My Fantastic Chef Wife

378. Baozhu And A’Biao’s Reencounter

Translator: Kickassjo

Ye Xiaoxian wrote down all the questions and handed them to the female official and let her ask the questions.

For example, “Two pairs of father and son went out to buy hats but why did they only buy three hats?”

“Your father and your mother had a son who was neither your elder brother nor your younger brother. Then who will he be?”

And so on.

In short, they were all ‘brain teasers’.

Ye Xiaoxian knew that she hasn’t read many books and nor has Li Chengru. Li Chengru had a dull personality. If she looked for those ladies who were as dull, it would be hard to gain Li Chengru’s favor.

It was better to find those ladies who had quick mind and nice personality and who were funny.

The ladies were stumped by some of these questions.

They didn’t expect Ye Xiaoxian to ask such kind of questions.

Some people pondered on the questions. Ye Xiaoxian thought that these people who thought seriously were quite cute, so she decided to let them stay for further observation.

Some people who were quick-minded answered immediately. Ye Xiaoxian thought these people were smart and weren’t rigid so they could also stay for further observation.

They were merely looking for imperial concubines but not an Empress yet so they should let them move into the palace first. As for who would become the Empress in the future, it would definitely be Li Chengru’s choice to make and he would pick the one he liked.

As for men, there weren’t any who said they didn’t like could resist the temptation once he had tried and Li Chengru wouldn’t be an exception.

After the selection process, with a total of 30 people who participated only two-thirds of them stayed since Ye Xiaoxian had coughed 20 times.

It was twice as Li Chengru wanted.

Li Chengru rolled his eyes on Ye Xiaoxian in the end.

Ye Xiaoxian, on the other hand, smiled and felt that Li Chengru should thank her since he wouldn’t be alone in his palace now.

……

After Li Chengru finished selecting his imperial concubine, there were more and more activities in Capital City and so were the visits among the officials’ families.

Ye Xiaoxian could often receive invitations of various activities, such as polo games, parties for some little young master turning 100-day-old, wedding dinners, some daughter’s wedding ceremonies and so on.

Ye Xiaoxian was not particularly interested in this kind of occasion. If she had a good relationship with the host, then she would go have dinner with her family and enriching her children’s experience in the process. If they weren’t close, she would just send some gifts over or let Baozhu go instead.

Xiao Baozhu was now the second hand of the family.

She had helped Scholar Wong manage the house before so she was very good as a steward. In addition, she had learnt from the hardship she experienced afterwards so as a steward, she was capable to keep the house in perfect order.

After she arrived at Capital City, Ye Xiaoxian taught her the ranks of officials in Capital City and would also focus on teaching her the formalities. Xiao Baozhu learned these very quickly and was very responsible at work.

Later on, Ye Xiaoxian even let Xiao Baozhu handle the family’s external communications.

Xiao Baozhu was eager to learn, capable and hard-working. After staying in Capital City for a while, she got rid of her low-class behaviors and she had way better taste in dessing now. She now looked no different than some young ladies from the officials’ families.

On that day, Ye Xiaoxian received another invitation. Some official’s son in the Capital City was to have a wedding banquet and Xiao Baoshan’s family was invited.

The official had worked for three dynasties. Ye Xiaoxian had met his wife when she was in the Capital City the last time so they were acquainted. Therefore, she went there with Xiao Baozhu, Li Hongmei, and the two children.

This time, many people came to the wedding banquet and there were dozens of tables set up for guests.

Ye Xiaoxian was now the wife of the General and her status was different from before so quite a lot of people came over trying to make her acquaintance.

As she was chatting with some wives of the officials, Xiao Baozhu suddenly called out, “Where are Dong Dong and Little Xia?”

Ye Xiaoxian took some time to think.

‘They were just here. How come they disappeared all of a sudden?’

When Xiao Baozhu saw that Ye Xiaoxian was occupied for the moment, she said, “They must have gone off to play. They won’t go far. I’ll go search for them. Sister-in-law, why don’t you remain here while I go search for them?”

There were many people at the banquet, and the children liked to join in the fun, so the two of them definitely wouldn’t sit obediently and would run off to play.

Li Hongmei also joined in the search with Xiao Baozhu but they went separately.

Xiao Baozhu looked around at the banquet and still didn’t see the two children so she thought to herself, “Would they have gone off to the garden?”

So she ran to the garden.

There was a group of people in the garden but there were no sign of Dong Dong and Little Xia.

As she turned back, she bumped into someone who was tall and strong and nearly hurt her forehead.

“Ouch!”

“I’m sorry!”

The two of them spoke at the same time.

But when they saw each other clearly, they both screamed out of joy again.

“Baozhu?”

“A’biao?”

A’biao used to be the personal bodyguard of the Sixth King and was also a general. When Xiao Baoshan went to the south to fight the war, he was responsible for escorting Baozhu to Baoning City.

The two of them spent more than a week together. Since Xiao Baoshan had ordered him to keep his sister safe, he didn’t dare to neglect and was very considerate and took great care of her.

At that time, Xiao Baozhu also had a good feeling for A’biao. However, she had just suffered from a breakup and didn’t quite trust men so she only regarded A’biao as a friend of her brother, a good and responsible guard.

