Chapter 581
Each with their own thoughts
At midnight, beside the overpass.
A steaming bowl of wontons with pepper, cilantro, and dried shrimp is the perfect late-night snack in early autumn.
This time of day is usually the liveliest, as young servants and pimps who have finished their work in the Eight Great Hutongs will come running over, rubbing their hands together, handing over a few warm copper coins, carrying a bowl or several bowls of wontons, and then quickly disappearing into the alleys leading to the back doors of various buildings.
Two hours later, the sound of clappers would be heard at the canal dock. The canal workers and boatmen would come here in the dark, and a sip of hot pepper soup would warm them up immediately before they could start pulling the heavy canal boats and getting back to their daily lives.
At the beginning of the Ning Dynasty, pepper was a rare commodity that had to be brought back from distant places by merchant caravans at sea. It was said that an ounce of pepper was worth an ounce of gold.
When the national treasury was in deficit, the court even used pepper as a substitute for salaries to pay officials.
Over the centuries, pepper became increasingly abundant, and even canal workers and boatmen could enjoy a bowl of delicious and inexpensive spicy soup. However, the imperial court continued to use pepper as a substitute for salaries, causing great suffering to officials.
It wasn't until the eleventh year of the reign of the late Emperor Zhengde that an imperial edict was issued to end this chaos.
At this moment, Chen Ji and Bai Li sat facing each other at a low elm wood table next to the stall. The table was polished smooth by countless hands, and the edges were still stained with dirt accumulated over the years.
Two narrow benches were set up. Bai Li sat upright, while Chen Ji hunched over slightly, his elbows resting on his knees, his eyes fixed on the old man's fluid movements, waiting for the wontons to be cooked.
Chen Ji turned to look at Bai Li's thin face and sighed, "You've suffered a lot."
Bai Li gently shook her head: "Actually, it's not that hard. With Her Majesty's care, we have no worries about food and clothing. Kunning Palace has seasonal vegetables and fruits every day, and even some things that are not commonly seen, things I've never seen in the Prince's Mansion. By the way, the Annamese envoy brought a kind of ugly fruit covered in thorns from the south, called 'Liulian'. The Annamese people hid it in sand carts all the way to the capital. You have to split open its thick skin to eat the flesh inside, but that ugly fruit is rotten as soon as you open it, and it smells terrible. Her Majesty told Aunt Yuanjin to throw it away immediately."
Chen Ji raised an eyebrow.
Bai Li continued her recollection: "Every day, Her Majesty would send someone to fetch me to Kunning Palace. In my free time, we would play bridge. Her Majesty was very skilled at it; legend has it that in her youth, she had won a great deal of silver from her father… Prince Jing and the Emperor. If we wanted to go out, we could visit the Imperial Garden. Her Majesty would lead us to see the butterflies. She was very skilled; she could recognize every kind of butterfly. She was very kind-hearted, allowing us to look but forbidding the maids from catching them. She said that butterflies take several months to transform, and their most beautiful time is only about twenty days. At their most beautiful, they should be flying in the sky, flying among the flowers…"
She whispered, "Later, when your newspaper was published, Her Majesty would have the palace maids buy it for her every day. Everyone would hold the newspaper and read it over and over again. Her Majesty would read it, I would read it, and the maids would read it, until the bamboo paper was curled at the edges and torn with holes. Only then would Her Majesty put the newspaper away. Her Majesty really liked the newspaper. She would read each newspaper several times, and she even read the advertisements at the end of the newspaper with great interest."
Bai Li seemed to want to tell Chen Ji all the interesting things that happened to her in the palace, but unfortunately there weren't many interesting things to tell in the palace, and she finished telling them in no time.
She looked up at Chen Ji and said, "Thank you. Her Majesty is much happier now that she has newspapers to read, and she has something to look forward to every day. Could you give me some recent newspapers that Her Majesty hasn't read yet? I want to burn them for her when I hold a memorial service."
