Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 74

Xia Heng turned around. A man carrying several packets of medicine was looking at her.

“Were you calling me?”

For a moment, Xia Heng could not remember who he was. He merely looked somewhat familiar.

Pei Che smiled at the confusion in her eyes. She truly had not remembered him at all.

Only when Xia Heng saw his smiling, peach-blossom eyes did a vague memory surface.

“Oh! You’re the man from that day who—”

“Shh.”

Pei Che stepped closer and rested one forefinger against his lips.

“Please spare this servant a little dignity, Miss. Let me finish buying my things first.”

Xia Heng nodded, though she remained confused.

Was deboning meat somehow a shameful profession?

Pei Che purchased several lengths of cotton cloth with practiced ease, while Xia Heng bought the sulfur and tobacco leaves she needed.

They left the general store together.

“I did not expect to encounter you here. We must be fated to meet,” Pei Che said with a smile.

“We must be! Hahaha! We were all drunk that day and didn’t even thank you before we left.

“Business at your establishment must be good lately, right? The weather is cold, so more people should be eating mutton!”

Xia Heng answered with her usual forthright cheer.

Pei Che paused.

“You still do not seem to know what sort of establishment we run.”

“Don’t you sell mutton hot pot?” Xia Heng asked in confusion.

She had wondered about something after returning home. Mo Bai had explicitly forbidden her and Xiao Yaqing from ever taking Chuqing to Fengyue Pavilion again.

Could the mutton there have been stale?

Pei Che smiled in understanding.

“Fengyue Pavilion is a famous establishment in the capital where women seek pleasure. When you ladies asked us to help debone the meat that day, I suspected you might not know. It seems I was right.”

“Ah… I see…”

This was spectacularly awkward!

Xiao Yaqing, could you be any less reliable? I truly have no words!

No wonder Mo Bai had glared at her for two days after they returned, as though every part of her offended him.

This was so awkward that she had no idea what to do. Perhaps she should apologize first.

“Ah… We didn’t know. I’m sorry! But the mutton there truly was delicious!”

“The owner specially hired a chef from the northwest and uses only lamb, so naturally it tastes better than what you would find elsewhere,” Pei Che replied.

Privately, he was surprised. This was not the reaction he had expected.

Would an ordinary woman not be dying of shame or flying into a rage by now? Yet this one could calmly continue discussing whether their mutton tasted good.

“I knew there had to be a reason it smelled so wonderful!”

Xia Heng nodded, then pointed at the paper packets in his hands.

“Wait, is that medicine? Are you ill?”

The smile in Pei Che’s eyes faded slightly.

“I suffered a minor injury. It is nothing serious.”

“You’re hurt?”

Xia Heng’s eyes widened.

“No wonder your face looks so pale! I thought you were simply cold.”

Pei Che shook his head with a bitter smile.

“In my profession, injuries are commonplace. As long as I get to keep this miserable life of mine, that is enough.”

Xia Heng moved her lips but did not know how to comfort him. After thinking for a moment, she offered a suggestion.

“You’ve heard about the alcohol that recently appeared in the capital, haven’t you?

“If you have an open wound, buy some and use it to clean the injury. It will hurt a little, but it does help. Once the wound is clean, apply your medicine. It should heal faster afterward…”

Pei Che listened carefully and promised to try it. Then he changed the subject.

“Do you serve at the General’s Mansion of Northern Pacification?”

Xia Heng answered a little sheepishly, “Yes. I’m only a servant. I came out to buy a few things today.”

As she spoke, she lifted the many bags in her hands.

Pei Che looked at the flatbreads, sugar cakes, and other purchases she carried.

“You have bought quite a lot, so I will not delay you any longer. These will not taste as good once they grow cold.”

“It’s fine. We’ll have to warm them before eating them anyway. But I really should go. Everyone at the mansion is waiting for me.”

Xia Heng smiled.

“Next time we meet, though, you don’t have to call yourself ‘this servant.’ I’m a servant too.

“Remember to buy some alcohol. See you again!”

Pei Che watched as she waved to him despite the bags filling her hands, then walked away.

The smile in his peach-blossom eyes deepened.

“Until we meet again.”

* * *

Mo Bai was waiting when Xia Heng returned to the mansion.

Seeing her laden with bags, he helped unload everything before saying, “The General will accompany His Majesty to the Winter Hunt the day after tomorrow. You and Chuqing will attend him again. Mo Qing and I will be there as well.

“We’ll stay for three days. Think about what you need to bring, then tell me. Mo Qing and I will prepare it in advance.”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “We’ll have a carriage this time, so ask for whatever you need. And this is from Chef Xiang.”

He picked up the pot he had just set on the ground and handed it over.

“Oh? Isn’t this the little pot I asked for last time? Didn’t Chef Xiang say we didn’t have one?”

