Chapter 373

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

The Old Lady lowered her head and thought for a moment, then said, "I received the Young Lady's letter; this matter does indeed sound thorny. I will persuade him properly when the time comes."

She paused, then added, "But I am only a mother; I cannot decide for my son — when he returns, I can only pass it on. Whether he listens or not, whether he agrees or not, that will be his own affair."

As they spoke, Lady Liu walked out from the back.

Song Miao promptly changed the subject, asking after the Old Lady's health, asking which physician she had been seeing lately and what medicine she was taking, then asking if Lady Liu's diet was good, and even mentioning a few seasonal recipes for pregnant women that she knew.

When the topic turned to her daughter-in-law's diet, the Old Lady sighed and said, "Who knows why, this pregnancy is causing quite a fuss; she has no appetite all day long. The kitchen makes sour and spicy dishes day in and day out; after eating them a couple more times, just smelling them makes her not want to eat."

Lady Liu smiled broadly and said, "These past two days are better — these past two days I crave sour things more."

She pointed at the food box Song Miao had sent over and said, "The sour date cake the Young Lady sent is just right. I have always loved sweet-and-sour flavors; before I was especially fond of hawthorn cake, but now that I am with child, they all say hawthorn must not be eaten. Whether it is true or false, I dare not risk it — with this, when my stomach turns, there is finally something to settle it."

The two sides exchanged polite pleasantries, and naturally someone brought out return gifts.

Song Miao did not decline; she accepted quite readily, offered her thanks, and took her leave with the gifts.

Once she left, in the Cao Mansion, the Old Lady took out that letter, placed it on the table nearby, pointed at it, then recounted to her daughter-in-law what Song Miao had said, and only then asked, "Now that you know, what do you think?"

Lady Liu said, "If Mother asks my opinion, I only know that warriors use knives, literati use brushes. He is a Censor; seeing great treachery and great evil, if he does not step forward to impeach and denounce, how can he have the face to collect his salary? He does his duty; whatever the outcome behind it, it is up to Heaven's will — even if he is truly punished in the end, which proper remonstrator has not been exiled or penalized?"

She added, "If he is truly exiled too far, too remote, Mother is advanced in years and cannot endure the travel……"

"Afraid of what! This old body of mine is sturdy as can be!" The Old Lady waved a hand. "It is you who are still with child; I think if it truly comes to that step, better that you and I stay in the Capital. I have seen things; I can still look after you. Let him go take up the post alone."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law discussed a while; in the end Lady Liu was far along in her pregnancy and could not bear the fatigue, so she returned to her room first.

Once the daughter-in-law had gone out the door, the Old Lady could not help but let out a long sigh.

What she had just said was naturally not false, but who truly wishes for their son to be punished for speaking out, to incur exile and dismissal?

Moreover the daughter-in-law is still pregnant; since ancient times giving birth is passing through the gates of hell. If the elder one worries excessively, and her body feels unwell somewhere, or it affects the child in her belly……

The Old Lady unconsciously glanced again at that letter on the table.

She thought and thought, but in the end did not move it.

Beside the letter was the food box.

She opened the food box, saw inside there were small rolls one by one, recalled that this was the "sour date cake" the Song Young Lady had mentioned just now, casually took out one small roll, tore off a small piece, and tasted it.

The moment it entered her mouth, a very rich sour flavor spread; that sourness was not sharp at all, but mellow and gentle, purely the fruit flavor of sour dates.

The sourness was not just a flash; it lingered long, but after chewing a couple more times, a sweet taste emerged continuously, intertwining with the sour, deeply affectionate and intimate.

Because it was a proper gift, besides maltose, Song Miao had also lavishly added quite a lot of rock sugar, making the sweetness more crystalline, more pure; chew a couple more times, and sour and sweet mutually weave together, sourness and sweetness both well balanced, making one salivate uncontrollably the more one eats.

Such an appetite-stimulating, grease-cutting small piece; while chewing, for a moment the Old Lady even somewhat forgot what she had been worrying about just now.

Only after finally swallowing that sour date cake, her mouth still holding the heavy sour-and-sweet aftertaste, but at this moment her gaze shifted and she saw that letter again; she could not help but let out a long sigh, only feeling the sour and sweet in her mouth seemed to have dimmed, and from the root of her tongue a trace of bitterness had already risen on its own.

The Old Lady sat dryly for a moment, then called a nanny over, pointed at the sour date cake and said, "Pack a small box of it; send the rest to the Eastern Wing Room. She suffers morning sickness all day, it makes one terribly anxious."

