[R18] The stars are brilliant, so lucky even (The stars are brilliant, the moon rises over the sea) – Chapter 84 of “The Stars Are Brilliant, How Lucky They Are (The Stars Are Brilliant·The Moon Rising Over the Sea)” [English]

Chapter 84

Shaoshang is a man of action who does what he says. Since he has made up his mind to be considerate and caring for Ling Buyi, he wishes he could become an old married couple with him overnight.However, just like when she made up her mind to study hard, there were four section exams, two mid-term exams, a final exam and a school-wide mock test between the time she made the decision and the qualitative change in her grades.

Therefore, the way she showed concern for her fiancé for the first time is as follows——

“…I originally wanted to invite you back to my house to eat bamboo fungus, but you haven’t had a good rest in the past ten days, so I’d better send you home first. By the way, I can teach you how good the chef is in your house!”

“What about your reputation and etiquette?” Ling Buyi smiled.

“Let them disperse with the wind.” Anyway, it’s impossible to break off the engagement and just go into a wind power plant due to reputation and all.

Shaoshang took Ling Buyi and walked back to Xiao Zhen’s car, and enthusiastically invited him to sit in the Zhen car while he rode the horse.

Ling Buyi looked puzzled and asked, “Then why don’t you and I ride in the car together?” Isn’t this a two-seater car?

“Oh, you don’t know, or the lady who delivered the car had no good intentions. This seat looks spacious, but in fact it can only accommodate two women. The last time Ah Yao and I sat together, it was so tight that a pin couldn’t fit in. You are much bigger than Ah Yao, so where can you sit…” The girl answered eagerly.

A cool breeze drifted into the alley, and the servants of the Cheng family retreated quietly and neatly.

Ling Busu looked at the girl for a while, then silently took her back to the carriage and climbed onto the horse without saying anything.

All the servants: Master Ling is so well-mannered and a true gentleman!

A good beginning is half the success, Shaoshang firmly believes this.In life, apart from the official career knowledge that she can’t get involved in, she only has the four basic necessities of life.

Ling Buyi’s mansion was a gift from the emperor. It was classical, dignified, and magnificent. After dinner that day, the young Shang looked around and felt that he had little talent and little knowledge and there was nothing he could add or remove. In the end, he only planned to move a piece of red damask flower growing outside his residence to the inner courtyard.

Ling Buyi raised his eyebrows and smiled: “I am a single man, how can I raise flowers?”

“Hey, heroes really see the same thing.” Shao Shang was surprised and delighted. “Actually, I don’t like planting flowers either, but my mother said that the green bamboos and green radish are surrounded by green bamboos and green radish flowers around my house, and a fresh flower field would be more beautiful. So I picked the red damask flowers, which are the strongest and easiest to grow, to plant. If you don’t like them, I will bring you some pots of my newly planted garlic sprouts. Not only can you eat them when you cut them, but they can also repel insects… What do you think?”

Ling Buyi said: “…then we should plant red damask flowers.”

Compared with the decoration of the mansion, what is more important is Xiu Mu’s pick-up behavior which was criticized internally by the emperor. The young Shang solemnly announced to Ling Buyi that he would not be allowed to pick him up early in the morning or late at night again.

“Then how can I see you for a while longer?” Ling Buyi lowered his eyes.

Shao Shang had already thought about it: “I won’t take a shortcut. I’d better go in from the south of the palace. You wait outside the palace gate and go in with me. If it’s a big dynasty meeting, you will stay after arriving at the Zhengzheng Hall in the South Palace. I will go to the North Palace by myself. If it’s a small dynasty meeting or His Majesty is not attending the court, we will go to the North Palace together. How about that?”

“Then don’t you have to get up half an hour earlier?”

Shaoshang waved his hand enthusiastically: “It doesn’t matter, I can take a nap in front of the queen, and I can still have a good nap at noon.”

Ling Busuo felt a sweet feeling in his heart, but said: “You are in Changqiu Palace to practice with the empress. If you delay it for me, wouldn’t it be…”

Shao Shang cursed in his heart for being so good despite getting an advantage, and said with a straight face: “You can’t do two things at once. Either I devote myself to the empress and the palace affairs, or I devote myself to you, you choose one.”