“Chef Xiang had a blacksmith he knows make it especially for you… He said you were never again to embarrass yourself by carrying that pastry tin outside.”

Mo Bai sounded helpless.

Xia Heng did not care. Having a real pot was wonderful! It would be far more convenient than that pastry tin with no handle.

She cradled the new pot and admired it lovingly for quite a while. Then, after asking exactly where they were going and how many people would attend, she said, “I’ll make a list later and bring it to you when I’m done.”

Mo Bai acknowledged her and turned to leave.

Xia Heng stopped him, wrapped up some of the pastries she had bought, and asked him to share them with Mo Qing, Deputy General Zhang, and the others.

She also told him to send Chuqing over if he saw her.

After Mo Bai left, Xia Heng called Zhao Die and the others into her room to divide the snacks.

“Big Sister, why is one candied hawthorn missing?” Wude asked.

Busy writing her list, Xia Heng did not even lift her head.

“Oh, I couldn’t resist and ate one on the way.”

“Oh!”

Wude paid it no mind and bit into one. His little face immediately twisted from the sourness.

Zhao Die did not notice him. She was too busy scolding Xia Heng.

“I knew we shouldn’t let you go out alone. Did you buy all that sulfur because you plan to brew an immortality elixir?

“You hadn’t even done the important shopping yet, but you bought a mountain of food.”

“People get hungry while working! I rarely get a chance to go out. Of course I had to buy more!”

Xia Heng argued shamelessly and pushed away the candied hawthorn Wude held toward her mouth.

Chuqing arrived soon afterward.

“Ah! Sugar-glazed fried twists! These are my favorite. Wude, you should try one too!”

Chuqing took one for herself and handed another to Wude. Wude naturally passed her the candied hawthorn in his hand.

“We’ll be sleeping outdoors during the Winter Hunt in a few days. It gets terribly cold at the foot of the mountain, so we need thick clothes!”

Chuqing reminded her between bites.

Xia Heng thoughtfully looked toward her fur coat. Chuqing followed her gaze and rolled her eyes.

“You can’t wear that. Someone might mistake you for a bear and shoot you.”

She bit into Wude’s candied hawthorn. Her expression instantly froze, and her gaze slid toward the boy.

Wude had lowered his head and was happily eating his large fried twist with both hands.

Qiulin arrived soon afterward. She looked at the food covering the table.

“…Didn’t Uncle Zhao say you went out to buy supplies for the garden?”

“These were incidental. Incidental.”

Xia Heng added “thick clothes” to her list, then, after thinking, wrote “thick quilt” beneath it.

“I cannot go this time,” Qiulin said. She was unusually talkative as she warned the other two. “You must both be careful and remain alert. If anything feels wrong, find Mo Qing or Mo Bai.”

“Oh, we know, Third Sister! I’ll be there too. Don’t worry!”

As Chuqing spoke, she pulled a hawthorn from the skewer and stuffed it into Qiulin’s mouth.

Qiulin had been about to say more, but the moment she bit into the fruit, she fell silent.

“Bring some food as well,” Zhao Die added. “Take some of the pastries you bought today. You can fill your stomach with them on the road.”

“Right. And some dried fruit. That’s easy to pack.”

Xia Heng wrote “pastries, dried fruit” on the paper.

Qiulin took the candied hawthorn from Chuqing, walked to Zhao Die, and held it to her lips.

“One each.”

Without thinking much of it, Zhao Die bit one off.

“Wear that thick padded coat this time,” Zhao Siyan said. “Will one be enough? Do you want to borrow mine too?”

She accepted the candied hawthorn as she spoke.

“No need! No one can be that unlucky. I’ll bring the thinner one as a spare. My period just ended, so the next one is still a month away.”

Xia Heng shook her head.

“Mm! This candied hawthorn is so sweet!”

Xia Heng looked over.

“Sweet?”

“Yes! It’s the sweetest candied hawthorn I’ve ever eaten. They used so much sugar. It must have been expensive, right?”

As Zhao Siyan spoke, she ate another, leaving only the final fruit on the skewer.

“No. It was only two copper coins. The one I ate wasn’t sweet at all,” Xia Heng said in confusion.

“Could yours have been the only sour one? Why don’t you try this?”

Zhao Siyan offered her the final fruit.

Xia Heng examined everyone’s expressions. They all seemed to think it tasted quite good.

Still half suspicious, she accepted the hawthorn, put it into her mouth, and chewed.

“You! All of you!”

Zhao Die and Zhao Siyan lunged for the sweet pastries on the table at the same time.

“Ptooey!”

“I’ve never eaten candied hawthorn this sour!”

Qiulin silently grabbed a piece of sugar cake. Wude and Chuqing continued stuffing their mouths with sugar-glazed fried twists.

Tears streamed down Xia Heng’s face from the sourness.

“You’ve all turned bad!”

Not one person in the room paid her any attention.