Chapter 836: Chapter 799: An Unexpected New Year’s Gift

After Lin Wanwan finished breakfast and walked out of Jie Yuting’s private restaurant, the dawn light was just breaking.

She drove the car back into the courtyard, popped open the trunk to air it out, then ran straight to her room to open the Space-Time Gate for research.

She’d released another big guardian fish today, and the color of the Space-Time Gate had turned an even deeper green, almost emerald. It still hadn’t leveled up yet, but judging from the color, it should be getting close.

Of course, Lin Wanwan wasn’t entirely sure.

After observing the Space-Time Gate for a while, Lin Wanwan shuttled through time and space back to the Great Tang to sleep.

She slept dreamlessly through the night, and at first light, Lin Wanwan was woken up by the loud, clear sounds of someone reading below.

She opened her eyes, momentarily confused. It’s the winter break though. Listening carefully, she realized it was Qingyu’s voice.

Unprecedented—this little rascal had actually gotten up this early to recite books.

"Oh right, last night she made plans with the Qin women to go to the temple fair together. No wonder the little thing got up so early." As Lin Wanwan slowly woke up, she remembered.

She knew it—there was no way this kid would suddenly become so self-disciplined. Sure enough, only a chance to go out and play could give her the motivation to get up early.

It couldn’t help but remind her of how, when she was little and it was her turn for the spring outing, she would wake up before dawn.

Turns out kids’ love of play never changes, whether ancient or modern.

When it came to educating Qingyu, Lin Wanwan had always held to a "go with the flow" attitude, more or less like modern parents who hand their kids over to all kinds of training centers.

She never stinted on spending money on education, but parent-child teaching time was basically nonexistent.

After personally coaching Qingyu on memorizing poems and doing arithmetic, she realized that if she wanted to preserve a harmonious "kind mother, filial daughter" relationship, she could not personally take charge.

Kids like Baya Naba and Big Girl, genius study gods with sky-high talent, were rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Since she was awake anyway, Lin Wanwan simply got up as well.

As soon as she pushed open the door, the maids who had been waiting in the outer room filed in to help her dress and wash up.

"My lady, this year’s New Year’s gift for the Old Madam in Qiantang has already been prepared. Here is the gift list. Please have a look and see if anything needs to be added or removed." While Lin Wanwan was having her hair done, Yun Shang handed over a list.

It was written on the most common folded slips used in the Great Tang. Since Lin Wanwan didn’t plan to visit Qiantang as a guest again this Spring Festival, she’d prepared a thicker New Year’s gift this year than the past two years.

Home-produced cotton cloth from the clan’s workshops was a must. She’d also prepared three furs she’d bought up, just enough to give each of her two maternal aunts and the Old Madam one piece.

On top of that were some local specialties: sweet potato vermicelli, corn liquor, finely milled white rice, a small chest of cherries, a chest of oranges, a jin of spices, and mushrooms and cherry tomatoes grown in her own glass conservatory and heated room (the latter mainly smuggled in from the modern world under the radar).

These white rice, fruits, and spices that were utterly ordinary in the modern world were considered very presentable gifts in the Great Tang.

The Xiao Family’s New Year’s gift to her was also very sincere: vegetables grown by their Manor Guest on their estate, rare in the Great Tang winter, as well as brocades and silks.

"This will do. The gift list looks good, let’s go with this."

Lin Wanwan handed the list back to Yun Shang, approving of her competence.

"Yes." Yun Shang received it with both hands and withdrew to make the arrangements.

Who would have thought that this original illiterate New Luo Maid would now be doing such an excellent job as Housekeeper.

Yun Shang had a very strong desire to learn. Back when they ran literacy classes for the servants, she was the most diligent of them all.

To make it easier to remember, Lin Wanwan had introduced pinyin and specifically chose simplified characters to teach them.

But Yun Shang not only learned simplified characters, she also taught herself traditional ones. All the way up to now, every night when she wasn’t on duty, she spent it studying hard.

To firmly secure her position as Housekeeper, Yun Shang was practically studying as if her life depended on it.

After all, the household now had quite a few servants who’d come out of the palace, as well as Ji Yue and Yun Cai, whom Lin Wanwan had personally designated to "assist" her in managing household affairs.

Those two first-class maids had experience serving two Emperors.

In terms of knowledge and proper etiquette, Yun Shang could not match them; what she relied on most was the longstanding bond from being the first to follow Lin Wanwan, plus utterly unreserved loyalty.

With a bit of healthy competition among the household servants and a few "black fish" dropped in to stir up the waters, the Lin Mansion was gradually developing the bearing of a native Great Tang noble house. No one could casually pick on them for losing decorum anymore.

Just as Lin Wanwan, Qingyu, Xiao Yixun and the others finished breakfast and had the carriages and horses ready to head out to the temple fair, the mansion received an unexpected New Year’s gift.

"So it’s actually from that little chubby Li Tai."

Because of the soap workshop and the distillery, Lin Wanwan had maintained fairly close contact with Li Lizhi in Chang’an and with Chui Shi, the wife of Cheng Yaojin.

But with Li Tai, she really didn’t have much interaction.

Back when they were in Chang’an, Li Tai often tagged along with Princess Changle Li Lizhi to visit her mansion, but Lin Wanwan had always kept a polite yet distant attitude toward him.

After all, a Prince and a Princess were different, especially this particular Prince, who was thinking about fighting for the throne.

Lin Wanwan herself felt she had no real relationship with Li Tai, but that was only her perception. To Li Tai, he took Lin Wanwan quite seriously.

After all, the bucket waterwheel, high-yield crops, and white pig breeding techniques she’d introduced in Chang’an had benefited him greatly and earned him quite a bit of favor with Li Shimin.

So even though Lin Wanwan had sent New Year’s gifts to Princess Changle in Chang’an, to the Duke Su Mansion, to Empress Xiao, Old Man Sun, Xiao Chong’s family, and her sworn big brother Ma Zhou and the like, and specifically not to him, he didn’t mind and still took the initiative to send her a New Year’s gift.

Knowing that Lin Wanwan liked famous calligraphy and paintings, Li Tai sent works by Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan.

"Hey, I didn’t expect this little chubby to be so tasteful." After reading Li Tai’s letter, Lin Wanwan was a bit surprised. "What should I send back to him?"

She hadn’t particularly planned to help Li Tai. It was him who took it to heart on his own.

When the bumper harvest came, Li Shimin even called Li Chengqian over to put on a show, and Lin Wanwan had simply maintained a "let things follow their course" attitude.

But since Li Tai was being so tactful now, of course Lin Wanwan had to reciprocate with a return gift.

She also understood what Li Tai was hoping for, but he was destined to be disappointed; Lin Wanwan had no intention of getting involved in such major affairs.

Since Li Tai was a little foodie chub, she’d just send him some delicacies.

Food was the universal gift; it never went wrong. She could also send more pepper and other spices. A few bottles of her "personally brewed" fine liquor could go in as well, poured into those priceless "glass" bottles. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Among the New Year’s gifts Li Tai sent, there was also a letter and gifts from Li Zhi to Qingyu.

Speaking of Qingyu’s letters, this little one was also pen pals with Lu Zhao Lin and often exchanged letters.

Qingyu really had the potential to be a super extrovert. Sure enough, the probability of a study slacker becoming a social butterfly was high.