Chapter 56: Old Tomato's Nostalgic Reminiscences...

This was not the first time Yin'e had visited Yikun Palace; he had previously visited with the Fifth Prince.

However, this was indeed the first time that Yin'e had left Yongshou Palace to stay overnight in another palace, leaving the protection of the Consort and not moving around under her watchful eye.

Yin Tang hadn't returned to Yikun Palace for about ten days. Children forget things easily, and when he returned to his residence after some time, Yin Tang felt completely unfamiliar with it.

He stood at the entrance of the side hall, peering into the hall with a bewildered expression, as if wondering if this was the place he had once lived in, or if this was his territory.

"Ninth Brother?" Yin'e waited for a long time but Yin Tang did not move. He saw Yin Tang standing at the door in a daze. Finally, he couldn't help but call out to Yin Tang.

Yin'e really didn't want to stand like a statue with Yin Tang at the entrance of the side hall of Yikun Palace; his feet were getting tired. Those who knew him understood that Yin Tang had come home; those who didn't might have thought he'd been kidnapped, so unfamiliar with his own home.

Turning his head, Yin Tang looked at Yin E with a silly expression, and finally moved, taking Yin E's hand and entering the side hall with him.

But once inside, Yinzhen froze. He looked around blankly, realizing he couldn't remember where he had put his toys. He wanted to find someone to help him find them, but he didn't know who to ask; all he saw were unfamiliar faces.

Before Yinzhen returned to Yikun Palace, Consort Yi sent back the disloyal wet nurses and nannies who had been bribed by Consort Guoluo to the Imperial Household Department, and had the Imperial Household Department send a new batch of palace servants to serve him.

It was certainly a good thing to get rid of the disloyal palace servants, but Yin Tang didn't recognize any of these new wet nurses or nannies.

It's good that Yinzhen has been reassigned to a full complement of palace servants, but right now, he can't even keep his wet nurse and others from being fooled by them. He doesn't even recognize all of them, and he doesn't realize that these are the people who will be following him in the future.

In fact, after Yinzhen returned to Yikun Palace, Consort Yi should have helped him get acquainted with the new palace servants.

Consort Yi had originally planned it this way, and she was not so careless as to forget that Yinzhen did not know these new wet nurses and nannies at all.

However, some things are often beyond human control.

When Consort Yi returned to Yikun Palace, before she could say a few kind words to Yinzhen and reconcile with him, she suddenly felt unwell, short of breath, and wanted to vomit. She could only leave in a sorry state, leaving Yin'e and Yinzhen in the care of their wet nurse.

Consort Yi's pregnancy was extremely difficult, and she was so tormented that she was completely unable to take care of Yin Tang.

If it weren't for the fact that it was really inappropriate for Yinzhen to stay in Yongshou Palace for an extended period, Yin'e would actually quite like Yinzhen to continue living in Yongshou Palace with him. In any case, Yinzhen didn't cause much trouble in front of the Consort and didn't give her any trouble.

“Ninth Brother, why don’t we go for a stroll in the Imperial Garden?” Yin’e pulled Yin’tang along. “Yesterday when we went to the Imperial Garden, we saw that the plum blossoms were in bloom. Let’s pick a few branches and put them in a vase.”

Yinzhen pouted, subconsciously a little unhappy, because he couldn't find his toy.

But upon hearing that they were going to the Imperial Garden, he quickly cheered up again; going out to play was fun too. In fact, Yinzhen preferred playing outside to playing games indoors!

Yinzhen pounced on him, his face flushed with excitement, his delicate phoenix eyes sparkling, and he shouted enthusiastically, "Okay, okay~ Let's go to the Imperial Garden right now!"

The Imperial Garden is full of springtime charm, with birds singing and flowers blooming.

It was the height of spring, in April, when all the flowers in the Imperial Garden were in full bloom, thriving and vibrant; the trees were lush and verdant, creating a scene of warm spring sunshine and bright, beautiful flowers.

