The Joy of Making Dumplings

The Palace of Gathered Excellence.

Wrapped in a white sable cloak, Consort Ning, née Han, quietly gazed at the winter plum blossoms in the corner of the courtyard. She sighed and slowly recited, "Year after year amid the snow, I tucked plum blossoms in my hair and drank till drunk. I crushed the blossoms, finding no delight, earning only clear tears upon my robes. This year, at the ends of the earth, my thinning temples have turned gray..."

"Your Highness, it's cold and windy outside. You should go back inside."

The maid beside her spoke with concern.

Consort Ning shook her head slightly, raised a hand, and pointed at the plum blossoms. "Even the plum blossoms have their season to bloom. But what of me?"

From Taizu's death in the fifth month to the change of era to Jianwen, more than half a year had passed. She could count the times she had seen the emperor on one hand. He had never spent the night at the Palace of Gathered Excellence-he had not even visited.

Her heart had turned to ashes, neglected and cold as snow.

"Your Highness Consort Ning, His Majesty requests your presence."

A eunuch hurried over.

Consort Ning's eyes lit up. She hastily straightened her robes and took two quick steps forward. "Where is His Majesty?"

"In the Directorate of Imperial Meals, Your Highness."

The eunuch answered respectfully.

"The Directorate of Imperial Meals..."

Consort Ning's expression grew strained. After all, the Directorate of Imperial Meals was a place for eating. No other sort of story could unfold there.

"Please inform His Majesty that I am unwell today and will not be going."

Consort Ning raised a hand to her brow and spoke weakly.

The eunuch glanced at her, bowed, and withdrew.

Once he had gone, the maid beside her asked anxiously, "Your Highness, His Majesty summoned you. Why would you..."

Consort Ning glanced at the maid, her delicate brows knitting slightly. "What difference would going make?" she asked bitterly.

Deep within these palace courtyards, a woman without the emperor's favor was like wild grass by the roadside. No one cared whether she withered or flourished; no one paused for her life or death.

What difference would seeing him make? They would merely meet once, brush past each other, and have nothing more to do with one another.

He would not ask whether she was warm or cold, nor share moonlit nights and gentle breezes with her. He had given all his love to the Empress. She could only remain in the Palace of Gathered Excellence as her youthful beauty quietly faded, through one spring and autumn, then another winter and summer.

The Directorate of Imperial Meals.

Watching Ma Enhui pour water into the flour, Zhu Yunwen kept wanting to laugh.

First there was too much water, so she added flour. Then there was too much flour, so she added water again. Before long, even the huge basin could barely hold it all.

Flustered, Ma Enhui did not dare look at Zhu Yunwen. Her face red, she pounded the dough with her little fists. She had just declared that she could certainly knead the dough properly.

"Oh dear, Empress, isn't this basin a little small?"

Suppressing a laugh, Zhu Yunwen leaned close to Ma Enhui and spoke.

Fine beads of sweat covered Ma Enhui's brow. She huffed, refusing to admit defeat. "Exactly! Why did the eunuchs make such a tiny basin? How is anyone supposed to knead dough in this?"

The staff of the Directorate of Imperial Meals nearly fainted at her words.

Your Majesty, any bigger and this basin would be a vat...

"How about we divide it among three basins? Consort Ning and Consort Xian might come too."

Zhu Yunwen offered the suggestion.

Ma Enhui blushed even harder and nodded repeatedly. With Zhu Yunwen's help, she divided the dough into three portions.

"Greetings, Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress."

After paying her respects, Consort Xian, née Zhang, came over. She was not surprised to see the emperor and empress wearing aprons. The couple had always been rather unrestrained in the Inner Palace and paid little heed to court etiquette.

Ma Enhui had originally taken etiquette very seriously, but somehow the emperor had led her astray.

Truly, those who drew near vermilion turned red, and those who drew near the emperor grew unruly.

"Consort Xian, you're here. Perfect, come help-er, let the Empress teach you how to knead dough..." Feeling Ma Enhui's reproachful gaze, Zhu Yunwen hurriedly changed his words.

Consort Xian giggled, took an apron from her maid, and tied it around her waist. Washing her hands, she said, "Then Your Majesty must teach me well..."