The nanny agreed, and indeed brought a lacquer box, divided out half the sour date cake, and sent the rest to Lady Liu.

By afternoon, after Zhong Cao returned home, he did not rush back to the Eastern Wing, but went straight to the Old Lady's room.

He entered, greeted his mother, hesitated a moment, then said, "Mother… I have a matter here. I have submitted memorials several times; His Majesty has kept them all without reply. Your son has already agreed with several colleagues: tomorrow we will first request a court audience; if that fails, the day after the whole Censorate will join ranks; if that still fails, we will have to prostrate at the palace gates……"

A court audience means the Censors and Remonstrators face the Emperor; the hall clears all attendants, leaving only the speech officials and the Emperor, not even the historiographers may stand by. It sounds quite confidential, but the four words "request a court audience" already make enough noise — who cannot guess a few parts?

Further on, the so-called joining ranks means all Censors and Remonstrators of the Censorate advance and retreat together, jointly impeaching one matter.

If even that fails, then prostrating at the palace gates: all channels of speech blocked, speech officials have no choice but to stand outside the hall and petition the Emperor to face them directly.

Since the founding of Great Wei, there has been only one instance of prostrating at the palace gates; at that time the Remonstrators were almost all exiled and penalized.

Censor Cao spoke, and because he feared his mother could not accept it, was about to explain, but heard the Old Lady opposite ask, "Is it the matter of the Prince of Lu's Mansion people going to the Capital Prefecture Office and making them release a suspect?"

Censor Cao had still wanted to continue speaking; hearing this sentence, he could not help but stare blankly and ask, "How does Mother know??"

Then said, "It is this matter, but there are many other things too, all closely connected to this."

The Old Lady then handed over the letter beside her, sighed, and said, "How would I not know — today that Song Young Lady came."

As she spoke, she pointed at the several food boxes still not put away nearby, and said, "She sent over a lot of food, and had some words for me to pass to you. Only they are all nonsense telling you not to meddle; I won't repeat them. If you truly did that, you would be a spineless wretch, without a backbone."

"I gave birth to you and raised you, not to raise a useless person — since you already have a plan, Court affairs I will not nag about. I have already discussed with your wife: if the day of exile comes, you go first. We two will stay in the Capital with the child. Wait until the youngest is born and grows a bit older, then we will discuss the rest in detail."

Seeing his mother arranging things item by item here, without needing any explanation or persuasion, and hearing his wife also has her own resolve, he instead appeared hesitant and shrinking. Censor Cao let out a breath of relief and hurriedly said, "It may not necessarily reach the step of prostrating at the palace gates! Your son knows he has elders above and young ones below; in action he will certainly be thrice cautious."

The Old Lady "hmph"ed and said, "In the past your father once gave me a coconut carving, and I have drunk coconut wine. If it truly comes to being sent to Qiongzhou in the end, we can only accept fate, and let this old lady also taste what real coconut actually tastes like."

She said a few more sentences, then dismissed him: "Go see your wife — she says she isn't afraid, but she is definitely worried."

Censor Cao acknowledged, stood up and walked out. He had only taken a few steps when, his mind relaxing, for some reason a thought suddenly popped up.

He paused a moment, but in the end could not hold it back, couldn't help turning his head back and asking, "Mother, you said that Song Young Lady sent a lot of food — only I wonder what she sent? Where is it?"

On this side, Censor Cao was preoccupied with the food Song Young Lady sent; on that side, Song Miao left the Cao residence, not in a hurry to return, but circled around to that shop selling cow and sheep milk, and asked the shopkeeper if they had the milk curd obtained when making sour cheese.

Because the quantity she wanted was large, the shopkeeper was momentarily confused and said, "There is some, but a little comes out and a little is poured away; not much remains. To gather what you need, we must wait two more days — what does the Young Lady want it for?"

"I'll use it to make sour soup." Song Miao recalled a bit, gesturing as she said, "I've eaten it a few times before; my family used the milk curd from making sour cheese as a base, blended a sour soup. That soup's sourness is very pure, very appetizing. I suddenly thought of it today and plan to try making it."

The shopkeeper also became curious and said, "First time hearing of this method; another day I'll try it myself."

Then said in a few days when enough is accumulated, it will be sent to the food shop along with the usual sheep's milk delivery.

When Song Miao asked the price, the shopkeeper just laughed and said, "In the past this stuff was all leftovers; it's sour but not sour enough, unless you add sugar, who would like to drink it — it's a gift for the Young Lady!"

Then said, "Your food shop has taken care of my business for so long, never any trouble. Daily sheep's milk not counting, earlier you bought cow's milk by the bucketful. With such a generous customer, I'd have to be dizzy to charge money!"

