Xu Yuehuai stepped forward: "How dare you! Is this how you conduct yourself within the Imperial Kitchen?"

“I am Princess Heyue, the Duchess of Zhenguo is my godmother, and Consort Jia is my aunt. Now that I want to cook some food for my aunt, are you all going to make excuses?” She knew that these people treated people differently based on their status, so she could only bring out the person with the highest status.

She sat down on a chair and said, "My title as princess was bestowed by His Majesty. If this is how you treat me, then I'll have to have a serious talk with His Majesty and see if my title as princess is just a formality."

The cooks looked at each other, all somewhat intimidated by Xu Yuehuai.

They hurried to get the ingredients, but now there were only some rotten leftovers left in the imperial kitchen. They figured that even if they brought those out, Consort Min wouldn't blame them.

"Princess Heyue, we were blind and offended you. We hope you won't hold it against us." The older cook spoke up; she seemed to be in charge.

Xu Yuehuai watched them quietly without saying a word, waiting for the ingredients and tools.

Soon the cooks brought out the ingredients: rotten potatoes, small fish, wilted eggplants, and minced meat.

Hengniang shook her head, and couldn't help but worry: "How can this be used? It's all broken."

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, feeling that it was all intentional on the part of the imperial kitchen.

Seeing this, Xu Yuehuai comforted her, "Hengniang, don't worry, I have a way."

Hengniang still didn't believe it, but seeing her so confident, she didn't want to discourage her, so she simply stood aside and waited.

Xu Yuehuai continued to ask the cook, "Besides ingredients, what about tools?"

Seeing this, the cook smiled and said, "Princess Heyue, you will need to buy these kitchen utensils separately if you want to use them."

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!" Hengniang, being young and easily angered, was even more furious upon hearing this. "Our Lady is a Lady personally appointed by His Majesty. How dare you people treat her like this!"

"Hengniang, that's enough!" Xu Yuehuai knew these people's true colors and wouldn't give them a hard time, so she immediately pulled Hengniang aside and asked, "Who exactly is behind you? The Empress? Or Consort Min?"

Upon hearing this, the cooks' faces immediately paled.

If word gets out, their lives will be over.

The cook quickly said awkwardly, "Princess Heyue, there are some things you can't say carelessly. These are the rules of our Imperial Kitchen, and they have nothing to do with other ladies."

Xu Yuehuai was speechless for a moment, but right now she could only buy kitchen utensils before she could cook.

"Go get me the kitchen utensils," Xu Yuehuai said, tossing out her purse. "If you dare to cause any more trouble, don't blame me for being impolite."

The cooks were greedy for money, and the leader quickly grabbed it, then ordered someone to bring Xu Yuehuai cooking utensils.

While Xu Yuehuai was waiting, she had already come up with an idea: remove the bad parts of the rotten potatoes and keep only the good ones to make mashed potatoes.

The fish looks half the size of a regular fish. If you slice it into fillets or pieces, it won't stand out much. It's better to just make steamed fish. There's not much room for creativity with the meat filling, and the eggplant has already lost its texture. So, it's better to combine the two. Let's make braised lion's head meatballs and eggplant stuffed with meat.

Xu Yuehuai loves cooking; only when cooking can she achieve complete relaxation and happiness.

She said she would do it, and she did it right away.

These cooks were beyond her control, and Hengniang knew nothing about cooking, so she simply did it herself.

She started boiling water in a pot, then squatted down to process the potatoes, and couldn't help but hum a little tune.

Soon the potatoes were peeled, washed, cut into chunks, and steamed. At the same time, she began to prepare the sea bass, which was incredibly delicious and best suited for steaming.

Although the fish wasn't big, it was delicious and fresh. She scaled and cleaned it, removed the internal organs, then chopped scallions, ginger, and garlic and put them into the belly of the sea bass. She then sealed the opening with bamboo skewers and put it on the stove to steam with potatoes.

Before long, the aroma of fish wafted out with the cooking smoke.

In addition, thinking that Consort Jia had not had a good appetite these days and had not eaten much, she was afraid that her spleen and stomach were not in good condition, so she simply cooked a pot of white porridge.

Next came preparing the minced meat. She couldn't help but smile; the ready-made minced meat was so convenient.

She prepared two flavors of minced meat, one for making braised lion's head meatballs, and the other for cooking at the end, so the flavor was milder.

Another one is to make eggplant stuffed with meat, which needs to be saltier.

Wash the eggplant, cut it into even, thin slices, and then heat the oil in a pan.

She rolled the meat filling from the braised lion's head into large balls, then coated them with egg white, rolled them in cornstarch, and set them aside for later use.

Spread minced meat on eggplant slices and then overlap them with another slice to make an eggplant sandwich, also known as eggplant stuffed with meat.

Soon the oil temperature rose, and Xu Yuehuai, holding a long soup ladle and chopsticks, first put the lion's head meatballs into the oil to fry.

She fried it twice before taking it out, and by then the aroma had already filled the entire imperial kitchen.

Next came frying the eggplant slices. She carefully placed each eggplant slice into the oil, then quickly added oil to a separate pan on a separate stove. Once the oil was hot, she sautéed scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, then added some spices, rock sugar, and chili peppers. After the aroma was released, she added boiling water.

Soon the eggplant fritters floated to the surface, so they were scooped out and prepared for refrying. Meanwhile, the broth on the other side boiled, so the lion's head meatballs were added and simmered over low heat.

Xu Yuehuai cooked two pots and three stoves at the same time, but she remained calm and composed, without the slightest panic.

Xu Yuehuai took the potatoes out of the steamer and set them aside to cool, while she took out the fried eggplant slices.

She then removed the oil from the wok and replaced it with a frying pan. Without adding oil, she only put chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns in the pan and cooked them until they were cooked through. Soon, the aroma of burnt peppercorns came out.

She quickly scooped it out, then crushed it into powder, added salt, mixed it, and sprinkled it on the freshly cooked eggplant slices. She then mashed the potatoes that were cooling on the side into a paste for later use.

Next, add more oil to the pot, and when the oil is hot, add minced scallions, ginger, and garlic to sauté until fragrant. Then add salt and other seasonings, and finally add a little cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. Once the sauce is thick, pour it over the mashed potatoes and you're done!

"Hengniang, prepare the food box." Xu Yuehuai shouted to Hengniang outside the house, but his hands moved at an undiminished speed.

She took the steamed fish out of the steamer, removed the scallions, ginger, and garlic, and then sprinkled a little salt on top to enhance the flavor. The steamed fish was now ready.

Now all that's left is the braised lion's head meatballs, but actually, all that's left is to serve them.

As Xu Yuehuai was serving the food in a bowl, Hengniang also brought in a food box. Just as they were about to pack the food into the food box to take back to the palace, the Second Prince came over after smelling the aroma.