Chapter 10: Her disappointment stemmed from her arrogance.
Snowflakes blanketed the Eastern Palace. Shen Mi remembered that the last time she saw such heavy snow in Bianjing was when she was seven or eight years old, which seemed to be ten years ago. Looking at the snow outside the window and listening to the howling wind, she felt as if ten years had passed like a dream, and those things seemed like things from a past life.
The charcoal brazier in the hall was burning warmly, and although the finest silver charcoal was smokeless, it still crackled and popped.
Facing the candlestick in front of her, she wondered if she was seeing things, but she saw her parents, her brothers, and a small version of herself with her hair in two buns.
Back then in the Shen family, on the eve of Laba Festival, her mother would always add white sugar to boiled water, stir it well, pour it into a bowl, put thin threads in it, and leave it to freeze at the door. But she disliked adding white sugar; she always insisted on mixing in the locust honey stored from May. Her father jokingly called her a "little glutton," saying she rarely went to the kitchen but was always picky about food, and had a spoiled temper. He said that when choosing a husband for her, they should be careful, ensuring he was both presentable in public and skilled in the kitchen. Her brother would also tease her, saying that no matter which husband she chose, they should force him to develop excellent culinary skills before marriage. She would confidently put her hands on her hips and say that it was only right.
The next morning, she and her brother had a contest to see who could finish the frozen "ice cubes" first. However, she insisted on cheating and asked a servant to find a bowl of boiling water. She put the ice cubes in the water, and they melted quickly. Her brother clearly saw through her trick but still let her have it.
Her mother would instruct the servants to prepare Laba porridge in the kitchen well in advance, saying that it needed to be cooked for a whole day to make it fragrant, sweet, and soft. Her father would take a day off to accompany her, her mother, and her brother to Kaibao Temple to offer incense and pray for blessings. After praying, they would go to the best silk shop in the city to select fabrics and have them made into new clothes. At that time, she liked red the most, so after Laba, she looked forward to wearing a red jacket for the New Year every day.
After a day of leisurely strolling, we would return home as dusk was falling. My mother would personally go to the kitchen to ladle out the Laba porridge that she had been simmering that morning. The whole family would then gather around the stove, chatting and laughing, their laughter echoing throughout the entire Shen family courtyard.
The candle flame flickered suddenly as a burnt wick fell into the melting wax. The warm and cozy scene before her vanished like a charred painting, leaving only a lonely little girl. Her clothes were no longer bright red, but she slowly walked towards her, took her arm, and said, "Don't cry." Then, along with the tattered scroll, she disappeared from her sight.
Shen Mi reached out to grab it, but found nothing. In the blink of an eye, she realized that she was not in the Shen family, but in the Qingluan Palace, the Qingluan Palace of the East Palace.
No wonder the palace servants in the kitchen looked at her with a puzzled expression when she instructed the cooks to prepare Laba porridge before she went out to Kaibao Temple to pray for blessings in the morning. It turned out that Gu Zhan didn't like this kind of thing. In this cold and indifferent Eastern Palace, everyone had to be like an emotionless dead thing, with Gu Zhan's joys and sorrows as their priority, because only he held the power of life and death.
It was past midnight, and the Eastern Palace was deathly silent. Shen Mi sat on the couch with her knees drawn up, curled up in a ball, but she was wide awake.
She was too self-righteous. She shouldn't have gone to Kaibao Temple to pray for blessings. Even if she did, she shouldn't have gone to the backyard. That way, she wouldn't have bumped into Chen Jun and wouldn't have been misunderstood by Gu Zhan. It was also because she didn't understand Gu Zhan enough that she added fuel to the fire tonight. But for the next few decades, she would still have to rely on Gu Zhan to live. Even if she didn't want to, she could only swallow these feelings.
Perhaps Gu Zhan is right; she is no longer a Shen woman, but Consort Shen of the Eastern Palace.
The candlelight dimmed little by little, and Shen Mi did not trim the wick, letting it slowly go out.
She really misses home.
*
Cuiwei never expected that Shenmi would take her to the kitchen after breakfast the next day.
"Girl..." She still hadn't gotten used to addressing him differently.
Shen Mi glanced at her before she awkwardly uttered the term "Liangdi." She had only used this title when scolding Chen Jun to highlight Shen Mi's status, and she still found it difficult to use it when facing Shen Mi alone.