“…Then you’d better pounce on me.” Ling Buyi said softly, and a touch of pink slowly appeared on his face that had always been as cold as jade.

Shao Shangchong wrinkled his small nose, looking very playful.

“As for the evening, it depends on whether you are busy. If you are busy, I will go home later. Let’s have dinner at Changqiu Palace. After eating, we will go home slowly for digestion and fitness. If you are not busy, you can go to my house to eat.” In this way, the emperor must be satisfied. She also worked hard to show her sincerity.

“You can also indulge Your Majesty. There are two chefs in His Majesty’s inner palace, and their skills are excellent.” Ling Buyi was also very rude.

When it comes to food, Shaoshang’s heart lights up.

When she returned home that night, she asked A’riu to find the small black pottery stew pot that she had specially made by a craftsman in Huaxian County. She scrubbed it clean and hung it to dry under the moon, and then dried it for later use.According to her observation, cooking techniques at this time were not as varied as in later generations. People mostly ate grilled, fried, and meaty fish as delicacies, but this was not good for health.

Facts have proved that cooking is healthier, so with her intervention and despite Cheng’s mother’s strong dissatisfaction, the Cheng family has added a lot of vegetables and boiled soups to their daily meals.

Southerners are naturally good at making soups in a variety of ways, and they are self-taught without a teacher.No matter in the mountains, fields, rivers or streams, young businessmen can make soup at their fingertips.

From then on, Shaoshang tried his best to wrap a cup of soup in a warm nest and bring it to Ling Buyi at the palace gate every morning. Sometimes the soup was too time-consuming and labor-intensive, so she had to use a small bamboo basket to carry the prepared ingredients into the palace. She asked Zhai Yu for a small red clay stove and set it up.The small and shiny black clay pot was simmering with gurgling sounds – fortunately, this was a palace without palace fighting, and the queen had complete control over the Changqiu Palace, otherwise she wouldn’t dare to kill her.

Either at noon or in the evening, when Ling Buyu comes to Changqiu Palace, he will see the little girl guarding the soup cup in the corridor, her cheeks are rosy by the fire, and the fine sweat is like pearls woven from broken pearls dotted on her face, and then she smiles at him.

In an instant, he suddenly understood what his adoptive father often meant by “smoke and smoke”.

Just as the old teacher from childhood said, Shaoshang is a person with both ruthlessness and perseverance. She used to hate this kind of mother-in-law cooking thing. Now she plans to complete it as a tough task, but she is able to pour her heart and wisdom into it.What clears the lungs, soothes the throat, improves eyesight, relieves internal heat, improves qi… Ling Buyi’s heart, liver, spleen, and lungs were all nourished by her, except that she did not dare to nourish the kidneys and strengthen yang.

It didn’t take long for her to discover that Ling Buyi’s favorite dish now was a clear fish ball and ginger shredded soup – remove the spines from the raw fish, break it into small fish balls, cook them in clear soup, and garnish with some green shredded vegetables and turmeric threads, which is light and delicious.

Seeing how busy and diligent the girl was these days, the Queen felt a rare sense of sourness and joked: “…I can retire after my success. Now your reputation for being virtuous is spread throughout the palace.”

“Is it true, everyone calls me ‘virtuous’?” Shaoshang was inexplicably surprised. He really didn’t expect it.

The queen pretended to glare and said, “You are so wise to your husband-in-law, but he still doesn’t show his filial piety!”

Shao Shang didn’t understand why: “How could I be unfilial? My father and mother are here to complain to you…?”

“It’s about your filial piety between me and Your Majesty!” The Queen said with a serious face.

Shao Shang understood – isn’t it just “half-way upon meeting”? Everyone knows the rules of the road, so just follow them.

In the past, in order to be cautious, the young merchant had arranged all the utensils carefully, and the portions of the ingredients were so accurate that Ling Buyi could finish them in one sitting, only three or four cents full, but now things have to change.

