Miao Chu

Chapter 367 The Goose
"There's already a lot of talk going around. If we keep saying we'll eat fish today and meat tomorrow, who knows what kind of rumors will spread!"

Empress Deng immediately became alert and asked, "What are they saying outside—who's trying to find fault with His Majesty again?"

He added, “You’re always worrying about this and tolerating that. I think you’re not the emperor, your husbands are. It’s one thing to worry about your husbands, but those members of the royal family are always gossiping. You should just listen to what they say—being the emperor is too frustrating!”

Zhao Yu said, "Why bother? It's either for the sake of the country or for the bloodline of Emperor Taizong. Let them say what they want. It's not easy for anyone."

Empress Deng knew that her husband felt he had obtained the throne by chance, so she was very tolerant of the descendants of Emperor Taizong and did not argue with him.

She pursed her lips, not continuing the topic, and instead asked, "Is your stomach feeling any better now? Should we summon the imperial physician?"

"I'm much better now. It's getting late. If I were to send someone over now, and wait for them to gather and prepare the medicine, it would take forever. It would be very troublesome. I'm sure I'll be better by tomorrow."

"You're just greedy! I knew I shouldn't have told you about that fish!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two were about to rest when Zhao Yu stood up. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a piece of paper spread out on the corner table and asked with a smile, "What calligraphy did you practice today?"

He went closer and saw that it contained a lot of nonsensical names for boys and girls.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Yu was first stunned, then overjoyed, and turned to ask, "Yunniang?"

He then asked, "Did you call the imperial physician to come and see you? What did he say? Did he say we need to be extra careful about what we eat, drink, and do in our daily lives? Why didn't you tell me?"

Empress Deng naturally understood her husband's meaning, but quickly shook her head and said, "That's not it."

Zhao Yu still refused to believe it and asked, "Don't try to fool me, how could it not be? If it wasn't, why would you write these things?"

He added, "I know there's a saying that if the pregnancy isn't stable, it's not good to tell outsiders—but I'm not an outsider, so why can't I say it?"

Empress Deng was somewhat embarrassed, but had no choice but to say, "When Princess Lu came to the palace last time, she mentioned that she had just had a granddaughter and wanted me to give her a name—I declined, but I kept thinking about it, wondering what would happen if we had our own granddaughter in the future… it's something that has no future at all…"

After she finished speaking, she looked up and saw Zhao Yu standing there opposite her, staring at the names on the table with a look of disappointment on his face.

"His Majesty……"

Empress Deng called out, wanting to speak, but the words were on the tip of her tongue and she found it too difficult to say them.

Zhao Yu then realized what was happening, forced a smile, and said, "Let me see what name you've chosen."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and looked at the names on the paper for a long time.

The couple mustered their strength and chose two names, one for the man and one for the woman. When they returned to their bedroom and lay on the bed, around midnight, neither of them spoke, but they both sighed and turned over, one to the left and the other to the right, facing each other.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the moon is already more than half full, and the moonlight is very bright.

But since it was through the window screen and curtains, and it was the middle of the night, it was naturally not as clear as during the day.

Empress Deng thought for a long time, and finally said, "I understand His Majesty's heart, but if it is... he should at least have an heir..."

Zhao Yu finally let out a long sigh and said, "Having children is a matter of fate. If it's not in your destiny, then perhaps it never will be—didn't the late emperor try? Didn't the founding emperor not have any? And what happened in the end?"

He added, “Besides, the imperial physicians have already examined both you and me, and they have nothing to say. If it really doesn’t work out, I will do what the late emperor did and adopt one as well. I’m not afraid to tell you frankly, but in the past year or two, I have been secretly looking for someone suitable. Ideally, they would be without parents, and you and I could bring them in and raise them as our own, so they won’t have to worry about their families.”

"They say that young couples become companions in old age. I'm not afraid of anything else, but I'm afraid that when we get old, we'll meet an unfilial son. The story of Emperor Zhezong of the previous dynasty always sent chills down my spine when I heard it. Your family is known for its longevity, but in my branch, the number of men who have lived past fifty can be counted on one hand."

"I'm choosing here, you should choose one too. It's best if you get along well. If I leave first, at least you'll have a stepson to be filial. What if you end up with a bad one..."

Upon hearing this, Empress Deng, though silent, felt a lump in her throat and tears streamed down her face.

She tilted her head, letting her tears soak the pillow, and said, "I will choose for the Emperor..."

Before Empress Deng could finish speaking, a hand reached up and touched her eyes, then covered her mouth, and finally returned to her eyes to wipe away the newly flowing tears.

"Let's wait two more years, let's wait two more years—I'm not in a hurry, why are you? That day hasn't come yet!"

