Chapter 18: So Good

Jiang Wanqiu had already walked over with her maidservant.

Although she is Fu Wang Fei, and is Song Jinning’s second sister-in-law, rank comes before family¹Rank Comes Before Family- In Chinese households, the older sibling/in-law/cousin is usually treated as more senior than their younger counterpart. However, if this younger counterpart has a higher rank, their older counterpart will have to greet and respect them accordingly. In this case, Jiang Wanqiu is older than Song Jinning, but since Song Jinning has a higher rank, it’s Jiang Wanqiu who has to greet Song Jinning., so she still has to greet Song Jinning.

Song Jinning was not hypocritical, accepted her greeting calmly, and then smiled and asked her: “Is Fu Wang Fei going to visit Noble Consort Dowager Wei?”

Jiang Wanqiu replied, “Mother ordered this princess to come over and help her since she has a headache.” Song Jinning saw Jiang Wanqiu’s face, and knew that even she didn’t believe Noble Consort Dowager Wei’s reason.

But what can she do? It is her mother-in-law’s order, and she can only obey it.

Song Jinning is also helpless about this. After all, although she is the empress, Jiang Wanqiu and Noble Consort Dowager Wei are in-laws, and as an outsider, Song Jinning has no right to intervene.

So she just nodded.

At this time, Li Xiyan gave her paper kite to a maidservant and walked over to talk to Jiang Wanqiu.

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Those Dowager Concubines only say this to gain the favor of Empress Dowager Song.

When the previous emperor died, he left a will to Empress Dowager Song and Li Chengxuan, asking them to treat Noble Consort Dowager Wei and her children well. This made Empress Dowager Song unable to do anything to Noble Consort Dowager Wei, which undoubtedly made her feel dissatisfied.

Because Noble Consort Dowager Wei used to make things hard for her.

So knowing that Noble Consort Dowager Wei’s children are not having a good time, Empress Dowager Song will definitely feel happy.

This is human nature, and there is nothing wrong with it. Song Jinning expressed her understanding of Empress Dowager Song’s feelings.

Because if she was in Empress Dowager Song’s position, she would feel the same.

In the Imperial Study Room, Li Chengxuan was reviewing the memorials submitted by officials.

When he raised his head for tea, Zhou Jing also offered two plates of snacks.

Li Chengxuan looked at them and saw that the two snacks were as green as jade. He hadn’t seen them before, so he asked curiously: “What is this?”

Zhou Jing didn’t dare to hide it, and replied: ” Replying to your majesty, this was sent by the Empress. It is a folk snack called Qingtuan³青糰 (Qīngtuán)- A kind of dumpling made of glutinous rice mixed with Chinese mugwort or barley grass. This is then usually filled with sweet red or black bean paste..”

Zhou Jing was born in a poor family and had eaten qingtuan when he was a child. When there was a famine back then, he ate these foods, so he naturally knows what a Haozibaba⁴蒿子粑粑 (Hāozi bābā)- There is no direct translation. This food appeared in chapter 8 if you remember. But here is how Haozibaba looks like: or a Qingtuan is.

If this was the past, Zhou Jing wouldn’t be able to bring these two plates of snacks to Li Chengxuan at all. What is your majesty’s status? Son of Heaven, the one above all, how can he eat these things? But this morning while watching Li Chengxuan eat at Weiyang Palace, Zhou Jing became a little uncertain.

He thought that the Empress was very smart. What kind of delicacies has Li Chengxuan not eaten? Even if you hire cooks to make these dishes look or taste better, it would still be the same in the eyes of Li Chengxuan. On the contrary, the dishes that are eaten by the common people that have never been seen by Li Chengxuan will definitely arouse his interest.

After all, whether you are a minister or a slave, who would dare to feed the Emperor common food? Also who would dare to tell the emperor that some people have to rely on wild vegetables in order to survive

And sure enough, Zhou Jing saw Li Chengxuan eat three Qingtuan’s in one go.

Zhou Jing: …

He now understands why Li Chengxuan ordered him to kneel for one day in the Imperial Kitchen.

The tea was just an excuse for Li Chengxuan to punish him. The truth was that Li Chengxuan wanted to eat the haozibaba, but Zhou Jing took it away from him. The Emperor is prideful and did not want to say he wanted the haozibaba, so he punished Zhou Jing for another reason instead.

Zhou Jing thought to himself that when he was a child, he heard his mother chat with a neighbor, saying that one family had married their son to a woman, and the son was not happy at first. But he couldn’t become cold to the woman because the woman constantly cooked delicious food. Later, the son grew to love the woman very much and lived a long life with her and their children.

It seems that the Emperor and the Empress are the same.

Li Chengxuan had already stretched out his hand to take a fourth qingtuan. Suddenly, he heard the sound of applause outside, so he asked Zhou Jing to go out and see who dared to make noise.

Zhou Jing went outside. After a while, he came back to report: “Her Highness the Empress and Princess Jingle are playing with paper kites outside. The paper kites went very high up so the accompanying servants clapped and cheered them on.”

Li Chengxuan paused.

Then he put down the qingtuan, ordered the servants to get the remaining plates, and continued to review the memorial.

