Chapter 490 - New Year's Eve
When Yu Xiaocao got back, she pondered thoughtfully for a long time before she finally decided to make ‘eucommia lower body strengthening soup’, ‘northern groundcone kidney strengthening soup’, and ‘morinda root and pork tripe soup’. All of these would help the heir increase his fertility. For his daily tea, she planned on replacing it with wolfberry tea instead. Furthermore, she wrote down exactly what he should and should not eat on a daily basis...all in all, it turned out to be several pages worth of information.
After looking at her dismal brush handwriting, she felt that it wasn’t too presentable (Zhu Junyang quips: “What do you mean by ‘not too presentable’? Even three year olds who have just started to learn how to write have better handwriting than you!”). The only person in her family who had good handwriting, her younger brother, wasn’t on his vacation yet, so she dragged Royal Prince Yang into this mess and made him rewrite everything she wrote.
When the bags filled with specially prepared medicine and the medicinal cuisine recipes arrived at the grand princess royal’s estate, the grand princess royal noticed the familiar calligraphy on the notes. She shook her head in amusement. Everyone said that her grandnephew had his eye on that preteen Yu Xiaocao and was willing to do almost anything for her. Originally she thought that the rumors had exaggerated things. Now, however, she knew that the rumors weren’t necessarily false!
She sent the sacks full of medicines to an imperial physician and a few other famous doctors who were in the residence. It wasn’t that the grand princess royal didn’t trust Yu Xiaocao but, in regards to the heir of the Marquis Anning’s estate, she needed to be cautious!
The imperial physician and the other famous doctors looked at the prescribed medications and also carefully examined the medicinal cuisine recipes. They couldn’t help but slap the table in astonishment. All of the materials here were for gently replenishing the yang energy in the spleen and kidneys, and they were novel and valuable! These old fellows had never thought of using medications and food in this manner before.
The grand princess royal watched as the old men discussed animatedly between themselves and remarked in a displeased tone, “Have you all seen enough? How will this medicinal cuisine impact my grandson’s situation? If they can be used, then quickly have a maidservant go make some. The earlier he takes it, the faster he’ll get better.”
The imperial physician and the other famous doctors nodded their heads one after another and said, “They’re fine! All of these are astoundingly effective recipes. Would you...happen to know which genius prescribed these recipes? Would you be able to introduce us to this person?”
The grand princess royal gently shook her head and said, “That godly doctor doesn’t want to be known in this world, so…”
Many of the godly doctors in the world were solitary and very rarely left their abodes. They also tended to have eccentric personalities and didn’t like interacting with other people. When the grand princess royal explained it in that way, the other doctors expressed their understanding. When the other doctors finally left, Imperial Physician Liu, who had come from the palace, was silent for a bit before he finally asked, “Your Imperial Highness, if this old man didn’t guess wrongly, these recipes were all made by Feudal Princess Jinan, right?”
“Who can say for sure?” The grand princess royal quirked up an eyebrow and picked up the teacup by her hand before lowering her head to take a small sip. She replied without a hint of emotion.
Imperial Physician Liu smiled, “Your Imperial Highness must remember that the Eldest Imperial Prince was once deathly ill and the imperial physicians found themselves helpless. Only Feudal Princess Jinan was able to cure him with her folk remedies. Unfortunately, this old man was not in the palace that day. Otherwise, I would have asked the feudal princess for some tips and pointers. Every doctor has their own habits when prescribing medicine. This old man has once researched Feudal Princess Jinan’s methods and it seems quite similar to the recipes seen today.”
The grand princess royal raised her eyes to glance blandly at the old doctor. This old man clearly was the most shrewd and innovative imperial physician in the palace. He hadn’t gotten his reputation for coming up with treatments for obscure and unknown diseases for nothing. Originally, when she invited him over to treat her grandson and his wife, she also held onto the hope that this man would be able to create a miracle and fix their infertility. Unfortunately...luckily, her granddaughter had a reliable friend. It looked like Marquis Anning’s future was saved!
