Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard c1-234

by N/A

  Ji Liu Feng walked over. Upon seeing the things in the bowls, he asked, "What are you making here? This troublesome."

  "Preserved egg and lean meat porridge." Du Xiao Li replied.

  "Preserved egg and lean meat porridge? What porridge is that?" Ji Liu Feng continued to ask.

  "It's porridge made using these things!" Du Xiao Li said. She lifted open the pot lid and used a wooden ladle to check the rice. She then had the preserved egg and mushroom poured in.

  Right after, she had the pot used for stir-frying washed clean, placed onto the other stove, and added some water. She then took out some eggplants, quickly peeled the skin, and afterwards, threw the entire thing into the pot, using the water to boil.

  "Luo Qi, go take out one of the salted hare that I fixed up last time." Du Xiao Li said to Luo Qi.

  "Okay." Luo Qi turned around, entered the house, and brought out a hare. After washing it, he handed it to Du Xiao Li.

  "Thank you." Du Xiao Li took the hare, had it cut into four pieces, and placed it into a basin. Afterwards, she began preparing the other dishes again.

  When the porridge was almost done, the ground meat was poured in. A while later, she let Luo Qi have the pot carried to the side. She then added some green onions into the pot.

  Afterwards, she had the other pot placed onto the stove, and placed the hare on top to steam, letting Luo Qi pay attention to the fire, while she concentrated on the other stove.

  She had the boiled eggplants fished up, and added the seasoning she fixed up in her free time. Afterwards, she put the intact eggplants directly into the pot and began stir-frying. And when the outer layer of the eggplant browned, she took it out of the pot. Then, heating up some oil, she had the green peppers poured in to stir-fry, and after the seasoning is added, it's taken out of the pot.

  (T/N: I think the author was confused when she wrote the above paragraph, because it made no sense in the original, I'm assuming she just stir-fried eggplant and green peppers.)

  Leng Er and the others had already moved the table out into the courtyard. Du Xiao Li had Leng Er carry the cooked eggplants and green peppers over. Afterwards, with some diced green peppers and meat slices, she cooked up a twice-cooked pork. When this dish was done, she finally extinguished the fire under the stove.

  (Twice Cooked Pork)

  "Smells so good!" Leng Er looked to the three dishes on the table, and took a big sniff.

  "Luo Qi, bring out the bowls and chopsticks to wash." Du Xiao Li was checking to see if the hare was cooked.

  "Okay." Luo Qi replied, and went into the house to bring out the bowls and chopsticks.

  Han Ming Yi glanced to Leng Er, and Leng Er hurriedly went forward, taking the bowls and chopsticks from Luo Qi's hands. "You're someone that's injured. Just let me take care of these things." After saying this, he went to go wash the bowls and chopsticks, muttering in his heart, 'Why do I feel young master is eating vinegar?'

  Eating vinegar?!

  Leng Er sweated inside. Don't tell me young master likes this little girl?! He secretly glanced at Han Ming Yi, not noticing anything unusual. He finally pressed his inner thoughts back down.

  After washing clean the bowls and chopsticks, Du Xiao Li also made him carry the preserved eggs and lean meat porridge over, giving every person a bowl of the porridge. She then cut up the hare meat, before finally carrying it over and sitting down together with them.

  "Smells good." Ji Liu Feng looked to the simply-made dishes, and couldn't help directly drooling.

  Although she tried moving as fast as possible, the sky still grew dark. Lighting the lamp, the faint yellow light shone on everyone's face, appearing tranquil and warm.

  "The dishes are rather simple, everyone just make do with them." Du Xiao Li said, afterwards drinking a mouthful of porridge herself. Although this was her first time making it since coming here, the taste was still the same as before, making one reminisce. Of course, if she could've had the mushrooms replaced with shittake, then it would've be even better.

  "Girl, couldn't tell that your skills are this good!" Leng Er drank some porridge, ate a piece of twice-cooked pork, and exclaimed in admiration.

  "If the mushrooms in the preserved egg and lean meat porridge can be changed with shiitake, add some vinegar to the 'tiger skin peppers', and the hare meat have some chili powder as seasoning, then it'll be even better." Du Xiao Li explained what every dished lacked.

