Miao Chu

Chapter 363 Letter

Song Miao reached out and took it. Looking down, she saw that there was no information on the outside of the letter, only the name of Song Ji Restaurant and the address of Suanzao Alley outside Zhuque Gate. Looking at the sealing wax stamp at the back, it was from Shouzhou.

She picked up the letter and felt that it was very thick. She immediately had some guesses in her mind. Because she was busy with other things, she did not open it. She put it away with her and went to the back to play mahjong and orchid strips with the others for half a day.

After everything was settled at the restaurant, all the hired servants went home. Just then, a carriage stopped at the door, and a person got out. It was Shen Xingniang.

As soon as she entered, she smiled and said to Song Miao, "I know you do business in the backyard during the day and it's not good to let outsiders in and out, so I specially chose to come after closing time today—can we come in now?"

As she spoke, she pointed to a bundle she was carrying and said enthusiastically, "I just made you a set of clothes!"

Shen Xingniang looked very excited and seemed to be in much better shape than before. Not only was her complexion better, but her face was also fuller, and her voice was full of energy.

Seeing this, Song Miao was truly happy for her and couldn't help but laugh, "Was it made just for me? Then I definitely have to try it!"

As she spoke, she closed the door and led the person back to the house in the backyard.

When the bundle was opened, a set of light blue clothes was seen inside, including an inner shirt, an outer garment, outer trousers, and a skirt.

The fabric of this garment is a very delicate color, like the willow branches that emerge in February, light and pale, yet very pleasing to the eye.

It feels soft, smooth, and very comfortable to the touch.

Shen Xingniang took the initiative to take the outer garment and help Song Miao put it on, and then straightened and shook the cloth on her shoulders.

“I got this fabric a while ago. The color and texture suit you perfectly. I just haven’t been feeling well lately and haven’t been able to muster any energy. But I’m feeling much better now. I was thinking that your restaurant will be opening soon and you’ll definitely need to wear new clothes then. If anyone asks about this outfit, please be sure to mention me!”

As she spoke, she took two steps back and looked Song Miao up and down at how she looked in the clothes she had made. She was clearly satisfied and couldn't help but sigh, "Indeed, clothes need to be worn to look good—once they're on, even my handiwork looks more beautiful!"

The clothes are indeed good. Not only are they good-looking, but the fabric is also soft and comfortable to wear. They don't interfere with work at all, and Song Miao likes them very much.

Although the material is not kesi (silk tapestry), its texture and color are already very rare, not to mention Shen Xingniang's excellent craftsmanship. The main embroidery features butterflies fluttering around autumn chrysanthemums, with chrysanthemums adorning the edges.

Shen Xingniang was a truly skilled embroiderer. Not only was her weaving skill superb, but her embroidery was also excellent. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what made it so good, but it was incredibly natural. From a distance, the embroidered butterflies looked almost real, and when you got closer, they were even more lifelike, as if the butterfly's wings were flapping on their own.

The price of something like this is self-evident.

Song Miao smiled and said, "Miss Xing just wanted to give me clothes, so I won't refuse. They are really beautiful. With your craftsmanship, there's no need for anyone else to help. But they are so exquisite and precious. I don't know how much effort it took to make them. I'm so embarrassed to accept them!"

Shen Xingniang, unconvinced, went to a nearby table, took the bronze mirror, placed it in front of Song Miao, and pointed inside, saying, "Look, look! Isn't this beautiful? Doesn't it make the clothes look even better because of the person?!"

Unfortunately, the bronze mirror was very small; it could see Miaotou but not Miaoshang.

Shen Xingniang feigned deep regret and said, "I should have brought my big bronze mirror so you could see clearly!"

He added, "Where did Second Madam Cheng go? Where did Xiao Lian go? I really want to call them all here and see if they're on my side!"

Once she recovered, she became quite lively, tilting her head back and saying, "Where are you blushing? Your face is so fair—it needs a little more red, just right, you don't even need to put on rouge!"

Song Miaozheng took off the clothes she had tried on. Seeing how adorable her stubbornness was, she couldn't help but laugh and said, "I've accepted the clothes today, but what am I going to do in the future? You give me a screen today and clothes tomorrow, and you even give me such a big discount when you make clothes for me. I can't keep taking advantage of you for nothing, can I? I also don't like hearing you say things like 'help me or I'm in danger'..."

Shen Xingniang smiled and said, "Why don't you just close your eyes and accept it?"

Song Miao readily complied and immediately closed her eyes. But after only a short while, she opened them again, winked at her, and laughed, "You can close them for a while, but do you expect me to close them for a lifetime? If I can't see anything in the sky or on the ground, how am I supposed to walk?"

