Pomegranate
Wei Qiao casually placed the pomegranate on the desk. A-Gui, having finished feeding the horse, returned to pour Wei Qiao tea and noticed the pomegranate on the desk. They hadn't bought any pomegranates since their return, so they guessed it must have come from the old pomegranate tree in the small garden. Wei Qiao preferred sweet to sour, and the fruit from the old pomegranate tree was a mixture of sweet and sour, which wouldn't suit his taste, and he had never picked it before.
Ah Gui handed the tea to Wei Qiao and asked inquiringly, "Where did you get this pomegranate, Second Young Master?"
Wei Qiao was busy with official business and didn't see the gossipy look on his face. "It's on the pomegranate tree outside."
"Did you pick them yourself?"
"no."
"oh."
Wei Qiao glanced sideways at A Gui, who was acting strangely, and continued writing with his head down.
Ah Gui said sullenly, "I was just asking."
In the evening, Zhao Yu and Fu Qing returned from Wei Qiao's estate on the outskirts of the capital. Wei Qiao was still in his study handling official business. Zhao Yu entered the study carrying a rose-flavored red bean paste cake that Ling Shuang had made for Wei Qiao. "Second Young Master, this is something Aunt Ling Shuang made for you. She specially asked us to bring it back for you." Zhao Yu took the rose-flavored red bean paste cake out of the food box.
Seeing the large pomegranate on the table, Zhao Yu's mouth watered. He recognized it immediately as the biggest and reddest one from the old pomegranate tree by the door, hanging at the very top. He had his eye on it for a long time, but kept forgetting to pick it. He didn't know why this pomegranate was in Wei Qiao's study, but he knew Wei Qiao didn't like pomegranates.
"Second Young Master, would you like to eat this pomegranate?" Zhao Yu asked politely. If he dared to be rude to the young master, his sister would immediately appear and grab his ear.
Wei Qiao glanced at Zhao Yu, then looked down at the pomegranate on the desk. "Want some?"
"Mmm." Zhao Yu nodded excitedly and reached out to take the pomegranate.
Wei Qiao moved the pomegranate in front of him first, and Zhao Yu missed, looking at Wei Qiao in confusion.
"If you want to eat them, go pick them from the pomegranate tree outside. These are mine."
"Second Young Master, don't you dislike pomegranates?"
"I love eating it now."
Zhao Yu, looking aggrieved, still wanted to ask Wei Qiao for the pomegranate he had long coveted. Fu Qing came in to change Wei Qiao's tea and glared at Zhao Yu. Seeing his sister scolding him, Zhao Yu immediately slipped out of the study.
"Zhao Yu is sometimes ignorant, Second Young Master, please don't take it to heart." Fu Qing placed the freshly brewed Biluochun tea next to Wei Qiao.
Wei Qiao waved his hand, "Zhao Yu is still a child, what's there to worry about? He loves pomegranates, go to the street tomorrow and buy him a few big ones so he can eat his fill."
Fu Qing smiled and said, "Okay." Her eyes also glanced at the pomegranate. A Gui had told her that the pomegranate's origin was unknown, and she was also a little curious.
It's true that Wei Qiao is skilled in martial arts, but based on her understanding, it's definitely not the case that Wei Qiao used martial arts to climb the tree and pick the pomegranate.
Wei Qiao picked up his teacup and took a sip, glancing at Fu Qing who was also staring intently at the pomegranate.
"Fuqing, do you want to eat pomegranates too?"
Fu Qing smiled and shook his head, then picked up the teacup he had replaced and left the study.
Wei Qiao held the pomegranate in his hand and examined it closely. The pomegranate's outer shell was a bright, almost fiery red, color, and the smooth skin shone with a lustrous sheen. Recalling how excited Xi Chun had been when she picked this pomegranate from the tree and waved to him, he suddenly had the urge to taste it.
He took out a dagger and gently made a small cut in the pomegranate peel, then forcefully broke the pomegranate in half. The peel was filled with glistening, ruby-like seeds. He picked one up and tasted it; it wasn't the sour and astringent flavor he had expected. This pomegranate was sweet.
