NOVEL WEB Chapter 11 - Congee is more precious than chicken soup
Chapter 11 Congee is more precious than chicken soup
Zhen Zhu looked stern, but a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. She did not expect that Miss He who was only 10 was not afraid in the face of her blame. She looked Miss He up and down and found that although the girl was pale because she had just escaped with bare life. She had a different kind of temperament and charm.
In fact, even Zhen Zhu felt shocked. She couldn’t help but use “charm” to describe a little girl, but this was the first impression that she had about Miss He — “beauty” was not enough to describe the little girl. Her mental aura had surpassed her appearance! Zhen Zhu pondered inwardly. Such an extraordinary little girl, if after some time…
He Danggui smiled coldly all at once and said, “Sister Zhen Zhu, are you here to denounce me publicly for my crimes?”
Zhen Zhu said with a smile, “I’m very concerned about Zhen Jing as my younger sister. But I just heard what you said. You not only let Zhen Jing break her religious precept to eat meat, but also want to cajole her into leaving the Taoist Temple with you. So, I was supposed to make a special trip to visit Miss He for your physical condition, but now I have to denounce you by the way.”
He Danggui blinked and said, “Sister Zhen Zhu, you are taking this too seriously. There are many commandments in the world. Taoist commandments are not as strict as Buddhism. In your Taoist Temple, the rich can eat anything they want every day, such as dried fish, sour cream, eggs, dried small shrimps.” Then she continued with a smile, “When I went out yesterday, I found a lot of traps for catching prey near the Taoist Temple. Don’t tell me that people in your Taoist Temple catch the pheasant and wild rabbit to free them instead of eating them. Besides, Zhen Jing isn’t a pious nun. The reason why she was sent here as an unskilled laborer is that her parents owed a few acres of rent. Sister Zhen Zhu, I’m also keen on Zhen Jing and I regard her as my younger sister. So, I want to take her out of Taoist Temple, the pit of fire, and live a better life.”
Seeing the delicious chicken soup before, Zhen Jing coughed by her violent saliva. Now hearing He Danggui’s words, she couldn’t help but cough and said grievingly, “Hey, Xiaoyi, I’m older than you. I should be your elder sister…”
He Danggui was a good talker and said in a mild and indirect way. Zhen Zhu was very surprised inwardly and then smiled with a hint of profound meaning. Unconsciously, she no longer meant to “denounce” He Danggui. After all, even she herself often boiled eggs and cooked hot milk, sometimes serving extra meal for Zhen Jing, who was thin and weak. In fact, He Danggui’s behavior was no different from hers.
However, Zhen Zhu meant to sound out Miss He. So, she managed to keep a strict face and said, “The eggs and dried small shrimps are not meat after all, but chicken is real meat. One bite is enough to break a religious precept. How can I indulge her to get involved into the secular world but give up staying in the temple that stands aloof from worldly success? Miss He, you said that you would bring Zhen Jing out of this pit of fire, but I think those outside the Taoist Temple are the sea of fire!”
He Danggui crooked her head and shrugged, saying, “That sounds strange indeed! Are the eggs you eat unable to hatch chicks in a few days, and the small shrimps can’t grow into prawns in a few days? Can a gate of the monastery divide your world of quietness and filth? Is a person’s character determined by the food she eats at ordinary times, frequency that she visits the statue of Yuanshi Tianzun in a day, or the rules she could recite from The Explanation of Tao Te Ching (also known as Dao De Jing, which implied the essential, unnamable process of the universe)?
What an intelligent girl! Zhen Zhu could no longer pretend to be stern, so she just said frankly, “Zhen Jing is so naive and childlike. If she walks out of this gate of the monastery, it is possible that she might be bullied or even abducted.”
Zhen Jing waved her hands again and again and said, “Hah?! I’m not a fool, I won’t…” But she was completely ignored again.
He Danggui smiled and stared at Zhen Zhu’s eyes calmly, then said, “I will protect her until she can protect herself, until a man who is willing to protect her appears.” Hearing He Danggui’s words, Zhen Jing blushed. She looked around and was very uneasy. The topic brought from a bowl of chicken soup was finally discussed to such a degree…
——Actually, He Danggui asked Zhen Jing last night, wondering if she was willing to go back to Luo’s Family with her. She also promised that Zhen Jing didn’t have to sign the Indenture of Sale with Luo’s family, but worked as a close-fitting maid, just like her sister in private.
As for Zhen Jing, she had loved and admired He Danggui for a long time. The closeness she felt to He Danggui was even stronger than that to her own parents. When she heard that she could leave the Taoist Temple and follow He Danggui to see the outside world, she was very excited. However, she immediately thought that she was “detained” because of arrears of rent, and her Master would be the first one to forbid her from leaving. So, she became very unhappy at once.
