At the first quarter of the shen hour, the tables and chairs had all been arranged in the main hall.
While shared dining had grown commonplace in daily life, formal banquets still followed the separate serving tradition. This gathering, though framed as a welcome feast, was only attended by the Shen family's grandfather and grandson, along with two familiar guests Qin and Fang — far from a formal occasion. Thus Shen Zhongming gave instructions to set the table for shared dining instead.
The servants had already laid out cups, chopsticks, bowls and plates, all made of bright, gleaming silver. Porcelain kilns thrived in this era, making porcelain affordable and accessible, so ordinary households mostly used porcelain tableware for daily meals. But for formal feasts, apart from wine and tea sets, silver and gold vessels were still preferred to show due solemnity. Though the Shen family was wealthy, they never indulged in ostentatious luxury, so they chose silverware rather than gold.
Once all the tableware was in place, the few people took their seats one after another.
Several more servants entered. Some carried copper basins filled with warm water for hand washing, while others held pale blue celadon wine pots, slowly pouring the warmed wine into porcelain cups.
"Grandfather, you were just off to inspect the kitchen, weren't you?" Shen Guanting took the cloth towel and wiped his hands slowly and deliberately. "Did you see anything new or lively there?"
"What liveliness could there be in a kitchen?" Shen Zhongming glanced at him.
"Ordinarily there is nothing new in the kitchen, but once Grandfather pays a visit, there might well be," Shen Guanting replied in a calm, unhurried tone.
"You little rascal, are you insinuating that I went there to make trouble?"
Shen Guanting set down the towel. "Grandfather, you are overthinking this. Grandson simply thought that as Grandfather is always so perceptive, a personal visit to the kitchen must have revealed details that I would never have noticed."
"That is a stove room, not a prefectural or county yamen, there are no such hidden details to uncover," Shen Zhongming pointed out, then continued naturally, "But that Cook Lin, she looks exceptionally young. To have such cooking skills at her age is truly rare. Yet she brings a six-year-old child with her — a widow and her motherless son, what made them leave their hometown and travel all the way to Lingzhou?"
Shen Guanting lifted his eyes. "In just that short while, Grandfather even found out how old Cook Lin's child is?"
"The boy was sitting quietly off to the side, shelling beans, behaving properly and obediently, he looked very endearing, so I took a few extra glances," Shen Zhongming said evenly, and even began to reminisce, "None of you siblings could sit still for even half a quarter of an hour when you were his age."
Hearing this, Fang Qian spoke up, "Children who are lively and restless usually grow up doted on and carefree, that is a blessing. Mrs. Lin has gone through many hardships, so her son has naturally grown up more cautious. I heard that her husband passed away early, and her in-laws would not accept her, so she had no choice but to come to Lingzhou with her son to seek refuge with her elder brother, who left home to do business years ago and has not been heard from since."
"So that is how it is," Shen Zhongming nodded, taking a sip of wine from his cup. "She is a poor soul. But Lingzhou is such a vast, crowded place, searching for someone you have not contacted for years is no different from looking for a needle in a haystack."
He sighed in sympathy, then added, "Did she mention her brother's name, or where their hometown is? Our two families' merchant caravans travel far and wide across the north and south. If we get some information, we might be able to keep an eye out for them."
His words were thoughtful and reasonable, but Shen Guanting slightly raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over his grandfather's calm, composed face.
"Uncle, you are so kind-hearted. I heard she is from Wucang County. Our fellow caravan workers who are acquainted with her might know more details. I will tell them to pay extra attention later," Fang Qian replied.
Right as he finished speaking, Steward Zhou came over and bowed to report, "Old Master, the dishes from the kitchen are all ready. Shall we start serving?"
Shen Zhongming nodded slightly. "Bring them in."
Two servants stepped forward one after another.
The first dish served was fish sashimi. On a gleaming silver plate, translucent shreds of fish were arranged into the shape of a sleek swimming fish, garnished with a few sprigs of fresh coriander, the bright fresh scent wafting over immediately. The servants then placed a small silver dish in front of each person, filled with clear vinegar for the sashimi.
Shen Zhongming gently pushed the silver plate toward Qin Xiaoshan. "Old Qin, you must try this. These are silver fish transported all the way from Huzhou, their meat is extremely tender, not the slightest bit fishy."
