After the Dragon Boat Festival, Linglong discovered that the Crown Princess had become very different.

For example, when she got up this morning, the Crown Princess was hugging her pillow and grinning foolishly, and suddenly rolled back and forth on the bed.

For example, during lunch, the Crown Princess was eating when she suddenly held her chin in her hand, looking thoughtful and her face gradually turned red.

For example, when I mentioned the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess' eyes would light up, and the whole person would... feel inexplicably excited?

When the Crown Princess once again smiled foolishly at the ordinary red rope on her wrist, Linglong finally couldn't help but step forward and asked, "Crown Princess, did something good happen to you?"

Tao Ti's eyes sparkled and she grinned, "I guess so!"

Linglong wanted to ask more questions, but she saw the Crown Princess stand up and pull her out, "It's getting late, let's go to the kitchen and make something delicious and send it to His Highness later."

Linglong was startled, "Oh oh..." and hurriedly followed.

Tao Ti strolled around the kitchen slowly, and finally set her sights on the hanging stove in the corner. This hanging stove was mostly used to prepare smoked meat and grilled meat for banquets, and was rarely used on weekdays.

She stroked her chin and caught a glimpse of the quacking ducks in the cage from the corner of her eye. She immediately had an idea -

She picked out a big, fat and plump duck and asked the palace servants to pluck the duck and wash it. She used a knife to cut a small incision under the duck's left shoulder, took out the dirty internal organs and washed them. She then filled the duck's belly with boiling water and tied the small hole with a rope. After all this treatment, the duck was complete, white, fat, and plump.

The chefs in the kitchen nearby were seeing this method for the first time and were discussing it in a low voice:

"Does the Crown Princess want a roast duck? Isn't it better to just cut the duck open, skewer it, and then roast it?"

"That's right. I don't know if the inside can be cooked through using this method."

"Why is there water in the duck's stomach? Is this water for drinking as soup?"

Everyone was wondering, when the Crown Princess came over and explained softly, "Pour water into the duck's stomach. First, it prevents the duck from losing water while being roasted, which would cause the meat to become tough and taste like chewing wax. Second, the hot water will stretch the duck's skin, so it won't become soft when roasted, but will be thin and crispy, and taste better."

After hearing this, the chefs in the kitchen suddenly realized that this was the truth!

One after another, they bowed to the Crown Princess and thanked her for clearing up their doubts.

Taoti smiled and said "you're welcome", then turned around and took out some honey and water, and poured the honey water all over the duck while it was still hot. After the first layer of honey water dried, she poured it again. After the two steps, the white and tender duck was coated with a light golden color, which looked good.

After this treatment, the hanging oven was almost done. The duck was roasted using fruit wood charcoal, which had no smoke but a light fruit wood aroma. When the furnace wall was illuminated brightly and red by the fire, Tao Ti put the duck into the hanging oven.

Pointing to a palace servant to watch the fire, Tao Ti went to deal with the dirty duck entrails and duck blood that had been taken out.

The cook was originally planning to throw away the dirty stuff, but when he heard the Crown Princess wanted to take it away, he was surprised. "What does the Crown Princess want to do with this dirty stuff? You're not going to use it in the dishes, are you?"

Although the Crown Princess is a good cook, these things... poor people don't have meat to eat, so it's okay to cook and eat them casually, but the Crown Princess and His Highness are both of noble status and never lack meat to eat, why do they still have to eat these? Oh, it looks scary.

Tao Ti took the bowl of dirty duck and said with a smile, "Duck is a treasure from head to toe. You can never go wrong with it no matter how you eat it. Don't underestimate the duck offal and duck blood. Whether it's stir-fried, made into brine, or boiled into soup, it has a unique flavor."

She knew that some people couldn't accept dirt, so she didn't explain much, just said, "These are perfect for making duck blood vermicelli soup."

This duck blood vermicelli soup is a specialty snack in Nanjing. It is usually cooked with duck blood, duck intestines, duck liver, duck gizzards, etc. It has a light and fresh taste and is suitable for all ages. Although Tao Ti has a strong taste, she also likes this duck blood vermicelli soup. Even Qiongqi, who doesn't like to eat dirty things, ate half a bowl after taking a bite.

Tao Ti had already planned it out. She would roast the duck body, make duck blood and vermicelli soup with the duck offal, make brining with the duck wings, duck necks and duck feet, and make pepper and salt duck racks with the duck bones.

She was arranging things in an orderly manner, while the cooks in the kitchen were helping her and learning secretly.

…

Inside the Tongming Palace, Fu Xirui also discovered that the prince was a little different today.

Every time he finished one task, he would habitually touch the red rope on his wrist and then move on to the next one.

Fu Xirui wondered in his heart, could it be that this red rope has the power to bless the government to go smoothly?

I changed the cup of tea, it was getting late.

When Fu Xirui was about to ask whether he should go to the Crown Princess's place for dinner, a voice announced outside the door - "The Crown Princess has arrived."

Fu Xirui was startled and looked at the prince. He put down the wolf-hair brush in his hand, with a gentle smile between his eyebrows, and ordered, "Please come in quickly."

Fu Xirui responded and hurried out.

Soon, Tao Ti, wearing a lotus-colored long skirt, walked in, followed by four eunuchs holding food boxes.

"Ati, you're here." Pei Yan stood up from the table and walked forward to greet her, stopping her from bowing and naturally holding her hand. "From now on, when we meet, there's no need to be polite."

Tao Ti still remembered the confession from last night. Her cheeks flushed and she whispered, "Okay."