After her chance encounter with Wei Qiao in the small garden, Xi Chun's life remained largely unchanged. She stayed quietly in Qingwu Garden, occasionally taking walks in the small garden. Because of Wei Changsong, she never set foot in Aunt Liu's Rose Garden again. As for the ancestral hall, Xi Chun visited it frequently, going every day or two to offer incense to Wei Kang and recount her experiences in front of his memorial tablet.
Ever since Wang Mama learned that Xichun loved going to the ancestral hall, she kept an eye on it from time to time. She noticed that some time had passed since Xichun started telling stories, but Xichun's habit hadn't changed; she still insisted on going to the ancestral hall to offer incense to Weikang. She happily told Zhang Yunyao about her discovery.
Zhang Yunyao was quite pleased with Xichun's actions, remembering her son's dying wish to take good care of Xichun. She waved her hand and told Wang Mama to instruct the kitchen to restore Xichun's diet.
Before lunch, Granny Wang went to the kitchen to tell the steward the news, and then went to Qingwu Garden to tell Xichun.
"Granny Wang, is what you're saying true? Madam really allowed me to eat meat?" Xi Chun was somewhat incredulous. She hadn't done anything special recently, and hadn't even seen Zhang Yunyao. Zhang Yunyao had actually changed her rule against her eating meat, and she was truly overjoyed.
Wang Mama looked at Xichun excitedly holding her hand and found it somewhat amusing. "It's true. I've already gone to the kitchen to tell them. The eldest young mistress will be able to eat meat at noon."
At noon, Xichun happily carried her lunchbox to the kitchen. Caihuan wasn't there; Caihuan's mother, Zhang Mama, the kitchen manager, had packed the food for Xichun. Back at the table in Qingwu Garden, she opened the lunchbox and found a plate of stir-fried eggs with chives, a plate of braised duck with lotus root, and a plate of braised pork. Xichun was overjoyed and ate all three dishes clean with rice. Her stomach was so full it was almost painful; she took a half-hour walk in the yard to digest before feeling better.
Every meal thereafter included meat. Breakfast consisted of large meat buns, small steamed buns, salted egg yolk shumai, and shredded pork noodles. Lunch and dinner were even more lavish: braised pork hock, stewed duck, steamed ribs, braised fish, lion's head meatballs… Xichun ate until she was stuffed at every meal. In less than half a month, her once-fitting clothes became quite tight, and she only ate until she was nine-tenths full at each meal. The cooks in the mansion prepared delicious food; the only drawback was that none of it was spicy.
In the capital, under the emperor's nose, high-ranking officials and nobles, as well as ordinary people, all regarded the food served in the palace as fashionable. The nobles in the palace ate lightly, rarely even using pepper or chili peppers. While the food outside the palace was slightly more heavily seasoned, spicy food was still scarce. Chili peppers, which were widely used in dishes in Xi Chun's hometown of Sichuan, were still a novelty unknown to most in the capital. Everyone considered chili peppers unrefined, and only a few small restaurants had chefs from Sichuan who cooked dishes with them.
After more than a year of not being able to eat meat and vegetables at every meal, Xichun was still craving more and started to miss the taste of chili peppers.
As the saying goes, "Don't forget the well-digger when you drink the water," and Xichun, having eaten meat, didn't forget Zhang Yunyao. She kept thinking about what to give Zhang Yunyao to express her gratitude, but she had nothing of value and couldn't decide on a gift after thinking for a long time. One day after lunch, Xichun strolled around Qingwu Garden to digest her food, and as she walked, she came to the gate of an abandoned garden on the north side of Qingwu Garden. She had heard from Granny Wang that this abandoned garden used to be the residence of a concubine in the mansion, but after the concubine moved away, and because the place was remote, no new people moved in, and over time it became deserted.
A plaque still hung at the entrance of the abandoned garden, bearing three faded characters that Xichun couldn't decipher. Peeking through the crack in the gate, a cluster of golden wild chrysanthemums caught her eye. Looking at the vibrant blooms, Xichun had an idea. She returned to Qingwu Garden and made a cloth bag from her old clothes, using two sleeves as straps. With her homemade bag slung over her shoulder, Xichun went into the abandoned garden and picked all the wild chrysanthemums.
