The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl

77. Making Noodles in the Dark

Translator: Iris Guo

“Good.” The Empress Dowager nodded slightly and her eyes were still closed.

“Currently, there are merely Imperial Guards in NingGuTa.” Biqiao looked at the Empress Dowager’s face, paused, and continued: “His Majesty sent them there, so there are no villains doing evil. Prince I will definitely be fine, please don’t worry.”

“What difference would I make?” The Empress Dowager drew a deep sigh, opened her eyes, and put the Buddha beads made of green glaze on the teapoy. Then, she turned her face to the statue of the merciful Buddhist Goddess and sighed: “I used to hope that Mingwei would become the Emperor and dominate the world, but now I just wish him healthy and safe.”

“Your Grace, with your blessing, everything for Prince I will go smoothly. Please set your mind at rest.” Biqiao hastened to walk forward to comfort the Empress Dowager. Her voice became inevitably hoarse. Then, she looked away and wiped her teary eyes hurriedly.

“I have to protect Mingwei. As long as I live, he will be safe. I have to hang in there even just for him.” said the Empress Dowager in a low voice while sipping her tea.

“Your Grace…” Biqiao bit her lips for a while and whispered: “Do you think His Majesty really wants Prince I dead?”

The Empress Dowager didn’t answer but looked at the statue. After a while, she let out a deep sigh: “Karma!”

Day: The seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the 32nd year of Jiasheng Reign

Location: NingGuTa

A’Chou knew that the Qixi Festival[1] fell on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. People in the Imperial Washhouse didn’t celebrate the festival, but people in the Imperial Textile Mill did. She had followed other maids to the mill and seen all the female embroiderers worshipping the statue of the Weaver Girl. It was said that they were praying for being as deft as her. A’Chou neither believed the tale nor worshipped the statue. However, thanks to Mammy Xiang, she was good at embroidery. Therefore, a good teacher was more important than prayers.

[1] Note: The most well-known source and romantic tale of the Qixi Festival is about the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd.

However, the Qixi Festival meant more for A’Chou since this year.

A’Chou got up an hour earlier than usual. Then, she got dressed in the dark, wore her hair in a small bun randomly, and crept in the chamber. After changing the sheet for Zhong Mingwei, she went back to the kitchen.

A’Chou lit a candle, which was rare, and began to knead dough. She used to add water in the flour, but today she used nine duck eggs without a drop of water, and she didn’t think it was a waste. The scattered and sticky flour patches gradually gathered into a dough, and it became smoother and softer. She looked at the yellow dough, felt pleased, and went at it with greater spirit.

A’Chou didn’t know how to roll the dough out before, but she learnt it well when she was in the Duan Family. Zhong Mingwei preferred chewy noodles, so she made the dough harder than usual, which also made it harder for her to roll it out. After a while, she was already exhausted, and the sweat ran down like raindrops. She paused, drank a big bowl of water, and continued to roll the dough out. After drinking up three bowls of water, she finally finished rolling and hastened to cut the dough into strips.

A’Chou had no idea how others managed to use only one strip of noodles to fill a bowl. She could only use a stupid way to stick thin strips of noodles together and carefully kneaded the final strip. When it was enough for one bowl, her wrists were already extremely sore. It was unbelievable that such work was much more tiring than cutting wood, and fortunately she got up earlier today.

…

Zhong Mingwei woke up very early, and didn’t blame A’Chou for it. Ever since his childhood, he had always been awakened before dawn on the Qiqiao Festival Then, he would go to the Baohua Temple in the dark. Listening to the monks reciting the Buddhist Scriptures, he had to kneel in front of the memorial tablet on the table for a whole day.