Chapter 17
[To freeze soft tofu, forming small air pockets on the surface. Then place it into the boiling hot pot, letting it roll for a few moments before scooping it out.]
Xiao Chuchu's mouth watered just thinking about it.
[Give it a swirl in hot oil to coat it with green scallions, adding fragrance. With each bite, hot and spicy broth splashes out from the air pockets...]
[At this time, gathered around the warm brazier, take a sip of the sweet and sour plum soup...]
Xiao Chuchu was truly craving it now.
Hearing the thrifty late Emperor Father say that her mother could order whatever she wanted, she couldn't help but let her mind wander.
This was not her fault.
She was not a real infant, having only been breastfed for two days before craving bold flavors again.
Especially with the freezing cold outside, it was perfect weather for a steaming hot pot.
[Next, take a crisp little cabbage, wash it clean, tear it into pieces, separating the leaves from the stems, and put them into the pot separately, cooking until completely translucent and soft and sweet.]
Shh-haa shh-haa.
Xiao Chuchu couldn't help but drool.
Even Liu Chaniang, who was holding her, felt tempted.
It seemed that this hot pot was different from the warm pot they usually had. She was quite eager to try it, but couldn't order dishes based on her daughter's thoughts, as that would reveal to the Emperor that she could hear her daughter's thoughts.
Liu Chaniang could only endure, thinking that when they returned to her little courtyard, she would secretly have the palace maids prepare a small warm pot according to her daughter's description.
As she was suppressing this thought, a loud rumbling came from the side palace.
Liu Chaniang looked up to see Xiao Yunzhou's ears turning slightly red.
He was hungry!
Xiao Yunzhou, the supreme ruler above all others.
Occupying the throne of the emperor, he normally ate refined and precious delicacies on a daily basis.
But now, after hearing his young daughter's description of hot pot, the more he listened, the hungrier he became.
As an emperor, he could eat whatever he desired, so there was no need to conceal it!
Observing that Liu Chen's expression remained unchanged, completely unmoved by their daughter's thoughts, he knew that she most likely could not hear them, and only he, as the father emperor, could hear the celestial princess reborn's thoughts!
The hot pot she described must be something from the celestial realm.
"Ahem."
"Wei Zheng, go to the kitchen and pass on the message that His Majesty wishes to have a warm pot today."
"Have all the beef and mutton sliced into thin strips one finger wide and palm-length, thinly sliced like paper, and served on plates immediately."
"Then send some fresh, tender cabbage and baby spinach."
[!! The Emperor Father even knows how to eat hot pot!]
Xiao Chuchu was astonished.
[Is this something they actually have here?]
Xiao Yunzhou's expression brightened, but his eyes betrayed no emotion as he continued instructing the eunuch, "Also, ask the imperial kitchen what other ingredients they have that can be put into the warm pot..."
[Oh, slices of winter melon and white radish, cooked until almost melting, melting in your mouth like snow...]
[And glass noodles! Or throw some noodles into the hot pot. After eating big mouthfuls of meat and vegetables, slurping up a few strands of glass noodles or handmade fine noodles is simply delightful~]
Xiao Yunzhou swallowed his saliva imperceptibly. "Wei Zheng, go to the kitchen yourself and see what seasonal vegetables they have. Thinly slice any that can be sliced, and for those that cannot, choose the tender ones. Today we won't have rice, so have the imperial kitchen prepare some noodles and send them uncooked."
After saying this, he glanced at Liu Chen as if recalling something else. "Ah Chen, is there anything else you want?"
Liu Chen: "..."
You're practically having the entire kitchen brought over, and you're still asking her!
Seeing Liu Chen's embarrassed inability to respond, Xiao Yunzhou felt sympathetic.
Only he, as the father emperor, could hear their daughter's thoughts. Liu Chen, as the birth mother, could not hear them at all.
Ah, poor Liu Chen, having such a treasure by her side without even realizing it.
But no matter, His Majesty would protect Liu Chen, the birth mother, from now on.
She had given birth to a wonderful daughter for him, an achievement of great merit.
After feeling sympathetic for a moment, Xiao Yunzhou became smugly pleased once more.
"Ah Chen, let me hold our daughter."
He instructed the eunuchs to bring a basin of water to wash his hands before taking Xiao Chuchu into his embrace.
"Xiao Chuchu, watch Father and Mother eat hot pot later, be good."
Xiao Chuchu: "..."
With a wail, she burst into tears.
It wasn't long before the hot pot was served.