After Zhao Yu finished speaking, he suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "What are you going to name the grandson of the Prince of Lu?"

Empress Deng tried her best to stop her tears, but did not reply. She only said, "Starting tomorrow, I will become a vegetarian. Let's see if Heaven will have mercy on me..."

Zhao Yu sighed, wanting to persuade him, but ultimately felt powerless. After a long while, he finally said, "You should still eat some meat..."

Empress Deng had actually been eating vegetarian food on and off for two or three years. This time, rather than believing that eating vegetarian food would bring good karma, it was more about giving herself some comfort.

She didn't agree, but instead returned to the previous topic, saying, "If the day ever comes when someone is to be adopted, anyone else will do, but I don't want anyone from the Lu Prince's family!"

He added, "Even the Emperor Emeritus didn't think much of him back then. You reap what you sow. I don't believe that bad bamboo can produce good shoots!"

It turns out that when Prince Lu was a child, he didn't like to study. He often used the excuse of being unwell to ask for leave. When no one was paying attention, he would take a few companions to raid bird nests and pour water into ant holes.

There were often wild cats and dogs in the palace, and he would catch them to tease them, plucking their fur and drowning them.

Cats and dogs have claws and sharp teeth. Fearing something might happen, the palace servants secretly reported this to the Empress at the time.

The empress summoned her son and gave him a lecture.

When King Lu was reprimanded, he behaved himself. However, when he returned, he found the palace servant who had secretly informed him, bullied and beat him, and even told him to be careful, or he would drown him if he did it again.

The inner palace can't keep even the slightest secret.

This practice quickly reached the ears of the old emperor.

Rumors circulated in the palace that Prince Lu was originally a contender for the throne, but the old emperor, seeing how the boy had behaved since childhood, felt that the child was mean-spirited. He treated innocent cats and dogs this way, so how could he expect palace servants, who were also human, to treat the people well in the future if they had always acted this way?

With such character, he was unfit to be emperor, so in the end, he was excluded and the honest and kind-hearted former emperor was chosen instead.

At this point, Empress Deng seemed to suddenly remember something and quickly asked, "I've heard some unpleasant rumors circulating outside the palace, saying that you... After thinking about it, could it be that Prince Lu had someone spread these rumors?"

There have always been many rumors circulating among the common people about the inner court, with people saying this today and that tomorrow, but the palace has never really paid much attention to them.

However, in the past year or two, all sorts of rumors have spread, and they are all quite unpleasant.

Recently, she heard rumors about the imperial family's offspring, and they were quite detailed. One rumor was that because the current emperor's ascension to the throne was illegitimate, the Zhao family ancestors were very dissatisfied and did not want his lineage to occupy the throne, so they deliberately prevented him from having children—otherwise, why would the emperor and empress, who were both of age, be unable to have any children?

—Otherwise, why would someone with the same surname Zhao, such as so-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so, or a member of the royal family, or the Prince of Lu, have so many offspring?

The second theory is that the emperor had a difficult childhood outside the palace. Once, when he was using the toilet outside, a wild dog tried to bite his buttocks. Although it didn't bite him, he was greatly frightened and had difficulty getting up since then—hence, he was unable to have children.

There are many more, all of which are spread in an extremely audacious manner.

When Empress Deng first heard this, she was so angry that she almost cursed.

Looking back now, who would keep focusing on the matter of royal offspring?
Upon closer analysis of those rumors, Prince Lu has always been portrayed as the one with a positive image.

It's gotten to this point, it's hard not to make connections.

Zhao Yu sighed and said, "People can say whatever they want. What can we do? Are we going to ask them to do anything about it? That would only incite the people's discontent. If they really want to say something, we can only let them say it."

As for Prince Lu—"He is, after all, an elder and the late emperor's own brother. Without evidence, it's not appropriate to say anything. If I were to summon him and reprimand him for such a trivial matter, how could I convince the public? What would the history books say about him in the future?"

"This can't be controlled, that's difficult to control, are we just going to let them have their way every time?"

Empress Deng didn't even want to sleep anymore.

The emperor is good in every way, and has a good temper, but he is also too indecisive and procrastinates when it comes to doing things.

She was so angry she was furious.

Zhao Yu could easily read the emotions of his bedmate, so he could only say, "I'll have the Imperial City Guard investigate this in detail. If there's anything amiss, we can deal with it later."

Empress Deng didn't really believe it, but she had no choice but to agree.

To be fair, both the Kyoto government and the other officials in the court gave Prince Lu so much face, so Zhao Yu's ambiguous attitude bears a lot of responsibility.

Because of Zhao Yu's actions, many people would gossip in private, thinking that he might not be able to have children now and would have to consider adopting his uncle's children in the future.

