The annulment banquet stirred the entire Pujiang County. In the following days, Suitable Treasure Tower bustled with even more visitors, many arriving in grand carriages and spending lavishly, all eager to taste the dishes served at the banquet. Zhenzhen gazed at the nearly deserted Mussel Tower across the street and, with a faint smile, instructed Fengxian and her other senior sisters to add the banquet dishes to the menu and accept reservations for banquets of the same style.
When Wu Qiuniang and Pu Bo returned, Zhenzhen was directing the restaurant staff to prepare for the new dish orders. At a glance of the courtyard piled high with mutton, crabs, fish, and shrimp, Qiuniang strode swiftly to Zhenzhen and struck her across the face.
"Where did you get these recipes?" Qiuniang shook out a newly printed menu from Suitable Treasure Tower and held it before Zhenzhen, asking word by word, her eyes blazing with fury.
Zhenzhen had never been struck by her mother before. Stunned, she held her cheek for a long moment before stammering, "When I was little, you wouldn’t let me eat too many fermented plums, so you hid them in your room. I sneaked in to look for them and found some old recipe books in the cabinet. Were they records from your youth?"
Qiuniang was taken aback and fell silent.
Zhenzhen’s lashes trembled, and tears fell. "The Yang family bullied us too much, saying we only knew how to sell pickles. I remembered these recipes, so I made them to show everyone... I didn’t know you wouldn’t want me to use them. I was wrong. I’ll accept any punishment."
Qiuniang wiped away her own tears with her sleeve, pulled Zhenzhen into her arms, and whispered hoarsely in her ear, "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you... You weren’t wrong. It’s all my fault..."
Suddenly, old memories surfaced. Overwhelmed with grief, Qiuniang held Zhenzhen and wept uncontrollably. It had been a long time since Zhenzhen had seen her mother cry. Shock now overshadowed the pain and grievance of being struck. She apologized and comforted her mother, and only after a while did Qiuniang stop crying.
Qiuniang then ordered the new dishes removed, preferring to compensate and cancel all recent orders rather than serve them. Everything returned to the previous menu, resulting in a significant financial loss. Though puzzled, Zhenzhen and the female disciples dared not ask questions. Life at Suitable Treasure Tower resumed its quiet routine, as it had been before the annulment banquet.
Although Pu Bo was pleased to see Zhenzhen’s engagement to Yang Shenglin broken off, he couldn’t help but worry about her future. "Zhenzhen is young and impulsive. Breaking off the engagement is one thing, but why hold an annulment banquet that made it known throughout the city? Gossip from busybodies will only make it worse. If it damages a girl’s reputation, finding a good match will be even harder."
Qiuniang sighed. "What’s done is done. We can only look ahead. Whether her future husband is good or bad depends on her fate."
Hearing this, Zhenzhen remained indifferent. "I just want people to know that anyone who enjoys watching women play cuju need not come looking for me."
"Hmm," Qiuniang said, mending the clothes Zhenzhen had torn while riding a horse the day before. "At worst, I’ll spend more money to find a live-in son-in-law."
In the dynasty, scholars aspiring to enter officialdom through the imperial examination must first take the Provincial Examination in their local prefectures in autumn. Those who pass will travel to the capital in winter to prepare for the following spring’s Metropolitan Examination held by the Ministry of Rites. Before the scholars depart for the capital, local officials host a banquet at the Confucius Temple to bid them farewell and offer blessings. This banquet is known as the Village banquet.The village banquet was a grand event in every region, typically requiring months of preparation. In recent years, the catering for Pujiang's village banquet had been jointly undertaken by Mussel Tower and Suitable Treasure Tower. However, since the marriage alliance between the Yang and Wu families had been dissolved, both sides refused to collaborate on the banquet again. The magistrate of Pujiang County thus decided that for this year's banquet, one of the two establishments would be authorized as the head chef. Both would prepare separately, after which the magistrate would host a banquet on a chosen day for some of the scholars, allowing both restaurants to showcase their skills. The attending scholars would then decide who would cater the village banquet.
