The Young Lady of the General’s House

The gifts Shen Jin prepared for the Capital couldn’t be sent along with the letters, so after preparing the gifts, she wrote a gift list to go with the sealed letters. When this was all done, she washed her hands to eat red dates.

Shen Jin liked unpitted dates because she loved nibbling the thick date flesh until near the pits, then held the pits in the mouth. According to Shen Jin, the layer of flesh sticking to the pits was sweeter.

At Rui Wang’s mansion, most fruits were served in small pieces and eaten by skewering them with a silver pick, but some like tangerine and lychee were served whole. There was a trick on eating them but it was quite troublesome, the stones were covertly spat into a handkerchief in one hand, while the other hand used the sleeve to cover it. Holding pits in the mouth was definitely not allowed.

Ever since Zhao Momo started with her, Shen Jin had been unable to get unpitted red dates anymore.

The red dates today unexpectedly still had their pits intact, Shen Jin thought Zhao Momo had forgotten. She stealthily peeked at Zhao Momo a few times, seeing Momo doing other things without looking at herself, Shen Jin’s eyes narrowed, she then held the pit in the mouth.

She took another one to nibble, hid the pit in her left cheek, took some more to hide inside the right cheek. Her legs unconsciously started to swing, she was enjoying it so much.

Zhao Momo was washing writing brushes, she glanced at Shen Jin from the corner of her eyes, her hands froze for a moment. If only today the General hadn’t spoken to her, Shen Jin would never had the chance to eat red dates this way.

She saw Shen Jin took one more, then stole her a glance, Momo moved slightly, Shen Jin’s mouth immediately stopped moving. Her feet wrapped in little beads shoes suddenly stopped moving, Zhao Momo would not admit that she deliberately walked twice in front of Shen Jin.

Zhao Momo was leaving the room to open the door for An Ping, when she suddenly said, “Madam, you have enough, spit it out.” Looking at the bowl which had lost almost half of it’s content, she also said, “The ones at the beginning must not be sweet anymore.”

Shen Jin’s eyes went round, her little mouth opened slightly but immediately shut again. She licked the pits without thinking as she watched Zhao Momo left the room.

When Zhao Momo returned with An Ping, she saw Shen Jin’s face was red, the pits had all been spat into a small bowl next to the red dates bowl.

“An Ping, have they written the letter yet?” Without waiting for them to speak, Shen Jin asked first.

An Ping didn’t know what just happened, she said, “Not yet, I have meals served to the two Masters, they are currently eating.” The leftover cured horse meat in the kitchen had become too salty, noone wanted to eat it, so it’s stewed for the two envoys and their staff’s meals.

Shen Jin frowned, “What’s taking so long, I have written 6 – 7 letters already, they haven’t even finished one.”

An Ping laughed, “Afraid the two Masters are not sure what to write, they had just arrived, they don’t know the situation here.”

Shen Jin thought for a moment, “That’s right, deceiving the Emperor is a big crime, if they just write whatever they have to take the blame. How about this, Momo please ask Fujun, is there someone with good literary skill who can write the letter,  the two Masters can just copy it.”

Zhao Momo respectfully responded, she had underestimated Madam. Madam was muddle-headed on small matters, but she was very astute on major matters. “I will go now.”

Shen Jin nodded, “Momo, also have someone send a message to the two Masters, I will go see them after the nap.”

“Yes.” Zhao Momo responded, she left when she saw Shen Jin had no other orders.

Shen Jin heard the door closed, breathing a sigh of relief, she waved at An Ping, “Come quick, the red dates are sweet today.”

An Ping laughed, “Madam, why do you look that way?”

“Momo found out I didn’t spit the pits, you came just in time, I had Momo go do other thing, by evening she would have forgotten, she wouldn’t nag me anymore.” Shen Jin smugly said.

An Ping didn’t think Zhao Momo would forget it, especially because it was Momo herself who didn’t remove the pits on purpose.

Zhao Momo was outside, silently withdrawn her hand from knocking the door, she hadn’t left for long when she remembered the letters that were to be sent through relay station. Hearing this she thought maybe she had expected too much of Shen Jin? Silently sighing, she thought better have a maid collect the letters later.

As Zhao Momo was not present, Shen Jin and An Ping happily finished off the rest of the dates. After An Ping helped Shen Jin rinsed her mouth, she couldn’t resist asking something she had always wanted to know,

“I heard that after every Imperial Examination, the Top-Scorer, the Runner-Up, and the Third Place will have a parade on the streets?”

“Yeah.” Shen Jin had changed into the slippers for bed, she was sitting on the bed holding the blanket. That blanket was brought from the Capital, the two kois embroidered by Chen Cefei on it looked very lively. Chen Cefei’s embroidery skill was very good, it’s a pity Shen Jin didn’t inherit the knack.

