*Chop chop chop*
Even before the sun rose, the sound of a knife chopping vigorously could be heard from inside the royal kitchen. With Feng Ju and Chu'mei guarding outside, no one was allowed to disturb those inside.
Inside, Yu Mei at the corner of the cooking table as she watched her husband mince pork meat. Her eyes were full of admiration for the beautiful man in front of her. He was dressed in a dark green robe with a white apron tied at his waist. If he wore a chef's hat, he could have been mistaken as one.
Yu Mei didn't want to believe he was good at cooking but his confident poise and chopping was too perfect. She gave up the idea of laughing at him since early. Now her full attention was on this handsome man making her yummy food. What would his food be like, she thought.
"Your highness, is there something you're not good at?" She asked in the middle of his chopping.
"I am the future emperor; there is nothing I am not good at." He highly praised himself, causing Yu Mei to role her eyes. She decided she would not make a smart comment. It could bruise his ultra high ego.
The more she watched him, the happier she became. A small snicker almost escaped her lips.
He was not as good as he claimed to be.
His cutting skill was only getting worse and worse. The way he chopped the vegetables was very rough and thick like an amateur. Pei Nan didn't need to look to where Yu Mei was standing to tell that she was beginning to question him. If she knew he spent all night trying to learn this, she would laugh at him. Now his cover was getting blown. He was dying of embarrassment inside.
Her guess was right when he started to cook the oddly deformed dumplings. She wasn't sure they could even be called dumplings. After all, what kind of dumpling had so many smashed sides. She didn't even have a name for the shape.
Her gaze went from the dumplings to Pei Nan. He still had that confident expression. "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" She asked nervously; lips twitching.
"It may not be the best looking, but I guarantee it is tasty." Pei Nan didn't look at her when he was talking. His whole concentration was on cooking. In fact, his whole mind was filled with "How do I know these are ready?" kind of thoughts.
Minutes later, she once again doubted his abilities. "Your highness, are you sure you REALLY know what you are doing?" She emphasized the words. "Because I think if you leave those sad dumplings in the oil any longer...we might end up eating ash." She pointed at the frying pan innocently.
Pei Nan blanked stupidly.
He cleared his throat.
"This is how you're supposed to cook it. How else do you tell if they are fully cooked or not. Don't you know anything about cooking?" He retorted her question. Once again refusing to look her in the eye.
Now they were sitting at the table and both of them looked as if they had lost their appetite. Yu Mei had her chopsticks in the air, hesitating to pick one up. She once again looked up at him. His face said it all. It was trash....
It was only after he noticed in the corner of his eyes that Yu Mei had looked over did he change his expression. She saw an extremely confident and proud man looking at his "master piece" like it was his baby. "Your highness, this is edible…right?" Her lips twitched once more.
This time he scrunched his brow as if offended. "Like I said, it may not look appetizing but I assure you it tastes great." He put on a smile, picked up his chopsticks and placed a dumpling on her plate. He scooted the plate closer to her. "I insist. Taste it." For the first time this morning, his eyes met hers. If they could speak, they were clearly telling her that she better eat it right now.
*Hehehe* She softly laughed before picking up the dumpling and placing it into her mouth. Her left eye twitched.
"How is it? Isn't it good?" He leaned forward, excited to hear her response.
"Mmmm…very good." She put her thumb up.
Pei Nan suddenly grabbed her free hand and held it tightly. His eyes suddenly became passionate. "Yu Mei, is it really that good?"
She nodded.
"That's great. If that's the case, I shall make you lunch tomorrow too." That statement alone made Yu Mei almost choke on the dumpling in her mouth. She set her chopstick down and shook both hands in front of him. "I don't want it." She blurted.
He gave her a confused look. Didn't she just say his dumplings were good? Wasn't this the best way to win her heart? With food?
"What I meant is...your highness is so busy that I can't ask so much of you. How can I take your time on such trivial stuff? I would not feel at ease if you cooked for me." She explained in a heartbeat.
Now that he thought about it, it made sense. "Are you not going to give your husband one?" He was about to grab for one when she reached towards the center and pulled the dumplings away. "You can't have one. Your highness made these just for me. How can you ask for one? So rude!" She picked up the plate and ran off before he could even register what happened.
While following her lady back, Chu'mei really wanted a dumpling. She had originally thought her lady would give her one but she did not do so. She bit her lips. "Xiaojie, are the dumplings so good you can't even give me one?" She teased.
Yu Mei stopped and turned.
"Chu'mei, I'm only telling you this because I love you." She picked up one dumpling from the plate and handed it to Chu'mei. "You could die if you eat one of these. I'm lucky I was even able to swallow this without gagging."
Chu'mei thought her lady was kidding and so she popped the small dumpling into her mouth. Less than half a second later, her face turned to disgust. Her eyes widened and she scrunched her nose from the taste. Chu'mei wanted to spit it out but Yu Mei pointed her finger towards her. "If I had to endure it, you as my best friend must suffer the same fate."
Yu Mei watched in delight as Chu'mei swallowed the dumpling. "Xiaojie, what did his highness make. It tastes like a mix of a salt and burnt charcoal bomb."
"I know. How do you think I felt? I couldn't even tell his highness that his cooking sucked! He was staring at me with such passion."
"Then what did you tell him."
"I told him his cooking was good. And he wants to make me lunch tomorrow. What am I going to do? I don't want to die yet." Yu Mei stomped her feet and whined.
"Consort Pan, what a nice surprise to see you."
This voice…
Both Yu Mei and Chu'mei turned. It was their luck to run into the duo Consort Ning and Consort Wan with Consort Nuan in the back. Yu Mei wondered why Ji Er was with the two no good consorts.