Chapter 10: Can you recognize Xue Lang during the Flower Festival?
Qiao Zhenzhen had been pampered by her parents and loved by her brothers since childhood, and had never experienced a day of hardship. Therefore, she had no personal understanding of Fu Sui's past anxiety and fear. The servants around her were also carefully selected and trained by the Grand Princess. They were only respectful to Qiao Zhenzhen and rarely spoke much. Naturally, they could not fully understand Fu Sui's feelings for the people around him.
Fu Sui's treatment of his maids and servants was unbecoming of his status, but Qiao Zhenzhen was kind and gentle. Even if she didn't understand, she wouldn't think that Fu Sui's friendliness towards his servants and his interactions with the villagers were vulgar.
Qiao Zhenzhen chose a peony adorned with gold and a pale pink hibiscus, as delicate as smoke and mist. Seeing that Qiao Zhenzhen wasn't wearing any flowers today, Kouyun asked, "Would Madam Qiao like to wear some?"
"Alright." Qiao Zhenzhen handed the silk flowers to Kouyun.
Because it was the Flower Festival, Qiao Zhenzhen was dressed brightly and prettyly, so Kouyun carefully put hibiscus silk flowers in her hair. Dailing found an empty box, put the peony silk flowers in it, and handed it to Qiao Zhenzhen's maid.
"Princess," Doumiao called from outside, and only came in after receiving a reply, "The palace has sent some Hundred Flower Cakes. Would the Princess and Lady Qiao like some?"
Qiao Zhenzhen was looking at the silk flower in her hair in the mirror when she heard this. She put down the mirror and looked at Fu Sui: "Someone from the palace has come. Aren't you going to thank them?"
Fu Sui stood up and glanced at the snack box that Doumiao was holding. "Qin An can handle the people from the Imperial Kitchen." After saying that, she turned to Qiao Zhenzhen and asked, "Do you want some?"
Qiao Zhenzhen shook her head: "Every year during the Flower Festival, the palace bestows Hundred Flower Cakes. My grandfather and mother both have them, and they all taste the same."
Fu Sui didn't really like eating flowers and plants either. He closed the lid and said to the bean sprouts, "Leave a piece for Qin An, and you can share the rest."
The bean sprouts retreated immediately.
The poetry gathering at Zhuangyuanlou was scheduled for the afternoon. Since Fu Sui and Qiao Zhenzhen had nothing to do and couldn't go picking wild vegetables or flowers like other common women, Fu Sui took Qiao Zhenzhen to the garden to admire the red flowers.
The so-called "appreciating red" involves cutting colored paper and silk into flower shapes and sticking them on trees, so that from a distance they look like colorful flowering trees, thus praying for abundant flowers and trees.
Yesterday, Dai Ling and Kou Yun, along with several young maids, cut out the colored paper flowers. Fearing the paper flowers would be damaged by wind and rain, they specially selected several bolts of suitable silk fabric from the storeroom, cutting them into various sizes and patterns, and placing them in bamboo baskets. They also boiled flour and water into a paste, which was then placed in tin bowls.
The Princess's mansion occupies a vast area with few buildings but abundant scenery. Built hastily in its early days, most of it remains empty. Later, Fu Sui lived alone there, and not only were there no additional buildings, but even much of the original courtyard was left vacant. Therefore, the open spaces were used for landscaping; covered walkways, stone paths, and flowing ponds appeared and disappeared with the undulating terrain, and thatched cottages and bamboo pavilions were nestled among various flowers and trees. Fu Sui led Qiao Zhenzhen to a tree with a low branch beside a path, and they each took a few silk flowers and attached them to it.
Qiao Zhenzhen joked, "We don't produce anything, yet we pray for abundant flowers and trees. I suppose even the Flower Goddess has no way to help us."
"Who said that?" Qiao Zhenzhen's words reminded Fu Sui, who said "You De Shi" and pulled Qiao Zhenzhen inside.
Walk a few dozen steps along the path, and you'll find an open space with a flower pavilion. On one side of the pavilion, three bare bamboo frames have been newly erected.
“I almost forgot, everything I plant dies. Even if you stick colorful silk on it, it will only make things difficult for the Flower Goddess. You tend to the flowers and trees well, so come and stick a few flowers on for me.” Fu Sui said to Qiao Zhenzhen, pointing to the empty frame.
Qiao Zhenzhen looked at it from left to right but couldn't figure out what it was. She asked in confusion, "What did you plant? I don't see any flowers or leaves."
“I haven’t planted them yet. I’ll set up the trellis first so the Flower Goddess will know. I’ll plant the gourds around Qingming Festival.” Fu Sui grabbed a colorful flower and stuffed it into Qiao Zhenzhen’s hand. “Whether these trellises will produce beautiful gourds depends entirely on you.”
