Chapter 1 Hua Youxin The thirty-sixth year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, early summer. ……
It was early summer in the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi.
The imperial kitchen had just received a batch of mutton. A passing eunuch saw it and said, "It's already the summer solstice, and they sent so much mutton? How rare."
"What do you know, you little monkey?" said the eunuch who was in charge of keeping accounts of the food. "This is mutton tributed by Khalkha Mongolia. His Majesty praised it after eating it, so he specially asked for some to be sent to the palace."
Khalkha Mongolia... Thinking of the news that had been circulating in the palace recently, the young eunuch nodded as if he understood something. He was about to slip away but was stopped.
"I see you're bored, so I just happen to have an errand. This large portion of mutton is specifically for the Yikun Palace. Go and see how the masters want to eat it."
The little eunuch wanted to slap himself in the face, thank you for talking so much!
If it were any other time, going to the Yikun Palace would definitely be a good thing. After all, the Queen of the Yikun Palace was the Concubine Yi who was deeply loved by the Emperor. She could make a trip, get some money, and maybe even show up. But it just happened to be at this juncture, and the mutton was sent from Mobei, so it was unknown whether it was a blessing or a curse.
Seeing the Yikun Gate from afar, the young eunuch smiled and bowed to the two eunuchs guarding the gate: "Greetings, brother. I'm from the kitchen. Today we have some new mutton from the Khalkha Mongols, and I would like to ask Yizhuer for advice on how to prepare it properly."
Upon hearing this, a eunuch guarding the gate on the right curled his lips and said, "You wait." The other one with a long face walked in lazily.
The young eunuch nodded and bowed, then stood aside with his hands hanging down, smiling.
After waiting for half an incense stick of time, two young eunuchs came, carrying a red lacquer bucket and stopped in front of Yikun's door. As usual, they greeted him. "We are from the fruit room."
The gatekeeper eunuch smiled and said, "Oh, what a coincidence today. How come you also have something new as tribute from the Khalkha Mongols?"
"No," the young eunuch in the fruit room said with some doubt, "When His Majesty pacified Junggar, Hami offered tribute of melons, but there were only a few in this batch. His Majesty specifically ordered that in addition to the Empress Dowager's palace, one portion should be sent to the Yikun Palace."
As he was talking, the eunuch who had gone in to deliver the message came over and heard the reason: "Okay, someone from the fruit room, I'll take you in together."
The young eunuch followed him inside, winding his way around, and first arrived at the side rooms in the back of the west side hall, which were the resting places for the palace servants on duty. When he entered the threshold of the first small room, he saw a eunuch sitting and drinking tea. He was wearing a mandarin jacket and boots, which was the attire only for the chief eunuchs and the head eunuchs in the palace. There was also a young apprentice beside him to help fan him.
The gatekeeper said respectfully: "Grandpa Zhang, this is the person from the kitchen you just mentioned."
Zhang Qiyong, the chief eunuch of the Yikun Palace, nodded and said, "The Queen is copying scriptures now, you wait for a while." While waiting, he asked the two men in detail about the details of the rewards, whether there were any in other palaces, and how much they had received.
After waiting for a while, a young eunuch came running over and said, "The curtain of the palace door is rolled up." This was a signal for the master in the palace to rest.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiyong immediately put down the bowl in his hand, straightened his clothes, and led the eunuchs from the imperial kitchen and fruit room and his apprentice to quickly go to the main hall.
After crossing the threshold of the bedroom, the eunuch dared not look around, but lowered his head. The main room was covered with a light yellow double lotus carpet, which was soft and soundless when stepped on.
"Your Majesty, thanks to His Majesty's concern, the kitchen has newly received Khalkha mutton and the fruit room has newly received melons. They have been specially delivered to our Yikun Palace. What do you think we should do with them?" Zhang Qiyong asked.
The golden hairpin swayed slightly, and then a pleasant female voice sounded, speaking a little quickly: "The melon has been chilled. My son will cook it for dinner later. As for the mutton, go ask the fourth girl."
The fourth girl mentioned by Concubine Yi was her adopted daughter and niece, the fourth princess of Emperor Kangxi. Since the death of the fourth princess's biological mother, Concubine Yi's elder sister, Concubine Guo, the fourth princess had been raised in Concubine Yi's palace.
Zhang Qiyong agreed, sent the people from the fruit room away, and led the eunuch from the imperial kitchen to the back hall.
The Yiku Palace is a palace with two entrances, and the fourth princess lived in the east side hall of the second entrance.
As soon as I came out of the alley, I smelled a faint fragrance, which became stronger as I went further. It was the scent of lilies.
Zhang Qiyong, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and performed a palace salute: "Good luck to the Fourth Princess."
The fourth princess seldom walked around the palace except during festivals, and this was the first time the young eunuch had the chance to see her. He couldn't help but feel curious, so he raised his eyelids and took a quick look.
The windows of the east side hall were all open, and the early summer sunlight shone through the windows onto the young girl. The fourth princess, Muxue, sat by the window, her back straight, holding a book in her hands, reading attentively. On the rosewood square table she was leaning against was a white-glazed double-six vase, and lilies were growing in clear water. No wonder the whole hall was filled with the fragrance of flowers.
She wore a moon-white cloak with dark patterns, and had her hair braided into a simple bun. She wore no jewelry except three small pearl hairpins between her buns. She looked like the moonlight reflected in the water, with a hazy beauty that left only a simple impression, not profound, and ordinary in beauty.
