Ye Yunting looked closely at Li Fengqi, wondering if this person was hinting something at him.
Li Fengqi also looked at him seriously, his expression calm, as though he were just speaking casually.
In the end, Ye Yunting thought about how he was always protecting him at all times and said warmly, “I know how to make osmanthus cake, but I don’t have time to make it now. Why don’t I make Wangye some noodles?”
Li Fengqi pretended to shrug it off. “Isn’t it too much trouble for the Young Master?”
“It’s not troublesome, it’s very quick.” Ye Yunting said.
“Then, sorry for the trouble.” Li Fengqi nodded reservedly. “I didn’t expect the Young Master to have such skills. I have never been to the kitchen, so I want to go with you to watch.”
Ye Yunting glanced at him but didn’t expose him. He called Ji Lian and let him follow behind.
He knew where the kitchen was, and when he found the place, he saw the cooks and his servants resting at the door. When they saw the two people coming, they were all startled. They stood up one after another and stood on either side with their hands down, not daring to breathe. The steward stepped forward bravely, apologizing while asking the reason for the visit.
“Wangye wants to eat noodles, so I’ll make him a bowl. There is no need for you to be alarmed.” Not having to prepare their master’s set meal, these cooks were taking the opportunity for a moment of leisure. Ye Yunting didn’t want to rebuke them, so he simply sent them all out and went into the kitchen with Li Fengqi.
The servants looked at each other after hearing this, wondering what Wangye and Wangfei were up to – but they had never heard of a palace where the master did his own cooking.
There was still fire on the firewood stove in the kitchen. Ye Yunting turned and saw that the kitchen was stocked with sufficient ingredients, and there was even a hanging pot of chicken soup. He asked Ji Lian to stoke the fire while he rolled up his sleeves and proficiently poured water into the pot.
As the old saying went, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen, but he moved skillfully and cooperated with Ji Lian without any hesitation or reluctance. He looked like he was used to doing this.
Li Fengqi watched from the sidelines and couldn’t help but ask: “How often does the Young Master cook?”
“Not that often.” Ye Yunting reminisced a little and told the truth. “The Duke’s Mansion never withheld food or drink. It’s just that I when I had cravings as a child, I always pestered my wet nurse to make some snacks for me. After watching her food preparations so often, I came to memorize them. Later, the nurse passed away, so if I wanted to eat them again, I had to make them myself.
The wet nurse’s parents were both chefs in the back kitchen of a restaurant, and were very skillful. She had a lot of experience and knew how to make many snacks that others couldn’t. Ye Yunting was not taken seriously in the house. Although there was no shortage of food, there was no surplus, either. As his younger self grew taller, he would get hungry quickly, so she would try her best to get some ingredients and make snacks for Ye Yunting by herself.
Later, Ye Yunting got older, and rarely asked for food after he realized what was going on. However, Ji Lian was a chubby little kid who ate a lot and complained that he was hungry after three meals a day. In order to save his wet nurse some trouble, he learned to do it himself.
He glanced at Ji Lian, who was loading firewood clumsily, and saved him some face in the end.
But Ji Lian obviously didn’t care about face. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and yelled, “Young Master was not greedy. Every time, you’d say you want to eat some snacks, but all you do is to give them to me to eat, and only eat a little bit for yourself. So in the end they were all especially made for me.” He laughed a couple of time, and then became frustrated again. “But the young master refused to cook later on because he thought I ate too much and was fat.”
Ye Yunting put the noodles into the boiling water and took a moment to give him a look. “It’s a good thing you know.”
Ji Lian was very unconvinced but had no confidence to refute him, so he could only puff his face and blow into the stove.
As a result, the fire in the stove became too big. Ye Yunting knocked him on the head with his finger and scolded him gently. “The fire is too big.”
Ji Lian said “Oh”, quickly moved the blower away, and squatted down for a while.
Li Fengqi stayed on the sidelines, saying with emotion, “You two have a good relationship.” No wonder Ye Wang was so persistent in wanting to get close to Ye Yunting.
When he treated someone well, the tenderness and indulgence in his eyes was mesmerizing.
But there was only a handful of people who he could treat with tenderness in his heart. He seems to smile at everyone, but in fact, he had a very clear distinction between those close to him and those who weren’t, so this tenderness became more and more precious.
Li Fengqi watched in silence as he scooped up the soft boiled noodles and ran them through cold water. Then he poured a bowl of clear yellow chicken soup into the pot and brought it to a boil. Finally, he poured the cooled noodles into the soup and, after a few breaths, sprinkled in chopped green onion, quickly scooped the noodles up, poured the soup on them, and served them in three large bowls.
One each from him, Ye Yunting and Ji Lian.
Ye Yunting put the three bowls of chicken soup noodles into the tray and asked Ji Lian to take it back to the courtyard. He straightened his sleeves and smiled at Li Fengqi. “Okay, let’s go to the courtyard to eat.”
Li Fengqi nodded at him, and Ye Yunting pushed him towards the main courtyard. In Li Fengqi’s heart, he was thinking that Ye Yunting was willing to share a pot of noodles with him, so he must be regarding him as one of his own people…right?
For the first time, the invincible Prince Yong’an felt uncertain about his own deductions.
Li Fengqi finished eating the noodles with satisfaction and looked very happy. He called Zhu Lie and Wu Geng and, after giving orders, went to the study with Ye Yunting to continue discussing follow-up details.
Organizing the banquet was complicated and required about half a month of preparation time. After the two of them discussed the guests, it took them three days to send out invitations one after another.
Prince Yong’an’s palace had been closed to guests for more than a month, but now invitations were being sent out with great fanfare in preparation for the banquet. The news naturally spread throughout the capital.