For the sake of his reputation, the emperor consistently showed a lenient attitude. Officials, seeing this, felt they couldn't easily touch this hot potato and naturally gave him more face.

For example, Qin Jie, and Zheng Boqian.

Don't they think—the Censorate is so busy they're practically worn out from writing so many memorials impeaching Prince Lu, yet they're left unpublished? If my men arrest someone and can't find anything, they'll definitely offend that person to death; if they do find something, they'll offend that person even more.

What if his child is indeed adopted by the emperor in the future, and then causes trouble for him after the emperor ascends the throne?
***
On the same afternoon, Song's restaurant at the end of Suanzao Alley was bustling with activity.

Song Ji closed exceptionally early today.

Song Miao accepted Cheng Erniang's kindness and gave herself a day off.

She returned to her room and heard people coming and going outside, washing, chopping, and talking in hushed tones. She didn't find it noisy at all; instead, she felt a familiar sense of peace and comfort. She slept soundly and when she woke up, all her fatigue had vanished, and she felt refreshed—it was only noon.

The weather was lovely, so she went out carrying a small straw bag.

It was a clear autumn day, and Song Miaodong strolled around aimlessly before finally leaving Suanzao Lane.

Along the way, neighbors and old friends kept calling out to her, asking about the progress of the house across the street, and asking, "Where is Miss Song going right now?"

Song Miao smiled and casually replied before walking out.

She didn't call for a mule cart, but just strolled along, listening to the hawkers' cries by the roadside. She saw beautiful mortars and small bamboo knives, and when she asked the price, they were all very cheap. Without even haggling, she bought them all, feeling incredibly generous, just like the tycoon of the world.

After walking half a street, a strong aroma wafted through the air—the Mid-Autumn Festival was just around the corner, and a roadside vendor had set up a large pot to sell roasted chestnuts.

She went over and bought half a pack.

Along the way, she encountered vendors selling chrysanthemum cakes, fried fish, and seasonal fruits. Regardless of the taste, she bought some of each. Then she noticed a shallow alley ahead with several beautiful maternal grandparent trees at one end. Their leaves had turned yellow and were falling to the ground in the wind. A teahouse had opened across the street, with several tables and chairs outside.

Song Miao carried her small straw bag inside, ordered a pot of tea, and asked if she could bring things in. She then took out the food from the bag one by one and placed it on the table. While drinking tea, she picked up a hot chestnut to peel and slowly watched the leaves fall in the air.

The roasted chestnuts were easy to peel. The vendor didn't put much sugar in them when roasting them. The outermost layer, less than half a grain of rice thick, was a little hard, but when you bit into it, the inside was powdery and had a great texture. Unfortunately, it wasn't very sweet, only about four or five points of sweetness.

However, even if the aroma of such a yellowed landscape is only slightly strong, the beautiful scenery can add another four or five parts to its deliciousness.

The chrysanthemum cake was quite sweet; it was made by boiling licorice and osmanthus flowers to create its flavor, then steaming it together with rice flour and glutinous rice flour.

Song Miao didn't buy much. Surrounded by the bright yellow ginkgo leaves, she finished a few snacks and then peeled a fruit to eat.

The fruit is a banana sprout, fully ripe and yellow. It's small with a very thin skin and very delicate, tender flesh, but not immature. It's clearly matured and has developed a very rich aroma. When you bite into it, the banana flesh slowly melts into a rich, creamy texture, bringing out a very pleasant sweetness without any astringent aftertaste.

Song Miao ate one, but still felt it wasn't enough, so she took another one. Just as she was about to peel it, she heard a group of people who had just sat down at the table behind her talking.

They were two businessmen, though.

One of them said, "Yesterday I went to buy goods and saw pigs and sheep being transported in from outside Nanxun Gate. The pig was huge. I wonder if the meat will be gamey or tough when cooked!"

Another said, "Pork should still be braised, with big chunks of meat and pickled vegetables!"

"No, it has to be stir-fried. I have a brother who knows how to make a special kind of stir-fried shredded pork. Oh my, it's so delicious! You've never had it, and I can't recreate that flavor for you!"

"I even saw geese, and they were huge!"

As the two talked, Song Miao listened, but was slightly lost in thought.

He previously mentioned having a secret marinade that thoroughly marinates the goose, resulting in extremely crispy skin. No other seasonings or plum sauce are needed; just dip the meat in the marinade and roasting juices…

"I'll give you a goose leg then, young master. If you have any shame, hide it, grab it, skin and all, and tear it apart with your teeth. You'd be doing that fragrant leg a disservice if you didn't grimac and grimace while eating it..."

Nowadays, geese are easy to buy, and goose legs are readily available, but it's the young master...

(End of this chapter)