Fish Meat – Chapter 2

The Ninth Year of Shunde

Clouds in the Morning, Rain in the Evening

Yao Maolin’s thoughts wandered in circles before she finally drafted a plan to have an in-depth conversation about life with General Zhen. However, when she turned around, the general was nowhere to be seen. She hurriedly searched through the crowd, only to see that familiar lotus green figure gradually moving away, accompanied by a group of female officials, heading into Yijing Garden.

At the Gui Lan Banquet, the imperial seats were set up, with banquet tables arranged on the east and west sides below. The band in the south corner played a variety of instruments, including qin, se, zheng, zhu, konghou, and others. With the emperor in attendance, twenty-four tigers stood solemnly nearby, adding an air of gravity.

The banquet pavilions were filled with wine and delicacies, and as officials entered, drums and music resounded. After the young emperor and empress took their seats, the ceremony began. The young crown prince, just starting his education, was seated alone on the east side under the guidance of the inner officials. The officials then knelt and kowtowed three times, while the inner officials presented flowers to the emperor, offering wine before the Gui Lan Banquet officially started.

The grand banquet was filled with continuous singing and dancing, along with frequent toasts to the emperor. The rules of the Gui Lan Banquet were extremely intricate, requiring nine kowtows and nine rounds of toasts. Even the mild grape wine made people dizzy after continuous drinking, and during the final salute, Yao Maolin almost collapsed.

Struggling to lift her head, she saw the emperor bestowing wine upon the four exceptional newcomers of the year. After they kowtowed and praised the emperor’s virtues, the main courses were finally served. The officials, having starved all night, looked eagerly at the food that could fill their stomachs.

The young emperor, though youthful, was chronically frail. Having caught a cold in early spring, he had not recovered by now. After a few toasts, he coughed repeatedly and returned to the palace with the empress, leaving the officials to chat among themselves.

Yao Maolin, who had no tolerance for alcohol, was unexpectedly made to drink heavily before eating at this grand banquet, making her quite inebriated.

With the alcohol taking effect, she began to reminisce about her hard days of studying, tears welling up in her eyes, and thought of the beautiful and gentle yet “trapped” General Zhen.

Each thought of General Zhen brought her more pain. She could not believe that General Zhen would willingly associate with a traitor; she must have been coerced. That treacherous Wei must have something on General Zhen, forcing her compliance. Otherwise, how could a righteous person like General Zhen consort with a villain?

Yes, it must be so.

General Zhen, do not fear, I will help you escape this misery.

With a surge of heroism, Yao Maolin began actively searching for Zhen Wenjun’s figure among the crowd again. Between toasts, she drank more, and although the jade grape wine had been diluted by Minister Liu, Yao Maolin, who rarely drank, still had flushed cheeks and blurred vision.

In the late spring, flowers were in full bloom, and the Gui Lan Banquet was adorned with various seasonal and off-season flowers for decoration. Holding a wine cup, Yao Maolin, with her mind muddled, stepped through the flowerbeds as if walking on mud. Suddenly, she saw a flash of lotus green, a figure resembling General Zhen. She hurriedly pushed through the crowd towards that figure.

Pushing aside the wisteria, it felt like traveling through a dream.

Stumbling, Yao Maolin reached a corridor. Hanging colorful silk lanterns, a small pond in the courtyard had a few golden carp playfully breaking the water’s reflection, swimming energetically.

Unlike the noisy banquet behind, the corridor was deserted, and the plants in the courtyard intertwined silently, as if exchanging whispers she could not hear, quietly discussing the intruder.

Looking around and not seeing General Zhen, Yao Maolin was about to continue searching when she suddenly heard a voice from the dark:

“The crown prince and marquises are still at the banquet, yet you dare to sneak here for a solitary drink. Quite bold.”

The gentle reprimand carried a hint of amusement and landed in Yao Maolin’s ears like a thunderclap, shattering her drunkenness and making her break into a cold sweat. She didn’t even know who was speaking and hurriedly bowed, ready to explain when another female voice, with a hint of laughter, lightly hummed.

“The banquet is dull; it’s quieter here. Why, did you come looking for me?” This voice took over the reprimand.

Yao Maolin then saw clearly that across the pond was a corridor courtyard, with a woman sitting on a stone bench deep inside, and another woman approaching her. Their conversation had nothing to do with anyone else.