Qin Xiaoshan smiled and agreed, "Today I am truly in for a treat. I have long heard of the reputation of Huzhou silver fish, and now I finally get to taste them." This silver fish was a rare and famous local specialty of Huzhou, with no scales, no bones or spines, its taste fresh, sweet and delicious, far superior to ordinary freshwater fish.
He picked up a pair of chopsticks, took a bite, and nodded in praise, "It truly lives up to its reputation, sweet, fresh, and smooth."
As they talked, another dish was placed on the table. A chased silver plate held four evenly sized, plump meatballs, dotted with bright green broad beans, sitting under a clear amber broth that made them look soft and full of flavor.
"This is the yam and broad bean minced meat ball," Steward Zhou introduced softly from the side. "It is made by mixing minced pork from the front leg with mashed yam, then adding broad beans."
The ingredients for this dish were quite common. Pork, as the main ingredient, was rarely used for banquets by more fastidious households. But all the people present had spent years traveling with merchant caravans, tasting flavors from all over the realm. When it came to food, they valued authentic, genuine taste over trivial conventions.
"This minced meat does not look like it has any flour mixed in," Shen Zhongming laughed.
Fang Qian picked up the conversation, "It seems the limited conditions on the trade roads have not allowed Cook Lin to show her full skills."
Shen Zhongming was the first to stretch out his chopsticks, pick up a meatball, and take a bite.
The outer layer was slightly springy, while the inside was unexpectedly soft and fluffy. There was none of the gamey smell common to pork, instead it tasted surprisingly sweet, fresh, and melt-in-the-mouth, nothing like the loose, crumbly texture of ordinary minced meat.
"Excellent!" Shen Zhongming nodded repeatedly. "The meat is fine, moist, and does not fall apart, the yam brings a sweet undertone, and the broad beans add a refreshing crunch."
Shen Guanting also took a bite. The taste was indeed to his liking — mild and balanced, unremarkable at first taste, but upon closer savoring, every detail felt perfectly judged. The savory freshness of the meat, the natural sweetness of the vegetables, and the richness of the broth blended seamlessly, flavorful but never heavy. It looked like a simple home-style dish, but every part of it showed careful thought.
"Pork can be prepared to taste this good? It seems I have missed out on so many fine flavors all these years," Shen Zhongming said with a note of wonder.
"Grandfather, that is not right. The joy of good food never lies in how expensive the ingredients are, but in whether the person cooking puts their heart into it."
"Ah, for once you are saying something that makes perfect sense," Shen Zhongming teased.
Qin Xiaoshan also nodded in approval, "Being able to make such a delicious dish from common ingredients is true culinary skill."
"Ordinary common people do not have easy lives, unlike wealthy households who can afford to squander ingredients as they please. So they have no choice but to put extra thought and effort into making the most of these cheap, readily available ingredients," Fang Qian added with a smile. "And I heard her son had a weak spleen and stomach when he was little. No doubt she put in endless hours of thought to adjust his diet, which is how she developed such meticulous cooking skills."
"Oh?" Shen Zhongming's tone remained even. "I could not tell at all. That boy has a ruddy face, sits and stands properly, he looks perfectly healthy."
He thought back to the boy's face and posture. Though his skin was a little tanned, he was sturdy and well-proportioned, with bright eyes and thick, glossy black hair — nothing like the scrawny, sallow, dry-haired poor children he had seen countless times during his decades of traveling across the realm.
But if that child's identity was far from ordinary, then who was Mrs. Lin? What connection could she possibly have to the Gu family?
When he left the capital to head south, Gu Heng had already passed away, leaving behind only one legitimate daughter and one legitimate son. If those two children were still alive, their ages would be far older than the little boy he had just seen. By that calculation, there was no way Gu Heng could have such a young blood descendant left behind.
Could this child possibly be Gu Huaizhou's late-born son? No, that's impossible. With his character and principles, there is no way such a thing could happen.
Could it be...
A nearly absurd thought flashed through his mind. What if this child was Gu Huaizhou's grandson?
Shen Zhongming's breath caught almost imperceptibly, but he shook his head to himself the next moment. Ridiculous. The Eastern Palace caught fire, and the Crown Princess and the young imperial grandson both perished in the blaze, their remains too charred to identify. Besides, the young imperial grandson was only four years old, which did not match this child's age or gender at all.
Then where on earth did this mother and daughter come from?
