Shaohua is Junqing

Looking at the cleaned palace, Chief Steward Cao's smile remained on his face.

"Your Majesty, the snow in the entire palace has been cleared."

"Okay, they've worked hard, let them go and rest."

"Yes, please excuse me."

"Your Majesty, you should go back and rest. I will make something delicious."

"You've been tired all day, so do it tomorrow. There's no rush to eat now."

"Okay, I'll make a list first and ask Manager Tao to prepare the ingredients."

After dinner, Siyu, Caidie and Chu Shengnan went to take a hot spring bath together.

On the third day, Siyu came to the kitchen, and Manager Tao had already ordered people to prepare the ingredients.

Siyu first poured onion and tomato sauce into the oil pan and stir-fried them, then added diced potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and tomatoes and continued to stir-fry, then poured the cooked beef cubes and beef broth into the pot, added salt, sugar, and pepper, brought to a boil over high heat, then continued to cook over medium heat. Siyu found starch and mixed it into a thin paste, then added it to the pot and stirred it evenly. When the soup boiled again, a dish of "borscht" was ready.

Siyu ordered someone to send the borscht to Lingmei Pavilion, where Su Xunxian had already been waiting.

"It smells so good!"

"This is a soup from my hometown called 'borscht'. It is sour and sweet, and fragrant. I wonder if it suits Lord Su's taste."

"Let me try it first." Su Xunxian picked up the soup spoon and scooped a few spoonfuls into the bowl. Because it was very hot, he used the spoon to stir it back and forth so that the soup would cool down faster.

Su Xunxian took a sip and found it tasted good, so he drank all the soup in the bowl in one breath.

"It's delicious. There are onions, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms in this soup. As for the meat..." Su Xunxian scooped another spoonful, "It's beef, right?"

"Yes, you are right."

"Xunxian, why didn't I realize you love eating so much before?"

"I've eaten at all the restaurants and hotels in the capital, and I'm tired of all the delicacies from land and sea. I've never tasted these two things that the princess made, and they feel fresh and taste good."

"In this world, only food and love are not to be wasted. There's nothing wrong with liking to eat." Siyu said.

Beitang Mo Ran also scooped a spoonful, leaned in to smell it, and said, "It's really fragrant." Then he drank the soup in the bowl in one gulp.

After hearing them say that the food was delicious, Chu Shengnan and Bai Ruoshu couldn't wait to scoop a few spoonfuls into their own bowls.

"Wow! It's sour and sweet, and the taste is indeed different from the soups I've had before. It's delicious!" said Bai Ruoshu.

Chu Shengnan also finished the soup in her bowl in just two or three sips and praised it highly.

Just a bowl of soup for lunch was not enough, so the kitchen manager asked someone to prepare a few dishes. The group tasted the food and chatted with each other, having a relaxing and happy time.

The end of the year is approaching, and the Prince of Chen must return to the capital. The Emperor will go to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests to worship his ancestors and pray for blessings, and all civil and military officials above the fourth rank in the capital must accompany him.

Although Siyu lived very comfortably in the hot spring palace, she had to return to the capital with Prince Chen as the important ceremony of the country could not be taken lightly.

The emperor would usually "put down his pen" and "seal his seal" on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, and "start writing" and "opening his seal" again on the third day of the New Year. On New Year's Eve, he would lead all the civil and military officials in the capital to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests to worship their ancestors and pray for blessings. On New Year's Day, he would hold a banquet in the imperial palace to entertain civil and military officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital, as well as officials from other places who had returned to Beijing to report on their work.

The families of officials of the second rank and above in the capital had to go to the palace to pay homage to the Empress Dowager and the Queen on New Year's Eve, but as the Emperor had not yet appointed a Queen, they only had to pay homage to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager would reward the families of these officials with some items according to their rank as a sign of her favor.

Siyu was originally a princess conferred by the empress dowager's grace and was not included in the list of people who would receive the audience. However, the empress dowager issued an oral order, requiring Princess Shaohua to come to the palace to receive the audience that day. Siyu originally wanted to have some free time, but now she had to go.