Holding the silk flowers, Qiao Zhenzhen couldn't help but chuckle at Fu Sui's sincere and expectant look: "Oh dear, I should have called my fourth sister-in-law over. She's the best at tending to flowers and plants, she can grow all sorts of plants like the Double-Colored Two Qiao and the Three-Change Beauty, let alone this gourd of yours?"
The fourth sister-in-law that Qiao Zhenzhen mentioned is the daughter-in-law of Qiao Xiang's eldest son. She just got married last year and is said to be very good at growing peonies. However, it is not yet the season for peonies to bloom, so Qiao Zhenzhen has no chance to see them.
Fu Sui, why bother Qiao Zhenzhen's sister-in-law for three gourds? Qiao Zhenzhen's blessing and appreciation are enough.
Qiao Zhenzhen dipped a brush in flour paste and carefully applied it to the silk flowers, attaching nine flowers to each frame. She then sincerely prayed to the Flower Goddess for blessings.
After Qiao Zhenzhen finished praying, Fu Sui stepped forward and took her arm with a grin: "I plan to plant one trellis of small gourds about the length of a finger, one trellis of larger gourds, and one trellis the size of a palm. When the gourds grow, you can choose whichever you like."
Qiao Zhenzhen smiled and agreed, then took Fu Sui's arm and was about to walk back when she noticed a small jar on the steps of the flower pavilion: "What are you drying here?"
Fu Suichao glanced at the small jar: "Castor oil, my cousin Xu made it himself before, and it's been stored for four or five years without any use. I asked him for a jar, planning to make some ink pads myself."
Qiao Zhenzhen knew that Fu Sui would tinker with ink making and other crafts when he had nothing to do, so she wasn't surprised. She just reminded Fu Sui, "Grinding ink is hard work. Be careful with your hands and don't hurt yourself."
Fu Sui agreed, "I don't make a living by cooking. I'll grind a little bit in my spare time, and put it down when I'm tired. It's just a pastime, and I won't hurt my body."
Fu Sui and Qiao Zhenzhen strolled hand in hand in the garden: "I originally planned to have you stay at the mansion for a meal, but then I thought that you've eaten plenty of food here, so it's not very interesting to always eat at home. Huiyuan's shepherd's purse soup dumplings are delicious, and I heard that they've recently added a new dish called Nirvana Dumplings. I've asked someone to let us know, so let's go there and try something new."
Wild vegetables are at their freshest at this time of year. Qiao Zhenzhen loves shepherd's purse, so when she heard there was shepherd's purse soup dumplings, she couldn't resist: "Huiyuan is not far from Zhuangyuanlou, so why don't we ask Huiyuan to send the food to Zhuangyuanlou? It will be perfect to match Zhuangyuanlou's special brew today."
Fu Sui also thought this was a great idea. Seeing that it was almost noon, he asked Kouyun to fetch the horse. Since Qiao Zhenzhen was going to ride with Fu Sui today, she only brought one maid.
A carriage couldn't hold too many people, and Fu Sui figured Dai Ling wasn't interested in literary pursuits, so he let her have her fun. He instructed Dai Ling, "You're not restricted today. If you want to go out, bring someone with you. The streets are crowded and dangerous, so be careful. If you're going home, pack whatever snacks and treats you like. If you miss the curfew, you can stay overnight, but just don't break curfew."
Dai Ling readily agreed. Fu Sui then summoned Doumiao and instructed her to tell the people below to leave one person on duty at each location, while the others would be given half a day off, and those who stayed on duty would receive an extra hundred coins as a reward.
Qin An was worried about the two servants from the Qiao family, so he selected a few more clever ones to accompany them, along with Fu Sui and Kou Yun's two horses, to travel with the Qiao family's carriage.
When Fu Sui and Qiao Zhenzhen arrived at Zhuangyuanlou, the building was already packed. They could hear faint sounds of poetry recitation and cheers coming from inside.
The waiter at Zhuangyuanlou Restaurant had sharp eyes. Although there were no markings on the carriage, he could tell from the tall horses following behind that it belonged to a wealthy family. He quickly stepped forward to ask which private room they had booked. He led Fu Sui and Qiao Zhenzhen upstairs via a separate staircase to avoid being bumped into by the male guests in the main hall. He also made room in the main hall for the accompanying attendants to have their meal.
Fu Sui told Kou Yun to give the waiter a handful of reward money and to have him run an errand to Huiyuan to tell them to deliver the dishes ordered by the princess to Zhuangyuanlou.
Having received the reward, the young man smiled broadly, bowed and scraped to thank the man, and then ran off towards Huiyuan in a flash.
The windows of the private rooms in Zhuangyuanlou are on the inside of the building, and you can see the main hall just by opening the window. Today there are many women, so Zhuangyuanlou has hung gauze curtains on the windows for some privacy.
