Chapter 4 What a beautiful pair of mandarin ducks, what a beautiful wild duck…
"You're back, it's good that you're back!"
The words of her father and mother, mixed with the sound of Lin Yuan slurping as she ate her soup dumplings, sounded warm and comforting.
Lin Wu and Qin Shi were overjoyed and planned to go to the market early the next day to snatch the tenderest pork from the butcher shop, specifically the cut from the pig's shoulder, to make roasted pork.
Lin Yuan said that people in the palace disliked roasted meat the most, saying that noble people did not like the smell of smoke and fire. But "the smell of smoke and fire is what makes a home." "In my opinion, the reason why noble people do not like the smell of smoke and fire and do not like roasted meat is because none of the palace chefs and cooks have the skills of my mother" and "nor do they have the good eye for choosing meat as my father."
At night, she slept with Qin.
Qin asked A-Yuan, "What grievances have you suffered in the palace all these years?"
Lin Yuan's nose tingled and her eyes stung.
The mother didn't ask "whether there is or not".
She measured her daughter's thinness with her eyes and, intuitively, concluded that there must be some "grievance" behind it.
Lin Yuan couldn't hold back her sobs, buried her head in the quilt, and said in a muffled voice, "It's such a huge injustice."
Upon hearing this, Qin's entire body of excess fat trembled.
"Quick, tell Mother!" She hugged Lin Yuan tightly.
Lin Yuan snuggled closer to her, her voice muffled by the faint scent of soap on Qin's clothes:
"Isn't it a tremendous injustice that I can't see my mother or eat the honeyed treats she makes?"
Five days ago, the imperial edict delivered by the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat was placed on the desk in the Xuan Room Hall.
Lin Yuan certainly shouldn't have looked at it.
However, she bit the pen and squinted as she pondered how to write on the blank silk that His Majesty had given her.
She pondered for a long time.
Should the imperial edict begin by quoting classical texts?
Just like the notices she had seen on the city walls of Chang'an when she was a child. They began with things like "Farmers are the foundation of virtue" and "Of the eight policies of the Great Plan, food is the most important."①
She remembered that the people who came to see the notice were all wearing thin brown shirts and blouses. But more and more people crowded together, and the early spring weather was no longer cold.
She was munching on a dry wheat cake when she was pushed by the crowd to the words that shone brightly in the sunlight.
Looking up, all you could see on the notice was a person with two pigtails sticking out, their mouth wide open, stuffing themselves with a pancake.
She giggled as she watched, crumbs of food falling to the ground, and spittle from the crowd landing on her head.
The words hanging on the city wall were pieced together piece by piece by different people.
She then realized that what she was staring at was food.
The person who pieced these words together laughed as they read them aloud.
How could I not be happy?
"Red Rice in Eight Styles" is probably red bean rice? Steamed with rice flour, steamed plain, steamed with salt, steamed with meat, steamed with sugar...tsk tsk tsk, it must taste so much better than the usual rice and bean soup!
The biscuit she was chewing tasted bland; when would she be able to eat it again?
It should be done soon.
As the weather warmed up, she left the thatched hut. Her parents had fifty acres of reclaimable wasteland on the outskirts of the city, and also a yellow ox that they had rented on credit.
At that time, the fourth year of Tian Shou had just been changed to the first year of Zhao Yuan.
She quickly glanced at the imperial edict on the table.
Indeed, there is a poem.
“Mandarin ducks fly together, their feathers rustling. They sing in harmony, glancing at their mates.”
She had seen many mandarin ducks at Kunming Pool in Shanglin Garden.
They are in pairs, their necks intertwined and entwined.
It's so captivating that you can't take your eyes off it.
She couldn't stop looking at him once she had that glance.
Following this is, "The late Grand Princess of Yangyi and daughter of Prime Minister Su Dan, Marquis of Yangxin, Chan, was gentle and virtuous, and her demeanor was exemplary..."
