The Feast

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Chapter 12: A more considerate Prince

h.e.l.lo, as mentioned, there are 2 translators for this novel. While this helps to speed up the release, it also creates some problem, such as the consistency of naming terms etc.

If there are any problems, let us know in the comments section, and we will correct the inconsistency immediately. Thank you.

While s.e.x may fill his l.u.s.t, it does not fill the belly and alleviate his hunger.

Therefore, the next morning, the prince woke up early and took care not wake his concubine, who was sound asleep beside him.

Duan Tingxuan rubbed his tummy and looked very miserable as he left the room, and washed up. Then he quietly left the quarters of his concubine and made a beeline for the kitchen.

The kitchen is busy right now as they were preparing breakfast for the royal family. The women in the kitchen were smiling and chatting as they went about their task. The kitchen was filled with pots of congee, steamed buns and other dishes, and smell heavenly. Even the prince almost drooled at the smell - He was that hungry.

Duan Tingxuan coughed as he entered the kitchen. There was a stunned silence as he looked like a fierce Kirin [1] among the lambs. The middle age women and the grannies in the kitchen suddenly dispersed and stay away from the prince, as if he was a plague.

Only one woman was left in the kitchen. She was rooted to the spot in fear and could not run away. She just stood there, shivering with fright, and asked in a trembling voice, "Lord…. Why are you here? This…. is not …. a suitable place for ….. a man of your status?"

Duan Tingxuan coughed, and he was fl.u.s.tered at the reactions of the chefs in the kitchen. He could not understand why the women working there fled from him and was displeased with their reactions.

Duan Tingxuan thought, 'Hey, I am not a villain that grab women from the streets and force them to have s.e.x with me. Even if I were to be one, I would not be interested in you. Look at your figure and looks in the mirror.'

Of course, he did not reveal his thoughts as usual, "That…. Nothing! I just want to see what new things the kitchen had. The winter is getting hot, and my mother is afraid of hot weather. Had you prepared some cooling stuff for her?"

The woman could not understand what is going on. It may be almost the dragon boat festival [2], but the weather is not hot at all, and does not require cooling stuff to cool down from the heat of the weather. But since the prince had asked, she had to reply.

Therefore, she smiled as she replied to the prince, "The An Ping princess had not indicated that we need to prepare cooling ingredients yet. However, these few days, there are some red beans that were delivered here from the villages. The An Ping princess seemed to like the soup that was made from these red beans. As well, there were some fresh wild chickens, rabbits and lambs from the villages. All these are very well loved by the royal family. May I inquire which ones are you interested in?"

Duan Tingxuan then recalled that the villages will periodically deliver some food to the mansion. Although it is not as much as what they will give during the Lunar New Year, the live stocks from the villages are fresh and tasty.

When he recalled Si Ping words, he smiled, "My needs are simple. Since we have some red beans, yellow beans and these foodstuffs, give me a few jins of each ingredient."

"Ka Cha!" This is the sound of the woman's jaw dropping in amazement. Her mouth was wide open as she looked at Duan Tingxuan in shock. Her look with the mouth opened wide was like a weasel that was caught stealing a chicken [3].

She could not be faulted for being this surprised - who had heard of a high ranking prince coming to the kitchen to steal some food? This is just as astonishing as the time that the Big Madam came here and ransacked the kitchen.

"Why are you looking like that? I just want to take some beans? It is my place and you are telling me that I cannot take them?" Duan Tingxuan was furious. As a prince, he had never been looked upon like this by a mere servant!

All he wants to go to the Mei Yue Lou to have some breakfast. If not for the fact that Si Ping and Shuang Xi could not enter this place at this time, would he, a mighty prince, need to come here to demand some food himself?

The woman was frightened out of her wits by the fiery temper of the Prince, and realised that the prince is not joking. Her jaw was struck in that position, but it did not stop her from grabbing a few sacks of beans and shouting for some other servants to help her.

After about 30 minutes, Duan Tingxuan hands were filled with several big sacks of food. He quickly escaped the embarra.s.sing situation at the kitchen and carried these sack of food towards the Mei Yue Lou.

