After that night, Zhao Ai didn’t visit Zhanle Lou for a long time. Wu Zhenzhen heard from other diners that since gaining real power, he had become much busier. Besides reviewing official documents daily, he traveled more frequently to various fields, inspecting the condition of remaining polders and preparing to repair and construct new official polders.
Wu Zhenzhen continued peacefully managing her restaurant. One day, Wei Qingxun again sent someone to reserve a noon banquet for the next day, saying she would bring a distinguished guest. Wu Zhenzhen prepared ingredients as usual. The next day at the si hour, Wei Qingxun and a man each rode horses and arrived one after another. Wu Zhenzhen came out to greet them and discovered the man was Zhao Ai, whom she hadn’t seen for many days. Now that summer had arrived with scorching sunlight, he indeed appeared to frequently tour various places. His skin had been tanned to a warm wheat color, and his expression showed considerable fatigue, but seeing Wu Zhenzhen and Granny Song, he still smiled brightly, his teeth appearing much whiter than before against his tanned skin.
Wei Qingxun brought several live pufferfish and handed them to Wu Zhenzhen, saying: “A friend gave me some pufferfish. Prince Wei happened to return the money for the official land purchase to me, so I wanted to host a banquet to thank him. I had Luming Lou’s head chef prepare these pufferfish for Prince Wei to taste, but unexpectedly the head chef said pufferfish are very toxic at this time and he didn’t dare cook them for His Highness. I thought it over, and in all of Ningguo Prefecture, probably only Granny Song has the skill and confidence to prepare pufferfish properly.”
Granny Song didn’t decline and graciously agreed, inviting Zhao Ai and Wei Qingxun to come inside and sit.
Wei Qingxun didn’t immediately go inside but caught a pufferfish from the bucket and held it with both hands for Wu Zhenzhen to see. The pufferfish had patterns on its back and a pure white belly with small thorn-like protrusions. When stimulated, it inhaled large amounts of air, its stomach expanding several times, its body instantly becoming round and plump like a small ball, appearing quite adorable.
Wei Qingxun smiled and whispered in Wu Zhenzhen’s ear: “Doesn’t it look like someone when they’re angry?”
Wu Zhenzhen glanced at Zhao Ai, who was watching her and Wei Qingxun. Seeing Wei Qingxun and Wu Zhenzhen’s intimate whispering, his smile immediately disappeared, and his expression of pursed lips and puffed cheeks indeed resembled the pufferfish.
Wu Zhenzhen felt like laughing but thought it inappropriate, so she lowered her head and took the pufferfish from Wei Qingxun’s hands. She had Xiao Ou guide Prince Wei and Proprietor Wei upstairs to sit, then followed Granny Song into the kitchen where they tied on their aprons and began working.
Granny Song took a pufferfish, washed it clean, and placed it on the cutting board. She picked up a sharp knife and with swift, clean cuts removed the fins and tail. Starting from in front of the fish’s eyes, she cut off the entire mouth, then turned the fish over and made cuts on both left and right sides. Then she lightly lifted the knife tip, inserted it under the fish skin with a flick, and with a smooth pull of her hand, the fish skin was completely separated from the fish body.
Next, Granny Song removed the fish eyes and gutted the internal organs, explaining to Wu Zhenzhen as she worked: “Pufferfish toxins are mainly in the blood, eyes, and internal organs except for the milt. The ovaries and spleen are most toxic, and female fish about to spawn in late spring and early summer are most poisonous. The muscle meat is non-toxic. If handled properly and all internal organs and blood vessels are removed, it can be eaten. The milt and fish skin have very little toxicity. The milt is smooth and tender, also called ‘Xi Shi’s milk.’ The fish skin is rich in collagen when braised and tastes like turtle skirt, or can be fried until crispy—when done well, it’s also delicious, but shouldn’t be eaten in large quantities.”
She helped Wu Zhenzhen process several pufferfish, carefully removing the internal organs and repeatedly washing the fish meat under running water, instructing Wu Zhenzhen: “You must remember, when removing internal organs, you cannot puncture them. For example, the gall bladder—if the bile gets on the fish meat, no amount of washing or stewing can completely remove the toxins.”
She lightly pan-fried some of the cleaned fish meat and bones, then stewed them in broth. She changed to a clean cutting board, placed the remaining fish meat on it, and took a different knife for slicing sashimi. She began drawing the knife from top to bottom at an angle, slicing the fish meat into transparently thin pieces. But this delicate knife work was quite taxing on the eyes, and with her advanced age and declining vision, she found it laborious. She handed the knife to Wu Zhenzhen and had her do the slicing.
