Little Cardamom

Chapter 8 – Family Dinner.

” The capital is not like the borderlands where you can be at ease. As a girl, it’s time to put your temper in check. Practice what whip, learn more about the rules with your mother and sister when you have time!”

Aunt Liu heard these words at the entrance of the courtyard, and paused.

She had gone back to her own courtyard to take a rest, and wanted to bring Ming Chu to pay her respects to Mrs. Pei, but in the middle of the trip, the servant said that the Marquis had already returned to the house and was heading to Lanxin courtyard, and Ming Chu had impulsively quickened her pace.

She wanted to catch up, but Ming Chu had learned kung fu for a few years, so she was faster than ordinary women, and when she arrived at the Lanxin courtyard, she heard this reprimand from the marquis.

She settled her mind, went forward and curtsied saying, “Greetings to the marquis and madam.”

Ming Chu was immersed in the grievance that her father had even reprimanded her, and was pulled by Aunt Liu before she reluctantly went along and made up a blessing salute: “Greetings Father, Greetings Mother.”

“There is no need to be polite, as a family.” At such times, Mrs. Pei can show the gentle generosity of a matriarch, “Since the marquis has returned, don’t stand here, let’s go in and have lunch.”

The lunch was served in the second room in the main house of the Lanxin courtyard, and the dishes were prepared very generously. Simmered deer tendon, crystal elbow, lotus leaf pork ribs, hibiscus tofu …… both meat and vegetables are in full flow.

Since entering the house, Aunt Liu stood obediently at the side, serving soup and dishes for Mrs. Pei. When Mrs. Pei told her to rest, she hung her head and said carefully, “It is my duty to serve the marquis and madam.”

Ming Tingyuan did not make a sound, but was obviously satisfied with her actions. Just now outside he was thinking that he shouldn’t have brought Ming Chu along with him to Yangxi Road, and that she had been spoiled by Aunt Liu to the point that she had lost her sense of discipline, but now that he thought about it, Aunt Liu was actually quite proper. It was mainly because of Ming Chu’s nature, and there were few people who could control her.

The crowd did not speak.

Even the maids in this room are all experienced people who have been in the main house for many years, so Aunt Liu’s attitude is probably not taken as real except by Ming Tingyuan.

Of course, Ming Chu still sincerely feels aggrieved for her mother.

After all, once upon a time in Yangxi Road, they all had meals together as a family of three, but now, instead of being able to sit down and have a meal, she had to serve the woman who couldn’t lay an egg while occupying the position of the matriarch! Just thinking about this, Ming Chu felt that all the delicious food in front of her had lost its taste.

At this time, Ming Tan also gave Ming Tingyuan a piece of simmered deer tendon: “Father, try it.”

Not to mention the taste of this deer tendon, just her action of pressing the sleeve, changing chopsticks, and silently putting the deer tendon into the small dish on the side of the bowl without any sauce dripping, made Ming Tingyuan very satisfied.

He is a coarse person with very limited literary skills and taste, but this does not prevent him from enjoying literature and appreciating elegance. If not, he would not have favored the most talented Aunt Liu among several concubines.

Seeing that it is his daughter who is now so generous and elegant, a sense of gratification arose in his heart like a sense of honor. After tasting the deer tendon, he nodded his head and praised: “Mmm, soft and tasty, taste’s good!”

“It’s good that father likes it.” Ming Tan curled her eyes with a smile.

“How can you not like it, this simmered deer tendon is specially made by Ah Tan for Marquis.” Ms. Pei also gave Ming Ting Yuan a piece, “deer tendon is extremely difficult to soften completely. It is said to be hammered and cooked a few days earlier, simmering again with meat broth, and also simmering again with a day’s worth of chicken broth, the meat broth and chicken broth used for simmering are also prepared with great care, for this dish, Ah Tan has been watching carefully these days.”

Ming Tingyuan ate a piece of the dish that Mrs. Pei had served, and felt a great sense of irony in his heart: “A Tan has been good and filial since she was a little girl. Of course, it is thanks to your wife’s careful upbringing over the years.”

As he said, he gave Ming Tan and Pei a dumpling each: “Don’t just focus on me, this dish is beautifully made, you also try it.”

“Thanks a lot father.”

“Many thanks to the marquis.”

Ming Chu: “……”

Only a ghost would believe that this delicate lady who does not even dip her fingers in spring water would personally make any simmered deer tendon! It would be amazing to be able to tell the kitchen that this dish was made for her father, and it would be a filial daughter to cook, and this Pei chick who doesn’t lay eggs can really pull it off!

The atmosphere at the table is a dark tide. Some people are talking and laughing, while others have been poking rice in their bowls to the point of no heat.