  (Tiger Skin Peppers, aka that green pepper and eggplant dish)

  "It's already very delicious." Luo Qi was elegantly gnawing on a bone, when he heard Du Xiao Li's words, and stopped to comment.

  Han Ming Yi lifted his head and glanced at Du Xiao Li, following which he lowered his head again, silently drinking his porridge. His gaze flickered, unsure as to what he was thinking about.

  T/N: It's 3AM and I got so hungry translating this chapter. No wonder it takes her forever to make dinner, cooking up a freaking feast here. Also, due to a very generous sponsor, Madam Daim, there will be 6 additonal sponsored chapter. I'm going to try finishing 2 sponsored chapters every day for FRI-SUN. This will be on top of the regular chapters. Stay tuned!

  Ch. 039 – Big Brother's Return

  Big Brother's Return

  This meal, everyone all ate till they were very full. That half a pot of porridge was cleanly finished, and even the vegetables were all eaten. Leng Er rubbed his round stomach, saying: "Girl, your cooking is really just too delicious. I'm about to burst!"

  "Young master, it's very late." Leng Yi said.

  "Then let's go back." Han Ming Yi glance to Luo Qi again, and left with his hands behind his back.

  Du Xiao Li looked to Han Ming Yi's appearance and said, "Just a child, yet imitating adults with his hands behind his back."

  Luo Qi helped clean up the dishes and upon hearing her words, said, "He's about twelve or thirteen, right? Twelve year old boys can already be considered adults. Some wealthy families' young masters, at this age, have already started having bed-warming servant girls."

  Du Xiao Li's mouth twitched. "Isn't this still too young?! Luo Qi, did you also have bed-warming servant girls and whatnot?"

  "Me?" Luo Qi's body froze and said, "I might, or I might not have, I also don't know."

  Sweat. "I forgot that you don't remember." Du Xiao Li placed the bowls and chopsticks into the pot and used water to soak, saying: "Just leave the dishes here, we can wash them tomorrow."

  "Okay." Luo Qi nodded. Right now, they couldn't see, even if they tried to wash, it might not necessarily get cleaned.

  "Guess we can only use cold water to bathe today." Du Xiao Li said, and used a wooden bucket to fill a bucket of water.

  Luo Qi walked over and said, "Let me do it."

  "En?" Du Xiao Li didn't understand Luo Qi's meaning, but he'd already placed his hand onto the bucket and began using his inner energy. A moment later, the bucket of water turned into warm water.

  "Done." Luo Qi stood up and said.

  Du Xiao Li was stupefied by what Luo Qi did. There's actually such a miraculous thing!

  "Go ahead and take a bath, I'll go inside." Luo Qi moved the water bucket to the place where Du Xiao Li normally takes a bath in the courtyard. Then, he turned and returned back inside.

  Du Xiao Li finally returned to her sense. She didn't except that this inner energy could also be used like this! However, fortunately, Luo Qi recovered quite well, else today, she would've had to take a cold water bath.

  After washing the grease smell and sweat off herself, Du Xiao Li felt alive again. She returned back to her own room, and practiced according to the books again, all the way until the latter half of the night, before she finally went to sleep.

  There was still a period of time before the tangerines matured, so Du Xiao Li went with Luo Qi into the mountains to let him teach her martial arts, and to dig up some medical herbs if they see any.

  Once things became clear in her head, Du Xiao Li progress in martial arts advanced very quickly, and very
soon, also got the gist of qinggong. In the following few days, she would go into the mountains in the morning to practice martial arts and dig for herbs, in the afternoon stay at home and read that medical book, and at night practice controlling her inner energy.

  Han Ming Yi would come visit Du Xiao Li's place with Ji Liu Feng and the others everyday towards the evening. The excuse was letting Leng Er come water Du Xiao Li's grape saplings for her.

  Every time Ji Liu Feng saw Han Ming Yi's appearance, he would always cover his mouth and secretly laugh, yet would never say anything.

  These kinds of days lasted until Du Xiu Heng came back on break.

  Du Xiao Li knew that Du Xiu Heng would come home today, so she didn't go into the mountains. After getting out of bed, she practiced some of her martial arts from her past life, then picked up the broom and prepared to clean the courtyard.

  "What kind of fighting technique was that just now?" Luo Qi, who'd came out at an unknown time, was standing below the eaves.

