Chapter 41: 21.1

Chapter 21          Housewarming (1/2)

On the sixth day of the sixth month, Auspicious Gods should be moving in the spring with liveliness, and Heaven was at peace. It was a suitable day for traveling, relocating, moving to a new home, offering sacrifices, praying for blessings, and constructing. The auspiciousness was chosen by the supervisor of the Imperial Observatory, and the Princess of Zhaoren moved to her new mansion.

In the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion, there was a lotus pond connected to the plum groves on the north side. The lotus leaves swayed gently in the warm breeze and the red and white lotus flowers decorated in the middle. A lonely crane wandered quietly in the reeds by the pond. The housewarming banquet was held in the pavilion of the lotus pond.

It took two months for the reconstruction of the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion to be completed. The original rooms and halls didn’t change much, only the flowers and trees of the forest garden had been greatly adjusted according to Qin Yan’s preferences.

The housewarming banquet was only a small gathering. At sishi*, the guests came one after another.

(sishi* – 9 am – 11 am)

After entering the summer, the heat was unbearable, and all the large and small court meetings were changed to the Taizi Mansion in Xishan. In the past, civil and military officials had to enter the palace to go to court before dawn. Now it was also dawn, but they were going out of the city to the Taizi Mansion in Xishan. Many courtiers even set up houses in the villages of the western suburbs and moved their families out of the city, so that they could easily go to court and escape the summer heat, but also for summer vacation.

After the meeting was over, Taizi Feng Zhan came from the Taizi Mansion next door to the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion. Princess of Changle Feng Yunchao arrived at the Taizi Mansion early in the morning and arrived with Prince Feng Zhan.

Not knowing where the rumors came from that Qin Yan loved jade, most of the gifts from the guests were jade.

Princess Jingyi Feng Yuyao knew that Qin Yan was good at painting, so she sent a white jade carving writing utensil; the Second Prince sent a green jade landscape figure inkstone; Princess of Changle Feng Yunchao sent a jasper with lingzhi pattern ornament; the Taizi on behalf of the Emperor sent a set of white jade chess pieces and only the Taizi didn’t send jade himself but sent a coral tree.

It was a long summer, but today was not too hot. The sun was just right, and the breeze was not dry.

——

The people in the pavilion were seated in separate seats, with the Taizi sitting at the main seat, and Second Prince Feng Xian and Princess of Changle Feng Yunchao were seated at the lower left and right respectively.

Shen Ci was next to the Second Prince, opposite Shen Ci was the Princess of Jingyi Feng Yuyao and opposite Prince Feng Zhan at the other end was Qin Yan, the host of today’s banquet.

It was time to start the banquet.

A musician in the nearby pavilion sat cross-legged on the rattan mat and gently stroked the guqin on her knees. While the guqin was playing, Feng Yuyao asked Qin Yan in dissatisfaction, “Where’s the Western Regions dancer I want?”

Qin Yan laughed that this girl was still thinking about it. Qin Yan explained to everyone, “It’s hot in the summer, and the heart is prone to get excited. It’s better to calm your mind and breath. Therefore, there is no singing and dancing in the banquet today.”

After speaking, Ji Nanfeng, who was dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, with a handsome appearance and a warm temperament, stepped into the pavilion, and a group of maids with trays behind him also walked in a line.

After saluting, Ji Nanfeng introduced the drinks and dishes.

“Some of the dishes at today’s banquet were prepared by the people from the palace’s imperial kitchen, and some are from the kitchen of the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion.”

“There are two kinds of fine wines at the banquet, one is the imperial wine of the palace, the golden stem dew, and the other is the self-brewed white pear blossom of the mansion. The imperial wine from the palace is familiar to all the nobles. Whereas this homemade white pear blossom is taken from the pear flowers that just bloomed in the south of Jiangnan in mid-spring. It took three months to make, and they have a unique flavor. All of you can choose by yourself.”

