As we strolled and chatted amidst the sea of flowers, the sun slowly set.
Little Swallow looked up at the sky and smiled, "The time is almost up. Today, how about we invite Hanxiang and Mardan to Huibinlou for a meal?"
Hanxiang looked at Xiaoyanzi curiously, "I've heard that your people opened a restaurant called Huibinlou in Beijing. Today I finally have the chance to go and see it for myself."
The group then headed towards Huibinlou.
After Xiao Yanzi had everyone seated, she called out to Liu Qing and Liu Hong, who were busy at work, "Liu Qing, Liu Hong, quickly bring out the best wine and dishes."
They all saw the new faces of this group of people and knew that this was Princess Hanxiang, whom Xiao Yanzi had mentioned before.
"Okay, just a moment," Liu Qing replied with a smile.
After all the food and drinks were served, Saiya pouted, "What a pity, I really wanted to drink too."
Little Swallow comforted her, "Just bear with it for now. Once you've given birth and recovered, you can drink as much as you want!"
Saiya looked at Fuertai, "Ertai, drink more, let me smell the aroma of the wine and satisfy my craving. This is what you call 'quenching thirst by looking at plums,' right?"
Everyone fell silent after hearing this, "..."
Little Swallow laughed and said, "You can understand it that way too."
Voltaire nodded in agreement, “Yes, yes, that’s one way to understand it.”
The smiles on the faces of the others were impossible to hide.
Saiya found it strange. "Judging from your expressions, could this 'quenching thirst with plums' have some other meaning?"
Little Swallow couldn't hold it in any longer, so she looked at Fu Ertai and said, "Ertai, you explain it to her."
Fu Ertai pinched himself to suppress a laugh and explained earnestly, "This 'quenching thirst by looking at plums' comes from 'A New Account of the World' (世说新语), specifically the 'Deception' (假谲) section. The original text goes like this: 'When Cao Cao was on a military campaign, he lost his water supply, and his entire army was thirsty...'"
Xia Ziwei explained, "Legend has it that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao's army marched along a road without water."
"The soldiers were very thirsty, so Cao Cao told them that there was a large plum grove ahead and they could enjoy the plums to their heart's content once they reached the grove."
Qing'er continued, "After hearing about this, the soldiers started imagining the taste of plums in their minds, and as they thought about it, they really seemed to stop thirsting."
"After some time, Cao Cao led everyone to a water source again. After the soldiers drank the water, they continued their journey happily..."
After listening, Saiya nodded thoughtfully. "I see. So now I'm watching you drink, not imagining it. It shouldn't be like quenching thirst with a mirage, right?"
Fu Ertai laughed and said, "Hey, even though you're just watching us drink, you can imagine what the wine tastes like just by looking at it. You could call that quenching your thirst by imagining it."
Hanxiang and Mardan looked at each other in surprise. Then Hanxiang said, "I didn't know that the culture of your Qing Dynasty was so interesting. It seems that we still have a lot to learn."
Just then, Benjamin, a single guy, started playing the violin at the Huibinlou restaurant.
Upon hearing the music, Xiao Jian couldn't resist showing off his flute.
The combination of the zither and the flute attracted even more customers. Little Swallow smiled helplessly and said, "Looks like we'll have to become waiters."
Fu Erkang stood up and looked at Fu Ertai with a smile, "Ertai, you take good care of Saiya here."
Yongqi then looked at Hanxiang and Mardan, "You two are guests, so please sit here and relax. Ertai, you take care of them."
Yongyan, Kangwei, and Qing'er all went to work as waiters.
Xiao Jian and Benjamin played a duet of "When," with Benjamin composing the music and Yongqi and others writing the lyrics, thus creating this family song of Shufangzhai.
After most of the guests had left and the waiters were finally able to keep up with their work, Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi returned to their seats.
Qing'er sighed, "Being a waiter is too tiring. Little Swallow, you have to pay them more wages..."
Little Swallow smiled and said, "Don't worry, the wages we pay them are good enough."
Liu Qing took a moment to reply, "That's right, our master is incredibly generous. Anyone with a brain knows how wonderful it is to work under her!"
Of course, anyone with a sound mind knows that going against Little Swallow is like having one foot in the gates of hell!
As Xiao Yanzi drank her wine, she looked at Hanxiang and asked, "Hanxiang, when you and Mardan were traveling, did anything happen?"
Hanxiang shook her head. "What story happened between us? If anything, we just saw it."
Mardan chimed in, "Speaking of stories, there really is one, but it's a real shame to have to tell it."
Xia Ziwei looked at Mardan curiously, "What kind of story is it?"
Mardan asked, "Do you know of a place in Shaanxi called Chixiao Manor?"
“Chixiao Manor?” Fortaire frowned. “Never heard of it.”
Fu Erkang looked at Xiao Yanzi and Xia Ziwei, "This sounds like a gangster organization. Shouldn't Xiao Yanzi and Ziwei know more about it?"
Little Swallow nodded and said, "I've heard a little about it."
Mardan continued, "The owner of Chixiao Manor is Qiu Ziming, and his only daughter, Qiu Jingxuan, has been pampered since childhood."
"She has a childhood sweetheart named Yang Jingchen."
"Yang Jingchen is an orphan, and he's also Qiu Ziming's bodyguard placed by Qiu Jingxuan's side..."
"When Qiu Ziming found out that his daughter liked a bodyguard, his first reaction was to object!"
"His daughter is the apple of his eye, how could he marry a guard?"
Hanxiang continued, "Later, Qiu Ziming couldn't go against his daughter's wishes, so he finally agreed to their marriage!"
"However, the day before their wedding, Yang Jingchen was chased by someone who liked Qiu Jingxuan and fell off a cliff..."
Upon hearing this, the lovers present all looked on with sympathy.
Saiya sighed, "Isn't that just too pitiful?"
Xia Ziwei pressed on, "And then what happened?"
Hanxiang sighed, "Later, Qiu Jingxuan sent people down the cliff to search for him, and she even went down herself, but they still couldn't find Yang Jingchen..."
"Everyone says Yang Jingchen is dead, but Qiu Ziming thinks that rather than letting his daughter remain immersed in a bodyguard who is no longer alive, it would be better to let her start a new relationship..."
Qing'er asked incredulously, "And then what happened? Did Qiu Jingxuan really fall in love with someone else?"
Mardan shook his head. "She didn't fall in love with anyone else, but she couldn't go against her father's request. If she didn't marry someone else before her father died, their Crimson Cloud Manor would be doomed!"
Because other manors would not allow a manor to exist with a woman as its head, Qiu Ziming must find a reliable husband for Qiu Jingxuan before he dies, so that he can protect Qiu Jingxuan and safeguard Chixiao Manor.
Xiao Yanzi frowned and asked, "So Qiu Jingxuan really agreed to get married?"
Hanxiang nodded, "Yes, but they're just husband and wife in name only. The other party knows that Qiu Jingxuan doesn't have feelings for her..."
Xiao Jian asked, "After that, did anyone else see Yang Jingchen?"
“Never.” Mardan shook his head.
"It wasn't until twenty years after Qiu Jingxuan and her husband got married, and their children had grown up, that Qiu Jingxuan and Yang Jingchen met again."
Voltaire asked, "...How did they run into each other?"
Mardan replied, "Qiu Jingxuan's son was being chased and was rescued by Yang Jingchen's daughter while on the run."
Everyone fell silent once again...
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