I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 35. Tofu
So Yeon-hee pocketed six Advancement Points at breakfast and, practically glowing with satisfaction, saw her parents off toward the fields before returning to the kitchen.
She needed to check whether the tofu she’d pressed in a sieve to drain was setting properly.
“YouTube said thirty minutes to an hour of pressing should do it……”
She’d never made tofu in such large quantities at home before, so getting the feel of it was proving difficult.
‘If I press it too hard, they might find it unpleasant to eat. I’ll test it, and if it seems right, I’ll use it as is.’
She was about to set aside the bowl of water that had drained from the tofu and lift away the cheesecloth that covered it when—
“Sister! We have a guest!”
So Yeon-su came tumbling into the kitchen in a flurry of panic.
“A guest? At this hour?”
“Yes. It’s that nobleman who came before!”
If it was the guest from before, it had to be Ju Ha-yun, or perhaps his cousin.
“Why in heaven’s name would he show up this early in the morning when I told him to come this afternoon? Mother and Father aren’t even home!”
Of course, So Yeon-hee—having lived in a free and open world—was not the sort to be rigid about such things as the Male-Female Seven-Year Rule.
Still, it was better to avoid gossip if one could.
She dusted off her hands with a slightly displeased expression.
“He probably came to check on the tofu. I’ll just show him what I’ve made and send him on his way. You go to your room for now.”
She soothed Yeon-su and sent her off, then rolled up her sleeves and headed to the courtyard.
“You’ve come early. It’s not afternoon yet.”
So Yeon-hee greeted him lightly with a nod, and the man turned, startled.
In the morning sunlight, he was dressed with meticulous care—almost painfully beautiful—but hardly welcome.
Less so still when she caught sight of the retinue of servants trailing behind him.
“I grew anxious and brought various ingredients with me. Several different grains to substitute for soybeans as well.”
Ju Ha-yun gestured with his chin to the heavy bundles his servants had carried in.
At a glance, rare and diverse provisions lay scattered about, but to So Yeon-hee it was enough to make her sigh.
‘I only asked him to wait half a day, and he couldn’t help himself but come rushing in?’
She understood his anxiety—tofu didn’t exist here—but it was still rather disappointing.
Because making tofu was so labor-intensive!
But then again, they said the one who gets angry is third-rate, the one who endures is second-rate, and the one who smiles is first-rate?
So Yeon-hee made no show of her displeasure and turned back with a gentle greeting.
“Come in, please.”
She led him into the small kitchen and without fuss ladled out a bowl of soft tofu she’d prepared in advance.
White, delicate curds sat modestly in the bowl.
“……What is this?”
“A food made from soybeans—soft tofu.”
Ju Ha-yun’s eyebrows shifted subtly. Until yesterday, people had turned away from those soybeans, calling them hard and fishy. Yet here they had transformed into such fine, white curds.
It was almost impossible to believe, and yet it was the truth before his eyes.
Ju Ha-yun took the bowl with a bewildered expression.
Then, as if she’d been waiting for this moment, So Yeon-hee drizzled seasoning sauce over the top.
Red sauce flowed across the white surface, releasing a savory aroma. Just as that primal stimulus made Ju Ha-yun’s throat tighten, So Yeon-hee handed him a spoon.
“Try it.”
Ju Ha-yun brought a spoonful slowly to his lips. And then he froze.
On his tongue it melted away like fine powder. Soft, almost quivering.
There was no fishiness whatsoever—only a clean, deep nuttiness remained.
Though it seemed too humble for banquet food, he found himself wanting another spoonful.
“……What in heaven did you do to the soybeans?”
“I can’t share that secret, I’m afraid. It’s the foundation of my business.”
So Yeon-hee discreetly closed the notification window for her Advancement Points and, turning briskly, retrieved the firmer tofu she’d prepared earlier, pressing it through a sieve into a water bowl.
At the sight of the white curds, firmer than the soft tofu, Ju Ha-yun’s eyes brightened again.
His instincts told him that this fresh white substance before him was today’s true star.
“Hmm. About twelve pieces should do nicely?”
So Yeon-hee took up a knife and began slicing the tofu into neat portions. The blade cut through cleanly and quietly, gliding through the flesh without resistance.
‘No glutinous feeling like rice cake. But no toughness like meat either.’
While Ju Ha-yun marveled, So Yeon-hee broke off a corner piece with her fingers and, turning to face him, held it before his mouth.
