The soup in the boiler was boiling vigorously.

Amidst the bubbling sound of the boiling water, Jiang Yanyi picked up the kitchen knife on the cutting board.

The knife felt heavy compared to the light, nimble knives she used in her previous life, and she frowned slightly before quickly relaxing her expression.

She scooped up the chicken breast soaked in water and laid it on the cutting board, swiftly slicing it into thin pieces.

Then, using the technique of a cleaver, she shredded the thin slices into fine strips.

Dozens of eyes watched in awe, and apart from the sound of boiling water, the entire kitchen fell silent.

With the same knife technique, she quickly cut the ham and bamboo shoots into strips.

When she set down the knife, she frowned slightly again.

It was still somewhat awkward for her to use this body to handle the knife; otherwise, she could have done it even more finely.

Chef Li was taken aback.

It was the first time in his life he had misjudged someone.

Jiang Yanyi’s knife skills clearly showed that she had trained for at least five or six years.

However, he maintained a stern face, as if slicing vegetables was nothing special. “From now on, you’ll help me in the kitchen.”

Being able to join the fire brigade meant she could at least make a living with her skills.

“Thank you, Military Master!” Jiang Yanyi quickly expressed her gratitude.

She had thought it would take more effort to impress Chef Li, but it seemed to be easier than she had anticipated.

Chef Li ignored her enthusiasm and turned back to his tasks. “If you work in the fire brigade, you need to be quick and diligent. Don’t think of slacking off. Take the remaining soft tofu and make tofu pudding.”

He seemed to remember something and added, “Make sure the flavor is strong; it’s for the great general, and there can’t be any mistakes.”

Jiang Yanyi didn’t quite understand Chef Li’s words.

However, the other kitchen staff looked at her with a hint of sympathy.

Feeling puzzled, Jiang Yanyi thought, “It’s just tofu pudding. Why do they all look at me as if I’m about to be executed?”

Returning to the boiler, she noticed a round-faced woman next to her who seemed hesitant to speak.

Jiang Yanyi recognized this round-faced woman as the one who had seen her being bullied by Chunxiang at noon and had intended to help her.

She appeared friendly, so Jiang Yanyi decided to ask cautiously, “Is the great general difficult to please?”

The round-faced woman bit her lip and glanced around before quietly saying, “This newly appointed general is the emperor’s uncle. He was titled King of Liaonan by the previous emperor and commands an army of a hundred thousand iron cavalry. He has the power over life and death, and now he’s suddenly come to take over the Western Province military camp.”

“I heard that when he was young, he ate a bowl of tofu pudding from the imperial kitchen. He claimed it had no flavor, which caused the cooks to redo several bowls with more seasoning. Even then, he said it still lacked flavor, leading to one of the cooks being executed. Since then, he demands tofu pudding at every meal, no matter where he goes…”

Hearing this, Jiang Yanyi felt goosebumps all over her body.

The newly appointed general of the Western Province military camp was actually the King of Liaonan!

Although the King of Liaonan had not officially appeared in the original story, he was often mentioned by the male lead and the ministers as someone not to be provoked.

The male lead did not inherit the throne from his father but from his grandfather.

His father had been the prince for his entire life but died young, while his grandfather lived a long life and even fathered a younger son with a favored concubine.

That younger son was naturally the King of Liaonan.

While the male lead was still the crown prince, the ministers were divided into two factions: one supporting him and the other supporting the King of Liaonan.

Many believed that given the late emperor’s fondness for his youngest son, he would likely pass the throne to him.

However, after the late emperor’s death, two imperial edicts were issued: one to pass the throne to the male lead and another to grant the younger son a princely title.

Throughout the story, the male lead was always wary of his uncle, the King of Liaonan.

The King was notorious for his ruthlessness.

Jiang Yanyi recalled Liu Cheng ruining that pot of tofu and suddenly understood: Liu Cheng must have done it on purpose, fearing for his own neck.

