Dreaming With My Dragon Lover

"Childe Yuan, look!"

As he turned around, Qiuchen seemed to have found a treasure in a nearby stall and eagerly pulled Yuan Ge over. Yuan Ge felt that his hands were as cold as ever, but his grip was incredibly strong. He followed him over and found that it was a fruit stall selling specialty fruits from the surrounding areas of Beijing, what with the pears from Mentougou, the persimmons from Fangshan, the apples from Changping and the white peaches from Pinggu …

"Oh, so you like these types of fruits. No wonder you didn't take any of those imported fruits when we were in the supermarket earlier."

Rong Qiuchen reached out and picked up a pear, simply because the box had the image of the Empress Dowager Cixi printed on it.

When the stall owner saw how carefully he was examining it, he came forward and explained, "This is a pear that even the Old Buddha loved to eat, so it's also called Buddha See Hei. Young man, it's Spring Festival time, why not buy some to try at home?"

He said as he picked up a large persimmon, "If these fruits were in the Ming and Qing dynasties, they would have been chosen as a tribute to the court!"

Yuan Ge saw that all the fruits on the stall were really fresh, so he picked a few of each kind, and also stopped by another stall to get a few pounds of chestnuts from Huairou.

"This chestnut is very famous.. According to the historical records, the Old Buddha often ate small buns made with chestnut flour for her health. When the recipe leaked out the palace walls, it became a famous Beijing specialty snack. Aren't you a fan of Cixi, you must like this snack?"

"Yes, everyone in the Jingyu Troupe, from the second master to the youngest brother, all loved to eat sugar fried chestnuts. Even when we bought a lot for the New Year, there never seemed to be enough for everyone!"

A heartfelt smile appeared on Rong Qiuchen's face as he remembered the past. Yuan Ge could not help but feel pleased with himself that he had made him happy. It seemed that he had become very good at gauging the boy's likes and dislikes.

The two wandered around the market for half a day and found "beasts in the mountains, birds in the clouds, cattle and sheep on the ground, and fish in the sea" - basically, everything they could think of. The stalls were filled with all sorts of seasonal products and were full of the cheerful atmosphere of the New Year.

Yuan Ge felt as if he was leading a big, strong and curious dog who was looking at the wide array of pork, beef, mutton, chicken, duck and goose, all kinds of sausages, hams, dried fish and smoked fish at the meat stalls. His eyes were like those of a man who had been imprisoned for a long time and had finally been released, and excitement was not a strong enough word to describe his eagerness.

"Just to be clear, you can only buy what you can make. Don't count on me, I can only make supermarket food." Yuan Ge was fearful of the live animals at the market, but Rong Qiuchen was oblivious to his fear, pointing to the poultry in the cage and saying, "Childe Yuan, it's best to have live poultry for the New Year, why don't we get a fat goose?"

"A live goose? Who is going to kill it? You?"

Looking at the big robust goose in the cage, for some reason, Yuan Ge's mind suddenly conjured up a scene of the boy strangling the goose by the neck and bleeding it inside the Jacuzzi.

"Childe Yuan is afraid to hold a knife? I'm happy to do it for you."

Seeing Rong Qiuchen's assured look, Yuan Ge shivered, finding the whole thing unimaginable and firmly rejecting the idea, "Don't be ridiculous! Do you think my kitchen is a place where I will let you kill a live goose?"

But Rong Qiuchen was puzzled with Yuan Ge's attitude, and in the end Yuan Ge bought a roast duck and a salted goose as a compromise.

"This stall sells traditional venison jerky, do you want to get some to try?"

"Although venison is an auspicious thing and good to have during the Spring Festival, the Rong family had never eaten it because it is homophonic with 'Lu'. Childe Yuan, you'd better get some air-dried beef, it tastes so much better."

This explanation reminded Yuan Ge of the name of Rong Lu, the head of the Rong family. This Rong Qiu Chen had really taken his 'cosplay' to the extreme, even taking into account the "naming taboo"[1]! If not for the lack of scientific basis, he really should have believed that the "Rong Qiuchen" in front of him was the same character in his script. Yuan Ge thought to himself.

And the boy next to him, who had just finished selecting many fresh seasonal vegetables, started looking around again and asked, "Childe Yuan, why can't I find a stall selling fireworks in this huge market?"

"Now fireworks are not allowed within the Fifth Ring Road, so there are fewer people selling them. In a few years' time, I'm afraid they could disappear from our daily lives altogether."

Rong Qiuchen's eyes were full of regret as he said despondently, "Without fireworks, wouldn't the New Year celebration be lacking in energy and liveliness? In the past, the brothers of the Jinyu Troupe all set off firecrackers together... That scene is still vivid in my mind..."

Yuan Ge couldn't bear to hear him talk about the joy he once felt in the opera troupe as Rong Qing in his script, and then showing a lonely and despondent look, so he led him to a stall selling electronic firecrackers and said, "You don't have to be so disappointed. Look, we can use electronic ones instead. And let's get some sparklers to set off on the rooftop, it'll be quite atmospheric."

Rong Qiuchen was quite grateful to Yuan Ge for his thoughtfulness. Seeing that the electronic firecrackers were indeed very similar in appearance to traditional firecrackers, and that all the sound and light effects were also very similar after the stall owner's demonstration, he nodded and readily accepted this substitution.

It was already dark when the two of them finally returned to the car laden with shopping bags. These shopping bags, plus the things they had bought at the supermarket earlier, actually filled the large boot and back seat of Yuan Ge's car to the brim.

When they got home, it took them over an hour to finally sort through the various items and store them in the fridge, pantry and other places. Looking at the never-before-seen full fridge and cupboards, Yuan Ge couldn't help but exclaim, "It looks like we're really going to have a proper Chinese New Year this time."

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[1] A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China. Not respecting the appropriate naming taboos was considered a sign of lacking education and respect, and brought shame both to the offender and the offended person.

"Lu" was the name of Rong Lu, who was the head of the House of Rong. As venison is a homophone for "Lu", the Rong family did not eat venison in accordance with the naming taboo.