Yao Maolin breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when she suddenly felt that the first voice sounded familiar. Forcing herself to focus, she saw that the person was none other than Zhen Wenjun, whom she had been searching for.

In the night, Zhen Wenjun was radiant and dignified. The woman sitting in front of her had her back to Yao Maolin, wearing a turquoise narrow-sleeved shirt with golden threads and a plain white eight-panel cotton skirt, complementing Zhen Wenjun’s long dress. Although their colors and styles were different, their outfits had a subtle, harmonious detail that seemed to come from the same hand.

The woman in the turquoise shirt had her hair in a high single-ring snake bun. When she stood up and turned slightly, her face was oval with delicate eyebrows and eyes like deep lakes, her thin lips lightly pressed, exuding a cold sharpness. Her gaze, steady when it landed on Zhen Wenjun’s face, made Yao Maolin feel a bit tense.

This woman inexplicably instilled fear; when she stood, she didn’t fold her hands in front of her like most women but placed them behind her, standing tall like a pine and beautiful like a rainbow. Her extraordinary bearing indicated she was no ordinary person.

Zhen Wenjun was also momentarily stunned by her gaze. Although she showed no change in expression, Zhen Wenjun read some thoughts from her words and repeatedly apologized, but the woman ignored her, making the atmosphere quite awkward.

Yao Maolin felt indignant. Where did this disrespectful woman come from, and what had General Zhen done wrong to keep apologizing? She was about to step forward to seek justice when Zhen Wenjun’s address scared her back behind a red-lacquered pillar.

“I couldn’t find you anywhere, Madam, and didn’t expect you to be here, drinking alone and enjoying the moon. I hunted two foxes in the north to make a cape for you. The night is cool; wear it to keep warm.” Zhen Wenjun indeed held a fur coat in her arms. Her gentle and sincere manner was entirely different from the other woman’s coldness.

One was affectionate, the other stern. This exchange shocked Yao Maolin.

Isn’t General Zhen’s wife none other than the treacherous Wei Tingxu? How could she be here?

Indeed… how could an important figure like Minister Wei be absent from such a grand event like the Gui Lan Banquet?

With the alcohol completely gone, Yao Maolin strained to see through the flickering light of the colorful lanterns. Wei Tingxu, with a barely noticeable smile, responded:

“I’m flattered that you, who spent the entire evening drinking with colleagues at the Gui Lan Banquet, still remembered my health. If others knew that the revered General Zhen, who is said to be both a civil and military genius, cared so much for me, a supposed traitor, they would probably write a night of battle essays in anguish. Tonight, you are the true star of the Gui Lan Banquet. Many outside are waiting to forge connections with you, General Zhen. Staying here might ruin your mood. If I scare away the charming female officials, it would indeed be my fault.”

Zhen Wenjun replied calmly, “You’re joking. I attended the Gui Lan Banquet only because you were here. Otherwise, my old wounds would have made me leave early. It has been a long time since we last met; don’t you have anything to say to me?”

Wei Tingxu was sharp, while Zhen Wenjun deflected with ease. They exchanged a few more words in the dark, which Yao Maolin couldn’t hear clearly. She only saw General Zhen following Minister Wei into the courtyard.

Minister Wei entered the courtyard first, and Zhen Wenjun closed the door behind her, shutting everything out.

Yao Maolin knew it was improper, but she couldn’t help but look.

The night always sparks imagination.

That courtyard was reportedly a private one built by Minister Wei in Yijing Garden for her rest. No one else in the entire Da Yu dared to construct a private courtyard in the royal forbidden garden. The emperor of Da Yu must have known but could do nothing about it.

Standing outside the courtyard, Yao Maolin seemed to hear something, but then thought she had misheard. It wasn’t until a soft, trembling gasp reached her ears that she realized she should have stopped earlier.

In the unseen brocade tent and emerald drapery, her admired hero was intertwined with the most despised traitor in a passionate, forbidden affair.

Tears streamed down Yao Maolin’s face, and she could no longer stay. The wine cup she had been holding all along fell, spilling wine all over her, as she stormed away into the night…

Yao Maolin couldn’t believe that General Zhen was indeed so intimately involved with Wei Tingxu.

If someone had told the twelve-year-old servant “Alai,” who was humiliated in the Xie family of Suichuan in the sixth year of Shenchu, that she would become a famous general and marry into the Wei family of Pingcang, she wouldn’t have believed it.

The author has something to say:

Timeline:

Shenchu—Zhaowu—Shunde