While Heir Anning was energetically consuming his medicinal cuisine and downing medicinal tea, the preparations for the New Years were in full swing at the Yu Residence. Everyone in the estate was busy. Although their New Years Eve dinner had already been booked at Zhenxiu Restaurant, they still needed to prepare an adequate amount of vegetables and meat. After all, the Yu Family was planning on spending the entire first month of the year in the capital.
The Yu and Fang Residences were not far from each other. Lady Fang was afraid that the Yu Family might find things difficult as it was their first time in the capital celebrating the New Years. Thus, she came over from time to time to help out with the management. Her personal maidservant, Linglong, also came along and she was a hardworking and diligent girl. She was sent to Madam Liu to help her train a few new maidservants.
Every year, the whole family worked together to make delicious foods to celebrate the New Years. This was the first time Madam Liu had to manage it on such a large scale. Every day, the stewards and senior servants asked her for instructions or reported on matters that were going on in the residence as they were in charge of managing the lower-ranked maids and servants. Luckily, the stewards and senior servants were quite capable. In addition, Xiaocao and Lady Fang came over from time to time to help arrange things. Thus, Madam Liu started out quite frazzled, but, over time, she slowly got a handle on things and it became second nature to her.
On the 28th of the last month, Little Shitou braved the snows and wind to travel to the capital with Headmaster Yuan. As soon as Headmaster Yuan entered the capital, he didn’t even bother going back to his own family and instead went directly to the Yu Residence. His reasoning was simple: he was escorting his little disciple home.
When Headmaster Yuan arrived at the Yu Residence, every word he said hinted at one thing: he missed Lass Yu’s food. Yu Xiaocao was grateful for his treatment of her younger brother, so she naturally wouldn’t refuse his request. She personally went into the kitchen to craft a table full of delicious dishes. She also invited the emperor emeritus over to partake in the meal.
“You’re being too biased ah, Lass Yu!! You’ve already been in the capital for more than half a year but you never invited Fifth Lord over for a meal before. However, as soon as this fellow surnamed Yuan appears, you easily make a table full of food to greet him. The difference in treatment is too obvious, right? That’s not okay, I need to order a few dishes to soothe my broken heart.” The emperor emeritus was currently stuffing his face with red-braised pork as he complained.
Yu Xiaocao had long gotten used to the emperor emeritus’s old urchin antics and suppressed a smile as she said, “Feel free to order whatever your heart desires. As long as I can make it, I’ll make sure that you won’t be disappointed.”
“I want Kung Pao chicken, chopped bell peppers with fish head, sweet and sour pork chops, sweet and sour crispy pork…” The emperor emeritus remembered the delicious foods he had eaten in his past life and his saliva almost dripped down his face. It wasn’t easy for him to encounter a transmigrator who knew how to cook so he needed to sate his cravings now.
Headmaster Yuan was unhappy by this turn of events, “Your Imperial Majesty, can you finish all of the food you just ordered? This food is so good, so it’d be a pity to waste any of it ah! If you want to eat more, then you can come back another time with me!”
“Old Yuan, you made a mistake! I already said that today I'm the Fifth Lord and not the emperor emeritus. I need to punish you...in a moment, you’re not allowed to touch a single dish that I ordered. Hmph, hmph!” The emperor emeritus was already displeased that he had to fight for food with this old glutton. He grinned evilly as he craftily stated his requests.
Headmaster Yuan wasn’t going to go down without a fight, so he hurriedly said, “Fifth Lord, are you really able to finish that many dishes? How about this, I concur that I spoke wrongly. I’ll punish myself by drinking three cups of wine, how’s that?”
The emperor emeritus immediately snatched the wine jug off the table and growled, “You certainly know how to get every advantage possible. This jug of grape wine was brewed by Xiaocao personally. It has a smooth and mellow taste, and it’s obviously a top-notch product. There’s not much wine left in the jug, yet you ‘punish’ yourself with having to drink three cups. Is this a punishment or a reward ah? You’re so sly that you even thought of this, huh? That’s not okay, I need to punish you to drink three fewer cups of wine.”
This table only had Little Shitou and Royal Prince Yang attending the two old urchins. When they saw the two old men, who had a combined age of around a hundred and fifty, fighting like two kids over a jug of wine, the two youngsters exchanged helpless glances and pretended that they couldn’t see anything as they continued to eat the delicious food in front of them.
