Unfortunately the doomed Empress is the sister of General Wei Qing, the aunt of General Huo Qubing. The doomed crown prince, son of Empress Wei, is now only four years old.
With all the glories General Wei’s family enjoys tonight, how many of them have ever thought of the day being beheaded, being hung, or being murdered?
While Niang is taking a nap, I put on my apron. By now, everyone in my family has one. We all put them when we go to work. They are much easier to wash and dry.
The reproduction of fish still bothers me. If we don’t help in that process, the amount of fish will not be able to sustain the regular capture. Using bamboo net, I take two fish out and put them in the wood bucket filled with water. I remember seeing how to extract eggs or sperms out by massaging the fish. But I just don’t feel like doing it. I can easily stand working on earthworms, as long as I don’t have any physical contact with them. But to breed the fish, I have to touch them and touching is something I have hard time with.
So I just sit there, stare at the fish and think about a way to get Ponu or Jinu do it.
“Hey, what’s going on?” A cheerful voice comes behind me.
I turn back and see the Xiongnu walking towards me. He looks good and well. Wearing Hanfu, a long silk garment cross–collared in front, with a belt around the waist, he looks quite dashing. Long black hair, with a simple silk tie in the back, flowing around as he walks. A jade pendant hangs from his belt. If I don’t know better, he can be easily passed as a Han.
Such a flamboyant entrance, I say to myself. But I am very glad seeing him.
“Ah-ha, you are still alive.”
He laughs loudly at my greeting. He does not say anything, just stops by me, looks around, finds a flat spot and sits right next to me, without any concern if his silk garment will be ruined or not.
“I have been coming here often trying to meet you again.” He says. “That day, you just left without a word. We were so worried. Why did you leave in such a quiet and secretive way?”
I give him a glance. “I was forced to go there, under a sharp sword, remember that?”
He laughs again. He seems in a very good mood. “I did force you to go there. But I did not force you to sew me like a piece of cloth.”
“Well, that is my revenge.”
“That’s so mean of you.” He gives an exaggerated frown while a smile is obvious. “With a scar like that, I won’t even dare to take off my clothes in front of my women now.”
“…”
He laughs at my speechlessness.
“Now you make me wonder if I have done the right thing.” I roll my eyes.
“That’s true.” He does not get the hint. “When the girls at Pear Spring saw my back, they were all freaked out.”
“What is Pear Spring?” I ask him.
“Oh…oh…” He stutters. “That’s a place for people … negotiating business.”
I laugh at his obvious lie. Although I’ve never heard of Pear Spring, but I can guess what kind of place it is from his sudden stutter.
He shows no embarrassment.
“Why don’t you take off your gown and let me take a look at your wound.” I say to him. I want to see how it has progressed. Honestly, I was quite concerned on infection and I am really surprised to see him recover so fast.
“Now? Here?” He questions.
“It’s up to you.” I chuckle.
He hesitates a little, then reluctantly loose his belt and let the garment slide down to his waist.
With his garment down, I can see the clear muscle definition on his upper body. This is not a homeboy with bunch of fat hanging over, instead, he is definite someone with regular exercise. Last time when I saw him, he was covered in blood. Now in broad daylight, I can see his lean and toned muscle. I walk to his back and move his black hair away, I check on his wound. It does look prominent and hideous.
Oh, my nasty stitch skill! But it is recovering nicely. Still a bit red, but that’s just a part of the recovering phase.
“It looks very good. Doctor Liu must have taken a good care of you.” I gesture him to put on his shirt and gown.
“He has been feeding me a lot of bitter herb tonic. My taste buds have been totally ruined. Everything tastes bitter to me now.” He tells me while putting back his clothes on. “Doctor Liu has been looking for you every day. Be prepared to see him very soon.”
“Could you please not to tell him where I am?” I frown upon the possibility running into Doctor Liu again. As a doctor, he is an absolute responsible and studious one. But…
“I will be in a lot of trouble. I really cannot explain. Please help me keep this a secret?” I beg him.
“Why?” He asks while putting back his belt on. “The skill you have is so impressive. You will be treasured.”
“I cannot explain. Please promise me you won’t tell anybody about this and please tell your friends don’t let anybody know about this either. The suture is not a guaranteed operation, especially without proper sanitation. I did that to you was just because doctor Liu said you were going to die anyway.”
He raises his eyebrows. “So you just gambled on my luck?”
“In a way I did. If it happens again, I probably won’t have the guts to do it.”
“Well, everyone has secrets.” He says it in a thoughtful way. “I will see what I can do to keep others quiet.”
“Thank you.”
“I should thank you for saving my life. My name is Zhao Yan.” He says, “What is yours?”
“Shiaonu.”
“What is your family name?”
“Zhao”
“We share the same family name.” He lets out a big grin.
Is he kidding? Xiongnu don’t have last name. “How did you get a last name as Zhao?” I ask.
“From my mom. She was a Han.”
“Just like my brother.” I murmur to myself. They are both half Han and half Xiongnu.