Pei Yan glanced at the eunuchs behind her nonchalantly, "Did they just come from the kitchen?"

When it comes to food, Tao Ti's shyness subsided a little, and she smiled and said, "Isn't it time for dinner? I went to the kitchen and took a look. I made roast duck today, it's delicious!"

As she spoke, she turned around and told the eunuchs to quickly serve dinner.

"Come, Your Highness, let's go and sit down."

She pulled Pei Yan to sit at the table. On the small square table were two bowls of duck blood vermicelli soup, a portion of pepper and salt duck rack, and a large portion of roast duck and side dishes.

The roast duck was roasted to a rosy red color, and the duck meat underneath was tender and white. Each slice of roast duck was sliced ​​evenly, and each one was placed neatly on the plate like a clove leaf. There was also a plate of soft rice-white lotus leaf cakes, green onion shreds, cucumber strips, hawthorn strips, mashed garlic, and sweet bean sauce on the side.

After washing her hands, Tao Ti first picked up a thin lotus leaf cake and spread it on her hand. She then put three slices of roast duck on it and added some side dishes such as shredded green onions and cucumber strips. Finally, she spread some sweet bean sauce on it and rolled it up lightly. A roast duck roll was ready.

She handed it to Pei Yan, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, "Your Highness, try the roast duck first. It tastes best when eaten hot."

"This way of eating is quite novel." Pei Yan took the roast duck roll, looked at it, and seemed to be hesitating about how to eat it.

Tao Ti said, "Your Highness, put it into your mouth vertically. This way you can taste all the ingredients at once."

As soon as it reaches your mouth, the unique aroma of roast duck goes straight into your nose. When you take a bite, the soft dough touches your teeth, and then the crispy and oily roast duck meat is underneath, accompanied by the sweet and spicy shredded green onions, the crisp and sweet cucumber strips, the sour and sweet hawthorn strips, and the strong salty aroma of sweet noodle sauce. The whole taste is extremely rich, fragrant but not greasy, and the more you chew, the better it tastes.

Tao Ti also rolled one and ate it. She liked eating meat, so she put five pieces of meat in the lotus leaf pancake, and it was almost too big to fit in the whole lotus leaf pancake.

Her eating manners were not as elegant as Pei Yan's. She simply opened her mouth and took a snap to eat half of the meal. Her cheeks were bulging. The rich taste of the delicious, crispy roast duck and sweet bean sauce satisfied her appetite to the extreme. The physical and mental happiness she felt was hard to describe in words.

Seeing her shaking her head while eating, Pei Yan chuckled, reached out to take a lotus leaf cake, and rolled it up like her.

After rolling one, he gently placed it in front of her and said softly, "Eat slowly."

Tao Ti said vaguely, "Your Highness, you eat too."

Pei Yan smiled, rolled one and ate it, then turned his attention to the duck blood vermicelli soup on the other side.

The duck blood and vermicelli soup was served in a large celadon bowl. The soup was rich and fragrant, slightly milky white, the vermicelli was crystal clear, the duck offal was finely chopped, the duck blood was date red, and together with the emerald green onions and chopped coriander, it embellished this fragrant delicacy.

"Ati, what's on top of the vermicelli?" Pei Yan asked with a frown.

"It's duck offal, which includes duck liver, duck intestines, duck hearts, duck gizzards, etc..." Tao Ti picked up a piece of duck skin with chopsticks and put it into her mouth directly with some sweet sauce without rolling it up. This way of eating made the crispiness of the duck skin and the aroma of the duck fat more intense.

Seeing Pei Yan hesitated and didn't move his chopsticks, Tao Ti raised her eyebrows and urged him with a bit of mischief, "Your Highness, why don't you try it? If you don't want to eat duck offal, why don't you try the soup and vermicelli first? This soup is made from duck bones stewed for half an hour, it's delicious."

As if to prove her words, she picked up the bowl in front of her, first took a big gulp of soup, then took a big bite of vermicelli, and said with satisfaction, "Fresh! Fragrant! Delicious!"

Pei Yan was amused by her, and a smile appeared between his gentle eyebrows. "Okay, I'll try it too."

This time, his eyes moved slightly.

The soup is indeed mellow and delicious, with a mild taste but not too bland. I took another bite of the vermicelli, which was soft and tender, and absorbed the delicious soup. It was chewy and refreshing in my mouth.

As for the duck offal, he paused with his chopsticks for a moment, looked up and saw the little girl opposite him had her head buried, eating happily one bite after another.

Pursing his lips, he tried to pick up a duck intestine and put it into his mouth, his eyebrows slightly raised. It was much better than he had imagined.

The duck intestines are processed very cleanly, without any fishy smell. Instead, they have a unique halogenated fragrance because they have been halved, and they taste crispy and chewy.

Once there is a chance, there will be a second time. After tasting the duck intestines, he tried other duck offal and they all tasted good.

The palace maids serving on the side watched their masters eat with gusto, swallowed their saliva, lowered their heads silently, and thought to themselves: If we don't watch, we won't get any food!

Before they knew it, the dishes on the table had been almost finished by the two of them.

After eating and drinking, they sat for a while, holding hands and taking a walk outside to digest the food.

"We will set off back to Chang'an the day after tomorrow." Pei Yan said softly.

When Tao Ti heard this, she hurriedly asked, "There shouldn't be any farewell banquet this time, right?"

Pei Yan saw that she looked like a threat and laughed softly, "No more."

He narrowed his eyes, and said in a low and firm voice, "We will return to Chang'an safely this time..."

Then, the fun will begin.