  "Fighting technique? What fighting technique?" Du Xiao Li puzzlingly asked, "I was just following along the feeling and randomly did some moves."

  Luo Qi half-believing and half-skeptically said, "Your natural talent in martial arts is very high. Do you want to learn other martial arts from me?"

  "You want to be my shifu?" Du Xiao Li asked.

  (T/N: My philosophy is if there's a wikipedia article for the term in english, I'm leaving it in pinyin.)

  "Shifu?" Luo Qi rather didn't think to this level, and quickly shook his head, saying: "I'm still this young. I don't want to be called shifu, it'll make me sound old. You can call me big brother."

  Recently, after getting along in this period of time, he got infected by Du Xiao Li's ordinary, yet comfortable lifestyle, and unconsciously started treating her like a younger sister. That's why, compared to shifu, he was more willing to let her call himself big brother.

  "Big brother Luo Qi." Du Xiao Li obediently called out.

  A convenient big brother; a waste to not want.

  "En, later, I'll teach you some other types of martial arts." Luo Qi, upon hearing Du Xiao Li call himself big brother, felt very good inside, and replied with a smile.

  "Okay."

  When it was about noon, Du Xiu Heng finally came home. He said hello to the currently cooking Du Xiao Li, before heading towards his own room, planning to put away the things he brought back.

  "Who are you?" As soon as Du Xiu Heng entered his room, he saw Luo Qi lying on the bed, and asked in surprised.

  "You must be Xiao Li's big brother, right?" Luo Qi sat up and asked.

  "I am, and who are you? Why are you in my house?" Du Xiu Heng vigilantly looked to Luo Qi.

  "Big brother, come out for a moment." Du Xiao Li called out from outside.

  Du Xiu Hen glanced to Luo Qi, then turned and left. When he saw Du Xiao Li, he asked, "Who is he? How did you end up with a man in the house?"

  Pfft---

  Du Xiao Li nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. What did he mean, 'end up with a man in the house?' Saying it like she was hiding a male adulterer.

  She had Luo Qi's matter explained from front to back. Silver, who was next Du Xiao Li's foot, also howled at Du Xiu Heng, seemingly matching with Du Xiao Li's words.

  "It's really like that?" Du Xiu Heng looked to Luo Qi who'd came out from inside.

  "Of course it's like that." Du Xiao Li pulled Du Xiu Heng over to a stool and sat him down. She took out two tangerines from inside the house and said, "Big brother Luo Qi lost his memories, don't know who he is, and don't where his home is either. How dangerous would it be if he left like this? That's why, for the time being, he'll live at our house." Seeing Du Xiu Heng still with a stiffened expression, she crouched down by his side, and shook his leg, saying, "Besides, since you're not home, having an adult in the house can also help me work, right? I still plan to have the tangerine trees transplanted onto our mountain in the autumn. This far of a distance, how can I bring it back by myself? This tangerine is what big brother Luo Qi and I specially went into the mountains to pick for you yesterday. It's already somewhat sweetened now, have a taste and see how it is."

  After slowly coaxing him, Du Xiu Heng's complexion finally returned to normal. Du Xiao Li couldn't help sighing inside. She was still just a small child, why did this big brother think that much?! In modern times, this wouldn't even be considered a trivial matter. Why when it comes to Du Xiu Heng, it was the same as an enormous problem?!

  Du Xiu Heng although accepted the matter of Luo Qi living at home, his complexion was still ugly. However, it was fortunate that Luo Qi was a rather easy-going person, and didn't because of Du Xiu Heng's cold face, get angry. After getting along for half a day, Du Xiu Heng instead became very admiring of Luo Qi's talent.

  "This guy, forgetting who he is, yet didn't forget all the ink in his stomach." Du Xiao Li watched the to the two speaking casually to one another, and muttered.

  (T/N: 'Ink in stomach' is referring to literary skills.)

  When it was almost evening, Du Xiao Li took Du Xiu Heng to go look at the grapes she planted. Although some died, under her meticulous care, about two-thirds survived.

  "You really did grow them successfully! In the future, when you want to eat grapes, you won't need to run that far. Was the grape wine you fermented last time successful?" Du Xiu Heng exclaimed in admiration.

  "Aiyaa, I forgot that the grape wine is ready now!" Du Xiao Li had been busy everyday with practicing martial arts and digging herbs that she'd long forgotten about the grape wine! If not for Du Xiu Heng reminding her, she wouldn't have remembered.