Did that mean she was now stepping forward to become a scapegoat?

Noticing Jiang Yanyi’s fear, the round-faced woman comforted her, “Just be careful. It’s been years since I heard of the great general executing someone for tofu pudding not being to his taste.”

In the military camp, he was referred to by his military title, so everyone called the King of Liaonan the great general.

Jiang Yanyi forced a smile and nodded at her.

Such a vile feudal society!

A cook could lose his head for a cooking mistake!

Couldn’t she request that a beheading be replaced with a bad review instead?

Jiang Yanyi sighed deeply, suppressing her chaotic thoughts, realizing that making the tofu pudding well was her only chance to save her life.

She searched for some scallions and coriander to chop finely, smashed garlic to mince, added a pinch of salt, and poured in soy sauce and aged vinegar!

However, she couldn’t find any chili peppers.

When she asked the round-faced woman, she learned that this era didn’t have chili peppers at all; they used zhuyou for a spicy flavor.

Suddenly, a thought struck Jiang Yanyi. Perhaps the great general found it bland because it wasn’t spicy enough?

After all, the spiciness of zhuyou couldn’t compare to that of chili peppers.

In the world Jiang Yanyi originally lived in, chili peppers were only introduced to her country during the Ming Dynasty, initially used as ornamental plants.

It wasn’t until the Qing Dynasty that spicy food became popular, and Sichuan cuisine began to emerge.

Jiang Yanyi thought that once she secured her position, she would need to explore and see if chili peppers had already arrived in this world; they might just not have made it to the dining table yet.

With the chili peppers, she was determined to let the people of this ancient time experience the deliciousness of hotpot!

She could even open a hotpot restaurant then!

Thinking about the days to come, Jiang Yanyi felt invigorated in her work.

Following the method for making spicy oil sauce, she heated oil in a pan and poured it over the mixed spice powder in the bowl, creating a bowl of oil-splashed spice sauce.

The fragrance and spiciness of the spice powder were nowhere near that of chili peppers, but the aromatic scent released by the hot oil still drew a few soldiers nearby who were cutting vegetables over to her.

“Smells so good! What sauce is this?”

“With this sauce, I could eat ten of those coarse rice cakes!”

Jiang Yanyi felt slightly reassured and drizzled the oil-splashed spice sauce over the tofu pudding, hoping that the general would be satisfied.

Inside the main command tent.

Feng Shuo looked at the official document in his hand, his narrow phoenix eyes slightly narrowed.

As dusk settled, candles were lit in the tent.

He took off his heavy armor and changed into a dark robe.

The murderous aura surrounding him diminished somewhat, making him look like a refined young gentleman from a distinguished family, well-versed in poetry and literature since childhood.

His handsome face was half illuminated by the candlelight and half shrouded in shadow, making his expression hard to read, with only the slight curve of his lips showing a hint of mockery.

“In the past few years, there have been no military operations in the Western Province, and the millions of taels of military funds allocated by the court have probably all gone into Fan Wei’s pocket.”

Fan Wei was the former general of the Western Province, and he had a daughter who served as a concubine in the palace.

He was now reassigned to Dazhou as the commander.

The military strategist, Chi Qing, entered the tent carrying a potted plant and said, “I thought you wouldn’t mind! Swapping the affluent Dazhou for this impoverished Western Province is just a loss, leaving the so-called Western Provincial Camp an empty shell. What a huge loss!”

Feng Shuo glanced at him, and Chi Qing shrugged, realizing it was better to keep quiet.

After a moment, he murmured, “Let’s just hope the one on the Dragon Throne keeps his promises. If you hand over Dazhou, he’ll allow the Grand Princess to leave the palace and enjoy her old age.”

A cold glint flashed in Feng Shuo’s eyes. “He doesn’t dare go back on his word.”

Speaking of matters from the capital, Chi Qing remembered the two soldiers he had encountered on his way, who were carrying a coffin out of the camp to bury someone.

