Ever since Zishuang was sent away, the atmosphere in Yaoguang Palace has become much more harmonious.

At first Tao Ti thought it was her illusion, until one afternoon when she accidentally overheard the chattering of three little palace maids.

All they talked about was how Zishuang had abused her power to bully others, and how rude she had been to them, the little palace maids, both openly and covertly. They should thank God that she was gone now, and that the Crown Princess had finally done a good deed... and so on.

Then, the topic naturally turned from Zishuang to her master——

"In fact, I think the Crown Princess is a very nice person. She is always polite to everyone and I have never seen her put on airs."

"You've only eaten the snacks made by the Crown Princess twice, and your heart has already turned to her? You are so shallow! Who knows if she has really changed for the better or is just pretending for Your Highness to see?"

"She's not pretending, is she? Hey, don't think so badly of her. If you think about it carefully, the Crown Princess is quite pitiful. Which lady doesn't want to marry a healthy man? Our prince's health is indeed not good... She took poison at that time, probably because she was thinking wrongly."

"That being said, I still feel uncomfortable when I think about what she did before."

Tao Ti heard these gossips in the back hallway, but she was not angry. After all, it takes some time to change the impression. At least for now, there are still people speaking for her. From the small things, we can see the big picture. So her reputation is gradually getting better?

She was thinking optimistically, when she suddenly heard Linglong looking for her.

In order to prevent the palace maids from discovering that she, the Crown Princess, was eavesdropping around the wall, she quickly and quietly moved away and walked towards the front of the hall.

It turned out that a female official from the Neizhi Bureau came to measure her size in preparation for making summer shirts.

Tao Ti cooperated with the female official in the measurement, and was very satisfied when she saw the measured data.

This body has a slim waist and long limbs. Although the breasts are a bit small, they are still very attractive if squeezed.

The female official also measured and praised her at the same time. Tao Ti was so happy that she gave her a purse as a reward. The female official was surprised and happy, and kept thanking her.

After the female official left, Tao Ti saw that the weather was good and wanted to take advantage of this half day to finish stepping on the large map of the East Palace.

Seeing that she was in a good mood, Linglong naturally didn't bother her. She asked two eunuchs to accompany her and followed Tao Ti out.

The East Palace covers a large area, with numerous palaces, pavilions, gardens and rockery, and the scenery is pleasant.

One of the eunuchs had a clever mouth and kept talking, introducing various places in the East Palace along the way. Tao Ti listened with great interest and thought to herself that it was a pity that he was born at the wrong time with such a good eloquence. If he were in modern times, he would definitely be a gold medal tour guide.

The group strolled leisurely for nearly two hours before they managed to get a general tour of the East Palace.

"I'm so tired. I didn't expect the East Palace to be so big. My legs are about to break. I have to soak my feet in a basin of hot water at night."

When Tao Ti returned to Yaoguang Palace in the afterglow of the setting sun, sighing, Pei Yan was already sitting in the courtyard drinking tea.

Hearing noise at the door, he turned around.

Today he was wearing a light white brocade robe, a jade belt around his waist, and sitting upright. The golden sunlight softly fell on him, making his already delicate and beautiful eyebrows even more gentle.

This situation made Tao Ti forget to speak for a moment and stopped walking subconsciously.

Pei Yan smiled at her, his voice neither too loud nor too low, "Are you back?"

Tao Ti came back to her senses and walked towards him with a little surprise in her dark and clear eyes. She said, "Your Highness, why are you here so early?"

In the past he always came at dinner time, but it was not even dark now.

"I'm not busy today, so I came here to sit down." Pei Yan raised his hand and poured her a cup of tea, motioning her to sit down and drink the tea.

Tao Ti was thirsty as well, so she sat down opposite him, picked up the teacup and started drinking, without giving much thought to the idea of ​​"on the way".

Pei Yan saw that her cheeks were slightly red and a thin layer of sweat was oozing out of her smooth forehead. He narrowed his eyes and asked softly, "I heard you say you were tired just now. Where did you go shopping?"

Tao Ti drank a glass of water but still felt it was not enough, so she filled another one for herself and replied, "I have been in the East Palace for a while, but I haven't been able to take a good look around, so today I walked around the East Palace all at once. I just didn't expect the East Palace to be so big, and it took me almost an afternoon to walk around it all!"

Hearing this, Pei Yan raised his eyes calmly and glanced at Linglong beside him.

As if she understood the question in that deep gaze, she nodded neatly, indicating that the Crown Princess was telling the truth.

Pei Yan raised the corners of his lips and said calmly, "There is a long time to come, you can take your time to look around, there is no need to rush."

There happened to be a breeze blowing by, causing his sleeves to move slightly. Somehow, the only thing in Tao Ti's mind was his words "there is a long way to go".

