CH 8.2

The weather changes a lot during spring. When Song Jinning came back from Shoukang Palace, the sun still shone brightly but at dusk, it suddenly started raining. 

Song Jinning stood under the corridor with her hands folded, watching the rain.

The rain is not heavy, and the wind coming with the rain is not cold. However, the darkening sky and the sound of rain can easily make someone feel gloomy. 

"Tsk."

After a while, Song Jinning turned her head and looked at Bai Lu standing beside her, with her eyebrows raised slightly. 

"It seems that we will be staying in this gloomy palace for a long time.”

Bai Lu was silent.

Was the Empress sentimental? 

But thinking about it, when the empress was in Yunnan, she stayed in the yard if she wanted to stay in the yard, and went out if she wanted to. She also played and climbed mountains, rode horses, and was as free as a bird. 

But now that she married into the royal family, how can she still be the same as before?

Bai Lu couldn't help but feel a little sad. While she was thinking about what to say to console Song Jinning, she heard Gu Yu's crisp voice.

"Your Highness, dinner is here. Come inside now.”

The next moment Bai Lu felt someone run in front of her, and it was Song Jinning who turned to go back to the hall.

"What is the food? Is there the xiangchun [1] scrambled eggs I mentioned?”

"Yu’er, don't hide. This xiangchun smells a little strange, but it tastes very good.” 

Then there was a sigh of satisfaction. Song Jinning's sighing voice was heard: "I’ve been counting the days since i have last eaten xiangchun. These xiangchun eggs are really fragrant and tender.”

Bai Lu: ...

Why did she think Song Jinning was sentimental just now?

She is clearly a foodie who only has food in her eyes!

Since Song Jinning ate xiangchun that she missed so much, she slept well that night. 

When she woke up the next morning, although the sky hadn't cleared yet, it wasn’t raining anymore. 

After having breakfast, under Gu Yu's strong persuasion, Song Jinning walked to Shoukang Palace to visit Empress Dowager Song. 

Empress Dowager Song was still eating when Song Jinning arrived.

Seeing Song Jinning, the Empress Dowager waved and told her to sit down on the table.

"Aijia has been busy with government affairs for the past few years. Now that aijia is idle, aijia actually slacked off and couldn’t get up this morning."

Song Jinning smiled.

"What is aunt talking about? I won’t lie to my aunt, when I came back from Shoukang Palace yesterday, I fell asleep immediately.” 

Song Jinning then glanced at Gu Yu.

Gu Yu knew, and she hurriedly opened the food box held by the maidservant behind her, and took out the two plates of pastries in it.

"This is a new snack made by my kitchen this morning. It tasted good, so I brought some for Aunt to try. I don’t know if it will suit aunt's taste however.” 

Empress Dowager Song took a look. It was a round, dark brown-green flat pastry with a delicate scent. 

Song Jinning explained softly.

"This is called Haozibaba [2], it is a snack that comes from the Jiangnan area. The ingredients used are glutinous rice flour, bamboo shoots, preserved meat, and pickled vegetables. But the most important of these ingredients is the wild herb called wormwood."

If someone else offered such a snack to Empress Dowager Song, even if Empress Dowager Song doesn’t get furious on the spot, she will definitely remember that person in the future and make things hard for that person. 

She is the Empress Dowager, how dare you serve her a dish made of wild herbs? Are you crazy?

But who is Song Jinning? This is her niece. It is no exaggeration to say that Empress Dowager Song would make every exception for her. So even if Song Jinning casually grabbed a piece of grass for her on the roadside, it would still be better than a gold leaf given by others. 

She hurriedly grabbed her chopsticks. 

Plants aside, the snacks are really good. It has the freshness of a tree, and it is also very fragrant and delicious.

Then she put down the chopsticks in her hand and asked Song Jinning, "Have you asked someone to send these snacks to the emperor?”

Who is thinking about giving him food?

Song Jinning slandered inwardly, but she still behaved well in front of Empress Dowager Song. 

"I don't know if this suits the emperor's taste, so I didn't ask anyone to send it."

Empress Dowager Song thought to herself that this is not good. 

Even though the two of them have already completed the wedding night, the emperor must still be reluctant with this marriage. After all, he didn’t visit Weiyang Palace last night. 

Ning'er is still the same. If she doesn't take advantage of the emperor while he is newly married, what will happen when he accepts concubines later?

So he called Cui Nong over and told her: "Send the rest of these snacks to the Emperor.”

She also specifically told Cui Nong: "Remember to tell the emperor that this was made by the Empress’s kitchen.”

Alas, she still has to worry about them. 

Footnotes:

1) 香椿 (xiāng chūn)- Chinese toon sprouts. Below is how the Xiangchun eggs would have looked like:

2) 蒿子粑粑 (Hāozi bābā)- There is no direct translation. But here is how Haozibaba looks like: