Li Huairou walked for a while, then turned back. Xiao Linzi felt that it was a little strange. “Sister, what are you doing?”
“I want to see what she wants to do! Don’t talk.” Li Huairou hid behind a tree and looked out.
She saw Yingyue grabbing a handful of bait and sprinkling it on the water. As expected, a few seconds later, a large group of fish swarmed over.
Yingyue had a satisfied smile on her face. Success or failure depended on this, and there must be no mistakes. In her opinion, Concubine Ling had regained favor, so there was no longer any possibility for her to be with the prince. Moreover, she was Concubine Ling’s palace maid; if Concubine Ling regained favor, she could also benefit from it. Perhaps her wishful thinking would be fulfilled someday.
Yingyue stayed for a while, waiting for the effect of the medicine to disappear and the fish to disperse before she left.
Li Huairou witnessed all this, and her lips curved up. She’d guessed it, but it was written so amazingly in the plot.
“Let’s go.” Li Huairou patted the dust on her hands and turned away.
Xiao Linzi let out an “oh” and followed.
Li Huairou asked, “Aren’t you curious?”
Xiao Linzi shook his head. “My godfather said that if you want to live safely in the palace, you can’t be curious.”
“Your godfather is right—listening to your godfather is the right thing to do,” Li Huairou said, patting him on the shoulder.
Xiao Linzi fanned himself with his sleeve and said, “Sister, let’s go back. It’s the middle of the day, so let’s go back and rest?”
“Alright.” Li Huairou was also a little hot. She wasn’t afraid of the sun, but it was terribly hot. Especially in this era of strict ethics—don’t even think about exposing the shoulders, back, and legs. After coming out for a while, all the clothes would be sweaty and quite sticky.
Li Huairou returned to Chunyi Yunhe Pavilion and changed her clothes. Still feeling hot, she looked at the pool in the backyard, and a thought came out: if you went swimming back and forth, it would be very comfortable.
Li Huairou was lying on the railing and looking at the water in a daze when Consort Dowager Hui’s voice came unexpectedly.
“I advise you to stay calm. If you dare to go into the water, I will break your leg.”
Li Huairou chuckled, “Consort dowager, so you’re awake. I didn’t want to get into the water; I’m just just taking a look.”
“Your thoughts are all written on your face—do you think I could not see it?!” Consort Dowager Hui glared at her. “How dirty this water is! And you are not even afraid of getting something dirty.”
Consort Dowager Hui waved a fan and sat down beside her, staring at the water in a daze. “When the first emperor was still here, I couldn’t stand the heat and wanted to play in the water. He emptied a pool in the palace and filled it with spring water. He changed the water daily, so it was very clean. He cleared out the people in the palace, so only Fang-momo was left to wait on me and let me swim in the water.”
Speaking of the past, Consort Dowager Hui’s eyes were full of smiles.
Li Huairou didn’t expect this to happen. She was immediately interested, and asked, “What happened later?”
“Later? Later, I didn’t know who leaked this out, but the ministers all went up in arms and said that I was a fox who had charmed the lord, hurting the people and our money. In order to quell the criticism, the first emperor never let me go swimming again. Now, I don’t think about it,” Consort Dowager Hui hissed.
“Why is it like this? The pools are all built—isn’t it wasteful to leave them unused?” Li Huairou said with regret.
Consort Dowager Hui glanced around and whispered, “It’s not like that. Later, the first emperor quietly took me to go there a few times; he just didn’t let others know. Later, he became seriously ill, and so I didn’t go there anymore. ”
Li Huairou looked at Consort Dowager Hui’s expression, one with a hint of nostalgic happiness and the reminiscence of past times. Suddenly, she thought that the first emperor and Consort Dowager Hui, a couple consisting of an old husband and a young wife, may not have been what she’d thought. And the first emperor may not have completely treated Consort Dowager Hui as a stand-in—he must have been a little sincere to her. Her feelings toward him were about the same.
“You missed the good times. If it were a few years earlier, I would definitely have taken you. Now, you can only look at the water and sigh. But this consort will warn you: don’t go crazy. The pond in this garden is very deep, and you could drown. At the worst, I will ask a momo to give you a larger bathtub,” Consort Dowager Hui warned again.
“According to your words, I’m that ignorant and playful?” Li Huairou said angrily.
Consort Dowager Hui looked at her up and down. “Haha.” Then she stood up.
Li Huairou’s eyes widened—what do you mean! “Consort dowager, aren’t you looking down on me? Aren’t you? Consort dowager!”
Consort Dowager Hui was disturbed by the noise. “Momo!”
Fang-momo came over. “Alright, don’t make trouble. Come and eat some fruit. This was made according to Huairou’s recipe. It was chilled for an hour; quickly try some, consort dowager.”
Consort Dowager Hui sat down. Behind her, the maid waved a fan, and Fang-momo lifted the lid. Consort Dowager Hui looked at the bowl, tasted it, and smiled, satisfied. “It tastes good—cool and refreshing. Huairou, try some too.”
Li Huairou also had a bowl, and she’d already sat down to eat. The taste was good. The only regret was that if the milk could be replaced with yogurt, it would be even better. How was yogurt made again?
“I want this tonight. Forget it, I can’t eat it.” Consort Dowager Hui said as she finished a bowl of fruit.
Fang-momo was just about to advise that this was too cold, so it was okay to try it occasionally, but it wasn’t good to have it as a meal, when Li Huairou raised her hand and said, “Momo, I want to eat skewers tonight. Grill some lamb or beef, and it’s best to have some wine too.”
“Are you alright? Are you sure you want to eat grilled lamb on this day? Won’t you feel hot?” Consort Dowager Hui frowned.
[In traditional Chinese medicine, food is divided into five categories: cold, cool, neutral, warm, and hot. The nature of the food is not determined by its actual temperature, but by the effects it has on one’s body after consumption. Lamb falls into the hot category, and beer is in the cold category]
“Of course it’s hot, so we need to drink wine to relieve the heat! If not, you can roast some vegetables or something. Consort dowager, I tell you, when the weather is hot, you have to eat skewers to have the right atmosphere!” Li Huairou recalled the night market stalls she’d visited when she was out on a mission. Midsummer nights, food stalls, beer, skewers, and crayfish—so much life. This kind of food culture and life had long disappeared from her time.
Consort Dowager Hui was skeptical. “Momo, just do what Huairou says!”
Fang-momo gave Li Huairou a helpless look. She thought to herself that this here was a master of mischief, and the other one still followed her mischief. But no matter what, it was fine as long as the consort dowager was happy.
In the evening, the moon was rising, and a grill was set up in the backyard at Chunyi Yunhe Pavilion. Li Huairou insisted on grilling the food herself, but her skill was not good, so it burnt at every turn.
Consort Dowager Hui sat not far away. “Stop making trouble. With your skills, don’t spoil the meat. Come and sit down, and wait to eat!”
Li Huairou had to angrily put down the meat skewers in her hands. She sat next to Consort Dowager Hui.
“I have to agree with you. I thought that it would be hot eating these in the summer, but I didn’t expect it to be so delicious,” Consort Dowager Hui remarked with a smile.
“Where is the wine? Why is there no wine? Momo, eating this, you have to drink to feel the atmosphere,” Li Huairou said.
Consort Dowager Hui immediately looked at Fang-momo. Fang-momo sighed helplessly and took the prepared peach blossom wine over. “Really now, a child drinking wine! Three glasses each, and you can’t drink any more! Do you hear?”
Before Fang-momo finished speaking, Li Huairou had already had a drink. “Momo, drinking this wine is like drinking water. I won’t get drunk.”
Upon seeing this, Consort Dowager Hui also learned from Li Huairou and drank a refreshing glass of wine. She drank too quickly, choked, and coughed for a long time. Fang-momo patted her on the back, all while groaning, “Look at you, how old do you think you are, looking like a child. What are you doing drinking so anxiously in such a hurry!”
Then she glared at Li Huairou. “Don’t teach the consort dowager bad things.” Then she saw that Li Huairou had drunk three or four glasses of wine while she hadn’t been paying attention.
Fang-momo really couldn’t do anything about Li Huairou, but the consort dowager was very protective. “It’s okay, let her drink. I want to see how much she can drink!”
Then the two, master and servant, began to eat skewers. You have a glass of wine, I have a glass of wine.
Seeing this, Fang-momo couldn’t stop her. She could only let them go.
The master and servant were getting drunk, talking, laughing, and singing while drunk.
It was rare for Fang-momo to see Consort Dowager Hui this happy, so happy that she was oblivious to her surroundings. Fang-momo stared at Consort Dowager Hui for fear that she would stumble and fall.
Sure enough, Consort Dowager Hui tripped over the corner of her skirt and almost fell over. Fang-momo hurriedly supported her.
Suddenly Li Huairou pursed her lips. She pointed to Fang-momo and said, “Playing favorites! Momo, you are playing favorites! You only like the consort dowager, and you don’t like me!”
Fang-momo was speechless.
Consort Dowager Hui clapped her hands and smiled, then waved. “Come here. Momo is partial to me, and I am partial to you. Come here, the consort dowager will spoil you!”
Li Huairou lifted her head. “I don’t care! I have an older sister, and my sister has to be partial to me.”
Consort Dowager Hui snorted when she saw that Li Huairou would not come. “Your sister? Your sister now has a husband and children; even if she had you in her heart, you only get to be…” Consort Dowager Hui couldn’t count at the moment, so she simply raised her fingers. “… fourth!” But she’d clearly raised five fingers.
“Come here, come here, let the consort dowager dote on you!” Consort Dowager Hui smiled and opened her arms to Li Huairou.
Li Huairou pursed her lips and threw herself into Consort Dowager Hui’s arms. The master and servant hugged each other, talking about drunk things.
Fang-momo knew that Consort Dowager Hui’s words were probably not drunk talk. Consort Dowager Hui’s biological mother had passed away when she was young, and her father soon remarried. Consort Dowager Hui had grown up with the old master and his wife, and she’d had a lukewarm relationship with her father, stepmother, and stepsiblings. After the old master left, Consort Dowager Hui’s only concern was no more. After many years in the palace, Consort Dowager Hui had had little contact with her mother’s family.
The master and servant made trouble for most of the night before they were taken back to rest by Fang-momo and the others.
Waking up in the morning, the two people held their heads, downcast expressions on their faces.
“Momo, we’re only eating porridge this morning? That’s too simple! Isn’t there even a side dish?” Li Huairou wailed, looking at the bowl of porridge in front of her.
Consort Dowager Hui nodded.
“When waking up from a hangover, one needs to eat something light. There are some side dishes,” Fang-momo blankly replied. Then she said to Consort Dowager Hui in a more gentle tone, “Today is the empress’s birthday banquet. The empress dowager specially ordered the nanfu to put on a few good shows. Consort dowager, you have to get well to have enough energy to watch the show!”
[An office in the imperial palace that organized drama performances]
Consort Dowager Hui nodded lazily. “I know.”
Then she sipped her porridge.
Li Huairou had a very good appetite, and her bowl of porridge was eaten up quickly. “Momo, I’m still hungry. I want more.”
Consort Dowager Hui only ate half of a bowl of porridge, then pushed the bowl away and said, “I’m full. I won’t eat anymore.”
Fang-momo sighed, feeling that it would be good if the two of them were to neutralize each other.