Chen Ji nodded: "I'll ask the Gelaohui (a secret society) to help me look for it; they should have kept a record of it."
Bai Li hesitated for a moment: "I've heard a lot about you in the palace. The Empress even sent eunuchs to teahouses to inquire about you and then told me about it. Are your injuries healed? Do they still hurt?"
Chen Ji suddenly changed the subject, smiling as he said, "By the way, do you remember She Dengke? He took several hundred taels of silver to stay with relatives and friends. He and Chunhua should have bought several dozen acres of land and are living a peaceful life. If he had acted faster, his child might already be born. And Liu Quxing, I left him the land deed for Taiping Medical Clinic. I don't know if his mediocre medical skills can get the clinic up and running, but he was the most diligent student when we were in Anxi Street..."
Chen Ji continued, "After the young master was rescued from the inner prison, Master took him, along with Brother Gou'er and Brother Mao'er, to Jingchao. I heard they were going south to Yangzhou first, and then by boat to Lushun. I wonder if they will get seasick. Although we haven't heard from him for a long time, with Master by his side to protect him, things shouldn't be too bad. It's just that Master has a sharp tongue and probably hasn't been shy about teasing him."
Bai Li thought of Old Man Yao's venomous mouth and couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth slightly: "Master, he may seem cold on the outside, but he's kind on the inside. Do you remember the red ribbons we hung on the apricot tree? He complained that we shouldn't have done it, but once when a strong wind blew through Luocheng, he closed the door of the main hall to prevent the wind from breaking the branches."
Anxi Street, Taiping Medical Clinic, the place where the story begins.
Chen Ji looked at the white carp in front of him, as if he had once entrusted time to it. As long as he saw it, it could take him across the river of time and back to the past.
Just then, Bai Li asked curiously, "Did you see my mother after that? The Canal Gang has been looking for her, but they haven't been able to find her."
Upon hearing this, Chen Ji's heart skipped a beat, and he froze on the bench.
The old man came over with two bowls of wontons, interrupting their thoughts: "Sir, both bowls are ready."
Chen Ji snapped out of his daze and gently pushed one of the bowls towards Bai Li: "Eat it while it's hot."
Bai Li whispered a thank you. Her fingers touched the warm bowl, and she paused for a moment before picking up a spoon, scooping up a little soup, carefully blowing on it, and putting it in her mouth.
The aroma of pepper, the richness of bone broth, and the umami of dried shrimp and coriander filled my mouth, and my stiff back relaxed a bit: "It really is delicious."
Chen Ji lowered his head and stirred the soup in the bowl with a spoon. After thinking for a long time, he replied, "I haven't seen Consort Yun since Prince Jing passed away."
Bai Li nodded and said, "My mother comes from the martial arts world, so she must have her own ways of hiding herself."
Chen Ji suddenly said, "There will probably still be people watching us these next few days so we can't leave yet, but three days later, on the Double Ninth Festival, the Annamite envoy will bid farewell to the court. At that time, the ban on alcohol will be lifted in the streets, and it will probably be more lively. If we leave on that day, we can be sure of everything going smoothly... Where do you want to go? You can go overseas or head north to Jingchao."
Chen Ji explained his plan: "If we're going to travel overseas, we'll first have to take a ship down to Jinling, stay there for a while, and find a way to the sea. There are two options. The first is to find merchants heading to Siam to travel with. The advantage of going to Siam is that there are many Ningchao people there, and many customs originated from our Guangdong and Guangxi. The second option is for Zhang's assassins to arrange a large ship to sail from Tongzhou. There must be many interesting places overseas. There's a vast world beyond Ningchao, with many blond-haired, blue-eyed people speaking languages completely different from ours..."
