Chapter 42 Swallow Learns to Make Pastries

That day, Xiao Yanzi pestered Yongqi to go to the imperial kitchen. She wanted to learn some cooking skills so that she could show off her skills at the next Emperor Qianlong's birthday celebration!

Yongqi could never go against Xiaoyanzi's wishes, so he had no choice but to obey his wife's orders and take her to the imperial kitchen.

"This servant greets the Fifth Prince! May the Fifth Prince and the young lady be blessed!" Master Zhuang was delighted to see Yongqi arrive with Xiaoyanzi and stepped forward to greet them. "I wonder what the Fifth Prince would like to eat or cook this time at the Imperial Kitchen?"

Yongqi pulled Master Zhuang aside and whispered, "Little Swallow wants to learn some cooking skills so she can show off her skills at Father Emperor's birthday celebration. You're a veteran in the Imperial Kitchen, so you naturally know what to do..."

Master Zhuang understood. This was another cooking lesson, this time for the Emperor. He had to think it over carefully. The Emperor's birthday was on the 13th of August, when the weather would be hot. So, making something cool would definitely be better than something hot. But what should he make?

While he was still thinking, Xiao Yanzi suddenly asked, "Master Zhuang, does anyone here know how to make Yuhe cake?"

Master Zhuang was completely confused. "Yuhe cake? What's that?"

Upon hearing the name, Yongqi frowned, wondering what Xiaoyanzi was planning. Xiaoyanzi continued, "The name of this pastry doesn't matter. It can be called anything. Just have someone teach me how to make a pastry that will please the Emperor at that time."

He understood that the name "Yuhe Cake" was just something the little girl said casually. Her main intention was to make pastries for the Emperor, but she didn't know what to make.

“In that case, I understand. I’ll take you to Master Liu at the pastry shop right now. His pastries are absolutely amazing.”

"A dim sum feast?" Little Swallow looked at Master Zhuang with wide, questioning eyes, clearly her curiosity had kicked in again.

"Our imperial kitchen is divided into five departments: the meat department, the vegetarian department, the roasting department, the pastry department, and the rice department. The meat department is responsible for meat, the vegetarian department for vegetables, the roasting department for roasting, the pastry department for steamed buns, dumplings, and pastries, and the rice department for porridge and rice..."

As Master Zhuang led them toward the pastry shop, he explained things to them. Little Swallow listened with great interest, saying, "I never imagined there were so many intricacies in the imperial kitchen."

"Master Liu, come here for a moment." Master Zhuang had already led Xiao Yanzi and the others to the pastry section. He called over Master Liu, who was busy at work. "This young lady wants to make a pastry for the Emperor's birthday. You should first tell her what you can make, and give her some suggestions on what to make..."

Master Liu was already in a bad mood because his work had been interrupted, but seeing that the young girl was standing next to the Fifth Prince Yongqi, he had to swallow his displeasure. After Master Zhuang finished speaking, he left to check on the progress of other places.

"Fifth Prince, Miss, you can take a look at the records here first. If you're interested in anything, you can tell me..." Master Liu took out a list of pastries he was good at from behind and let Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi take a look. If there was anything they were interested in learning, he would give them advice.

The two carefully read the records, and Xiao Yanzi naturally chose the pastry that she thought was a little simpler. Master Liu glanced at it and said, "Young lady, you have a good eye for choosing. Two-color water chestnut cake is a pastry that the Emperor likes very much. Since you want to learn, I will teach you."

Master Liu had someone put an apron on Xiao Yanzi to prevent her clothes from getting dirty, and then he taught her step by step how to make it. Master Liu's initial displeasure gradually disappeared as Xiao Yanzi became more focused. They were all looking forward to seeing Xiao Yanzi finally make her first finished product. However, when Yongqi tasted the first piece of pastry, his expression immediately became indescribable. "Is it hard to eat? If it's hard to eat, you should spit it out!"

Yongqi didn't say anything, but just continued to swallow the pastries. When Master Liu saw that Yongqi was not in a good state, he also tried a piece. His instinct was to vomit, but when he saw that Yongqi had swallowed them, his survival instinct made him swallow them.

Seeing that both of them looked rather unhappy, Xiao Yanzi thought she would try a piece herself to see how bad it was. But Yongqi quickly took the plate of pastries away, saying, "Xiao Yanzi, leave these pastries for me. You can make a new batch!"

"If it doesn't taste good, why are you keeping it?"

"I will cherish all your first times!"

"..." When Yongqi said this, everyone fell silent. Some people were confused, while others covered their mouths and chuckled. Xiaoyanzi's intuition told her that there might be something wrong with what he said, but she couldn't figure it out. She just kept telling Yongqi to give the things back to her, "Give them back to me now!"

"No way!" Yongqi continued to dodge, and Xiaoyanzi continued to chase. Just then, a commotion came from the other side. "You brat, you're stealing food again!"

Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi stopped together. "What happened?"

Master Liu stepped forward and explained, "That's Qingyun, the maid from the Imperial Kitchen. She's quite pitiful; her family doesn't have much money, so she was sent to the palace. When she was assigned to the Imperial Kitchen, she always had a huge appetite and was often hungry. However, there are certain rules for what we have in the Imperial Kitchen. Only what the masters can't finish can be eaten by us..."

Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi finally understood. No wonder she was being chased and scolded. "Master Wang, please have mercy and let me have another bowl. Just one bowl, it's only a hundred grains of rice, not much..."

"That won't do!" Master Wang continued to chase after her, and Qingyun continued to run away. Xiao Yanzi was curious about her and whispered to Yongqi, "Make them stop. I'm a little interested in her."

Little Swallow spoke up, and Yongqi had no choice but to obey, "Stop right there!"

Yongqi stepped forward to stop them, and Master Wang and Qingyun naturally stopped in their tracks. "Greetings, Fifth Prince! May the Fifth Prince be blessed!"

After Yongqi nodded slightly, Xiaoyanzi stepped forward and looked at Qingyun curiously, "You just said you only ate a hundred grains of rice. How did you know that? Did you count them on purpose?"

"I've already calculated everything. As long as it's within a certain controllable range, it's okay for me to eat a little more, but..." Master Wang just disagreed. He was worried that if one day the masters had a big appetite and wanted to eat a few more bowls of rice, and she ended up eating all the rice, then it would be a disaster!

"You've finished calculating? So you mean you're good at arithmetic?"

Qingyun nodded. "Yes, because my family is poor, I always calculate the amount of everything I do so that I can make a living. But I never expected that my family would send me here..."

“Yongqi, I want her to come with me. What do you think?” Xiaoyanzi pulled Yongqi aside and explained her plan. “You said before that if I want to go out, the most important thing is to have enough money. I happen to need someone to manage my money. If she comes with me, she can help me, eat more, and also help myself.”

After hearing Xiao Yanzi's plan, Yongqi thought it seemed like a good idea, so he agreed and walked back to Qingyun with her. Xiao Yanzi asked, "Qingyun, are you willing to follow me from now on?"