Chu Yunning followed the instructions and sat next to the Queen Mother. She pulled the Queen Mother's sleeves affectionately and said coquettishly.
: "Ning'er, thank you Queen Mother for your love."
The loving smile on the Queen Mother's face became deeper and deeper when she heard this, but the Empress on the side was not happy when she saw this.
, sat in the lower right position, and said meaningfully: "Queen Mother, in the past Miss Chu was Princess Xiao, and it was understandable to stay in the palace and be filial to the Queen Mother. But now Miss Chu's identity is unknown. If she continues to stay in the palace, I will be my concubine."
I’m worried that I will be criticized by others.”
"The Queen is overly worried. Even if Ning'er is not the daughter-in-law of the Ai family, she is still a relative of the Ai family. Why not stay with the Ai family?"
When the Queen Mother heard that Prince Xiao and Chu Yunning had reconciled and left the Queen, her first reaction was to keep Chu Yunning by her side and give her the status of an adopted daughter. However, she then thought about it. If the two reconciled one day in the future, then Chu Yunning would
She was Prince Xiao's adopted sister. The two names were not right, so she gave up the idea of canonizing Princess Chu Yunning.
"Don't be angry, Queen Mother. I am also thinking about the reputation of the harem. After all..." The Queen of the Palace was halfway through her words and glanced meaningfully at Chu Yunning. There was undisguised disdain deep in her eyes.
"The emperor is merciful. In order to appease General Chu, he made an exception and made an unrelated child the county king."
"Shut up!" The Queen Mother suddenly became furious, raised the tea cup in her hand and threw it at the Queen's feet.
There was a loud banging sound, which frightened the empress of the palace. She turned pale and retreated. A pair of shoes made of Shu brocade were splashed with tea stains.
A look of annoyance flashed in the Queen's eyes, but she suppressed her anger in a blink of an eye, and stood up in fear:
"I am guilty."
The Queen Mother grimaced with displeasure and said in a deep voice: "The Ai family has reminded the Queen several times that Beibei is the royal heir. As the Lord of the Sixth Palace, how can you have such a problem with your tongue?"
"Concubine..." The Empress' face turned red from the scolding, which touched the Queen Mother's gloomy expression. She was too frightened to argue, so she could only nod in response and admit her mistake.
The Queen Mother raised her hand: "Go down, copy the palace rules ten times, and send them over before sunset tomorrow."
There are thousands of long palace rules, and the queen of the palace cannot finish them without copying them all night long. The queen of the palace said sarcastically: "Yes."
Before leaving, the queen looked at her with murderous eyes. Chu Yunning smiled back. She didn't know if it was because the palace was too boring. Every woman in the harem found something to do for herself, fighting and fighting.
Go, I won't give up until we fight to the death.
"Ning'er, don't take the Queen's words to heart. No matter what your status is, as long as the Ai family is here, Cihe Palace will always be your safe haven."
The Queen Mother comforted Chu Yunning like a loving mother.
"With the Queen Mother here, Ning'er is not afraid at all." Chu Yunning snuggled into the Queen Mother's arms. She had taken advantage of her father. Back then, it was General Chu who stood beside Emperor Mingwen against all opinions and saved the Queen Mother many times.
I have done a lot of good deeds.
Therefore, the Queen Mother had a thick filter for Chu Yunning. No matter what mistakes she made, the Queen Mother felt that she was innocent and had no choice but to be forced.
"I heard from my aunt that you haven't had much appetite in the past two days. Is it because it's too hot?" Chu Yunning probed the Queen Mother's pulse with her fingertips and found that the Queen Mother was depressed. She had no appetite for many days and was slightly worried.
The Queen Mother sighed: "I am old and no longer useful."
"What are you saying, Queen Mother? You are still in your prime." Chu Yunning used her housekeeping skills to make the Queen Mother smile.
At noon, Chu Yunning planned to cook a table of dishes for the Queen Mother herself. The Queen Mother pitied her for working too hard, and she couldn't win over Chu Yunning after some refusals, so she agreed with a smile.
The small kitchen in Cihe Palace is very large and has everything. Aunt Chang worriedly asked: "Princess...can Miss Chu know how to cook?"