He was deep in thought when Qin Xiaoshan's voice pulled him back to the banquet table. "It must be a mother with such outstanding skills in nourishing the body that can raise a child so strong and sturdy."
"Indeed, it is no easy feat," Shen Zhongming nodded in response, temporarily setting aside his doubts.
As they chatted, cup after cup of clear wine was drained, and dish after dish was served to the table.
The next two dishes Lin Wu prepared were fragrant fried taro cakes and crystal wontons.
The taro cakes were made by mixing rice milk with taro cubes and cured diced bacon, seasoning the mixture before steaming it into a firm shape, then cutting it into square slices and frying them over low heat until both sides turned lightly crispy and brown. The outer layer was crisp to the bite, while the inside was soft and springy, carrying a subtle savory aroma of cured meat that was not heavy at all. Though no precious ingredients were used, it exuded a simple, homely charm of its own.
"These crystal wontons are truly exquisitely translucent," Qin Xiaoshan could not help but praise as he looked at the wontons arranged like pearls and jades on the silver platter before him.
In this era, the term "dumpling" had not come into use yet, and wontons looked far more like what later generations would call dumplings. Shaped like dainty little ingots, they were small in size but plump and finely crafted. The wrapper was rolled so thin that after being steamed, it turned glossy and translucent, revealing the colorful mixed fillings inside, making for a truly lovely sight.
"It is not just the appearance that is clever, the taste is perfect too," Shen Zhongming commented after taking a bite of one. The wonton wrapper was smooth, springy, and chewy, while the filling was fresh, moist, and perfectly seasoned.
He picked up another one with his chopsticks and chuckled, "With such a fine presentation, if this dish was served in a proper restaurant in the capital, I am afraid people would scramble to buy them even for a whole string of copper coins apiece."
"Uncle, that idea of yours truly sounds tempting," Fang Qian chimed in with a laugh.
Shen Guanting gently prodded a wonton on his plate with the tip of his chopsticks and let out a soft laugh. "We could give it an elegant fancy name, limit the daily sales to ten servings, and make reservations mandatory for anyone who wants to try it. Then we could make sure every noble's tea gathering and banquet in the capital has this dish on the table. In less than half a month, people will be rushing to get their hands on it. By then, it will not just be a string of copper coins per wonton. Even pricing them by the platter at one gold ingot each, I doubt the supply could ever keep up with the demand."
His words drew laughter from everyone at the table.
As the banquet drew near its end, Shen Zhongming waved the waiting servants away, took a small sip of the warm soup before him, then raised his eyes to look at Fang Qian. "Qian, you have just come from the capital, so you have seen the situation there with your own eyes. What is the political climate really like over there? Lately, I have heard from traveling merchants that the capital seems far more bustling than usual, and I cannot shake off the feeling that something is out of the ordinary."
Fang Qian's expression turned solemn as he gently set down his wine cup. "Uncle, your hunch is not wrong. The capital's market is as vibrant and flourishing as a bed of blooming flowers these days. That noble figure has a knack for coming up with new trends, and wave after wave of new fads have been sweeping through the city under his lead."
Shen Guanting let out a soft snort of disdain. "Are those genuine trends, or just people scrambling to curry favor? For someone of such high status to personally stoop down to run businesses and trade, what other common merchant could possibly compete on equal footing? This is not sharing profits with the merchants at all. It is clearly snatching profits from the common people. How could ordinary small folks ever have the ability to fight back against him?"
Shen Zhongming tapped his knuckles lightly against the tabletop and sighed. "I only hope that this new ruler will be willing to listen to a few words of honest advice that do not cater to his wishes."
Qin Xiaoshan shook his head, and in the end could not hold back his words, speaking in a low voice. "He did not come to the throne through a legitimate line of succession to begin with. Naturally, he has to use harsh, thunderous tactics to establish his authority, wipe out all traces of the old regime, and only then can he sit securely on that throne. I am afraid all those who surround him now are nothing but sycophants, filling his ears with nothing but songs of praise and glorification."
"It really is just like the previous one," Shen Zhongming chuckled softly, his tone impossible to read. "After all, they are father and son. I just never expected this one's methods to be so utterly ruthless. How are the Gu and Chen families faring these days?"