He frowned. “The Jiang family’s legitimate daughter died in the Western Provincial Camp; it must be a conspiracy. The Jiang family is now saying their daughter died suddenly, but later they might claim they didn’t dare to seek justice for their beloved daughter because of your power.”

“Jiang family’s daughter died?”

“She died.”

Chi Qing was taken aback by the question. “Why are you asking me? Didn’t you send someone to collect her body?”

He had seen soldiers carrying the coffin out of the camp and inquired a bit to learn it was Feng Shuo who had someone use a coffin to collect the deceased camp prostitute’s body for burial.

The soldiers didn’t know the identity of the deceased, but how could Feng Shuo not know?

Three days ago, Jiang’s legitimate daughter had committed suicide by running into a wall, causing her head to bleed.

Chi Qing had thought at that time that she wouldn’t survive.

Feng Shuo didn’t elaborate further, only saying, “Send someone to investigate how the Jiang family fell out with the young emperor.”

As he looked down, he caught sight of the potted plant Chi Qing was holding.

Though it was called a flower, it didn’t look much like one.

The plant in the pot was laden with fruits, some green and some red, resembling a bald pen tip.

Feng Shuo raised an eyebrow and asked, “What is this?”

Chi Qing proudly placed the potted plant in front of Feng Shuo. “Since the Western Province has changed hands, the merchants in the city had to rebuild connections.

Not only did they send gold, silver, and jade, but they also brought some local specialties from outside the borders. I thought this potted plant they sent was quite interesting, so I brought it over. It’s said to have come from the Western Regions and is called ‘fan jiao’ (foreign pepper).”

Feng Shuo showed little interest in the potted plant and coldly glanced at Chi Qing. “I told you to clean up Fan Wei’s informants. You spent the whole afternoon doing this?”

Chi Qing’s back broke into a cold sweat, his gaze drifting. “Uh… I’ll go, I’ll go right now…”

With that, he fled from the main tent.

His personal guard brought dinner from the cook’s camp, nearly colliding with Chi Qing as he entered the tent, an occurrence he had long gotten used to.

As he prepared the meal, he noticed a potted plant on the table, filled with attractive green and red fruits.

The guard moved the potted plant to a nearby high table, arranged the food, and then said to Feng Shuo, who was still looking at the documents, “Master, you should eat first.”

Feng Shuo merely responded with a faint “mm,” not moving his gaze from the official document.

The guard knew his master was never one to indulge in culinary pleasures.

He never saw Feng Shuo picky about food, nor did he notice what dishes he favored.

After a long wait, Feng Shuo finally finished his documents and came to the table, but the food was already mostly cold.

The guard hurriedly said, “I’ll take it to the cook’s camp to heat it up.”

“No need.”

Feng Shuo glanced at the dishes sent from the cook’s camp.

When he was a child in the palace, he had eaten a bowl of poisoned tofu pudding.

After surviving, he lost all sense of taste.

All the palace servants who knew about this were executed, and only the Empress Dowager knew this secret.

For more than ten years, he could only taste the texture of any delicacy.

No matter how finely prepared the meals were by the military cooks, they could not compare to those made by the chefs in the palace.

His gaze lingered on the bowl of tofu pudding for a few seconds longer.

The tofu pudding in the small white porcelain bowl was soft and trembling, looking almost like a slightly solidified bowl of milk.

It was topped with a layer of enticing red oil spice, sprinkled with green scallions and cilantro, and adorned with crispy yellow soybeans and crushed peanuts, making it look very appetizing.

The guard hurriedly handed over a silver spoon.

Feng Shuo scooped up a small spoonful to taste.

Since the bowl contained soup, the tofu pudding was still warm and silky, melting in his mouth.

It had a hint of saltiness and spiciness, which was quite good.

Wait, saltiness and spiciness?

Feng Shuo’s hand holding the spoon suddenly froze.