Chapter 2652 - 2585: Group Dinner

Wei Yu asked, "With the princess going out, about curtains and soft hangings and all that..."

"It’s broad daylight, and there are trees shading us. Not using them has its own charm. Don’t worry, the princess won’t mind." Bai Shan pulled him along as they walked. "Let’s go straight to the princess. We’ll set off now, no need to waste effort arranging things."

Wei Yu thought for a moment of Princess Changyu’s easygoing nature and nodded.

The princess’s eunuchs and maidservants carried mats over to the cool pavilion and spread them out after a quick sweep, laying the straw mats down and putting a few low tables and low stools on top.

By the time Manbao had washed up, changed clothes, and gone over, the maids had already tidied the place. Changyu and the others came chattering over from another direction.

Bai Shan took Manbao’s hand and led her forward. As soon as Princess Changyu saw her, she brightened, trotted up, and seized her hand. "You actually managed to buy everything. If I’d known you were this capable, I should have written down a longer list for you."

"Any more and I wouldn’t have been able to carry it." Manbao walked into the pavilion with her, side by side, and casually chose a low table to sit at.

As soon as they sat down, maidservants came in one after another with food boxes. They opened them, took out the dishes, and set them on each person’s table.

The roast chicken that had just been wrapped in lotus leaves was reheated and chopped into plates, one small plate per table.

Bai Shan sat beside Manbao, and Yin Huo sat below them. Right next to them was the gurgling cold spring; the water overflowed and ran down the rocks with a rushing sound, then splashed farther down because of the drop. They had seen it on their way up—it was very pretty.

The maids put the bean curd pudding into the cold spring to soak, and some melons and fruits as well, all set in wooden buckets filled with spring water, then sunk into the spring. Under the blazing sun, eating chilled fruit in the afternoon—such flavor, even an immortal wouldn’t trade it.

Manbao did remind them not to eat too much, lest they get chilled and have diarrhea.

Because it was hot, and she had just been on the road, Manbao didn’t really feel like eating meat, so she picked at the vegetable dishes.

Seeing this, Bai Shan turned his gaze on Bai Erlang opposite him.

Bai Erlang, seeing his look, happily picked up the plate of greens in front of him and passed it over.

A maid immediately stepped up to take it and deliver it to Bai Shan, and Bai Shan handed over a plate of meat for the maid to take back to him.

Changyu saw this and turned her head to order, "Tell the kitchen to make more seasonal vegetables and send them over, prepared in a few different ways."

The maid answered and left.

Mingda pressed her lips, smiling. "I also think the vegetables in the summer palace are very flavorful."

This was precisely where Changyu had the most to say. "Right now is when the vegetables are the lushest, but actually the best time to eat them was two months ago, at the very end of spring, when all the wild greens were at their fattest. You didn’t even need much preparation, just blanch them. Once they’re cooked, dip them in salty sauce or sweet sauce, and they’re delicious."

She said, "The summer palace’s climate is on the cold side, and there are many cold springs in the mountains, so the vegetables here grow later than down below. The ones below may be lush now, but the roots and stalks are already tending old, unlike the mountain vegetables, which are in their prime, so they taste better."

When Manbao heard this, she said, "Then planting some vegetables in the courtyard wouldn’t be a bad idea either."

After all, they were going to be living here for two months.

Changyu had no desire to plant vegetables. "The servants can concern themselves with such things."

After eating a few bites of vegetables, Mingda asked Manbao, "Have you found the books you were looking for?"

Manbao said, "I found a few. I plan to bury myself in them later."

Mingda said, "I also have a few incense recipes, though they’re not for sleep. Do you want to see them? I feel that incense has common principles—maybe once you study these, you’ll be able to come up with a sleep-inducing incense."

Manbao said with great interest, "Send them to me later so I can have a look."

Mingda nodded.

Changyu immediately said, "If you do manage to come up with one, blend a box for me too."

"You have insomnia as well?"

"Not at the moment, but it’s never wrong to be prepared. I’ve heard people say that as you get older, you’re more likely to have trouble sleeping."

That was really preparing far in advance.

Bai Shan and the others were talking too. Wei Yu asked Bai Shan, "Have you processed the memorial we submitted from the Ministry of Public Works?"

Bai Shan said, "No. It was held back for reconsideration and will probably be sent back for you to redo."

Wei Yu couldn’t help a headache. "I’ve already revised it twice."

Bai Shan chuckled and lifted his cup with him.

The most carefree ones there were Bai Erlang and Yin Huo. Wei Yu looked at himself, then at him. They were both imperial sons-in-law; how come his days were so much better?

So he couldn’t help asking, "Has His Majesty not summoned you to read lately?"

Little did he know Bai Erlang had a headache too. He sighed. "No. His Majesty doesn’t much like calling me to read these days. He likes to summon me to sit in on hearings. My head is about to split."

Listening was one thing, but the emperor would occasionally ask questions. On matters of such magnitude, even Lord Wei and the others couldn’t come up with an answer that satisfied him. What could a fledgling Academic Editor like him know?

So out of ten questions, there were five he couldn’t answer at all, and four he made up nonsense for. After all, it’s quite embarrassing, quite awkward, to keep saying, "This minister does not know; this minister has no good solution either."

On hearing this, Yin Huo laughed. "Why don’t you tell His Majesty plainly that you need to focus on revising your book these days? Then His Majesty might stop calling you."

Bai Shan laughed. "He’s too timid; he doesn’t dare say it."

He had already told him to do exactly that, but Bai Erlang didn’t dare tell the emperor about his story-writing hobby, so he kept gritting his teeth and bearing it.

Beside them, Mingda heard and pressed her lips in a smile. "Go for a few more days. When Father’s illness is better, I’ll mention it to him."

Bai Erlang exhaled in great relief and then asked Manbao, "When will His Majesty’s illness be better?"

He saw the emperor every day, and with Bai Shan and Zhou Man—those two insiders—around, he naturally knew the emperor wasn’t seriously ill, but he was indeed sick and taking medicine these days.

Wei Zhi knew the real situation too; the one who truly didn’t know was actually Princess Changyu.

She didn’t realize the truly ill one was her father-in-law, not her father, so she looked at Manbao with concern as well.

Manbao said, "He should just about be recovered. I’ll go ask for a peace-of-mind pulse later."

Changyu finally breathed out and couldn’t help putting her hands together and murmuring a Buddha’s name.

Wei Yu poured a cup of wine and lifted it toward Zhou Man. "Lord Zhou, this cup is to you. Thank you."

Manbao raised her cup with a smile. "It’s all just my duty."

The group ate and drank there. A breeze blew over, carrying the moisture of the cold spring. After being baked by the blazing sun outside, all that was left in the wind was coolness.

Changyu happily tipped back a cup of wine and lifted her head to call, "Such joy—"

Wei Yu pressed his lips in a smile and said to her, "If you like it here, we can bring our food over and eat here in the evenings too."

But Changyu shook her head. "Forget it. With just the two of us, it’s better to eat in the courtyard. There are so many mosquitoes out here, and that medicine bag Zhou Man gave us might not even work."

As soon as Manbao heard this, she said, "I think my medicine bag works quite well."

Changyu pushed up her sleeve to show her the red welt on her arm. "Look, this is from last night. I clearly already had the medicine bag hanging up, and with one careless moment, it bit me."

Manbao leaned over to look and couldn’t help asking, "And what happened to that mosquito?"

"I slapped it dead."

Manbao blamed her at once. "You definitely weren’t keeping the medicine bag on you, or you didn’t light it, or you were too far away from it."

Wei Yu laughed. "The princess thinks the smell of that medicine is unpleasant."