Wu Zhenzhen hesitated slightly. The bass sashimi incident had become a deep shadow in her heart. She still couldn’t determine whether the Crown Prince’s death was related to the fish sashimi, and since then had avoided making sashimi. Zhanle Lou’s dishes never included fish sashimi. Now, though she took Granny Song’s knife, she hesitated to cut the fish meat.
“Are you afraid the fish meat still contains toxins and that making sashimi would harm people?” Granny Song asked, then added: “Don’t worry, I’ve handled it properly without any oversights… The ingredients themselves won’t harm people—what harms people are human hearts containing toxins.”
Wu Zhenzhen shuddered slightly, then rallied her spirits and focused on making the sashimi. Pieces of fish sashimi fell from the knife edge like ice silk, and in the pleasure of wielding the knife skillfully, she began to feel that Song Taozheng in Zhanle Lou was gradually meeting the happy and confident Wu Zhenzhen from the Royal Kitchen.
After the pufferfish sashimi was sliced and plated, the fish soup had also turned milky white. Granny Song added Chinese cabbage, artemisia, and reed shoots to cook together, telling Wu Zhenzhen: “Local people eating pufferfish always cook these three vegetables together. In all my decades, I’ve never heard of anyone being poisoned by pufferfish cooked this way.”
Granny Song also fried some fish skin, grilled the milt, and served them with sauce alongside the fish soup and sashimi to Zhao Ai and Wei Qingxun. Wei Qingxun cordially invited Granny Song and Wu Zhenzhen to sit and eat together. Granny Song declined repeatedly, but Wu Zhenzhen thought that while she normally wouldn’t eat with guests, today’s ingredients were special and she should taste them first for the guests’ safety. So she sat down and had Xiao Ou prepare tableware for her. Seeing Wu Zhenzhen accept the invitation to dine, Granny Song also took a seat.
Among these dishes, Zhao Ai seemed most interested in the pufferfish sashimi and first reached his chopsticks toward it. Wu Zhenzhen immediately asked him to wait a moment, bowing slightly: “Though the fish meat has been repeatedly washed and should be non-toxic, as a precaution, please allow me to test it first for Your Highness.”
But Zhao Ai shook his head and said lightly: “I trust you—you wouldn’t harm me.” He then directly picked up a piece of sashimi, dipped it in sauce, put it in his mouth, and after a moment, smiled at Granny Song: “Fresh and delicious.”
“That phrase Your Highness just said sounds very familiar,” Granny Song also smiled. “I once had two neighbors, and the wife also learned to cook pufferfish from me. Her husband was always reading or going out, treating his wife coldly. I always felt he didn’t particularly like his wife, but when his wife first successfully prepared pufferfish under my guidance and offered to test it first for her husband, he also ate it directly like that, saying: ‘You wouldn’t harm me.'”
At this point, she looked at both Zhao Ai and Wu Zhenzhen with a loving smile.
Wu Zhenzhen immediately asked Granny Song: “Are you speaking of Lady Wu and her husband?”
“Exactly,” Granny Song confirmed.
Wu Zhenzhen asked again: “Her husband was fine after eating it?”
“He was fine,” Granny Song said. “Lady Wu learned very earnestly and was extremely careful during cooking—she wouldn’t make mistakes. Later I saw her prepare pufferfish for her husband several more times, and nothing happened.”
Wu Zhenzhen didn’t pursue this topic further, but remembering what she had seen in her youth and Qiuniang’s deep hatred for pufferfish, another cloud of doubt rose in her heart and wouldn’t dissipate.
During the meal, Wei Qingxun asked Zhao Ai what he had been busy with recently. Zhao Ai said he was trying to raise money for polder construction. Wu Zhenzhen saw his deeply furrowed brow and worried expression when he mentioned this, so she asked: “Not going smoothly?”
Zhao Ai replied: “A sufficiently sturdy polder dike needs to be seven feet wide and thirteen feet high, with poplars, willows, and elms planted on top. Thus, just the stone and earth materials for repairing one li costs 120 strings. Each worker’s daily wage is 100 wen, so labor costs for one li amount to over 660 strings. Adding materials and food, one li costs nearly 800 strings. This is just for repairing old polder dikes—if building new polders, the labor costs per li would double… The prefecture’s finances are depleted, and the reserve funds from the charity granaries and ever-normal granaries can’t all be used for polder construction, so it’s quite difficult.”