“Tell me more about it.” An Ping was a calm and steady girl, but she was still young and had never been to the Capital, naturally she was curious about this. Shen Jin hadn’t gone out in the Capital much, she was more familiar with the streets in the border town than the streets in the Capital, but fortunately she knew a little about this.

Shen Jin changed her position, An Ping stuffed a soft cushion on her back so she could nestle more comfortably, but Shen Jin didn’t start talking yet, her eyes swept towards the cushion. An Ping helplessly said, “Tomorrow I will sew you a big cushion, just like you said, thick and soft enough to sink into.”

“Alright.” Shen Jin said, “Actually I saw them once, Eldest Sister took me there….. “

Outside the door, Chu Xiuming stopped Zhao Momo who was going to announce his arrival, he gestured Momo to be silent, then took a small round chair and placed it outside Shen Jin’s bedroom door.

The corner of Zhao Momo’s eyes twitched, looking at this expressionless General magnificently and openly eavesdropping, she felt a bit sorry for the Old General and Old Madam.

Shen Jin and An Ping’s voices were not loud, Zhao Momo could only hear parts, but Chu Xiuming had sharp ears and keen eyes, his hearing was also enhanced by the martial training so he heard everything clearly.

“The Top-Scorer is really an old man?” An Ping asked.

Shen Jin vigorously nodded, “I was also surprised that time, he could become the top-scorer, but how long could he be an official? But the chicken in that restaurant was very good, maybe they fried it first before stir-fried, it was spicy and sweet. Eldest Sister didn’t allow me eat much spicy, and she said eating outside was not clean, so we only had a few pieces, there was a lot of waste….”

Seeing An Ping’s expression, she helplessly said, “Oh, okay let’s talk about the Top-Scorer again. His beard was all white.”

An Ping was full of curiosity, “How about the Runner-Up? He can’t also be an old man?” She hesitated for a while before asking, “The fried chicken was really that good?”

“En.” Shen Jin said without hesitation, “I guessed they added honey, very delicious, it’s a pity my sisters didn’t want to eat…. About the Runner-Up, I didn’t really remember him. But I remember the Third-Rank, they said the most handsome ones are chosen to be Third-Ranks.”

“Is he really handsome?” An Ping pursued.

Actually Shen Jin didn’t remember, she was on second floor of the restaurant and she couldn’t lean out of the window to watch. Besides, she was busy eating the spicy chicken while her sisters were distracted.

“It should be.”

“How is he compared to the General?” An Ping asked.

Shen Jin said without hesitation, “Of course the General.”

The General who was openly eavesdropping outside showed a few smiles.

“I didn’t get to see him very clearly.” Shen Jin moved a bit against the cushion on her back. “But the General isn’t like what I imagined!”

Chu Xiuming unconsciously sat up straighter.

“I thought the General would be tough and stocky, eyes huge and protruded like copper bells, very dark skin, face full of beard and very fierce…. ” Shen Jin summarised the rumours she heard, “He is violent and likes killing, drinks three large cups of foreigners blood everyday, eats raw meat and sometimes eats human too….. “

Zhao Momo didn’t hear completely, but she still silently moved two steps away from Chu Xiuming. She needed to remind Madam not to talk behind someone’s back. This was the second time today, what luck that both were heard by the person concerned.

Chu Xiuming was pensive, the way he was described by his little wife sounded like demons and ghosts in folk legends?

“Madam what makes you think so?” An Ping looked at Shen Jin with surprise and disbelief.

Shen Jin innocently looked at An Ping, “I still have more, they said in Count Yongning’s mansion the chairs underside are stuffed with human skulls, Count Yongning likes to eat more ….”

As she listened, An Ping was gradually absorbed into the stories. Chu Xiuming outside heard his name was used to stop children crying, heard they wanted to put his picture outside the doors to ward off ghosts, pity noone ever saw him in person so they didn’t know how to draw his picture.

Shen Jin told An Ping that Chu Xiuming had also single-handedly raided a bandit den in the middle of the night. He roared once, and the bandits all knelt down in terror, crying and begging for mercy, then Chu Xiuming with his large sword cut off the heads of 786 people, even newborn babies were not spared, thunder and rain ran amok in the deep of the night…..

A sudden knock on the door startled both Shen Jin and An Ping. The bedroom door slowly opened, they saw a fully dressed in brocade Chu Xiuming was standing outside, along with Zhao Momo who had an extraordinarily torn expression.

Chu Xiuming entered, he glanced at An Ping who quickly stood up and bowed, “General.”

Shen Jin was wearing a pink undergarment under the blanket, she stared at Chu Xiuming then at Zhao Momo, her lips moved, “Fujun, when did you come?”

Chu Xiuming didn’t answer, he looked that Zhao Momo who said, “Madam please rest early. This Old Slave will leave now, I will bring Madam’s letters to the two Masters to take to the Capital.”

An Ping recovered, “This Slave also retreats now.” She left with Zhao Momo after thoughtfully closed the door.