The words below were blurry and indistinct, and could not be seen at all.
The snowflakes clinging to her forehead melted in the heat of the Xuan Shi Hall and splashed onto her eyelashes.
The contrast between the outside and inside of the hall, the extreme temperature difference, felt like a sudden chill, making one's steps weak, as if stepping in water.
Lin Yuan suddenly remembered that next to the pair of mandarin ducks playing in the water, there was a wild duck that had been splashed with water and was soaking wet.
She didn't know how she got out of the palace, she only remembered that Li Shun called her when she was leaving.
"By the way, is this for His Majesty?" Li Shun pointed to the bronze halberd she had just brought, somewhat embarrassed. "I heard that Prime Minister Su and his entourage were almost at Sili when their carriage got stuck on a section of the official road that had collapsed due to snow. His Majesty just summoned the Minister of the Imperial Household, the Commandant of the Imperial Guards, and the Left Fengyi, and went to the White Tiger Hall. Judging from the time, they are probably having a meal there."
Lin Yuan raised the corners of her lips: "This is for you."
"Really?" Li Shun's eyes widened, reflecting on the gilded bronze dragon head ring.
It's chicken soup made by Ji, and it's also stewed with ginseng.
He happily picked up the food box. He had seen His Majesty eat from it before, and although he had only smelled the aroma and hadn't tasted it, he had already praised Lin Yuan as a worthy soup official.
The air was thick with steam, and he didn't see Lin Yuan's eyes gradually darken.
Like the increasingly darkening sky outside the palace.
The snow is getting heavier.
Lin Yuan looked up and saw snowflakes fluttering in the north wind, swirling into inescapable circles.
She plunged right in.
In her chilling moment, she remembered the first time she saw Xiao Xun; snow from the plum blossoms had fallen all over her, even soaking her neck.
Ah, it's cold, it's really cold.
At that moment, she remembered the hand warmer her brother handed her, the soup dumplings her mother made, and her father's rough hands lifting the collar of her fur coat up to her chin, pulling it tight so that no wind could get in.
But she was all alone in the vast snow.
The palace maids serving tea in the Jiaofang Palace sent her early in the morning to collect snow from the stamens of plum blossoms to use for brewing tea. However, due to the continuous cold and gloomy weather, the flowers did not bloom well, and from sunrise to breakfast time, she had only collected less than half a jar of snow.
The person who appeared out of nowhere was as cold as a pile of snow or made of ice.
She was startled and kicked over the bronze urn used for collecting snow at her feet, leaving it less than a third full.
She gasped, remembering her father's words before she entered the palace: "Smile more, and good luck will follow."
really.
Her face was frozen, but she forced a smile, a smile that looked rather silly. Silly, but not quite funny.
The person, as cold as ice and snow, had an even greater frosty expression on their face due to their anger.
However, at least he promised to help her.
Uh, it's for the birds that are more pitiful than her in the freezing cold.
While collecting snow from the flowers, Lin Yuan found a fledgling bird under a tree. Its feathers were wet and its eyes were not yet open.
She looked up and saw a nest in the highest branch of the tree.
She wanted to put the little bird back in its nest. However, the tree branch was several inches higher than she could stand on tiptoe.
Looking around, there were no rocks to step on.
Only then did we see the people emerging from the snowdrifts.
"Do you recognize what kind of bird this is?" the man, who could be a palace attendant, a guard, or some other official, asked coldly.
"Is it a magpie?" Lin Yuan looked down at the tiny, shivering creature in her palm.
Do you know what it means to be a cuckoo taking over someone else's nest?
"...Is this a dove?" she asked suspiciously.
The man was quite suited to be a court official or a military commander; one look from him made the bird in her hand tremble, and it was about to confess without being asked, chirping loudly.
“That’s a dove.” The man raised his hand and pointed to a grayish-brown bird on a branch not far away. “This magpie’s nest will be taken over by that dove sooner or later. Even if the chicks are sent back, they will hardly survive.”
