Su Yushan then quickened her pace to catch up with Hongli and left Jintang Garden.
They had agreed to have dinner with the Fifth Prince, but the two brothers ended up arguing and parting on bad terms. Su Yushan didn't know where to begin to comfort him, because Hongli had a dark face and hadn't said a word since getting into the carriage.
In modern times, Su Yushan wouldn't consider this a big deal; she might even advise Yunmeng to leave Hongzhou. But this is ancient times, where a woman's reputation is paramount, and Yunmeng cares deeply about it. Therefore, Su Yushan can only try to understand the situation from Yunmeng's perspective and offer her advice.
“Miss Yunmeng is already the Fifth Prince’s woman. It would be rather heartless to send her away now.”
These things could have been avoided. "I warned him beforehand to be careful and not to do anything reckless. He agreed readily on the surface, but secretly he took the person away. He has always been self-centered, only caring about the pleasure in front of him, and not caring about the consequences at all."
"Fifth Master is indeed a bit too bold, but even among the nine sons of a dragon, there are different preferences. You can't expect all your brothers to be as composed as you. What's done is done, and simply blaming others won't undo anything. The most urgent thing is to find a way to solve the problem."
Su Yushan gently comforted Hongli, and his anger subsided, gradually calming him down. However, the matter was extremely thorny.
“Yunmeng comes from Liuxianglou. Even though she is a courtesan, she has seen some guests and played music and sang for them. If Fifth Brother brings her back to the mansion, he will definitely be criticized.”
After thinking for a moment, Su Yushan suggested, "Why don't we arrange a new identity for her, let her be related to a respectable family, and then bring her into the mansion? At least she'll have a proper status, and Fifth Master won't stay out all the time."
After all, the two were brothers, and even if Hongli was angry, he would still help the fifth brother solve his troubles. "Your method is feasible, but it is too risky. Let me think about it and then I will say something."
Having come with high hopes but left disappointed, and seeing his bad mood, Su Yushan didn't want to bring up the idea of going on a trip again. "Alright, let's go back to the manor then!"
Hongli then realized that he had been so engrossed in arguing with the fifth prince that he had completely forgotten the purpose of the trip. He took her hand and said apologetically:
"I promised to take you out to relax, but this whole thing has ruined your fun."
She could be a little temperamental at times, but she was always very understanding and righteous when it mattered. "It's alright. I just wanted to go out for a walk. Today is a good day to go out, so it's worth it."
Hongli felt bad about returning home like that, so he instructed Li Yu to find a restaurant serving Suzhou cuisine so that she could taste the flavors of her hometown.
The original owner was from Suzhou, but she wasn't. She knew almost nothing about Suzhou cuisine, so she wouldn't have any interest in it. However, she was still very touched by Hongli's kindness.
Li Yu knew that Baozhenlou served authentic Suzhou cuisine, so he asked the driver to take him there.
Upon arrival, Li Yu jumped off the carriage and stood to one side, asking, "Sir, should we clear the area?"
Hongli intended to clear the venue, but Su Yushan felt it was unnecessary. "We can just have the banquet like ordinary people. There's no need to clear the venue. Such a fuss makes me feel uncomfortable."
Since she didn't like it, Hongli didn't force her. Li Yu went in first, and after everything was arranged, she led the Fourth Prince and Su Gege into the house through the east gate.
This door is reserved for distinguished guests; ordinary people cannot enter or exit through it, so it is very quiet and not noisy.
Last time when they went to the western suburbs, Hongli had planned to take her to a restaurant, but unfortunately, the trip ended badly because of Zheng Lin's matter. So today is the first time Su Yushan has dined out since she came to the Qing Dynasty, and this feeling is very novel to her.
When it came time to order, Hongli let her order. Su Yushan was stunned when she saw the menu. She thought that menus in ancient times were very simple, with only a few words. She did not expect that this menu was so gorgeous. There was a picture next to each dish. She guessed that the manager had specially commissioned an artist to draw it for the distinguished guests.
The pictures of each dish looked very appetizing, but unfortunately she hadn't tried much Jiangsu cuisine and had no idea which ones were good, so she didn't know where to start.
Seeing her blank stare, Hongli thought she had remembered something. "Does any of these dishes look familiar?"
It would seem illogical to say that she wasn't familiar with any of them, so Su Yushan randomly pointed to one, "This one, sweet fermented rice balls, the name sounds familiar, I think I've tried it before!"
So Hongli ordered sweet fermented rice balls, as well as roast duck, shrimp from Biluochun, braised chicken with chestnuts, fish balls, crystal pork hock, and braised crab meat lion's head meatballs...
He ordered more and more, leaving Su Yushan dumbfounded. She quickly stopped him, saying, "That's enough, that's enough. There are only two of us, we can't eat that much."
"Try everything so you can experience the flavors of your hometown."
Su Yushan thought four dishes would be more than enough, but Hongli ordered eight. Each dish was an exquisite experience for her taste buds. Su Yushan's eyes widened, filled with joy, and she showered him with praise.
"It's so delicious! The chef here is absolutely amazing!"
Noticing that Hongli hadn't touched his food much, Su Yushan took the initiative to put some food on his plate, saying, "Try these fish balls, they're so fresh and tender, they're delicious."
Hongli rested his hand on his forehead, looked her over, and chuckled, "You look so happy eating, it's really appetizing! You're not like this at home, it seems that Suzhou cuisine suits your taste better."
“The food in the manor is quite good, but eating it every day can get tiresome. Trying something new is certainly more appealing.” She said it casually, but Hongli unconsciously took it to heart, clicked his tongue, and asked seriously:
"Won't you get tired of eating me all the time?"
Why bring up such intimate things again? Luckily, he had sent all the servants away, and there were only the two of them in the room, no outsiders, otherwise she would have been mortified!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