At that moment, Su Xin, who had not accompanied Ming Tan to Lanxin courtyard, reported to the servant outside the door and suddenly entered the house quietly.

The first thing she did was to take a small step closer to Ming Tan, and replaced Lu’e who was standing behind her, and while serving the meal, she whispered in Ming Tan’s ear.

Ming Chu has been watching Ming Tan, and naturally did not miss this scene.

When she saw that Su Xin was whispering and handing a letter to Ming Tan from the bottom of the table, and Ming Tan remained motionless, she had a feeling that something was wrong, so she raised her voice and broke it: “Fourth sister, someone sent you a letter? Who sent it, so mysterious.”

Several people at the table looked over at the sound of the words.

“It’s nothing, it’s from my cousin, from the Bai family. I have asked my cousin to do a small thing, and I think the result has come, so she wrote to let me know.” Ming Tan said lightly.

Mingchu refused to let go: “Since the meal has to be delivered, it must be very important for the cousin of the Bai family. Fourth sister, why don’t you eat after reading the letter? If she is in a hurry for a return, you might as well send someone to tell her.”

Ming Ting Yuan felt that Ming Chu’s words were quite reasonable, as he was in charge of the military and political power of the party, and would avoid delaying military information.

When he saw Ming Tan’s difficulty, he thought she was afraid that reading the letter over lunch would be out of order, so he thought he was relieving her and said, “It doesn’t matter, a family does not care about this, just read it, so you can answer in time if there is really something important.”

Ming Tan wanted to say something, but Ming Chu didn’t give her a chance to excuse herself, and directly called the servant girl waiting on the side: “Don’t go yet, fourth sister is the most delicate, how can she read the letter without cleaning her hands?”

Soon, the handkerchiefs and water were delivered to her.

Ming Tan seemed to have no other choice but to clean her hands and display the letter.

At first, she looked as normal. But somehow, she saw something, and her eyes gave a beat, pursing her lips, reading the letter at an increasingly fast pace, and her face became increasingly pale.

After reading the whole letter, she was still determined to read it again from the beginning. Only that after this time, her whole face was bloodless and wavering.

“What’s wrong?” Ming Tingyuan frowned.”

Ming Tan didn’t answer, covering her lips with her handkerchief, and her eyes were filled with disbelief. Only a moment later, her eyes turned red and tears rolled down.

Seeing this situation, everyone panicked, and Ming Tingyuan even grabbed the letter from her hand.

He read the whole thing in one glance, although he didn’t know what the letter was about, but he was not a fool, the letter clearly stated that:

On the day of the New Year, the two people who knocked Ming Tan into the water had long left the capital, and only after several twists and turns did they find out with difficulty that they had been in Li Zhou.

These two, are not unknown thieves and stealers, but a pair of brothers!

The two brothers, according to the explanation, bumping into the water is long been arranged. The two of them had been instructed by the Lady of Duke of Ning to secretly follow Liang Zixuan on New Year’s Eve and listen to his orders and act on the opportunity.

That day Ming Tan was just at the pier to release the river lantern, and if not, after Liang Zixuan found her, he would also find a way to lure her to the water’s edge and sing the full play of the hero who accidentally fell into the water to save the beauty!

“Pa–!” Accompanied by the sound of slapping the table, the delicate dishes on the table shook and clashed, Ming Tingyuan was extremely angry, “How dare he!”

When Pei saw this, she took the letter and read it carefully.

After reading it, she was more shocked than Ming Tingyuan. The Liang family’s son covered up for the fall of Ming Tan in the past Yuan, and she still thought that the Duke’s House was very generous and kind, and was a good family to live with, but this matter was originally from the Duke’s Mansion’s handiwork! This is really too unbelievable!

“What’s wrong with fourth sister, what’s in the letter?” Seeing the three of them react like this, Ming Chu knew that something was definitely wrong, and she couldn’t hold back, eager to see the contents of the letter.

But Pei obviously couldn’t give it to her. Pei has been in charge of the family for many years and has experienced a lot of things. While she was shocked and angry, she quickly understood that nothing else mattered now, what mattered most was to understand why this matter started and how to deal with it.

She got up and calmly said, “Lunch today will end here, let’s disperse.”

This is the Lanxin courtyard, and if Pei says disperse, then you have to disperse even if you don’t want to.

Ming Chu still wanted to stay and watch the fun, but was stopped by Zhang Mama, who respectfully and forcefully invited her out.

Compared to Ming Chu, Shen Hua was very well behaved and neither listened nor asked too many questions. Before she left, she subconsciously glanced at the plain handkerchief in Ming Tan’s hand.

Soon, only Ming Tingyuan, Pei, and Ming Tan were left in the room. Ming Tan seems to be strained for a long time, and when the door closed, she suddenly burst into tears.