Taizi Feng Zhan, at the main seat, motioned to Song Zhi who was standing beside him, “Test it.”

Song Zhi took the wine jar with white pear blossom on the maid’s tray and poured a cup into the azure glazed wine cup in front of Feng Zhan. A complete pear blossom was floating in the transparent wine and even the stem was clearly noticeable. It was so beautiful. The fragrance of wine and pear blossoms immediately overflowed.

Second Prince Feng Xian and the two princesses also asked for white pear blossom wine.

Shen Ci looked at Qin Yan, “Yanyan brewed by yourself?”

Hearing this, everyone at the table also looked at Qin Yan. Qin Yan motioned to Shen Ying to fill the wine cup in front of her, then glanced at Ji Nanfeng who was standing beside her, and replied, “It was Mister Ji’s arrangement.”

Ji Nanfeng nodded and continued to introduce the dishes as the maids served the dishes one after another.

“Twelve delicacies of imperial cuisine from the palace: hundred bird paid homage to the phoenix, stewed duck tongue, double crispy shrimp and eel, stewed chicken in yellow mud, steamed pig’s trotter with maple, white cloud rouge slices, stewed sliced shredded fish, assorted clay pot, eight-treasure tofu, braised quail eggs, water-lily duck bamboo sticks, and three crispy soups,”

“There are six seasonal dishes from the mansion’s kitchen: winter melon and turtle soup, almond bergamot, cicada cabbage, green mixed bitter gourd, stir-fry shrimp in ginger juice, and fried carved honey.”

Whether it was drinks or dishes, there were attendants at each seat who test poison with silver needles.

Feng Yuyao tasted the green mixed bitter gourd, which was sweet in bitterness, and fragrant in sweetness. But it was not delicious.

Feng Yuyao’s little face crumpled and asked, “What’s the saying about eating bitter gourd?”

Ji Nanfeng explained, “It was recorded in the medical book of Five Qis: When the five flavors enter the body, the sour enters the liver, the spicy enters the lung, the bitterness enters the heart, the salty enters the kidney, and the sweet enters the spleen.”

“Summer heat is heavy with humidity, and bitterness can clear the heat and dry the humidity. Bitterness can be used to relieve heat, and the yin of bitterness can be used to mediate the summer yang heat.”

“Bitter melon is bitter in taste but cold in nature. It can enter the heart, spleen, and stomach meridians. It has the effects of clearing heat, relieving summer heat, and improving eyesight. This is a good vegetable for clearing heat and eliminating thirst in summer.”

“As for bitterness, don’t eat too much. According to the “Prescription Worth a Thousand in Gold, in the seventy-two days of summer, one can omit the bitterness and increase the spiciness to nourish the lungs.” The stir-fried shrimp with ginger sauce is fragrant and slightly spicy, the added spiciness was to nourish the lungs.”

Everyone understood it clearly, and they sighed that the food in the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion was not extravagant, but it was very tastefully chosen.

Feng Yunchao unconsciously saw that the plum grove beside the lotus pond seemed to be separated by a wall. She seemed to remember that when she came to the mansion before, there was a big land of plum groves. The plum blossomed in winter was spectacular.

In doubt, Feng Yunchao asked Qin Yan, “Princess of Zhaoren, dare to ask why a wall was built in the plum grove? Isn’t this ruining the natural scenery of that grove?”

Qin Yan stopped her chopsticks but did not speak.

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Feng Zhan’s hand holding the wine cup froze, then put down the wine cup and said coldly, “The wall was built by my people.”

Hehe, no one could respond to this.

Feng Yunchao… Now she could rest assured that Imperial Brother Taizi had no intention toward Princess of Zhaoren.

Second Prince Feng Xian… It seemed that there was one less competitor.

Feng Yuyao… Yanyan also had no idea about you, Your Highness.

Shen Ci… It was good that Taizi had self-knowledge.

