Yu Yi smiled, her tone gentle. "You don't need to worry about me, Your Highness. I'm fine. But you, on the other hand... It's nearly midnight, and the Cold Food Festival begins tomorrow. Please don't overtire yourself."
As she watched the Crown Prince, who was gradually growing into a young man, a hint of nostalgia filled Yu Yi's eyes.
'She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt the Crown Prince's features were looking more and more like those of her late mistress.'
'But her mistress had a gentle temperament and a presence that was always as refreshing as a spring breeze. Though the Crown Prince was young, he had been invested not long after his birth and carried a boyish sort of majesty. His features, so similar to his mother's, held an added layer of youthful sternness.'
'Back then, she had been resolved to fight the people of Penglai Palace to the death, even if it cost her her life. But then, unexpectedly, the Emperor had appeared in Kunning Palace.'
'What had surprised Yu Yi was the Emperor's armor. One look and it was obvious he couldn't have just come from Penglai Palace. He was covered in the dust of a long journey, his eyes were bloodshot, and it was clear he had been traveling nonstop, day and night.'
'In the end, she never got to go to Penglai Palace and demand an explanation from Chen Fei. The Emperor entrusted the little prince to her and Yanxia, while he personally went to deal with the resident of Penglai Palace.'
'Even now, Yu Yi couldn't understand it. If the Emperor hadn't been in the palace back then, who was the "Emperor" that had been keeping Chen Fei company in Penglai Palace?'
'For the Crown Prince's sake, neither Yu Yi nor Yanxia had dared to follow the late Empress in death. What if the Emperor were to marry a successor empress one day? Wouldn't His Highness be left with no one in the palace to protect him? Only they, who had served the late Empress, would be the most reliable companions for the Crown Prince.'
Now, Yu Yi and Yanxia were like the two most trusted senior maids at the Crown Prince's side. When the Crown Prince moved from the Eastern Palace to the Crown Prince Mansion, Yu Yi had come along, while Yanxia remained at the Eastern Palace to manage its affairs.
When Li Yan heard the words "Cold Food Festival," his expression immediately grew much more serious.
"I understand." Li Yan pressed his lips together. The instructors at the Imperial College would be teaching until New Year's Eve. He was supposed to stay at the Crown Prince Mansion until then before returning to the palace. But when he thought about what would happen at court over the next ten days, he looked up and said, "We'll return to the palace tomorrow. Everything will proceed as usual."
Yu Yi wasn't surprised to hear this.
"I will arrange everything. Your Highness should get some rest now."
For the ten days leading up to the New Year, Emperor Jing'an had decreed that everyone must observe the Cold Food Festival. Among the common folk, however, it wasn't uncommon for people to light their fires in secret.
The Cold Food Festival was traditionally only a single day. How could ordinary people be expected to eat cold food for every meal over ten days?
As long as no one threw an extravagant banquet, even the Jingzhao Mansion would turn a blind eye.
Ming Lingyi, of course, had no intention of following such a bizarre rule. While entertaining guests was forbidden during this period, there were no rules against home repairs. Seizing the opportunity these ten days provided, Ming Lingyi found a craftsman within Huaide Fang to replaster and patch up the walls of the front shop. She then sold the old bookshelves for a few dozen copper coins, used the money to pay the craftsman, and threw in two bowls of sesame paste noodles as a bonus.
The craftsman's surname was Zhang. He had lived in Huaide Fang for decades and was a true local, born and raised.
Zhang Qi hadn't expected much from a bowl of noodles, but he didn't mind. For a small job like plastering a wall, it wasn't as if the homeowner was obligated to provide a grand feast. Besides, the timing was sensitive. Even if Miss Ming dared to serve up a hot meal, he wouldn't necessarily dare to eat it.
But the moment he took his first bite of the unfamiliar, slightly sticky-looking noodles, Zhang Qi's eyes went wide.
"Excuse me, Miss Ming, but what are these noodles? The flavor is incredible!" Zhang Qi couldn't help but ask, looking over at Ming Lingyi, who was still inspecting a side cabinet.
Before Ming Lingyi could answer, Xiao Chun, who was sweeping the shop floor, turned around and announced proudly, "They're called sesame paste noodles! It's my lady's exclusive secret recipe!"
Ming Lingyi, her back to Xiao Chun, nearly stumbled when she heard that.
She turned and called out in a warning tone, "Xiao Chun."
Xiao Chun shot Ming Lingyi a sheepish, eager-to-please grin. 'She didn't think she'd done anything wrong. It was the truth! Nobody else could cook like her lady, so of course it was an exclusive secret recipe, right?'
Ming Lingyi paid no mind to her little maid's thoughts. She smiled at Zhang Qi and said, "Brother Zhang, if you like it, you should bring your wife to come try it after the New Year. Our eatery will be open by then."
