The Young Lady of the General’s House

After the two envoys gone Shen Jin had taken them off her mind, anything after they left was not her business. She was in the study talking to Zhao Momo while drawing on a paper.

“I think we can plant peach trees and pomegranate trees in the yard.” Peach and pomegranate were some of the fruits she liked. Peaches could be made into cakes, and also peach wine, so she heard.

Zhao Momo considered the idea was not bad, she said approvingly, “Madam has good sight.” Pomegranate symbolised ‘bountiful offsprings’ and peach was ‘auspicious and longevity’.

Shen Jin drew two circles, marked them with ‘peach tree’ and ‘pomegranate tree’. “And grape plants here.”

Zhao Momo nodded, grape also meant ‘bountiful offsprings’ …… Wait, her eyes flashed, did it mean Madam wanted children already? It was possible, An Ping said Madam liked small creatures. More children the better, Chu family didn’t have many offsprings.

Madam was a bit thin, had to be nourished more. No hurry for babies though, they could wait for her to be a little older….

“How about a small pond here?” Shen Jin’s eyes were sparkling. At Rui Wang’s mansion Shen Jin could only go to the pond in the main garden to see fish, so she used to envy the small pond in Xu Cefei’s courtyard. She heard it contained not just fish but also small turtles.

Zhao Momo pondered, “It will be very cold in winter, afraid it is not good for Madam’s health.”

Shen Jin disappointedly responded, but she understood it was for her own good, she smiled, “It is okay, there is a pond in the big garden.”

And here she was the only one who would play with fish so she could go anytime, unlike in Rui Wang’s mansion when she had to pick a time when Shen Zi and the others were unlikely to go.

Shen Jin was happy with this thought. “Then this place can be fenced for rabbits, we can keep some rabbits.”

Zhao Momo couldn’t bear to see her disappointed, after thinking a while she said, “Why don’t Madam ask the General later after lunch, maybe the General has a solution.”

The General said Shen Jin was to pack up to move into his courtyard, but when he didn’t mention it again Shen Jing thought it wasn’t going to happen. However Zhao Momo never forgot, she also knew him well. Anything or anyone he cared about had to be kept close to him, as close as under his own eyelids.

Shen Jin smiled but she didn’t talk about the small pond anymore, she only said, “Still not sure when we can have people to work on this.”

When the Barbarians besieged the town, anything useful was taken. Not to mention the flowers and trees, even the furnitures in the mansion were gone. Chu Xiuming had the craftsmen prioritised border town people’s properties that needed urgent repairs, so the mansion until now was still in miserable condition.

The furnitures in Shen Jin’s courtyard had been slowly replaced, it’s now mostly complete even though the materials and models were all inferior to the ones she brought as dowry. She didn’t resent this at all, she understood Chu Xiuming had gone to a lot of trouble for her furnitures. Plus these are all new ones, not someone’s second-hand. She was an easily content person.

“I looked around the town when I was seeing off the two envoys,” An Ping paused her work, “The repairs were about 70% – 80% done, so probably by next month the craftsmen will be able to come here.”

Shen Jin smiled, her dimples were sweet and pretty, “That’s great, and do you think Old Qiao will continue selling flatbread.”

An Ping laughed, “When Old Qiao’s shop reopen, I will get some flatbreads for Madam.”

Shen Jin’s smile got bigger. Zhao Momo thought she needed to get one more personal maid for Shen Jin. Xi Le had passed away, just one An Ping was not enough.

“When the market is open, there will be a lot of interesting food to try, I saw people eating roasted worms.” An Ping still remembered it clearly because she was shocked that time.

Shen Jin’s eyes turned round, pink lips slightly opened, she looked surprised and curious, “What kind of worms?”

“The black ones, the ones that crawl and jump.” An Ping then remembered Shen Jin probably hadn’t seen many insects, and noone would be so idle to catch insects for her. “There were also roasted cicada.”

Shen Jin wrinkled her nose, she looked a bit disturbed, “That can be eaten?”

Zhao Momo had the mind to bring Madam and the General closer, “Madam can ask the General if you want to know.”

“Fujun eats worms?” Shen Jin looked even more disturbed, her brows now wrinkled too. So all these times when they ate together, he had been holding back eating strange things to spare her feelings?

Zhao Momo didn’t know what Shen Jin was thinking, she laughed, “The General must have tried many things, you can’t be picky on army campaigns.”

Shen Jin found the idea of him eating strange things was quite.….. But he was a considerate person so it’s all fine, as long as she was not forced to eat too. And if she really had to, she wondered if the kitchen would prepare raw meat with dipping condiments, just like chopped fish with condiments.

Zhao Momo had expected Shen Jin would be bright-eyed and pursued her with questions about the General, but on the contrary her smile vanished and she looked troubled by something. Shen Jin stared blankly as if she didn’t hear Momo’s words.

An Ping saw Zhao Momo’s helpless look, she had been with Shen Jin longer so she knew that Shen Jin was still listening even with that blank look.