Wearing a light spring shirt, Yin'e circled around a green plant that was over a meter tall.

He inhaled the strong scent emanating from the plant before him and observed its oval leaves of varying sizes, arranged irregularly along both sides of the leaf axis—unfortunately, despite observing it for a long time, Yin'e could not actually identify what kind of plant it was based on its appearance alone.

But looking at the nearly spherical, vermilion fruits hanging from the branches of this plant, Yin'e felt they looked increasingly familiar, as if they resembled a common vegetable from his previous life.

...Well, you could also call it a fruit?

"This...this..." Yin'e circled the plant covered with bright red fruit a few times, his eyes gradually shining brightly, his little face flushed with excitement, both thrilled and happy, "How come this looks so much like a tomato?!"

The more Yin'e looked at it, the more it seemed to resemble the fruit. Look at the bright red color of the fruit, look at the smooth and thin skin of the fruit. Except for being a little smaller and a little darker in color, it looks exactly like the tomatoes sold in supermarkets in later generations!

That's right, it doesn't just look like one, this is a tomato!

Uncontrollably, the taste of tomatoes popped into Yin'e's mind. He couldn't help but swallow, his mouth watering as he looked longingly at the lone tomato tree in front of him: "I really want to eat scrambled eggs with tomatoes. I haven't had it in so long!"

Although Yin'e wanted to eat tomatoes, he couldn't get close to the tomato tree in front of him. There was a fence surrounding the tomato tree, keeping the ripe, fruitful plants inside and preventing anyone from approaching.

The tomato trees enclosed by the fence have beautiful red fruits and green leaves, but those crystal-clear, jade-red tomatoes can only be admired and not approached, let alone tasted. It's such a waste and a terrible thing to have them.

After walking around the tomato tree a few more times, Yin'e had almost used up all his exercise for the whole day.

He was still unwilling to give up, and couldn't help but take a few steps forward, wanting to cross the fence and go in to pick two tomatoes to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Yin'e didn't just want to eat it himself; he also wanted the small kitchen to make it for the Imperial Concubine and Yin Tang. There were only a few tomato trees in the Imperial Garden, so it was obvious they had never eaten scrambled eggs with tomatoes before.

Sigh... They've never even had scrambled eggs with tomatoes. The lives of Consort Gui and Prince Yin Tang must be so boring. Oh well, many ingredients from later generations hadn't yet reached this era.

Finding tomatoes was already a stroke of luck. Yin'e was content, asking for nothing more, nor for any further blessings from heaven.

Yin'e had only taken a few steps forward, showing that he was trying to get closer to the tomato tree, when his wet nurse, Granny Wang, stopped him nervously, saying, "Your Highness, don't get close. Just look at it from a distance. These tomatoes are poisonous."

Indeed, one of the reasons why Yin'e hesitated to approach and circled the tomato tree several times without getting close was that there was a sign on the fence surrounding the tomato tree with the name "Tomato" written in Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese, and it was specifically marked that it was poisonous.

It was because of the word "poisonous" that Yin'e initially doubted whether he had made a mistake: this persimmon just looks like a tomato, but it is not the same plant as a tomato.

As one of the most common vegetables in his previous life, Yin'e had no recollection of tomatoes being poisonous. If tomatoes were poisonous, what would happen to the young man whose only culinary skill was scrambled eggs with tomatoes?

Moreover, the persimmons were planted in the Imperial Garden, clearly as ornamental plants. This has absolutely nothing to do with tomatoes, which are vegetables; they sound like two completely different things.

It was only after Yin'e got closer and observed it carefully that he finally confirmed that "番柿" (fan shi) was indeed a tomato. Despite their different names, they are truly the same thing.

Having eaten tomatoes for over a decade in his previous life, Yin'e was absolutely certain that tomatoes were not poisonous. As for why tomatoes were labeled as poisonous and surrounded by a fence to prevent people from getting close, that was the reason.