Qin Yan…

——

Between the wince cups and flowering branches, everyone was slightly drunk.

Seeing this, Qin Yan said, “Everyone, follow me to walk around the evergreen mountainside to get rid of the alcohol.”

Everyone got up and left the table. Qin Yan led the way, and everyone set foot on the mountain path beside the lotus pond.

There were fruit forests planted at the foot of the mountain slope, and the fragrance of the fruit could be smelled during the passing.

The trees on both sides of the mountain path were at different heights, the green bamboos were shady, and the stems were sparse and dense. There were some unknown wildflowers scattered along the path, which looked lovely and wildly interesting.

Along the mountain path, a small stream slowly flowed down to the foot of the mountainside into the lotus pond. This was the spring water from the nearby Jade Spring Mountain.

The wind blew the leaves, the plants swayed gently, and the trees were making some rustling sounds.

Not long after, everyone stopped at a stone platform. There were several piles of moss-covered stones next to the platform, each stone was accompanied by pine, and the leaves and stones depend on each other. Looking out from the east of the stone platform was the lotus pond where the banquet was held just now.

There was an empty bamboo house surrounded by trees and bamboo beside the stone platform and a circle of insect-repellent and mosquito-repellent herbs were planted around the bamboo house.

It was noon at this moment, but the pines and cypresses were lush, and the trees were towering here, casting a large area of shade.

The bamboo shadows were moved by the sun, all in silence.

——

Everyone took their seats in the prepared seats. Qin Yan was seated at one end of the root carving tea sea*, which was opposite the seat of Taizi Feng Zhan.

(Root carving tea sea* – specialized tea table which uses tree roots to make a tea table for drinking tea)

Shen Ying took a jar of jade spring water from the evergreen mountainside and placed it beside the tea table.

Qin Yan washed her hands and boiled water in a clay pot. When it boiled for the first time, she added jade spring water to stop the boiling. When it boiled for the second time, she added jade spring water to stop the boiling. When the wall of the pot begins to bubble up, she removed the clay pot from the fire.

She rinsed the utensil, blanched the teacups, measured the tea, and poured hot water three times from a high-raised kettle after rinsing the tea.

In the purple clay pot, the green-brown fresh tea leaves swirl and slowly unfold, permeating the bright orange-yellow tea, and the fragrant orchid fragrance overflowed.

Qin Yan divided the pot of tea into six cups, which were brought to the banquet by the maid.

“This is Mother Tree Dahongpao* from Yangyayin Forest in Minzhong County, Yangzhou. It is warm in nature and suitable for digestion and drinking after feasting. Today, I borrow the “Seven Bowls of Tea Poem” by tea fairy Lu Tong.”

(Mother Tree Dahongpao* – is a type of oolong tea with excellent quality)

For the first cup, “First cup moistens the throat.” Qin Yan said slowly.

Everyone watched the color, smelled the fragrance, and sipped tea.

For the second cup, “Second cup to breaks the solitary stuffiness.”

For the third cup, “Third cup search for dry intestines, and can recite five thousand volumes of text.”

For the fourth cup, “Fourth cup sweat lightly, and the injustices in life are scattered to the pores.”

For the fifth cup, before Qin Yan could speak, the Second Prince Feng Xian took over and said, “Fifth cup is to clear the muscle and bones.”

For the sixth cup, Feng Yunchao took over the words, “Sixth cup led to a fairy.”

For the seventh cup, Feng Yuyao smiled and said, “Seventh cup can’t be eaten, only feel the two armpits with fresh air.”

After drinking, everyone laughed together.

At this moment, a good wind was blowing, the pines were whistling in the wind, the water was gurgling, the cranes were singing, the guqin was playing, and the fragrance of tea was lingering. And there was a group of outstanding talented people in the forest.

Looking at Qin Yan at the opposite tea table, Feng Zhan’s mind unexpectedly flashed to the scene in Meishan at this moment…

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