Chapter Seventeen

That day, Li Heng drank a lot of wine and said a lot of things. Gu Leyao and Li Qi escorted him back to the courtyard.

In the middle of the night, Gu Leyao returned to her courtyard, lay on her bed, and couldn't fall asleep, resting her head on her arm.

For some reason, the words Li Qi had said to her echoed in her ears again.

Li Heng originally had ten personal guards, but only three of them returned in the end…

In the original owner's memory, Li Heng died long ago, probably not only because of the rumors in the capital, but also because of the brothers and comrades he took to the border but never brought back.

Outsiders could only see that Li Heng had made unparalleled military achievements, but most of the soldiers he led were killed in the Northern Liang royal court.

That battle wiped out nine out of ten generations of Northern Liang, but how many soldiers and generals did the Great Zhou also lose?

Do not speak of the matter of being enfeoffed as a marquis, for the success of one general is built upon the bones of ten thousand. This is roughly the meaning of the saying. [1]

Gu Leyao slept fitfully that night and woke up late the next morning, not until almost noon.

Chuntao came into the room to help her get dressed and told her, "The prince hasn't gotten up to eat yet."

Gu Leyao thought for a moment and realized that Li Heng must have drunk too much last night, which was why he woke up late.

They ate a lot of meat skewers the day before, and Li Heng drank a lot of alcohol. Today they should eat some light, hydrating food.

Gu Leyao went to the kitchen and personally made some clear soup side dishes.

She took some fresh millet, put it in a soup pot, and simmered it slowly until rice oil was extracted.

She chopped some celery and a little beef, heated the pan with cold oil, and stir-fried it over high heat to make a dish of braised beef with celery.

I also asked the cook to peel a plate of shrimp, add some fresh green chives, and make a mild and non-greasy stir-fried shrimp and chives dish.

Gu Leyao asked Chuntao to pack the dishes into a food box, and she went to Li Heng's courtyard to eat with Chuntao.

The sun was already high in the sky. Li Heng was bathed in the bright sunlight when he suddenly woke up. He sat on his bed in a daze, looking at the pattern on the curtain above the bed. It was a beautiful and auspicious picture of a crane carrying auspicious herbs.

This was arranged by his elder brother and sister-in-law before his marriage, who said it was a good omen, and that couples who used it would have a happy marriage and grow old together. Li Heng, as if possessed, tacitly agreed to have it changed.

Last night, he drank heavily and was filled with sorrow, recalling many stories of old friends.

In his dream, he seemed to have returned to the northern frontier, sometimes fighting on the battlefield, sometimes practicing with his brothers in the military camp, with red-tasseled spears, swords drawn, pointing at Beiliang, invincible.

When he woke up from his dream today, he felt as if it were a dream, wondering whether what happened in the dream was real or reality was real.

Li Heng's long hair was disheveled and casually draped over his side. He leaned against the bed, as if he were in a lucid dream, unwilling to wake up for a long time.

Outside the door, Li Qi gently knocked. "Your Highness, the Princess Consort has arrived with a food box. She said that since you didn't eat together this morning, you should eat together at noon."

Li Heng was stunned for a moment, then he suddenly remembered.

He is now married to a girl with a tragic past but a strong and optimistic personality; her name is Gu Leyao.

After a long pause, he finally said, "Open the door and help me get dressed."

He drank too much yesterday and said those things in a half-dreaming state.

Le Yao is only sixteen years old, and he might frighten her. Li Heng felt that he needed to comfort her.

With Li Qi's help, Li Heng changed his clothes. Using his strong, lean arms, he propped himself up and sat in his wheelchair.

Li Qi helped push his wheelchair, and when they arrived at the food table, Gu Leyao and Chun Tao had already set out the food.

The simple meal looks refreshing and delicious.

Gu Leyao smiled warmly as usual, "Hurry up and eat. I made today's dishes myself. Don't be fooled by their simplicity; it's very difficult to make delicious food. It really tests a chef's skills."

Gu Leyao handed him a pair of chopsticks, then sat down on the other side, picked up her chopsticks, and served Li Heng a piece of stir-fried beef.

Li Heng picked up a piece of beef, put it in his mouth, swallowed it without thinking, and then lowered his head to drink a mouthful of porridge.

The warm porridge flowed almost down his cold throat into his parched stomach.

The warm and gentle smile of his wife before him, and the lukewarm taste of the porridge, silently told Li Heng that he was still alive.

During the meal, neither Gu Leyao nor Li Heng mentioned what happened that night.

For the next period of time, Gu Leyao continued her great undertaking of renovating the Prince's Mansion.

She had a large swing installed in her courtyard and commissioned craftsmen from the Prince's Mansion to make two sets of reclining chairs. The reclining chairs were made of rattan, and if you smelled them closely, you could smell the fresh scent of grass and wood. They were also incredibly smooth to the touch. Gu Leyao lay on the reclining chairs and sunbathed, and couldn't help but marvel at the incredible craftsmanship of the ancients. They were simply ingenious!

Gu Leyao also had the craftsmen in the manor carve several wooden dog bones for the puppy Kaixin so it could gnaw on them.

Kaixin's leg has gotten much better recently, and it can walk slowly with a limp. It's probably teething, as it often chews on the furniture in the palace. Unfortunately, it's too small to leave teeth marks, but it can leave wet stains. Gu Leyao guesses that it probably wants to sharpen its teeth and claws.

The furniture in the Prince's Mansion was very expensive; each set was made by a famous artist and was worth hundreds or thousands of taels of silver.

