Chapter 509. You Are the Only One (2/2)

“Well, isn’t it because of your younger brother? When he heard from the maid that his older sister had come back, he was too impatient to wait and pestered me about coming out to welcome his older sister. Who knew that we’ll see the scene ‘Eighteen Li to Send-off’  [2] . Ay, a grown girl can’t be kept at home. If we try to make her stay, we’ll become enemies ah!” Lady Fang sighed.

“Godmother…who teases their own daughter like you?” Yu Xiaocao protested with a flushed face. She picked up Little Linlin, who had rushed over, and walked to the inner courtyard without looking back.

The mother and daughter chatted for a while, and then went to rest in their respective rooms. When Royal Prince Yang returned to the Prince Jing’s Estate, he was called over by his lady mother.

“I heard that you came back last night, and then went out early in the morning. Did you go see the lass, Xiaocao?” She had worked hard to raise this son of hers for twenty years, but as his mother, she wasn’t even as important as a little lass in his heart. Princess Consort Jing’s heart was like an unripe plum—extremely sour.

Zhu Junyang sensed his mother’s thoughts, so he quickly explained, “This morning, Lu Hao came to find me and said that he wanted to go on an outing in the suburbs. I didn’t expect to meet Xiaocao and her friends at Sanli Pavilion outside the city. Thus, we went to the Imperial Plantation together. Lady Mother, Son had gone out to play and made Mother worry about me.”

“Humph, lip service! Didn’t you just go meet your little lover? You must have had fun with Xiaocao today, right?” Princess Consort Jing also knew that he had gone out with Lu Hao. Since he was a child, her son didn’t have many close friends. Lu Hao was one of them. Recently, her son had been busy with work and wasn’t often in the capital. It was understandable that he wanted to relax when he returned. Besides, Xiaocao was a daughter-in-law who she liked. So why was she being so unreasonable?

“Lady Mother, Xiaocao knows that you like to eat plums, so she specially picked several early-ripening plums. Do you want to have a taste?” Zhu Junyang was relieved to see that his lady mother wasn’t targeting Xiaocao. Since ancient times, the most difficult thing to deal with was the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Fortunately, his lady mother had a rather close relationship with Xiaocao. In the future, when the lass married him, there wouldn’t be that many problems. How could he bear to let his little lass suffer grievance?

“Plum? Isn’t there at least half a month more before they ripen?” When Princess Consort Jing was in poor health, she had a poor appetite and her digestive system wasn’t very good. Imperial Prince Jing had heard that plums could promote peristalsis and improve one’s appetite, so he searched for different types of plums. Since then, Princess Consort Jing had also fallen in love with fruits that had a sweet and sour taste.

Zhu Junyang explained, “The fruits facing the sun are exposed to more sunlight, so they ripen earlier. Why don’t you have a taste?”

He opened the small basket that he was holding and removed the cover inside, revealing the dark purple colored fruit inside. The plump and dainty plums exuded a faint fragrance, and one couldn’t help but like them with one glance.

Princess Consort Jing picked up one and put it in her mouth. When she took a small bite, the purplish-red juice flowed into her mouth along her lips, and a sweet taste seeped into her heart. She swallowed the bite of plum in her mouth and said with satisfaction, “I didn’t expect that Xiaocao could grow fruit trees so well. This plum is twice as big as the lemon plums that I used to eat. It’s also much sweeter and doesn’t have an acrid taste. It’s the first time that Lady Mother has eaten such a delicious plum.”

“Son also brought back white peaches, honey peaches, yellow peaches, and blood peaches. Xiaocao personally picked them for you. They’re very fresh!” Zhu Junyang constantly tried to help the lass Xiaocao leave a good impression in front of Princess Consort Jing.

Princess Consort Jing didn’t eat a lot for dinner. She ate two plums and a peach before she was advised to stop by her son. The mother and son chatted for a while, and then Princess Consort Jing suddenly thought of something and said, “That’s right, in the evening, I received news that your aunt’s family arrived in the capital today. They will rest tomorrow, and then come visit us the day after. I heard your aunt’s daughter, Ling’er, looks like a little fairy. When that lass was a child, she was very pretty and lovely. Before she left the capital, you really liked playing with her. You often made her cry and didn’t know how to act more tenderly towards girls. Are you free the day after tomorrow? Let’s meet your aunt and your little green plum  [3]  together.”

“Tomorrow, I need to go report my work. I don’t know if the emperor has any other arrangements. So let’s talk about it the day after tomorrow!” Zhu Junyang didn’t like the three words ‘little green plum’, so he automatically ignored it.

[1] Judge Bao - official in the Song Dynasty known for his honesty and uprightness; often depicted as having dark skin and a crescent moon on his forehead

[2] ”Eighteen Li to Send-off” - a scene the in the play/story Butterfly Lovers ->

[3] little green plum - from the idiom 'green plum and bamboo horse', which means childhood sweethearts/friends