There was a lot of discussion about this, both in the court and among the people.
The people felt that the Wangye and Wangfei really had a close relationship and were indeed a destined couple.
The courtiers were speculating about Prince Yong’an’s intentions for this banquet, whether they would go or not, and what subsequent impact it would have on the situation in the court.
But one banquet was stirring up the wind and clouds in the capital.
*
Taiqian Palace.
Li Zong’s face was full of resentment, as if a storm was about to come.
The two brothers knelt by his side, one on the left and the other on the right, carefully squeezing their abdomens.
After being silent for a long time, Li Zong suppressed his resentment and said, “Throwing a banquet for the courtiers, what is he trying to do? Is he trying to rebel?”
“Prince Yong’an was severely ill from poisoning. Because of this, the wedding was kept very simple. Now that he has recovered, he wants to hold a banquet and invite many guests, which sounds reasonable.” Han Chan said. “Why should Your Majesty care about this matter? He is just trying to provoke you.”
“If I shouldn’t care, then should I give him a reward?” Li Zong gritted his teeth and said, “Who knows, what if he’s using this opportunity to make friends with courtiers in order to commit misdeeds?!”
“Yong’an-Wang didn’t make friends with the courtiers before. Even if he wants to make friends now, it will take some time. Besides, Your Majesty is the rightful ruler. If he doesn’t want to be called a traitor, he won’t take action so readily. It’s just a banquet, Your Majesty really doesn’t need to worry.” Han Chan lowered his gaze, hiding the impatience in his eyes.
It was just a banquet, but Li Zong was already so restless and impatient. How could he compete with Li Fengqi?
Thinking of Li Fengqi, his expression became even more grim. He knew Li Fengqi’s tactics very well. He was just trying to force Li Zong to make a move.
Whatever action Li Zong took, the infamy of persecuting heroes was going to be inevitable. No matter what Li Fengqi did, he would be righteous.
To oppose was to be forced into helplessness; to not oppose was to be loyal to the country and the people.
However, Li Zong couldn’t even see this trick, and he was about to stick his neck into the trap.
The more disappointed he was with Li Zong, the more he admired Li Fengqi. But with this admiration was also a certain amount of anger and resentment that couldn’t be disputed. With Li Fengqi’s ability, if the two of them join forces, what was there to worry about?
Han Chan lowered his head to take a sip of tea, but heard Li Zong calling him several times and came back to his senses. There was no emotion on his face. “Hm?”
Li Zong called him several times. When he saw that he looked distracted, he paused and smiled again. “Nothing. I mean that the teacher is right. I will summon Yong’an-Wang and Yong’an-Wangfei into the imperial palace right now for the wedding reward “
His expression was a little strange. Han Chan frowned, and then he felt that there was no need to bother so much. Let him do as he pleased. Anyway, he wasn’t here to protect the country, so he nodded lightly and said, “Your Majesty is wise.”
Li Zong glanced at him, his smile grew wider, and he turned around and ordered Cui Xi, “Go and tell Yong’an-Wang and Yong’an-Wangfei to come to the imperial palace and receive rewards.”
Cui Xi accepted the order and retreated. Han Chan then got up and said, “Since Your Majesty has made a decision, I will be retiring first.”
“Teacher, take care1.” Li Zong smiled as he watched him walk out of Taiqian Palace, his back as fading as a wisp of smoke.
The smile on his face gradually faded, and his face became expressionless.
After standing there for a few breaths, he suddenly took a few steps and grabbed the waist of the Ruan brothers who were passing by. He stroked their faces with his pale and thin fingers and said softly: “Do I2 look stupid to you?”
The two brothers shook their heads quickly, and the elder brother Ruan Liu boldly said: “Your Majesty is a phoenix among men, how can he be stupid? If anyone is stupid here, it is us two brothers.”
“But they all treat me like a fool…” Li Zong raised the corner of his mouth, remembering the perfunctory smile on Han Chan’s Face, and raised his hands to cover his face.
Han Chan had been his first teacher and taught him since he was three years old. At that time, he had just been a prince who was not valued by his father, the emperor, nor his mother. Only Han Chan, the teacher, was willing to care for him and teach him, unlike others only wanted him to grow up to be a useless man.
He had been with Han Chan for seventeen years, and their bond was even greater than what he had with Li Fengqi in the past.
Because he was so familiar with him, he was able to detect even the slightest hint of Han Chan’s impatience and perfunctory behavior.
Li Zong fell on his back on the luohan bed and laughed slowly.
In the hearts of his father and his mother, he could never be as good as his eldest brother: they would rather abandon him in order to pave the way for his eldest brother. In Li Fengqi’s heart, he was no match for his ideals: he had cried and begged him back then not to leave him behind, but he still went to Northern Xinjiang with no hesitation.
Now, even his teacher was the same.
What was Han Chan thinking about when he was lost in thought? Was he thinking of how inferior Li Zong was compared to Li Fengqi?
Li Zong laughed louder and louder. He pulled Ruan Liu over and pressed him down. He bit his ear and said sinisterly: “I will not let you get what you want.”
===Author’s Notes===
The author has something to say:
77: Wife, I’m hungry.
Tingting:?Speak in human language
77: It’s foolish to eat sweet-scented osmanthus cake.
===Translator’ Notes===
If you like this story, please consider supporting the author here.
And if you're enjoying this translation, please considering sending a tip via Ko-fi. :D
I really love this story thanks for translating it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading! :)
DeleteI like how the other characters are also getting background details...thank you for the translations
ReplyDeleteThank you also for reading!
Delete