Chapter 14: If I see Xiu Yu's craftsmanship again at that time, I will not...

Lihua knew every little habit of her princess, whether intentional or not, like the back of her hand. Xiuyu listened as she cooked, her eyes welling up. After all, she was her sister, someone who had been with her for so many years. Lihua knew her habits better than she did.

"Stop talking." Xiu Yu couldn't bear to listen any longer. She put the food in the pot onto a plate and handed it to Xiao Tao: "Send it up."

The meal took a long time to prepare, and Xuanye got bored waiting, so he simply found a book to read. However, all waiting had its own reasons. When the dishes were placed on the table one by one, their color, aroma, and taste immediately aroused Xuanye's appetite.

When Xiu Yu returned, he saw Xuan Ye already seated at the table and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

"Come and sit down." Xuanye rarely extended his hand to invite him. "I've waited for so long, and finally I can taste your cooking."

Before Xiu Yu sat down, she first poured a cup of wine for Xuanye, and then poured another cup for herself. She raised the cup and said with a smile: "It is Yu'er's fault for keeping the emperor waiting for so long. Yu'er will punish herself with a cup." As she said that, she drank it all.

Xuanye said, "Then after I eat the food you cook, shouldn't I drink two full cups of wine before I can thank you?"

Xiu Yu picked up a piece of food for Xuanye and said, "Your way of thanking me is to drink yourself. That's too simple of a way to say 'thank you'."

The small table outside was already set, and Xuanye signaled Liang Jiugong and the others to go outside to eat and not to wait on them inside. Liang Jiugong, Xiao Tao, and Lihua exchanged greetings before leaving.

Xuanye only heard: "I wonder how Princess Yu wants me to thank you?"

"People who cook only hope that people who eat can enjoy the meal. If you think this meal suits your taste, it will be your way of thanking Yu'er." Xiu Yu's words were somewhat high-sounding, but they were the truth in her heart.

Xuanye nodded, picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of eggplant, and put it into his mouth. After chewing it carefully, he looked at the eggplant on the plate and said, "Honestly, I thought you said your cooking skills were better than the imperial chef's, but it was just a joke. Today I only tasted a bite of this eggplant..."

"How is it?" Xiu Yu was still looking forward to the evaluation of this 'guest'.

"Ordinary eggplant can actually taste like this. It's fitting that all the imperial chefs come to worship you, Princess Yu, as their master!" Xuanye praised sincerely.

Xiu Yu was delighted, but on the surface she was still reserved and said with a smile, "Cooking requires talent. I won't accept an ordinary apprentice."

Xuanye laughed out loud and suddenly asked, "You don't accept ordinary disciples, so will you accept me, who is just ordinary?"

"You..." Xiu Yu looked Xuanye up and down deliberately: "I would not bother to accept anyone else. As for you..." She lowered her eyelids and said: "I don't need to accept it."

"What do you mean?" As soon as the question was opened, Xuanye reacted: "You mean, you can cook for me anytime, so why bother taking me as your apprentice? Is that what you mean?"

Xiu Yu didn't reply. She just picked up the wine pot and added more wine to Xuanye's cup. She said softly, "Whatever you say it means, that's what it means."

The meal was eaten slowly until the moon hung over the willows and the north wind started blowing outside the house.

Looking at the almost cleared dishes on the table, Xiu Yu was happy in her heart, but a look of apology appeared on her face: "Yu'er heard that the emperor never eats more than three chopsticks for each dish when dining. This time..."

"I'm making an exception this time." Xuanye rubbed his stomach: "To be honest, I'm a little full."

Xiu Yu was amused by Xuanye and laughed out loud: "Then it seems that there is no need to serve Yu'er's snacks."

"Everyone is already in this state, what's the harm in eating a little more?" Xuanye sighed deliberately and waved his hand, "Come up! Come up!"

"Okay! Your Majesty, please wait a moment." Xiu Yu folded his hands in front of him, bowed, and went out to get some snacks.

Seeing that Xiu Yu behaved properly even in such a poorly maintained garden, Xuanye felt more and more that Sanguan Bao was really good at educating his daughter. Who could believe that Xiu Yu came from a military officer's family?

The snacks were exquisite and small, prepared by Xiuyu during the day. Xuanye looked at the galloping horse and felt a warm feeling: "Did you know that I am a horse?"

"Shouldn't I know?" Xiu Yu asked, and then urged, "Try it quickly. After tasting it, you should return to the palace. If the emperor doesn't return to the palace at night, wouldn't it be a big deal? If people in the palace think the emperor is missing, I won't be able to explain it."

Xuanye turned his head to look at the night outside the window and said, "It's time to return to the palace. Yu'er, can I take this horse back to the palace?"

"Aren't you afraid it'll go bad if you leave it alone?" Xiu Yu said this, but she had already placed the food box she had prepared on the table and placed the 'horse' inside. The food box had three layers. She explained, "The other two layers are snacks for the Grand Empress Dowager. I don't know what the old ancestor likes to eat, so I just made some random ones."

Is there a better granddaughter-in-law than this one who knows the rules and is filial? Even when Empress Hesheli was around, things might not have been handled so thoroughly.