An Ping smiled, “Madam, there are still other good things in the market, I also saw puppies there.”

“Ah?” Just as An Ping predicted, Shen Jin turned surprised and excited, “Really?”

“Yes, very cute. But Father didn’t let me buy a puppy, he said we didn’t have space.”

Shen Jin’s lips moved, “We have a big yard here.”

“So if Madam wants to go, just talk to the General, the General can go with you.” An Ping laughed.

Shen Jin hesitated, “Would it be too much trouble?”

Zhao Momo thought An Ping’s idea was good, “Madam don’t worry, even if Madam didn’t want to go, the General would want to. The big market is only once every half year, and the small market is once a month. This time it is the big market, it will be very lively, many people are going.”

Shen Jin felt at ease, “I will talk to the General.”

Zhao Momo warmly said, “The General isn’t at the mansion, how if Madam wait after dinner?”

Shen Jin then remembered today Chu Xiuming and Chu Xiuyuan had gone to the borders. When they didn’t want anyone knew their whereabout, noone could find them.

With An Ping bringing these up these, Shen Jin stopped writing, asked further, “Good An Ping, what else is there?”

Actually An Ping didn’t remember much, she only went once when young. “A lot, and there you can exchange tea, salt and such. Madam should have a look, it’s not fun if I tell you too much.”

Shen Jin agreed, she nodded. “Right.”

“How if Madam tell how it went after the General cut off 786 heads?” Hearing only half of the story, An Ping kept thinking about it, “The General is not here today.”

Shen Jin was moved, she stole a glance at Zhao Momo, then a second glance, and the third glance….. Zhao Momo’s eyes twitched, she said, “I’ll go to the kitchen to check the furong cake.”

“Momo works hard.” Shen Jin hurriedly added, “Tonight I will massage Momo’s shoulders.”

Outside the door, Zhao Momo heard Shen Jin’s soft voice inside, “After the General chopped off 78 heads…. “

“Madam, isn’t it 786?” An Ping asked.

Shen Jin puffed out her cheeks, “The General said cutting off too many heads is tiring, so let him cut less.”

“Oh.” An Ping felt something was wrong, but not sure where.

Zhao Momo rubbed her eyes, there was no real cutting so even 7,866 heads didn’t matter. The General was also too much, why did he say such things to his wife?

Chu Xiuming and Chu Xiuyuan returned in the afternoon when Shen Jin just woke up from nap. Zhao Momo dressed her up then let her and An Ping brought some furong cakes for the two masters.

Looking at Shen Jin in an aqua blue dress, somehow Zhao Momo felt a bit guilty, as if she was dressing up a snowy-white rabbit to serve on a platter for the leopard, and the leopard….. She rubbed her eyes again, she didn’t sleep enough last night, so what did an aqua blue dress got to do with a white rabbit.

Chu Xiuyuan had gone back to his own courtyard to rest. He was badly injured, even after healed he needed time to recover. Chu Xiuming was reading, he put the report back to the shelves when he heard Shen Jin was coming.

“Fujun.” It’s the first time Shen Jin came to see Chu Xiuming. His courtyard was emptier than hers.

Chu Xiuming responded, his face didn’t show any expression but Shen Jin could see a few smiles in his eyes, so she knew he didn’t mind her coming. “Momo made some furong cakes, would Fujun like to try?”

“Alright.” Chu Xiuming guided Shen Jin inside, Zhao Momo gestured to An Ping to hand the food box to Shen Jin, both of them stayed outside.

Shen Jin followed behind Chu Xiuming with the food box in her hand. He walked slowly so she had time to look around the place. She was too busy looking that she wasn’t aware Chu Xiuming had stopped, suddenly there was a finger pressing her forehead to hold her back.

“Ah?” Shen Jin looked up, one foot raised forward obediently retrieved. “Fujun what happened?”

Chu Xiuming put down his finger, he took the food box from Shen Jin’s hand, “If you like I can show you around.”

“May I?” Shen Jin looked at him expectantly, like a kitten waiting to be fed, obedient and well behaved.

Chu Xiuming’s cool eyes warmed up, one hand carrying the food box, the other hand placed upward in front of Shen Jin. She happily put her much smaller hand on his palm. He was her Fujun, but her cheeks still turned red.

Zhao Momo would feel less guilty if she could see it. The rabbit didn’t need to be served on a platter to the leopard, she had joyfully leapt to the leopard by herself.

= = = =

T/N:

(*) Roasted worm (烤虫子) – how would you like it?

This video is quite interesting, it shows where they get the worms and the bugs. The worms were salted and sprinkled with cumin powder. Bonus, there were some fat puppies there (they didn’t eat the puppy in the video, don’t worry): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPitnZrvZ7U

This is probably the black bugs that An Ping said crawling and jumping.

(*) Roasted cicada (烤蝉)- how about this?

(*) Chopped fish (鱼脍) – pieces of raw fish eaten dipped in condiment.  See Chapter 12.

(*) Furong cake (芙蓉糕) – now this one I would eat!