When Princess Fuhui said she would visit, she truly did come frequently to sit for a while. Like Magistrate Lin, she mostly came in the afternoon or after dinner. She always sent attendants ahead to confirm Shen Shaoguang was present before coming—making no pretense about it, she was coming to see Young Lady Shen. Unlike Magistrate Lin, who used meals as an excuse to visit even when he wasn’t hungry and would still add an extra meal.
Outside, a gentle rain was falling, and the candles on the table flickered slightly. Shen Shaoguang sat by the window teaching A Yuan how to cut flower ornaments.
A Yuan had been learning to cut these flower ornaments intermittently, from spring to summer, and from summer to autumn, yet hadn’t mastered even the common flower shapes. But there was no rush to learn, and even less rush to teach.
Princess Fuhui walked in to see this leisurely scene.
Shen Shaoguang stood up to bow.
Princess Fuhui smiled first and said, “Sorry to keep you waiting. I was about to leave when my maid told me my cat was vomiting.”
Being a fellow cat lover, Shen Shaoguang quickly asked, “How is it now?”
“Fed it some medicine, and it stopped vomiting.”
Shen Shaoguang nodded, “It might be due to the seasonal changes. Feed it less these days, especially easily indigestible meat, to let its stomach recover.”
Princess Fuhui sighed, “That’s what I thought too. I’ve had it since I was in the palace, it’s over ten years old now. I don’t know how much longer it will stay with me.”
The conversation turned melancholic with that one sentence, and Shen Shaoguang nodded.
Princess Fuhui shook her head with a rueful smile, “I won’t keep cats anymore after this. Going through such torment every decade or so is too much to bear.”
Unexpectedly, Princess Fuhui turned out to be such a sentimental person… Shen Shaoguang changed the subject, “Princess, please try the almond milk I made today.”
Almond milk was made similarly to walnut milk—soak almonds in hot water to remove the skin, then grind them together with soaked rice and glutinous rice, strain out the dregs, and cook the liquid in a small pot. When serving, add some osmanthus syrup or sugar and cow’s milk—all delicious options.
Besides almond milk, Shen Shaoguang also served several kinds of snacks and fruits. Though neither was hungry, it was just to pass the time.
Princess Fuhui stirred with her silver spoon, lifted the small bowl, and took a sip, “It has a nice almond fragrance. This simple version is quite good.”
Indeed! How could palace-style almond tea compare to almond milk? It was almost like eight-treasure porridge. Various grains, beans, and nuts, were added with cane syrup, and finally garnished with wolfberries and longan—sweet indeed, but barely any almond flavor.
Shen Shaoguang invited her to try the water chestnut and chestnut cake.
Princess Fuhui had seen the menu in the shop and knew of this cake’s reputation. She teased Shen Shaoguang, “Why give such a straightforward name like ‘water chestnut and chestnut cake’ such a pretentious title as ‘Fisherman and Woodcutter’s Cake’? Why imitate those pedantic scholars?”
Shen Shaoguang spoke honestly: “We need to make money, so we have to cater to customers’ tastes.”
Princess Fuhui laughed.
“Though this way, you have something to discuss with your refined Magistrate Lin.”
Shen Shaoguang hurried to explain: “Princess, you speak incorrectly. He’s not ‘mine’—Magistrate Lin belongs to himself.”
Princess Fuhui glanced at her, “You’re pretending!”
“I’m not pretending, our social stations are incompatible.”
“But I see you both have feelings for each other…”
“Our social stations are still incompatible,” Shen Shaoguang said, taking a sip of almond milk.
Princess Fuhui thought about it, and indeed, marriage was meant to join two families of equal status. Thinking of herself and Pei Fei, she couldn’t help but sigh softly.
After a while, Princess Fuhui gave a mischievous smile, “In that case, don’t worry about the future, just go with the flow.”
Shen Shaoguang was about to say isn’t that exactly what we’re doing—not quite courting, yet full of ambiguity, I’m almost growing white hairs from the stress—when she heard the Princess say, “Just sleep with him first and figure it out later.”