When she cried, she cried so much that it was like a pear blossom with rain, the sight of which makes people feel pity. Her eyes were red, her thin shoulders were trembling, and it seemed as if the wind could blow her away.

Ming Tingyuan, with his hand behind his back, pressed and suppressed his anger, fearing that he would scare Ming Tan if he spoke up. Only after a long time did he ask angrily in a deep voice: “What is going on here? What falling into the water! Why do I not know!”

Pei patted Ming Tan’s back and said soothingly, “Marquis, please calm down first.”

Then, she told Ming Tingyuan the story of the falling into the water on the day of New Year.

As a result of the fact that she did not have skin-to-skin contact with Liang Shizi on that day, and that outsiders did not know that it was actually Ming Tan who fell into the water, he was able to rest a little bit from his anger.

Ming Tingyuan: ” The Duke of Ning’s house has lost its mind, how could they plan such a dirty trick!”

This is also what Pei felt was wrong: “According to reason, the two houses have already set a marriage contract, and when the marquis returns to the capital, it can be put on the schedule. Designing a rescue from the water is really a bit redundant.”

She paused and said, “Unless the Duke of Ning thinks that the marriage will be changed after the Marquis returns to the capital.”

Change? What change? The marriage that Mrs. Bai had arranged before her death was known throughout the capital. Is their son so anxious to cheat a daughter-in-law into the house and earn a chastity medal for their family? Dare to die and go into the water in winter that early death under the water to be considered clean!

The words have reached the mouth of Ming Tingyuan, but then suddenly thought of something …… wait, these years when he was not in the capital, a lot of things are not known timely. In this case, is it possible that the Duke of Ning is involved in something big that can not be covered and must use the marriage to tie him Ming Tingyuan to the same boat?

The official people can be involved in anything related to dynasty politics. Seeing Ming Tingyuan’s heavy face, not knowing what had gone wrong, Ming Tan was busy choking and said: “In fact, in fact, the daughter knows, knows why the Liang family is so ……”.

She said everything she heard in the study of the Duke of Chang’s Mansion word by word.

“Having a head and tail with his cousin, and giving birth to a two-year-old boy?” After hearing this, Ming Tingyuan and Mrs. Pei were shocked beyond words.

Ming Tingyuan: “Why didn’t you tell me earlier about such a big deal!”

Ming Tan, while shedding tears, said with downcast eyes, “…… daughter thought that the marriage was decided by my birth mother, and I heard that the Liang family has some roots in the Ministry of Justice. This daughter does not know about the government, so I was afraid that ruining the marriage might affect my father’s promotion and evaluation when he returns to the capital… …”

“What kind of thing is their Liang family? How can they affect my promotion and transfer!” Ming Tingyuan was so furious that he even popped out the word “Laozi”.

“Father, don’t get angry and ruin your health.”

Look, even at this time still worried that he might suffer from anger. His daughter has grown up to be so elegant and gentle, and she also knows that the overall situation is important, and that filial piety is the first priority. She is simply an example of a noble girl who can’t be found anywhere else, how can she be so badly treated by that immoral and unrighteous son of the Liang family!

“Ah Tan, don’t be afraid, I will decide this matter myself.” The fire in Ming Tingyuan’s heart was so strong that he couldn’t tolerate it for a moment, so he waved his sleeve and slammed the door.

“Marquis, Marquis!”

Mrs. Pei did not shout, and was busy warmly soothing Ming Tan: “Ah Tan, the marquis will certainly decide this matter, but such impulsiveness is really inappropriate. You do not need to worry, first let Su Xin and Lu’e to serve you and go back to rest. I will go to the marquis to have a good talk.”

Ming Tan has the same intention, her face is not yet dry of tears. She nodded her head and said, “Mother, you must persuade father.”

Mrs. Pei didn’t say more and chased after him.

Su Xin and Lu’e listened to the cries and roars from outside the house for a long time. They were worried, and when Pei instructed them, they ran into the house.

“Miss, miss.”

“Miss you didn’t–” Su Xin didn’t finish her sentence, and suddenly stopped in place.

The room was silent.

Most of the food on the table had not been touched.

Her young lady was sitting at the table, fanning her eyes with her hand, while slowly and methodically serving herself a cup of tea.

“…… Is everything okay?” Su Xin subconsciously finished the second half of the sentence.

Ming Tan said, “It’s not a big deal, it’s just that the muffler you soaked, it’s really hot.”

TRANSLATOR’S CORNER:
I am not a native speaker of either Chinese or English. I basically MTL and edit the text, sometimes I also use some sites for reference. I can’t guarantee that everything here is accurate, But I try to stick to the author’s work as much as possible. Please feel to comment any mistakes.