Yang Yu was determined to secure the catering rights for the village banquet. Soon after, he began a grand renovation of Mussel Tower, discarding all overly intricate and gaudy decorations. Instead, he used mountain rocks and bamboo for landscaping, hiring specialists for hanging paintings and arranging flowers. The tasteful design gave the restaurant a fresh new look, attracting considerable attention from the scholars.
"Moreover, Yang Yu has enlisted an expert to revise the menu, giving each dish a name that is both historically allusive and elegantly refined," Fengxian privately informed Zhenzhen of the news she had gathered. "For example, the 'Prefect's Broth' draws from the story of Cai Zun, the prefect of Wuxing during the Southern Liang Dynasty. Cai Zun was an upright and incorruptible official. When he served as prefect, he wouldn't even drink water from the well in the prefectural office, and his daily meals consisted of white amaranth and purple eggplants grown in front of his own study. Mussel Tower uses amaranth and eggplant to make a broth and names it 'Prefect's Broth.' There's another dish called 'Emerald Stream Broth.' Can you guess what it's made of?"
Zhenzhen thought for a moment and said, "Could it be some rare aquatic plant?"
Fengxian shook her head. "It's just ordinary celery. They take the tender parts of celery, boil them with water to make a broth, claiming it is refreshing and fragrant, and looks like the emerald waters of a mountain stream. Du Fu once wrote a poem praising it as 'green celery and emerald stream broth,' so Mussel Tower adopted this name."
Zhenzhen was surprised. "Although these names sound pleasant, the dishes themselves are quite ordinary. Will the scholars enjoy them?"
"Don't underestimate the power of a name," Fengxian replied. "Scholars already admire the talent and fame of renowned figures. Hearing about dishes favored by such figures naturally makes them want to try them. Moreover, as they are preparing for the imperial examinations in the capital, they hope to share in the prestige of these figures for good fortune. That's why Mussel Tower has been attracting customers from all directions lately, and business is booming."
Zhenzhen pondered briefly, then raised her eyebrows and said, "No matter. They have their Prefect's Broth, but we have our Dongpo Pork."
Fengxian was taken aback but soon laughed. "It's not the same. Dongpo Pork uses pork, which scholars and officials of our dynasty have always considered coarse and vulgar. Ordinary scholars are influenced by this and rarely choose to eat it. We shouldn't rely on this to build our reputation."
Zhenzhen said, "If it's about giving dishes names with historical allusions, that's not too difficult either. We can hire some well-read scholars to come up with a few. Although Mussel Tower's dish names are novel, the dishes themselves aren't particularly impressive. If we want to surpass them, we must focus on the ingredients, selecting those that can outshine their dishes in flavor. Since they emphasize vegetables, we can focus more on meat dishes. If scholars disdain pork as coarse, we can seek more distinctive meats for our main courses."
Fengxian found this quite reasonable and suggested, "I heard a new venison shop has opened in the northern suburbs. The owner is from Lin'an and sells cooked venison. Venison is rare in the Central Plains. If we use it as a main course, it will surely be refreshing and novel."Zhenzhen thought it feasible and went to discuss with Qiu Niang, but Qiu Niang did not quite agree: "The Village banquet should be viewed with a normal mindset, without dwelling on matters of gain or loss. It is enough to do things seventy or eighty percent well; there is no need to force oneself to stand out, nor must one always strive to be the best. Let others compete as they will; we simply need to do what we usually do. The fleeting brilliance of fame and sudden wealth is often not as comforting and tranquil as the ordinary days."
Zhenzhen, being young, could not fully grasp the deeper meaning of her mother's words. Using the expansion of dishes as a reason, she insisted on buying venison. Qiu Niang had no choice but to advise: "Venison is rare in the Central Plains. If it is transported from elsewhere, it is uncertain whether it can stay fresh. So you must check the quality of the meat before it is stewed—only if it is not spoiled or rotten should you buy it."
Having obtained her mother's permission, Zhenzhen set out for the northern suburbs the next day in search of the venison shop.