However, when she explained her unhappiness, He Danggui did not show her sadness, but comforted her gently. She just asked Zhen Jing if she was willing to leave. As for the method of taking Zhen Jing away, although she hadn’t figured it out yet and she had no money to redeem Zhen Jing by now, things would eventually sort themselves out. She would definitely think of a good plan to get Zhen Jing out of the Taoist Temple fair and square in due course.
Zhen Jing was dubious. Although He Danggui was really smart, she didn’t think a kid could come up with “a good plan”. So, she persuaded He Danggui to take care of herself first and not worry about her affairs. After that, He Danggui made a pinkie promise with Zhen Jing, then said with a smile, “So, that’s a deal. I’ll cover you for the rest of your life.”
——At this moment, Zhen Zhu had a feeling at once that she was looking in the mirror.
For a moment, even Zhen Zhu was shocked by He Danggui’s words. He Danggui said “I will protect her” confidently. Zhen Zhu thought that He Danggui’s confident attitude was the same as hers when she beat the drum in the County Yamun and presented her view in court! A 10 years old girl, how was that possible?
“Oh, the chicken soup would be cold after a while. Why are we still discussing whether we can drink it or not?” He Danggui held out her hands and said, “Sister Zhen Zhu, you love Zhen Jing the most, but she hasn’t eaten for three days.”
Zhen Zhu glanced at Zhen Jing and lowered her voice, saying, “Drink it while it’s hot.” Zhen Jing was in a daze. She looked at the bowl of chicken soup and drooled, then asked timidly, “Well… I’m going to drink it for real. Sister Zhen Zhu, you will keep it a secret for me, won’t you?” Zhen Zhu patted Zhen Jing on the head and reminded her, “Drink slowly. Don’t choke.”
Zhen Jing cheered. Then she took up the soup bowl and took a big sip. She was so happy that her face looked like a white and tender bun filled with filling. Wow! Chicken soup… She drank it once when she was a little girl. At that time, her mother took her to her uncle’s wedding. She got a large bowl of tasty chicken soup. Getting a drumstick, her mother even tore off the chicken for her to eat with soy sauce.
Zhen Zhu and He Danggui looked at her with a smirk, and then looked at each other tacitly. They smiled and then laughed aloud at the same time in the end. Zhen Jing’s little mouth stuck with the soup bowl and she opened her eyes, looking around curiously.
Zhen Zhu couldn’t help coming forward, holding He Danggui’s hand. She looked at her carefully and frowned, saying with a smile, “It’s lucky for me to meet such an intelligent and beautiful woman in the world. As the opera goes, ‘There are many beautiful women on the waterfront of Huai’an. The new moon is like a beauty, and the beauty is unsophisticated; the new moon is like a beautiful woman, and the woman finally grows up and her charm and talent are hard to hide.’ I thought it was just a writer’s imagination. Today I finally learn that they had personally seen such a beautiful woman as you. Men of letters only wrote those poems by comparison.”
He Danggui also looked at Zhen Zhu and said with a grin, “Sister, I often heard Zhen Jing talk about you and always wanted to find an opportunity to meet you. Lucky for me to see you in the end and know that you are not an ordinary person. You can be described as ‘the beauty’ who makes the emperor obsessed.”
Zhen Zhu laughed her head off and said, “No one dares to say they are beautiful in front of you. Well, you and I feel like old friends at the first meeting. There is no need to say holiday words. Let’s move the stuffs inside.” Then Zhen Zhu walked out with He Danggui and said with a smile, “Although the bowl of chicken soup was mixed with a lot of plain boiled water, it is too thick and greasy for your cold habitus and not suitable for you to drink. But you are not a clay figure and need to eat something, too.”
When He Danggui walked outside the courtyard, she found there were so many stuffs piled like a hill, including fruits, rice bags, dry woods, charcoal, charcoal stove, small stove, and some utensils like pots, pans, spoons, oil lamps and candles. She said unfeignedly, “Sister, to tell you the truth, you are providing timely help. I’m almost starving to death. I planned to eat some wild vegetables just now.”
Zhen Zhu took the charcoal stove as she walked into the room, saying, “I was afraid to disturb your rest, so I asked them to unload the stuffs outside the courtyard. Now we have to carry these into the room by ourselves. The rice is about 25 jin. The firewood and charcoal have more than 200 jin. Anyway, the weather is fine. So, we can leave the firewood and charcoal into the room here for a few days. You can take the small charcoal stove into room first and put it on the bedside. Your room is as cold as ice cellar.”
