Chapter 26 Summer Ice Cream The weather grew increasingly hot and dry after the Dragon Boat Festival…

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather becomes increasingly hot and dry, and it gets even hotter after June. The scorching sun pours down like boiling water, and the entire Forbidden City seems to be shrouded in a cloud of steam.

However, the interior of Xian'an Palace was cool and refreshing because ice was placed inside. Cheng Qianyue was particularly happy to serve Yinreng at this time, because it was cooler here than hers, and not only was it cool, but there were also iced drinks to enjoy.

She and Yinreng sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), with a young eunuch sitting on a small stool beside them, constantly fanning himself with a hand fan. The gentle breeze, mixed with the cool air from the external ice packs, made them feel exceptionally refreshed. Not long after lunch, refreshing cold drinks were served.

There were several summer cooling items in the Qing Dynasty. Cooling mats were quite common, but ice was relatively rare. Other items included chilled mung bean soup, sour plum soup, and various fruits. Among them, the best thing to cool off was Sushan (a type of chilled dessert).

What lies before Cheng Qianyue is this "Mountain of Cream." A large, round, white bowl with a hint of blue, topped with crushed ice, and layered with cream cheese piled high like a majestic mountain. Then, it's drizzled with osmanthus honey or sweet red bean paste, surrounded by a ring of fresh flowers, and garnished with a sprig of green mint leaves. Just looking at it makes one feel cool and refreshed.

She took a spoonful and was immediately captivated by the taste. *Sob*, after so many years, it felt like she was eating a milk sundae again, and it was the all-natural, additive-free kind! She was so touched.

Yinreng ate a few spoonfuls and then stopped, watching Cheng Qianyue eat. He saw her take a bite and then show that look of enjoyment and nostalgia, which he found particularly amusing—she was so easy to understand, and easily satisfied no matter what. However, seeing that she seemed to be eating without stopping, he held her hand and said, "Your spleen and stomach are weak in summer; you should eat less ice." He then ordered someone to take the remaining half-plate of shaved ice away and bring up some freshly cut fruit.

To beat the heat, what's the harm in eating? Cheng Qianyue didn't hesitate to eat the fruit, picking up a fruit fork and starting to eat from the chilled fruit platter. Inside, watermelon, peaches, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and lotus root were cut into chunks, arranged beautifully in red, green, and white colors.

She suddenly had a brilliant idea and said, "Sir, why don't we have someone chop these fruits into small pieces and make them into jam to sprinkle on the mountain?"

Yinreng casually said, "If you want to eat it that way, then I'll do as you say."

A few days later, the improved version of the dessert was served. Instead of the previous large round platter, it was served in small round bowls on a raised platform. Because of Cheng Qianyue's comment, the chefs in the kitchen tried several kinds of fruit. Watermelon and cantaloupe, once chopped, would spoil after a while, so they were unsuitable. As for grapes, juicing them was fine, but if mashed, the mushy pulp looked unappetizing and couldn't be added to the dessert. In the end, only peaches and cantaloupe were acceptable; they looked nice and tasted good.

Cheng Qianyue silently thought to herself: This is a peach-flavored sundae, and that's a cantaloupe-flavored sundae. Then she happily ate the two Qing Dynasty-style fruit sundaes.

In the evening, Cheng Qianyue, having enjoyed her cold drinks, had to pay her debt. Yinreng had been particularly fond of teasing her these past few days; he licked her lips, sniffed her neck, and said she smelled like Sushan's milk.

Cheng Qianyue felt very wronged. It was clearly him who didn't eat much ice cream, and he would only eat seven or eight bites each time, so the rest ended up being given to her.

Yinreng, still mischievous, asked, "After eating so much, did you smell anything?" He gave him a hard nudge, "I think you're turning into a juicy mountain soon. With the heat, you're bound to be dripping with juice, huh?"

These words sounded incredibly vulgar, and Cheng Qianyue blushed instantly. But since they were in bed together, and in this situation, she didn't care about being crude. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered suggestively in his ear, "So, does Master think Su Shan is delicious?"

But the other person was thick-skinned than her. He didn't take her words seriously at all and laughed heartily, "Let me try it and I'll know." He said this to shut her up, while his actions became even more unrestrained.

Cheng Qianyue immediately regretted saying that, because she now truly felt like ice cream, about to melt.

When daytime arrived, the cool and refreshing Sushan was back on the dinner table. Yinreng smiled as he looked at the white and tender milk skin on the plate, and then personally fed it to Cheng Qianyue with a spoon.

Cheng Qianyue blushed, and while eating, she secretly thought to herself: I didn't expect the ancients to be so open-minded... Humph, what's there to laugh about?

However, this pleasant summer weather didn't last long before it came to an abrupt end. One day, in the sweltering midday heat, a eunuch serving Emperor Kangxi at Changchun Garden rushed over to announce that the Emperor missed the Second Prince and was therefore summoning him to Changchun Garden to escape the heat.

Cheng Qianyue was serving in the room when she saw Yinreng receive the imperial edict and look dazed. After a short while, he suddenly woke up, and the servants began to busy themselves.

The imperial decree arrived urgently, and there was no time to delay at Changchun Garden. Chen He quickly instructed the eunuchs to open the chest, take out two sets of clothes for changing, pack them into a bundle, and then help Yinreng leave the palace. Before leaving, Yinreng patted Cheng Qianyue on the shoulder and left without looking back. Less than half an incense stick's time later, his wife arrived. She had also just received the news and came to pack up the remaining belongings for Yinreng.

Cheng Qianyue hadn't left the main hall when she bumped into the Fujin (Prince's wife). She quickly and respectfully bowed. The Fujin told her to rise and asked, "What did the Second Master bring?"

Cheng Qianyue replied, "It seems that Eunuch Chen brought two sets of clothes for Master to change into, but that's all."

The Fujin (principal wife) hummed in agreement and waved for Cheng Qianyue to leave. Before Cheng Qianyue left, she heard the Fujin instruct Jingshun, who remained behind, "Pack two chests of this year's new clothes, shoes, and socks. Also, pack all the tea sets, cups, ice chests, trays, and other utensils that the prince usually likes to use..." She couldn't hear anything after that.

Ruoyun helped Cheng Qianyue back to the west wing. Seeing Cheng Qianyue sitting there blankly, Ruoyun felt particularly bad. Although Cheng Gege seemed to be favored, when it came to this kind of thing, the moment the Fujin appeared, she made them pale in comparison.

The truth was not what Ruoyun thought. Cheng Qianyue wasn't stunned by such matters of master and mistress. Her mind was preoccupied with whether Yinreng would meet Kangxi at Changchun Garden, and whether he would be further agitated. What if he were to revert to his old ways? Just thinking about it made her tremble with fear.

However, Cheng Qianyue soon had no time to think about what Yinreng would encounter at Changchun Garden, because Yinreng took his privileges with him when he left, and her life instantly became miserable.

This brings us to the issue of ice supply in the Forbidden City. Unlike outside, the ice supply in the palace was very limited. A lowly princess like Cheng Qianyue only received half a block of ice per day. Half a block of ice, broken into pieces, could barely fill a copper basin. Now, in the sweltering heat of summer, the heat was so intense that one could feel a wave of heat rising from the room as soon as the sun came out; such a small amount of ice was practically useless.

Cheng Qianyue couldn't help but reminisce about the time when Yinreng was still in Xian'an Palace, because she could use his ice there. Thinking about it, it seemed that Yinreng had a very generous supply of ice; there were ice in three of the five rooms of the main hall alone. Two cloisonné enamel ice chests with blue lotus patterns were placed on either side, and plain white porcelain jars filled with ice were placed on the high table in the main hall. Not to mention that he had extra ice for making desserts and cold drinks.

Compared to a wealthy family like Yinreng, Cheng Qianyue instantly appeared as a poor and pitiful little thing.

What's worse is that Cheng Qianyue lives in the west wing. When the sun is at its strongest in the afternoon, it shines directly into her room, making the west wing inexplicably hotter than the rooms facing other directions. Can you believe it?

But what can people do about the sun when it's high in the sky? Well, there are ways to cope with the heat. Does that mean everyone would hang themselves if there were no ice? Life just wouldn't work!

Cheng Qianyue sighed and ordered someone to sweep and mop the side hall floor clean, then spread bamboo mats on the floor of the north room. Anyway, Yinreng wasn't there, and there was hardly anyone in the front courtyard. She didn't care about any of those messy rules and etiquette; being comfortable was what mattered most.

So during the day, Cheng Qianyue would place the ice basin next to her makeshift bed on the floor and sit on the mat to do her embroidery and calm her mind. Ruoyun and Lin Quan'an, having nothing else to do, would bring small stools and sit nearby to cool off. In the evening, when the sun had set and the ice had mostly melted, everyone else would go back to their rooms, while she would sleep on the makeshift bed on the floor. The three of them, mistress and servants, spent their days huddled around this small ice basin.

"Princess, the sliced ​​watermelon is almost chilled." Lin Quan'an, who was sitting closest to the ice basin, calculated the time in his mind and took out the chilled fruit platter from the basin for Cheng Qianyue to cool off.

Cheng Qianyue put down the thin gauze dress she was sewing, took a few bites with a fruit fork from the plate Ruoyun brought over, and then stopped eating.

Seeing that she hadn't eaten much, Ruoyun said, "How about I go to the kitchen and get a pot of plum juice or mung bean soup?"

Cheng Qianyue slowly shook her head. With Yinreng gone, all she had left to cool off were ordinary soups and fruits, but she didn't want any of that; she wanted ice cream. However, making ghee required milk and ghee, which weren't included in her rations. Having gotten used to eating ghee in the past few days, she lost interest in anything else without it.

Ruoyun had no other choice but to put the watermelon back into the ice basin.

After a while, Cheng Qianyue couldn't help but let out a long sigh in front of Ruoyun. It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality! Really, she started missing Yinreng again.

Ten days passed in this hot and dreary weather, and suddenly the quiet Xian'an Palace was disturbed. Cheng Qianyue heard Lin Quan'an enter and say softly, "This servant just saw Eunuch Jingshun." After a while, he came in from outside and said, "This servant saw Jingshun go to the Fujin's courtyard." Then Su Xin, the head palace maid from the Fujin's side, came to invite her over.

While serving as the Fujin (Prince Consort), Cheng Qianyue received some exciting news: Yinreng had requested permission to send someone to fetch her and the Fujin to the West Garden of Changchun Garden for summer retreat!

Wuhu, this is really great!