"Does Your Highness mean that if I like cooking, I can become a chef in the future?" Yun Shu asked excitedly.
Ye Jingchen's lips twitched.
If the young master of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion is influenced by him and aspires to become a chef when he grows up, the Marquis of Zhongyong will probably regret sending Yunshu to the Eastern Palace as a companion to his studies.
However, he had just told them that cooking was not a shameful thing, so he couldn't just deny the little kid's innocent dream the next moment, could he?
"As long as it's something you're truly interested in and enjoy doing, there's nothing wrong with being a chef! Being a chef is a great profession; delicious food can soothe the soul and satisfy the taste buds!" Ye Jingchen encouraged with a smile.
The chef is good, but the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion might not be able to accept that the future heir of the mansion wants to be a chef.
But then again, Yun Shu's personality is such that he acts on impulse. His thoughts at this moment do not represent his thoughts at that time, so we shouldn't worry too much about it... right?
It is no easy task for a group of beginners, especially a group of children half of whom are not even as tall as the stove, to learn how to cook longevity noodles in a short period of time.
Fortunately, there are many of them, so they can divide the work and cooperate. As long as the steps and process are correct, the result should not be too bad.
Ye Jingchen invited the most skilled chef in the small kitchen to teach them how to make noodles.
The royal chef first explained the entire process of cooking noodles to them, and then began to teach them how to knead the dough.
Ye Jingchen lived for thirty years in his previous life, and his only experience was cooking instant noodles.
He was poor when he was a child and suffered a lot. Among his few childhood memories, there were a few scattered images of him standing on a small stool to cook rice and stir-fry vegetables.
Later, when the family's situation improved, his parents no longer had to toil in the fields, and his younger siblings grew up and became more sensible. He gradually got better and lived the carefree life he had always dreamed of, rarely washing dishes, let alone cooking.
So it's not just the little ones who need to learn; he also needs to learn, and he needs to master it. That way, even if the little ones make a mistake along the way, he can fix it in time.
Ye Jingchen did not tell the kids that the longevity noodles were a birthday gift for the emperor.
Firstly, I don't want to put pressure on the kids.
After all, only he and Ye Jinghe could be at ease giving gifts to the emperor so freely.
If the other children knew that they were learning to cook noodles to celebrate the emperor's birthday, they might be incredibly nervous, which could negatively impact their performance.
Secondly, if the little ones find out, their mother will definitely find out too.
Regardless of how many people would vehemently oppose his idea, if the concubines knew, it meant the entire harem would know, and the emperor would know as well.
The main point of his gift was to surprise the emperor and make it novel. If the emperor had known about it beforehand, it wouldn't have been as surprising!
The hardest step in cooking noodles is kneading the dough.
If the dough is kneaded well, you can make noodles; if the dough is not kneaded well, nothing else matters.
The imperial chef was experienced and skilled; he quickly kneaded the dough and let it rest to rise.
During this waiting time, Ye Jingchen instructed the palace servants to prepare flour and water for everyone to use for studying.
Kneading dough was a completely new and exciting experience for all the little ones, including Ye Jingchen.
He carefully added water to the small bowl containing flour, adding only a little at a time, slowly wetting the flour.
Ye Jingchen had heard a joke about kneading dough since he was a child.
The story is about a child who was kneading dough for the first time. He didn't know how to measure the flour and water, so he accidentally added too much water, making the dough too thin. To fix it, he added a lot of flour, but then he realized he had added too much flour, making it too dry. So he poured in more water, but then he added too much water again...
He kept pouring water, adding flour, pouring water, adding flour, until finally he had used up all the flour in the house, and received a loving lecture in return.
Ye Jingchen didn't want to be like that person in the story, so he only poured a little water each time, stirring as he poured, until finally, he stirred all the flour in the basin into a flocculent state.
Next, he used his fist to squeeze the dough in the basin into a ball, repeatedly kneading and folding the dough until he had kneaded it into the soft and elastic dough required by the imperial chef, and when the basin and his hands were clean, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Your Highness, you look so serious. Is kneading dough really that difficult?" He heard Yun Shu ask him, and when he looked up, he realized that the others, including Xie Chang'an, were not kneading dough, but had come to watch him knead it.
He was just too nervous and didn't notice that so many little kids were standing right in front of him.
Ye Jingchen's lips twitched.
Kneading dough is actually not difficult, not at all, but for beginners, it is really hard to get the ratio of flour to water right, so it is very easy to make mistakes.
"As expected of His Highness the Crown Prince, even when it comes to trivial matters like kneading dough that have nothing to do with governing the country, he learns it very seriously and does it exceptionally well!" The cook who taught them praised Ye Jingchen excitedly after seeing the dough he had kneaded.
Ye Jingchen: ......
"Kneading dough is not a trivial matter; it actually contains profound truths," Ye Jingchen said with an awkward smile.
His dough was also sealed and left to rest. Having completed the most difficult step, Ye Jingchen had plenty of leisure time to watch the other kids' antics!
"Add water to the flour slowly. Don't add too much at first, otherwise—" he shared his success tips with the kids.
However, before he could finish speaking, he saw Ye Jingyu pour a ladle of water into the basin containing the flour.
Ye Jingchen: ......
Ye Jingyu: ......
"If too much water is added, the dough will be difficult to shape," Ye Jingchen calmly finished saying what he hadn't had time to finish.
"Brother Crown Prince, what should I do now?" Ye Jingyu asked, frowning as he pointed to the basin in front of him.
Thanks to his ladle of water, the flour turned into paste without needing to be kneaded.
"We can only add flour, but don't add too much, otherwise there won't be enough water," Ye Jingchen said.
This time, Ye Jingyu didn't dare to be extravagant. Instead, he grabbed a handful of flour and sprinkled it into the bowl little by little, kneading as he did so.
Seeing this, Ye Jingchen felt a sense of relief.
His younger brother was much smarter than the children in the story. He learned from his mistakes and never gave himself a second chance to make the same mistake!
After seeing Ye Jingyu, he went to see other people.
To be honest, watching a bunch of little kids kneading dough in the kitchen is quite a funny scene, like they're playing a big game of pretend.
Especially influenced by Ye Jingchen, everyone's expression was very serious, and their kneading movements were particularly earnest, making you want to pluck them out!
Many people, like Ye Jingyu, added too much water the first time, but they all managed to salvage the situation successfully without any major mishaps.
Within 15 minutes, everyone had kneaded the flour into dough. Although each person's dough looked different, it was at least formed.
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