"Your Highness, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor."
Yu Wenran nodded, gave him a firm hand and said, "Get up."
The maids in the hall wisely left, leaving only Yuwen Ran and Su Xue'e in the room.
Su Xue'e looked shy, and her heavily made-up face looked a little scary under the dim light. Yu Wenran felt a little disgusted, but he didn't show it on his face. He maintained an indifferent expression and asked as he walked to the front of the table, "My Lady, what are you doing today?"
"Your Majesty, it's nothing. I was just flipping through a book to kill time." Su Xue'e replied.
Yuwen Ran nodded and said with a smile, "I wonder what book the imperial concubine is reading. Could you please give it to me to read?"
Su Xue'e naturally agreed and said with a smile, "Then I will go get it for Your Majesty."
After saying that, Su Xue'e bowed and walked towards the inner room. When Yuwen Ran saw her enter the inner room, he took the opportunity to pour a cup of tea and sprinkled the knockout drug in it.
A moment later, Su Xue'e came out with a book. She handed it to Yu Wenran, who took it and flipped through it casually for a few seconds, then nodded as if appreciating it. "Not bad," he said, "it's good to read more books when you have nothing to do. It's good to relieve boredom."
Then he put the book on the table, picked up the tea with the knockout drug and handed it to Su Xue'e, saying, "The tea here is quite good."
Su Xueer took it and said with a sweet smile, "Thank you, Your Majesty. As long as Your Majesty likes it."
Yuwen Ran nodded, picked up the tea and pretended to take a sip. Su Xue'e followed suit. The two sat at the tea table and sipped the tea. Yuwen Ran secretly thought that it was almost time, so he said: "It's late, let's go to bed."
Su Yu'e put down her teacup and nodded shyly. Seeing Yuwen Ran stand up, she quickly followed him. Su Yu'e's face was flushed. She first helped Yuwen Ran change his clothes, then shyly untied her own belt. After a while, they both sat on the bed in their underwear. Su Yu'e suddenly held her forehead and slumped, saying, "Your Majesty, I feel dizzy."
After saying that, he fell on the bed unconscious.
Yuwen Ran pushed her, and when he saw that she had fainted, he put his clothes back on and left quietly.
Three days later, envoys from the neighboring country of Xiliang came to visit, and the palace held a banquet to welcome them.
The banquet was filled with singing and dancing, and was very lively.
As the Emperor and the Empress who rule the Central Palace, Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue naturally had to attend.
Yu Wenran was wearing a bright yellow long gown, with his long hair tied up with a golden crown, looking dignified. Gu Yanyue had on exquisite makeup, wore a luxurious long dress, and a pearl hairpin on her head that symbolized her noble status, looking graceful and elegant.
At the banquet, Yuwen Ran specially exempted everyone from today's complicated etiquette, so naturally there were not so many rules. The ministers enjoyed the dance and music, drank and talked happily, and it looked very peaceful.
Suddenly, a discordant voice sounded.
The Xiliang envoy, Bu Enshi, stood up, shook his robe, and bowed slightly to Yuwen Ran, his expression somewhat arrogant. "They say the Dongmu Kingdom is vast and rich, yet the cuisine here isn't up to par. Take this mutton, for example. It has a strong fishy smell and isn't as fresh and tender as the Xiliang variety. Could it be that Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, hasn't even enjoyed the best mutton?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the hall fell silent and no one dared to speak. Everyone understood the hidden meaning of these words.
Prime Minister Gu and General Su, who were sitting on both sides of the hall, looked at each other, lowered their heads, silently raised the corners of their mouths, and their eyes were full of ridicule.
This was undoubtedly like being slapped hard in the face in front of everyone. Yu Wenran felt very embarrassed and pursed his lips tightly.
He looked at the ministers in the hall with their heads bowed, and Prime Minister Gu and General Su who were sipping wine and waiting to watch the fun, and then looked at Bu Enshi who had an arrogant and mocking look on his face. He was about to say something to interrupt him when he saw Gu Yanyue suddenly stand up and walk down the hall step by step to Bu Enshi.
"The envoy was a bit presumptuous, coming from a remote region after all. Your Majesty is magnanimous, but I am infuriated. How about this: if I can make authentic Xiliang mutton soup, you will kowtow and apologize to the emperor?"
Bu Enshi laughed. A woman in the deep palace who had never even left the palace gates claimed to be able to make authentic Xiliang mutton soup? What a joke! Bu Enshi nodded confidently and said, "If Your Majesty can make it, I will naturally apologize to the Emperor for my words."
Gu Yanyue walked around the hall and nodded, saying, "With so many ministers here to testify, the envoy must keep his word."
Boonshi nodded and said, "Of course."
"Then I'd like to trouble you all to go with me to the imperial kitchen to be witnesses." Gu Yanyue said with a smile.
The ministers and envoys all stood up and followed Gu Yanyue into the imperial kitchen. The maids in the imperial kitchen tactfully started a fire. Gu Yanyue rolled up her sleeves and washed and cut the meat with ease. Her movements were as smooth as flowing water, and everyone who saw her was secretly surprised.
Seeing her like this, Gu Yanrou couldn't help but feel sarcastic in her heart and said, "Sister, you've never been to Xiliang, so how can you make Xiliang mutton soup? It's better to just let it go and don't try to be stubborn. If you do, you'll lose face. It's better to apologize to the envoy now and let this matter go."
Bu Enshi had originally thought it was bad to see Gu Yanyue so skilled, but now after hearing this, he regained his confidence. He nodded and said with an arrogant smile, "It's normal if your Majesty can't do it. If you admit defeat, I won't hold it too much against you."
Gu Yanrou nodded and said even more sarcastically, "Sister, please stop now. Don't let this embarrassment spread to Xiliang."
Yu Wenran glanced at the two of them without saying a word, and a smile appeared in his eyes as he looked at Gu Yanyue.
Gu Yanyue ignored them. Right now, the most important thing was to give these people a good slap in the face. She mentally thought about the steps for making mutton soup. First, clean the mutton and cut it into long pieces. Use the back of a large knife to break the bones, then spread them flat on the bottom of the pot. Then, place the mutton on top of the bones. After arranging the meat neatly, Gu Yanyue added water until the meat was covered.
"Burn the fire a little bigger." Gu Yanyue said to the maid who was lighting the fire.
The maid nodded and said, "Yes, my lady." Then she added firewood into it.
Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, and Gu Yanyue uses a spoon to skim off the blood foam bit by bit to clean the soup.
Add clean water again, continue to boil over high heat, and skim off the foam.
Add appropriate amount of water, skim off the foam after boiling, and repeat this process.
Then put an appropriate amount of mutton fat into the pot, cook it for a while and then skim off the foam.
Then wrap the peppercorns, cinnamon, tangerine peel, tsaoko, ginger, white mango, etc. in gauze to make a spice bag, and put them into the pot together with the ginger slices, scallion segments, and salt.
After adding the seasonings, let the maid continue to cook over high heat.
The aroma kept coming out, and everyone couldn't help swallowing their saliva, staring at the pot intently.
Gu Yanyue waited until the mutton was 80% cooked before adding the chili oil and pepper water.
So, just wait patiently.
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