"Come, little sister, knead this basin of dough first. I'll watch over you."

Ma Enhui knew Consort Xian was from Anhui and enjoyed flour-based foods, so she guessed that Consort Xian knew how to knead dough. She herself did not, but could not admit it. She could only learn on the spot.

Consort Xian was no fool. As she kneaded, she explained to Ma Enhui, "For the dough to have a good, firm texture, you need to knead it more, until the surface is smooth. Start in the middle, fold in both ends, then knead it over and over..."

Ma Enhui gave Consort Xian a grateful look and began tackling her own dough.

Zhu Yunwen was chopping meat with a cleaver in each hand when a eunuch approached and reported, "Consort Ning is unwell and will not be coming."

Gathering the minced meat together again with a cleaver, Zhu Yunwen asked the eunuch, "Unwell? Has she caught a chill? Has an imperial physician examined her?"

The eunuch hesitated. "I do not know. When I arrived, Consort Ning was admiring the plum blossoms."

Zhu Yunwen chuckled, then brought the cleaver down hard on the chopping board. He wiped his hands and said to Shuangxi, "Consort Ning has some grievances in her heart. Go invite her yourself."

Shuangxi acknowledged the order and hurried away.

Ma Enhui looked at Zhu Yunwen. "Consort Ning has always been very talented, though somewhat proud and aloof. Your Majesty must not take it to heart."

Zhu Yunwen picked up a brocade handkerchief from a palace maid's tray and wiped the sweat from Ma Enhui's brow. Smiling, he said, "I have neglected Consort Ning and Consort Xian. It's only right that they should show a little temper. Consort Ning is cool and pure as a plum blossom, and Consort Xian gentle as the moon. Both are exceptional women. But the affairs of Great Ming are so numerous and tangled that I seldom have the heart to attend to anything else. Consort Xian, do not blame me."

"Your Majesty puts the nation first. That is a blessing for all the people. How could I be a woman concerned only with private affections? I wish only that Your Majesty may be free of worries, and that Great Ming may soon welcome an age of prosperity."

Consort Xian bowed respectfully.

Zhu Yunwen helped her up and nodded slightly. "That age of prosperity will come. But what concerns me most right now is when you'll finish kneading the dough, so our family can share a reunion meal of dumplings."

"It will be ready shortly."

Consort Xian answered with a smile. Together with Ma Enhui, she finished kneading the dough, then placed it in the stove, where only a little residual fire remained.

Consort Ning came in the end.

As Consort Ning asked forgiveness, Zhu Yunwen continued chopping vegetables and said, "Today, there is no emperor here, no empress, and no consorts. There is only our family. Come, since you're late, Consort Ning, you must naturally shoulder a little more work. I'll leave rolling out the dough to you."

Consort Ning had never done farm work. One could even say she had never set foot in a kitchen.

Seeing that she could not roll out the dough and was sweating profusely, Zhu Yunwen helplessly sent her to wrap dumplings and took over the rolling himself.

Consort Xian was experienced, and her dumplings looked like crescent moons.

Ma Enhui's dumplings, on the other hand, looked like lumps no matter how he viewed them.

As for Consort Ning-good heavens, was she trying to burst the wrappers with all that meat filling?

When she could not seal them, she only knew to stretch the dough, never thinking to use a little less filling...

Ma Enhui and Consort Ning had been flustered, but when they saw the flour smeared on Zhu Yunwen's face, they burst out laughing.

Warmth and harmony filled the room, brimming with joy.

Zhu Yunwen loved reunions like this. With the whole family together over a meal of dumplings, no place was foreign, however far away. Looking at the smiling women before him, the surging tide of his memories finally became a distant shore to which he could never return.

He had to stop looking back and keep moving forward.

What would Great Ming's glorious age of prosperity look like?

Would my vast plans and blueprints become reality, little by little?

Could I cope with the endless uncertainties and problems?

Zhu Yunwen emerged from his thoughts and raised his cup. "I wish only that, a thousand years from now, those who come after us will say: the Han and Tang were, in the end, no match for Great Ming. That would be enough!"