“Shiaonu,” he says, “is there anything I can do for you? I own you my life. So if there is anything I can do, I will do it for you.”
“Sure.” I answer it quickly. “You can help me massage the fish.”
I put my apron on him and help him roll up his sleeves. Under my instruction, he has performed the artificial breeding for the fish. I explain to him while he is working on it.
“If this works for fish, do you think it will work for Cattle or sheep?”
“The theory should be the same, helping animals getting pregnant artificially. But the technics are different. I only know about fish because I have seen somebody do it. I know nothing about cattle or sheep. “
“Please think about that.” He says. “If we can improve our cattle or sheep, we will be much better off. “
“What do you think I can do?” I laugh. “My family don’t even own a cow or a ewe. And you think I have nothing better to do, but studying the reproduction process of your herd?”
He laughs too. “I can give you some cattle and some sheep. These two types of animals are the one my family owns most. Maybe you can think of something.”
“Nah. I do not know how to take care of cattle or sheep. I’d like to have milk, but I don’t want to take care them.”
“Then take them and you will have all the milk you want.” He continues. “I manage a fur store for my family in Chang’an. If you need to get hold of me, you can always send a message there. And they will notify me right away.”
“Thank you.” I say. “I have noticed you don’t use your right arm a lot. Have you followed the exercise Doctor Liu told you? If you don’t want to have permanent damage, you’d better work on it.”
“I will.” He says and then pulls out a small purse from his pocket. “Here is something for you.”
I open the purse and see a beautiful green jade bracelet.
“It is so beautiful. “
The green is so rich and fluid. It almost like it’s moving inside. “I wish I can have it. But I really can’t.”
He won’
t listen. “I have carried it with me for so long. Please take it. I really like to see you wear it.”
I shake my head and insist giving it back to him. “Thank you. But I really cannot accept it. I cannot explain to my family how I suddenly get an expensive jade bracelet like this.”
He stares at me for a while, then seems understand. He sighs and takes it back.
“Please, what you just did with the fish is more helpful than giving me a jade bracelet.” Hate to see him disappointed like that, I try to cheer him up.
“No problem. “He raises his eyebrows quickly with a smirk. “Let me know when you need to do it again and I will be here.”
He walks away with his head high.
I see a one-horse carriage waiting for him outside the bamboo woods.
The mooncake and jello are a big success. Not only Emperor Wu rewarded us with five gold ingots, Empress Wei sent special gifts to me when she found out I was the one initially made them. The gifts to me are put on a nice wood tray. They are beautiful silk fabrics and a set of silver jewelry: a pair of ear rings, a hair pin, and a bracelet.
“Are these really to me?” I ask. “From Empress herself?”
“Yes.” Papa seems have gotten over the excitement. “Empress Wei loves jello and mooncakes so much that she wanted to hire you to work in Royal Kitchen. Fortunately, General Wei stopped her by telling her that you do not even know how to do a curtsy, not to mention you are still a crying baby.”
“Empress Wei was also amazed that you’d rather be in barefoot than wearing clogs.” Ponu adds one.
“And you can’t sit on your heels at all.” Jinu adds one more.
I bury my head in my palms. “I am the number one vulgar person now in Han.” Who needs a name like this?
Seeing my frustration, Jinu talks to me seriously. “You should thank General Wei for saying those things. Otherwise, you might end up working in Royal Kitchen for the rest of your life.”
I chew on what Jinu said. In Han, Emperor, Empress, Royal Concubines, even the average officials can easily decide life or death for commoners like us. Hired by Royal Kitchen is a big favor, especially from Empress herself. But once you are hired, you lose the freedom and become a high paid slave.
“In that case, General Wei really did me a big favor. I really do not want to stay in Palace for the rest of my life.” To me, there is no difference living in a royal palace than living in jail. I’d prefer my freedom over anything else.
“He has been a caring person all along.” Papa says. “Always kind and considerate. Everyone in the army admire him so much that they will die for him.”
I sigh on Papa’s comment. “I heard General Wei used to be a slave.”
“He had a tough time when he grew up.” Papa doesn’t want to talk anything bad about General Wei. But it has been open knowledge. Even General Wei himself admitted he used to be a stable boy and his daily prayer was that not to get whiplashed and could live to see the sun next day.
General Wei was an illegitimate kid from an extra-marital affair. His mother was a slave in Princess Pingyang’s household, and his father was a low-ranking official. Young General Wei first lived in his father’s household, where he was treated as a house born slave. He was a shepherd working for his father. Unable to stand the abuse any more, at the age of nine, young General Wei, escaped from his own father’s home and walked 1,000 LI (310 miles) on foot, with just the knowledge that his mother is a slave for Princess Pingyang. Without any money, without any direction, and without an address, General Wei has successfully managed to reunite with his mother and other half-brothers and half-sisters.
“Life has been tough to him.” I utter my comment about General Wei.
Everybody laughs at me. “Shiaonu really likes General Wei. No wonder he was so protective of you in front of Emperor and Empress.” Jinu smiles. “When he knew our plan of opening a store in town, he suggested us open the store in Capital Chang’an instead.”