Gu Leyao couldn't bear to let Kaixin break these nice things, so she asked someone to design some dog toys for it to play with and wear it down.

Before I knew it, most of the summer had passed by in a blur of activity.

The weather is gradually turning colder, and today it even started to drizzle. Gu Leyao felt that the weather was a bit chilly.

Gu Leyao lay in bed, unwilling to get out. In her past life in modern times, whenever it rained, looking at the gloomy weather, she didn't want to do anything. She just wanted to lie in bed, listen to the pitter-patter of the rain outside the window, turn on a warm yellow lamp, read novels, watch TV series, and justifiably waste this little bit of time, feeling genuinely happy.

Gu Leyao lay there until her bones felt weak and her stomach rumbled. She wondered, what should she eat today?

She suddenly realized that she hadn't had hot pot in a long time, and this damp and cold weather was the perfect time to eat hot pot. How could she miss such a good opportunity?

In the past, the weather was too hot in the summer, and eating hot pot would probably make you sweat a lot, so Gu Leyao resisted eating it. Now that the weather has finally cooled down, when else can you eat hot pot?

Gu Leyao carefully explained the ingredients needed for the hot pot to Chuntao and asked her to tell the cook at the Prince's mansion.

She snuggled in bed, holding a storybook in her left hand and stroking Kaixin's fluffy little head with her right. Kaixin whimpered and cried out as she was being stroked, which melted Gu Leyao's heart.

She put down her storybook and let out an evil laugh, "Little puppy, you can't escape today, hahaha."

After playing with Kaixin for a while, until the energetic Kaixin surrendered with all four paws in the air, Gu Leyao went to wash up and prepared to go to the kitchen to check on things.

Sure enough, the cook had already prepared all the ingredients: paper-thin lamb and beef rolls, marbled black-boned chicken rolls, hand-pounded beef balls, and fresh duck blood. There were also various bean products, tofu skin, fried tofu puffs, and dried bean curd sticks. The mushroom selection was also plentiful, including oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and termite mushrooms. There were also various small green vegetables: pea shoots, lettuce, bok choy, lotus root slices… all neatly arranged on white porcelain plates, looking incredibly fresh and tender, as if they had just been pulled from the ground.

Gu Leyao discovered that the cook in the manor was really amazing. As expected of a master chef, she had only given a simple description of how to make the beef tallow hot pot base, and the cook had actually figured it out and made it, and it tasted pretty good.

Ancient cattle were fed purely on grains, which is very different from modern beef. Ancient beef even had a faint milky aroma.

The cook in the manor rendered beef fat into beef tallow, then stir-fried it with Sichuan peppercorns, a tribute from Sichuan, to create a rich, red, and spicy beef tallow hot pot base. Gu Leyao had probably not had hot pot in a long time, because the aroma almost made her mouth water.

Gu Leyao remembered that Li Heng seemed to prefer light flavors, so she also asked the cook to make a mushroom-flavored hot pot base. She used shiitake mushrooms, dried tea tree mushrooms, dried porcini mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms, cordyceps flowers, dried longan, goji berries, red dates, and an old hen to make the broth. Then she skimmed off the chicken fat, and the resulting mushroom soup was light and fresh. Gu Leyao thought it was delicious to drink the soup alone. [2]

All the ingredients were prepared, and a hot pot with two broths was set up on the table. This was made by the craftsmen of the Prince's Mansion based on Gu Leyao's drawings. The drawings of Tai Chi generating Yin and Yang were used on this hot pot, which is both beautiful and practical.

Everything was ready except for the final push. Gu Leyao asked Chuntao to go to Li Heng's courtyard to find him for dinner, but this time Li Heng, for some reason, said that he would not come to eat and that Gu Leyao should eat by herself.

Gu Leyao was a little puzzled. Li Heng had never refused to come to her place for meals before, and the two of them usually ate together. What was wrong with Li Heng? Had something happened?

Knowing that Li Heng wouldn't be coming, Gu Leyao looked at the table full of red and green dishes and smelled the spicy red beef tallow broth, but she didn't feel very hungry. She sat on the chair for a while, then suddenly stood up and secretly ran to Li Heng's yard.

Li Jiu and Li Shi, who were standing at the door, saw her and were about to speak.

Gu Leyao made a 'shh' gesture to them, and Li Jiu and Li Shi instinctively shut their mouths.

Gu Leyao was about to enter the courtyard when Li Shi blocked her with his body, whispering, "Your Highness, the Prince said you are not allowed to come."

Gu Leyao glared at him and said, "The princess said she wanted to come."

Li Shi, despite his tall stature, looked somewhat aggrieved and hid behind Li Jiu.

Li Jiu sighed and shielded Li Shi with her body. "Your Highness, the Prince does indeed have something he can't say about. He is truly sincere towards you. He is keeping it from you so that you can be happy every day. He has no other intentions."

Just then, Gu Leyao heard a sound of porcelain shattering coming from inside the house. Li Qi rushed into Li Heng's house with the doctor.

Through the half-open door, Gu Leyao saw that Li Heng's hair was soaked with cold sweat, and he was clenching his teeth to keep himself from making a sound.

She suddenly fell silent, and Gu Leyao grabbed Li Shi, who seemed easy to bully, and asked, "Does the Prince often act like this?"

Li Shi was cornered by Gu Leyao. "No, no... no, Your Highness usually feels pain, but not this bad."

Li Jiu pulled Li Shi out from the corner. "Your Highness, Lao Shi is an honest man. You can ask me anything. Don't make things difficult for him."

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