After the Frost Descent, the capital city saw its first light snowfall. The flakes, like shattered jade, clung to the bluestone pavement, quickly forming a thin layer of ice. Shen Weiwan lifted the curtain of her sedan chair. The hand warmer hanging from the carved poles emitted steam, but it couldn't overcome the bustling sounds from the street. A man selling candied haws, wrapped in a gray cotton-padded jacket, his shoulder pole adorned with bunches of bright red fruit, suddenly shouted at the approaching sedan chair, "Ah—sweet and crisp candied haws! One bite is as sweet as Miss Shen's poetry, it's so sweet it goes straight to my heart!"
"Puchi—" Chuntao laughed out loud as she leaned over the edge of the sedan chair, the silver ornaments on her temples jingling. "Listen, young lady! Now the candied haws sellers are using you as an inspiration for their poems!"
Inside the sedan, Shen Weiwan was poking a piece of steamed cheese with a silver stick. She raised an eyebrow when she heard this, and a little of the sugared osmanthus on the cheese touched the corner of her lips: "Oh? How did you make that up, sir?"
"I just heard it!" Chuntao retreated into the carriage curtain and sang in a hoarse voice, imitating the old man's accent, "A small spider web with eight strings, Liu's abacus is full of fun—I can't remember what happened next, but it goes something like this: Liu kept calculating and calculating, and in the end, she ended up losing everything!"
Before she finished speaking, the sedan suddenly stopped. Shen Weiwan lifted the heavy scarlet curtain and saw a circle of children with pigtails gathered on the street. They were clapping their frozen red hands and singing a jingle, their snot bubbles rising and falling with the singing:
"My aunt is very good at calculating, and she has lost all our wealth.
The attempt to steal a chicken ended up with a loss of the rice, and I was so angry that I became purple-skinned onion!
Miss Weiwan is wonderful, and "Model Teacher" should be recited as a poem.
The emperor rewarded her with a basket of cabbages, and Liu was so angry that her blood gushed out!
The children sang with spit flying everywhere, and the passing sedan chair bearers and vendors were laughing so hard that they almost spilled their basket of leeks. Chen Weiwan leaned back on the brocade cushion and laughed so hard that the sedan chair swayed with laughter. "Who wrote all this? You changed Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's article into this, aren't you afraid that Confucius will come out of the temple and beat you with a stick?"
Chun Tao used a handkerchief to wipe the cheese stains from the corners of her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes as she smiled. "Miss, the whole capital is like this now! Yesterday, when I went to buy rouge, even the beggars in the west of the city were making up lotus flowers and singing them to everyone they met, leaning on their canes!"
As he was speaking, an old beggar in a tattered cotton-padded jacket came to the sedan chair, clacking his bamboo board and singing in a hoarse voice:
"The bamboo clappers clapper, the sound resonates throughout the sky. Listen to me tell you about the injustice done to the Liu family—"
It’s not unfair, it’s really not unfair, three thousand taels of silver to buy trouble!
Miss Weiwan is really clever, there is a hidden mechanism in "Chu Shi Biao".
The emperor is happy to reward the cabbages, but the aunt is in trouble because she vomits blood!
Chen Weiwan slapped her thigh with laughter, then fished out a few copper coins from her sleeve pocket and asked Chuntao to pass them over. The old beggar took the money and suddenly leaned closer to the sedan chair curtain, lowering his voice: "Miss, gossip—that old woman Liu vomited blood again on the road! The escort said she banged her head against the prison cart every day, and half her hair has been knocked off!"
When the sedan reached the silk shop in front of the gate, Shen Weiwan suddenly raised her hand to stop. She lifted the curtain and looked out, only to see a brand new New Year picture hanging in the street-facing window—an old woman in a melon-shaped hat slumped over a black lacquer abacus, beads scattered all over the floor, a trickle of blood still hanging from the corner of her mouth. Next to it were eight large characters in cursive script: "Aunt's abacus, calculating yourself to death."
"Who drew this?" Shen Weiwan pointed at the New Year picture and asked the shopkeeper who came out to greet them.
The silk shop owner saw her and smiled so brightly that his face wrinkled into a mountain. He bowed and said, "It's Painter Wang from the west of the city! He said your painting 'The Memorial to the Emperor on Leaving the Capital' at the poetry conference was so stunning that it moved the gods and the earth. He specially created this New Year painting with splashed ink. It sold three hundred copies the moment it went on the shelves yesterday!"
Chuntao took a closer look and saw the words "Imitating Miss Shen's doggerel" written in small calligraphy in the corner of the New Year picture. Next to it was a little girl with twin buns, holding a cabbage taller than her. Could it be Shen Weiwan? She couldn't help but poke at the leaves of the cabbage in the painting and said, "Look, Miss, this cabbage looks just like the real thing!"
Shen Weiwan was just about to laugh or cry when suddenly the sound of horse hooves stopped in front of the sedan chair. The Seventh Prince, Xiao Yu, dismounted, his dark cloak covered in snow foam. In his hand, he held up a New Year picture. "Weiwan, look what I found?"
In the painting, Liu was spitting blood into an abacus, accompanied by a doggerel poem: "Three thousand taels of silver are wasted, and my aunt is furious." Shen Weiwan raised an eyebrow: "Your Highness is also following this trend?"
Xiao Yu approached the curtain of the sedan chair. The scent of cedar mixed with the air of snow drifted in. He lowered his voice and said, "I bought ten of these and plan to stick them on the beams and pillars of the palace's treasury. I'll have the accounting servants look at them every day to prevent anyone from imitating Liu's evil intentions." He paused, a smile forming in his eyes. "Even more interesting is that I heard that Liu has to wear a three-layered veil when she goes out. The other day, a naughty boy lifted her veil and ran three miles singing 'Auntie's abacus trick' on the spot."
Chen Weiwan laughed so hard she fell backwards, but then she saw Xiao Yu handing over a gilded food box: "I know you're thinking about the frozen persimmons from the Imperial Orchard. I asked them to climb a ladder and pick the freshest ones."
The food box was opened, revealing dozens of golden frozen persimmons, their surface covered in shimmering frost. Shen Weiwan took one and bit into it, the cool, sweet flesh melting on her tongue. She couldn't help but squint her eyes. "Your Highness still understands me."
Xiao Yu looked at her satisfied appearance after eating, his eyes as soft as spring willows: "By the way, the emperor just summoned me and said that the wedding date is set for the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. He asked you to prepare."
"Puff——" Shen Weiwan almost spit out a mouthful of frozen persimmon, and hurriedly caught the falling flesh: "So fast?"
"Not anymore." Xiao Yu reached out to smooth her wind-blown hair, his fingertips brushing against her earlobe, a slight warmth rising from his lips. "I've been waiting for this day ever since I saw you using mud to trick Liu."
Back at the General's Mansion, the old butler greeted them at the hanging flower gate, holding a stack of gold-plated cards. "Miss, here are the congratulatory cards from various mansions, and also..." He handed over a New Year picture, "This was sent by His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince, saying it would amuse you."
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