20demayo Chapter 168 False Alarm
Chapter 168 False Alarm
An Lingrong and her daughter had been separated for more than two years, and both had a lot to say to each other.
Before I knew it, time had passed like flowing water.
Bao Ge looked at the door several times, and finally couldn't help but enter the main hall.
"Your Majesty, it is past three quarters past noon. The kitchen should prepare dinner."
"May I ask what dishes will be prepared for dinner tonight?"
This is the first time that the Madam and the Young Master have come to Yonghe Palace, and they still have to ask the Master for permission.
An Lingrong's face froze. She had actually forgotten such an important matter.
"Bao Ge, what dishes are available in the small kitchen today?"
"Reporting to the Queen, the small kitchen has five pounds of pork, a plate of mutton, four eggs, one pound and eight ounces of tofu, five pounds of fresh vegetables, and six eggplants."
Baoge reported the amount of ingredients left in the portion taken back from the kitchen today.
An Lingrong thought for a moment and then told the name of the dish.
"Make a clear chicken soup, braised pork with tofu, mutton hotpot, pickled lean meat, steamed egg with minced meat, braised eggplant, stir-fried vegetables, sesame pancakes, and lily and lotus seed porridge."
"Mom, tell me what dishes Chengle likes to eat, and I'll ask the kitchen to make them."
Mrs. Lin shook her head slightly. Half of the dishes her daughter had just listed were specially prepared for the little kid. There was no need to add any more dishes.
She felt that there were still too many dishes, but she didn't say anything to stop them for fear of losing face for her daughter.
After Baoge left, Lin lowered her voice and asked.
"Rong'er, I heard Baoge report that there are no chickens. Do you want to spend money to buy chickens?"
The eunuch arranged by Su Peisheng to pick up the person was Xiao Dongzi, who was always thinking about the food in Yonghe Palace.
Seeing that the weather is getting colder, he seized the opportunity to cheer Lin up.
As long as it did not involve confidential information, he would not only answer Lin's questions, but also take the initiative to tell her a lot about things in the palace.
One of them was that if the concubines in the palace wanted to improve their meals and eat something that was not included in the rations, they had to spend a lot of money to buy it from the kitchen.
When Mrs. Lin heard that an egg cost several taels of silver, she thought that it would cost a huge amount of money for her daughter to buy a chicken.
"Mother, I have a flock of chickens in the back hall. I can just slaughter one anytime. There's no need to go to the kitchen to buy one."
The emperor wanted to give her a surprise, and An Lingrong, who pretended to know nothing, could not prepare the ingredients in advance.
This means they are targeting the chickens raised in the corner of the back hall.
What we brought back from the kitchen was a big fat chicken. It had grown a lot of meat after being raised for a while.
Although there were only three adults and two children having the meal, there were still many palace servants in Yonghe Palace, so there was no need to worry about overdoing it.
After hearing what An Lingrong said, Lin felt that she might not have slept enough last night and had an illusion.
My daughter is the mistress of a palace, how could she possibly raise chickens in Yonghe Palace?
In the past, no one in the county magistrate's office would lower their status to raise chickens.
Even when she and her daughter were short of food and clothing, she would embroider a handkerchief and a purse and ask Aunt Xiao to buy daily necessities and food from outside.
As soon as An Lingrong saw the dazed look on her mother's face, she knew what she was thinking.
"Mom, you heard me right. I do have a flock of chickens in the back hall."
"This, this, this... this is so detrimental to the royal dignity. Why don't you just get rid of the chicken as soon as possible?"
Lin suggested in a panic.
Once upon a time, the youngest son of a county magistrate bought a rabbit at the market to raise. It was said that the rabbit's butt was beaten to pieces by the angry county magistrate.
The palace had strict rules and she was afraid her daughter would be reprimanded.
"Mother, let me tell you a secret. There's someone from the Emperor's household in Yonghe Palace. He knows I'm raising a flock of chickens, and sometimes he even fights with Hongzhan for the egg custard."
