It was said that to be a really good wife, apart from being knowledgeable in astronomy and geography, plus mastering 365 martial arts and house managing skills, she must also have a good cooking skill that could make the Gods cry.
For the first three, Xin Mei thought that she may not be able to accomplish them even if she lived till she was ninety-nine years old. Fortunately, her cooking skill was presentable enough.
Therefore, starting from today, she decided to work herself hard to be a good wife.
It was two-quarters past maoshi when the sky just showed the first glimmer of dawn. Xin Mei got out of bed, got dressed and cleaned herself up. Looking back at the bed, Lu Qianqiao was still fast asleep, with one of his bare arms draped over the quilt and a small part of his chest could be seen. There were some ambiguous red marks on his chest—she was the one who nibbled at it last night.
Their wedding night was chaotic, and he had worked so hard that he became so pale and was still unconscious till now.
Xin Mei’s heart was full of love for him. She bent over and pouted. Then, she kissed him gently on his face. Because of the kiss, he suddenly moved, looked at her perplexedly, then turned over and went back to sleep.
Sometimes, to be able to laze around on the bed was also a good habit.
She gently pushed open the door. Outside, she could see that the early morning in the Imperial Mausoleum was filled with mist, with a slight chill in the air that was typically brought by the arrival of autumn. As soon as she stepped forward, she suddenly felt like she just kicked into something—there were green bamboo tubes, tied with red ropes which then made into very beautiful knots. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.
Purple Rice Dumplings With Peanuts.
Though the ones mentioned in this paragraph were lotus flower-shaped.
Image Source & Credit | 弟怰古元英云 via Jing Xi Cai Pu
Though the ones mentioned in this paragraph were lotus flower-shaped.
Image Source & Credit | 弟怰古元英云 via Jing Xi Cai Pu
She uncovered the top half of a bamboo tube. There were several purple rice dumplings shaped like lotus flowers neatly placed inside, and red dates were used as decorations on top of the dumplings, which was beautifully done.
……who sent these purple rice dumplings? It seemed that the dumplings were still hot just now.
Xin Mei took one of the bamboo tubes to the kitchen together with her and skillfully started the fire. As a bride, she should start washing her hands to make the bridal soup.
A few chunks of fresh duck blood were soaked in water inside a jar. For her, that was a good thing since she could make duck blood soup.
The soup in the pot began to boil. When the thick aroma of the soup flowed all over the kitchen, Tao Guoguo rubbed his eyes and sleepily walked into the kitchen, mumbling, “It smells good, Brother Silan…what are you making?”
When he looked up and saw Xin Mei, he was stunned at first. Then he turned around and tried to run. However, he stopped halfway through his runaway attempt. It seemed as if he finally remembered that Xin Mei had married the General yesterday, and starting from now on, she had become the General’s people.
“You, you, you…what are you doing in the kitchen early in the morning?!”
Tao Guoguo shrank behind the door and pointed at her. Seeing her smiling while adding ingredients to the duck blood soup, he was so nervous that his hair stood up.
“Don’t mess with the kitchen! What are you going to do if it starts to burn?”
Xin Mei filled a bowl for him, “How does it taste?”
“I won’t eat!” He shook his head violently. This woman was so unreliable. The food she made would definitely be worse than pig food. Thus, he wouldn’t cause great grievance to his own mouth!
“What’s the matter? Just try it.”
Xin Mei grabbed his fluffy wings, squeezed his nose, poured a small bowl of soup down his throat, and cheerfully asked, “Does it taste good?”
He coughed as he was choked, and he nearly fainted. He cried, turned around, ran out a few steps, and remembered something. He took the same green bamboo tube out of his sleeve and threw it to her with a bitter face, “For you!”
Huh? It was another bamboo tube tied with a red rope. She opened it and could see that there were some purple rice dumplings inside. They were not looking very good as some handprints could still be seen on them. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.
Xin Mei carried the purple rice dumplings into the kitchen.
Actually, all the monsters in the Imperial Mausoleum didn’t need to eat on ordinary days. They would only eat once in a while, just for a taste and nothing more. Only the General had to eat three meals a day. His meals were usually taken care of by Silan, and Silan had never felt at ease to give the task to others.
Looking at the duck blood soup made by Xin Mei right now, Silan immediately knew that her cooking skill was much better than him, and his mood suddenly became very complicated.
……the General had already belonged to her, so later on, he won't be needed to cook for the General anymore?
—On the first day of Lu Qianqiao’s marriage, Silan felt very lonely.
“Ma…that…ma…” He hesitated to say them out several times. The words spoken by Madam for Xin Mei were hard for him to relay. Might as well just skipped them all over and just said, “May you live a long and happy life together, and also, give birth to a son soon.”
After saying those words, he handed over a specially beautiful thick bamboo tube, which was also filled with a few round, simple and lovely purple rice dumplings.
“Why are they all giving me purple rice dumplings?” Xin Mei was extremely curious. “Are these leftovers from yesterday?”
“It’s a custom from the General’s side!”
Silan growled angrily. What exactly was her head made of?!
The custom of the War Demon Clan was to send purple rice dumplings to newly-married couples. All the monsters of the Imperial Mausoleum knew of this matter very well. As a result, the pile of purple rice dumplings in front of the couple's door were all put by the monsters early in the morning.
Xin Mei stuffed a piece into her mouth. She frowned as she bit into it a few times and nodded reluctantly, “Still…not bad, though it was not soft enough.”
……she was absolutely doing this deliberately. There were so many bamboo tubes, why only pick the one he made?!
“Oh, how sweet! What are you going to cook today, Silan?”