The queen is no better than Ling Busu, and the taste is sweet and glutinous.Shaoshang had no choice but to delve into sweet soup desserts. Unfortunately, there was no high-purity white sugar or rock sugar at this time. She once used maltose to put it into the soup. Unfortunately, the taste was neither pure nor sweet enough.

There are sporadic sugarcane growers in the surrounding prefectures and counties, and they squeeze out the “pulp” for people to drink. They also sell “stone honey” from the Western Regions. However, the former cannot be used in dishes, and the latter is considered by some merchants to be expensive and has a strong flavor.This was an era when there were no high-end acids, so she could only buy pulp or sugar cane, and then boil them one by one to purify the sugar particles.With a basic knowledge of chemistry, many mistakes will naturally be avoided during the operation, even though it is too time-consuming and labor-intensive.

It wasn’t until the change box was almost bottomed out that the firewood smoke in Cheng’s house subsided. Shaoshang obtained molasses with enough sweetness to make snacks such as fructose and lactose (Cheng Xiaozhu & Cheng Xiaoyu’s eyes), cold fruits and vegetables (Cheng’s mother also liked her), and various sweet soups.

However, this kind of molasses is not easy to preserve, so Shao Shang took advantage of the summer to make it freely, sometimes making double-skinned milk, sometimes honey milk jelly, and now white sugar cakes (actually not white, Shao Shang spread his hand), and even baked some baked snacks in the back kitchen of Changqiu Palace.

The queen originally had a summer cough, but with such a nourishing treatment, not only the cough was cured, but her face became much rosier. Zhai was very happy to see her, so she became more and more friendly to Shao Shang, and was willing to give orders to Shao Shang for some personal matters that even Luo Jitong had not explained.

Wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes, so there are good people who nudge Luo Jitong’s ears: “Sister, you have been serving the empress in the Changqiu Palace since you were a child. She has only been here a few days, and this is all your fault.”

Luo Jitong held up the sweet red bean and corn soup with a smile: “Before winter, I will leave for the northwest to get married. But as far as she is concerned, the palace is half of her husband’s family. Now she is just paying homage to her aunt in the palace in advance. She and I are different.”

Later, when news of this incident reached Shaoshang’s ears, she couldn’t help but sigh: “Sister Jitong is really bright-sighted.” Come on, even the little girl below can’t fight with her. The palace has indeed been peaceful for many years, without any storm or waves.

The Queen smiled and said, “How could she stay in the palace for so long if she was provoked so easily?”

“Aren’t you going to take care of those who are causing trouble?” Shao Shang frowned.

The queen shook her head: “The water is clear and there are no fish, and the palace is lonely. We can’t even let them talk.”

Shaoshang shook his head secretly.

There are some things that Shao Shang can shake his head and pass, but there are other things that she will inevitably have to say more.

From the time she first paid filial piety to the queen, even if the queen didn’t keep the emperor’s share, she would still send it to the Yue Concubine Palace.Shao Shang was worried. Self-service food was the most likely to lead to sneaky things. What would happen if something unexpected happened in the future?

The queen said calmly: “She can’t do it. She also knows that I can’t do it.”

Shaoshang stared at the queen’s determined expression and said nothing.

At the end of summer, Shaoshang used the last portion of molasses to make a cup of glutinous rice soup with chopped nuts for the emperor. The emperor nodded after eating it, and then sighed: “Shaoshang, you are so ingenious, but it is a pity that this method of making sugar should not be imitated by the whole country.It’s better not to spread the word.Everyone likes delicious food, but there are only so many people and resources in the world. If this kind of sweet food is widely sought after by wealthy people, every household will plant sugar cane instead of food, but there will be many people dying of hunger outside.”

Shaoshang naturally knew what this meant, and she said respectfully: “Your Majesty, I know what you mean. There is only so much national power, and it must be used where it should be used.”

“Where is the use?” The emperor deliberately teased the little girl, causing the queen to glare.

The young merchant said loudly: “Of course it’s food, horses, and iron tools.” She couldn’t help but pouted, “Your Majesty, I have already taught you to read “The Treatise on Salt and Iron”, and Dr. Jia Yi’s… Well, I seem to have forgotten the name of the classic, but I have certainly read it…”

The emperor did not feel dissatisfied, but instead stroked his beard and laughed.