The little magpie was put back into its nest.
Finally, the young master tied a straw figure made of reeds and Mangdi by Lin Yuan to a branch of a tree.
His white robe was stained with mud, making it no longer look like it was made of snow.
"Thank you, young master!"
Lin Yuan bowed respectfully. Even a palace attendant would be pleased to be addressed as "Young Master."
He raised an eyebrow: "Should we thank this fledgling?"
"Yes!" Lin Yuan replied with a smile, "And thank it on behalf of its mother."
As the young master turned to leave, Lin Yuan called out, "Wait!" She took a few steps, and just as she was about to reach out, she remembered that her hands were covered with mud and hay from the bird's nest. So she withdrew her hand, took out a handkerchief, and wiped away a fine feather from the young master's wide sleeve.
After she said "Take care, sir" and was about to leave, the person who said "Wait" became that sir.
"What's your name? Which palace do you serve in?"
Lin Yuan explained that she had just started serving in the Jiaofang Palace and was a lowly palace maid.
"Then may I ask, sir, who are you...?"
He smiled faintly, as faintly as the ripples spreading across the Taiye Pond on a calm, rainless day: "You'll find out."
Lin Yuan was puzzled and watched the person disappear into the vast expanse of snow. The sun rose from the treetops, and she no longer felt cold. Looking up, she saw the small bird's nest perched high on a branch, its golden rays shining through the white snow and red plum blossoms.
However, it seems like this year's snow won't stop.
Lying on the tatami, I could hear the pattering of the wind and snow hitting the window screen.
Lin Yuan's mother tucked the blanket around her, still asking, "Did those palace servants and eunuchs bully you? Was the previous empress good to you? When the empress was deposed, you were a palace maid in the Jiaofang Palace. Did you suffer any punishment? I heard that the current emperor is just as ruthless as the late emperor..."
Lin Yuan wiped her tears on her mother's undergarment. "That blind man," her voice choked with sobs, "well... the fortune teller, the sage, didn't he say that A Yuan's luck is very good? She'll meet helpful people all the way."
Once you enter the palace, you'll indeed see many important people.
Walking along the palace wall, you can encounter four middle-ranking officials, eight imperial guards, and sixteen tiger-like guards.
"He also said that even those who get a little bit of my luck will become benefactors."
That's not wrong. Sure enough, the Empress was deposed and demoted to a low-ranking concubine.
Lin Yuan sniffed, counted on her fingers, and began to list them one by one with her mother:
"Having been in the palace for less than two years, I was sent to serve in the Jiaofang Palace. I no longer had to wash the dirty clothes of those eunuchs and tidy up their cubs."
Well, it turned into helping the palace maids of Jiaofang Palace wash clothes and carry water buckets.
"Living in a big house, as big as three such houses combined."
However, there are only six people living inside.
"You can leave the lamp on all night without worrying about wasting lamp oil!"
After all, the person under the lamp wasn't her. She stood to the side, her eyelids drooping.
"There are also silk clothes, covered with embroidery."
Yes, she was dazzled by the sight of the Empress's embroidered robe.
Qin was mesmerized by what she heard, but gradually she calmed down.
She started talking too.
Over the years, the things that have happened in Yonghe Lane and in my family have been more numerous and significant than those in Weiyang Palace.
For example, when my childhood friend Ajin got married, the sound of gongs and drums filled the air, and the neighbors who came to see her off stretched for five miles, as if they were happier than if their own daughters were getting married.
After all, those with daughters of marriageable age in their families breathed a long sigh of relief. "Even Horse-faced Ah Jin married a minor official with the rank of Shangzao, earning not only a hundred shi of grain a year but also two qing of land, and moving from a cramped one-house to a two-house!"
For example, recently, several plum trees on the back hill have bloomed, a full half month earlier than in previous years, and they are also redder and more fragrant than in previous years.
