"Because when the seedlings grow up, they become the rice that Yuanyuan loves to eat."
Wen Xincheng replied softly.
"Yuanyuan understands. Yuanyuan won't waste food."
The character "Xue" in Jiang Xuesui's name meant "auspicious snow for a bountiful year," and "Sui" meant "plentiful harvest."
Her father, Jiang Shaohua, came from a wealthy, noble family with generations of high-ranking officials, yet he had none of the spoiled habits of a rich youth. At sixteen, he passed the imperial exams and entered officialdom, rising step by step. Within just ten years, he became a third-rank Prefect of Yingtian. Because he cared about the people and considered benefiting them his duty, his official reputation was excellent—so excellent that the emperor favored and cherished him, regarding him as a trusted close minister.
Her mother, Wen Xincheng, came from a family of equal standing. She was beautiful and kind, pitying the poor and the weak—a rare, understanding flower in the world. Unfortunately, she had been frail since childhood, eating little but taking medicine three times a day. Fortunately, she was open-minded and insightful, knowing early that life and death were fated, and had a detached view of gain and loss, often saying, "Life has its limits; when I die, bury me."
Jiang Xuesui grew up bathed in her parents' deep love and expectations. She was more precocious than children of the same age, reciting poetry and writing effortlessly. Most importantly, she was healthy, gentle, and pure, with some endearing mischievousness—sometimes speaking naive, innocent words that could be sharp.
In the eyes of others, the Jiang family had a little girl who was the apple of her father's eye and the treasure of her mother's heart, showered with love and blessings, with boundless good fortune.
But there were also some gossips who focused on the fact that the main branch of the Jiang family only had one daughter. They tried to curry favor by offering concubines, but Jiang Shaohua always refused, often saying sarcastically: "Is it that the Jiang family ancestral hall only passes incense to males? Family affairs are naturally decided by my wife."
"And if the incense were to be cut, it would be my family's incense. Why are you idle people worrying about that?" If Wen Xincheng hadn't stopped him, he would have blurted out that sentence as well.
But the couple both believed that having Xuesui as their only daughter was enough—better than having a hundred sons.
When Jiang Shaohua finished his official business and stepped onto the field path, his daughter saw him and wanted to burrow into his arms.
"Daddy, pick me up! Daddy, pick me up! Yuanyuan wants Daddy to hold me!"
Jiang Xuesui stood on tiptoe, lifted her little face, raised both hands high, and looked at her father with eager, longing eyes.
Jiang Shaohua's heart melted at his daughter's soft voice, and he spoke in a gentle, hushed tone.
"Daddy is covered in mud and water—very dirty. He'll turn Yuanyuan into a dirty little kitten too."
Jiang Xuesui wasn't afraid of becoming a dirty kitten, but she understood her father's difficulty and stopped asking to be held. Instead, she waved her sleeves to wipe the mud off his robe.
Jiang Shaohua felt his eyes grow hot, and tears almost fell.
All the exhaustion and fatigue from the day were swept away by his daughter's heartwarming gesture.
Wen Xincheng also came over, holding an umbrella, and wiped her husband's face with a silk handkerchief.
"When I came over just now, I saw many children in this village in rags, truly pitiable. Just last month, my mother sent a hundred bolts of colorful brocade for Yuanyuan to make clothes. I consulted Yuanyuan, and she said we could exchange it for cotton cloth and give it to the children in the village."
"My wife is kind-hearted, and our Yuanyuan is a good baby, too."
Jiang Shaohua and Wen Xincheng exchanged a smile, then both looked at their daughter.
When Jiang Xuesui heard her father's praise, she covered her mouth with both hands and giggled softly, her delicate eyebrows curved, and her bright, clear lychee-like eyes also curved.
"Why is Yuanyuan laughing like a little lady?" Jiang Shaohua couldn't help but whisper to his wife.
Wen Xincheng replied quietly.
"A Qiao came with his eldest aunt back to Sujing to visit his maternal grandfather. This morning, he came to our house to pay respects and give gifts. At that time, Yuanyuan was playing coin-toss with the little maids under the eaves. The little maids let her win, and she laughed without restraint. A Qiao said Yuanyuan laughed like a goose, and Yuanyuan overheard him. Now, whenever Yuanyuan laughs, she does it like this."
"This eldest son of Brother's family—young as he is, his tongue is sharper than those censors in the Six Sections. But Brother and his wife are both honest and taciturn—how did they produce a child like A Qiao, who only resembles them in appearance?"
Jiang Shaohua had liked his daughter's previous uninhibited laughter, even if it did sound like a goose honking—it didn't detract from her cuteness.
"That boy A Qiao carries too many burdens. At only six, he passed the county exam and became a scholar-official. He studies too hard and hasn't enjoyed the happiness a child should have." Wen Xincheng showed a look of pity.
"Yuanyuan has heard many people say that Brother A Qiao is the most promising young master in our maternal family." Although Jiang Xuesui didn't understand what "most promising" meant, she knew it was a word of praise. "Yuanyuan wants to become the most promising young lady in our family."