Yu Xiaocao came in with a platter of sweet and sour crispy pork and saw Headmaster Yuan and the emperor emeritus on the verge of starting a fist-fight over a jug of wine. She hastily went forward to stop them, “Today is for eating and sampling delicious food, so you absolutely cannot drink too much alcohol. If you two become drunk, wouldn’t that be an offense to this table of scrumptious food? If the two of you like this wine, then when you leave, both of you will get a jug each!”
When they found out that they both could get a jug to take home, the two old fellows decided not to fight anymore. They pushed their winecups away and started to eat with gusto.
In the blink of an eye, New Year's Eve arrived. The Yu and Fang families were currently sitting in a privately reserved room at Zhenxiu Restaurant, resting after they finished their New Years Eve dinner. That evening, fireworks and firecrackers went off nonstop throughout the capital. Yu Xiaocao sat in front of the window in the private room and watched as brilliant blossoms of light erupted in the sky. She somehow started reminiscing about her family in her previous life.
Were her younger brother and sister doing well there? She had an unexpected accident on what was supposed to be a happy day, so she wasn’t sure if her younger brother would feel guilty about this. As time passed, the pain from hurtful situations should dim. She hoped that her younger brother and sister would be able to get together in happiness and remember the good times...
“Hey! What are you thinking about? This prince has been waving at you for almost half a day but you haven’t reacted one bit!” Zhu Junyang was dressed entirely in black and was wearing a black overcoat that was threaded with red embroidery at the edges. He was seated high on a large horse and had his head raised to look at her. Under the radiant light of the fireworks, he looked incredibly enchanting with the snowy ground as his background.
“Why are you here? Did you eat your New Year’s Eve dinner?” Yu Xiaocao lay on the windowsill with half her body outside. She had a somewhat misty smile on her face.
Zhu Junyang raised an eyebrow and an alluring and bewitching smile appeared on his face, “Lass, did you drink wine? This prince knows a good place to view fireworks. Do you want to come?”
“Go! Why wouldn’t I go?” Yu Xiaocao propped herself up with two hands on the windowsill. With the alarmed cries from the Yu and Fang families surrounding her, she leapt out of the window. Her silvery laugh seemed to fuse with the snowy landscape as she exclaimed, “I’m coming, make sure to catch me…”
The Yu and Fang families had reserved a private room on the third floor of Zhenxiu Restaurant for their New Year’s Eve dinner. Once again, they were on the third floor! The room was dead silent for two seconds before cacophony exploded. Xiaolian, who had also been admiring the fireworks at the window with Xiaocao, was currently frozen in a position with her arms stretched out. Her younger sister had jumped down from the third floor and resembled a large and brilliant butterfly as she fell down with her clothes trailing behind her in the snowy winds. She only had the time to brush against her younger sister’s clothes but wasn’t able to grab onto her…
Below them, Zhu Junyang was stunned for 0.1 seconds before he stepped forward like lightning to where the little lass was following. He stretched out his two muscular arms in preparation to catch the little lass’s light body.
“Hee hee hee...so provoking and addicting!” Yu Xiaocao grinned like a fool when she fell into Royal Prince Yang’s arm. She grabbed onto his clothing and her large eyes seemed to be clouded over with mist, as if she was in a fog.
Thwap, thwap, thwap! Her small butt had suddenly been slapped by a large hand three times. The smile on her face immediately disappeared as she glowered angrily at Zhu Junyang. She forcefully bit down at his chest and snarled, “Bad man, you even dare to hit me!”
Unfortunately, Zhu Junyang’s chest muscles were too hard and he had also had the padding of his winter clothing. She was only able to bite onto a scrap of silk fabric. Zhu Junyang very rarely saw the little lass act in such a childish manner and an enchanting smile curled onto his lips as he said, “Lass, you got guts. Don’t you know that it was so dangerous earlier? If this prince wasn’t able to catch you time, what do you think would have happened?”
“What could have happened? My head getting splattered on the ground, right? Cracked open, spilling blood...hey, you hit me again! You’re such a bad person, bad person! I’m going to bite you to death!” Yu Xiaocao grabbed the hand that had hit her again and forcefully bit down.