After getting used to it for a while, she almost didn't change it. Chu Yunning smiled back, lifted up his sleeves and put on an apron, skillfully picked a few vegetables and washed them in the pool.
"Don't worry, Aunt Chang, I will do it."
Aunt Chang looked at Chu Yunning with doubt, but she felt relieved when she saw that her skills were becoming more and more proficient.
There were chicken, duck, goose, and fish on the chopping board, all of which were the freshest. Chu Yunning picked a fish, cleaned the scales in a few seconds, picked a knife, removed the spines from the fish, and chopped it into paste.
Form into small balls and put them on the plate for later use. Take a few tomatoes and slowly simmer them in the pot until they become sticky.
Then put the fish balls into the tomato soup, wait until the fish balls change color before taking them out, sprinkle with green chopped green onion, it looks very tempting.
I made a dry-fried tenderloin, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, a plate of braised pork, and a plate of sweet and sour cucumber strips. I remembered that the Queen Mother’s hometown likes spicy food. Looking at the unprocessed rabbit heads on the porch, I simply made spicy rabbit heads, eight in total.
A dish and a soup.
The Queen Mother looked at the table full of practices that she had never seen before, and was stunned: "You did all this by yourself?"
"yes."
The Queen Mother looked at Aunt Chang again.
"Your Majesty, Miss Chu's cooking skills are almost as good as the imperial chef's, no, she is even better than the imperial chef's." Aunt Chang watched the whole process and was almost dumbfounded.
During this period, Chu Yunning also gave her a piece of braised pork. It was not oily or greasy, and melted in her mouth. The taste made Aunt Chang still lick her lips.
"Mother, why does this smell so good today?"
Emperor Mingwen heard the sound outside the door and came over. Chu Yunning curled his lips, what a dog's nose, he came after smelling the smell.
"Greetings to the Emperor." A group of people from Wuyangyang paid their respects to Emperor Mingwen.
Emperor Mingwen waved his hand: "No need to be polite, just get up."
After sitting down, Emperor Mingwen looked at the table full of dishes and exclaimed: "Has there been a new cook in the mother's harem again? Why does it look different from the past? Eunuch Mo, tell me my will and reward him!"
Before Eunuch Mo left, Chu Yunning leaned over to thank him and said, "Thank you, my dear, for the emperor's reward."
Emperor Mingwen was surprised: "Miss Chu did all this?"
"No, this child is very filial. I thought it was a hot day and the Ai family would lose their appetite, so I did this."
The Queen Mother took the opportunity to praise Chu Yunning: "The emperor is busy with official duties every day, and this old woman from the Ai family has no fun at all. Thanks to Ning'er thinking about her, the emperor will reward Ning'er well."
"Young ministers, listen to your mother." Emperor Mingwen pondered for a moment, then glanced at Chu Yunning: "Then give Miss Chu the status of a female official, and she will serve as a female minister for the third time."
"Your Majesty, what kind of reward is this?" The Queen Mother was puzzled.
But Chu Yunning understood, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart, this was not a reward, it was clearly a disguised form of imprisonment!
Give her an upright identity and work for Emperor Mingwen in a reasonable manner!
mean!
"I beg the Emperor to take back your order. I never dare to ask for anything else when serving the Queen Mother. It all depends on my heart." Chu Yunning said through gritted teeth.
Emperor Mingwen noticed Chu Yunning's gnashing of teeth, and a faint smile appeared on his brows: "A gentleman has said what he said, how can he go back on his word? Chu Yunning, please don't let me live up to my expectations of you in the future."
Chu Yunning took a deep breath and wished she could slap Emperor Mingwen's smiling face, it was so gloomy.
"That being the case, it's good to have an identity. Ning'er, thank you." the Queen Mother said.
Under the hint of the Queen Mother's eyes, Chu Yunning thanked her.
"You are in good hands today, come and try Ning'er's cooking." The Queen Mother invited Emperor Mingwen to stay for a meal. Chu Yunning thought silently in her heart, please don't stay. Emperor Mingwen seemed to hear her thoughts,
He glanced sideways at Chu Yunning and agreed with a smile.