Fu Sui pointed to a group of two or three people gathered downstairs and asked Qiao Zhenzhen, "Do you recognize which one of them is Xue Guangting?"
Qiao Zhenzhen shook her head, leaned closer to the gauze curtain and looked down. After searching for a moment, she pointed to a man in red and said, "This is Lu Qianli, the Lu of Empress Lu, the first empress of the founding emperor. He is quite famous in the capital. I saw him at a gathering before." She then pointed to another man in willow-green clothes: "This is Yao Bin. His sister is the current Princess Mu. He came with Princess Mu to celebrate his mother's birthday."
Qin An was reluctant to let Fu Sui go to Prince Mu's side. Fu Sui knew Prince Mu's new wife, but she hadn't paid any attention to the new princess's family.
"I've heard he's a womanizer and a regular at Pingkang Ward." Yao Bin followed Princess Mu to the Princess's residence and happened to bump into Qiao Zhenzhen and her cousin. Qiao Er didn't think much of Yao Bin's frivolous behavior and had warned Qiao Zhenzhen not to pay any attention to him.
Fu Sui looked at Yao Bin and saw that he had pearl and jade ornaments around his waist, colorful ribbons around his waist, and a delicate pink daphne tucked into his hair. He was waving a folding fan around. Fu Sui thought to himself, "Isn't he afraid of getting cold from fanning himself?"
Qiao Zhenzhen carefully examined the people with Yao Bin: "The people next to him are all unfamiliar." As she spoke, her eyes glanced over: "I know this one," Qiao Zhenzhen pointed to a man wearing a light brown robe, "I saw him at the Imperial Academy. He seems to be a student of the Four Gates School, and I think his surname is Xu."
Since he is a student of the Four Schools, his family must not hold high official positions. Fu Sui glanced around and saw that there were several other people around the man. They were in a corner, in dim light, and could not be seen clearly through the gauze curtain.
Qiao Zhenzhen, being a young lady confined to her quarters, had few opportunities to meet men outside the family, and thus didn't know anyone else. Although Fu Sui was unsupervised, he mostly frequented the homes of nobles and relatives. Qiao Zhenzhen could at least accompany her father, uncles, and brothers to visit the Imperial Academy, but Fu Sui had never set foot on the stone bricks at the entrance of the Imperial Academy and knew almost nothing about the young men of officials below the fifth rank.
It was midday, and apart from a few tables where people were playing drinking games, most people in the hall were having lunch. In the center of the hall, a pipa player was playing and singing to entertain the guests. Fu Sui looked around and saw that most of the windows of the private rooms upstairs were closed, meaning that the people who had made reservations had not yet arrived.
"Princess." Inside the room was a carved wooden screen that could be unfolded to divide the room into two sections, an inner and an outer one. The waiter from Zhuangyuanlou had also set up a small table outside for Kouyun and her companion to eat and rest. At this moment, Kouyun relayed a message from outside the screen: "The people from Huiyuan have arrived."
Having received permission, Kouyun led the people from Huiyuan through the screen and into the room. Perhaps out of consideration for Fu Sui being a woman, the people who came were two women in their thirties. The two women stepped forward and laid out the dishes from the food box one by one, introducing them to the dishes. After the dishes were laid out, one of the women said, "The soup dumplings taste best when they are freshly cooked. I was afraid that they would lose their flavor if they were brought along, so I only brought raw dumplings. I'll borrow the kitchen of Zhuangyuanlou to cook them fresh. Please wait a little longer, Princess."
Fu Sui indicated that he understood, and the two women followed Kouyun and left.
Before long, someone from Zhuangyuanlou came to deliver the cooked dumplings and Zhuangyuanlou's special brewed liquor.
Fu Sui and Princess Pingyang were both wealthy and used to luxury, so they found the expensive food in the restaurant ordinary, just something new to try. However, the fruit wine at Zhuangyuanlou was sweet and mellow, and after the meal, Fu Sui ordered another pot to drink with snacks and fruits.
"Is that Madam Song?" A window diagonally opposite the room where the two were located was opened, and half a figure was revealed through the lifted gauze curtain.
Qiao Zhenzhen turned her head to look and saw that it was Madam Song.
Fu Sui initially thought Qiao Zhenzhen was just joking when she said that an official's wife wanted to see a good husband, but he didn't expect it to be true. These future new scholars are indeed in high demand.
"What's the use of looking now? Whether it succeeds or not, we still have to wait for the results to be released." Fu Sui was very puzzled.
"It's not something that's decided immediately. Having an impression today will prevent us from being completely unprepared when the results are announced."
"Have you asked if there is anyone among today's guests who is of higher rank than the Secretary-General?"
“Of course it’s you, Princess,” Qiao Zhenzhen teased.
That means there were no high-ranking officials or dignitaries present. If Madam Song didn't have a niece who was about to be married, she probably wouldn't have made this trip.
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