Zhang Qi was surprised. "You're opening an eatery?"
Ming Lingyi nodded.
Zhang Qi hadn't paid much attention to Ming Lingyi's appearance before. She was a young lady, after all, and he was no lecher, so he wouldn't just stare at her. But even from a glance, he could tell this lady from the Ming Family didn't look like someone accustomed to manual labor.
'But he quickly laughed at himself. Wasn't he just judging her by her appearance? He had been completely stunned by Miss Ming's cooking skills just now. She was clearly better than many noodle shops.'
"Alright," Zhang Qi agreed readily. "I'll definitely be here on the day Boss Ming opens for business!"
Hearing herself called "Boss Ming" made Ming Lingyi's eyes curve into a smile.
After finishing the shop's renovations, Ming Lingyi went back to the kitchen to get busy.
She wasn't very strong, so she left the task of grinding the mung beans to Xiao Chun.
In the courtyard of the house she had bought, a plum blossom tree was growing.
Ming Lingyi stood on a stool, a bamboo basket cradled in one arm, and used her free hand to pick the winter plums that were blooming beautifully in the cold.
The plum blossom petals were as thin as silk gauze, their edges tinged with a delicate line of rouge. Morning dew still clung to their centers. With a gentle touch of her fingertips, they rustled down into the basket like a handful of collected snowflakes.
Ming Lingyi picked just under half a basketful, figuring it would be enough to make two batches of plum blossom cakes, and then she stopped.
The filling for the plum blossom cakes required a plum petal jam. Ming Lingyi filled a porcelain bowl with fresh water, removed the flower stems, and gently placed the petals inside. She watched them drift and sink, washing away any dust and fine stamens, until only the clean petals remained. She then strained them to dry. A quiet fragrance had already begun to escape—cool, with a slight astringency, like biting into an unripe apricot.
The curing process was the most crucial step.
Once the petals were drained, Ming Lingyi took out a white porcelain jar and began layering raw sugar and petals, one after the other. The sugar grains whispered as they covered the blossoms. At first, their jade-like hue was still visible, but soon they were cloaked in crystals, becoming as translucent as frosted silk. To finish, she poured a spoonful of honey over the top to seal the jar. The golden liquid slowly seeped into the crevices, and the petals became like butterfly wings trapped in amber, their most vibrant form perfectly preserved.
'She had considered crushing the petals directly to extract all their juice and fragrance, but she realized that kind of jam would lack a certain clean aroma all its own. In the end, she decided against it. She was willing to wait the three days.'
After sealing the jar, Ming Lingyi stored it in a cool, dark place.
「Three days later.」
Ming Lingyi opened the jar. The sugar had dissolved into a pale golden syrup, where the petals, now curled like tiny boats, floated in the thick, sweet mixture.
The original cool fragrance had been tamed into a gentle, honeyed aroma. When she leaned in closer, the warm sweetness of the sugar was the first to greet her senses, followed by the clean scent of plum that seemed to rise from the very back of her throat—like stumbling upon a tree in full bloom right after a snowstorm.
"It smells amazing," Xiao Chun said, standing beside Ming Lingyi and taking in the scent.
Ming Lingyi smiled, well aware that her little maid was quite the glutton. She scooped out a spoonful, placed it in a small bowl, and handed it to Xiao Chun. "Have a taste. Tell me what you think."
Xiao Chun didn't stand on ceremony with her lady, popping the entire spoonful into her mouth at once.
At first, there was only the thick sweetness of the honey. But then her teeth gently bit down, and the petal shattered. A burst of tartness and astringency shot out, only to be instantly overwhelmed by a returning sweetness. In the aftertaste, she could almost still taste the biting cold of the winter branches where the blossom had grown.
Xiao Chun's eyes lit up.
"My lady..." She was suddenly annoyed with herself for not being a better student. She racked her brain but couldn't find the words to describe the flavor of the plum blossom jam. All she could do was nod frantically. "It's delicious! It's so, so delicious!"
The smile on Ming Lingyi's lips widened.
'She loved cooking, but what she loved even more was seeing the amazed expressions on the faces of those she fed. She loved that they loved it.'
"Go get the mung beans you ground," Ming Lingyi said.
The mung beans Xiao Chun had ground had already been cooked, shelled of their green skins, and then pan-fried. They were now a pale, creamy yellow with a slight sheen.
Ming Lingyi scooped a large dollop of the plum blossom jam into the mung bean paste.
Xiao Chun was a little confused. 'Her lady had let her taste the plain mung bean paste earlier, and to be honest, she hadn't liked it.'
'The paste was bland and really didn't taste good at all.'