Ancient Foodie Survival Guide Chapter 1
Tled by Serena Love
Edited by Pure, Mei, and
Chapter 1: The Big Marriage
Once the summer heat gradually faded, autumn rainfall followed suit. The noble ladies of Beijing began to communicate with each other again. But there was only one topic that gained their attention—Xie family's third young master was going to marry a wife!
Speaking of Xie Family's third young master, Xie Xun, he was the most outstanding young man in Beijing. His father, Duke Xie, and his maternal grandfather were the crown prince's imperial teachers. He had an outstanding family background and equally outstanding appearance. He had traveled far and wide and possessed the unrestrained heartiness of a young master from Chang'an. Even the emperor's son paid a personal visit to this elite man. Both a scholar and a martial artist, when this handsome man rode his horse on the long street after winning third place in the imperial exam, he became the object of desire of many noble ladies, who threw flowers at him in order to get his attention[1].
In the hearts of everyone, his grace and talent were more than enough to match even an imperial princess.
But no one ever imagined that the shameless Jiang Shuyao would be the one to actually take him!
Jiang Shuyao was also quite well known, but not for any good reason. Her father was Lord Xiangyang of the Jiang Family, but she was devoid of any ladylike virtues. She had a hollow mind and an empty brain. She even became the subject of a few scandalous jokes by peeking at handsome young men.
Not long ago, at the princess’s banquet, she wanted to pick flowers and accidentally fell into the water. She was rescued by Xie Xun, who was on the shore. Since then, she clamored that her innocence was ruined and Xie Xun had to take responsibility and marry her.
That's why everyone thought she was so shameless. If she lost her innocence, then why didn’t she shave her hair and become a nun? Why force Xie family's third young master?
Everyone thought that this would not happen, but Duke Xie's Mansion nodded in agreement.
A little lady who knew the inside story revealed that Jiang Shuyao created trouble after returning home. Then, at last, she took a rope and hanged herself. When rescued, she had more air going out than going into her body.
This incident reached the ears of the elder princess who had hosted the banquet. When she entered the palace, she told the emperor about the matter. However, Lord Xiangyang's sister, Imperial Concubine Lin, happened to be present and made the situation more favorable for her niece.
The emperor didn't know the notorious name of Jiang Shuyao, the ‘Empty Brain’, but knew that she was Lord Xiangyang's daughter. Lord Xiangyang did not have good luck with children. He took several concubines but did not produce a son. Even as he got older, none of his concubines conceived. His wife finally got pregnant and gave birth to a girl.
He was very sympathetic towards Lord Xiangyang and this sympathy also gave him a good impression of Jiang Shuyao. After hearing the tearful story from the beautiful Imperial Concubine Lin about how Jiang Shuyao hung herself "to prove her innocence," he was quite touched. It so happened that Xie Xun was meeting the Crown Prince in the East Palace, so the Emperor called Xie Xun to ask a few questions.
The palace is a strange and weird place. When the Crown Prince and Xie Xun arrived, the quiet and calm queen was also there. She expressed her intention of giving him a marriage edict.
Xie Xun heard the queen's intent towards his marriage and went home to discuss it with his parents. Although he was very reluctant, he still went to the Jiang family to propose marriage.
***
Jiang Shuyao was sitting on the bed, her throat was slightly itchy. She badly wanted to extend her hand to scratch it, but thinking about the current situation, she quickly held back.
Usually, transmigrators found someone to talk to as soon as they opened their eyes and were able to figure out their situation after a few words. But when she opened her eyes, she became a temporary mute with a dysfunctional throat. Before she could figure out what was going on, she was stuffed into the sedan chair to get married.
Hearing the sound of chatter getting closer, Jiang Shuyao knew that Xie Xun had come in, so she sat quietly and obediently.
As the blessed person sang loudly, the red veil was lifted, and a sudden light suddenly appeared in front of her. Jiang Shuyao raised her head and met a pair of captivating eyes.
Seeing Xie Xun's face, Jiang Shuyao was relieved.
