Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 375 - 372: We’re Living in Luxury

After the guests had gathered, two newly hired footmen carried a peculiarly shaped windmill into the room.

In fact, according to later archaeological discoveries, pottery windmills existed as early as the Western Han period, used by farmers as machinery for cleaning grains.

This means that the invention of windmills in Huaxia dates back to the Western Han period at the latest, which is at least fourteen hundred years earlier than their appearance in Europe.

However, this group of aristocratic women from the Great Tang gathered here today are not involved in production, unfamiliar with the labor of hands and unaware of grains, thus they were all curious, having never seen such a thing before.

"Village Lady, what is this?"

"Wanwan, what wonderful thing is this?"

"It looks so strange."

The aristocratic women all started asking questions, while Lin Wanwan just smiled without saying a word.

Lin Wanwan’s windmill wasn’t the agricultural pottery windmill from the Western Han period but a prototype of the modern fan—a hand-cranked fan.

The entire structure was made of wood, using human power to crank it, causing the fan blades to rotate and create wind. The principle was similar to the pottery windmill from the Han Dynasty, only one was used to blow away grain chaff, and the other to create a breeze for cooling.

After the two footmen set up the large fan, they brought over a Nine Heavens Profound Lady ice sculpture half-human tall to place in front of the windmill, and then silently retreated.

Hong Yan had been waiting for this moment. Seeing the items set up, she performed a courtesy, raised her head slightly, strode to the side of the windmill, and began to slowly crank the handle.

As the fan blades spun, a burst of cool breeze passed through the fragrant ice sculpture, wafting towards the people indoors, bringing threads of cooling wind to this hot summer day.

"Wow, how amazing is this! What exactly is it?"

"Shoo shoo, it smells so nice, what’s this fragrance... Ah, it’s the fragrance of Wood Peony!" The second daughter of the Zhang Family’s nose twitched, sniffed for a while, then suddenly exclaimed.

With her reminder, everyone indulgently sniffed, exclaiming: "It truly is the fragrance of Wood Peony."

"Wanwan, why does this ice sculpture have such a fragrance?"

Lin Wanwan calmly replied: "Oh, this ice was taken by my senior brother from the bitter cold northern lands, he said it contained perfume extracted from hundreds of Wood Peony blossoms, hence it has this elegant fragrance."

Wood Peony, also known as Peony, rose to popularity during the Sui Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Among the elegant activities of aristocrats was appreciating, competing, and savoring flowers, mainly Peonies being the subject of appreciation, competition, and savoring.

Numerous eternal famous lines about Peonies exist, such as "The clouds think of clothes and flowers think of beauty," "The famous flower enchants the country, mutual delight," "Standing alone as the foremost fragrance in the world," and so on, even the poet Bai Juyi lamented, "One cluster of dark flowers, ten households contribute," to describe the noble rarity of Peonies.

Lin Wanwan put painstaking effort into today’s banquet, specially ordering ice sculpture molds and Peony-scented perfume online, awaiting today’s startling impact.

Even before the banquet commenced, the attendees were already impressed by Lin Wanwan breaking the norm of Mao County’s upper class banquets with her opening, capturing their attention.

Slices of red melon placed decoratively on each serving table, a magnificent three-layered cake, ice sculptures wafting Peony fragrance, and this peculiarly shaped windmill, all presented before the guests.

These upper-class aristocratic women of Mao County understood that at least a hundred gold had to be spent to arrange such a banquet, truly more extravagant than the noble people in the Imperial Palace!

Previously, many among them had slightly underestimated Lin Wanwan’s extravagance due to the sparse number of maids and servants at the Lin Mansion grounds, but now expressions of astonishment appeared on their faces.

This Village Lady is simply a walking treasure trove!

Observing the expression on the faces of others, Lin Wanwan cheerfully teased: "I suppose everyone agrees, when we have more than enough things readily available, novelty becomes our pursuit. It’s quite amusing to have icy cold from northern lands, blooming Wood Peony from April and May, winter melon from Western Regions, northern cream, along with deep sea tuna slices all presented together!"

Once more, the second daughter of the Zhang Family called out: "This novelty is built upon gold and silver treasures! Today, it’s not wind being blown, it’s wealth being blown, and what’s eaten is not tuna sashimi, it’s money! Regardless of any other reason, wealth is the most fascinating thing!"

Lin Wanwan toasted towards the second daughter of the Zhang Family with a smile: "Then why don’t you try this Hundred Flowers Brew, see if it has the taste of money?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room burst into laughter and together raised their cups to take a sip.

They have been gossiping behind Lin Wanwan’s back, labeling her as country bumpkin, which has long reached Lin Wanwan’s ears. Today, she aims to broaden the horizons of the Great Tang natives, showing what truly makes the wealthy happy.

Not only does she want to make the Red Face Smile Beauty Salon earn money from all aristocratic women throughout Mao County and even entire Jiangnan, she also wants to become a trendsetter and hold the discourse power over Tang Dynasty fashion.

Thus, she must avoid the labels "country" and "rustic," because once tagged with these words, it becomes difficult to fleece the wealthy aristocratic ladies.

After drinking the Hundred Flowers Brew, eating tuna sashimi, Lin Wanwan led the crowd to the cream cake, cutting, distributing, and eating the cake.

For everyone, it was the first time tasting this novel cream cake, and they were all conquered by its dense sweet flavor.

Sugar, being a luxury in the Great Tang period, added to the cream cake in just the right sweetness, it was hard for any woman to resist—except for those dieting.

"Wanwan, where did you order this called cream cake from a bakery? The matriarch at my house is having a birthday banquet next month, and I want to have one too."

"About this cream cake, it wasn’t bought, but made in my mansion. In the future, the Red Face Smile Shop will offer this additional custom service for premium members. You can just order if needed."

Lin Wanwan took the opportunity to further emphasize the privileges of premium membership at her Red Face Smile Shop, today’s guests weren’t all premium members, several young ladies hadn’t spared the money.

Lin Wanwan had to seize them all, it’s fine if there’s no cash flow, they can use treasures to pledge! Fine embroidery, exquisite jewelry, all are acceptable.

"That’s wonderful! Speaking of which, this Red Face Smile Shop is indeed well-established, now every few days, if I don’t get a facial, don’t apply essential oils, I’m all uncomfortable!" Second daughter of the Shi family cooperatively chimed in.

She wants everyone to know that she’s spent ten gold to become a premium member at Red Face Smile!

"Indeed, it is wonderful." Then everyone discussed the beauty products at Red Face Smile for a while.

The official banquet began, Lin Wanwan combined local delicacies of the Great Tang with modern gourmet delicacies, and the aristocratic women savored endlessly.

After the meal, the noblewomen formed groups of three or five, some disregarding the heat to enjoy courtyard scenery, some laying in side rooms having maids crank fans for a nap, while others in the main hall played the zither or painted accompanied by the cool breeze.

Lin Wanwan placed two small desks in the study room, one with chess, the other with Go, set up a tournament to accept challenges.

Previously, during the banquet, Lin Wanwan lost a game of drinking games in literary court, but now she wanted to win back in the chess arena.

Several aristocratic women boasting high chess skills came forward to challenge, yet all were defeated.