Scallion noodles and food stalls
Hua Zhao ran away from home and her whereabouts were unknown. Cheng Xingfei and Sister P nearly overturned the building looking for her.
They absolutely couldn’t tell the police about this. Well, how could they explain it to them? — They lost the famous actress “Cheng Xingfei”? What a joke!
They could only rely on themselves.
They went to the History Museum first, guessing that Hua Zhao might’ve returned there.
Cheng Xingfei bought a lot of gifts, carrying large and small bags over with her agent to the History Museum. They looked for the night guards under the guise of coming to “apologize” and express “thanks.”
Although the incident from before was finally confirmed to be a mistake and had no connection with Cheng Xingfei, she came to apologize. It seemed there was a hidden motive.
She stood in the pavilion, seeming like a carefree magnolia blooming in the quiet night. Her movements carried an indescribable charm.
The night-shift guards had never seen a star from so close before, and several young men immediately blushed up to their thick necks in shyness. When Cheng Xingfei smiled at them, they nearly didn’t even know what day it was.1
Cheng Xingfei spoke beautifully: “Your jobs are quite wonderful. Before you retired from the military you defended the country, and after you retired you’re defending the country’s history and culture. Last time, I came here in a hurry and wasn’t able to thank you personally. This time I’m troubling you in the middle of the night, but I hope that you won’t be offended.”
“No no no no no, we aren’t offended.”
Cheng Xingfei looked left and right but didn’t see the scarred evil spirit. Pretending to be casual, she asked, “What about your Captain Zhuo? I don’t see him here?”
A night guard replied, “Captain Zhuo doesn’t have a shift today. Are you looking for him?”
Cheng Xingfei shook her head. What would I look for that evil spirit for? To see if he’s been exorcised?
Cheng Xingfei and the night guards exchanged a few more words, and finally bid farewell to them after confirming that Hua Zhao hadn’t broken into the History Museum again.
She and Sister P returned to the nanny car, both weighed down by their thoughts.
If Hua Zhao wasn’t at the History Museum, then where else would the Princess go?
Cheng Xingfei’s complexion wasn’t good because of her fever. And even after taking some medicine, she still wasn’t able to recover. She leaned on the back of the seat, unable to suppress a severe headache but still analyzing, “I have a feeling that Hua Zhao probably didn’t go far, she’s probably still near the neighborhood.”
Sister P said, “Does that count as a connection of your minds?”
Cheng Xingfei replied, “Of course we’re connected. We look so similar and even the transmigration happened, so there’s nothing strange about a connection of the soul, either.”
Sister P could only tell the driver to turn around and go back.
Cheng Xingfei lived very close to the city center on the top floor of a certain upscale building that was an oasis of calmness within the chaos of the day, when the neighborhood was quite lively; there were several office buildings around it. Going out a bit further, there was simply an ordinary residential area.
Activating her sixth sense, Cheng Xingfei surmised, “Hua Zhao was an unfettered person to begin with, but she could only stay at home everyday even after being here for so long after transmigrating. So when she learned the truth about the Hua Dynasty’s death, she most likely felt very frustrated. So, when she ran away, her main purpose was probably to relax.”
“Relax?” Sister P suspiciously said, “Where would she go to relax so late at night?”
Cheng Xingfei: “This is the modern era, not ancient times. The longer the night, the more lively it gets. There’s the night market, square dancing, and the Bar Street — no matter what it is, these things are all unusual enough for Hua Zhao… Let’s search for all of the busy places in the neighborhood in a five li radius. I don’t believe we can’t find her!”
……
Cheng Xingfei truly guessed correctly. Right now, Hua Zhao was indeed at the night market.
Hua Zhao went through her pockets and actually found 10 yuan in there. Although 10 yuan wasn’t much, it was enough to fill up her empty, rumbling stomach.
The most important thing was that she could honorably go into the Shaxian Delicacies stall and sit down to watch “Princess Hua Zhao”!
The Shaxian Delicacies stall had a high turnover rate with many diners coming and going. She was dressed in a low-key fashion and deliberately avoided others, so no one noticed that this small restaurant that could only hold six tables was hiding a “trending female star.”
She lowered the brim of her hat and stared at the TV in curiosity.
The more she watched, the more bewildered she became. As it turned out, this drama was one that narrated the history of the Hua Dynasty. And the clothes, accessories, and tone of voice were actually all nearly the same as the true Hua Dynasty!
Even the female makeup was the “Huadian makeup” that had been extremely popular during the Hua Dynasty — a touch of red between the eyebrows that further set off the appeal of those concubines.
Hua Zhao couldn’t help but think: Other than herself, were there other people who had transmigrated over from the Hua Dynasty?
But on closer inspection, she discovered that this drama also had many absurd points. While she hadn’t understood the affairs of the imperial court, she was clearer on the state of affairs within the imperial palace more than anyone else. Which Concubine Jing, Concubine Xian, Concubine Shu — she’d never heard of those people; and which three imperial younger sisters had broken a jade cup while fighting for favor; which Fifth Prince had shot a rabbit during the spring hunt — they were all completely nonsensical.