Xuanye's heart moved, he stood up and held Xiu Yu's hand, saying: "Yu'er, I am glad that I saw you on the street that day. Otherwise..."

"So what? I always go to the palace on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Didn't we meet then?" Xiu Yu raised her head slightly, with a playful look in her eyes.

Xuanye said, "If we had met then, I don't know when I would have tasted Yu Gege's cooking again. To be honest, even now, I feel like we met too late."

"Are all of you emperors so good at sweet talk?" Xiu Yu couldn't help but complain in her heart, but she remained calm on the surface. She took the fox fur coat that Liang Jiugong offered and personally put it on Xuanye, saying softly, "It's cool at night..."

"I'll take you back to the inn." Xuanye held Xiuyu's little hand, his eyebrows and eyes filled with smiles: "You are a girl after all. Seeing you return safely, I can return to the palace with peace of mind."

"Okay then." Xiu Yuyuan also felt that since she had worked hard to prepare a meal, it was only natural for the emperor to send her back to the inn.

The journey back seemed shorter, and the warmth of the relationship between people continued to rise as they spent time together. When Xuanye saw Xiu Yu off the carriage, he was already reluctant to let her go.

"Less than ten days?" Xuanye counted by the hours. "I will think of you every day."

Xiu Yu could clearly feel her cheeks heating up. The night was already dark, so thankfully, no one else could see clearly. "Let's follow the old rules. I'll watch the Third Master leave."

Xuanye raised his hand for the first time and touched Xiuyu's cheek, saying with a smile, "You call me 'Third Master' so nicely, it sounds nice, I like it."

After returning to the palace, Xuanye didn't go straight to the Qianqing Palace to rest, but instead took his food box to the Cining Palace. Empress Xiaozhuang hadn't even gone to bed by then, and she was pleased that her grandson hadn't broken the rules by sleeping outside the palace. Of course, she was also increasingly certain that Xiuyu wasn't a seductress. If she had been tempted to please her master, seeing Xuanye's current state, she would definitely not have returned to the palace tonight.

"Madam, these are the snacks Xiuyu made for you." Xuanye personally laid out the snacks in the food box one by one. "Grandson, I just saw them too. They are really small and exquisite."

Xiaozhuang, supported by Su Moer, sat down at the table and looked at the various dim sum, each in a different shape but not in large portions. "This Princess Yu is so thoughtful! It's really not the right time to have so many dim sum at night." "I didn't think of that, grandson." Xuanye closed the lunch box and was about to hand it to Liang Jiugong.

Xiaozhuang knew that there was something on the bottom layer of the food box, something Xuanye had deliberately hidden away, presumably something Guoluo Luo Xiuyu had made specifically for him. Xiaozhuang, a bit of a gossip, signaled with her eyes that Su Moer should take a look at what else was in the food box.

Xuanye personally picked up a piece of plum blossom-shaped cake for Xiaozhuang and said, "Madam, please try it. Xiuyu's dishes are very good. As for the pastries, I don't know yet."

Xiaozhuang picked up the plum cake and took a small bite. Her eyes lit up, and there was a hint of curiosity. Logically speaking, a Manchu princess from outside the Great Wall wouldn't have such a talent. This princess from the Guoluo family was truly extraordinary.

Xuanye asked, "Does Mama think it's delicious?"

"It has a light sweetness tinged with the fragrance of plum blossoms. Such thoughtfulness and craftsmanship." Empress Xiaozhuang praised her. "If you hadn't said it was made by Guo Luoluo, I would have thought you bought it from some small Jiangnan shop outside the palace."

Xuanye also tasted a piece and said, "To be fair, grandson, I'm afraid there's no one in the palace or outside who can cook better than Yu'er. I even think that Yu'er can be the master of the imperial chefs."

"That's true..." Xiaozhuang couldn't say in front of Xuanye that she felt that Princess Xiu Yu was more and more good, so she stopped talking halfway.

Xuanye understood and stood up, saying, "Madam, I've been delayed by some government affairs tonight. I still have to go to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to finish reviewing memorials. Madam, please go to bed early. I'll come to pay my respects to you tomorrow morning."

Empress Xiaozhuang nodded and instructed, "Your health is more important. If you really can't finish reviewing all the papers, it wouldn't hurt to put those that are less important aside for a while."

"Grandson understands." Xuanye bowed and asked Liang Jiugong to carry the food box and follow him back to the Qianqing Palace.

After Xuanye left the Cining Palace, Su Moer smiled and said to Xiaozhuang, "Gege, guess what else is in the food box?"

"A food box, nothing more than some food." Xiaozhuang was supported by Su Moer as she walked to the warm room. "Guo Luoluo prepared so much food for me, how could she not prepare some for the emperor?"

“It’s food indeed.” Su Moer didn’t intend to let her princess guess the riddle anymore, and directly revealed the answer: “It’s just a snack in the shape of a kicking horse!

"Teng kicks the horse?" Xiaozhuang paused, turned to look at Su Moer, and said with a smile: "Then this Xiu Yu Gege is really thoughtful."

"Who says it's not?" Su Moer was now full of praise for Xiu Yu: "That horse is so lifelike, it shows that the princess of the Guoluo family is really skillful."