Zhao Guanren’s voice rang out from the outside. Upon entering the door, he saw Xin Mei sitting at the table eating purple rice dumplings. His eyes narrowed with a smile. He hurried over and looked at her up and down. He gasped in admiration. There was a kind of creepy feeling coming out from his thin beard. “Miss looks more peaceful today compare to before. The skin is very lustrous and the face is so red. The General did a very good job.”
“Really?” She touched her face with her hand, but she didn’t feel any change.
“Really!”
He took out a bamboo tube from his wide sleeve and handed it over to her. He winked and said, “Come on, take it. Miss, I remember that these purple rice dumplings must be left some for the General to eat. If he eats them, you will obtain the benefits.“
“What benefits?”
Xin Mei opened the bamboo tube. There were a few purple rice dumplings in different colours and shapes in it. No matter how she looked at them, they still looked very wretched.
“Ahem, you’ll know when you use it. Miss, I haven’t told him about this yet. So, how are you going to thank me?“
She smilingly filled a bowl of duck blood soup and placed it in front of him. She also picked out some purple rice dumplings made into the shape of lotus flowers and gave them to him, “Zhao Guanren, eat some more.”
He smiled, bowed his head and just had a sip of the soup when he saw Liu Qianqiao coming towards the kitchen. He immediately knew how to be sensible in this situation as he carried the food with both his hands and left. He also conveniently dragged the unwilling Silan who was planning to talk to the General.
“Xin Mei.”
Lu Qianqiao stood in front of the door and called for her. When he woke up, he subconsciously wanted to warm up with the person who should have been sleeping beside him. But who knew that he would touch an empty space. At that moment, he suddenly understood what a dissatisfied housewife felt like.
She answered his call and ran over to him, with a carefree smile on her face, her hair combed in the style of an unmarried girl, and the fine bang on her forehead swayed up and down with the wind.
After their wedding night, and seeing her smiling face in the morning, he felt warm and thoughtful for a long time.
He coughed secretly, and pretended to be natural like he was not really over his head, as he whispered, “You…are you okay?”
This kind of thing...he had little experience with. A woman’s body was much weaker than he imagined…when he woke up, he found blood on the bed. He immediately dug out the golden wound medicine and liniment from the cupboard while thinking whether or not…whether or not she needed medicines or something…
“I’m fine.” Such an energetic answer.
…although he didn’t actually expect her to wake up feebly and cry in his arms…but for her to be as lively as usual, and woke up so early in the morning with such spirit to make duck blood soup, was something difficult for him to accept.
Sure enough…did he need to take a serious look at that Orchid and Musk, Lovely Pistil Collection? Lu Qianqiao was lost in his thought.
One hand gently grasped his sleeve, so he bowed his head and looked into her dark eyes. She looked at him expectantly, “Is it delicious?”
His face turned red. What did she mean by delicious? Yes, it was delicious…it was really, really delicious…
“How does duck blood soup taste? Is it too light? “
Liu Qianqiao instantly calmed down as he silently bowed his head and took a sip of the soup. She seemed to have put some pepper powder, light spicy flavour and slight hemp taste—she was really good at cooking.
“… delicious.” He smiled and took her hand. “Did you get up so early to make this soup?”
Xin Mei nodded “My father said this is called ‘washing my hands to make the bridal soup’. But I didn’t wash my hands, does it matter? “
He liked her solemn appearance very much, so he immediately finished his bowl of soup. Suddenly he saw her pushing over a bowl of purple rice dumplings in wretched-looking shapes and colours, while she continued to look at him politely, “Here you go, something for you to eat.”
…what a familiar-looking dumpling.
Lu Qianqiao picked one up, then kept looking at it from left and right, then up and down, and felt very suspicious in his heart. He looked at her, then looked at the dumpling again. He hesitated for a long time, then he asked, “Who sent this?”
“Zhao Guanren.”
She gave him the wretched-looking dumplings sent by Zhao Guanren…who knew what would happen to those who ate them…what was she thinking…
He felt at a loss over this difficult matter.
“Liu Qianqiao, can I sleep a little while longer after breakfast?”
Xin Mei leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. Her voice sounded so soft.
“…feeling tired?”
“Mmm.” She yawned, “I haven’t slept yet. I stayed up waiting for morning to come so that I could wash my hands to make bridal soup.”
He grasped her shoulder, grabbed her below her knees with one hand and gave her a gentle hug. She curled up and buried herself in his embrace. While, his hand gently stroked her hair and after some time, he said, “Go to sleep now.”
“Uhhh, but who’s going to wash the dishes…”
“Just sleep.”
I will always hold you like this.
Xin Mei soon fell asleep, so she did not know that Zhao Guanren had diarrhoea and was moaning in bed for the rest of the day. She also didn’t know that Miss Yinglian was sleeping in the pond while laughing triumphantly. The lotus-shaped dumplings made by her were the most beautiful, so she was confident that the damn girl would surely eat them. This was her revenge to Xin Mei for taking away the man she had been secretly in love with for many years, thus, she planned for her to have diarrhoea through the first day of her wedding.
Well, for the happy newlywed couple, their first day of marriage passed peacefully.
Noob Translator's Note
- The title of this chapter was taken from a poem called 'A Bride' by Wang Jian, a Tang Dynasty poet, and translated to English by Bynner. For the rest of the short poem, you can read it at Wengu.
Today will be the last day for the poll I put in the sidebar. This poll will only affect the translation for 'The Rebirth of Han Yuxi', so upcoming translated chapters for this novel will be posted before midnight 1 day later.Thank you to those who voted.
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A Match Made In Heaven