“Ah.”
At her bold command, Ju Ha-yun went rigid.
‘What—what is she trying to do?’
A girl holding a white morsel to the lips of a man whose hands were full—one with the soft tofu bowl, the other with a spoon.
To her, it was probably simple consideration: practical kindness, since both his hands were occupied.
But to Ju Ha-yun, it was something else entirely.
‘How utterly brazen!’
He was a man of strict propriety—the sort who even folded his nightclothes to precise angles.
He had naturally kept his distance from women, and had never experienced such a forward gesture.
He didn’t even know if this constituted courtship.
He felt his face burning and turned his head away sharply.
“That’s—that’s enough! I—I shall eat it myself!”
“Just eat it.”
Before he could retreat, her hand moved without hesitation. A piece of tofu slipped smoothly into his mouth.
“Mmph……!”
Ju Ha-yun’s lips clamped shut while his eyes flew wide. The tips of his ears flushed crimson in an instant.
The tofu softened gently against his palate, but he was in no state to savor the taste.
And then came an even greater problem.
With the very finger that had fed him, So Yeon-hee picked up another piece of tofu and popped it straight into her own mouth.
Ju Ha-yun’s thoughts ceased.
‘Just now—surely it brushed……?’
The finger that had touched his lips had also touched hers.
Indirectly, their lips had met.
‘This—this is—!’
His body went rigid. Heat bloomed through his entire neck and stained his ears scarlet.
Not knowing where to look, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“How is it? Delicious, yes?”
So Yeon-hee looked up at him with perfect composure and asked. Because her mouth was full of tofu, both her cheeks puffed out round as a full moon.
‘How does she stand there unmoved after our lips touched, even indirectly?’
Even if it was indirect contact, their flesh had still met—between a man and a woman!
He felt oddly robbed of propriety, as if mocked. Yet So Yeon-hee paid him no mind whatsoever, which made him all the more furious.
Ju Ha-yun cried out, his face turned away.
“Is that what matters right now?!”
Still on his tongue lingered the nutty taste of tofu.
* * *
“Of course, it is delicious.”
A moment later, having composed himself, Ju Ha-yun spoke through a delicate cough.
“But surely this is too plain to serve at a banquet, is it not?”
His assessment was coolly rational, yet shame still colored his face all the way to his ears.
Meanwhile, So Yeon-hee—who had offered him a piece of tofu only to receive a sharp rebuke—found her mood sinking further still.
She had forgiven his rudeness at arriving so early. Now it felt as though a far greater insult had been returned.
“This isn’t a dish. It’s an ingredient. Of course it’s plain. My role is to prepare it deliciously, isn’t it?”
So Yeon-hee set the tofu on the cutting board and replied.
“I haven’t even begun cooking yet, but there’s nothing to be done about it. You visited our home far too early. If you’d come in the afternoon as promised, you could have tasted the finished dish.”
Ju Ha-yun’s eyebrows twitched at her cutting remark.
Only then did he grasp how much of his discourtesy she had been bearing.
‘I should have simply believed her when she said she could handle the soybeans. Or at least kept my promise and come in the afternoon.’
All his actions, undertaken in the name of concern and help, had been nothing but contempt and rudeness to her.
Belated embarrassment crashing over him, Ju Ha-yun hastily finished the soft tofu and set the bowl beside the cutting board.
“My haste caused too much trouble. I shall leave the cooking entirely to you. When it’s complete, bring it to the Wi household. It would be better to present it directly to the Madam of the Wi household rather than to me.”
He bowed lightly with an awkward expression and turned to leave.
Just then—
“Yeon-hee! Yeon-su, Yeon-u!”
A rough shout came from a distance, followed by hurried footsteps approaching at a rapid pace.
The figure that appeared in the kitchen doorway was So Jin.
Having heard that a band of strong men had descended on the So household while he was working the fields, he’d grabbed a hoe as a makeshift weapon and come running.
At the kitchen entrance, he caught sight of a man he recognized and his body went tense.
His gaze shifted slowly—from So Yeon-hee to Ju Ha-yun, then back from Ju Ha-yun to So Yeon-hee.
The man was not a stranger to him.
Yet he was an outside male, calling for a private audience with his daughter at this early hour.
So Jin’s eyes darkened.
“My lord, what brings you to the So household at this hour of the morning?”
His chilling tone froze the air in the kitchen.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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