Lin Yuan's tears had long since dried by the charcoal fire, and she listened with a smile as bright as Qin Shi's.
"Then, Mother, shall we make candied plum blossoms tomorrow?"
"The fortune teller said it was a harbinger of good fortune."
The sounds collided.
The mother licked her dry lips, and looked at Lin Yuan, who also smacked her lips, her eyes sparkling, just like when she left home the year she came of age.
At that time, she clung to the window of the oxcart and said, "Mother, when I leave the palace and come home, I want to eat honey cakes." "Yes!" Her mother followed the oxcart and nodded emphatically.
"And rice dumplings." "Yes. I know. I remember them all."
"Don't skimp on the honey, last time I added too little, it wasn't sweet enough. And the soup noodles, remember not to add coriander. Oh, and the flatbread, add diced meat, half lean and half fat, finely chopped, render the fat, pork from Butcher Li's..."
The mother wiped away a tear, "Alright, go now."
Madam Qin then began to recount a strange story, "Your father came home yesterday, and a copper nail had somehow gotten stuck to his clothes. People are saying it means the family is going to have a new member. You know, Ah Yin, you used to play with him, Ah Yin, do you remember—"
"Mother!" Lin Yuan yawned and scolded, "I just came back from Dragon Head Mountain, not from Youdu Mountain where I was reincarnated."
Mother patted Lin Yuan's forehead: "What Youdu Mountain? Nonsense! If Ah Yin were standing in front of you now, you probably wouldn't even recognize her! She's a mother of two now! Speaking of which, before she married her cousin, I heard she really stepped on a landmine. But she got pregnant right after the wedding, and now her second child is already running around." Mother clicked her tongue. "Isn't that amazing?"
“Yes! That’s strange, really,” Lin Yuan agreed. “Where did all these nails come from in Dongping Township? Could it be that blacksmith Li, who was illegally selling copper and iron, got into trouble while being chased by county officials?”
“That blacksmith Li has been locked up in the Zhongdu prison for two years now. Unauthorized casting of copper and iron is a serious crime, and your father warned him about it long ago. Now, all the money he earned has been confiscated, his wife has remarried with their child, and his mother cries every day; she's almost blind. They barely have enough to eat and rely on the charity of the villagers. Wait a minute, did you understand what I just said—”
"I understand, I understand." Lin Yuan rolled over and turned to face the wall, replying vaguely, "I have to be careful when I walk from now on. Stepping on a nail just thinking about it hurts. By the way, Mother, I went to the latrine just now and saw that the sow in the pen has a pretty big belly. Is she going to give birth in a couple of months?"
"They won't be born until March. They just had a litter of twelve four months ago. Hey, where were we? Do you remember Ade, the village head's son? He's quite successful now, he's an official in Liyang. His mother looks down on everyone now, saying that in a few years, he might even become a county lieutenant or magistrate... Oh, this child, he falls asleep so quickly."
Qin yawned deeply, stuffed a cotton coat into the middle of their blankets to catch the wind, and lay down as well. "Yes, you must be tired from the journey, with wind and snow all the way..."
Lin Yuan was not asleep. Amidst her mother's thunderous snoring, she stared into the pitch-black darkness.
The snow pierced through the window screen.
The mother on the couch was gone.
The next room was also quiet. The stove in the kitchen was still warm; when I opened it, I saw that it contained pancakes that had been made that morning.
A two-shafted supply wagon was parked outside the yard.
Lin Yuan, carrying sesame flatbread, walked towards the carriage that was waiting for her.
The horses pulling the cart were covered in snow, which quickly melted halfway in the wind, splashing away like teardrops onto the messy cart tracks in the snow.
*
The woman's eyelashes were covered in snowflakes, making her eyes look teary.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I'm back."
Beside her was a man in his fifties wearing a scholar's cap.
