Chapter 118:闻所未闻的寿礼

[Unheard of kind of Birthday Gift]

Thinking that Lu Yunluo had been locked up in the Cold Palace for a long time, she wanted money yet she didn’t have money , wanted a person yet there was no one, therefore no one should be able to come up with a better birthday gift than her.

But when her eyes touched the smiling and indifferent eyes on the stage, she was a little unsure again.

Somehow, she had an indescribable feeling towards Lu Yunluo.

She suddenly asked, “I wonder what kind of birthday gift this Jie Jie will send to the Empress Dowager?”

Lu Yunluo smiled as she said, “Naturally, it can’t be compared to Mei Mei’s ten thousand taels of gold, what Ben Gong sends is just worthless food.”

Food?

Everyone thought they had misheard it. 

What kind of joke is it that people would give others food as a birthday gift? 

Even ordinary people do not use food as a birthday gift, not to mention that this is a birthday gift to the Empress Dowager.

This is also too perfunctory, right?

Although the empress dowager is not very concerned about what the birthday gift is. The present, the most important thing is the intention of the heart, but at the moment, hearing that Lu Yunluo’s birthday gift is only food, the face of her smile is still slightly solidified.

No matter what, Lu Yunluo represents the face of the Royal family, if it is on such occasions to send food, these kinds of things that are not really appropriate in public. If it spreads out, the loss of face is also their royal family’s. 

Soon, Eunuch Cheng and Xiao Li Zi as well as two other eunuchs pushed the little cart in.

On the trolley, they didn’t know what was placed on it, probably more than three feet high, covered with a red cover, and completely couldn’t see what was inside.

The crowd was puzzled.

This is food?

What kind of food would be so expensive?

A dish?

Pastries?

Apart from these, they really couldn’t think of what kind of food this is? 

Lu Yunluo came to the center of the field and said after saluting the Empress Dowager, “Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, as everyone knows that this year in the Cold Palace, a new variety of grain with an acre yield of ten dan (a traditional unit of volume, esp. for grain, equal to 100 sheng (市升), and equivalent to 100 litres or 176 pints) came to be found, this grain is called wheat.”

“Wheat not only has a high yield, but the food made from it is also ever-changing, and in the future it will be the most important food crop for our Dong Lan Kingdom.”

“And today, this birthday gift that I personally made for the Empress Dowager is a flower steamed bun made from wheat.”

After saying that, the red cover was lifted by Eunuch Cheng, and a nine-storey high flower bun was revealed in front of everyone’s eyes.

Only to see more than three feet high flower steamed bun was divided into nine layers, each layer of the outermost are neatly arranged with a circle of realistic image of longevity peach, pointed top showing a touch of light fans, the bottom is bright emerald green and decorated with red and yellow flowers.

Inside, it was piled high with gold ingots and bottle gourds.

There were nine layers in total, with the bottom tray being the largest, and the layers going up, the tray getting progressively smaller.

On the top layer is only a huge peach of immortality, printed with a conspicuous red (寿)”long life” word, around, is a neat yellow and gold ingots. These golden ingots on the red words, together, it is the eight words; 福如东海，寿比南山” [Happiness as boundless as the eastern seas, Live as long as the Zhongnan Mountains! ]

Further up, the big peach is also coiled with a living five-clawed golden dragon and display of flying phoenix, its clear appearance are extremely lifelike.

Everyone marvelled!

What kind of food is this?

It’s clearly done with the care and precision of a sculptor’s work of art!

To be able to make food like this was unheard of in the history of their Dong Lan Kingdom!

What kind of pair of hands were able to do this?

As the crowd marveled, they began to wonder, can these things really be eaten?

“These longevity peaches are made from wheat flour. The ninety-nine longevity peaches signify the Empress Dowager’s good fortune and longevity. The golden ingots inside signifies prosperity while the green gourd signifies both good fortune and prosperity, and there are also nine small peaches inside the big longevity peach on the top. The dragon and phoenix mean that the Dong Lan Kingdom will be prosperous and peaceful with good weather that will brings good harvests in the future!” Lu Yunluo bent down and bowed to the Empress Dowager to explain the meaning behind each and every thing one by one.