Wen Xincheng patted her daughter's head. "Our Yuanyuan should become the freest, happiest, and most carefree young lady in the family."
Jiang Xuesui scratched her head, said "Ah," and then counted on her fingers.
"That's four 'most's. Yuanyuan will be so tired, I'll die of exhaustion."
Jiang Shaohua couldn't help laughing.
"Then Yuanyuan just be the young lady who loves Daddy and Mommy the most in the family—won't that be less tiring?"
Jiang Xuesui smiled brightly. "Yuanyuan is already the young lady who loves Daddy and Mommy the most in the family! Yuanyuan is amazing—I have one 'most'!"
"There's one more 'most'! After dinner, Yuanyuan can eat three bowls of the Honey-Baked Crisp Pastry that Mommy makes. Daddy can only eat one bowl. Yuanyuan is the one in the family who most appreciates Mommy's Honey-Baked Crisp Pastry." Wen Xincheng smiled gently.
"Yuanyuan is the young lady most loved by Daddy and Mommy in the family. Yuanyuan is the most obedient and well-behaved young lady in the family. Yuanyuan is the prettiest and cutest young lady in the family..." Jiang Shaohua added several more "most"s.
Jiang Xuesui couldn't count them with all ten fingers, so she wanted to take off her socks and count her toes. Fortunately, her parents lent her their fingers to count.
"Yuanyuan has twenty-nine 'most's! Daddy, Mommy, Yuanyuan is so happy today. I'll treat you to dinner at Sui Garden."
"That will cost Yuanyuan a lot of money." Wen Xincheng thought of another "most." "Mommy almost forgot—Yuanyuan is the most generous young lady in the family."
Jiang Shaohua also thought of a "most" and was about to say it when his daughter spoke.
"Enough! Yuanyuan has thirty 'most's! If there's one more, Yuanyuan won't know whose fingers to borrow for counting." Jiang Xuesui looked a bit troubled.
To avoid adding to his daughter's worries, Jiang Shaohua didn't say that "Yuanyuan is the young lady most easily satisfied in the family."
After returning home to bathe and change clothes, Jiang Shaohua carried his daughter and took his wife to Sui Garden for lunch.
Following his wife and daughter's preferences and according to their appetites, Jiang Shaohua ordered a table of delicacies.
Jiang Xuesui sat between her parents, attended by her wet nurse Hailan.
Hailan picked up a bite of spinach and put it into the bowl Jiang Xuesui was holding.
Jiang Xuesui frowned. "No. Yuanyuan doesn't eat greens. Yuanyuan is a big tiger. Big tigers only eat meat."
Hailan tried to scare her little mistress.
"Miss Suijie'er, children who don't eat greens will be taken away by the big gray wolf."
"Why?" Jiang Xuesui tilted her head to look at Hailan.
Hailan: "Because children who don't eat greens smell like meat, and the big gray wolf loves that. But children who eat greens grow strong and can punch the big gray wolf away with one fist, so the big gray wolf is most afraid of children who eat greens."
Jiang Xuesui still picked the spinach from her bowl and placed it into her father's bowl.
"Daddy worked hard today. Daddy should eat more spinach, grow strong, and protect Yuanyuan. Yuanyuan has a Daddy who eats greens, so Yuanyuan isn't afraid of the big gray wolf."
Hailan sighed helplessly to Wen Xincheng. "Madam, this servant's brain just can't keep up with Miss Suijie'er's fresh mind."
Wen Xincheng whispered to Hailan: "It's all right. When we get home, we'll give Yuanyuan a few pancake snacks mixed with vegetable juice. That's the same. You've worked hard to make Yuanyuan eat greens."
Meanwhile, Jiang Shaohua was so moved that his daughter had picked food for him, and her words had completely enchanted him. He diligently peeled a plate of jade-white, tender shrimp and fed them to his daughter by hand.
Jiang Xuesui was full and clamored to go to the street to buy sugar-coated hawthorn sticks.
Jiang Shaohua ordered his close servant Zhang San to carry his daughter to the street, followed by seven or eight maids and nannies.
But it turned out that Zhang San was a gambler who owed a huge debt he couldn't pay. Desperate, he had designs on the little mistress.
After finding a vendor selling sugar-coated hawthorn sticks, Zhang San let Hailan hold the little mistress to choose them while he excused himself to go to the latrine, changed his clothes, put on a wolf-head mask, and conspired with a dozen bandits from Wolf Tooth Mountain to snatch the little mistress in broad daylight. They planned to extort the entire Jiang family fortune as ransom.
A panicked Hailan ran back to Sui Garden, sobbing, and told Jiang Shaohua and Wen Xincheng that their daughter had been taken off the street.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shaohua's spirit was shaken.
As for Wen Xincheng, when she heard that her daughter had been taken, she became too anxious, fell ill, and fainted in Jiang Shaohua's arms.
Author's Note:
① From "Fisherman's Song."