"Your subject, Su Dan, has come to express his gratitude and pay his respects to Your Majesty," Su Dan said, bowing to Xiao Xun.
The woman placed her hands on her forehead and bowed in return.
Xiao Xun's outstretched hand, which had been uttered as he spoke, remained suspended in mid-air.
His fingertips curled slightly as they were brushed past by the woman's flowing sleeves.
"Your Majesty, I, Su Chan, respectfully wish you good health."
He raised his hand and said, "No need for formalities."
Upon hearing this name, Li Shun was somewhat dazed.
For a fleeting moment, he thought Lin Yuan had returned.
They were about the same size, and even their appearances were somewhat similar at first glance.
This is the daughter of the Prime Minister and the Grand Princess.
When Li Shun first entered the palace, he had already heard of Su Chan's beautiful reputation.
It is said that she was the same age as the current emperor. At birth, a fortune teller predicted that she was destined to be a "phoenix." At that time, a saying circulated throughout the palace and Chang'an: "Phoenix, oh phoenix, still not finished." The late emperor jokingly said that she was destined to marry back into the royal family.
Because of the Grand Princess's influence, Su Chan could enter and leave the palace as easily as if it were her own private residence from a young age. Starting at the age of eight, she even sat with His Majesty in the Chengming Hall and studied under her own father.
Qu Yang was dissatisfied with this and said with a stern face, "Men and women should not sit together, nor should they teach each other personally."
Upon hearing this, Su Chan bowed respectfully to Qu Yang and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Uncle Qu. I will keep it in mind."
She truly kept it in mind.
The next day, he dressed up as a man, tied his hair up, wore a light blue robe, and put on a pair of wooden clogs.
However, once she reached the age of sixteen and learned etiquette from poetry, she visited the palace much less frequently.
Some say that because Qu Yang had a falling out with Su Dan in the previous dynasty, Qu Yang used this as an excuse to satirize Su Dan for failing to properly educate his daughter, saying that although he was a teacher, he did not know the proper etiquette.
Su Dan fell ill from anger, and the Grand Princess, protective of her daughter, personally went to the gate of the Grand Marshal's residence.
The Grand Marshal's wife, Qu Yan, took her husband's surname but not his personality. She was proud and arrogant, with a fiery temper. When they had a dispute, the two of them actually came to blows.
The guards and attendants, unsure of whose side to take and unable to distinguish between the Grand Marshal's wife and the Grand Princess, pondered and agonized, eventually becoming stone pillars, watching the two women scratch each other's faces and tear their clothes, becoming the talk of the town. Amidst the argument, rumors spread that Su Chan had once climbed into His Majesty's bed.
Not long after, Qu Qingru was made empress, and Su Chan went with her parents to Yangyi County, a fiefdom located five or six hundred miles away in the north of Shangjun, near Shuofang.
Her figure and name gradually disappeared from the palace and from Chang'an.
In truth, Su Chan also had her share of misfortunes.
There are many prominent families in the capital, but after this incident, no one dares to propose marriage.
However, Prince Xiao Cheng of Huaiyang had previously proposed marriage to Su Dan.
Unexpectedly, Su Dan disliked Xiao Cheng's family style and spread the word that his daughter was still young and wished to stay at home for a few more years.
He stayed for five years.
Two years ago, the Grand Princess, who was not yet fifty, suddenly passed away, and five years have passed since then.
Six years later, upon returning to Chang'an, Su Dan looked out the window and sighed deeply, "Chang'an is also experiencing such heavy snow."
Xiao Xun's lips curled slightly: "It has always been so."
He invited the two to sit down, saying, "Such a heavy snowstorm must have been tough on Prime Minister Su. Actually, it wouldn't hurt to return to Chang'an after some time when the wind and snow have stopped. Things are going relatively smoothly in the court these days."
"Your Majesty, I have heard that Qu Yang's crimes have not yet been determined."