"It's my fault. I will definitely come to accompany the Queen Mother often in the future." Emperor Mingwen picked up the chopsticks and gave the Queen Mother some stir-fried tender bamboo tips.
The Queen Mother took a few bites and said, "Why does it smell like chicken soup?"
"Back to the Queen Mother, the bamboo tips have indeed been simmered in chicken soup for a while." Chu Yunning gave the Queen Mother a bowl of tomato fish ball soup. It was sour and appetizing, and there were no thorns.
The Queen Mother tasted the fish balls. They were tender, juicy and extremely appetizing. She was surprised and asked, "Is this made of fish?"
"yes!"
"You girl, why do you have so many weird ideas?" The Queen Mother had a huge appetite and ate several small fish balls, full of praise.
Chu Yunning lowered her eyes and explained: "When I was imprisoned in Prince Xiao's Mansion, Beibei was still too young to eat hard food, so I studied this."
The Queen Mother's eyes turned red when she heard this. She pulled Chu Yunning and felt pity again: "Good boy, the hard days in the past are over, and there is still a long way to go."
"yes."
Emperor Mingwen glanced at Chu Yunning, with a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his mouth, but soon turned indifferent when the Queen Mother looked over, and couldn't wait to serve a bowl of soup. It was indeed delicious.
"No wonder the queen mother is full of praises. It tastes really good."
The Queen Mother's eyes suddenly fell on the spicy rabbit, and Chu Yunning immediately picked one up and put it in the Queen Mother's bowl.
"This is spicy rabbit head, please try it, Queen Mother?"
"It's really unheard of. This is the first time I've seen someone make rabbit heads into dishes." Emperor Mingwen wiped the corners of his mouth and put down his chopsticks, obviously not interested in the spicy rabbit heads.
The Empress Dowager's displeasure discouraged Chu Yunning, but she had no choice but to take a bite. After Chu Yunning demonstrated it to the Empress Dowager with chopsticks, she put the peeled meat in a bowl. The Empress Dowager tasted it. It was extremely spicy.
, and very tender and smooth.
"Is this what you want too?"
Chu Yunning nodded.
It was rare for the Queen Mother to eat something so spicy and refreshing. It was paired with iced sour plum soup, which opened up her taste buds. She ate three rabbit heads in one go and couldn't stop at all. The Queen Mother even found the trick to eating rabbit heads.
Emperor Mingwen frowned when he saw this. Seeing that the Queen Mother's posture did not look like she was faking, he picked up the chopsticks again, but Chu Yunning picked up the last rabbit head with quick hands and eyes and put it in the Queen Mother's bowl: "Queen Mother, the taste
how?"
"Excellent!" The Queen Mother quickly finished all the rabbit heads and was still unsatisfied.
Emperor Mingwen's chopsticks still awkwardly stopped in mid-air. He glanced at Chu Yunning angrily and had to turn a corner and pick up a piece of stir-fried rabbit meat.
"Ning'er, let's make some rabbit heads for the Ai family for lunch tomorrow." The Queen Mother has not eaten so much for a long time.
"If the Queen Mother wants to eat it, Ning'er can make it at any time, but don't be greedy. Ning'er will make something for you tomorrow."
The Queen Mother was completely captivated by Chu Yunning's cooking skills. She ate a lot of this meal. If Chu Yunning hadn't stopped her, she would have eaten more. Chu Yunning said coquettishly: "The Queen Mother is not allowed to eat anymore. If there is food accumulation, there will be food in her stomach."
It’s time to feel uncomfortable. Would you like Ning’er to accompany you to eat in the yard?”
"Okay, it's up to you!" The Queen Mother smiled from ear to ear. The more she looked at Chu Yunning, the more she liked him. She secretly sighed that Xiao Er was not lucky.
Chu Yunning looked back at Emperor Mingwen, and then realized that most of the dishes on the table had been eaten by Emperor Mingwen.
When Emperor Mingwen was embarrassed, Eunuch Mo immediately said: "Your Majesty, there are ministers from the previous dynasty waiting for you."