Chapter 262 — Entering the Palace
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
This refers to the small garden. The small garden of Yizhi Hall covered some five or six mu, encircled by covered walkways, shaded by green trees. In the middle were two connected lakes, one large and one small; the large one like a bright full moon, the small one like a crescent. In the large lake stood an octagonal glazed pavilion, and beside the small lake a waterside pavilion, flanked on either side by two camphor trees thick enough to be encircled by both arms. It was a scene straight out of a Jiangnan garden, thoroughly elegant and secluded.
Dou Yan pursed her lips and smiled, asking Song Yan, "Where would be best to put up a flower shed?"
Since this was the heir's residence, the layout tended toward the severe and lacked a measure of grace, unlike the garden behind the main house of the Duke of Ying's estate with its small Buddhist shrine—that was the Duchess of Ying's residence, and it had not only a greenhouse but also rockeries built of Taihu stone, a nine-turn bridge of white marble, and a stage built right against the lake, every detail exquisite.
Song Yan pointed to a bed of peonies beside the waterside pavilion. "How about there?"
Dou Yan looked carefully. Only there could a shed be built without ruining the view before them. This was certainly not something he had thought up on the spot; he must have come to look long ago and made up his mind.
When a man of cold and solitary pride shows thoughtfulness and tenderness, it moves one all the more.
"Better not touch that bed of peonies," said Dou Zhiwei, a note of delight creeping into her voice before she knew it. "Come next spring, I'll interplant some tree peonies and camellias among them, and then we'll have flowers blooming all four seasons without fail. It would be a shame to build a shed there."
Song Yan said, vexed, "Then where should it go?"
Only now did he feel that Yizhi Hall was a little small.
Dou Xin said, "Isn't there a little back room behind the kitchen? I was thinking we might as well turn that back room into the flower shed. If we grow water radishes and little cucumbers, we can send them straight to the kitchen and save ourselves the trip all the way out here to pick them." She was joking.
Song Sui thought it over seriously, then laughed. "That's a good idea. Then that's what we'll do!" He called out loudly for Chen He and told him to buy stone and find craftsmen, and to ask around where seedlings of water radish and little cucumber might be sold, adding, "A little more expensive is no matter, so long as we can catch this season's planting."
To Chen He, this was simply making work where there was none.
Water radishes at five hundred coppers a basket, little cucumbers at a hundred and fifty a basket—whenever they wanted some, they had only to send word and the melon growers over at Fengtai would deliver them. Why go to the trouble of building a shed and hunting up seeds? And who knew whether anything would even grow... They would probably have to bring in a few maidservants just to tend the shed...
But he still answered "Yes, sir" respectfully and withdrew.
Song Ji consulted with Dou Yan. "What do you say we buy a house at Shichahai too? You could go and stay there every few days or so." That way they could set up a larger flower shed over there.