Yes, back then, she ate the Fulu Yingyu beef ribs. Thinking of her days in the orphanage and Ah Jiu, her eyes welled up with tears. She took a deep breath. Another year had passed, and she should be in the South now.
"Ah Jun, what are you daydreaming about?" The Crown Prince, supported by Li Zhuo, walked past her and asked curiously when he saw her standing there in a daze.
Zhao Shu snapped out of her reverie. "I'm thinking about what to do first."
Zhao Yi couldn't help either, so he went to the stove in the distance. With the Empress Dowager there, there was no need to be too careful, but the separation of men and women still needed to be observed. He and Prince Yong tacitly chose the stove that was furthest away.
The small kitchen was almost empty of servants. Even Zhang Chuzhong, a trusted confidante of the Empress Dowager, was waiting outside. The only one, Li Zhuo, was allowed to stay because the Crown Prince was unable to move easily and needed assistance.
Zhao Shu looked around and found that everyone was busy with their own things, so she felt relieved and started putting the washed beef ribs into the pot to cook.
The ingredients and pots and pans were all washed, so she didn't have to do that herself. After putting them in the pot and putting the lid on, she started to shape the meatballs.
The meat had already been chopped. All she needed to do was mix the eggs, ginger, scallions, and minced meat together, and then shape them into meatballs. She had heard Ah Jiu say before that Four Happiness Meatballs required something called water chestnut, which is a type of water chestnut that grows in paddy fields and can be eaten as a fruit.
She glanced at the chopping board; there was nothing there. She beckoned outside, and Chu Chun hurriedly came in, saying, "Princess."
Do you know about horseshoe crab?
"I know, I used to dig them up in the fields when I was a child." It was such a distant memory that she could no longer recall what horseshoe nails looked like, but she still remembered the name.
Zhao Shu nodded, "Go and find me some quickly." She glanced at the beef ribs cooking in the pot, "If you can find some within half an hour, bring them over; if you can't find them within half an hour, then don't bother."
"Oh, this servant will go find it right away." She wondered how the princess knew about such a common snack as horseshoe-shaped pastries. Unable to figure it out, she shook her head, quickened her pace, and soon arrived at the main kitchen.
I figured I couldn't make meatballs anytime soon, so I changed the stove and told the eunuch in charge of the fire to start a fire. I put the duck meat, which had been gutted, washed, and chopped, into the pot and stir-fried it.
The stove in the small kitchen was similar to that in the imperial kitchen, with a eunuch in charge of the fire, and the bellows were operated in a separate room.
After stir-frying the duck meat, put it into a casserole dish, pour in the prepared hot water, and sprinkle in old ginger, goji berries, and, not to mention, radish.
After doing all this, the beef ribs are cooked. Open the lid and you can see that the meat has separated from the bone. Across from you, Sun Yun has already prepared three dishes...
Even cooking a dish involves such fierce competition," she muttered, then added the potatoes and continued cooking.
At this moment, Zhang Chu came in again, "Empress Dowager, Eunuch Liang has arrived."
The Empress Dowager paused in her work, handing the spatula to Zhang Chu. "Help me change my clothes." She then prevented Zhao Shu and the others from going down to change and receive the imperial decree. Since Liang Yunsi had arrived, he must have brought the imperial decree. Zhao Shu was happy that she didn't have to go down to bathe and change, and continued cooking.
Zhang Chu handed the spatula to Ji Yun, then hurriedly followed the Empress Dowager away.
Zhang Chu worked quickly and soon finished cooking the dishes, which he then served in palace bowls. Without asking if he needed any further assistance, he took his leave.
Prince Yong whispered to the Crown Prince, "Why didn't Zhang Chu see me giving her a meaningful look?"
“Nineteenth Uncle, I told you not to join in the fun, but you insisted. Now look what’s happened, you’ve lost face. But I’ll teach you a trick,” the Crown Prince said softly.
Prince Yong's eyes lit up. "Uncle Nineteen didn't spoil you for nothing. Tell me quickly."
The Crown Prince glanced around before his gaze fell on Li Zhuo, who hunched his neck and said, "Your Highness, I don't know either."
Even a hero like him was stumped by a single dish. He blushed as he said this. He didn't have the idea that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. Wasn't cooking just a woman's job? To this day, he still thinks that the prince and the crown prince must have had their brains squeezed by a door.
"Uncle Nineteen, look at this green vegetable. It's long, so let's cook it, put it on a plate, surround it with carrots, and give it an auspicious name. That'll do it."
Prince Yong gave a thumbs up, "That makes sense. Lettuce can be carved into the shape of a ruyi (a traditional Chinese symbol of good fortune)." Without further ado, he called out to Uncle Fu, "Bring me a carving knife."
The Crown Prince gave Prince Yong a strange look. "Nineteenth Uncle, you can also carve?"
Prince Yong smiled mysteriously, “I have a friend who is very knowledgeable, so I learned some of his knowledge.”
Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince recalled his infamous nineteenth uncle and realized that it was probably one of his friends from all walks of life.
When Chu Chun brought a bowl of water chestnut cubes, Zhao Shu was just taking the beef ribs and potatoes out of the pot. There wasn't enough seasoning, and the color looked different from what she had eaten before, but so what? No one else had ever seen it before except her.
"Pick it for me." The water chestnuts are covered with a hard outer skin, which is extremely troublesome to peel. If she peels them herself, it will probably take until nightfall.
Chu Chun sighed and took it out, then had Wan Dong and the others gather around the stone table to peel water chestnuts for her.
Sun Yun across the table had only soup left to cook, and even the Crown Prince had cooked several dishes. He sighed, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to make thousand-layer tofu.
Although the tofu was washed, it wasn't cut into pieces. Her tofu-cutting skills were nowhere near as good as Xing'er's, but thankfully, as long as she was careful, the tofu she cut wouldn't look too bad.
In the past, when we ate thousand-layer tofu, the tofu pieces were triangular. This was no challenge for her. After cutting the tofu into thin slices, she would coat them with minced ginger, soy sauce, salt, and chopped green onions, and then fry them in oil over low heat.
The thousand-layer tofu was ready, and in the kitchen, only she was still busy. The other three had already prepared their own three dishes and a soup, and were watching her with their arms crossed.
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