“At twelve, she managed the accounts of a temple and learned how pilgrims pretended to be poor or flaunted their wealth. At fifteen, she returned to the main residence of the Su family, where she ran into a stepmother playing the victim and a half-sister tripping her up. Su Ruotiao smiled as she ran her abacus. ‘I used to settle disputes between pilgrims. Now I’m just dealing with a different crowd.’ So…
The land dispute getting ugly? She squatted by the pickle jars and challenged her half-sister to a cucumber-pickling contest: whoever made the crunchiest pickles got the land.
Need to embarrass her at the birthday banquet? She turned her half-sister’s ‘brilliant talent’ into a poem ‘riddled with typos,’ then tilted her head and asked, ‘Big Sister, did you copy this poem from mine?’
Best of all, the heir of the Marquis of Dingbei always steps in when she ‘falls flat on her face.’ ‘I checked Miss Su’s pickle accounts for you.’ A drama queen meets a perfect wingman, and this household battle is almost dangerously sweet!”
