Chapter 188: Chapter 187: Wishful Thinking
Today, Lin Wanwan tried several kinds of herbal medicine; her mouth was bitter, her heart bitter as well. Studying medicine is truly bitter, and her mood was not good. When she returned to the mansion, a playboy was blocking the gate, which was really annoying.
"Move aside," Lin Wanwan said coldly.
He Wenyu snapped out of his daze and quickly straightened his collar, performed a hand salute, and said, "I am He Wenyu, greeting the young lady."
Lin Wanwan irritably reined her horse and charged forward herself, saying, "Move away!"
He Wenyu hurriedly jumped to one side, narrowly avoiding being stepped on by the horse, and then watched as Lin Wanwan arrogantly rode into the courtyard, where servants had already gathered around to help her with the horse.
Even though Lin Wanwan had her nose and mouth covered with a cloth and was dressed in men’s clothing, just her exposed eyes and graceful head were enough to captivate him.
Though Lin Wanwan had none of the elegance and grace of a young lady just then—quite the opposite, she was somewhat rude—in He Wenyu’s infatuated heart, this lively arrogance only made her more enchanting, as if a distant Luoshen had descended to the mortal world, now more grounded and mesmerizing.
After chuckling foolishly for a moment, He Wenyu grabbed the Xiao Mansion’s gatekeeper and asked, "Who was that young lady just now?"
The gatekeeper hadn’t answered yet when the drunken Xiao family’s second lineage’s illegitimate son, He Guangqin, quacked, "She... she’s my cousin from the Lin family."
"Cousin? Lin family?" He Wenyu wanted to ask more, but the other was too drunk to say anything coherent, so he had to let him go inside for now.
The Lin family—he hadn’t heard of them before, but since they could marry into the Xiao Family, they shouldn’t be bad. He wondered if his parents could accept her.
He Wenyu wanted to replace the originally intended Xiao family’s noble daughter from the Qi-Liang branch with Xiao Family’s twins. Even his doting grandparents wouldn’t agree, and only placated him verbally. Now changing it to Lin’s family might be even harder.
On the way back, He Wenyu was worried and anxious. But giving up on Luoshen was impossible, so he immediately mentioned it to his mother once he reached home.
Unexpectedly, Zhu was much calmer this time, not losing her composure like the first time when He Wenyu mentioned this. He Wenyu found it a bit unsettling.
Zhu had already sent someone to investigate and got a clear understanding, thanks to He family’s influence in Qiantang, probing into the Xiao Mansion’s affairs was easy.
Before He Wenyu returned to the mansion, someone had already reported Lin Wanwan’s information thoroughly to Zhu.
A daughter from a declining cold family that only has branches, the hermit who raised her since childhood has passed away, and she was even betrothed to a fiancé who died. She’s easy to manipulate, considering a concubine’s position is already a recognition.
Therefore, after He Wenyu excitedly finished talking, Zhu calmly said, "Look at your frantic behavior, it’s just a little lady from a cold family, hardly worth getting so worked up. After you’ve married the Xiao family’s young lady, I’ll have the Lin girl brought in right away."
He Wenyu was stunned: "Mo... Mother means accepting her as a concubine?"
Zhu replied casually, "Yes, give ample betrothal gifts; accepting her as a noble concubine is considering her esteemed."
He Wenyu thought for a moment and asked, "Why, has the Lin family fallen into decline?"
Zhu sneered, "Whether fallen or not, it’s more or less the same. Now there remain only some country farmers and fishermen. You should learn more about Jiangnan’s aristocracy; the future of He family depends on you."
He Wenyu heard only the first half, learning that Luoshen comes from such a humble background, felt a bit disappointed but then relaxed, this makes things easier, and he wouldn’t need to clash with his family; he could have both his fish and bear paw.
A worthy wife and a beautiful concubine, life is delightful!
"Then I’ll trouble mother to arrange it! Quickly get me confirmation, and I’ll obediently go to Jinling to make the pledge." He Wenyu smiled cheekily and bowed to Zhu.
Zhu, annoyed, said, "Get out of my sight, seeing your reckless manner gets on my nerves!"
"Don’t be angry, mother, I’ll leave right away." He Wenyu retreated with a grin.
On the other side, Lin Wanwan brought Kun Lun back to the room, where Hua Nong greeted her, took the medical box Kun Lun prepared into the room, and stored it away.
Hong Yan brought over a basin of hot water to help Lin Wanwan wash her face and hands. After the maids bustled around, Lin Wanwan relaxed comfortably on the couch and said to Hong Yan, "I got some grapes sent by my senior brother at the pier today; they’re all packed in the cloth bag. Hong Yan, go and deliver some to each room."
After Lin Wanwan spoke, she pointed to the cloth bag Kun Lun had casually placed on the floor upon bringing it in. In fact, Lin Wanwan had consumed a lot of herbal medicine, her mouth was bitter, and she craved the taste of grapes.
"Grapes?" Hong Yan was shocked, staring at the large cloth bag and asked again incredulously, "Is this entire bag full of grapes from the Western Regions?"
"Mama! I want grapes!" Little Qingyu shouted, lifting his head from his toys.
"Alright, Yun Shang, go wash some," Lin Wanwan replied lazily. This life of having people to command is indeed too comfortable.
This item was once brought to the mansion by Xiao Luxi, where they hosted a grape feast, and attendees got one grape each to taste.
Only Xiao Ronghua and her brother, who excelled at sucking up to the Xiao Luxi, attended the grape feast in the Xiao Mansion, each received one grape.
In the early Tang Dynasty, grapes were still a rare commodity; when Li Yuan hosted banquets for ministers, there were grapes on the table, but Prime Minister Chen Shuda couldn’t bear to eat them, wanting to take them back for his old mother who wished for grapes!
Imagine, even the Prime Minister couldn’t get grapes, showing how rare this fruit was!
The scarcity of grapes persisted until Li Shimin sent troops to break through Gaochang, established the Western State, and only then did improvement come through tributes.
Yet relying solely on tributes couldn’t satisfy the Great Tang’s market demands, leading the Tang people to start vigorously transplanting grapes. With the introduction and promotion of grape cultivation and wine-making techniques from the Western Regions, grapes and wine became less distant for ordinary aristocrats.
As for commoners? They shouldn’t even think about it; grapes and wine in the Tang Dynasty were luxury items for aristocrats.
At this point, it’s only the fourth year of Zhenguan; grapes still mostly belong to the deep palace forbidden gardens. Even searching aristocrats can’t hope for them, only top-tier Gate Valve might have some ways to acquire grapes.
Xiao Luxi’s Southern Lanling Xiao family naturally ranks among the top-tier Gate Valve, but Wanwan Lady... she actually hauled back a cloth bag, at least weighing two to three jin (a Tang jin is sixteen liang)!
What kind of background does her senior brother have?!
Compared to Hong Yan’s shock, Kun Lun, Hua Nong, and Yun Shang in the room remained calm. Just grapes, before New Year’s, they had several boxes shipped from Qiongzhou (actually Lin Wanwan bought them from the modern era when she traveled through time in Mao County, then casually mentioned they were brought on the ship), at New Year distributed some to families with elderly and children.
Yun Shang was already skillfully picking a bunch of large, brightly colored grapes to wash.