being able to use the right people was indeed the greatest skill one could have—an attribute of the Ye bloodline. It was just a pity that such an outstanding descendant was a girl.

Duke An flipped through the cookery book again and asked Lian Gui, "Has Qi Ye sent any messages or private letters to the wife of the heir apparent?"

"No, he was told only to bring these two volumes of cookery books to the wife of the heir apparent."

"Mm, she’s a sensible child," Duke An commended. He gestured for Lian Gui to take the books, "Take these to the wife of the heir apparent, tell her to use caution with desserts involving cheese, and she can manage the rest as she sees fit. If she asks about Qi Ye, you may speak frankly about what is known publicly, there’s no need for secrets."

His Highness Prince Yu might not care whether Madam Yin would use the recipes for cheese desserts, but Duke An certainly must pay attention.

No sooner had His Highness Prince Yu delivered exotic desserts to the Imperial Father and the Empress, the Royal Mother, than the wife of the heir apparent in Duke An’s Mansion had the dessert recipes in hand. Although he was a noble of the highest rank in the Great Xia Dynasty, he was only that—a noble of the highest rank. He would never mingle with the princes or even appear to take sides in their power struggles, let alone actually do so.

The Duchess opened her mouth as if she wanted to call Lian Gui back, but ultimately she said nothing. If the desserts documented in these two booklets were indeed rare and delicious, running a shop based on the recipes would be a substantial income. Shouldn’t the Duke’s Mansion handle it entirely?

Yet, since her husband had said nothing, it seemed she had no place to say anything further.