Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

"Your Majesty is very interested in this pancake. After eating it, he said it was delicious and convenient. Wu Niang said that the palace's Consort Wu also likes it. Has Madam Wu heard of it? She is the daughter of the former Duke of Ying, Wu Shigui, and Madam Yang of Hongnong. She has always been beautiful. Last year, Your Majesty took her into the palace and she is very favored. Your Majesty has been busy with Tibetan affairs these days, and the government affairs are complicated. When you have some time, you may want to summon me to the palace to ask about it."

Well, she made it up. It's totally untrue. Er Fengtian is the busiest man in the world, so he has probably forgotten about it. But he has to pretend to be cool first to increase his own value. Later, if Zhao Yue returns early, everyone will be happy.

If Zhao Yue stayed longer, she would find a way to ask Li Xueyan for help and see if she could bring her to the palace to present recipes. Not only recipes, she could also think about gunpowder.

Well, she admitted that it was too difficult.

But she felt that she could still try hard and come up with some ideas...

Of course, the best thing would be to establish connections with Li Xueyan. If Li Shimin remembered her, it would be best to bring her to the palace to reward her with some gold and silver. By the way, he could also establish some relationship with Wu Meiniang and work hard to complete the task.

Zhao Yue silently tore the quail into pieces and stuffed them into her mouth. She naturally knew about the Hongnong Yang family. Although Yingguogong Wu Shigui was just a businessman, who could blame him for having good vision and understanding of investment?

He got on a good ship and everything went smoothly for him. It was a great turn of events. Even after his wife died, the late emperor personally arranged a matchmaking for him and married him to Yang, an old girl from Hongnong who was still unmarried at her age.

Yang Shikui died a few years ago. There were a lot of news about his family, such as how he couldn't tolerate his stepmother and sister and kicked them out of the house. Unexpectedly, Yang was quite capable and actually sent her daughter to the palace. She was really bold.

She was now somewhat disillusioned. Jiang Shangxian, whom she had always looked down upon, was about to establish a relationship with His Majesty, but what about her? She hadn't even met His Majesty yet!

Jiang Shangxian secretly glanced at her expression, thinking that he had acted rather well this time. He quickly pushed his glass towards her and raised his own glass with a very serious expression: "Madam Cui, you have come all the way to Chang'an for this marriage. I can imagine the hardships you have endured along the way. I am deeply grateful to you, and I understand your concerns. As a mother, I naturally hope that my child will get better and better."

Zhao Yue raised her head, her eyes, slightly red from the chili pepper and alcohol, fixed quietly on her face as she continued to brag.

After putting on a show of strength, Jiang Shangxian turned to playing the emotional card. Most of the time, people can always have a conversation with those who understand them: "Raising a child is not easy. My mother said that I was her first child. When I was still in the womb, she was worried about whether the fetus would be stable and whether I would grow well. When I was a little older, she heard that the baby in the belly would move, and she looked forward to it every day. As long as my baby moved in my belly, she felt overjoyed. But if I didn't move, she was afraid something had happened. She was worried all day long. Finally, when I was almost full-term, she heard that some children were born with missing arms and legs. She was afraid again. She burned incense and chanted Buddha's name every day, praying to the Bodhisattva to bless me to be born a complete person."

As she spoke, she chuckled softly, "When I'm really born, the first thing my mother will ask is: Are you missing any limbs? Infants can easily die, so she'll take good care of you day in and day out, fearing you'll be cold, hungry, or hot. She just hopes I grow up healthy and safe..."

These words reminded Zhao Yue of when she was pregnant with Cui Bianxu. She only had this one child. Her life in the Cui family was not easy at that time. She had a difficult delivery and it took her a whole day and night to give birth to him.

She had actually long forgotten how much it hurt, but she couldn't help but feel terrified every time she thought about it.

Cui Bianxu was born weighing seven jin (596.82 grams), a rare sight for a child this size. If she hadn't practiced martial arts since childhood and was stronger than others, she would have died. (A jin ( grams) in the Tang Dynasty was approximately grams.)

Jiang Shangxian noticed the look on her face and continued, "I've heard people say that only when you have children do you understand the kindness of your parents. Although I haven't been there, I can understand. As a mother, I naturally hope that everything goes well for my child and that he has a bright future. It's not that Madam dislikes me, but she dislikes a daughter-in-law without a good background."

These words touched Zhao Yue's heart. If Jiang Shangxian was not going to marry Cui Bianxu, she would really like this young lady. After all, her cooking skills were enough to make people like her.

She was about to say something when Jiang Shangxian changed the subject and blinked, "A hero doesn't ask where he came from. Look, I'm already connected to His Majesty..."

Zhao Yue opened her mouth in surprise. She actually wanted to say that even if they were related, it wasn’t a big deal!

But in the end, she sighed silently and shook her head, holding the wine glass lightly between two fingers and shaking it up and down. It was easy to see that her hands were different from those of a young lady. Even though she applied delicate lanolin cream all the time, the luster and elasticity of her skin still could not resist the changes of time. Her nails were painted evenly red and trimmed to be a little pointed, but not very long.

This is to mash Impatiens balsamina and add alum to cover the nail bed, wrap it with leaves and sleep overnight, and it will be ready the next day. The dyed nails are bright in color. No one in the Jiang family has such nails, as it would delay their work.

She tilted her head back and drank the wine in one gulp. The wrinkles on her neck, which no amount of skincare could conceal, were revealed. The smell of alcohol rose silently to her head. Her cheeks flushed red, and in a trance, she seemed to see the young woman who had galloped against the wind in Guazhou. "How can it be that simple? To tell you the truth, our clan is no longer as good as it used to be. Even the Five Surnames and Seven Nobles are not as prosperous as they used to be. What good will it do you to offer a few prescriptions?"

Although she had no say in the affairs of the Cui family and didn't know much, after the "Clan Records" came out, she could see some clues in the behavior of the men in the clan.

What did Li Shimin want? He wanted to crush all these clans. What did a few recipes mean? Even hundreds wouldn't be enough!

Cui Bianxu is now the highest-ranking official in the Cui family of Wushuifang. It is for this reason that Zhao Yue cannot understand why his family would let their son, a young man with such a promising future, marry a woman who has no help from anyone.

Shouldn't he marry a woman from a wealthy and prominent family and consolidate the Cui family's status through marriage?