"If you have any instructions regarding lunch or dinner, you can simply tell me or Danju to prepare them. Why bother making the trip to the kitchen yourself?"
Shen Mi shook her head. "I'm not going to give orders for lunch and dinner at Qingluan Palace. I want to learn how to cook."
"You were scalded by boiling water when you were young. Although it only left a scar on your wrist, after that, neither the master, the mistress, nor the eldest son allowed anyone to approach the kitchen, for fear of being scalded again. For more than ten years in the Shen family, you never lifted a finger to cook. Why do you suddenly want to learn to cook now?" Cuiwei's gaze couldn't help but fall on Shen Mi's scarred wrist.
Shen Mi's hand, hidden in her sleeve, gently caressed the inside of her wrist. The old scar, even after more than a decade, still left a small bump on the inside of her wrist. "You said it yourself, that was in the Shen family. Now it's in the Eastern Palace. Things are different now."
Cuiwei still had concerns, "But aren't you most afraid of going to the kitchen?"
"But I'm even more afraid that I don't know His Highness well enough and might anger him again."
Cuiwei didn't know what happened after Shen Mi went to the Qin Zheng Hall to see His Highness the Crown Prince last night. She only knew that after that, Shen Mi seemed to have become a completely different person. Not only did she not ask her to stay in the bedchamber last night because she felt it wasn't enough, but she also didn't say much this morning.
Upon arriving at the kitchen, palace servants quickly came out to greet her and offer their greetings to Shen Mi.
Shen Mi then managed a dignified smile. "No need for formalities. I just wanted to ask about Your Highness's usual tastes." As she spoke, she gave Cuiwei a look.
Cuiwei handed them the loose silver coins she had prepared for their expenses one by one. Immediately, someone beamed with joy and brought out a tray with her: "His Highness is not too particular about food. He doesn't like sweet, greasy, or spicy food, but he doesn't have any other restrictions. If he has any preferences, he prefers the lighter Huaiyang cuisine."
Shen Mi nodded calmly and asked the palace servants to teach her a few simple Huaiyang dishes. She wanted to try. At first, the palace servants were afraid of hurting her, but seeing her insistence and the reward she gave, they didn't hold back in teaching her.
At first, she was puzzled as to why Gu Zhan would like Huaiyang cuisine. The current empress was from the Central Plains, and Gu Zhan, as the crown prince, rarely left Bianjing. How could he like Huaiyang cuisine? For some reason, she thought of that Miss Su. She had inquired and found that Minister Su was from Yangzhou. So Miss Su's liking for Huaiyang cuisine could be considered a longing for her hometown.
It turns out that it was because of the saying "love me, love my dog"—because Miss Su liked these things, Gu Zhan also liked them, so as to avoid any conflict in their tastes after she married into the Eastern Palace.
Shen Mi gave a self-deprecating laugh, and before she knew it, the hot oil that had just boiled splashed onto the back of her hand, startling her so much that she immediately pulled her hand back.
Cuiwei rushed forward to check on her, "Liangdi, are you alright?"
Shen Mi's eyes were red from the pain. She looked at the small blister on her fair hand and silently withdrew her hand. "It's nothing, I'll just put some medicine on it when I get back."
She knew absolutely nothing about cooking. She practiced from morning till evening, failing countless times, before finally managing to make two relatively simple dishes. She instructed Cuiwei to pack the dishes and hot soup into a food box, quickly applied medicine to her burns, and then carried the food box to the Hall of Diligent Governance.
Sun Cheng saw the food box in her hand, hesitated slightly, but still went in to inform Gu Zhan. Before long, he invited her in.
She carried the food box and looked at Gu Zhan sitting down, feeling a little nervous.
Gu Zhan's tone was full of impatience: "What are you doing now?"
"I thought Your Highness was busy with official duties and probably hadn't had dinner yet..." Shen Mi said, placing the dishes she had prepared on the table in front of Gu Zhan.
Gu Zhan glanced at the two dishes and asked her, "Huaiyang cuisine, who told you to make it?"
A note from the author:
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Once it makes the list next week, I need to update it every other day for a week. The word count on the list needs to be controlled. Everyone can come at 8 PM on Fridays! Love you all!
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