Xiao Yunzhou and Liu Chen ate with such freshness and clarity.
Especially Xiao Yunzhou, it was the first time he saw the dining table set with fresh, uncooked ingredients like thin slices of beef and mutton, baby cabbage...
As well as raw scallions, minced garlic, oil dishes, and dried chili dishes, all served without any prior cooking.
Holding Xiao Chuchu, he followed her thoughts, rolling the thin beef slices in the boiling hot and spicy broth for ten breaths before scooping them out and placing them in the garlic oil dish that the eunuch had prepared in front of him.
After swirling the slices in the fragrant oil, glistening and coated with green scallions and white garlic, he popped one into his mouth, his eyes lighting up.
"Hmm, I never imagined that the hot pot instructions from the celestial being in my dream last night would be so delicious!"
"My beloved, you must try some too~"
Liu Chen had become his beloved consort.
But Liu Chaniang had long since become impervious to honors or insults, calmly mimicking the emperor's actions by blanching a tender cabbage leaf and instantly experiencing the sensation her daughter had described.
Before long, the emperor and she had polished off the entire table of meat and vegetables.
Xiao Yunzhou particularly loved the mutton rolls, often taking three or five at a time, quickly finishing four whole plates all by himself.
It was only when Wei Zheng cautioned him about overeating that he reluctantly stopped, though he still consumed two small bowls of hot pot noodles afterward.
Liu Chaniang, on the other hand, preferred the tender cabbage and frozen tofu in the hot pot, as well as the crisp duck intestines, practically monopolizing all of them and leaving little for the Emperor.
Wei Zheng kept glaring at her.
But Xiao Yunzhou didn't mind at all.
How refreshingly real Liu Chen was!
In the past, the noble consorts would only daintily pick at their food in front of him, eating as little as a bird - all an act!
Now he was increasingly realizing how precious authenticity was!
Both of them ate until their mouths were stained red with oil, only stopping when completely stuffed.
[The Emperor Father actually had a celestial being send him a prophetic dream?]
As Xiao Chuchu watched them eat, the more she reflected, the more astonished she became.
She had read so many novels, with reincarnations and rebirth being commonplace, so what was a prophetic dream?
[But does the Emperor Father know that the recent efforts to control the flooding of the Yellow River will soon fail again, causing it to breach once more, displacing and killing tens of thousands of civilians and triggering a plague?]
The previously satisfied Xiao Yunzhou froze.
[Oh dear, this celestial being is unreliable, only sending the Emperor Father dreams about food? Is this celestial being even capable?]
Xiao Chuchu, having not tasted the hot pot but smelled the aroma, was a little annoyed now.
Her mood wasn't great either.
She completely failed to notice that Xiao Yunzhou, who was holding her, had stopped with his chopsticks in mid-air.
Xiao Yunzhou was both shocked and doubtful.
The Yellow River region would soon breach again?
Impossible!
Just last night, he had found time to meditate and cultivate, precisely because he had been busy these past few days discussing with the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Personnel how to respond to the Yellow River flooding.
On the thirtieth of last month, the river waters had overflowed, inundating the area around Yang Mountain, displacing tens of thousands.
He had urgently dispatched provincial governors to provide disaster relief and resettle the displaced civilians.
He had also ordered the River Management Office to make haste to Yang Mountain and assist the local magistrate in controlling the Yellow River flooding.
Just yesterday, a courier had arrived with a message stating that the breach had been contained and the river channel restored.
How could there be another breach so soon?
Would this not be a punishment from the heavens themselves?
Xiao Yunzhou's expression changed dramatically.
[Emperor Father, the provincial governors and River Management officials you sent are actually not skilled in dealing with flooding.]
Xiao Chuchu recalled the details from the novel.
She remembered this flood causing multiple consecutive breaches.
[The Yellow River will soon flood again, inundating from five miles north of Kaifeng City all the way east to Chenzhou, Xiangcheng, Taihe, and Yingzhou... everything will be submerged.]
Xiao Yunzhou suddenly lost his appetite for the hot pot!
[Then the following year, the Yellow River destroyed countless cultivated lands...]
[Our dynasty's national strength declined greatly, laying the seeds for our eventual defeat and conquest by the Mongols.]
Xiao Chuchu solemnly recounted the events, but then her eyes lit up.
[It wasn't until the third year that a compiler official named Pan Ji, who held a minor fifth-rank position, presented a gift to the chancellery and finally secured a stable position as the Director of Waterways.]
"!"
Xiao Yunzhou slammed down his chopsticks.