“How many li need repair and how many need new construction?” Wu Zhenzhen asked.
Zhao Ai answered: “I’ve calculated just what urgently needs repair in these two years. Just the Huimin and Huacheng polders alone need forty li repaired and nine li newly constructed. To complete all repairs, the total cost would be 40,000 to 50,000 strings… I memorialized His Majesty requesting funds from the Imperial Treasury for Ningguo Prefecture’s polder construction. His Majesty graciously approved, but what was allocated wasn’t money or grain—it was thirty ordination certificates. This is indeed a special favor, as ordination certificates allocated to prefectures for projects usually aren’t this numerous, but they must first be sold to get money. The imperial edict set the price at 500 strings per certificate. Three years ago, ten ordination certificates were also allocated to Ningguo Prefecture for dredging work, priced at 400 strings each. Those ten took over a year to sell completely, and now at 500 strings each, they’ll probably be even harder to sell.”
Ordination certificates originated in the Tang Dynasty as credentials issued by the court to monks and nuns to verify their religious status. Holders could be exempt from corvée labor and taxes, and prefecture governments could publicly sell these certificates to supplement various expenses. Later, ordination certificates circulated among the people and functioned like money, able to purchase goods and even buy houses and land. So the Imperial Treasury’s allocation of ordination certificates was financial support for prefecture governments, but if they couldn’t be sold immediately, they couldn’t be converted to funds.
After hearing this, Wei Qingxun comforted Zhao Ai: “This matter isn’t urgent. I can buy five or six certificates first. Combined with the funds the prefecture can currently access, Your Highness can start the polder construction. The remaining certificates can surely be sold within these two years, and Ningguo Prefecture will continuously have tax revenue. Completing these forty to fifty li won’t be difficult.”
Zhao Ai smiled slightly, but his worried expression didn’t diminish as he lowered his eyes in thought.
After the two left, Wu Zhenzhen kept thinking about the polder matter. After pondering all night, she hurried to the city early the next morning to find Wei Qingxun at Luming Lou. Wei Qingxun was also happy to see her and led her into her garden to sit in a pavilion by the flowing stream under the shadows of Cherokee rose flowers. She unhurriedly prepared tea for her before asking what brought her there.
Wu Zhenzhen asked if she still wanted to obtain Zhanle Lou’s management rights. Wei Qingxun smiled and asked: “Have you thought it through?”
Wu Zhenzhen said: “I can transfer Zhanle Lou to your management as you suggested. I’ll personally oversee menu planning for both restaurants and guide the chefs and kitchen staff to help you manage the restaurants. As for how much profit you give me later, that’s negotiable. I only require that you purchase twelve ordination certificates from Ningguo Prefecture and give me six of them as payment for Zhanle Lou’s management rights.”
“Twelve certificates? That’s quite a lot. You asking for six is also a high price—3,000 strings could buy a substantial residence in the city,” Wei Qingxun said with a smile. Though expressing opinions about the price, she didn’t look surprised at all and continued calmly pouring tea for Wu Zhenzhen.
“I can earn back much more than 3,000 strings for you in the future,” Wu Zhenzhen said confidently. “You can surely see that. You could spend 6,000 strings as a deposit for buying official land, so you can naturally use it to buy twelve ordination certificates—this wouldn’t be difficult for you at all. Besides, the purchased certificates can hold their value. Even if unused, they’ll appreciate over time.”
“I like your confidence,” Wei Qingxun smiled. “I could give you 3,000 strings directly—why bother with certificates? Ordination certificates are priced too high now and aren’t worth that much among the people. If sold now, one certificate can fetch at most 400 strings. I can throw out 6,000 strings for a deposit without blinking because I know the money will return to me, but buying ordination certificates is different—I must consider risks. Promising to buy five or six was giving Prince Wei face. After all, these certificates, like paper money, are just paper—they’re not inherently valuable like gold and silver. When the court needs money, it issues tens of thousands at once, and civilian prices quickly drop. Initially during the Yuanfeng years, one ordination certificate was worth 300 strings, but by the Daguan years, civilian prices had dropped to 90 strings. Before the Southern Migration, they even fell to 60 strings. So collecting many ordination certificates, like collecting paper money, carries risks.”