He Danggui took the small charcoal stove into the room obediently, while Zhen Zhu had carried three times. Now she held a red earthen jar wrapped in a thick cloth and said with a smile, “We have a saying in Shandong, ‘Congee and the water in which noodles have been boiled are the ginseng soup for the poor’. This jar of congee suits you best. I heard from Zhen Jing before that you have a good command of the principles of medical science, knowing that you won’t take the congee as something tacky. So, I go to the kitchen and cook a pot of it. Come on, drink it while it’s hot. It will make you sweat and help you dispel your algidity.”
He Danggui was very moved by Zhen Zhu’s words at once. She felt much happier to get this instead of that bowl of chicken soup. She thanked Zhen Zhu immediately and took over the earthen jar, lifting the lid. The aroma of rice water and sugar juice melted together, steaming like a mist. The steam warmed her cold cheeks and her face turned red. He Danggui poured out a full bowl and drank several swallows of the congee. Then she raised her head and said to Zhen Jing with a smile, “Hey, when you finish drinking your soup, you can try this, too. It’s as tasty as yours.”
Zhen Jing squinted and nodded, saying, “Of course, Sister Zhen Zhu’s cooking skill is excellent! She often makes leek pancakes, fried gluten and small milk cakes as well as braised bird eggs in the kitchen of the Master’s courtyard…Well, by the way, she once made spicy pumpkin vines and fried tofu, and then put them in an earthen jar. Sometimes, she wrapped them with oiled papers and brought them for me to eat as a snack in the morning class. I could still remember that smell after 5 or 6 days! Guess what? My mother is the most skillful wife in our village, but her cooking skill is far inferior to Zhen Zhu!”
Zhen Zhu moved the stuffs back and forth a few times, and said with a smile, “You greedy-guts. You are not only greedy, but also gossipy. When you marry someone in the future, you can change your profession to become a matchmaker. You can make a fool of those people who propose a marriage. I’ve made less than 10 snacks for you in all. How can you say ‘often’?” Zhen Jing stuck out her tongue, then lowered her head to drink the soup.
Zhen Zhu was now tidying up the stuffs on the bed. She frowned and sighed, “Everything has taken into the room except firewood and charcoal. But there is only one thing— I forgot that your windows here are ventilated on all sides. I can’t bring the window paper and paste until I find them tomorrow. Tonight, you’d better use a few benches and a few robes to set up a small folding screen temporarily. Make do with the rest of the night. Take it seriously. Being blown by the night wind while sleeping can cause serious consequences.”
Then she pointed to a bunch of red fruits and green pears and said with a smile, “This morning, before I walked into the gate to a monastery. Zhen Jing came to me in a hurry to ‘complain’, saying that those mangoes and melons on the mourning hall were all taken away by Zhen Wei and others. I think those things are easy on the eyes while placing the mourning hall anyway. They have been transported from the south for many days and may not be delicious. So, please don’t blame them. I bought these fruits last night when I went to Tu’er Town. It’s sweet and juicy. It can stimulate your appetite. You can have a taste after drinking the soup.”
He Danggui squinted her eyes and said with a smile, “You are so considerate and thoughtful. No wonder Zhen Jing always says you are like her mother. Well, now I can’t help thinking the same.”
Zhen Zhu laughed, “You have a glib tongue? By the way, Zhen Jing and I are both round faces. We are a bit similar to be serious. But you have a little face and a pointy chin. You must look like your mother.”
He Danggui lowered her head and took a big mouthful of congee, saying vaguely, “Now we are talking. My mother is also a round face, just like yours.” Zhen Zhu wanted to say that “You are like your father”. Then she thought of the fact at once that He Danggui’s “father” was a taboo word. So, she changed the topic immediately and talked about the guests who came to the capital.
They talked for a while. An older Taoist nun came from outside and urged in gasps, “… Sister Zhen Zhu, the Master is with the guests in the West Wing-room. The guests want to see Miss He, so the Master asks you to take Miss He there!”
The guests? Those imperial guards wanted to see her? He Danggui was puzzled and thought for a moment with her head tilted. She and the imperial guards only spoke a few words yesterday. They should not even know her and Zhen Jing’s names. How could they name her name for seeing? To say the least, even if the imperial guards found the person who was treated and cured by them, they would not think of her at once.
He Danggui turned her gaze to Zhen Jing and found she was nervously bulging her eyes and opening her mouth, just like a frog who was hunting for its prey. She could not help but say with a smile, “What are you thinking of? Don’t worry. Since they want to see me, I’ll see them. They will just ask a few questions. Now that they didn’t ask you to go, you can stay here to drink the soup and watch our home at the same time.”