Shen Shaoguang was very grateful she hadn’t been drinking almond milk just then, or she would have sprayed it out most inappropriately.
“After sleeping together, that’s one worry settled. Perhaps after sleeping with him, you’ll find he’s not all that great?”
Shen Shaoguang found Princess Fuhui’s logic rather hard to process.
Seeing Shen Shaoguang looking at her, Princess Fuhui said enviously, “If you wanted to sleep with Magistrate Lin, he’d surely welcome you with open arms; unlike that Pei fellow…”
Can “welcome with open arms” be used that way? The palace physical education teacher truly had many talents.
Princess Fuhui mumbled, “Won’t sleep with me, won’t let me sleep with others, such a jealous man.”
Shen Shaoguang couldn’t help it anymore and laughed rather unkindly.
Princess Fuhui glared at her, then ended up laughing herself.
After laughing, Shen Shaoguang felt somewhat impressed—Pei Fei, who appeared so romantic, turned out to be a man of principles and boundaries.
“So Princess and Lord Pei are just—going with the flow like this?”
Princess Fuhui leaned against the armrest, smiling casually, “Just going with the flow. If he won’t marry, I can certainly endure being single.”
Shen Shaoguang didn’t know that more than ten years later, after the Princess’s consort passed away, Pei Fei would have risen to Minister of a major department and become Assistant Grand Councilor, earning the title “Minister Pei,” yet remained unmarried; while Princess Fuhui kept her promise, becoming almost a moral exemplar among royal women. More surprisingly, after handling her consort’s affairs, the Princess directly became a Daoist priestess, like Princess An’qing before her, and traveled throughout the realm. By then, what was once satirical gossip had become sighs of admiration, with countless people composing verses about it—after all, “perseverance” and “missed opportunities” were things that easily moved people’s hearts.
But that was all in the future.
“I heard a song the other day: ‘Pluck the flower while it blooms, lest you find only bare branches when the flowers are gone,'” Princess Fuhui advised her. “Pluck it now, to avoid regret later.”
Regret… Shen Shaoguang imagined herself when old, with silver hair, lying on a couch by the window enjoying the cool air, hearing the maids’ cheerful chatter, seeing the brilliant starry river with the Cowherd and Weaver Girl on either side through the window—would she suddenly remember that handsome young man she met in her youth?
Probably would.
On this autumn night, in front of the autumn window with autumn rain falling, two melancholic souls sat facing each other in shared melancholy.
Shen Shaoguang took a sip of the now-cool almond milk, “Let me get you some flower dew instead, Princess. It’s made from the osmanthus flowers your manor sent earlier. I distilled some—perfect for drinking with honey at times like this.”
Princess Fuhui drank the last of her almond milk in one gulp, “No need, I’ll come back another day to try it. It’s getting late, I should go.”
The maids helped her put on her cloak and held up umbrellas. The carriage waiting under the awning outside came to a stop by the steps. Princess Fuhui got in and lifted the curtain to wave goodbye to Shen Shaoguang, who watched her carriage disappear into the night.
Back in her room, thinking about the Princess’s words, Shen Shaoguang suddenly didn’t find her logic problematic anymore but rather felt it contained a somewhat ethereal zen wisdom.
Speaking of zen wisdom, Shen Shaoguang suddenly remembered the fortune slip she drew at Qinglong Temple during New Year’s. On that slip was some monk’s verse: “Where the heart finds peace is where one belongs, where the heart reaches is where one should go.”
“Where the heart finds peace is where one belongs, where the heart reaches is where one should go”… Lying in bed, Shen Shaoguang mumbled the Princess’s words and this verse, listening to the annoying autumn rain outside, tossing and turning for quite a while before falling asleep.
The next day, after court ended, Magistrate Lin’s carriage passed by Shen’s shop and caught sight of A Yuan feeding the stray cats at the entrance—so they’re back?
Magistrate Lin changed into casual clothes and returned to Shen’s tavern, immediately smelling roasted chestnuts upon entering.
“My Lord, you’ve come at the right time! Try our roasted chestnuts.”
