Chapter 23.7

The palace attendants sniffed the fragrance greedily and gulped involuntarily.

“What is the Crown Princess making? This is way too fragrant.”

“Is she stewing meat? But the stewed meat made by the imperial kitchen is not so fragrant. My mouth is watering.”

“It’s probably a meat dish specially made to entertain Eldest Maiden Xu, right? It smells too good, I’m so hungry now. After I’m off duty, I’m going to eat two bowls of rice…”

At this moment, Xu Wenchan’s was drooling no less than the palace attendants. She was standing in the kitchen, staring at the bubbling and gurgling pot of meat without blinking.

“Ah Ti, is it ready to eat?” She seemed to have asked this sentence seven or eight times already.

Tao Ti finally gave an affirmative answer this time. “Mhm, it’s almost done.”

Immensely excited, Xu Wenchan said hurriedly, “Then, hurry up and serve it! God, I never thought pork could smell so good?”

Seeing her greedy look, Tao Ti teased, “You’re not dieting anymore?”

Xu Wenchan looked at the attractive pork-stuffed fried tofu in the pot and waved her hand. “No hurry, no hurry. I’ve been fat for more than ten years anyway, one mouth will make no difference.”

After the sauce thickened over medium heat, Tao Ti portioned out the square, golden stuffed tofu onto two plates. The remaining thick sauce was evenly poured over the tofu, then a layer of green onion was sprinkled on for garnish. It was a dish full of colour, aroma, and taste!

“His Highness should also be having his meal at this time. This dish is good with rice. Linglong, go to Zixia Palace and let His Highness have a taste of this too,” said Tao Ti as she pointed to another plate of stuffed tofu.

“Understood. This servant will go now,” Linglong responded with a smile, thinking to herself, The Crown Princess is really thoughtful. She always thinks of His Highness whenever she cooks delicious food.

In the hall, the dishes from the imperial kitchen were already on the table— stir-fried quail with bamboo shoots, stir-fried eggplant, potatoes, and peppers, white fish cooked in wine, clear soup with longxu vegetable, stir-friend scallion and rabbit, golden tripe soup, ham and fresh bamboo shoots soup… the stuffed fried tofu was placed in the middle.

As soon as he was seated, Xu Wenchan couldn’t wait to pick up her chopsticks and reached for the stuffed fried tofu.

Tao Ti was just about to remind her to beware of the hot juices inside, but Xu Wenchan had already put the whole piece of tofu into her mouth.

The tofu had been fried in advance. When making stuffed tofu, one just had to cut a hole in the fried tofu, scoop out the tofu inside, then stuff the prepared meat filling into it. The whole thing was first fried, then stewed, allowing the aroma of the tofu and the taste of the meat to blend perfectly.

When you bite into it, the golden tofu that had soaked up the juices would burst open in your mouth. The soft toughness of the tofu skin and the fresh yet rich flavour of the meat filling was simply delicious enough to make people cry.

“Mmph… I-it’s simply too delicious!” The delicious juices were indeed very hot. Xu Wenchan reached out to fan her mouth, but kept on chewing, not bearing to spit it out.

Tao Ti didn’t know to laugh or cry at the sight of her, and also took a piece to try. It was indeed delicious.

Xu Wenchan ate two pieces in a row before asking, “Ah Ti, what’s in this meat filling? The taste is really good, not greasy at all, but also very refreshing and tender.”

Tao Ti said, “In addition to the meat, there are fresh water chestnuts, Chinese arrowhead, lilies, lotus seeds, taro, and water caltrops.”

“There are actually so many ingredients. No wonder it’s so delicious,” as Xu Wenchan exclaimed, the speed at which she took more to eat did not stop in the least.

……

Pei Yan was not one who cared about what he ate. After morning court, he usually had lunch with the officials of the East Palace in the dining hall. Of course, only the senior officials in purple robes, such as Grand Mentor Song ² and Grand Guardian Min, were qualified to share a table with him.

Seeing Linglong bringing a food box over, Fu Xirui immediately stepped forward to greet her, “Maiden Linglong, what good things did the Crown Princess ask you to bring over this time?”

Linglong smiled and said, “You’ll see when you open it later. Eunuch Fu, you trust our Crown Princess’s skills, don’t you?”

Fu Xirui took the food box, thanked her, and asked Linglong to wait outside, saying that the Crown Prince had something to ask her later.

Linglong understood and respectfully retreated outside.

Fu Xirui walked over to Pei Yan with the food box, bent down, and whispered, “Your Highness, it’s a new dish made by the Crown Princess, who sent it for you to try. What do you…?”

Several officials at this table have tasted the pork jerky Tao Ti made. Among them, in addition to the pork jerky, Grand Mentor Song had also tasted her salted egg yolk pastry and had an even deeper understanding that the Crown Princess’s cooking skills were excellent. If the snacks she causally made were already so delicious, her dishes would certainly not be bad!

He wondered what kind of delicious food it was this time. He was really curious!

Pei Yan swept a glance at them and saw that the usually old-fashioned and restrained teachers and elders were sneaking glances his way, and couldn’t help but chuckle.

He said plainly to Fu Xirui, “Bring it out.”

Fu Xirui, “Understood.”

Grand Mentor Song and the others were all overjoyed.

As soon as the food box was opened, in no time at all, the tempting and rich aroma immediately spread out, and it was as if there was an invisible hook tantalising their cravings.

It smelled really delicious!

Even the East Palace’s officials at the neighbouring table also looked over in search of the source of the aroma and swallowed involuntarily, not to mention Pei Yan’s table.

Footnotes:

² Grand Mentor Song: Previously erroneously translated as Preceptor Song. So sorry for the mis-TL!

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