Princess Jing looked at the emperor with confidence, without putting down the spoon in her hand. She was very confident that the emperor would allow her to have a second bowl.
But no one expected that the emperor only took a sip, frowned slightly, wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, put down the silver spoon, said "it's okay" and said nothing more.
Princess Jing stood there with a spoon in her hand, and the eunuch of Prince Jing's mansion held the wine jar, not knowing what to do for a moment.
But Fanghua chuckled and turned to look at the emperor, "Father? Let the fifth sister-in-law come?"
The emperor nodded, and Princess Jing finally came to her senses and retreated with a flushed face.
Just now, when the Crown Princess and Princess Duan presented their dishes, the Emperor took two or three bites and commented on them in detail. The Crown Princess's dish was a palace dish the Emperor ate regularly, and the Emperor praised the broth's delicious flavor. It was impossible for him to take just one bite of his own "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall," and yet he still hadn't said a word.
The virtuous concubine's face, which had just been wearing a proper smile, now looked unnatural. How could it be possible? The emperor was not a picky person to begin with, and the "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" was really delicious. The two jars were cooked in the same pot, so why did the emperor have such an expression?
One thing is certain, this dish must be extremely unsuitable to the emperor's appetite, otherwise, considering that today is the emperor's birthday and the occasion is so special, the emperor would definitely not let it go so carelessly.
King Jing watched his wife return to her seat. They looked at each other and couldn't figure out the reason. They were both nervous, but they didn't dare to taste the food in the jar. They just kept winking at the eunuch who was bringing it down.
At this time, Princess Cheng had already presented the dish she cooked, which was a fish. Princess Cheng carefully picked out the most tender and boneless part of the fish intestines and placed it on a small silver plate.
The emperor took the fish from Lu Chengbao, took a bite, nodded, took another bite, and said, "It's delicious."
Princess Cheng looked proud and bowed to express her gratitude. The Queen then said at the right moment how rare the fish for this dish was, as Prince Cheng had specially fished it on the ice on a snowy day.
When the emperor heard this, he was moved for a moment. He nodded to Prince Cheng and said, "My son, you have worked hard." Prince Cheng quickly stood up and said, "I dare not." He also took the opportunity to express his filial piety, saying that as long as the emperor likes to eat it, it doesn't matter if he lies on the ice for three days and two nights.
These few words made Prince Jing's face even uglier. The image he had established in front of everyone was always gentle and unpretentious, and he rarely showed his emotions like this.
Princess Jing sat there trembling with fear. What had gone wrong? This "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" must have failed to impress the Emperor. Did he dislike the taste, or the name?
As she watched Meng Qi stand up from her seat, Princess Jing withdrew her thoughts. She had brought out this dish before her, thinking about the news she had heard. The eunuch from Prince Rui's palace had entered the palace carrying a wine jar and a long-spouted teapot.
Thinking of this, Princess Jing calmed down a bit. The teapot couldn't hold any food, which meant that Meng had only prepared this one dish. Even if her cooking was delicious, she had already presented it, and the emperor wasn't very satisfied, so he probably wouldn't even try it again.
Thinking of this, Princess Jing became happy again. No matter what, today she wanted to embarrass Prince Rui and his wife in order to teach Prince Rui a lesson.
Hu Changsheng stepped forward and took out a large sweet white porcelain bowl. In the bowl was only a vegetable carved into a flower pattern, placed alone at the bottom of the bowl, with a few wolfberries beside it.
Concubine Xiang looked at the simple ingredients, covered her mouth and leaned towards Concubine Lian. She whispered quietly, but everyone could hear, "Sister, take a look. What do the Sixth Brother and his wife mean? Why are they so simple? Although the Fourth Brother and his wife's cooking is not delicious, they use a lot of ingredients. Isn't the Sixth Brother too perfunctory?"
Concubine Lian frowned and looked at the bowl, then turned to look at the emperor. She wanted to open her mouth to explain something but closed it again.
"Sixth sister-in-law, what's in your bowl?" Fang Hua said disdainfully, "Isn't it cabbage?"
Meng Qi smiled and nodded, "Second sister has good eyesight, it is indeed cabbage."
"Huh?" Everyone was surprised, and the concubines who were sitting further away even stood up to see what the cabbage in the bowl looked like.
The Queen pursed her lips and smiled. "This, this, cabbage? Your Majesty, look at this? This is, this is... the carving is quite good. It looks like a lotus to me."
"Your Majesty, it's not a lotus, it's a peony. Father, it was carved by my daughter-in-law herself. She spent a long time learning how to carve it."
After saying that, he stretched out his two hands and said, "Look, there are still a lot of knife marks on it." Meng Qi stretched forward as he spoke, fearing that the emperor could not see clearly.
The virtuous concubine's mood, which had just been ruined by her daughter-in-law's dish, now improved. Looking at the so-called peony in the bowl, which could barely be considered a flower, she couldn't help but smile softly.
Her smile caused everyone to laugh as well. It was obvious that this weird looking creature had made everyone give up all hope for Meng Qi's dish.
Just when everyone was about to laugh at Meng Qi's joke, the emperor smiled lovingly and said, "I have some excellent medicine for wounds. Go get a bottle, one for you and one for Fanghua. You must be more careful in the future."
Everyone didn't expect the emperor to say this. They were all stunned for a moment and the hall became quiet.
All that was heard was Meng Qi's crisp voice, "Thank you, Father, for the reward. My fourth sister-in-law can stay up for two days and two nights just to make a dish. A scratch on my hand is nothing."
When Princess Jing heard this, she felt secretly resentful. It turned out that Meng Qi had made preparations for both situations. She must have seen that she had used her "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" and temporarily replaced it with such a weird dish.
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