“Really?” That is a big news.
“Yes, he even asked one of his house manager to find us a storefront. “ Papa nods.
“So we are going to open a store in Chang’an?”
“That is for sure now.” Papa confirms. “General Wei told everyone at the Royal Banquet.”
That is so awesome. I couldn’t help clapping my hands to celebrate the good news.
“There is more news.” Jinu says.
“More? What can be possibly more?” I ask.
Papa and Jinu turn to Ponu, who has been strangely quiet since they came home.
“What is it? Something about Ponu?” I ask.
None of them say anything for a while until Ponu raises his head toward Niang.
“Niang,” he says. “I am going to join Imperial Guards.”
I muffle my scream by quickly cover my mouth.
How could I ever miss this? I should have known it a long time ago.
Ponu, my brother, will be General Zhao Ponu in history.
7 fiancée
The realization of who Ponu really is has silenced me. I knew a few things about his life in history, which has been shadowed by the glories from General Wei Qing and General Huo Qubing. According to the limited historical records, he has been friend with General Huo Qubing since they both have been imperial guards. Ponu will later be promoted to General and he will lead troops and will conquer the Kingdom of Loulan, a very important country along the Silk Road.
He has been my closest friend, companion and family member. Although he is two years older than me, but I have always thought him as my younger brother. His forgetfulness, his absent-mindedness, and his very short attention span sometimes drives me crazy. When I complain, he just grins at me with the ‘puppy eyes’ look. He tolerates my mood swings, my messiness and my spur-of-the-moment ideas. Because of his tolerance, I have used him shamelessly.
Now everything is different. He is no longer just my brother, nor just a historical figure. I have a hard time sorting them out. I want to treat him as the same as before, but I am afraid of the consequences caused by what I say or what I do. I want to be the history witness, the observant by-stander, not the interferer.
Fortunately, my elusiveness did not ignite any curiosity since everyone in my family has been busy. Ponu went to training camp the very next day after Mid-Autumn festival. Papa and Niang spent most of their times in Chang’an trying to get the store ready for business. The house manager of General Wei found us a store. It comes with a living quarter right behind the storefront. Jinu went back to his blacksmith shop.
So that left me alone at home to attend our animals. Luckily after the harvesting, there is really nothing need to do in our fields.
Niang has asked our neighbors to watch over me. They have done a good job by checking on me regularly. During the day, I go out by the lake to make sure our ducks and fish are fine and bring the duck eggs home. Then I come home, lock the front door and work on the recipes for the store.
Since we have decided to sell Dian Xin, dim sum, I have searched my memory for all the dim sum dishes I have made. Not too many can be replicated. The main reason is the lacking of ingredients. So many food items are missing. Without basic ingredients like soy sauce, white sugar, olive oil, I have to improvise, by either using substitute or creating something new. These Dian Xin also have to be made in the store. I have thought about building an earth oven to make some bread, cake and other types of pastries, but that requires many rounds of testing and experimenting. It has to wait until we have our store open in business.
So for the initial Dian Xin, I have limited cooking methods to just steaming and frying. Besides mooncake and jello, I have also included steamed chicken buns, steamed pork buns, dumpling with Chives, and dumpling with minced chicken, taro cakes, green bean cake, sweet rice and pork in lotus leaf, deep fried minced meat turnover and deep fried red bean balls. All of them can be made ahead of the time or being made during the day.
All food will be served in uniquely designed bamb
oo steamers, carved with our store name. Every steamer is made in same-size with three side hooks, which makes them easy to stack and easy to carry.
Papa has signed a contract with a supplier. And Jinu, with his immensely efficient brain, has already figured out how much stoves we need and how many people we need to hire.
The products of my experimenting have been shared with our welcoming neighbors. I will get daily knocking on my door by children asking if there is any new experiment for the day. So I made some hard candies from brown sugar as treats. And it is getting so popular, Papa says we should sell it in our store as well.
When Niang or Papa goes back to Chang’an, I always ask them to bring my newly created dishes to Ponu, General Wei and Huo Qubing. For latter, I sincerely hope my effort will soften him up.
I hear the knocking on the door right after I had dinner. I thought it might be neighboring kids again. But this time, it comes as a surprise.
“Ni Hao,” I say hello to the well-dressed visitors: a middle aged woman and a young guy almost the same age as Jinu. “Can I help you?”
“Is this Zhao Family?” the woman asks without looking at me, but a quick scan of what behind me.
“Yes.” I don’t like the way she talks without looking into your eyes.
She then walks right by me into our front yard. “Go get your parents, we can only stay for a very short time.”
I could not stop her and her company.
She walks directly to the wooden platform underneath the tree and sits down comfortably.
“Go get some tea for us. If you don’t have tea, get us some water. We are quite thirsty and exhausted.” She says to me.
I go to the kitchen and bring them two bowl of water.
“May I know who you are?” I ask while the woman drinking the water. The young guy did not touch it.
My Soul is in the Sky Page 6