Zhang Qiyong reported to the Fourth Princess what he had just reported to Concubine Yi.
He would probably say "all good", right? Zhang Qiyong thought carelessly. When the fourth princess first moved to Yikun Palace, he had been asked many times by the princess what she wanted to eat and what fun things to do, but the princess would just answer in a thin voice, "all good". Over time, this procedure was omitted. Everything was left to the arrangements.
Mu Xue put down the book in her hand and said slowly: "If you must eat mutton, you can make a dish of mutton noodles."
"Mutton noodles?" Zhang Qiyong was slightly stunned. This was not a common dish in the palace.
He looked at the eunuch in the imperial kitchen and said, "Did you understand?"
The young eunuch bent his waist even lower: "The Fourth Princess is talking about rice noodles, right?"
"Yes," Mu Xue said, "Grind the tribute rice from the south into powder, wash it, soak it, and grind it into a paste, then shape it into noodles. Add thin slices of mutton and two drops of sesame oil to the boiled broth, and the most important thing is the chili oil, which must be fried in mutton oil over low heat until crispy and fragrant, then sprinkle a handful of sesame seeds and pour it into the mutton powder."
The young eunuch took note of it and agreed reluctantly.
Muxue noticed that he looked a little embarrassed, probably because he was afraid that if he didn't cook a new dish well at the last minute, he would be punished.
To reassure him, Mu Xue added: "It's okay, just give it a try. As long as you can eat it, don't feel any burden."
The young eunuch naturally understood what she meant. He kowtowed in gratitude and then stepped back.
Seeing that the outsiders had left, Zhang Qiyong took two steps closer to the window and said with a smile, "Princess, you are in a good mood today. It's rare to see you ordering food."
Mu Xue pursed her lips and said, "Nothing much. I just suddenly thought that before leaving the palace, I might as well try the cooking skills of the imperial kitchen. I'm afraid it will be hard to eat it in the future."
The day before yesterday, the Queen Mother summoned the fourth princess to Ningshou Palace and conveyed a message. She would be betrothed to the Khalkha Mongol prince, Dunduobu Dorji, and the official decree would be issued when Khan Ama returned to the court.
It was customary for the princess to caress the Mongolian. However, the Khalkha Mongolian that Muxue was betrothed to was much farther away than the previous princesses who married into Khorchin, in the far north of the desert. After going three thousand miles, there was no one left in Yangguan, so the palace servants around Muxue were a little angry, and the wet nurse Xu Mama even cried in the dark at night, for the young master, the fourth princess, for the early deceased master, Concubine Guo, and even more for herself.
As a member of the Yikun Palace, Zhang Qiyong heard the Fourth Princess mention Fu Meng, and fearing bad luck, he changed the subject with a smile: "The lilies in the Princess' Palace are blooming beautifully. You can even smell the fragrance in the front hall. The master also said it smells good."
Mu Xue glanced at him and changed the subject: "Is Concubine Yi busy?"
"The queen was copying scriptures just now, so her son should be free now."
Mu Xue nodded, stood up and walked out of the house: "I will go to pay my respects to Concubine Yi's mother."
Although they lived in the same palace, Muxue seldom went to the front hall on weekdays. Firstly, Concubine Yi was in great favor and had to serve the emperor from time to time; secondly, Concubine Yi had given birth to three princes and had limited energy. Muxue felt that she was living under someone else's roof and did not want to cause trouble for Concubine Yi; another point was that Muxue did not want to be too involved with the people or things in the Forbidden City.
Traveling back to the ten years of the Kangxi reign, she was like a tourist who strayed into the night, weaving a green gauze tent for herself with an indifferent and careless attitude, watching everything and everyone with a cold eye. One day, one year, ten years, countless monotonous and boring days overlapped, as if it was an endless isolation.
However, even days like this never let her go.
On the day when she heard the news about Fu Meng, Mu Xue's face was calm, and she thanked the Empress Dowager in the palace without any disturbance, as if the one who was going to marry far away was not her, but some unrelated person.
But at night, when the entire Forbidden City was in deep sleep, in the green gauze tent, she put a small silver knife to her throat, and the only words screaming wildly in her mind were "I want to die".
If you die, can you go home?
Being inexplicably thrown back hundreds of years, being locked up in the palace for several years, being forced to suppress his free will and play the roles of a king, his subjects, and his father and his son. Now, he is going to be married to someone he has never met, going to a completely unfamiliar place. What is the point of existing here?
The cold blade was pressed against the warm neck, and the pulse was beating like a snare drum, again and again.
Want to die.
She thought expressionlessly.
Just die, and be done with it all. A voice in my head screamed wildly.
But why couldn't she push the blade down?
I don’t know how long the desperate stalemate lasted. In a daze, I suddenly smelled a floral scent, which was light at first and then became stronger and stronger.
Maybe the lilies are blooming, Muxue thought.
At that moment, the fragrance of the flowers seemed to have traveled through distant time, bringing down memories, the lilies swaying in the yard of my home, the azure blue sky, the resident puppy on campus lying lazily in the sun, and his expression seemed not much different from that of the palace cat basking in the sun...
All the insignificant, fragmented and beautiful moments soaked her body like a summer rainstorm, and finally made her put down the knife in exhaustion.
She wanted to die, but the June lilies kept her alive.
That's all for now.
Hold on a little longer, maybe something good will happen? If nothing works, forget it.
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