“Now is different from before the Southern Migration,” Wu Zhenzhen calmly explained. “After the Southern Migration, the late Emperor established new laws. The court treasures ordination certificates and doesn’t sell them lightly. Each time certificates are issued, it’s often no more than a thousand. Certificates quickly rose from 60 strings to 100 strings each, and prices have climbed annually since. Many wealthy households can’t buy certificates even with money, which is why they’re now priced at 500 strings. Certificates relate to corvée labor and taxes, giving them more value than paper money. They also gained the attention of the late Emperor and current Emperor, who even stipulated that when paper money is issued in large quantities causing devaluation, certificates can be used to redeem paper money. So certificates are unlikely to depreciate significantly again. If you trust me, consider collecting more certificates—in a few years, they may preserve and appreciate value better than gold.”
“How do you know all this?” Wei Qingxun sat up straight and studied Wu Zhenzhen intently. “These matters aren’t things a restaurant woman would know.”
Wu Zhenzhen was momentarily speechless. She had heard about ordination certificates and paper money from the emperor’s discussions with ministers while serving him. In her eagerness to persuade Wei Qingxun, she had explained these principles without thinking that this might raise questions about her identity.
After much thought, she lowered her eyes and answered: “Prince Wei told me.”
Wei Qingxun smiled again: “Prince Wei—it seems you’ve known him for a long time.”
Wu Zhenzhen deflected: “I met him when he came to Ningguo Prefecture to inspect the countryside.”
“No,” Wei Qingxun firmly denied, calmly staring at Wu Zhenzhen. “You usually speak Ningguo Prefecture dialect with people, but you speak proper Lin’an court language with Prince Wei. You speak court language better than dialect, so you’re from Lin’an, aren’t you?”
Wu Zhenzhen was speechless. Wei Qingxun continued analyzing: “Granny Song makes folk dishes, but yours—from ingredients to cooking methods, even plating and dish names—are often much more refined, more like literati cuisine and court cuisine. If I’m not mistaken, you may have once served in the Royal Kitchen.”
Wu Zhenzhen forced a smile: “I just learned some techniques at a large restaurant in Lin’an…”
“Stop hiding it. I’ve heard about the Crown Prince’s Songjiang bass sashimi incident and know why Prince Wei was sent here. Witnessing his feelings for you, it’s not hard to guess your identity, so…” Wei Qingxun smiled gracefully and bowed politely to Wu Zhenzhen. “Pleased to meet you, Director Wu.”
Seeing Wu Zhenzhen’s pale, speechless expression, she added gently: “Don’t worry, I admire you and won’t tell anyone about this. Now that I’ve confirmed it, I’ll know how to protect you in the future.”
“How do you know about palace matters?” Wu Zhenzhen asked. “Has it spread to the people and become common knowledge?”
“Not yet,” Wei Qingxun told her frankly. “I know these things because I come from the imperial relatives… The late Emperor’s mother, Empress Dowager Xianren, was my great-grand-aunt.”
Wu Zhenzhen looked at her in surprise, asking: “Why have I never seen you before?”
Wei Qingxun said: “My brother didn’t want parental control and opened this Luming Lou in Ningguo Prefecture. Later, Father forcibly called him back to be an official, so he gave me this restaurant. I’ve been in Ningguo Prefecture for five years. I occasionally return to Lin’an but don’t like attending palace gatherings, so we never met before.”
Wu Zhenzhen stood and bowed deeply to her, saying solemnly: “Pleased to meet you, Lady Wei.”
“Please don’t call me that,” Wei Qingxun laughed. “I get chills when people call me ‘Lady’… Just call me by my name, Qingxun. I’ll call you Zhenzhen… In front of others, I’ll call you Taozheng—how about that?”
Wu Zhenzhen readily agreed. After considering, she asked: “Will you still buy those ordination certificates?”
Wei Qingxun burst into laughter: “Yes! I’ve now decided to buy fifteen certificates, and I’ll give you the six you want promptly.”
Wu Zhenzhen felt relieved and smiled: “That’s wonderful. When the wealthy households in Ningguo Prefecture see you buying so many, they’ll surely speculate that you must have inside information from the government, knowing the certificates will appreciate quickly, which is why you’re buying in bulk. They’ll surely follow suit, and thus the remaining certificates will sell quickly too.”
“Exactly,” Wei Qingxun smiled meaningfully. “Especially when they discover that Song Taozheng sold Zhanle Lou not for cash but only for ordination certificates, and that she’s Prince Wei’s beloved…”