“Qu Yang’s wife and children committed the heinous crime of treason. According to the law, it would not be an exaggeration to exterminate their entire clan. However, Qu Yang was, after all, a trusted minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor by the late emperor. If we do not substantiate his crimes and simply close the case with the principle of collective punishment, it will be difficult to silence the censorate and the people of the land.” Xiao Xun turned the teacup in his hand, and the tea steam dissipated slightly. “I am keeping him alive because I want to investigate the old case from the third year of the Tian Shou era.”
Su Dan gently swirled the ear cup in his hand, then nodded: "Your Majesty is wise."
Xiao Xun said, "Since the third year of Jiaping, Prime Minister Su has been living in seclusion in the north, and has been painstakingly planning for me. Without Minister Su's assistance to expose Qu Qingchuan and his rebels' conspiracy, Qu Qingchuan might really have been able to march on Chang'an."
"It is Your Majesty's superior strategy. This old minister is merely fulfilling his duty as a subject and obeying Your Majesty's commands." Su Dan clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xiao Xun.
Xiao Xun raised his hand, indicating that he should not stand on ceremony.
"The Qu family has held power for many years, and their factions are everywhere. When I left Chang'an, I thought I would be stuck in the north for the rest of my life. But upon receiving His Majesty's decree, my wife and I couldn't wait a moment longer." Su Dan glanced at the empty seat next to Su Chan. "It's just a pity that the Grand Princess..."
Su Dan sighed, while Su Chan's eyes were already wet with tears.
Looking at Su Chan's wet eyes, Xiao Xun recalled two years ago.
Over the years, they only met briefly once, in the year the Grand Princess died suddenly, when Xiao Xun went to Shangjun to pay his respects.
Xiao Xun dismounted and saw Su Chan, dressed in mourning clothes, a tearful figure.
The autumn wind was chilly, the grass and trees were bare, and Su Chan was like a delicate flower, about to be broken by the wind.
She said that her mother never liked Yangyi in Shangjun. The water here was too bitter, the mountains too high, the people too uncouth, and the wind too fierce. It was too far, too far from Chang'an.
She said, "Ah-Xun, take me home, okay?"
A note from the author:
----------------------
① Agriculture is the foundation of moral cultivation and one of the eight fundamental policies of the Great Plan, with food being the foremost. (See "Annals of Emperor Xuan" and "Annals of Emperor Cheng" in the Book of Han)
② (Wei) Ji Kang: A Four-Character Poem Presented to His Elder Brother, a Scholar, on His Enlistment in the Army (Part 1). This is a set of four-character ancient poems written by Ji Kang to send off his elder brother, Ji Xi, who was joining the army.
The author couldn't think of anything more suitable, so he pretended it was done by the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat.
③ Bronze vessel: A wine or food container from the Han Dynasty.
④ Tiger: a chamber pot.
⑤ Shangzao Nobility: The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin Dynasty's twenty-rank nobility system. The ranks were: 1st Gongshi, 2nd Shangzao, 3rd Zanniao, 4th Bugeng, 5th Daifu, 6th Guandaifu, 7th Gongdaifu, 8th Gongcheng, 9th Wudaifu, 10th Zuoshuzhang, 11th Youshuzhang, 12th Zuogeng, 13th Zhonggeng, 14th Yougeng, 15th Shaoshangzao, 16th Dashangzao, 17th Siche Shuzhang, 18th Dashuzhang, 19th Guanneihou, 20th Chehou (changed to Liehou during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han to avoid a taboo). Land and housing allocation were based on rank. Gongshi received an annual salary of 50 shi (石), one qing (顷) of land, and one house. Shangzao received an annual salary of 100 shi (石), two qing (顷) of land, and two houses. Each house was 30 paces square.
However, this is not a serious drama. Later in the story, there will be plot points involving land grants, so it may not strictly adhere to this civil-noble ranking system. This is a note here; please feel free to read it casually.
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