Yin'e thought for a moment and remembered that tomatoes should not be eaten when they are unripe and still have green skin. Perhaps some people felt unwell after eating unripe tomatoes, which is why the rumor that tomatoes are poisonous spread.

Seeing that Yin'e was eager to try and showed no sign of stopping himself from approaching the persimmons, Wang Mama couldn't help but warn him again, "Your Highness, these persimmons are really poisonous. Please don't go near them lightly."

Yin'e curled his lip, dismissing the claim that tomatoes were poisonous. Eating unripe green tomatoes would certainly cause discomfort, but ripe tomatoes would be perfectly fine.

Moreover, Yin'e was very self-aware. He knew he was still young and his stomach was still very delicate, so he never planned to eat it raw. He was thinking of picking it and making it into scrambled eggs with tomatoes, which would be even better.

Unable to persuade Yin'e, Wang Mama, who was not close to Yin'e and did not have the same face in front of the princes as the wet nurses of other princes, was very anxious, but she did not dare to offend Yin'e and went forward to pull him away to violently stop him.

After a moment of panic and helplessness, Granny Wang suddenly remembered something and quickly whispered a reminder: "Your Highness, have you forgotten the Ninth Prince? He's still waiting for you to come find him!"

Ah, this...

Yin'e's face stiffened, and he lowered his head somewhat guiltily: he had really forgotten about Yin Tang.

He chuckled awkwardly twice, a smile that was both embarrassed and polite on his face.

As Yin'e grew older, the Imperial Concubine was no longer as anxious as she had been before he turned one year old, constantly worrying about his safety outside. She would also let Yin'e play in the Imperial Garden on his own, unlike before when she insisted on following him and ensuring he was under her protection before she could feel completely at ease.

Today, Yin'e and Yin'tang came to play in the Imperial Garden by themselves. They were playing hide-and-seek in the Imperial Garden, and it was Yin'tang's turn to hide, so Yin'e came to find him.

But after Yinzhen hid, Yin'e, who was supposed to go find him, was halfway there when he was suddenly distracted by a tomato that appeared in his field of vision.

Yin'e was like a small iron ball attracted by a magnet, unable to resist circling around the tomato tree, completely forgetting about Yin Tang who was hiding somewhere waiting for him to find him. In truth, he really felt quite sorry for Yin Tang.

Seeing that Yin'e hesitated and stopped approaching the tomato tree, Granny Wang pressed her advantage and hurriedly said, "Your Highness, hurry up and go find the Ninth Prince. If you don't find the Ninth Prince soon, you will lose."

Actually, what Granny Wang really wanted to say was that if they didn't go find the Ninth Prince soon, he might get impatient. The Ninth Prince had never been very patient; if he wasn't found during hide-and-seek, he would jump out and look for the Tenth Prince himself.

Yin'e looked longingly at the bright red tomatoes hanging on the tomato tree. Thinking of Yin Tang, who was waiting for him somewhere, he reluctantly gave up the idea of ​​picking the tomatoes immediately and decided to come back to the tomato tree after finding Yin Tang.

Anyway, the tomatoes are right here and won't run away. Besides, everyone thinks that tomatoes called "foreign persimmons" are poisonous, so I guess no one else will come to pick them.

Seeing that Yin'e had finally gotten away from the poisonous persimmons and turned to look for the Ninth Prince who was hiding, Granny Wang breathed a long sigh of relief.

She called the other palace servants to follow, and Wang Mama secretly made up her mind that once she found the Ninth Prince, she would immediately take the Tenth Prince and the Ninth Prince away from the Imperial Garden and not give them any more chances to come into contact with persimmons.

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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 10:36:15 and 21:20:31 on March 10, 2023!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: lilianwong 50 bottles; Da Pang's Big Wild Man and Toilet Jue 10 bottles; Passerby A's Nth Power and Minty Cool 2 bottles;

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!