Episode Thirty-Five: Turmoil in the Kitchen

Lingran couldn’t help but think again of the Scarlet Sash Young Lord, convinced that Wu Wei must have some old ties with him. But now, to ask Wu Wei to go seek his help would be utterly impossible. The man had just risked so much by falsely delivering the Prince of Xiang’s command, and soon he had to lead people back to the Prince’s residence; if the Prince refused to give him face, he could be in serious trouble! One really ought to consider things from his perspective.

“How far is the Prince of Xiang’s residence from here?” Lingran had wanted to ask Wu Wei what connection he once had with the Scarlet Sash Young Lord, but thought it too presumptuous for their acquaintance, and hardly the time or place. So she settled on a harmless question.

Wu Wei shot her a glance. “Really, so ignorant! I’m starting to think you crawled out of some mountain hollow. Everyone in the capital knows the Chancellor’s house and the Prince of Xiang’s residence are on the same street—their courtyards even connect, so it’s easy to come and go.”

“Oh…” Lingran replied, just as she saw Biqing and the others appear around the corner.

When the girls spotted Lingran, Yuan’er and Li Tangmei restrained themselves and walked at a normal pace, but Biqing dashed over, throwing her arms around Lingran and sobbing as she shook her by the neck. “I thought you were going to leave us behind!”

Lingran, moved by Biqing’s tears, found her own eyes welling up, but she grinned through it. “Hey, how could I? Didn’t we agree to share our fortunes and our troubles together?”

Yet even as she said it, she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for having refused the Scarlet Sash Young Lord’s offer earlier.

Yuan’er came over and gave her a small smile. The circles under her eyes were dark as a panda’s—Lingran saw this and felt remorseful, thinking she had gone too far.

Li Tangmei approached and bowed deeply, saying nothing but expressing her gratitude with her eyes.

Wu Wei hurried them along. “Let’s go, let’s go—the Prince’s residence is still waiting.”

“Painting Immortal?” “Young Master Wu!” Biqing and Li Tangmei exclaimed in surprise. Lingran went over to take Yuan’er’s hand, sticking out her tongue in apology, and Yuan’er began to ask about her situation.

They bade farewell to Steward Yu and the servant, and once they had walked a ways, Lingran began to boast with great flair about the excellent position she had secured—how free and pleasant it was to serve at the Lanze Mountain House, and cautioned them to be very careful at the Prince’s estate.

Biqing, for her part, was full of curiosity about how Lingran had met the Painting Immortal, pestering Wu Wei for details.

Wu Wei, more composed than Lingran, had already put aside his worries in the presence of such beauty, his face full of delight. He answered every question and even took Biqing’s hand, asking after her, promising to smooth their path.

Lingran recalled how just a moment ago he’d been jealously pouting over the Scarlet Sash Young Lord, and now he’d already forgotten her. She found his temperament both amusing and exasperating.

He escorted them all the way to the gate between the Chancellor’s and the Prince of Xiang’s estates, where several young servants stood guard. Only then did Wu Wei remember Chu Yu, straightening his expression and saying to Lingran, “You’d better head back. I’ll probably have a rough time with the Prince today, so I won’t invite you over. On a day when he’s not around, I’ll come looking for you.”

The thought of being left alone made Lingran a little sad, but she still managed a carefree salute. “No need for thanks for such a great favor. When I save up lots and lots of silver, I’ll treat you to a good drink.”

Wu Wei laughed and sidled closer, his manner both shameless and endearing. “Wonderful, you’re a girl who knows the way! Suits me perfectly. When this is all over, maybe I’ll thicken my skin and beg the Scarlet Sash Young Lord once more—to have you rewarded to me, so you can grace my study?”

“Go on, go on.” Lingran shoved him away, then pinched Biqing’s cheek, squeezed Yuan’er’s hand, patted Li Tangmei’s shoulder, and at last turned back, reluctant to part.

As she made her way back, thinking over the events of the past day or two, she found herself slowly growing cheerful again. She had thought that entering the Chancellor’s estate would be fraught with peril at every turn—who would have imagined she’d meet benefactors as soon as she stepped out? Not only had the Painting Immortal fallen from the sky to help her, even the Scarlet Sash Young Lord, whom she’d thought a pervert, turned out not to be a bad person. And her friends, who’d only just arrived, had already escaped Chu Liuxiang’s clutches by the second day!

Everything was going so smoothly—so smoothly that she could hardly believe it.

After a while, she thought again of Mo Han, who had suddenly become the Prince of Xiang’s twelfth wife, and wondered what had become of Shen Zhu, who’d scalded her foot. As for Peng Lun and the other undercover operatives, when would they appear, and would they cast her aside for not serving at Chu Liuxiang’s side?

But she didn’t worry long. The gardens of the Chancellor’s estate were breathtakingly beautiful, and she strolled along, forgetting her own fate as well as others’. Gazing at the bridges arching through the air, she thought she must try them one day for the thrill of surveying the view from above.

She wandered for so long she almost lost her way, but after asking a few maids, she finally found the kitchen by the great lake—just in time for dinner. She was assigned to a table with several women who cooked for the lady of the house, and, judging by their secretive manners, the food turned out to be quite good.

Lingran put her sweet tongue to work, calling each woman “sister-in-law” or “auntie.” After they learned she worked at Lanze Mountain House, they exchanged glances, as if unwilling to offend her but not eager to draw close, and returned to eating in silence.

Lingran found it odd. When Madam Li had assigned her this post, her manner hadn’t suggested it was a good place. What was going on?

She had only eaten a few bites when two maids entered, each wearing a different patterned jacket and carrying a tray with a large bowl. They looked about eighteen or nineteen and strode in with an air of authority. As soon as they stepped inside, a woman at the table in her forties hurried to greet them with a smile. “Oh, what wind brings Miss Qingqiu and Miss Shiqian to our humble kitchen? If Lady Chifeng has instructions, a junior maid would have sufficed.”

But before she finished speaking, one of the maids snatched the bowl from the other’s hands and, without warning, dumped its contents over the woman’s head.

In an instant, the woman was covered in sticky mess, and those nearby scrambled to fetch cloths to clean her.

“What sort of people do you think you are, passing off inferior shark’s fin as the real thing for the young lady’s table? Today we’re here to see just who’s been pilfering and eating for themselves! If we find any stolen goods, you’ll be dragged before Aunt Tantai, and she’ll beat you old foxes within an inch of your lives!” snapped the maid, her face set in a steely scowl, her manner as fierce as Lady Wang Xifeng herself.

The woman, swallowing her anger, wiped her face and replied, “I, Tao Chunying, have worked in this kitchen for nearly twenty years. However lacking I may be in sense, I’d never dare tamper with the young lady’s food. Miss Qingqiu, this is a terrible injustice—please, inspect the place and see if anything is hidden.”

Lingran thought it strange. These two maids had come with a show of force, and she dared not sit brazenly at the table any longer, so she slipped quietly into a corner. She thought to herself: Isn’t it said that Chancellor Chu has only one son, Chu Yu? Where did this young lady suddenly come from?