The increased security provided by the stone annex and Guo Fucheng's unwavering protection brought a temporary calm, allowing Li Wei to dedicate herself entirely to the Farmer's Almanac of Flavor. She worked with the frantic energy of a scholar possessed, meticulously transcribing her spice ratios, cooking methods, and notes on local Daxia herbs.
Fucheng, meanwhile, began working on a magnificent, lacquered cedar box not just for spices, but for the almanac itself, a fitting container for the treasure it held.
One evening, while comparing Shen Xiu's fragmented memory of an old Daxia Imperial recipe to her own modern culinary knowledge, Li Wei made a startling realization. The Imperial recipe a complex process for preserving fruit wines that she planned to include in the almanac required a specific type of rare, highly polished grinding stone.
"Fucheng," she called out, holding the scroll.
"I need to grind these dried plums to a perfect powder for the Imperial Wine. The granite mortar won't do; it's too porous. Did you ever see a high-quality grinding stone near the estate you mentioned?"
Fucheng walked over, wiping lacquer dust from his hands. He glanced at the scroll, then at the ingredients. His eyes narrowed, focusing not on the text, but on a small, intricate seal imprinted at the bottom of the scroll a detail Li Wei had overlooked. It was the mark of the Imperial Culinary Office.
"A perfect grinding stone..." Fucheng murmured, his voice sounding distant. He walked to the storage room, which held his carpentry tools. He reached into a false bottom of an old wooden chest and pulled out a small object wrapped in thick silk.
He unwrapped it and placed it on the table. It was a jade seal, highly polished and exquisitely carved with a fierce, stylized dragon.
Li Wei stared. It was clearly not a grinding stone, but an object of immense political or personal significance. "What is that? That's not a tool, Fucheng. It's an Imperial Seal."
Fucheng's handsome face was stark, wiped clean of its usual calm. This was the moment of reckoning. "It is a seal. And it is the reason I am a farmer now, Xiu'er. It belongs to the family I was born into. The family that was purged."
The revelation hit Li Wei like a physical blow. The quiet, gentle farmer who embodied unconditional love was, in fact, the survivor of a political catastrophe.
Fucheng finally confessed his secret, his voice a low, painful drone:
"My name is not merely Guo Fucheng. I am Guo Rong, the sole remaining heir of a noble family that served as the Emperor's personal stewards.
We managed the Imperial Treasury and the Imperial Kitchens. We were not royalty, but we held a trust that made us dangerous. Three years ago, we were falsely accused of treason by the current Grand Councillor. My entire family was executed. I escaped with this seal and was forced to live in obscurity under a false name."
He looked at the small Imperial Culinary Office seal on her scroll. "That stamp on your recipe scroll is my family's mark. It proves the authenticity of our knowledge, but it also proves my existence. If the Grand Councillor's spies find me, it is instant execution."
Li Wei's mind, reeling from the personal shock, immediately snapped into crisis mode. The political stakes were now terrifyingly high.
"Your father's name," Li Wei whispered, "Is it recorded in any of the old city libraries? Is the purge considered absolute?"
"Yes. Any public display of our name, or even our family's unique culinary techniques, is treason."
Li Wei realized her Almanac of Flavor was no longer just a book of recipes and a source of wealth; it was a deadly declaration. If she published it with the unique, identifying recipes and methods of the GuoRong family recipes that only the purged family knew she would inadvertently be screaming Fucheng's survival to the capital.
"We have to stop the printing of the Almanac," Fucheng stated, fear finally entering his voice. "It is a beacon, Xiu'er."
Li Wei picked up the cedar box that was meant to hold the finished book. Her eyes, however, were fixed on the jade seal.
"No," she said, her voice firm, the scholar's genius taking over the frightened wife. "We do not stop. We make the almanac our weapon. If we publish it, and it becomes successful enough to be read by the Grand Councillor's own spies, they will recognize the unique culinary methods as belonging to the purged family."
She tapped the jade seal. "We will use your family's authentic, superior knowledge to expose the conspiracy. The Grand Councillor purged your family to steal something from the Treasury that only your family could access. I know this because the Imperial Steward family always held the true key."
She looked at Fucheng, her voice full of fierce determination. "The food itself is the clue. We will leak a single, subtle hint in the book a seemingly innocent cooking instruction that only the Emperor or the Grand Councillor will understand. We will draw the fox out of his hole, Fucheng. We will force the capital to come to us."