She thought about making a pillow. Granny Wang had told her that Zhang Yunyao often had trouble sleeping, and chrysanthemums had a calming effect. When she was little, her grandfather had made her a chrysanthemum pillow, woven from rush pith, which was incredibly soft. Xichun didn't have the skill to weave pillows, nor did she have any rush pith. She had a few feet of plain cloth that Aunt Liu had given her, and she planned to use it to sew a pillow.
The chrysanthemums in the abandoned garden looked plentiful, but after picking and drying them, they shrank considerably, and the weight was far from enough to make a pillow. Xi Chun suddenly remembered that there were also wild chrysanthemums on the artificial hill at Ai Yue Pond. The next day, after lunch, she slung her cloth bag over her shoulder and ran back to the artificial hill to pick more. The wild chrysanthemums on the artificial hill were scattered about, and Xi Chun picked her way to the edge of the artificial hill near the large garden. She had picked all the blooming wild chrysanthemums and the buds that were about to open. Just as she was about to head back to dry the wild chrysanthemums while the weather was still good, she turned her head and caught sight of Wei Changsong playing with Aunt Liu in the hexagonal pavilion in the large garden.
Xi Chun felt a chill run down her spine; she didn't want to see Wei Changsong. She turned and headed towards Qingwu Garden, but after only a few steps, she felt her foot slip. Just as she thought she was about to fall hard, a strong arm steadied her. Xi Chun grabbed the other person's arm, trying to stand up, and glanced down to see a white jade pendant with writing on it hanging from the other person's waist, with a dark green tassel at the bottom.
Xi Chun steadied herself and quickly thanked the other person, "Thank you."
"Doesn't your sister-in-law watch where she's going? You can trip and fall even on flat ground." Wei Qiao's tone was somewhat sarcastic. He had already moved aside when he saw her coming, but she still bumped into him in the end.
Xi Chun looked up at Wei Qiao and said, "Ah, it's Uncle."
Wei Qiao caught a glimpse of the fleeting joy on Xi Chun's face when she saw him, which quickly turned into panic. He glanced at Xi Chun's clothes; she was still wearing that pale white vest, but underneath she had changed into a pine-colored long coat. Her shoes were still the same satin shoes; the straw stains on the uppers were gone, and the repair marks were clearly visible. It seemed his sister-in-law's needlework wasn't very good.
Noticing Wei Qiao looking at her shoes again, Xi Chun quickly pulled her feet back, worried that Wei Changsong might see them talking there. Xi Chun hurriedly said goodbye to Wei Qiao, "Uncle, I have to go now." After saying that, she bowed to Wei Qiao and left in a hurry.
Seeing her hurried and flustered figure, Wei Qiao's lips curled into a sneer. He noticed the wild chrysanthemums on the artificial hill had been completely picked clean, and two trampled buds lay on the ground; it seemed Xi Chun had tripped and fallen over them. As far as he knew, since Wei Kang's death, Xi Chun had lived alone in Qingwu Garden, forbidden from eating meat by Zhang Yunyao until recently. She had little social interaction within the manor, spending all her time alone in Qingwu Garden. Who was she hiding from just now? Wei Qiao wondered.
After walking a dozen or so steps forward, Wei Qiao heard the sounds of laughter from a man and a woman. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw Wei Changsong embracing Concubine Liu from the mansion, making merry. He gave her a cold glance and continued walking towards the front gate.
Inside the hexagonal pavilion, Aunt Liu was holding a cup of wine to Wei Changsong's lips when she looked up and saw Wei Qiao walking on the road beside her. "Master, do you think that's the second young master?"
Wei Changsong's hand, which was stroking Aunt Wei's slender waist, paused, and his eyes turned to the path beside him. It really was that kid. He was chatting and laughing so conspicuously here without even coming over to say hello. He was becoming more and more lawless.
Brushing aside Aunt Liu's hand offering him wine, Wei Changsong stood up abruptly and strode aggressively behind Wei Qiao.
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