Her husband-to-be was as handsome as rumored. It was no exaggeration to say that he was the snow on the white mountain, the bright clouds over the moon, an existence that ordinary people can not imagine. A beauty of this level would never touch her so she would be safe until the next day.
Xie Xun frowned slightly as he looked at Jiang Shuyao's pinkish mask-like face; his face showed unabashed disgust.
Not long after he returned to Beijing, he heard of Jiang Shuyao's notoriety but he didn't expect that he would one day be tricked by this woman and forced to marry her as his wife.
The rumors were hard to believe but how she clung to him after falling into the water that day she immediately shouted that she had lost her innocence after being saved, despite knowing it would ruin her reputation, made her character clear.
He turned cold all over and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became stiff.
The following rituals were perfunctorily completed. After drinking a glass of wine, the blessed person picked up the plate and fed Jiang Shuyao some glutinous rice balls.
Generally, the bride would take a symbolic bite and the blessed person would ask whether the rice ball was raw or not. The bride would lower her head and reply shyly, "It is raw." [2]
Jiang Shuyao, who hadn't eaten since morning, knew this, but she ate the whole thing in one gulp. After she chewed it, Jiang Shuyao almost spit it out in disgust.
The blessed person was dumbfounded and stuttered, "Ra.. Raw or not?"
Jiang Shuyao's throat had just recovered. It hurt when she swallowed something without chewing. Hearing the question, she puffed up in embarrassment. Neither swallowing nor vomiting, her face wrinkled into a ball as she replied, "Too raw."
Xie Xun sat beside her. His dislike for her grew more each passing moment.
When he traveled abroad, he had seen all kinds of people in the world. He had also wondered about the appearance of his future wife–whether she would be gentle and virtuous or dignified and generous, but he never imagined that he would marry such a person.
After the blessed person finished reciting some auspicious words, Xie Xun went out of the room without looking back. Except when removing the red veil, he never gave Jiang Shuyao a second look.
The female family members in the room were all playing "You look at me and I look at you," and without saying a single auspicious word, they went out of the room silently.
In the early morning of the next day, everyone in the mansion knew that the third young master slept in the study room on the night of his wedding.
Everyone was anticipating to see Jiang Shuyao’s sullen expression, but Jiang Shuyao, who was at the center of the gossip, did not look as miserable as they thought.
After she woke up, the maids helped her get dressed.
The original body had a very enchanting and charming face, but this kind of look was not pleasing in this era. People would be chewing their tongue and scolding her as a "vixen".
When marrying a wife, a man must marry a virtuous, gentle, or dignified one. Only when he was taking a concubine, would he deliberately choose a woman with an alluring appearance.
Madam Jiang didn't like the bunch of alluring concubines in the Jiang's mansion, so when she saw her daughter's beautiful and alluring appearance, she deliberately transformed her into a delicate willow-like lady.
The original body was starved every day by her mother just to achieve the look of a weak and frail woman. Her originally curvy body had turned into a shriveled thin skeleton.
Her beautiful willow-leaf eyebrows were shaved and redrawn to be flat and thin' sounds a little less awkward; this caused her to appear as if she was constantly frowning. Her mother even applied a thick powder to cover up the natural glow on her daughter's face and dressed her in plain clothes. The style was nondescript and appeared comedic.
Jiang Shuyao stopped the maid who was applying powder on her face, and started to put on her own make-up. She painted her eyebrows and brought back the energetic sword-like eyebrows. A bit of heroism was added to her charming and bright face; it neutralized the skinny, bright, and seductive feeling brought by her vixen-like face.
After she applied some lipstick on her lips, she decided that the day’s makeup was complete.
Jiang Shuyao looked at her own reflection in the bronze mirror with satisfaction. Freed from Madam Jiang's devil-like claws, she finally reclaimed her aesthetic freedom. After thinking about the days when she couldn't eat as much as she wanted, her face couldn't help but reveal a little bit of joy.
The original body was temperamental, and the maids around her were more cowardly than normal. Even if today was the first day of her marriage, they did not dare to wake her up early.
