To Be A Virtuous Wife

79

Chapter Seventy Nine

As expected, there really was a glowing moon. The servants in the fu had already prepared everything that was needed. He Ming and Lu Wen Yao looked at the heated lanterns hanging in the pavilion and then at the two tables nearby, holding of a variety of foodstuffs. They finally understood what er ge meant by his earlier statement of "no need to save".

The four sat down around the table, each one taking a pair of the public chopsticks to start cooking in the pot. Even the not so favored He Ming had rarely ever cooked on his own, and his ignorance about how long something could be cooked created laughter and lifted the mood of the meal.

Luo Wen Yao looked at Qu Qing Ju rapidly picking up what she liked to cook in the pot. She always knew when to take the ingredients out when they were perfectly cooked. Luo Wen Yao couldn't help but look down at the people of Chang De Gong Fu. Er sao was the eldest di daughter, no matter what had happened, but er sao had suffered so much. Otherwise, why else would she be so familiar about such matters?

Ignorant of the fact that she had become a little white cabbage in the snow in Luo Wen Yao's heart, Qu Qing Ju contentedly drank a small bowl of silver tree-ear fungus and date soup to wash away the spiciness in her mouth. She felt that she was sixth-tenths full before commenting: "It's been some days since I ate hotpot. This soup that our kitchen has made is getting better and better."

"It's alright to occasionally eat some. If you eat it every day, you won't like any kind of soup," He Heng used a pair of public chopsticks to serve a tea tree mushroom into her bowl, smiling as he said, "You ate so much meat today that it will be hard to sleep."

Qu Qing Ju picked up the tea tree mushroom to dabble in the condiments dish. After she finished eating, she pouted: "Then later, you have to play weiqi with me."

"Fine," He Heng grimaced. Turning, he started to put what Qu Qing Ju liked to eat into her bowl.

He Ming poured Luo Wen Yao a small bowl of silver tree-ear fungus and date soup. Seeing er ge and er sao proficiently serve each other what they liked, he thought inside that he hadn't done enough.

"Si di, your wounds have healed. You've gotten married now. Fuhuang has said that us brothers have to put more energy to state affairs. Why don't you go spend some time in the Ministry of Revenue? That could be considered as going to learn something new." He Heng raised a cup to He Ming and drank before continuing, "Even though I am the second eldest, I'm not even two years older than you. You should pay more attention to state affairs."

He Ming didn't refuse. Out of the four brothers, other than da ge who was seven years older than him, er ge and san ge weren't that much older than him. But both er ge and san ge had been involved in state affairs for a long time. He was the only one who'd attended court after turning sixteen but he still didn't have anything to do.

Fuhuang never spent any attention on him, his mother wasn't favored, his maternal clan really didn't have anyone. The result was that he had muddled his way for three years at court yet had never accomplished anything. Now that er ge had said this, it was like giving him a helping hand to let him establish himself at court.

"Thanks er ge, yu di definitely will learn how to do things, and not disappoint er ge," He Ming raised the wine up, "Yu di toasts er ge."

Sitting on the side, Luo Wen Yao gave a grateful smile to Qu Qing Ju. Even though she didn't know the whole story, now that Duan Wang was willing to help her wang ye, from the bottom of her heart, she was grateful to Qu Qing Ju as Duan Wang Fei.