Qi Guze immediately began to chew slowly and carefully, "Is it this delicious?"
"Do you think Lao Huang likes it or not?"
"We can try, but I'm afraid he won't be able to bring himself to eat it once he sees it. We need to think of another way."
Xu Yuehua nodded, "Isn't that simple? You cover your face with a cloth, what's that called? Out of sight, out of mind. After you've eaten it, let him know what it is, and he'll accept it."
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Xu Yuehuai carried the tray into the inner room.
Qi Guze had already put a blindfold on the emperor and brought it close to his ear, saying, "This thing was created by the creation of heaven and earth, and is extremely clean. Please try it."
The emperor was only curious, and then a fragrant aroma wafted over.
The emperor was in high spirits, and his appetite was awakened. He picked up his chopsticks and was about to eat.
The old eunuch Fusheng was terrified, worried that the food would anger the emperor, but little did he know that the emperor was happily munching on the food, and from his waving and gazing after him, it was clear that the emperor was overjoyed.
"It's delicious, so delicious!"
Xu Yuehuai was still about to show off, "There are some appetizers too. Lord Huang, why don't you reward me with fifty taels of silver, and I'll cook them for you?"
"Fusheng, give Miss Xu a reward, quick, quick."
Fu Sheng chuckled inwardly, never expecting that the girl Qi Guze recommended would be so petty and so fond of money.
Xu Yuehuai felt that liking money was a matter of course and there was nothing wrong with it. "I was originally planning to go home and get some rest and sleep, but I came here because of your master."
Now that I've cooked something delicious for him and he's eaten it, I naturally have to charge him accordingly.
This is perfectly natural.
Despite the old eunuch's disdain, Xu Yuehuai didn't feel anything.
He was even happier to receive fifty taels of silver.
"I'll make the rest for you to eat."
Immediately afterwards, Xu Yuehuai went to the corner again. Just when Qi Guze thought she was going to look for some cicada nymphs again, Xu Yuehuai pulled a plump, white insect out of the wet soil.
"earthworm?"
Qi Guze felt disgusted and gestured for Xu Yuehuai to stay away.
But Xu Yuehuai didn't care about all that. "This is called a soil dragon, not an earthworm. I'll make soil worm jelly for Lord Huang, and he'll definitely enjoy it."
Everyone has witnessed the Emperor devouring cicada nymphs, and now they naturally regard Xu Yuehuai's words as gospel.
Seeing Xu Yuehuai searching like this, everyone lit torches and lanterns and started searching as well. In no time, a large pile of earthen dragons was found. Xu Yuehuai had people carefully clean the earthen dragons inside and out before starting the fire.
While cooking, Xu Yuehuai noticed a few eggs in a bamboo basket in the corner of the wall, so she picked them up.
A eunuch hurriedly approached, "Miss, these eggs haven't been touched for half a month. If you need them, I'll go find some for you. Even though it's the middle of the night, I'll make sure to find the freshest ones."
Yes, with the price comparison official holding such a high position and power, let alone finding fresh eggs, even fresh human flesh could probably be found in a short time.
But Xu Yuehuai glanced at the rotten eggs and a beautiful smile appeared on her lips. "What does it matter if they're fresh or not? People with truly superb culinary skills are not rare. As for ingredients, anything you can grab is good stuff."
At this point, Xu Yuehuai picked up all the rotten eggs.
“I made live pearls for him to eat.”
"Oh right," Xu Yuehuai looked at everyone, who all looked bewildered and confused. "We also need a cold dish. Let me think what we have here?"
Use local materials.
At Xu Yuehuai's place, you can only find delicious dishes.
Nobody knows what other tricks she'll pull next.
Fifteen minutes later, Xu Yuehuai brought the food to the inner room.
Inside the room, the Emperor had just finished his conversation with Qi Guze. The Emperor praised Xu Yuehuai's cooking skills, saying, "This girl is indeed amazing. She has a good tongue and is very eloquent. Not to mention, the food she makes is also remarkable. What haven't I eaten in my life? But the gold-inlaid jade dish is the first time I've ever eaten it."
Qi Guze helped Xu Yuehua lie.
It's clearly a cicada nymph, but it insists on giving itself a strange and pretentious name, like "Gold Inlaid with Jade."
The food, inlaid with gold and jade, was delicious and visually appealing, and the emperor was overjoyed.
Qi Guze seemed a little flustered. "She also prepared some food, which you also need to eat with your eyes closed."
"Okay, okay, that's interesting."
The emperor put on a blindfold, and soon Xu Yuehuai's sea worm jelly was delivered. The emperor took a small bite and immediately beamed with delight, "Good stuff, it's sticky, chewy, and incredibly soft."
The Emperor gave high praise to this sea worm jelly.
The eunuchs below whispered among themselves, all terrified.
Standing on tiptoe, glancing sideways.
But the Emperor was eating with great gusto, and inside each of the earthworm jelly was a plump white worm. Xu Yuehuai was worried that the Emperor wouldn't eat it well, so she sent him a live pearl instead.
"Lord Huang, this is 'three taels of gold,' please have this."
The Emperor is eating live pearls again. These are things that are not available in the palace. In fact, ordinary cooks dare not mention to the Emperor that these are edible.
After eating a few, the Emperor smiled contentedly, "I've never eaten this before. Ah Yue, you've really got some skills to stand out in the capital."
"There are still some cold dishes you haven't tried yet, would you like to try them?"
The emperor's appetite was whetted, and he began to wave his chopsticks around.
Once everything was over, Xu Yuehuai had the leftovers quickly removed, so that the Emperor had no idea what he had eaten.
"What about the cold dishes?"
"But I can tell you that it is tender Sichuan pepper leaves."
"You can eat this?" The Emperor was astonished and even more curious about how Xu Yuehuai made Sichuan pepper leaves into a cold dish. Xu Yuehuai didn't shy away from telling people, "A truly skilled chef lets the ingredients release their original aroma, rather than using various seasonings to mask it. I'm letting the Sichuan pepper leaves bring out the fresh aroma of sprouting after the rain. I only added sesame oil and salt, nothing else."
The Emperor was surprised.
That's all?
Xu Yuehua nodded. "Sometimes cooking requires simplification. You gain something by giving up something else. For example, today I abandoned the original cooking methods, so you enjoyed the meal. If you want to eat here again, just come to my Tianxiang Restaurant to order."
The Emperor nodded, "Alright, I'll contact you when I have time. Thank you for today."
Xu Yuehuai laughed, "It's my duty," then looked back at Fusheng and the other timid eunuchs, "Who's going to settle the appearance fee and other expenses?"
"Come with me, young lady."
Fu Sheng led Xu Yuehuai to another room.
Fu Sheng was overjoyed and gave her the silver. The moment he got close, Xu Yuehuai smelled a faint stench.
At first, of course, I didn't understand what the stench was.
But when Xu Yuehuai returned to the inn and was counting the money, she suddenly understood.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com