Speaking to this point, she couldn't help asking again, "That Young Master before — the one who came daily to fetch sheep's milk, hasn't been seen for many days. How come he stopped coming?"

The sudden question caught Song Miao off guard; after a breath, she replied, "Is it Young Master Han? He went to the outer prefectures on official business. Is there something you need him for?"

Then asked, "Is it that the sheep's milk money wasn't enough?"

"None, none." The storekeeper hurriedly smiled and waved his hand. "He hung silver on the account before he left, and there's still plenty left — enough to eat for a year and a half. I only asked idly, who knows if this person will even come back."

He added: "He once asked me about a kind of food, called milk sheets, wanting to buy them. He said to let him know if I found them. At the time I didn't know what milk sheets were, so he said he'd find someone to inquire, and when he got the method, to have someone send word to me."

"Actually, after hearing him speak of it, I myself took it quite to heart. Recently I've been asking people everywhere, and only found two recipes. I was just about to compare which one to use, when who would have thought that the day before yesterday someone truly came to deliver a message, and also gave a recipe, saying it was Young Master Han who had someone find it..."

"He's not here now. Either way, once the milk sheets are made, they'll ultimately be delivered to the young lady here. Do you want to take a look and see which one to use, whether to change anything? Once decided, if no changes, I'll just make them according to it?"

Hearing the two characters "milk sheets," Song Miao froze for a moment. When she took the several recipes and swept through the methods written on them, black characters on white paper, clear as day, she still read them twice before the content entered her mind.

She found it very hard not to think of a certain day in the past, the scene of the other party carrying a basket of sheep's milk to her door.

At that time the weather was still hot. The two stood at the doorway chatting idly, talking about daily food and drink. Because he said that outside the city on the river dike they had communal meals, with porridge, and the porridge was quite thick. Though it tasted bad, it was already considered rare. Song Miao then casually mentioned a kind of milk sheet she had eaten as a child.

That milk sheet was slightly salty. Normally sandwiched in a baked cake it had a distinct flavor, but the most interesting use was for cooking porridge — put a few slices in white porridge, and it would bring a faint milky fragrance.

Song Miao had never been accustomed to drinking cow's milk, but if using milk sheets, that cow's milk sheet porridge caused no trouble when eaten.

The two chatted idly about the milk sheets for a while. Song Miao also sighed, only saying she had chanced to see and eat it as a child, and didn't know where her family had found it. Now it had been many years since she had seen it.

At that time he only sighed with her, and said he would go out and search in the future. If he found it, he would bring it back.

Song Miao replied that even if there was some, it couldn't be brought back, because it couldn't be kept long. She told him even if he saw it, not to waste the effort.

— Who would have thought that now, the milk sheet recipes would be right here waiting.

Song Miao steadied her mind, carefully read the characters on the recipes into her brain, then took out one of them and said: "Use this one first. The method doesn't need any changes. Trouble the storekeeper — just the first time, don't make too much. I'll try the taste first."

Because she had come to the door at this time, she conveniently took that day's sheep's milk away with her as well.

The storekeeper was polite, and specially gave another bamboo tube of sour curd. He saw Song Miao out the door several steps, and only returned to the shop after the person got on the mule cart.

Just at this moment, her old mother came out from the back, also followed out the door to take a look. Seeing the mule cart go far, she then asked: "That's the young lady from Song Ji in Sanzao County Alley, right?"

The storekeeper assented, took out the recipe Song Miao had chosen from his hand, and said: "That Song Xiaoniangzi said to use this one — the recipe with a spoon of salt. Mother, let's find some spare time these two days and try making it."

Her old mother naturally had no objection, but walked forward a few steps, looked toward the direction the mule cart went, and couldn't help asking again: "How come I never see the two of them entering and leaving together — is the person still not back, or is there no place for him? Cow's milk, sheep's milk have been delivered this long, the recipe was also found with such great effort..."

The storekeeper spat at his old mother, saying: "Ai, what do you know? At this kind of time, the longer the delivery lasts the better — the guest's business, absolutely must not be told to outsiders!"

That old mother spat back at him, saying: "You take me for a pig brain?!"

She added: "Besides, I see the young lady is open and aboveboard. You're the one being foolishly careful here!"

While the cow and sheep's milk storekeeper went "li" here and "li" there, Song Miao sat in the mule cart all the way toward Sanzao County Alley.

She sat in the cart, listening to the various street vending cries and human voices outside, yet not a bit entered her ears. She only carefully calculated matters in her heart.