Chapter 12: 吃火锅

Eating Hot pot

This Lan Guiren of Liu Yun Palace is worthy of being the princess of the Liu Yun Kingdom. In order to gain the emperor’s favor, with her crafty hands, she has made such a generous offer.

“Niang Niang, why do you think Lan Guiren wants to spend a thousand taels of silver to buy lotus wine?” Yin Shuang was a little puzzled, could a pot of wine really gain the Emperor’s favor?

“What one thousand taels?” Lu Yunluo was pondering how on earth she was going to get the rest of the silver taels together in these last ten days when her ears vaguely caught something about a thousand taels of silver.

“It’s like this, I heard that yesterday Yao Guiren gave the emperor a pot of lotus wine that she made herself. The emperor especially liked it and awarded a bunch of things to Li Xia Palace. On the spot, it is said that the rewarded things were all worth several cities—invaluable/ priceless/ treasures of great value, so the Lan Guiren also wanted to please the emperor so she offered a high price to collect lotus wine from all over the palace. In particular, lotus wine that had been brewed for over a month was worth a thousand taels. Now all the lotus flowers in all the lotus ponds have all been picked.” 

Only then, did Yin Shuang remember that she hadn’t seemed to have mentioned this to Her Highness since she returned. 

“Oh that’s right Niang Niang, this servant remembers, didn’t you also make lotus wine last month?”

“Yes ah and I still have several jars here.” Lu Yunluo said a jar of wine could hold at least ten pots of wine.

Yin Shuang’s eyes instantly lit up, “Then wouldn’t we….”

Lu Yunluo immediately interrupted Yin Shuang’s fantasy without mercy, “Are you sure we want to take the initiative to approach Lan Guiren?”

Yin Shuang’s face instantly collapsed. That’s right ah, Her Niang Niang’s current status is very sensitive. Moreover, she was a concubine who had been sent to the cold palace. Especially her Niang Niang looks were too striking, so what if that Lan Guiren saw her and became jealous, then what should they do?

Moreover, even if she is allowed to go to Liu Yun Palace, there is still a risk of exposure!

She could not put her Niang Niang (Her Highness) in danger for the sake of merely a few thousand taels of silver.

“But well, it’s not like we don’t have any solution.” Lu Yunluo thought about it for a moment, a thousand taels for a pot of lotus wine, ‘if you pass this village, you won’t find this shop’ (idiom for ‘this is your last chance!’). She was worried that she didn’t have enough silver to leave the palace.

It was just that she still had to think about how to sell the wine in her hands to the Liu Yun Palace.

At night, with a cool breeze blowing gently and a silver moon like a hook, under the hexagonal pavilion not far from Liu Yun Palace, was a dark purple figure.

Cao Zhong Quan returned to report: “Your Majesty, everything has been done.”

“Hn, go down ba.” A pair of pitch dark ink-like eyes shone with waves of light under the lamp fire.

He was certain that she would come forward and show herself for the thousand taels of silver.

The bait had been set, so he was just waiting for the fish to take the initiative to bite.

Ji Wu Jue picked up the wine cup on the table and drank it down in one go.

The Qing Zhu Courtyard is the residence of Eunuch Cheng, the head of the Imperial Kitchen. Normally, not many people come here, but on the day when he returned from his trip out of the palace to purchase things, it would be particularly lively.

In the courtyard, Lu Yunluo and two eunuchs were gathered around a stone table, eating hot pot in the heat under a big tree.

In front of each person’s table, there is a delicate and small copper pot.

“Xiao Lu Zi ah, it’s really too bad that with that cooking talent of yours, that you didn’t come to work at our imperial kitchen!” Eunuch Cheng fished out a freshly cooked piece of meat from the pot and brought it to his mouth, the tip of his tongue tingling. He didn’t know what kind of seasoning had been put in it, it was bright red.

Moreover, he had never seen such a way of eating while cooking in most of his life in this palace. He had never seen it before, but this Xiao Lu Zi always had some strange and bizarre ideas.