Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 536 The Emperor came to eat and talked about his troubles

Zhenniang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, just try each one and you will know."

The Queen Mother nodded and said, "Then give it a try."

Zhenniang answered yes, picked up the spoon from the braised lamb chops soup, scooped a spoonful, and was about to pour it into the bowl of eight-treasure noodles.

The Queen Mother suddenly changed her mind: "Let's try this clear soup first. It looks light and refreshing, and seems to be more delicious."

Zhenniang put the spoon back into the bowl as she was told, then picked up the spoon from the bowl of clear soup, added a few spoonfuls of soup to the bowl of eight-treasure noodles, and also served a piece of lamb ribs and two pieces of Chinese yam.

Stir the food with chopsticks before putting down the chopsticks.

The Queen Mother first scooped a spoonful of soup to taste.

The soup was poured from the large soup bowl into a small soup bowl, and then into a noodle bowl and mixed with the noodles. It now tasted just the right temperature to eat.

It's slightly hot, and tastes very fresh at first, with a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste.

And although it is lamb chops soup, it does not have a fishy smell.

The mouth is filled with freshness and fragrance, as well as the slightly spicy aroma of pepper and the unique fragrance of coriander. When added together, I have never tasted such delicious mutton soup.

The Queen Mother stopped talking at this time and started eating attentively.

Only after she had finished the small bowl of soup and the lamb chops and yam in the soup, and then the eight-treasure noodles soaked in the soup, did the empress dowager put down her chopsticks with a look of relief.

Looking closely, there was already a hint of sweat on the tip of his nose.

Zhenniang watched from the side and thought that Miss Shen's cooking skills were indeed amazing. She hadn't seen such a satisfied look on the Empress Dowager's face for a long time.

She was just about to ask the Queen Mother if she wanted to eat anything else when she heard the eunuch outside announce, "The Emperor has arrived."

The Queen Mother glanced out the window and asked curiously, "Isn't the Emperor usually busy at this hour? How come he has time to come here?"

As he was speaking, the emperor walked in in casual clothes.

Shen Yu and everyone else in the room quickly stepped aside and knelt down to pay their respects. The Queen Mother did not stand up from her seat at the dining table, but smiled and said, "Why is the Emperor here? Have you had dinner yet?"

The emperor waved his hand to everyone and said casually, "Everyone, get up."

He bowed to the Queen Mother and said, "Your son greets you, Mother."

"The dishes in the imperial kitchen are always the same. I'm really tired of them. I didn't ask them to prepare dinner today."

"I was so angry about reviewing the memorials today that I thought I'd go out for a walk and come to my mother's place to have a meal."

"I didn't expect my son to be a step late, and the queen mother had already eaten."

The Queen Mother looked lovingly at the Emperor, who was always serious in front of others. In order to amuse herself, he pretended to be annoyed, and she couldn't help laughing.

She pointed to a chair beside the dining table for the emperor to sit on, wiped the tears from her laughter with a handkerchief and said, "God has pity on you. Listen, if the emperor hadn't said it himself, who would have believed it? As an emperor, you can't even eat the food you like."

"Fortunately, I still have some noodles left from the meal I ate today. Miss Shen, quickly cook another bowl of your Eight Treasures Noodles for the Emperor so that he can have a taste and know what good noodles taste like."

The Empress Dowager could make fun of the Emperor like this, but everyone else would not dare to do so even if they were given a hundred times the courage, and could only stand by and laugh along carefully.

When Shen Yu heard the Queen Mother asking him to cook noodles, he quickly responded and went to the small pot to turn on the fire again to cook the noodles.

I only heard the Queen Mother say, "Miss Shen, please cook more noodles for the Emperor. He has already come to our palace, and we must make sure he is well fed before he leaves."

Shen Yu responded with "yes" but his hands kept moving.

Because there were enough people to make noodles today, Shen Yu made a lot of Eight Treasures Noodles at one time. The Empress Dowager could finish it all by herself, and the remaining noodles were enough for the Emperor.

Then the Queen Mother said, "This noodle must be cooked and eaten immediately. Since you are hungry, try this Chinese yam and mutton soup first."

"It tastes fresh, fragrant and delicious."

"Zhen Niang, bring the clear soup to the emperor so it will be easier to serve."

The emperor thanked the empress dowager and took the soup that Zhenniang had served him. He took a sip, exclaimed "Huh" in surprise, and then stopped talking and started eating it spoonful by spoonful.

The Queen Mother saw that the Emperor was eating with great relish, and was even happier than she herself. She said with a smile, "Your Majesty, eat slowly. There is a bowl of Eight Treasures Noodles waiting for you."

After a while, Shen Yu's eight-treasure noodles were also cooked.

Unlike the small bowl used by the Empress Dowager to eat noodles, the bowl used to serve noodles to the Emperor was quite large.

On the one hand, adult men have larger appetites, and on the other hand, a larger bowl makes it easier to mix noodles.

Shen Yu brought the noodles over and stepped aside to wait.

All I could hear was the Empress Dowager directing Zhenniang, asking her to serve the Emperor a bowl of soup, mix a bowl of noodles for him, and then pick out a few of the Emperor's favorite dishes, keeping Zhenniang busy.

When the emperor finally put down his chopsticks, he said, "The dishes here are much better than the lukewarm dishes in the imperial kitchen."

"Especially today's bowl of eight-treasure noodles and this clear soup. My son hasn't eaten such fresh and refreshing dishes in a long time."

The Queen Mother held the Emperor's hand as she walked from the dining hall back to the warm room, smiling as she walked, "If you like to eat, come here often. Miss Shen will be staying with me for a few more days anyway."

"You are so busy with government affairs that sometimes you don't even have time to eat."

"If you ask me, this person is not made of iron. He can't just be busy all the time."

"You still have to eat comfortably and eat on time every day. Only if you have a healthy body can you better handle government affairs."

The emperor listened to the empress dowager's caring words and quickly responded yes.

The Queen Mother continued, "You said you were angry when you reviewed the memorials today. What made you angry? If it's not a political matter, Your Majesty, please talk to me."

The emperor drank the hot soup, ate the delicious lamb chops, and ate half a bowl of the delicious eight-treasure noodles.

At this moment, his stomach was full and his body was warm. He walked slowly with the empress dowager to relax his muscles and bones, and the fatigue from a busy day was also dissipated a lot.

The emperor said calmly: "It's not a big deal, but there is no good solution."

"General Zheng Jian of Annan wrote to complain that since he went to the south, he had to go to the mountains to fight bandits, and the conditions were difficult."

"The two cooks we brought from the north couldn't stand the heat and mosquitoes in the south, so some fell ill and some quit. We had no choice but to recruit cooks from the south again."

"But the chefs in the south don't know how to make pasta. They only know how to cook local dishes. The staple food is only rice."

"The soldiers were not used to the food, some of them fell ill due to the unfamiliar climate and they missed the food from home even more."

"He was complaining that he was sick and couldn't even have a bowl of hot noodle soup, which caused the army's morale to waver a bit."

"So I wrote a letter requesting that we send two chefs who can cook northern Chinese food."