"Don't worry. Concubine Hua of the Yikun Palace also raises a flock of ducks, one of which was a special gift from the Emperor."
Concubine Hua did raise a flock of ducks, but except for two big ones, the rest failed to hatch.
She firmly believed that she would make up for her previous shame next year and raise more ducks than she could count on both hands.
From what Songzhi said, it seemed that Concubine Hua had brought back a batch of poultry with bad tempers from the garden, and she planned to send a few to her after they were tamed.
With meat delivered to her door, An Lingrong naturally would not refuse.
When she was bored, she wondered when Concubine Hua would deliver the poultry to her door.
If they can lay eggs, keep them; if they are a waste of food, just give them a hot water bath.
When Lin first arrived in the capital, she had heard of Concubine Hua's reputation and knew that she was the emperor's most beloved woman.
Thinking that my daughter has the Sixth Prince and is pregnant with twins, I am not so worried.
I just gave a reminder out of concern.
"Just have a plan in mind. If you find anything unusual, deal with it immediately."
"Okay, my daughter will listen to me."
Lin, who was unable to rest, asked Baoque to find needles, thread, fabrics and other things. She cut out patterns while talking to her daughter.
"No wonder so many officials are scrambling to get to the capital."
"This is a really great place. Mother's big piece of jewelry was only worth thirty or forty taels of silver in Songyang, but once we got to the capital, the price increased fivefold or more."
An Lingrong looked at her disapprovingly.
"Mother, your eyes have just recovered. You can't let embroidery cause your old eyesight to relapse."
"Okay, I'll do whatever you want."
Lin felt that her eyes were clearer than when she was young, so it was not a big problem for her to buy a big piece every month.
She had only prepared a meager dowry for her daughter's entry into the palace. Thinking of her three children to raise, Lin wanted to save more money to supplement the dowry.
Besides, as Chengle grows older, expenses will also increase, and she cannot put the burden of raising a son on her daughter's shoulders.
Lin decided to agree first and deal with the rest after leaving the palace.
With her mother's company, An Lingrong had a lot more smiles on her face.
The young eunuch who was sweeping the yard silently noted down the number of times Concubine Shu smiled, intending to report it after nightfall.
When the time came, the wet nurse carried the Sixth Prince to the main hall to wait for dinner.
An Chengle, who was resting in the backyard, followed closely at about the same time.
The uncle and nephew, who are related by blood, got along like one family when they first met.
Hongzhan generously took out all the little things to share with his uncle.
Even when eating, the two of them were huddled together, and An Chengle, who knew how to use a spoon, insisted on feeding his little nephew egg custard.
An Lingrong saw her brother holding the spoon steadily and looked at Lin curiously.
"Mom, Chengle is only half a year older than Hongzhan, how come he can eat by himself so soon?"
"My Lady, there's a folk rumor that boys need to be raised roughly. With no one to help, Cheng Le learned to do it on his own."
Lin always thought of the master in everything and served him too well, which caused the mother and daughter to suffer greatly.
An Lingrong looked thoughtfully at her fat son who was waiting to be fed egg custard, and decided to train his hands-on ability starting tomorrow.
Aunt Xiao insisted on not sitting at the same table with them, so An Lingrong had to have some of the food sent to the back hall.
Now, the only people sitting around the table are the mother and daughter and Chengle's uncle and nephew.
Therefore, An Lingrong easily discovered that Chengle's egg custard was just put into Hongzhan's mouth, and he started to twitch.
The same thing happened with the next few spoonfuls of egg custard I fed in.
She was afraid that someone might have secretly poisoned her, so she checked the custard and the spoon but found nothing wrong.
He quickly asked Xiao Linzi to invite Wei Lin, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
It turned out that the egg custard Chengle fed him was too hot, and Hongzhan was reluctant to spit it out, so he shook his head to relieve the heat.