After One left, Xiao Bojian was left alone in the tent.
He stared at the words on the letter. Mount Ah-ming, Snow Mountain Mists! He Sanlang, this is going to be a journey of no return for you!
After staring at the letter for a while, Xiao Bojian felt that the writing was strangely familiar, but he lost the feeling after inspecting it carefully.
When he gave it some thought, Xiao Bojian couldn’t help but find it strange. He Changdi had gone into the army so quickly, just who could it be that hated him so much? House Jing’an didn’t have many enemies in the capital as Count Jing’an spent most of his time guarding Mingzhou. Furthermore, the information contained in the letter was a huge secret that should only be known to the family members of House Jing’an.
Even his spies hadn’t been able to find out that they needed the Snow Mountain Mists flower.
Xiao Bojian’s eyes turned into narrow slits as he pondered.
The following day, He Changdi brought a team of people he trusted and rushed towards Mount Ah-ming.
Mount Ah-ming wasn’t too far from Liangzhou City. Now that they had the snowboats and the warm pens, there wasn’t any place that was out of reach for them even on the snowy days of the northern border.
The northern border troops had just achieved a huge victory and He Sanlang was one of the soldiers who had contributed much to that. After he had privately explained his reasons to Great General Qian, the general had kindly given him half a month off and even allowed him to choose a few elite soldiers to accompany him.
He Changdi didn’t depart from the He Estate, and left directly from the main camp instead. Thus, Chu Lian didn’t have to send him off.
On the third day after He Sanlang had left for Mount Ah-ming, Chu Lian had just gotten up from bed when she noticed Manager Qin, Wenqing and Wenlan all busy directing the other servants in a buzz of activity. Her courtyard was especially lively with people going to and fro.
Even Urihan and her two children were pitching in to help.
Chu Lian was flabbergasted. She didn’t know what they were so busy with.
When Wenlan noticed her bewildered young madam standing in the corridor and watching them, she hurriedly went over to welcome her with a smile.
“Third Young Madam, why didn’t you put on an extra cloak on such a cold day?”
Chu Lian waved her hand to indicate that she was fine. Her body was completely healthy now and she wasn’t that fragile.
“What are you so busy with? There are so many people moving about so early in the morning.”
Wenlan’s eyes widened with how startled she was. She covered the smile that had sprung up on her lips, “Third Young Madam, you must have forgotten the date! The Kitchen God Festival is approaching, so we are getting everyone to clean the courtyard in preparation for the Kitchen God Festival.”
Chu Lian smacked her head. Her mind had been so occupied with worries these few days that she had completely forgotten about the Kitchen God Festival.
It was 18th December now, so in a few more days, it would be the Kitchen God Festival.
She smiled helplessly, “That’s right. I’ve actually forgotten such an important date.”
Wenlan smiled along with her and ordered one of the maidservants passing by to retrieve a list, which she then passed to Chu Lian. “Third Young Madam, these are the things that Manager Qin, Wenqing and I have come up with after discussing what we need to prepare. Please take a look and let Manager Qin know if there’s anything we’ve missed out.”
Chu Lian took the list from her and glanced over the long list of goods. She felt a little overwhelmed; they had even listed all the types of dried fruits and nuts they needed.
Her fingers pointed at a few items on the list, “This, this, and this. Are we able to get these in Liangzhou City?”
Wenlan covered her mouth and chuckled, “Third Young Madam, have you forgotten that we have the snowboat now? Suzhou City isn’t far from Liangzhou. If we rush over there to buy the things we need now, we’ll definitely be able to send them back before the Kitchen God Festival.”
Chu Lian: …
Alright, she had actually forgotten about the ‘sled’ she had ordered to be made.
After hearing what Wenlan had said, a light bulb lit up in Chu Lian’s head. Her limpid eyes were sparkling brightly as if there were gold ingots in her eyes, “Quick, go and call Manager Qin over.”
Before Wenlan could answer her, she turned back and returned to her room. She sat by the desk in front of the window and began fervently writing with her charcoal pen.
When Wenlan led Manager Qin in, Chu Lian was still hunched over the table. Seeing that she was in deep concentration, Wenlan didn’t dare to disturb her, so she stood there silently waiting, along with Manager Qin.
By the time Chu Lian had finished writing out the idea that had suddenly struck her, an hour had already passed.
She stretched out her sore body. It was only when she turned her head that she noticed the two waiting for her.
Chu Lian walked over to the warm hearth and pointed at the seats on either side of her. “Everyone, take a seat. I have some orders for you.”
Following that, Chu Lian handed over the papers in her hand to Manager Qin on her right.
It wasn’t the first time Manager Qin had worked for Chu Lian. No one knew better than he did how novel Chu Lian’s ideas and how well she could execute them.
He respectfully received the few pieces of paper and his attention was immediately taken away by them. He lowered his head and started reading earnestly.
At first, the space between his brows was wrinkled in confusion, but as he got to the end, his eyes started sparkling even more. Finally, his whole face was flushed red from his excitement. He held the few pieces of paper reverently as if they were some ancient treasure.
Manager Qin looked at Chu Lian with his eyes as wide as they could go, “Third Young Madam, please entrust this matter to this humble one! This humble one will definitely execute everything perfectly!”
Chu Lian smiled, “I called you over to look at this, so of course I was planning to hand this task over to you. Even if you want to reject this task, I won’t allow you to.”
After getting confirmation from Chu Lian, Manager Qin’s excitement shot through the roof. “Thank you for granting my wish, Third Young Madam. This humble one will head out to select the helpers immediately!”
Wenlan stared after Manager Qin with a face full of curiosity. When she saw how stirred up he was as he ran out, her face showed that she couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “Third Young Madam, what’s wrong with Manager Qin? Why is he acting like that all of a sudden?”
Chu Lian smiled secretively, but didn’t explain her plan to Wenlan at all.
TL Note: The Kitchen God Festival, also known as the ‘Little New Year’, is typically held on the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. Basically, 5-6 days before New Year’s Eve. This day is taken as the start of the New Year festivities.
The Kitchen God, Zao Jun, records every good and bad thing that every household has done over the past year. Sort of like a Chinese Santa Claus~ The day of the Kitchen God Festival is when he takes a break and brings his reports to the Jade Emperor. On this day, Chinese households make offerings to him in order to get better reports or keep their bad deeds from being known.
There’s a Wikipedia article on him if you want to know more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_God#Worship_and_customs. Check out his origin story too, I found it pretty interesting!
