Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The people who were laughing at Qiao Jinniang were embarrassed when they saw Qiao Jinniang coming.
Someone said sarcastically, “Miss Qiao, you’re really kind-hearted. It’s unprecedented in Chang‘an for a noble girl to hold a funeral for her father’s concubine!”
A general’s daughter came out and said, “Qiao Jinniang, didn’t you claim that your future husband is not allowed to take a concubine?
“But why are you holding a funeral for a concubine? Don’t blame us for laughing at you. No family will hold a funeral for a concubine who was out of favor in Chang’an!”
Qiao Ruoyi who was wearing a pure-white mourning dress came over and said with red eyes, “I begged my sister to hold the funeral.”
Qiao Jinniang glanced at the women and said, “I heard that when Duke Qin’s favored concubine passed away, mistresses of noble families all came to offer condolences, and what you emphasized is just the word “out of favor”.
“If it were the funeral of a favored concubine of the Duke Mansion, I’m afraid that all your mistresses would have come. Since you look down on Ruoyi’s mom, why are you here?
“Although I hate men who take concubines, I don’t resent the women who are forced to be concubines.
“Is there any woman in the world who would like to be a concubine? Until her death, she can’t hear her own children calling her ‘mother’, and she has to watch her outstanding daughter suffer because of her.
“The root cause for the fight between wives and concubines is men. Women are just left with no choice. If my husband takes a concubine, I will hate my husband, not that woman. A wife and a concubine fight for a man who doesn’t love either of them is the most ridiculous thing in the world.
“You said that I didn’t know the rules because I held a funeral for a concubine, but if I hadn’t given her a proper funeral, you would have called me cold-blooded and ruthless.”
“Life is not easy for women anyway. I’d rather give my sister’s mom a decent funeral for the sake of our sisterhood.”
With that, Qiao Jinniang went to the mourning hall.
The noble women and concubines were left looking at each other in shock. In Chang’an, no woman had ever dared to say this publicly.
“How dare Qiao Jinniang say these words? With such ridiculous thoughts, she is very unlikely to be allowed to marry into the East Palace.”
“But she seems to be a kind-hearted person, and what she said makes sense.”
“Make sense? I think it’s all absurd thoughts of commoners. Common men have no ability, so they only have wives and no concubines. Which capable men don’t have concubines? Hate her husband? I’d like to see if her future husband will tolerate her.”
“Exactly, only those incompetent men will yield to their wives.”
Qiao Jinniang didn’t care what they thought. She only knew whether she held this funeral or not, people could always find fault. With this in mind, she just held the funeral for Ruoyi.
If she didn’t hold the funeral today, Ruoyi might not blame her, but there would always be a thorn in her heart.
During lunch, Qiao Jinniang prepared about five tables of dishes in the yard, and reserved an extra table. There were no elders in the Duke Mansion, so everyone was waiting to see Qiao Jinniang make a scene of herself.
It was not easy to hold a funeral banquet. The dishes couldn’t be too lavish or too simple. If the dishes were too simple, it would be a disgrace for the Duke Mansion, but this was just the funeral for a concubine, so the dishes couldn’t be too lavish.
Preparing a five-table banquet was not easy even in ordinary times, not to mention this was the first time for Qiao Jinniang to handle a funeral.
Qin Miaomiao had been engaged but her wedding day hadn’t been decided, so she came over today. She sat on the main table and said, “Jinniang, although the dishes are not very lavish today, I have never seen these dishes before.”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Today, the banquet today is themed with chrysanthemums. This is Hangbai chrysanthemum tea, which is refreshing and good for your throat to drink in autumn. The cold dishes are chrysanthemum shortcake, chrysanthemum fish sashimi, and chrysanthemum salad chicken shreds.
“The hot dish is chrysanthemum hotpot. It is best to eat pork belly pot in autumn. With chrysanthemum in it, it won’t feel too greasy. This is a Northern dish.