Although Shaoshang pretended to be displeased on his face, he respected the emperor and empress very much in his heart.As the supreme emperors of the empire, can we not be able to eat whatever we want? We are just setting an example and using frugality to restrain and educate the wealthy families.

In fact, there was a dynasty in later generations that was famous for its prosperity. It was able to make exquisite azure porcelain, make incense and make incense that was unparalleled among all other dynasties, and had all kinds of entertainments such as Cuju. Unfortunately, the monarchs and ministers of that dynasty failed the talented and diligent people, failed the brave and bloody generals, and did not use the national power to govern with salt, iron, food, and horses.

In her humble opinion, the keynote of the state affairs of that dynasty was bribery, using money and honor to bribe foreign enemies and ministers. The former could bring temporary peace to the court, while the latter could be exchanged for the flattery of the monarch and the other dynasty by the civil servant group.

At the critical juncture when the army approached the city, these monarchs and ministers simply paid a large bribe, kidnapped the daughters of innocent people, and used their blood, tears, and flesh to bribe the barbarian enemies who drank raw hair and drank blood.What is darkly humorous is that the wives and daughters of this group of people ended up together.

I don’t know who said it, but hard work and sweat don’t lie.

With Shao Shang’s dedicated efforts, using his brains and hands, not only did his reputation gradually outweigh his original reputation of being naughty and vulgar, but the emperor was also satisfied with it, and rewarded her with 50,000 newly minted five-baht coins as pocket money. He also expressly commended the girl for her “quickness, filial piety, and responsiveness,” and also granted Ling Buyi two hundred households with food.

Shao Shang was unhappy and endured it for most of the day. After dinner, he and the queen were sitting on the corridor while waiting for Ling Buyi. She finally couldn’t help but muttered: “Praise me as long as you praise me. What’s the matter with Lord Ling?”

The queen laughed and whispered softly: “Isn’t what he belongs to you? You have to take care of this too. Maybe these two hundred households were spent by your majesty to boil sweets for you.”

Shao Shang chuckled, and then said sadly: “Well, in the past, whether it was praise or trouble, it was my own business. But now, if I say well and do well, that is Lord Ling’s glory. If I behave inappropriately, it will be embarrassing to Lord Ling. What about me, where am I?” The little girl looked like an adult and sighed.

The queen lowered her face, looked at her quietly for a while, and then said: “You are overestimating yourself. If you follow your words, none of the soldiers and advisers under your Majesty’s command will have a place of their own. After planning and winning the battle, they will open up territory for your Majesty and compete with him.”They have nothing to do with each other; if the enemy is defeated by mistake, it will all belong to His Majesty, right?However, since ancient times, under the starry sky, the names of those famous generals and counselors who have swayed the world are shining brightly in the bright Milky Way.”

Shaoshang slowly raised his head and looked outside the eaves with wide eyes.

“You were too independent in the past, always thinking about self-destruction, self-glory and self-humiliation, but this is not possible. You have to learn to change the world, and learn to open the mountain if you can’t open this mountain. You can’t go far away from the mountains and rivers with the Mr. Lou family as you planned before, but can’t you be yourself in this upper city of Luohe River, the capital of the world?”

It was as if a bright window had been opened to Shaoshang, and a few stars appeared vaguely in the gradually darkening indigo sky. Although they were very light and faint, they existed after all.

“Your Majesty, what you said is so good.” She turned around and smiled, as if the breeze was blowing over the hills.

The queen felt relieved after seeing this smile.

Shao Shang looked up at the sky and thought to himself, how ridiculous it is to mutter and complain about women. In the final analysis, she just changed her major. However, even in her previous life, could she guarantee that she would be in the right major when she was employed in the future?

Now, she just transferred from the field of science and engineering research to the Department of Home Economics and Nutrition. There is no distinction between high and low in labor, and there is no high or low in the industry. She can work wherever she needs to. She is she. Could it be that if she changed her major, she would no longer be she?That’s too ridiculous.