He calculated - at this time, they should be cooking their breakfast? The place is so remote, and she need not wake up so early. So why did she not sleep more?

As he thought about it, he was a bit unsettled. "I dumped them here in the past is for her to reflect. But how come it seemed that she had prospered and thrived here instead. Humphh…!”

“Even if she had prospered, the most important thing is that she refused to share even a morsel of food with me! This evil woman even spat her saliva all over my food. She would rather feed the chickens and refused to feed me! This …. Does this make senses?"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he becomes. When he reached the door, his anger had been worked out into a fierce killing intent.

But as soon as he stepped into the courtyard and catch a whiff of the mouth-watering aroma of the food, his anger and killing intent dissipated like the wind. What killing intent? There were none! Instead, it was replaced by an intense curiosity.

Oh, what is this? It smells heavenly! The prince easily lifted the sacks of beans and made a beeline for the kitchen. Then he heard the voice of Hong Lian's laughter, "Missy, if you want to eat this, your servant can purchase it from the streets. Do you need to go to all these troubles to make it yourself?"

Su Nuan Nuan smiled as she replied, "No way! Our situation now is that we have some ingredients, but we have no money. Today I could meet these pulps is coincident. If not for the fact that the seller chose to hawk his wares on the side street, we could not purchase it so cheaply."

While they were chatting with each other, Duan Tingxuan peered into the room: The big pot was filled with oil. Su Nuan Nuan took a long piece of dough and tossed it into the oil. In a short while, the dough will float up, and looks golden yellow in colour. The thick smell immediately made his stomach grows in hunger.

"Missy, this time you have calculated wrongly. The cost of the oil used to fry this would be much higher than the price you pay if you have purchased it instead. We could not save any money."

Xiang Yun felt that it is pity to waste so much oil. But Su Nuan Nuan just shook her head, "You are really dumb! After using this oil, we need not toss them away! We can use it again to cook, make dumplings and other delicious food…."

Before she could finish speaking, she saw the rat Duan Tingxuan and immediately grabbed a dirty wet cloth and tossed it at him.

Duan Tingxuan is well versed in martial arts and nimbly dodged. Then he gathered the sacks and entered the kitchen and smiled, "Oh, you ladies are really hardworking! You woke up so early to cook some You Tiao?"

Fried dough sticks (aka You Tiao) is not a common sight on the streets. At this time period, life is hard, and few commoners are willing to use half a pot of oil just to fry some food. Even if they could use the oil to fry many You Tiaos, they would feel heartache.

Also, You Tiaos are oily and greasy and are not as popular as the mild tastes of porridge and salted vegetables. A few stores do sell You Tiao, but it is expensive and considered a luxury snack for rich people due to the cost of oil.

The prince mansion is a rich family and does not care about the cost of this bit of oil. However, they seldom eat this dish as the oily and greasy feeling is deemed as being bad for health. Like the commoners, they prefer congee, salted vegetables and steam buns.

Therefore, it is very rare that this snack is served to the rich men like Duan Tingxuan. Duan Tingxuan may have known about this snack, but he had not tasted it before. This smell is really aromatic. When he thought that this food is cooked by Su Nuan Nuan and is much tastier than the ordinary food he could eat on the streets, Duan Tingxuan begins to salivate in antic.i.p.ation.

"Lord, what did you have in your hand?"

Su Nuan Nuan did not care about this fox that keeps stealing her food and paid him no heed. Hong Lian and Xiang Yun were very enthusiastic as they greeted him and inquired about the bags that Duan Tingxuan had carried with him.

"Cough, Cough… Oh….. Today I pa.s.sed by the kitchen and noticed that there are some fresh beans from the villages. I took some for you. See if you can use it. If you could not use it, just toss it away." Duan Tingxuan tried to sound nonchalant about it.

Despite his thick-skinniness and his nonchalant demeanour, he could not help blushing red when he said these words. He looked at the sacks and sighed in his heart, "d.a.m.n it, I had to endure this embarra.s.sing situation so that I can eat. Sigh, it is really not easy!"

