During her time recuperating, Yi-hua developed a new hobby: brewing wine.

She found a travelogue in Yinzhen's collection of books. The author was unknown. The book described many folk customs and was interspersed with tales of gods, ghosts and monsters, which greatly attracted Yihua.

The author's writing reveals him to be a wine enthusiast. The local customs and traditions vary from place to place, but the only similarity lies in the descriptions of wines and spirits. The author spent a great deal of time researching and summarizing many recipes, which he recorded in his travelogue.

However, some recipes had many alterations and modifications, and some even had uncertain markings, making them semi-finished wine recipes. These piqued Yi Hua's curiosity.

Since she had plenty of time, Yihua instructed her servants to find the materials recorded in the travelogue and specially prepared a room for brewing wine.

When Honghui came home from school that day, Yihua handed him three small cups, each containing a small amount of liquid, about the size of the bottom of the cup.

"Honghui, come here." Yihua gestured for him to try it. "This is my improved plum wine, would you like to try it?"

Honghui remained silent for a moment. Looking at Yihua's excited expression, he thought for a moment and said, "Mother, besides plums and wine, what else did you put here?"

"Mother thought the plum wine we drank earlier was a bit sour, so I added some sugar cubes here, grape juice here, and vegetable juice to this last one. What do you think?"

Honghui looked at the last glass of "plum wine," which had turned green, with some resistance.

So, Mother, why do you put vegetable juice in plum wine?

In order not to dampen his mother's enthusiasm, Honghui gritted his teeth and drank them one by one, leaving only the taste of radish in his mouth.

"Is it good?" Yi Hua asked expectantly.

"Mmm, it tastes good."

Which one is the best?

Honghui was about to point to the first one when he heard Yihua continue.

“You and your father have similar tastes. If Honghui thinks something is good, your mother will also give it to your father to try.”

“Mother, the last one is the best. It’s original, and Father will definitely like it.” Honghui withdrew his finger.

"You like this too, right? I think adding some vegetable juice would be perfect." Yi Hua nodded in satisfaction. "I haven't heard you talk about school lately. Is there anything you'd like to share with your mother?"

Honghui touched his nose somewhat awkwardly: "Mother, to be honest, my brother Hongqing has mentioned to me a few times recently that he wants to run away from home."

"What does he want to do?" Yi Hua wondered if she had misheard and asked again.

“He’s going to make his way in the world.” Honghui frowned and repeated, “Today, my brother Hongqing asked me for travel expenses, but my son said he was short of money because he was buying toys for his sister and needed to raise some money in the future.”

"This matter may not be easy." Yi Hua suppressed a laugh. It's true that children who are driven to desperation by their parents and want to run away from home are not limited to any particular era.

Besides the two eunuchs who followed him around 24 hours a day, Honghui also had four servants, including Haha and Zhuzi, who accompanied him in his studies, as well as maids and servants. It was difficult for him to be alone, let alone run away from home under their watchful eyes.

Hongqing was the same.

"Mother, how can we get him to give up this idea?" Honghui was troubled. He had tried to persuade him, and even resorted to threats and intimidation, but Hongqing seemed determined.

"Why should we give up?" Yi Hua asked rhetorically.

Honghui asked, puzzled, "Mother, isn't this absurd?"

"It's precisely because it's absurd that there's no need to stop it." Yi Hua knew that Hong Hui was worried about his friend and was therefore blinded by his own involvement.

“No matter how Hongqing prepares, Prince Cheng and his wife will find out sooner or later,” Yihua said. “The more thorough his preparations and the bigger his actions, the easier it will be for your third uncle and aunt to find out.”

“The moment he made the move to run away from home, the running away from home ended.”

Honghui couldn't accept such a simplistic explanation: "What if he really ran away?"

“Honghui, living alone is not as easy as you imagine. After hitting a wall, he knew to go home.” Yihua took a sip of plum wine with grape juice added, which tasted even more sour. “If he doesn’t come back, it’s because he’s incompetent.”

“Because you’re not as old as Liu Liu now, you have to learn to bear the consequences of every decision you make.” Yi Hua looked at Hong Hui’s hesitant expression. “Actually, you’re hesitating about whether to tell your third uncle, aren’t you?”

Honghui frankly said, "I don't want to be the one who snitches; it would damage our brotherhood."

“But if I don’t say anything now, I feel I won’t be able to face my third uncle and aunt when things come to light later.” Honghui frowned, clearly having thought about it for a long time.

Yi Hua understood that Hong Hui was a child with high moral standards; in other words, he had high expectations of himself.

“There’s no way to have it all, Honghui. If you want the best of both worlds, you have to put in a lot more effort.” Yihua dipped her chopsticks in a little plum wine with vegetable juice and nodded. Yinzhen really had to try this flavor.

Yi Hua did not offer any specific advice. In her opinion, Hong Qing's escape plan was full of loopholes, and Hong Hui would be exposed even if he did nothing. Therefore, Hong Hui could slowly figure out how to solve his problems on his own.

Seeing that his mother didn't intend to say anything more today, Honghui understood that she wanted him to think for himself, so he bowed and took his leave.

Actually, he already had a solution, which wasn't really a solution, but it was a bit...unorthodox. Honghui thought he'd just drag it out for a while.

Yinzhen was busy with official duties and had already sent Su Peisheng to the main courtyard to say that he would not be going back to sleep tonight.

When Su Peisheng returned, he had a food box in his hand: "Reporting to Your Highness, the Fujin (wife) asked you to take care of your health and specially prepared seafood porridge and a small pot of newly acquired plum wine for you to try."

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