Hua Zhao had no way of knowing that from the beginning of this drama’s filming, the producer had invited a history professor to be their consultant, which was why the costumes, makeup, and props could be replicated in such a way. However, when it came to plot, they really couldn’t follow it according to the dead-dry history books. Of course, they had use a “bold imagination” and “reasonable fabrications” to create some waves and conflicts.
This was Hua Zhao’s first time watching a drama. On one hand, she couldn’t help but be dissatisfied with it, but at the same time, she eagerly continued watching.
“Princess Hua Zhao” extended across 40 episodes. The stall owner hadn’t started playing it from the beginning, so the episodes Hua Zhao was watching were exactly Episodes 7 and 8.
During this time, the Princess Hua Zhao within the drama was still a young girl of 12 years old. She was young and ignorant, and although she had some willfulness, she was still very lovable.
Hua Zhao nitpicked within her head: Bengong looked much better than this girl at 12 years old.
At the end of Episode 8, the child-Princess Hua Zhao grew up and became a big girl of 16 years old.
The director had employed a unique technique with the scene, connecting time together with space: the little 12-year-old Hua Zhao was in the imperial flower garden playing a lively hide-and-seek with the palace ladies; she ran down the long covered walkway, her footsteps crisp, laughing brightly. An apricot tree was planted at the end of the long gallery; the spring breeze scattered the apricot flowers off the branches, just like endless snowflakes that fluttered toward the young princess.
The camera moved away from the young princess’s figure and rose to whirl around the apricot tree. When it returned to beneath the tree, the figure had already become a graceful young woman!
Willow-leaf eyebrows, autumn-water eyes, a blossoming-lotus face, and royal and imperial bones. There was a touch of a gold-leaf huadian between her eyebrows, and there were two pink dimples on the sides of her lips.
The girl turned a full smile at the camera. It was a smile enough to outshine all of the beautiful flowers within the entire garden.
The maidservant next to her kneeled and said respectfully, “Your Highness, Princess.”
Outside the TV, the real ~Her Highness, Princess~ Hua Zhao blinked in shock. The scallion noodles in her hands no longer smelled as appetizing.
How could that be? Why did she, herself, appear in the TV?
No, no, no, the person in the TV wasn’t her at all — it was Cheng Xingfei!
Hua Zhao was dumbstruck. She didn’t know whether to be affected by the fact that Cheng Xingfei was an actress, or that Cheng Xingfei had actually performed her own self!
In the stall, many diners stopped moving their chopsticks to look up at the TV screen hung on the wall.
In fact, the drama “Princess Hua Zhao” was so popular that even though it already finished broadcasting its first round, the popularity surrounding it had not yet faded.
Hua Zhao sat in the corner, listening to those around her compliment the drama and praise Cheng Xingfei. For some reason, she also felt somewhat proud about it.
Hua Zhao couldn’t keep herself from touching her face and thinking, It’s only right that everyone likes this face!
She still remembered, when she was 16, people from the Eastern Seas traveled to visit them. Hua Zhao performed a dance for them during the palace banquet, stunning everyone present.
The Eastern Seas people had praised her: “Princess Hua Zhao truly is the treasure of the Hua Dynasty.”
It would have been so nice if there were cameras back then, to record her graceful dancing!
Hua Zhao was a child at heart. Several hours earlier, she had been inconsolably heartbroken over the demise of the Hua Dynasty and her Father Emperor; now, after she’d seen food and fun things, her attention immediately turned elsewhere.
She seemed to be rooted in place, sitting inside the stall. Spellbound, she watched the drama broadcasting on the TV. From the perspective of an ancient person who had never before experienced an information explosion; although this drama held many inexplicable and absurd plot points, it was enough to draw her in!
Hua Zhao watched on and on. Even when the scallion noodles in front of her had already turned cold and the diners in the stall were all gone, she still had not left.
She didn’t want to go, but the stall eventually had to close.
The stall owner came over to push her multiple times, so the thin-skinned Hua Zhao could only throw away her half-eaten noodles and her not-yet-finished TV drama and leave, looking back every few steps.
After she left, the stall owner stood at the entrance, looking in the direction she had gone in.
The boss lady asked, “What are you looking at? Aren’t you going to go wash the dishes?”
The boss hesitated before replying, “Wife, that girl from just now looks like Princess Hua Zhao.” As he spoke, he turned back to look at the TV screen behind him.
On the screen, Princess Hua Zhao’s eyes glimmered, extremely bright and beautiful.
And although the girl who had just rounded the corner was wearing a baseball cap that covered most of her face, he’d caught a fleeting glimpse while she was standing up. She looked extremely like the Princess who would only appear on TV!
“You haven’t been stealing wine from the kitchen again, have you?” The boss lady suspiciously moved over to smell him. “Why would you say something like that? Princess Hua Zhao is on the TV, but do you think that a star would come over to a small stall like ours to eat scallion noodles?”