Hong Lian and Xiang Yun were very happy as they received the sacks from the prince. Hong Lian immediately replied, "Lord, what are you saying? These are fine beans, of course, we will not toss them away. Heaven will punish us for wasting food like this!"

Saying this, Hong Lian winked at Xiang Yun. Seeing that Xiang Yun did not understand her, she immediately grabbed Xiang Yun's arm and dragged her out of the kitchen.

After they have left the kitchen, she whispered as she chided, "Aiyo! You really do not know how to read the situation. It is not easy for Missy to be in a good mood. The Lord had also brought some things over. We should give them some privacy."

Xiang Yun scratched her head as she whispered back, "Elder Sister, how could I not understand your thoughts? But Missy is different from the past…. I am afraid that they could not get along. What if a fight breaks out? Then wouldn't the situation escalate from bad to worse?"

Hong Lian was stunned, and shook her head in dismay, "Oh, I am the one who did not understand the situation! How could I have forgotten about this?" She turned around and looked at the kitchen with anxiety.

Within the kitchen, Su Nuan Nuan was much nicer to Duan Tingxuan as she busied herself frying the dough sticks. She sneered, "Prince, you have learnt to be more considerate. You finally understand the logic that there is no free lunch and knows how to bring some rice and beans over."

Duan Tingxuan pouted at Su Nuan Nuan's comments. Then he thought, 'Forget it! I will endure these smirks for the sake of the fried you tiao. After all, a gentleman should not fight with a lady.'

"What are these round and circular things? I know the long things are called You Tiao (Oily sticks). What about the round ones? Don't tell me they are called You Bing (Oily biscults)?" Duan Tingxuan wants to get in Su Nuan Nuan's good grace so that he can eat the food that she cooks. Therefore, he endured her sneers and smiled.

Of course, if you point out that he had given in to Su Nuan Nuan, he will deny it with every fibre of his body, and would not admit it even under the threat of death.

"It is really called You Bing! Why? You have not seen it before?" Su Nuan Nuan was surprised at Duan Tingxuan's question. She knows that You Tiao was available in ancient times. But she did not know if the similar dish, You Bing, is invented much later and is not yet available in this time period.

There are also a lot of related foods, just as salted You Tiao, Sweet You Bing, etc. Without You Bing, there would not be a battle between the sweet and savoury flavours [3].

"It is really called You Bing?" Duan Tingxuan had never expected him to guess the name of this dish correctly. He was curious and peered at it, "Strange, how come there are no spring onions on it? I had eaten some You Bing before, and there are spring onions on them!"

"That is called spring onion pancakes (Cong You Bing)!" Su Nuan Nuan rolled her eyes and shook her head at her husband's ignorance. He is a foodie as well, judging from the way he shameless grabbed the food that she made. But he is really a failure as a foodie and could not differentiate his food.

"Spring Onion Pancakes …. are not a type of You Bing?"

Duan Tingxuan was suspicious. He loves to eat fine food, but he had no experience in differentiating them.

"It is a type of You Bing, but it is different from the You Bing I made. The one I made is Sweet You Bing." Su Nuan Nuan is too lazy to explain more to this ignorant man.

Does she need to tell him the history of You Bing as well? Inform him that there are a lot of different You Bings? There is not just sweet You Bing, Spring Onion You Bing. There is also red bean You Bing, stuffed You Bing etc.

Oh… talking about that, stuffed You Bing is perfect. Su Nuan Nuan had not eaten this for some time and was craving for it. Now she had the flour, salted vegetables and pork. Once the bean sprouts are ready, perhaps she could make them……

Thank you for reading this chapter at prosperous food translations.

[1] Kirin, mythology creature from China. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin

[2] Dragon Boat Festival, held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Boat_Festival

[3] The battle over the sweet and savoury flavours is a battle as old as time and had existed since time immemorial. What's more, the debate raged on to this day, with no clear winner.

Just google [sweet vs savoury] and you will understand. Which type are you?

Oh, I almost forgot, this is how big a weasel mouth is. That is the size of the jaw that the woman in the kitchen had.

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