The two of them had been polite to each other. When they reached Baoning City, Xiao Baozhu met her family and since then they barely saw each other.

And now, they actually met again in Capital City.

A’biao was already about thirty years old and has been following the Sixth King during the war. He was a brave man in war and was rewarded multiple times. After the Sixth King passed away, A’biao was transferred to the Imperial Guards and became a deputy commander.

Therefore, A’biao had an outstanding air and he looked a bit like the general, Xiao Baoshan.

As for Xiao Baozhu, after these days, she was now all dressed up and seemed pretty, unlike the poor little girl from before. Her eyes were lively and she was composed, not anxious about anything. There was even a hint of stubbornness and tenacity in her.

The two of them looked at each other, first stunned, then laughed.

A’biao said, “I didn’t expect to meet you here. How have you been all these years?”

Xiao Baozhu said, “I have been fine. I was in the tribe but then I came to the Capital City. What about you?”

“I have been fine too.” A’biao asked again, “Are you used to living in the Capital City?”

“I wasn’t at first but then I got used to it.” Xiao Baozhu smiled and asked, “What about you? You used to serve the Sixth King. Before the Sixth King went to Baoning City, you were born in the Capital City, right?”

A’biao nodded, “Yes, I was born in the Sixth King’s mansion since I was a kid, but with my parents gone, I have been following the Sixth King since I was little.”

“So, when you came back to the Capital City, you must be very used to it, as if you are coming back to home.”

“That’s true.”

They contined to chat.

Xiao Baozhu was talking so happily with A’biao that she totally forgot about the two nephews.

It wasn’t until Li Hongmei found the two grandchildren and led them side by side to look for Xiao Baozhu did she found out that Xiao Baozhu was in a joyful conversation to a man.

Li Hongmei also thought that this man looked familiar but she couldn’t recall where she had seen him before.

She didn’t want to interrupt Xiao Baozhu, but Dong Dong called out at this moment, “Aunt Baozhu!”

Only then did Xiao Baozhu came to realize that she had been chatting with A’biao for a long time and that her original goal was to find the children.

Now that Li Hongmei saw her, she felt embarrassed to carry on the conversation with A’biao.

The Capital City was different from their little county. Xiao Baozhu was aware of the rules and the ladies from big families were not allowed to interact with men from outside.

Although Xiao Baoshan didn’t mention these rules, Baozhu didn’t want her behavior become the laughing stock of her brother among his colleagues in the Capital City.

Nevertheless, she was reluctant to part with him, so she said to A’biao, “My mother is here and I have to go back now.”

She did not expect that A’biao was not a punctilious person and besides, A’biao and Li Hongmei had met before so it was reasonable that he should go and say hello after not seeing each other for so long.

A’biao went ahead and bowed to Li Hongmei, “How are you, Old Mrs. Qian.”

“You are…” Li Hongmei couldn’t recognize this person standing in front of her.

A’biao didn’t mind at all and replied, “I’m a A’biao. I escorted Baozhu to Baoning City when I was in Dinghe.”

“Oh…” It dawned on Li Hongmei, “It’s you. No wonder you look so familiar.”

Li Hongmei saw that A’biao was so handsome and have an outstanding air to himself, as a result, she grew very fond of him, so she continued to ask a few more questions, such as what position he was in now, where he was living and whether he has married yet.

Xiao Baozhu realized that if Li Hongmei continued, it would cause  misunderstandings. Therefore, she quickly stopped her mother and said, “Mom, don’t ask so many questions. You are being impolite.”

Only then did Li Hongmei realize she had asked too much, so she ended reluctantly, “A’biao, you have helped Baozhu before. Come and visit us in the house when you have time. We have delicious food at our place.”

A’biao nodded and said, “Sure, I will.”

……

When they returned to the table, the banquet had already started. Everyone sat back in their seats and only chat with the people from the same table.

After Li Hongmei and the others came back, the two children jumped into Ye Xiaoxian’s arms while Li Hongmei and Xiao Baozhu sat next to them.

Ye Xiaoxian blamed the two children, “Where did you go? Didn’t Mother tell you that you’re not allowed to run around when you’re at someone else’s house?”

Dong Dong said, “My sister wanted to catch butterflies.”

Little Xia said, “We only caught the butterfly later. It was my brother who wanted to play hide-and-seek.”

Ye Xiaoxian was rendered speechless and she scolded them, “No matter where you go in the future, you have to tell Mother before you go. Look, you got Grandmother and aunt looking for you everywhere. They are also very tired.”

The two children were understanding and said, “Okay, we know now, Mother.”

“You know now but you will forget about it later!” Ye Xiaoxian knew these two children too well.

She took a closer look at Li Hongmei and Xiao Baozhu and she found that they seemed to be very delighted and that there was no sign of impatience at all, as if they had encountered something blissful.

Especially Xiao Baozhu who was still smiling when she ate.

Ye Xiaoxian sensed something had happened.

“Mom, did you meet anyone just now?” Ye Xiaoxian asked Li Hongmei.

Li Hongmei smiled and said, “We met A’biao.”

“A’biao?”

“The guard who escorted Baozhu to Baoning City from the past?” Li Hongmei saw that there were too many people around so she said, “Let’s not do it here. I’ll explain to you when we got home.”