She lowered her eyes and looked at his slender fingers holding the cup. The skin on the back of his hand was particularly pale, and the light blue veins could be clearly seen.

With such a weak body, how long will he live?

In this quiet gap, the sunlight dimmed a little bit without anyone noticing.

Tao Ti was still feeling melancholy about his physical condition, but when he looked up, he saw an orange-red sunset hanging quietly in the sky not far away. It was bright and shiny, like a Gaoyou salted duck egg with its bluish-white shell cracked open and oil oozing out.

Thinking of the wonderful salty and crunchy taste of salted egg yolk, Tao Ti's eyes curved and said to Pei Yan in a brisk tone, "Your Highness, how about having salted egg yolk fried rice tonight?"

Pei Yan, "......?"

Why are we suddenly talking about dinner?

Fu Xirui, who was standing at the side, was also a little surprised. He was just thinking about whether to change the subject for the Crown Prince, when he heard the Crown Prince gently say to the Crown Princess, "You must be tired after walking around all afternoon. Take a good rest. Ask the kitchen to prepare dinner."

"I was a little tired just now, but now I'm fine after taking a break. Besides, it's not a banquet, just frying rice, it's a piece of cake." Having said this, Tao Ti touched her nose a little embarrassedly and whispered, "It's mainly because... I suddenly had a craving for it."

Although after tens of thousands of years of evolution, they are no longer as greedy and gluttonous as recorded in ancient books, but their yearning and greed for food, especially delicacies, is still deeply buried in their bones.

Once they want to eat something, they have to eat it. Otherwise, the food will become like a spell, constantly appearing in their minds. The more they think about it, the more they want to eat it, and the more they want to eat it, it becomes a vicious cycle.

For example, Tao Ti's thirteenth uncle was on business in Guangzhou the night before. He wanted to eat authentic baked naan and steamed buns in the middle of the night, so he immediately bought a ticket and flew to Wushi just to have a taste of the fresh and hot food.

Tao Ti's frank and greedy look made Pei Yan chuckle.

Tao Ti was stunned by his laughter, and her watery eyes flickered and blinked, "Your Highness, what are you laughing at?" Was it because he laughed at her for being too gluttonous?

Pei Yan's charming peach blossom eyes looked at her steadily, his voice magnetic and soft, "I'm happy to think that I can taste your craftsmanship again."

Taoti, "..."

Oops, it seems I’ve been teased again.

Her ears were a little hot, and her tone was flustered, but she pretended to be calm, "As long as you like it... Well, it's getting late now, I'll go back to the room to clean up and prepare dinner."

Having said that, she quickly stood up and walked hurriedly into the house.

Pei Yan looked at her petite back, and the smile in his eyes gradually faded after a while.

Fu Xirui, who was standing at the side, carefully observed the prince's demeanor, wondering in his heart, His Highness had just said that he was coming to Yaoguang Palace to sit for a while and would leave, and had no intention of staying longer... Why did he stay just because the Crown Princess made a fuss? How strange.

Come to think of it, this Crown Princess is really... undisciplined. When the Crown Prince stays for dinner, he should at least set up a rich table to show his respect. But she had a bowl of noodles yesterday and a bowl of rice today? Her husband is the Crown Prince, not some peddler!

No matter how much they complained in their hearts, half an hour later, the rich and tempting aroma wafted from the small kitchen. Not to mention Fu Xirui, everyone in the entire Yaoguang Palace stretched their necks to take a deep sniff.

My Lord, what did the Crown Princess do? How can it smell so good?!

Even Pei Yan, who was sitting in the hall playing chess with himself, paused in the air for a moment with his hand holding the black chess piece.

Can fried rice be so fragrant?

Of course--

Fried rice doesn't have that much power. The reason why it's so fragrant is all thanks to the salted egg yolk chicken wings.

In the small kitchen, a small pot of oil was bubbling. As soon as the chicken wings coated with batter were put into the pot, they immediately made a sizzling sound and emitted an extremely tempting aroma.

After frying until golden and crispy, pick up the chicken wings, heat another pan with oil, put the sauce made with salty egg yolk into the pan and melt it. After frying dense golden foam, pour the fried chicken wings into it and stir-fry quickly to make sure the surface of the chicken wings is covered with salty egg yolk sauce.

In this way, a delicious salted egg yolk chicken wings is ready.

After simply arranging the dishes, Taoti turned around and started making salted egg yolk fried rice.

The rice was the overnight meal that she had specially ordered the kitchen to prepare. When Chief Steward Sun first heard this request, he was a little confused. After all, the kitchen provided the masters with freshly steamed rice, so how could they dare to fool with overnight rice? But since this was a special order from the Crown Princess, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and took a large bowl of leftover rice from the palace servants' meals and sent it to Yaoguang Palace together with other ingredients.