  While they were having dinner, Du Xiao Li took out the very first jar of fermented grape wine. Opening the seal, the grape wine's aroma emerged from the jar.

  "Brother Luo Qi, come, let's not stop till we're drunk tonight!" Du Xiu Heng lifted a bowl of wine, and said to Luo Qi.

  "Alright, not stop till we're drunk tonight!" Luo Qi also lifted his bowl, and the two bumped their bowls together, and downed the wine in the bowl in one gulp.

  Damn, only half a day and already calling him big brother! Du Xiao Li was speechless. Seeing that the two still wanted to compete in drinking, hurriedly tried to stop the, "This grape wine isn't drunk like that. If you want to compete in drinking, I'll go find a jar of Baijiu for you."

  (T/N: Baijiu is a type of clear alcohol made from rice or grains.)

  "Hahaha----" Seeing the worry on Du Xiao Li's face, Du Xiu Heng and Luo Qi both burst into laughter.

  Du Xiao Li got up to go get a jar of baijiu, and had the grape wine stored away. She ate her own dinner with a pout. These two actually dared to laugh at her! Watch out when she's angry, not going to make them breakfast tomorrow!

  Ch. 040 – Selling Tangerine

  Selling Tangerine

  T/N: Chapter (1/6) sponsored by Madam Daim! Thank you so much for the continuous support and sponsoring so many chapters!

  The time passed quickly, and very soon, it was already the end of the seventh month.

  By this time, the tangerines have already sweetened, and even Ji Liu Feng could finish an entire tangerine at once. Du Xiao Li went and picked an entire basket of tangerines, borrowed Han Ming Yi's horse carriage, and attempted to have the fruit taken to the county seat to sell.

  The sound of horse's hooves resonated. Du Xiao Li was sitting inside the horse carriage. This was her second time riding Han Ming Yi's horse carriage. The first time was when Leng Er went to go pick up Ji Liu Feng. That time, she only sat on the outside, and when she'd opened the curtains, she only saw Ji Liu Feng and didn't see the decorations inside clearly. That's why seeing the grandly decorated horse carriage, then looking again to her own worn-out basket, Du Xiao Li felt extremely out of place.

  Especially since the owner of the horse carriage is also inside!

  Du Xiao Li looked to his silent appearance, inwardly wandering if she were to dirty his horse carriage would he jump up and yell at her, and then regret agreeing
to her request? Also, why didn't he just obediently stay at home, coming along for what?

  "Never seen selling tangerines before, going together to gain some knowledge." Du Xiao Li thought of his excuse and almost replied with, "You're just bored out of your mind, right?!"

  Luo Qi was left at home by her, because she didn't know if there will be people in the county seat that will recognize him. If it was his allies, then it would still be good, but if it was an enemy, then it'll be troublesome. That's why, it was still better to not come out.

  Ji Liu Feng said he wasn't interested in selling things, so he didn't come out either. Tagging along were just Leng Yi and Leng Er, who were driving the horse carriage outside.

  "Aren't you worried that your tangerines won't sell?" Han Ming Yi saw that Du Xiao Li had a face full of excitement, not the least bit worried, and asked.

  In her past life, although she'd planted tangerines before, the outside buyers would come directly to her relative's village to purchase. That's why, selling things, for her, was also a first. Hearing Han Ming Yi asking herself, Du Xiao Li smiled and said, "The people her have never seen a tangerine before. Not being able to accept it at first is also very normal. That's why I already made mental preparations. Once the market opens up, it'll get better."

  "You sure are optimistic." Han Ming Yi said, and then didn't speak again, only reclining back on the couch to rest.

  Leng Yi and Leng Er directly had the horse carriage driven to the fruit market that Du Xiao Li mentioned. When the horse carriage steadily came to a stop, Du Xiao Li pulled open the curtains and asked, "Have we arrived?"

  "En. We've arrived." Leng Er replied, and jumped off first, helping her bring down the basket.

  Leng Yi looked around with his brows furrowed and said to Han Ming Yi, "Young master, it's too dirty here, it's best if you stay in the carriage."

  Du Xiao Li glanced at the vendor's booths in the marketplace and said, "Big brother Yi, how about you go stay somewhere else for a while."