Seeing her smiling face, Lin also couldn’t help but smile, saying warmly, “They smell wonderful.”
Shen Shaoguang served him a small plate of chestnuts, each plump and similarly sized, reddish-brown, cracked open, exuding a caramel-chestnut fragrance. “My Lord, see how our roasted chestnuts are different from others?”
Lin went along with her words: “Indeed, they look especially glossy and fresh.”
Shen Shaoguang smiled proudly—succeeding at making candied chestnuts on the first try proved that culinary skill was truly a natural talent.
“That’s because we added the sugar just right.” Shen Shaoguang shared her chestnut-roasting expertise with him, “You must choose chestnuts of similar size—mixed sizes won’t work, as the large ones won’t cook through while the small ones burn; don’t score the raw chestnuts beforehand, or the flesh will dry out and lose this glossiness; just wait for the right heat, and the shells will naturally crack; use a large spatula to stir frequently, ensuring even distribution…” Shen Shaoguang got carried away and coughed once, “That’s how to make them uniform.”
At this time, “ensuring even distribution” didn’t have the special meaning it would have in later palace dramas. Li Bai had used similar phrases like “failing the kindness of rain and dew,” so Shen Shaoguang’s crude thoughts went unnoticed by Lin. He just found her metaphor quite interesting—A Ji always spoke so cleverly.
Looking at Magistrate Lin smiling so warmly, Shen Shaoguang remembered the characters she wrote outside Anren Ward: “Beauty worth savoring”—truly, he was a beauty worth savoring. Somehow, her mind uncontrollably recalled her previous vulgar jokes about roosters and the story of Tang Sanzang. To those female demons, Tang Sanzang must have been “beauty worth savoring”?
Such a Magistrate Lin, even if I couldn’t make ends meet, I couldn’t bear to eat him…
While Shen Shaoguang’s thoughts wandered to crude places, she said aloud: “Shall I bring you some clear tea, My Lord? Chestnuts are not easy to digest.”
Lin smiled gently: “Good.”
Lin felt today’s Young Lady seemed different from before, her eyes carrying some… Lin remembered the fox he had caught during that year’s hunt but let escape.
Shen Shaoguang set down tea for Lin. Lin asked her: “Is everything settled at Anren Ward?”
Shen Shaoguang nodded and smiled: “It’s running smoothly now.” After thinking, she added, “I’ll only need to check on it occasionally from now on.”
Lin looked at her, his eyes curving in a smile.
Shen Shaoguang raised an eyebrow—isn’t this what you meant? Worried about my hard work, wanting to see me every time you come…
Lin smiled and said: “Very good.”
Very good… Before Shen Shaoguang could think of what to say, she heard Magistrate Lin say, “I notice some of your drawings are particularly lifelike.”
Shen Shaoguang relaxed, picked up Ming Nu, and while stroking the cat, shared her amateur drawing knowledge with him about things like proportions, shadows, and different brush strokes creating different textures.
Lin had only wanted to chat with her, feeling it had been quite a while since they’d had such a peaceful conversation, but now found himself truly engaged.
Shen Shaoguang then moved on to discussing realistic and freehand styles.
Speaking of freehand style, Shen Shaoguang praised, “The lotus pond screen you sent, though just a few strokes, carries a sense of leisure and contentment, somewhat like Wang Mojie’s ‘poetry within the painting.'”
Lin couldn’t help but curl his lips in a smile—today A Ji’s words were especially sweet.
Seeing his smile, she knew she had guessed right. Shen Shaoguang was very good at flattering people—when throwing a large handful of sugar, add a pinch of salt; actually, adding some spice wouldn’t be bad either. She smiled with narrowed eyes, “I just wonder if this screen is a single piece or part of a four-season set?”
Looking at her smiling face, Lin again thought of that fox.
Author’s Note:
A-San, waving a large spatula: Hmph, talking so enthusiastically, as if Young Lady was the one who roasted the chestnuts…
Lin and Shen, immersed in discussing art (flirting): The chestnuts aren’t important.
A-San: …