"Pfft!!" The Empress Dowager burst into laughter as soon as she heard Lanqin's words.
Emperor Kangxi laughed heartily, pointing to the imperial dish before him and saying, "Liang Jiugong, reward! Give this dish to the concubine of the Fourth Prince! Send it to her table." It turned out that the imperial dishes placed on the emperor's table were naturally different from those placed on other people's tables; the food served to the supreme ruler was unique.
Lanqin had long noticed that the food on Emperor Kangxi's table was different from what she had on her side; it looked much more luxurious. She had been wanting to try it for a while, and now that she heard that Emperor Kangxi was going to reward her with imperial dishes, she was truly happy and quickly said, "Thank you, Father Emperor, for the meat!"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Kangxi was delighted and said with a smile, "Since you like eating meat so much, then bring over my plate of roasted pork knuckle."
The four concubines and the other ladies-in-waiting serving nearby all covered their mouths and chuckled. That was a whole pig's trotter! How could she possibly eat it? Normally, imperial dishes bestowed by the emperor were not allowed to be left over; they had to be eaten entirely.
Lanqin was aware of this, of course. When she saw that Kangxi had bestowed upon her three or four dishes in one go, including a whole pig's trotter, she immediately became a little worried about her stomach. However, she couldn't refuse to eat, so she said with a wronged expression, "Your Majesty, may I make a small request?"
Kangxi was extremely happy looking at his concubine's silly expression, laughing so hard he almost cried. When he saw Lanqin making another request, he quickly said, "Speak!"
Meanwhile, the princes and their wives had been quietly listening to the conversation between Kangxi and Lanqin since early morning. Because the Fourth Prince was far away, he naturally couldn't hear what Kangxi and Lanqin were saying. He only saw the group of women sitting around Kangxi with their heads down and chuckling, which made him feel a little uneasy.
Meanwhile, Lanqin was unaware that her master was worried about her. She answered Kangxi's question naturally, "Your Majesty, these imperial dishes were all made by the imperial chefs. They are delicious and beautifully presented, but they all get cold as soon as they are served. It's fine in the summer, but in the dead of winter, it's bad for one's stomach. My request is that you take these dishes back and reheat them before serving them again, so that I can definitely finish them all."
The Empress Dowager laughed until she wiped away tears several times, and said breathlessly, "My son, this request is not excessive. It's not easy for her, a woman, to finish all these dishes by herself. Reheat them, be careful not to let her stomach get cold."
Lanqin immediately curtsied to the Empress Dowager and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Empress Dowager!"
Kangxi nodded and smiled, "Alright, as you say. Liang Jiugong, go and take these dishes out to reheat them. When you bring them to Consort Niu's table, they must be steaming hot!"
This was practically a death order for the imperial kitchen; their time to be tested had come. In this freezing cold, the food containers couldn't keep the food warm at all, so any delicious dishes would be cold as soon as they were served!
Lanqin immediately smiled and said, "Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty! I have a way to keep the dishes warm. Why don't you have Eunuch Liang send someone to tell the chefs in the Imperial Kitchen?"
Seeing that Lanqin still had a way to keep the food from getting cold, Kangxi quickly said, "Tell me!"
Lanqin knew that there were no thermos flasks in the Qing Dynasty at this time, so she could only use the old method to keep things warm!
"Your Majesty, why don't we have the chefs wrap the food boxes in quilts and bring them over? That way they won't get cold," Lanqin quickly suggested.
"Haha, is there such a thing as not letting the food get cold?" This was the little princess sitting in the lap of a concubine who suddenly spoke up. She was indeed the daughter of the sixteenth princess, Consort Shu, whom Emperor Kangxi had always doted on, and was the full sibling of the seventeenth prince.
Consort Shu quickly tugged at the nine-year-old Sixteenth Princess and said, "The Sixteenth Princess was impetuous and offended Your Majesty. Please forgive her!"
Emperor Kangxi looked at the Sixteenth Princess with affection and said, "It's alright, what Qian'er said is exactly what I was thinking. You said that cotton quilts can keep the dishes from getting cold?"
Lanqin chimed in, "Yes, isn't that the same principle as sleeping under a thick quilt in winter?"
After a moment's thought, Kangxi nodded and said, "That makes sense! I never even thought of such a simple principle!"
Upon hearing this, Lanqin immediately flattered him, saying, "Your Majesty is thinking about important matters of state, while I, a mere woman, am naturally thinking about trivial things."
It must be said that Lanqin's reply was quite brilliant! Kangxi was delighted upon hearing it and was not at all annoyed that he hadn't thought of it.
"Liang Jiugong, immediately send someone to tell the kitchen to keep the food warm in this way, and do it this way from now on, so that the dishes won't get cold!" Kangxi immediately ordered.
After Liang Jiugong went to instruct someone to remove the dishes in front of Kangxi, Lanqin realized she should return to her own table and wait. She wasn't worried about not being able to finish; in fact, her stomach was quite empty, and the dishes on the table were cold, so she hadn't eaten much of them. The pork knuckle that had been served was just what she wanted.
"Liang Jiugong, add a seat for my concubine here! You will sit here to accompany me!" Kangxi seemed to have seen through Lanqin's little scheme, and before she could speak, he immediately shattered her hopes.
As expected, Lanqin's expression turned strange as she paused, but in the end, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and express her gratitude, saying, "Thank you, Father Emperor!"
After Liang Jiugong had a round stool brought over and placed to the left of Kangxi's desk, Lanqin had no choice but to sit down next to Kangxi's desk.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince, seeing this, was at a loss for words. The young woman, after saying something, actually sat down next to the Emperor, seemingly to dine with him.
When Lady Nian saw that Lanqin had not only not been reprimanded, but had even sat down next to Emperor Kangxi, she was both surprised and jealous. She could only stare at Lanqin's figure with eyes that could shoot flying knives from time to time.
Not only her, but even the First Consort and the former Crown Princess felt quite uncomfortable seeing Lanqin so smug in front of Kangxi. They were all Kangxi's legitimate daughters-in-law, while Lanqin was merely a concubine. Now she was dining at Kangxi's table with the emperor—where did that leave them?
Lanqin suddenly felt a chill down her spine. Without even thinking, she realized that the women sitting below were all casting envious glances at her back.
A moment later, several eunuchs came up carrying food boxes that were covered with cotton sleeves.
When the eunuchs opened the food boxes one by one and brought out the dishes, they saw that the dishes were still steaming hot!
Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but secretly admire Lanqin's cleverness.
"Father, let me eat!" Lanqin was already drooling, her stomach was rumbling. If she hadn't had a few pastries at Consort De's place, she wouldn't have had the energy to talk.
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