Chapter 14 Flos Puerariae Soothing Soup
2128 Words
Returning to the Eastern Depot, Leng Qingtang got off from the sedan and went alone to the Southern Residence, where he rested.
The night was deep, and the peaceful yard was like falling asleep soundly. Only some unknown autumn insects were chirping from time to time, hoarse or melodious, without feeling exhausted.
Leng Qingtang stopped as he caught sight of some candlelight in Gu Yunxi's room. The warm yellow light was flickering, mirroring a graceful silhouette on the windowsill.
When gazing at the silhouette, perhaps affected by the candlelight, Leng Qingtang suddenly felt a sense of warmth in the heart. He hadn't experienced such a feeling for a long time.
In the boundless darkness, what he saw seemed especially warm and sweet. The bright orange candlelight set off the dark and elegant figure, which immediately lit up some small dim corner in Leng Qingtang's heart, making it bright and transparent. Instantly, it made his dry and depressed heart brightened like spring flowers blooming after being blown by one night's north wind.
Leng Qingtang went to the door and knocked. Then he entered the room.
Gu Yunxi was sitting at the table, nodding off with one hand holding half of her cheek. When Leng Qingtang pushed the door, she felt shocked all over her body, turning fully awake.
"Master, you are back?!"
Gu Yunxi kneaded her sleepy eyes. Seeing Leng Qingtang standing in front of her, she stood up with a blooming smile.
"Girl, why haven't you slept?"
He asked with concern, drawing near to her without taking off his cloak. He was covered with a faint cool fragrance, which was unique in the deep night. Such fragrance lingered in Gu Yunxi's nose.
"I can't fall asleep because you haven't been back until now!" Gu Yunxi tilted her head, giggling.
"Is that true?"
Leng Qingtang cast his sight on her in softness, feeling quite touched.
On the first day of her arrival at the Eastern Depot, this honest girl stayed up late, only to wait for him to return.
His eyes glowed, and he smiled gently at her,
"Now that I am back, go to sleep."
"Master, please drink it first!"
Gu Yunxi spread out her hands smilingly and held up the lotus white jade cup on the table. As soon as she removed its cover, however, her facial expression changed greatly,
"Oh! Too bad! It's cold. I'll hot it again!"
"Don't hurry. Just give it to me. What's the treasure inside?"
He stopped her and took the white jade cup.
The ginger-red liquid was clear and transparent. When he looked at it more closely, a faint sweet and mellow taste filled his nose. His dry mouth immediately got moist.
Gu Yunxi stood beside him, explaining,
"During the dinner, words came from the guards that you are invited to have dinner with the concubine in the Palace. I guess you may have drunk some wine, so I made this Flos Puerariae Soothing Soup for you. I put some date powder in it. Flos Puerariae can sober you up, and date powder is good for sleep. You may sleep better after drinking it. But, I don't know when you will be back, so it is already cold."
"Is it made by you in person again?"
Leng Qingtang looked at the soup in his hands, then his eyes turned to Gu Yunxi again, who was smiling sweetly.
The soup was cold, but his heart had been warmed up.
"Yes! Please try it to see whether you like it or not."
Leng Qingtang had a separate kitchen in the Southern Residence of the Eastern Depot. Every time there were specific cooks preparing meals. Today they were informed that the Master would have dinner in the Palace, so they had more leisure time, and only prepared some dinner for Gu Yunxi.
Gu Yunxi and Xiao Xiaoshen returned to the yard respectively. Having nothing to do, she went to the kitchen to have a look.
She was much surprised to find some date powder and dried Flos Puerariae. Considering that the Master had dinner in the Palace, and drinking some wine was inevitable, she made this soup with those ingredients available.
Though this kind of soup didn't need many ingredients, much importance was needed to be attached to the heating degree and water temperature. If the fire had been too big, and the water had been over boiled, the effects of Flos Puerariae would have disappeared. By then, if she had mixed date powder into it, the date powder would have stuck together like balls. They couldn't dissolve into the water of Flos Puerariae.
The procedures were needed as follows: Use small fire to heat the well water until it is half warm. Then sprinkle date powder with bamboo chopsticks, and stir it until all the powder is dissolved. Put a little rock sugar. Put out the fire after the water completely boiled. Put Flos Puerariae into the date soup. Cover the pot. Use the hot air of the soup to brew the effects of Flos Puerariae. After a while, filter the residue of Flos Puerariae in the soup with clean gauze.
The Flos Puerariae Soothing Soup was thus finished.
Now the autumn night was cold, and the soup was no longer hot.
"That's all right." Leng Qingtang smiled at Gu Yunxi, who was discouraged. He took the spoon and put some soup into his mouth to have a taste,
"It hasn't turned cold. Still warm. Don't worry, girl."
Then he took the bowl and drank up the soup.
The soup, combining sourness and sweetness, was rather tasty. The special fragrance of Flos Puerariae lingered in his mouth, with an endless aftertaste.
The only problem was that the soup was thoroughly cold. Leng Qingtang lied to her just now, saying the soup was still warm in order not to bother Gu Yunxi to warm it up again.
She cared for him. He loved her dearly.
As he hadn't eaten anything in the Palace, Leng Qingtang now felt his empty stomach was filled with sour and cold liquid. The bursts of cramps in his stomach made him unbearable.
But he pretended to be relaxed and enjoy it. He then took the handkerchief handed over by Gu Yunxi to wipe mouth, praising,
"Well, delicious! Very delicious!"