The morning light was clear and beautiful. Zhenzhen rode her horse along a small path in the suburbs, feeling the fragrance of flowers brushing her face and the warm breeze caressing her eyes. Where the horse's hooves stirred, startled butterflies often fluttered and circled. When she reached a bend by a stream, she heard the sound of men's laughter mingling with the gurgling water from behind the willow shade ahead, lingering pleasantly in her ears.
Zhenzhen urged her horse forward, parting the flowers and willows until she reached the riverside. There, the previously narrow stream widened into a pond, reflecting the weeping willows and phoenix trees on both banks. The water was clear and translucent, revealing an emerald-green hue.
Two young men in their early twenties were riding horses and swinging their whips, striking a leather ball floating on the water in a polo posture.
However, it was not just polo. Their horses had been stripped of saddles and bridles, and the men themselves wore no boots or trousers. They had tied the lower parts of their robes around their waists, revealing long legs beneath the draped hems. Riding bareback on the horses, they guided the reins and broke the surface of the emerald water, occasionally laughing and striking the ball back and forth, seemingly playing a game of polo while bathing their horses.
One of them wore a blue robe and rode a white horse, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, exuding a heroic air. The other had a high nose and thin lips, handsome and charming. Facing the warm sun, he smiled brightly, his eyes seeming to shimmer like stars. He wore a white robe, and the horse beneath him had a light yellow coat that shimmered with a faint golden hue in the sunlight. Like its owner, it carried an aura of radiance.
The water droplets stirred up by their whips splashed around them, as if they were bathing in a silver rain. Laughing and playing in the mist, they startled a flock of wagtails in the pond, which spread their black-and-white wings and darted across the water's surface, dancing to the rhythm of their laughter.
Zhenzhen focused her attention on the man in white. He had a small head and the delicate beauty typical of men from the Jiangnan region. The pond water had soaked most of the front of his robe, and the tightly clinging fabric revealed a sturdy, not frail, physique. He smiled leisurely, raising his sleeves in the wind and swinging his long whip in an elegant arc. Amidst the floating shadows of the trees in the wilderness, his beauty was as radiant as the bright morning light of summer.
Zhenzhen dismounted and stood silently by the pond, momentarily forgetting the purpose of her trip. The two men finally noticed her. The man in white flicked the ball up with his toe, caught it with his hand, and then slapped it, sending it flying straight toward Zhenzhen.
Zhenzhen reacted swiftly, sidestepping to block it. As the ball fell, she kicked it a few times with her foot before giving it a powerful kick back to the man in white.
The man in white caught the ball and laughed, "You have impressive skills, brother. If you have time, why not join us in the water to bathe the horses and play polo?"
For convenience during her travels, Zhenzhen was dressed in men's clothing, which was why the man addressed her as "brother."Zhenzhen glanced at his bare long legs, a flush appearing on her face as she averted her gaze from the man's scrutinizing look, saying, "No need."
Hearing her voice, the man in white deepened his smile. "So it's a young lady."
The man in blue robes laughed upon hearing this. "Could it really be a lady? What young lady would so boldly look at a half-naked man, not knowing it's improper to stare?"
Zhenzhen felt a surge of annoyance and retorted, "You two are playing polo half-naked in broad daylight, unafraid of offending public decency. The ones being improper are you. I was passing by, simply enjoying the scenery along the way, and happened to see you. It wasn't peeping, so how is that improper?"
The man in white nodded and said to the man in blue, "What this young lady says does make sense. We should go ashore earlier... If word gets out that a young lady saw us, it would after all harm our reputation."
With that, he indeed urged his horse toward the shore.
Seeing him end the game, Zhenzhen felt somewhat apologetic for disturbing their enjoyment and said, "That's all right, you can continue. I'll be on my way." Thinking of the gossip her broken engagement had stirred among the neighbors, she couldn't help but sigh. "I'm not exactly someone with a spotless reputation either."
"You're overthinking it," the man in white said with a smile as he leisurely pulled on his boots and trousers. "I was talking about my reputation."
(To be continued)
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