There was a tone of pity in Fang Qian's voice as he replied. "It is a tragic sight. All the adult male members of both families have been executed. Word has it that Duke Gu and the Junior Tutor seemed to have sensed the danger before the incident broke out. They secretly did all they could to make arrangements, cutting off ties with all the servants and distant relatives they could send away, to prevent them from being dragged into the disaster. Those who are now being escorted into exile are mostly close relatives of the two main families who failed to escape in time."
He paused for a moment, his voice growing even heavier. "Duke Gu and the Junior Tutor are not that old after all. On top of that, both the Gu and Chen families had very few descendants to begin with, and all their grandchildren were not even old enough to be capped as adults, which is the only fortunate thing that kept them from the execution ground. But while they escaped the death penalty, there is no escaping the living punishment that awaits them."
Qin Xiaoshan let out a long, heavy sigh. "They may have survived the execution, but after months of suffering in prison, deprived of proper medical care and enough food, they are already nothing but skin and bones. Now they are being forced to wear cangues and walk thousands of miles on foot all the way to South Cliff, that land of miasma and pestilence. I am afraid... the odds are heavily stacked against them making it out alive."
The hall fell silent for a moment, a heavy, unspoken weight hanging in the air.
After a short while, Fang Qian seemed to remember something and added, "Uncle, Guanting, there is one more thing. The exile destination is South Cliff. The local authorities there will certainly impose layer upon layer of stricter control to prevent any unrest. The inspection at checkpoints and the movement of personnel for the Shen family's businesses in South Cliff will likely become far more stringent from now on. You should make early preparations for this."
Shen Guanting's face remained calm, his gaze clear and cool as still water. "Thank you for the reminder, Uncle Fang."
Shen Zhongming stood up, paced over to the window, and looked out at the oddly shaped rocks in the courtyard, which looked jagged and solitary in the twilight. He stared at them for a long moment before suddenly letting out a hearty laugh. "The Shen family cut all ties with officialdom long ago. For more than ten years now, not a single member of our clan has served in the government, and the whole world knows this. As for our businesses in South Cliff..."
He turned around, a sharp glint in his eyes. "That place has always been beyond the full reach of imperial laws. To trade there, one has long accepted that fortune and prosperity always come with great risks. Government control, local factions, miasma, plagues—none of them are anything new. All that has changed now is a few more exiles, and the guards are keeping a closer watch. If the Shen family could not even weather this small storm, we would never have stepped out of Huzhou in the first place, let alone achieved what we have today."
"Brother Zhongming, that bold spirit of yours is truly admirable," Qin Xiaoshan said with a sigh of admiration.
Fang Qian nodded slightly. "The exile convoy should set off in these two days. There are a great number of people in the procession, many of them elderly, weak women and children. Even if they push themselves, they can only cover twenty to thirty li a day at most. No matter which official road they take from the capital, Lingzhou is a necessary pass they must go through. According to my calculations, they will be passing through Lingzhou in about seven or eight days."
Shen Zhongming stood with his hands behind his back, the pad of his thumb rubbing against the jade finger ring on his finger, lost in thought.
Qin Xiaoshan looked at Shen Zhongming's figure and said in a low voice, "The court has stationed heavy troops on the northern border to guard against external threats. The imperial government would never dare to place these disgraced family members in a strategic border region. For one thing, it could easily spark unrest. For another, they fear that someone might use the opportunity to make contact with outside forces, or even... people inside the court.
But South Cliff, with its distant mountains, far-stretching waters, and thick miasma everywhere—once people are sent there, all their connections to the outside world are completely severed, leaving them no hope to cling to at all."
Shen Guanting stared at the gradually cooling tea in his celadon cup for a long moment, then lifted the cup and drained the last of the tea in one go. He twisted his wrist and set the empty cup down on the table with a firm, clear clink.
He raised his eyes, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips, his gaze sharp and bright as clear ice. "That is perfect. The local officials in South Cliff are short-sighted, and their own interests are all tangled up. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. That gives us all the space under the sky for the birds to fly free."
Shen Zhongming shook his head and laughed when he heard this, the heavy weight in his heart lightening a great deal after those words. "You rascal, that tongue of yours really is something..."
"The younger generation has talents that surprise us, Brother Zhongming," Qin Xiaoshan stroked his beard and laughed.
Shen Zhongming waved his hand with a smile. "He just loves to stir up trouble."
Shen Guanting held the teapot and poured himself half a cup of warm tea, his voice soft and calm. "If the grandson does not join in the old master's little lively gathering, who else will?"
