Chapter 27.1

Flowers were flying everywhere in the city of spring, and willows swayed gently in the cold east wind.

After two rainy days, the Cold Food Festival ¹ arrived amidst the fluttering of poplar flowers in the air.

In the Yaoguang Palace, Xu Wenchan, dressed in a soft yellow dress, was holding a special drink for the Cold Food Festival called “Winter Lingcao Tea.” As she sipped the tea, she talked about the recent happenings in Chang’an City.

“ Zhou Muyan from the Left Chancellor’s family had a stroke of bad luck recently! I heard that she offended an important figure at the Heavenly Brocade Court. Not only was she made to apologise publicly, but she also received two big slaps in the face. Aha, this news is so satisfying!”

The corners of Tao Ti’s lips twitched, “Two slaps…?”

“That’s right, I heard that she was slapped from both sides, ‘smack, smack!’“

“…”

After hesitating for a moment, Tao Tee decided to dispel the rumor.

When she finished recounting the whole incident, she added, “The next day, the Chancellor’s wife specially went to the palace to meet the Empress, and even called me to Ganlu Palace. She said a lot of courteous words and gave me many gifts, saying it was an apology. Well, I must say her attitude was rather good.”

Xu Wenchan widened her eyes and looked at Tao Ti with admiration on her chubby face. “Wow, Ah Ti, you’re really amazing!”

Tao Ti replied, “Huh???”

“I had been inquiring all around, trying to find out who was the brave hero who didn’t fear authority and dared to challenge Zhou Muyan. Never did I imagine it was you! As expected of my good friend, you’ve really helped me to vent my frustration this time!”

“What do you mean? Did you have some conflict with her?” asked Tao Ti.

“Yes, we did!” replied Xu Wenchan readily. She took in a deep breath, and her usually cheerful face turned serious. “Actually, I know those noble ladies in Chang’an don’t think highly of me. I also know what they say about me behind my back… Well, they can say what they like, it’s true that I do look like this. But this Zhou Muyan is really hateful. It’s one thing to mock me, but she even spoke ill of my family! That’s something I can’t tolerate!”

Xu Wenchan put down her teacup and vented her grievances about Zhou Muyan’s grudges with the Marquis of Zhenbei’s household.

The matter was actually quite simple. Xu Wenchan’s seventh elder brother was over twenty years old and still unmarried. Despite the Xu family’s long-standing military background, he was a literary and artistic young man, skilled in poetry, music, calligraphy, and prose. He didn’t like the coarse and ignorant girls in Yunzhou, and his greatest dream was to marry a talented young woman from Chang’an, someone knowledgeable, refined, and well-read, and spend his life with her immersed in music, painting, poetry, and tea, like a pair of mandarin ducks, inseparable in their love.

So, when the Marquis of Zhenbei and his family arrived in Chang’an, the Marquis’s wife immediately started making arrangements for her seventh elder brother’s marriage, sending visitation requests to various noble families, and visiting each one to look at the maidens in their households.

Coincidentally, Princess Jinrong organized a poetry gathering that autumn, and Zhou Muyan happened to win first place, earning herself the reputation of a “talented lady.”

Upon hearing that the sixth maiden of the Zhou family was a talented lady, her seventh elder brother asked his mother to go and take a look at her.

“It’s not that my brother only wanted to marry her and no one else. He just wanted to give it a try and have my mother take a look to see if she was a good match. If things worked out, they could marry, and if not, it’s alright too. We aren’t the kind of family to force a match. But you know what she did? She went and joked about my brother with those noble ladies, saying he’s a blockhead, a toad hankering after swan meat, an uncultured and rough northern warrior who’s unworthy of her.”

Xu Wenchan exclaimed angrily, “The problem is, she has never even met my Seventh Brother! Not to boast, but though he may not be as outstanding as His Highness the Crown Prince, he is still graceful and handsome! The people of Yunzhou City all praise him as a handsome and talented young man. In my opinion, Zhou Muyan is the one who’s not worthy of my Seventh Brother… Sigh, just because of her big mouth, she has ruined my Seventh Brother’s reputation!”

Tao Ti listened in surprise, fell silent for a moment, and asked, “Since your Seventh Brother is not like that, why don’t you have your mother take him to attend more social gatherings? That way, the rumors would be easily debunked, wouldn’t they?”

Xu Wenchan replied, “Sigh, my Seventh Brother dislikes crowded occasions, especially banquets like those. He used to talk about how the marriage is due to the red string of fate connecting people across a thousand miles, but after the incident with Zhou Muyan, he became even more indifferent to the matter of marriage. Now, he keeps talking about what’s meant to be will come in its own time, and what’s not meant to be will never happen… My mother was so angry that she almost fainted a few times.”

Xu Wenchan shrugged and raised her hands, saying, “Now you see why I hate Zhou Muyan so much, right?”

Tao Ti nodded, thinking that if anyone dared to scheme against her family behind their backs, she would definitely be furious too.

“So, you really helped me vent my anger this time! But… did you really not hit Zhou Muyan?”

“I really didn’t hit her. I just used a restraining move on her, and absolutely did not touch her face.” Tao Ti looked sincere, afraid of being accused of causing harm.

“Hmm, that’s strange. She didn’t even come to the flower appreciation banquet at Duke Ping’s residence a few days ago. She usually loves such occasions the most.” Xu Wenchan pursed her lips, thinking, “Could it be that she did indeed get some skin condition and couldn’t go out?”

“Skin condition?” Tao Ti was puzzled.

“I don’t know where the rumor came from, but it’s said that the Zhou residence urgently summoned the imperial physician, and the maids saw Zhou Muyan’s face all red and swollen. It was a really scary sight!” Xu Wenchan said, “The Zhou family claims she has a skin condition, but the noble ladies believe her face got swollen from being slapped, and they think the skin condition excuse is just a cover-up.”

After listening to the convoluted story, Tao Ti couldn’t help thinking about how a rumor becomes a fact when repeated by three people. The enthusiasm ancient people had for gossip is not to be underestimated.

Footnotes:

¹ Cold Food Festival: The Cold Food Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday which developed from the local commemoration of the death of the Jin nobleman Jie Zitui in the 7th century BC under the Zhou dynasty, into an occasion across East Asia for the commemoration and veneration of ancestors by the 7th-century Tang dynasty. Its name derives from the tradition of avoiding the lighting of any kind of fire, even for the preparation of food.

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