So when Xie Xun came, Jiang Shuyao had just finished dressing up and had not eaten breakfast.
Xie Xuan was still slightly dissatisfied. He then recalled that he had not returned to his bridal chamber and left Jiang Shuyao in this room alone. Thinking she must have secretly cried her heart out from being left behind by him, his dissatisfaction gradually dissipated.
"It's getting late. It's time to go to the hall to serve tea," He suddenly said, frightening the maids who had surrounded Jiang Shuyao.
Jiang Shuyao hurriedly got up from the dressing table and trotted to Xie Xun's side, "I'm ready, let's go." On the first day of marriage, she was in a very good mood.
With her newly acquired beauty, money (dowry), and without pressure for marriage, her new life was all set! And her husband was equal to decoration. Wasn't this the ‘three joys of life: promotion, wealth, and death of a husband’? As the modern saying goes: It is a happy day!
Seeing her jumping out of joy, Xie Xun couldn't help but frown at her lack of etiquette.
Was she so pleased with him? Just seeing him made her so excited?
Of course. If she was not so pleased with him, how could she have disregarded all of her manners, courtesy, shame and even threatened him with her life to force him to marry her?
Xie Xun was tall and had a pair of long legs. Lost in his thoughts, he unconsciously sped up. Jiang Shuyao had to run to keep up with him. Fortunately, she wore a simple dress today and a few pieces of jewelry and hair ornaments. Otherwise, she would have gotten exhausted after only a few steps.
After walking absentmindedly for a while, Xie Xun remembered that he was walking with someone else.
Suddenly, he paused and turned his head back, which stunned Jiang Shuyao. She nearly collided with him.
Jiang Shuyao immediately slowed down, stopping exactly half a step away from him.
The pinched silver wire and red agate on her head swayed dramatically and the morning light passed through the pendant, reflecting a brilliant light. Xie Xun couldn't help but squint his eyes.
The person in front of him opened her red lips and panted slightly, her cheeks flushed from the movement just now, and there were tiny beads of sweat on the tip of her nose. She looked very cute and charming. A pair of lustrous eyes, clear and bright, looked at him in surprise.
Xie Xun felt as if he was pierced by the light passing through her jewelry, so he stopped walking.
The Jiang Shuyao in his memory, except for the white face filled with heavy makeup when he lifted the red veil, was her appearance when he saved her out of the water that day, which was what she looked like when she removed her heavy makeup.
He stepped back a few steps, put his hands behind his back, didn't dare to look at Jiang Shuyao anymore and looked straight ahead, "You'll dress like this in the future. My mother doesn't like women with thick makeup."
Jiang Shuyao originally planned to do this so she compiled, "En, I see."
Xie Xun was a little surprised. He didn't expect her to be so well-behaved. She was different from when she was crying her heart out that day.
He felt a little guilty in his heart. A wife who would be spending the rest of her life with her husband should be in love with him and equally loved by him, not like Jiang Shuyao, who forced him to marry her by threatening suicide. This marriage was destined to fail.
Although she acted meek and obedient in front of him because she was very pleased with him, her feelings would never be reciprocated.
Thinking of this, he subconsciously slowed down his pace to match Jiang Shuyao's.
When the two arrived at the main room, the hall was full of people.
—
Footnotes:
[1] At the end of the imperial exam, the emperor would interview the top contenders and decide the final ranks. The first place, the second place, and the third place of the exam would exit the imperial palace on horses and they would parade around the capital. At this time, it is a custom that ladies would throw flowers or perfumed sachets at these scholars in hope of attracting their attention. If the scholar accepts their "token," it means he also accepts their affection.
[2] The rice ball is one of the Chinese wedding traditions:
What would happen is, the bride sits on the bed and the groom's family would give her some dumplings which are not entirely cooked. While she eats it, people would ask: "Raw or not (生不生)?", and she has to answer, "Raw（生）!"
The character "生" (Sheng) actually has two meanings: "Raw" and "to give birth".
So, it is done to "bless" the newlyweds to have children as soon as possible.
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