In the 30th year of Yuanqi's reign during the Dasheng Dynasty, the autumn sun dyed the croton fields at the Prince's Palace a flowing golden brown. Shen Weiwan leaned against a carved column, her fingertips twisting a plump croton pod, the shell gleaming like amber in the setting sun. Children's laughter drifted from afar. Keng Keng led his younger siblings through the waist-high bean fields, their bamboo baskets clanging against their shoulders. The red croton string tied to Wa Wa's braid brushed against the leaves, startling a flock of pink and white butterflies, their wings smeared with fine bean fuzz.
"Mom! Look at the croton pods I picked!" Wawa came flying over like a fluttering bird, its nose stained with light green down, and a few dark brown seeds rolled out of the cracked pods. "Can I make 'honest laxative' and sell it to the merchants in Western Shu? They say it's good for beauty!"
Chen Weiwan took the pod, her fingertips rubbing against the hard shell, the seeds making a crisp clinking sound in her palm. "Silly girl," she scraped her daughter's nose with her fingertips, the down falling on her blushing cheek. "It needs to be dried and ground into powder, mixed with acacia honey, and sealed in a lotus leaf. It'll be effective in deceiving people." Looking at her daughter's sparkling almond eyes, she suddenly remembered that autumn day when she was fifteen. Her aunt Liu had clutched her hand, tearfully demanding to take the red gold hairpin from her mother's tablet. The incense on her cuffs concealed greedy calculations.
At that time, she was like a newly emerged croton seedling, its stem so delicate it would break at the slightest bend. Looking up at the moon-shaped gate, Xiao Yu was checking the account books with the old steward under the grape trellis. The cuffs of his dark brocade robe were stained with the croton powder sprinkled by the young master that morning. The newly added silver hair at his temples was faintly visible in the sunlight, but his eyes curved with a smile, as if filled with the autumn sun.
"Are you still thinking of ways to cheat people?" Xiao Yu walked up the steps and casually pinned a heart-shaped bean leaf in her hair. The morning dew on the leaf's veins wet her forehead. "Just now, the old housekeeper said that the Western Shu merchant has been kneeling at the gate of the mansion for three hours, holding the return slip for the 'holy beauty product'."
Chen Weiwan slapped his hand away, her bean leaves dangling by her temples, the corners of her mouth curled up into her usual "asking for a beating" arc: "Thinking about this life - from the foolish daughter of a general's mansion to the treacherous master of a prince's mansion, how did I live so clearly and straightforwardly?"
[Section 1: Snowy Nights in Previous Life, Warm Sunshine in This Life]
At dinner, the rosewood dining table was filled with desserts infused with croton powder: Thousand-layer cakes steamed to puffy clouds, deep-fried meatballs coated in icing sugar, even Biluochun tea was drizzled with finely ground croton powder. Hekeng, holding a white porcelain spoon, furtively sprinkled the red powder into Xiao Yu's soup bowl. Shen Weiwan tapped him on the back of his hand with her chopsticks: "Little bastard, pouring chili powder into your dad's bowl again?"
Henkeng stuck out his tongue and hid behind Xiao Yu, his little chubby hand still clutching the carved seasoning jar: "Dad, this is 'smart seasoning'. If you eat it, you can come up with clever tricks like Mom!"
Xiao Yu picked up a piece of steaming croton cake and raised his eyebrows to look at Shen Weiwan: "When you were a child, did you also torment your aunt like this?"
Chen Weiwan bit into a candied croton bean, her gaze drifting out the window to the lantern-lit croton field. "The first time I messed with that old hag, I brought a basin of grains mixed with gravel, and she insisted that using a step-shake would 'clean your hands from the grains.'" She put down her chopsticks and gestured, her knuckles clacking against the table. "The old woman rubbed her fingers until they bled. I shouted, 'Auntie, you're so moved by Mother's legacy,' and the servants were trying to stifle their laughter like quails being strangled."
Wawa's eyes lit up like a lit glass lamp: "It's even funnier than when we tricked the Southern Chu envoy! When their envoy returned to the court, he bent over to hand over the letter of credence, and the entire court looked at him and saw croton powder sprinkled from his collar like snow!"
"Of course," Chen Weiwan raised her eyebrows proudly, her hair tufted with bean leaves brushing against her cheeks. "Think back then, your mother and I tricked your cousin into wearing a skirt embroidered with itchy powder, causing her to scratch like a monkey's bottom at the Spring Festival Banquet. We also tricked the scumbag Li Xiu into having an affair with his cousin, and then spread the rumor about him being a 'gay-sleeve' man, which made him so angry that he limped and didn't dare leave the house for six months."
Xiao Yu shook his head helplessly, his fingertips brushing against the thin calluses on the back of her hand—marks left by years of grinding croton powder. "You're the only one in the capital who's turned defrauding people into a hand-me-down skill." He suddenly leaned in close, his warm breath brushing against her ear. "But I have to thank you so much. You tricked away the wolves and tigers so I could pick up this treasure."
Shen Weiwan felt warm in her heart, but she was unforgiving: "That's right! Back then, when you came to ask for marriage with the imperial edict, I was planning to put chin bean powder in your wedding wine and embarrass you in front of the whole court."
"Oh?" Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows, a smile in his eyes, "Why did you change your mind later?"
"You're handsome and kind," Shen Weiwan smiled, her eyes narrowed into slits, and she poked his cuffs stained with soybean powder with her fingers. "The most important thing is - your croton field is big enough for me to bring my children to cause trouble for the rest of my life."
Everyone at the table burst into laughter. The young prince clapped his chubby hands, dropping the croton cake in his hands, attracting sparrows from the corridor to peck at it. Chuntao came in with sour plum soup, her shoulders shaking like sieves. "Princess, the young princess sold 'Honest Laxative' as vanishing cream to the young lady of the Taifu family, and now the Taifu Mansion is calling to refund the money..."
[Section 2: Sand sculpture power struggle, pit out the country]
At dusk, the old butler came in with a jade-inlaid account book, a frown on his face. The edge of the account book was lightly stained with croton powder. "Princess, the merchants from Western Shu are here again. They say that after using the 'beauty product' sold by the young prince..."
Chen Weiwan took the account book and laughed at the numbers on it. Bean leaves fell from her hair onto the account book: "What are you afraid of? Wasn't the envoy from Nanchu also tricked into writing a thank-you gift last time, saying that our 'friendship powder' cured his long-standing illness?"
Xiao Yu rubbed his brow, the hem of his brocade robe sweeping across the scattered croton shells on the ground. "You two kids, your tricks are even better than yours. The other day they gave the emperor chili milk cakes, and now the emperor hides when he sees them, saying, 'I can't afford the snacks from the Prince's Mansion.'"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
