Usually, no matter what the Green Jade Residence needed, Mrs. Jiang would delay it again and again.
She was very tactful and could always find a suitable reason so that no one could find fault with her.
Only today was different.
The Jiang family was extremely efficient today.
It took her only a moment to gather everything on her list.
"Everything you want is here. When can you let us see Sheng'er?"
Yu Qianqian waved her hand. "It's already dark. We'll talk about Yu Sheng tomorrow. You guys can go back first."
Yu Kangtai, Mrs. Jiang, and Yu Pingping were chased out of the Green Jade Residence.
After they left, Yu Niaoniao and Dang Gui rolled up their sleeves and started working!
Yu Niaoniao smeared the pot with lard.
She expressed great satisfaction at seeing the pan polished to a high gloss.
Dang Gui stuffed the charcoal into the stove and asked excitedly.
"What are we having for dinner tonight, Miss?"
Yu Niaoniao fished out a strip of fat and thin pork belly from the bucket and said with a smile.
"Tonight, we'll eat Twice-cooked Pork."
She added cold water to the pot. Pork and ginger slices and cooking wine were then added.
Then she fished the pork out and put it on the chopping board.
Yu Niaoniao held the newly made kitchen knife and quickly cut it into pieces.
After the iron pot was heated, she first stir-fried the fatty meat.
Under the high temperature, the fat began to ooze out.
The pot sizzled, and the rich aroma of protein filled the air.
Dang Gui sniffed hard and sighed sincerely.
"It smells so good!"
When she was in Bashu, she had eaten many delicacies with Miss. Miss seemed to be especially talented in cooking and could always cook many delicacies that others had never heard of.
She had thought of learning to cook from her ladyship. But it always ended in failure.
It was clearly the same ingredients and condiments. The dishes cooked by Miss were fragrant and delicious, but the dishes she cooked were dark.
After that, the young lady refused to let her cook again, lest she ruin the food.
Yu Niaoniao poured a large spoonful of bean paste into the pot and took out a jar of peppercorns.
This was a specialty they had specially brought from Bashu.
As soon as the peppercorns entered the pot, the fragrance intensified.
She added chili garlic sprouts and kept stir-frying.
The scent continued to increase.
Dang Gui was already hungry and swallowed hard.
Yu Niaoniao said to her, "Go to the kitchen and get some steamed buns."
Dang Gui was very fast. Soon, she returned with four hot white steamed buns.
Yu Qianqian cooked another dish of vinegar cabbage.
Two dishes were placed on the table.
With a pair of chopsticks in one hand and a steamed bun in the other, she announced, "Let's eat!"
Dang Gui picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork and put it into her mouth.
The pork was fat but not greasy. It was savory and delicious, with just the right amount of spiciness.
It could be said to be very appetizing.
Dang Gui's mouth was oily as she praised.
"It's delicious. No one but a lady can make pork that good."
The chefs in the Yu Residence also knew how to cook pork, but they mainly stewed it. The taste was far less delicious than the Twice-Cooked Pork.
Yu Niaoniao's mouth was filled with food. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were sparkling.
"The stir-fry is delicious!"
She had long been tired of stew. Today, she could finally have a change of flavor.
Her expensive custom-made kitchen knives and iron pots had not been in vain.
...
The emperor had summoned Xiao Juan to the palace this time for the anti-poetry case.
The current emperor was over sixty years old.
Older people liked to reminisce the past. Emperors were no exception.
He had been dreaming a lot recently. In his dreams, he could see many familiar figures. Those figures swayed in front of him, reminding him how much blood his hands had been stained with over the years. So much so that his paranoia was getting worse. He kept feeling that someone wanted to harm him.
At this moment, someone in the square spread anti-government poetry, further stoking his fears.
The emperor attached great importance to this matter and ordered Xiao Juan to find out the truth within three days.