“And this chrysanthemum wolfberry black chicken soup can nourish skin. This wild chrysanthemum stewed turtledove can cure headaches, and the chrysanthemum sweet and sour fish is the most delicious. ”
Qiao Jinniang said, “There is always tofu at the funeral banquets held in the South, so today’s main dish is this chrysanthemum tofu, which is a Luoyang dish. Making this dish requires very good cutting techniques. Today, there are less than ten people who can make chrysanthemum tofu.”
Seeing that the main dish was tofu, many people laughed. A square piece of tofu was placed on the plate. These noble women rarely ate tofu.
“The main dish is just a square tofu, which is ridiculous.”
Qiao Jinniang ordered a maid to carry a pot of chrysanthemum broth and gently pour it into the soup bowl. After that, everyone saw the tofu in the middle of the plate slowly blooming like a chrysanthemum.
Each strand of this chrysanthemum tofu was as thin as a hair. and the tofu looked really like a chrysanthemum. The fragrance of the broth and chrysanthemums assailed their nostrils. This dish was so beautiful that people didn’t want to ruin it but can’t help but try it.
Qin Miaomiao gracefully scooped a spoonful of tofu and soup and tasted it. Then she exclaimed in surprise, “Is this really tofu? It’s so delicious!”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Our restaurant has improved the soup for this dish. We use half a ham, a chicken, an old duck, and pork bones to cook the soup overnight. It is naturally delicious.”
This table of dishes was not luxurious, but was in line with the style that the Duke Mansion should have, and the taste was very delicious.
The most important thing for noble families to hold a banquet was to make no mistakes, so sometimes the dishes looked beautiful but were actually tasteless. But today, when the banquet was over, everyone was ashamed to find that there was not even a soup left on the table.
The dessert that was served last, sweet-scented chrysanthemum fermented rice balls, was also all eaten up.
After this banquet, many people even wondered when the Duke Mansion would hold another funeral.
When Ruoyi’s mom’s burial was over, the Duke and the Duchess had not come back yet. It was only then did Qiao Jinniang know that the Zheng family was from Kaifeng, so they had to hold the funeral in Kaifeng.
Qiao Jinniang should have gone to attend the funeral too, but she didn’t want to attend the funeral of those disgusting people, so she simply refused to go in the name of being busy managing the Duke Mansion.
“Miss, Miss, the Empress Dowager has ordered you to enter the imperial palace!”
Yuyan hurried into the Jin Garden to report.
Qiao Jinniang was confused. Why did the Empress Dowager summon her? She called Lu Chen’s secret guards and asked them to report to Lu Chen before she changed into a formal suit and went to the Wufeng Hall where the Empress Dowager lived.
Entering the palace, Qiao Jinniang smelled a faint scent of chrysanthemum tea.
She saluted. “Qiao Jinniang has come to meet Your Grace.”
The Empress Dowager glanced at Qiao Jinniang and asked, “I heard that you held a chrysanthemum banquet for your father’s concubine a few days ago?”
Qiao Jinniang replied, “Yes, chrysanthemum are in full bloom now.”
‘When the Empress Dowager heard this, she suddenly smashed the cup beside her hand at Qiao Jinniang’s skirt.
Qiao Jinniang hurriedly knelt down and said, “Your Grace, please don’t be angry, but may I ask what I did wrong?”
“Were you making fun of me?” The Empress Dowager snapped. “Because I love chrysanthemums, the late emperor had once held a chrysanthemum palace banquet for me, and the chrysanthemum tofu on the banquet amazed everyone.
“After that, I banned all commoners from having chrysanthemum tofu, but you served chrysanthemum tofu at the funeral of a concubine. Were you mocking me?”
Qiao Jinniang bowed her head and said, “I really didn’t know about this.”
Even Lu Chen was already in his twenties. How could the cooks far away in the South know about this order that the Empress Dowager issued when she was young?
If Qiao Jinniang had known about this order, she would have never used chrysanthemum tofu at the banquet..