"Really?!"
"Of course!"
Gu Yunxi was overjoyed as expected. Her eyes smiled into curved crescents, which were lit by the candlelight. They were so brilliant as the stars hanging high in the bright and clear night sky.
Leng Qingtang put the bowl down, gazing at Gu Yunxi softly. Suddenly he felt a trace of unwillingness to leave, eager to find some topics to chat with her for another moment. But it was getting late, and he knew he had to leave.
"Well, I've finished. Now could you follow my words and go to bed?"
He leaned over to bring his face closer to hers.
A little bleary candlelight on the table made her small face beneath the flat hat look warm and inviting.
Leng Qingtang suddenly came up with an absurd idea. He was desperate to reach out his hands and hold up her clear and transparent features in front of him. However, his rationality was still there, and the impulse was finally suppressed.
"Good night. Have a sound sleep."
He put his hand on her shoulder, tapped her twice, let her go, and walked to the door.
"Master, good night."
Gu Yunxi stood at the door, watching him walk back to his bedroom and closed the door smilingly.
At the same time, the Western Residence of the Eastern Depot was particularly lively. It was time for sleep, but the guards sleeping in a shared house were in high spirits, chatting together. The central topic was naturally Gu Yunxi, who had just come into the Eastern Depot.
The Master recruited a disciple, who was rather young and handsome. This news was the most exciting topic discussed among the guards of the Eastern Depot recently.
"Say, have you all seen our Master's disciple? The servant in the main hall told me that he looked extremely handsome!"
A small, thin guard was surrounded by his colleagues in the room, talking and dancing while the people gathering around him listened intently, even forgetting to blink their eyelids.
"I heard that his name was Yun Guaner, and that he was not yet sixteen years old. This afternoon, he went around the Guard Depot. Many guards saw him."
Another guard chipped in,
"He is the disciple of the Master, different from us. The moment he entered the Eastern Depot, he moved to Southern Residence where the Master lives. He doesn't come to stay with us in the bunk at all!"
The short, thin guard frowned as if he were thinking, then he jumped down from the bunk and stood in the middle of the wing-room, looking puzzled,
"As you mention this, I suddenly recall something strange. According to the doorkeeper of the Eastern Depot, the Master returned from the Garden by horse instead of a sedan. Inside the sedan sat someone unknown. Then Yun Guaner came. You see, it couldn't be his disciple who sat in the sedan while the Master rode the horse. But I guess, would it truly be Yun Guaner who was carried in the sedan?"
Someone else raised an idea,
"You are so curious. Why not ask Sun Bing who serves in Southern Residence? He stays with the Master and his disciple all day long. He knows everything."
"Oh! Why haven't I asked him? Sun Bing is like a dumb. He always lowers his head without uttering any word! As for those guards who follow Chiliarch Cheng, they keep secrets strictly. I cannot get to know anything from them!"
Another man kicked up a fuss,
"What are you talking about? He, a young man, dares to sit in the Master's sedan? He isn't the Master. How dare he? Or he is actually a lady who can't ride a horse? It's impossible!"
As soon as he said this, everyone burst into laughter.
"Bang!"
Someone pushed the door heavily. Xiao Xiaoshen stood in front of them with a gloomy look.
The guards stopped talking at once, and stood up to salute,
"My lord, haven't you slept?"
"I want to sleep. But can I?"
Xiao Xiaoshen put his hands behind his back as Leng Qingtang did, scanned all the people present in coldness and yelled ruthlessly,
"What are you doing? Too refreshed? Go to the Stone-Rolling Mountain at the Guard Depot tomorrow!"
The guard who talked excitedly just now pulled a corner of Xiao Xiaoshen's coat, smiling ingratiatingly,
"My Lord, don't be angry. We are just talking about Master's disciple..."
Xiao Xiaoshen slapped the guard's hand. Then he brushed himself off and gave him a look of disgust,
"Is Master's disciple someone you can talk about casually? Go to your beds quickly. If you disturb the Master in Southern Residence, see how I will punish you! "
"Yes! Yes! We will sleep at once. At once!"
The guards agreed unwillingly. They lay down on their beds, not daring to speak anymore.
Xiao Xiaoshen patrolled the wing-room and left to his own residence.
Xiao Xiaoshen lived in the main hall of the Western Residence.
When it was dark, the Master didn't give him any orders, so Xiao Xiaoshen intended to sleep after taking a bath. But just at that time, he heard lots of noise from the wing-room. He went out and listened for a while, hearing the chat of those idle guards. At first, he didn't take it seriously, but later, he noticed they had mentioned his sister Yunxi, and their chat was more and more overstepped.
Out of anger, Xiao Xiaoshen pushed the door and came into their room so that he could force those gossiping guards to bed by scolding them.
The Master had told him that people who knew Gu Yunxi was a girl dressed as a boy should be as few as possible. A little suspicion without being constrained and dispelled was easy to cause problems as time went on.
After entering his room and closing the door, Xiao Xiaoshen sighed, saying quietly,
"Sister Yunxi, it was only your first day here in the Eastern Depot, and there had been such gossips. You would stay here for a very long time. With so many eyes fixed on you, how long can we keep your secret?"
Xiao Xiaoshen began to realize it was much more difficult to keep Yunxi's secret than to finish any other tasks assigned by the Master. After all, her appearance was too outstanding. Even if she had been a real boy, she would have belonged to one of those handsome guys who were easy to fantasize about.
- Writer