“If we’re heading north to Jingchao, we’ll go through Taiyuan Prefecture to Guyuan, and then cross the border disguised as merchants. My original intention was to go to Jingchao, because the Crown Prince and Master are there, and Princess Liyang might be able to offer some help in creating household registrations for us… Then we’ll meet up with the Crown Prince and Master first, and then we’ll go to the foot of Changbai Mountain in Jingchao and build a hut together. I’ll teach you hunting, fishing and catching frogs in the summer, and catching hibernating bears in the winter… Only after leaving Ningchao will you be truly free.” But this time, Bai Li lowered her head and stirred the wontons in her bowl: “Chen Ji, I can’t leave yet, I still have things to do.”
Chen Ji paused for a moment: "What are you doing?"
After a long silence, Bai Li said in a low voice, "I mean, come with me to the cemetery outside the city tomorrow. Princess Yongchun is buried there, and I want her to be buried with Zhou Zhuoyuan. Also, I want to see Aunt Yuanjin. Can you help me find out where she is? She left the Forbidden City after Her Majesty the Empress passed away."
Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Okay."
……
……
Chen Ji ate a bowl of wontons for about half an hour. When he got up, he saw figures moving in the shadows in the distance. As soon as he looked over, the figures immediately retreated into the darkness.
Chen Ji calmly took out a piece of silver and tossed it onto the table, then got up and walked north with Bai Li. Several times he looked back, and each time he could see figures silently following in the distance.
As they passed through Chuanban Hutong, Chen Ji suddenly grabbed Bai Li's wrist and pulled her to a corner. He shielded Bai Li by his side and silently listened to the footsteps approaching little by little outside the hutong.
Chen Ji held his breath, preparing to capture the man and see which force was watching him.
Bai Li stood beside Chen Ji, looking up at his profile in silence. She had seen him shed almost all his childishness and immaturity in less than a year.
It turns out the other person had been living in constant fear.
At this moment, the footsteps stopped about five or six zhang away. Chen Ji tensed up and waited for a long time, but the other party did not take another step closer. He pondered for a moment, then slipped out from around the corner, but there was no one in sight outside the alley.
Bai Li asked curiously, "Is someone following us?"
Chen Ji shook his head: "It's nothing."
He was certain that someone had been following him, but the person watching him was so vigilant—was it the Secret Service, the Grand Canal Gang… or the Military Intelligence Bureau?
Chen Ji let out a long sigh: "Let's go home."
Back in Shaojiu Alley, both of them had something on their minds.
Xiaoman and the little monk were sitting in the courtyard, dozing off with their hands supporting their chins.
Hearing the door open, Xiaoman quickly got up and rubbed her eyes: "Where did the young master go? Why did it take him so long to come back... Princess Baili."
Xiaoman was a little reserved when she saw Baili: "Have you eaten? There's still cured meat and eggs in the kitchen. We can cook two dishes in a little while."
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Don't bother, we're not hungry."
Xiaoman immediately pushed Chenji and Baili's backs: "Then let's rest early. Everything in the room is ready, and the bedding has been changed."
As soon as the main room was opened, two red candles came into view, and a jar of wine and two ladles were placed on the table, clearly the utensils used for drinking the nuptial wine.
When Chen Ji turned his head again, he saw that the bed was also covered with brand new bright red bedding.
He hurriedly stepped forward and blew out the red candles, then lowered his voice and glared at Xiaoman: "What are you doing putting all this up?"
Xiaoman was taken aback: "Huh, me? Huh, you guys?"
Chen Ji left Bai Li with the words, "Get some rest, I'll go to the cemetery with you tomorrow," and then hurriedly pulled Xiao Man and the little monk away from the main house.
Xiaoman looked Chen Ji up and down: "Young Master, you..."
Chen Ji pinched her mouth shut: "Don't talk nonsense, go back to your west wing and sleep."
After Chen Ji let go, Xiao Man asked incredulously, "And what about you, young master?"
Chen Ji glanced at the east wing: "I'll sleep in the east wing with the little monk." (End of Chapter)