Shen Xingniang chuckled and said, "From now on, when I make clothes or other things for you, I'll charge you the full price, but give you a small discount—I'll also give discounts to other big customers!"

He added, "If I take the money, will you also charge me when I buy or eat at the restaurant in the future?"

The two sat chatting and laughing for a while, and then Shen Xingniang said, "I'm going to Tianyuan Hall to see Doctor Lin later, and I'd like to bring her something—do you have anything ready that I can take with me?"

Song Miao then said, "It just so happens that we fried some hemp seeds today, and also have some orchid strips. These things can't be kept for long and must be stored very carefully. We haven't sold them to the public yet."

As she spoke, she led Shen Xingniang toward the main kitchen, saying as they walked, "Take some back to eat, and give some to Doctor Lin—remember to tell her that it's best to eat it within the next two days, as there are many people in the clinic, and it would be best if everyone could finish it in one go!"

Because Shen Xingniang wanted to ask the price, she said, "You gave me such a beautiful dress but you won't accept money. I'm only giving you back a few snacks. Are you still going to talk here?"

Shen Xingniang quickly made a shushing gesture, obediently standing aside, not daring to utter another sound.

After seeing everyone off, Cheng Erniang was out on business, and Xiaolian was still in Tianyuan Hall. It was rare to find herself alone in the usually noisy and bustling restaurant. Song Miao took out the dried jasmine flowers that Zhu Jie'er had given her last time, brewed herself a cup, and went back to her room. While the daylight was still there, she opened the window and used the light to retrieve the letter she had received earlier.

She opened the folded page and began to read slowly.

The writer must have accumulated the letter over many days, just like the letter in the leather bag in the goat's milk box last time; it was written intermittently.

It's still written in vernacular Chinese, but this time the content is even more boundless.

The characters are beautiful, strong and spirited. They are not in the official style, but somewhat resemble the style of Liu Gongquan, yet they are more rigid. Even without looking at the content, just looking at the characters is very pleasing to the eye.

No wonder Master Chen said that once a wealthy merchant asked this man to write calligraphy, and he paid a South Sea pearl as a fee for each character.

No wonder this person can save so much money and is always giving it away—everyone says starting a business is difficult, and maintaining it is even more difficult, but he doesn't seem to know how to manage his wealth.

The letter said that he had arrived at a certain place, done a certain thing, and seen a certain local specialty. He originally wanted to send it back to the capital, but unfortunately, both water and land transport were too crowded and congested recently. The goods were also seasonal and could not be kept for long, which was a great pity. However, he had already noted it down and would think of a way when transport capacity was more abundant in the future.

Here he described in detail what the food looked like and tasted, and then emphasized that he had not eaten it and could not guarantee its authenticity; he had only heard about it from the local people he met during his investigation.

The letter also mentioned that he met with Kong Fuyang on a certain day, and the other party cursed him for a long time upon meeting him, saying that the boatmen on their boat cooked very badly, and every day they would make a big pot of perfunctory food, which, although there was meat, was almost all fish.

It was bad enough that the boatman cooked the fish the same way every day, but he often didn't even scrape off the scales properly. Sometimes he was too lazy to gut the fish, and he would break the gall bladder, resulting in a pot full of bitter broth. He said that it didn't matter whether the boatman's cooking was good or bad, but what annoyed him most was the dirt. He didn't even wash the pot properly, which was unpleasant to look at. Because he was too lazy to complain, he simply had someone buy him a new pot to bring onto the boat, so he could cook thick porridge for him every day.

"I don't know why, but I used to eat it every day, and I still eat it every day now. I didn't find it unbearable before, but now it's very hard to endure."

He said that when he went to check on the cleaning progress, he saw ants on the ground.

"I never looked down to examine it closely before, but now that I'm looking at it carefully, I feel quite close to it. There's a unique interest in the way it's done."

He then asked if Song Miao Restaurant was scheduled to open around the Mid-Autumn Festival. If so, he feared he might not have time to return to the capital.

"I've never had an official position, so it's difficult for me to get things done. It's a rare opportunity like this, and I've already mentally prepared several plans for the opening day, thinking about how to arrange things and who to ask for what. If you had agreed to let me help out, I would have gladly and openly contributed my efforts. But now, things have turned out this way."

He wrote "Now it's good" twice.

But after finishing writing, whether it was the next day or just a short while later, he continued with even darker ink: "If I can catch up, that would be best. If I really can't, so be it. There's still a long way to go. I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to step up and contribute in the future."

