Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 316: A bowl of plain noodles

When Daiyu returned to Yanjia Palace, the Empress Dowager and Tanchun were chatting absent-mindedly. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her come back.

Daiyu greeted the Empress Dowager with a smile, and sat down beside the old lady, asking coquettishly, "Has the Empress Dowager had her meal?"

The Queen Mother looked doting and touched her forehead: "You have eaten. Have you not had time to eat yet? I'm afraid you have spent all your time in Rong Mansion treating the old lady of the Jia family, right?"

Daiyu hugged the empress dowager's arm, rested her head on her shoulder, yawned, and replied in a daze: "Yes! I came back only after my grandmother was fine..."

"Don't sleep, don't sleep!" When the Queen Mother saw that she was dazed, she hurriedly held her in her arms and coaxed her, "Wake up, you need to eat something before you go to sleep. Otherwise, you will be hungry and anxious at night."

He hurriedly ordered, "Hurry up and make her a simple bowl of egg custard, bird's nest, chicken noodle soup, anything will do!"

Can these be put together?

Aunt Meng opened her eyes wide and said, "Empress Dowager, I haven't eaten yet either..."

"You have to eat well. Bird food is not suitable for you!" The Queen Mother didn't even look at her.

However, when Tanchun heard Daiyu say "Grandma is fine", her shoulders relaxed for some reason and she also smiled slightly:

"I remember that Sister Liu used to prepare snacks for Sister Lin at night, and they were mostly plain noodles."

When the words "Yangchun noodles" were spoken, Daiyu felt her saliva welling up and she swallowed gently.

The Queen Mother laughed out loud upon seeing this and quickly ordered, "Make her some plain noodles!"

"Her Yangchun noodles are not ordinary! They are made in the Jiangnan Temple style, with bamboo shoots, gluten, black fungus, day lily, and all kinds of good stuff!

"The soup stock has been prepared long ago. The noodles are chewy and the soup is rich. I can eat two bowls in one go!"

Aunt Meng stood up and said with her eyes wide open, she swallowed her saliva and sat back down, "It's a pity that Sister Liu didn't enter the palace."

After getting off the boat that day, only Zijuan and Qingwen followed into the palace. Sister Liu and Xueyan returned to the Lin Mansion temporarily and picked up some things at home with Xiaohong. After a few days, they would bring the things into the palace together.

At that moment, even the Queen Mother was salivating and glanced at Cheng Qian.

Cheng Qian sneered and said, "Okay! I'll go to the small kitchen and watch them cook! Xiao Meng wants two bowls, Zhao Qing wants one bowl, and you want one too!"

He deliberately looked at Tanchun and said, "Do you want it, Yimin? If you don't tell me now, you won't have it later!"

Tanchun was particular about eating at the right time, so she smiled and shook her head, "I had a good dinner, so I'm not hungry now. I'll eat tomorrow."

Cheng Qian stepped forward and hugged Tanchun: "It's still our Yimin rules!"

"Oh, are you saying I'm being unruly?" The Queen Mother snorted and rolled her eyes, "Ever since Yimin came, you don't like anything about me!

"In that case, when Yi Min goes out, you should follow her! I have Zhaoqing, the unruly one, to accompany me, so I am not afraid!"

Lin Daiyu rubbed her eyes drowsily, stood up and walked away: "I'm going to change my clothes..." she muttered to herself and walked quickly.

Seeing this, Qingwen couldn't help laughing, and hurried over to pick up Daiyu, and helped her to the side hall.

The Queen Mother looked at Zijuan and asked, "What is Qingwen laughing at?"

"The princess was afraid of being caught in the crossfire, so she ran away. The Queen Mother and Aunt Cheng have only known the princess for a short time, so they don't know that our princess is naughty. That's why Qingwen smiled secretly."

Zijuan explained gently, and then whispered to the Queen Mother, "In fact, that side is delicious when you are hungry. When your stomach is empty, the vegetarian food is not greasy, so it makes your stomach feel comfortable and delicious.

"What skills do the imperial chefs in the palace have? Even if it's meat, it won't make you sick. So if you compare them, vegetarian noodles are definitely not as good as meat noodles.

"Just take a sip of the noodle soup and enjoy the fresh flavor.

"Besides, it's a bit late now. I'm afraid you'll stop eating after you finish your noodles. If they say you're not feeling well because you just came back from outside, His Majesty and the Emperor will be worried."

After hearing the gentle persuasion along the way, Tai Tai was so happy that she nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you!"

Cheng Qian smiled, secretly gave Zijuan a thumbs up, and went out to order the noodles to be cooked.

Daiyu, who was in the side hall, heard everything. As she changed her clothes, she smiled quietly to Qingwen, "Let alone waiting for one or two years, even if Zijuan said she wanted to get married tomorrow, the Empress Dowager would be able to prepare a dowry of 108 loads for her!"

Qingwen nodded repeatedly and smiled, "Back when we were in the old lady's room, Sister Yuanyang was the most senior, and the rest of us learned from her. It's a pity that I didn't stay there for long enough to learn anything!"

"With your personality, you'll never be able to learn what they do in ten thousand years!" Daiyu laughed.

As they were talking and laughing, a familiar voice suddenly sounded outside. Daiyu was immediately delighted: "Uncle Tao is here!"

She had been sitting in front of the dressing table waiting for Qingwen to comb her hair, but she immediately pushed Qingwen's hand away and ran out in a hurry.

It turned out to be Tao Xingjian, who was talking and smiling in front of the empress dowager, and holding a food box.

"Eunuch Tao!" Daiyu smiled brightly.

When I came back yesterday, I only saw him from a distance but didn’t have a chance to talk. When I saw him today, I felt particularly close to him.

Tao Xingjian's eyes turned red, and he nodded repeatedly with a smile: "Princess!"

The Queen Mother looked at the two and couldn't help but smile and said to Tanchun, "Look, whenever Lao Tao sees Zhaoqing, there's no one else in his eyes!"

Tao Xingjian laughed and bowed to the empress dowager again: "How dare I?"

He then lifted the food box and pushed it over, "Your Majesty was angry this afternoon and refused to eat dinner, so he asked the kitchen to make some noodles.

"I remembered that I had eaten this noodle when I went to the princess's place for a meal. So I told His Majesty to send some to the princess as well.

"Please taste it and see how it compares to what our cook, Mrs. Liu, makes."

"Let me try it, let me try it!" Aunt Meng's stomach was rumbling with hunger, and she hurried to take it when she saw this.

Daiyu pouted immediately: "This is what Supervisor Tao brought me! Everything made in the kitchen will be yours, but this one won't work!"

"I'll just take a bite!"

"One bite is mine too!"

Two people actually started fighting over a bowl of noodles.

The Queen Mother laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She pushed Tanchun and asked, "Look at how capable your sister is! Little Meng is so accustomed to being neither superior nor inferior that she is now fighting with her master for food! Have you ever seen such a scene?"

Tanchun chuckled: "I've never seen it before!"

Let’s look at Tao Xingjian again: “The eunuch didn’t know that Sister Lin had just returned from Rong Mansion and said that the old lady at home was in good health and her condition had improved.

“She was happy and ordered this noodle to eat.

"We were just wondering if the small kitchen could make the noodles that Sister Lin wanted, but you brought them here!

"It's really not in vain that our sister Lin called you uncle!"