Tao Ti was seen flipping the spoon in a graceful manner. Grains of golden rice tumbled in the air and then fell steadily back into the pot, without a single grain falling.

The palace maids who helped in the kitchen were all wide-eyed and exclaimed in their hearts: The Crown Princess is so amazing.

Soon, Tao Ti served fried rice, took off her apron and said, "Take it all to the dining room."

The palace servants swallowed their saliva and hurriedly went out with the simple yet extremely tempting food.

Tao Ti washed her hands, walked out of the kitchen to get rid of the smell of oil smoke on her body, and then went to the dining room. The small kitchen was only a short distance from the dining room, but almost every palace servant she met on the way looked at her with great admiration.

When she stepped into the dining room, the palace servants in the dining room had the same expression.

Tao Ti raised her eyebrows slightly and found it funny: I just cooked a meal, how could this increase favorability?

On second thought, it seems that no matter which dynasty, the people of this vast land are extremely fond of food. Food is the first necessity of the people, and it is true!

"Didn't you say you were just going to make fried rice? Why did you make so much?" Pei Yan glanced at the food on the table: a large bowl of golden fried rice, a plate of crispy chicken wings, a bowl of delicious and light vegetable and tofu soup, as well as some usual fruits and cakes, and a pot of fragrant jasmine tea.

"I made too much salted egg yolk, and thought it would be a pity to waste it, so I fried some chicken wings. As for the vegetable and tofu soup, it's even simpler. Once the water boils, just add the ingredients, add some seasoning and serve. It's a piece of cake." Tao Ti said in a relaxed tone.

"Thank you for your hard work." There was a soft light in Pei Yan's eyes.

"Hey, don't be polite. I just want to eat it. Let's sit down and eat. It won't taste good if it gets cold."

The two sat facing each other. Tao Ti directly scooped a large bowl of rice into her own bowl. Seeing Pei Yan's gentle appearance, she scooped a large bowl for him as well, "Eat it, it's delicious!"

Pei Yan usually doesn't eat much, and his meals are light. Now, facing this big bowl of shiny, golden fried rice, he was a little dazed.

He was about to say "I probably can't eat so much", but when he looked up, he saw the girl opposite him had already started eating.

She ate very happily, her cheeks were bulging, and her bright eyes and brows showed a natural joy of being immersed in the delicious food.

Seeing how happily she was eating, Pei Yan couldn't help but feel hungry and took a bite of the fried rice.

As soon as it entered his mouth, a hint of surprise flashed across Pei Yan's dark eyes.

This salted egg yolk fried rice is really delicious. The rice is golden in color and the grains are distinct. Every bite has the crunchy texture of the salted egg yolk, and the fresh and fragrant taste is like the most plump crab roe in autumn.

Seeing him eat several mouthfuls, Tao Ti asked with a smile, "How is it? Is it delicious?"

"Very good." Pei Yan commented affirmatively and tried another piece of chicken wing. He took a bite and found the skin was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, juicy and full of meaty aroma.

The palace maids standing by saw them eating mouthful after mouthful, their noses filled with the tempting aroma of the food, their saliva almost turning into tears: serving food in the past didn’t seem to be that hard, but now... they are so greedy!

Seeing that the prince had a large bowl of fried rice, three chicken wings, and a bowl of vegetable and tofu soup for dinner, Fu Xirui's eyes almost popped out:

Your Highness actually ate so much? This is the first time in history!

If at the beginning he only thought that the Crown Princess was a good cook, now seeing that the Crown Princess could make the Crown Prince eat so much rice, Fu Xirui almost wanted to worship the Crown Princess like a Bodhisattva!

——

That night, Pei Yan stayed in Yaoguang Palace again.

Before going to bed, he asked casually, "Tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the lunar month. Are you nervous about going to pay respects to the Queen alone?"

Tao Ti was surprised, "Yes, tomorrow is the fifteenth..."

Time passed so quickly, and she was so happy in the kitchen that she almost forgot about it.

"If you don't want to go, you can claim you are sick."

"Well, I just got married not long ago, so this is not good... The first time is unfamiliar, so I should go for a visit." Tao Ti thought to herself, Ganlu Palace is not a dangerous place, and Queen Zhou's attitude is quite polite. It's just a matter of sleeping less for a day, so it would be safer to perform the necessary etiquette.

Seeing her say this, Pei Yan made an ambiguous "hmm" sound and said softly, "Go to sleep."

Tao Ti closed her eyes obediently, but for some reason, her eyelids twitched several times when she thought about going to Ganlu Palace tomorrow.