He also said that when he was helping to clean the riverbed for calculations, he saw an old inscription and saw a character "亦" on it, which was carved very beautifully. After returning home, he couldn't help but write a page as well. After finishing writing, he felt that doing this behind closed doors was a bit frivolous, so he hurriedly burned it. He asked her when she would stop burning it.

At the end of the letter, he honestly confessed that he had actually written the first page of the letter twice. The first time, he had used the official script, which he was used in, and he had actually finished writing it. But when he looked through her previous replies that day, he felt that her writing style was as smooth as flowing water and as free as he wanted. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that his previous writing style was not quite right. So he specially changed to a new version and asked her if she thought the new style was suitable.

Besides that, I also asked, although I know she has many nicknames, I dare not use them easily. At present, I dare not write them carelessly in our correspondence. But I have been thinking about them for a long time and I really can't help but ask which one I can use.

After finishing the letter, he didn't forget to include a "business operation charter".

Song Miao looked at the "procedures," which not only clearly stated the shape of the tortoise shell to be burned and the divination to be performed on the day of the divination, but also included all the arrangements that the writer surnamed Han had helped to break down.

On that day, the restaurant's hired helpers were divided into several teams, and their arrival times were clearly defined. Each hour was assigned a specific person and their duties, and a large sheet of paper was given to them, clearly outlining the twelve hours of the opening day.

It looks very worrying.

Song Miao read it word by word. Because it was written in vernacular Chinese, it really felt like the person was talking to her right in front of her. She sat there for a while, her mind wandering between the fresh ingredients mentioned in the letter, the tortoise shell pattern, the meticulously crafted "opening regulations," and the so-called new characters.

After thinking it over and over, I remembered someone saying that they stood on the embankment watching ants, and that image involuntarily appeared in my mind. I felt a slight sourness and a tingling sensation in my heart, as if there really was a little ant crawling inside. I couldn't quite describe the feeling.

She looked up and saw the sun setting outside the window, the sky tinged with blue and purple light.

The autumn sunset is actually quite beautiful.

Song Miao only glanced at it a few times, not really appreciating it. Instead, she couldn't help but lower her head and read the letter carefully again.

She took out a sheet of white paper, ground the ink, picked up her brush, and read a bit of the letter, replying bit by bit.

The letter was not finished by the time the lamps were lit.

She wrote about her newly made hemp cloth, the envoy from the Sifang Pavilion, the beautiful clothes sent by Shen Xingniang, and the goat milk she drank every day.

Later in the story, the author describes how Xiaolian received the wooden figure, the fish she fed, and the setting sun she saw at that moment.

The sunset was beautiful.

So, when will Young Master Han return?

***
The letter was already written, but Song Miao hadn't even taken a sip of her tea.

But inside Tianyuan Hall, someone was already secretly preparing tea for themselves.

Meanwhile, Shen Xingniang took the food box and went to see Doctor Lin for a follow-up examination.

But this time, as soon as she entered the room, she heard coughing and the sound of someone reporting their symptoms.

"...I cough day and night, but it's a dry cough without any phlegm...Master, could you please prescribe some medicine for me?"

Immediately afterwards, Dr. Lin spoke to his apprentice beside him.

"You have lung heat just like me. You should take good care of yourself like I do, eat less fried food, and don't need any medicine. Just pay attention to your diet, rest well for a couple of days, and you'll get better on your own. Medicine is three parts poison, don't you know that as a medical student?"

As he spoke, the old doctor also coughed twice.

Once Shen Xingniang entered the room, he couldn't help but inquire about her health.

Dr. Lin waved his hand dismissively and said, "It's nothing. I just had a cold with fever a while ago, and my lungs and wei qi are a bit hot. I'll get better on my own after eating a light diet for two days."

They then began to examine the patient in detail.

After taking Shen Xingniang's pulse and examining her, she asked about her condition over the past few days, carefully considered and prescribed a new formula, and said with a smile, "I see that your pulse has improved, and you feel much better. You should feel it yourself—how do you feel?"

Whether you are in good health or not, you know best yourself.

Shen Xingniang said happily, "I'm much better now. I drank a whole bowl of the soup that Miss Song made last afternoon, and I only got up twice at night. I can now sleep for one or two hours straight!"

He added, "I don't feel as uncomfortable as I used to."

"Eat and drink as you please, don't think too much about anything else. After taking two more doses of medicine, you can use only external medicine and won't need to take oral medication anymore."

After giving a few more instructions, Doctor Lin handed over the prescription. Just as he was about to tell someone to go to the front to get the medicine, he saw Shen Xingniang looking hesitant, first looking at herself, then at a bundle beside her.

(End of this chapter)