After reading the two memorials, Li Chengxuan put down his brush and turned his head to look at the spring light outside the window.

When Zhou Jing saw this, he whispered a suggestion: “Your Majesty, you have read memorials for a while, why don’t you go out and take a walk?”

Li Chengxuan glanced at him and said nothing.

Zhou Jing was calm.

He continued: “It is rare that a day is bright and beautiful, so your majesty should not miss an opportunity like this.”

Li Chengxuan finally nodded and stood up.

“In that case, Zhen will go out for a walk.”

Zhou Jing nodded, and walked out after him.

They hadn’t even walked a few steps, when they heard a woman’s laughter.

Zhou Jing secretly glanced at Li Chengxuan then stepped forward to ask him.

“This slave thinks that the Empress and Princess Jingle are still flying paper kites. Does Your Majesty want to go and watch them?”

Li Chengxuan paused slightly.

After a while, he raised his foot again and continued to walk forward.

Li Chengxuan did walk to the direction of Song Jinning, but to Zhou Jing’s surprise, he stayed at the side and did not directly go to where Song Jinning was.

Where he stood was on the side of the main hall, which can give a sweeping view of the entire square, but since the main hall is tall and large, people from the square can’t see.

Zhou Jing was a little confused.

Judging from the situation this morning, the relationship between Li Chengxuan and Song Jinning has eased a lot compared to last time. Just now, when Li Chengxuan heard that Song Jinning was playing with paper kites, he wanted to see, but how come Li Chengxuan is not moving forward….?

Zhou Jing didn’t dare to ask, and stood quietly behind Li Chengxuan.

After a while, he heard Li Chengxuan’s voice.

“Who is that woman?”

Zhou Jing knew that he was asking about the one who was talking to Song Jinning. He glanced at her carefully, and then replied: “This slave thinks it’s Fu Wang Fei.”

“Fu Wang Fei?” Li Chengxuan had no expression on his face, “She often enters the palace?”

“Yes. Noble Consort Dowager Wei often asks Fu Wang Fei to attend to her.”

Zhou Jing replied respectfully.

Li Chengxuan mocked in his heart.

Although Noble Consort Dowager Wei’s body is not as strong as a cow, she is still definitely healthy. How is it that she feels discomfort? This is obviously just an excuse to treat Fu Wang Fei as a servant.

He instructed Zhou Jing: “Send someone to attend to Noble Consort Dowager Wei.”

Zhou Jing understood, and hurriedly responded with a yes.

Li Chengxuan watched for a while, then turned and walked back.

Song Jinning, who looked so lazy, and looked like a person who was only interested in eating, would unexpectedly come out to play with paper kites.

As for her bright and brilliant appearance when she laughs…

It can be said that it is not ugly.

The corners of Li Chengxuan’s lips were slightly bent and his footsteps were brisk as he walked.

Jiang Wanqiu’s footsteps at this moment were very heavy.

She hates going to the forbidden city.

Because every time she goes to the forbidden city, she will need to interact with Noble Consort Dowager Wei. And interacting with Noble Consort Dowager Wei means receiving all kinds of ridicule from her.

But even as she walked slowly, Noble Consort Dowager Wei’s palace soon appeared in front of her.

Jiang Wanqiu looked at the palace gate in front of her, took a deep breath, then raised her foot to cross the devil’s territory.

Noble Consort Dowager Wei was lying on the couch with her eyes closed. A maidservant knelt down in front of the couch with a beauty hammer [4] in her hand, and used it to gently massage Noble Consort Dowager Wei’s leg.

“Is she there yet?” It was Noble Consort Dowager Wei who was talking, with a hint of anger in her voice, “Song Zhi, in your opinion, does that good for nothing fool disrespect me?”

Song Zhi has been with Noble Consort Dowager Wei even before she entered the palace, and Noble Consort Dowager Wei placed great importance on Song Zhi.

She had a long face, high cheekbones, and looked a bit fierce.

“When the previous emperor arranged the marriage between the Wang Fei and the Wang, the Wang Fei was unwilling and even cried to her father at home. Although the Wang Fei is talented in all aspects, what’s the point? The Wang doesn’t even like her.”

As soon as Song Zhi said this, how could Noble Consort Dowager Wei bear it?

With a soft snort, she opened her eyes.

“Who does she think she is? She’s just a woman with no real power. The only reason she could marry my son was because of her dead father. Even after ruining my son’s future, she is still not satisfied, and dares to look down on me? She knows chess, calligraphy, and painting but which noblewoman doesn’t know how? Useless!”

The maidservant who was massaging Noble Consort Dowager Wei’s leg was frightened. She was rigid for a while and was breathing heavily. Noble Consort Dowager Wei was annoyed and kicked her, making her fall with a thud.

“You can’t even massage my leg?!” After a curse, she called Song Zhi, “Take her to the yard and make her kneel.”

Song Zhi nodded and dragged the maid to the front yard.

As soon as she exited the door, she saw Jiang Wanqiu walking into the yard with a maid. She turned her head and reported: “Your Highness, the Wang Fei is here.”