“You’re right.” The boss nodded and closed the iron security gate. “She took half a day to pull out only 10 yuan and couldn’t even bear to add on a fried egg. How could she be a star?!”
……
It was 2 in the morning. The people in the night market were gradually fading away. The clerk at the street food stall was yawning listlessly as he bent over to sweep up all of the peanut shells, bamboo skewers, and beer bottle caps on the ground. Once in a while, stray dogs and cats would leap out from corners and pick up the trash that had fallen on the ground.
Hua Zhao walked on the road alone, avoiding the dirty spots beneath her feet. She began to contemplate where to go next.
During this time, Cheng Xingfei and Pee momo must have returned home by now, right? When they saw that she wasn’t at home, they would definitely be furious.
From childhood til she had grown up, Hua Zhao had always behaved without consideration of the consequences. She often acted based on the excitement of the moment; as for who would tidy up the situation after her later on… Ai, she was a princess. Naturally there would be people who would go to great lengths for her.
Hua Zhao had based her bold and tyrannical 20 years on this type of “of course there will be someone who helps me tidy up the mess.” But right here and right now, this road was impossible.
She wanted to run away from home. And then she hadn’t even left behind a single note, running away from Cheng Xingfei’s house without turning back.
But what next?
She had no money and no place to go. She only had the same face as Cheng Xingfei, as well as the complicated life experience of transmigrating.
What should she do from now on?
She created a large issue but did not have the ability to resolve it.
Hua Zhao anxiously spun around in circles — like, seemingly, as if, probably… making a U-turn and going back to find Cheng Xingfei, was that the only choice she had right now?
But Hua Zhao was such a proud person. If she was to lower her head and admit that she shouldn’t have run away from home, what would happen to her face?
While she was uncertainly trying to make a decision, she heard two greasy voices coming from the food stall nearby.
“Fangfang, Fangfang… Why did you drink so much by yourself? Come, brother will take you back.”
“Fangfang, I’m here, come with brother!”
Those two male voices were extremely greasy, as if there was some thick phlegm stuck in their throats. When they spoke, they were smiling widely; as soon as they spoke she could tell they were oily characters.
Hua Zhao frowned and instinctively looked over.
Right now, it was already 2 am. The customers at the street stall had nearly all gone; only the figure of a customer at a small table in the corner was left.
It was a young girl wearing a cool off-the-shoulder top and jeans, dizzily lying on the table in a muddle. There were several plates of leftover edamame, peanuts, and skewers on the table in front of her; several beer bottles were scattered on the ground.
After Hua Zhao had transmigrated, the thing that most astonished her was this — that women could wear such few clothes! And they could drink! There weren’t any sort of rules for female virtue, and the world a thousand years later could be this free.
Looking at the number of beer bottles on the ground, that girl seemed to be drowning her sorrows through alcohol. But she didn’t have a high drinking capacity, thus becoming drunk after a few bottles of alcohol.
And the two men standing by her side were her “brothers” who had rushed over to pick her up.
Of the two brothers, one was short and fat, and the other was tall and thin; one was pulling her wrist, and the other had his arm around her waist; and they both dragged the drunk girl up from the small table.
The girl had drunk herself into a pool of ooze. With her eyes closed and her brows drawn together, her limbs feebly swayed about as she muttered, “No, no.”
The two men saw her making trouble and could only persuade, “Alright, alright. You’ve grown up now, drinking like this when you meet with just a little trouble. Let’s go, brother will take you back.”
From the looks of it, this girl had two brothers who loved her very much.
At this time, the stall clerk who was sweeping garbage up saw this and immediately said, “Are you her brothers? If you are, come up and pay! She ran over here to eat and drink alone, so you better not be thinking about dine-and-dashing!”
The two men froze. Short-and-Fat exchanged a glance with Tall-and-Thin, then mumbled, “You didn’t pay the bill?”
Tall-and-Thin winked.
Short-and-Fat curled his lip, pulled out his wallet, and went over to the clerk. “How much?”
While the short and fat man was paying, the tall and thin man wrapped his arm firmly around the girls’ waist. The girl had drunk until she couldn’t even stand properly, but for some reason, she didn’t seem to want to get near the man. Both of her hands kept on pushing away the tall and thin man’s chest, incoherently trying to say something.
After the short and fat man finished paying the bill, he hurried back. Flanking her sides, they held up the girl and dragged her to a nearby alley.
“Alright, Fangfang, don’t get mad.” “Fangfang, brother will take you back home.”
Faintly, the wind blew over the girl’s drunken words— “…I don’t know you, my name isn’t Fangfang…”
When Hua Zhao, who had been distracted in place looking at them, heard these words, she froze for a moment. Then, she abruptly realized something!
She stomped her foot and immediately rushed to chase the three people into the alley.
previous chapter | contents page | next chapter
1 This phrase is usually used to refer to an auspicious day.
***
hello, PFE is back with another update after, well, nearly a month. oops.
lilypad translations 