Harem Daily Life

He Linzhang looked at Tao Yanyan with deep eyes, and Tao Yanyan just kissed his cheek: "Your Majesty, what are you thinking about? Don't you just want a kiss?"

After Tao Yanyan finished kissing him, he turned over and patted He Linzhang as if to coax him to sleep: "Your Majesty, go to sleep. I'll call you later."

He Linzhang: “…”

Suppressing the beauty in his heart, He Linzhang closed his eyes, slowly slowed down his breathing, and finally fell into a deep sleep listening to the little beauty's even breathing.

When Tao Yanyan woke up again, He Linzhang had already left.

She stretched and got up to wash herself. Qingfeng said, "When you and His Majesty were taking an afternoon nap, Eunuch Qin from the Queen Mother's Palace came and brought two gifts. He said that the Queen Mother knew you had moved to a new place and gave them to you to play with. I have put them in the storeroom. I will go and see where to put them. Also, should we go to thank the Queen Mother today?"

Tao Yanyan thought of the empress dowager's majestic face and instantly became much more sober. After washing up, he took Qingfeng to check the storehouse.

There weren't many things in her storehouse, so a vase and a jade Guanyin statue given by the empress dowager stood out.

Tao Yanyan picked up the Jade Guanyin and examined it carefully. It was made of white jade and looked very heavy. She remembered a jade Guanyin statue from the Qing Dynasty that she had seen in her previous life. It was sold for one hundred thousand. So the one in her hand was worth at least one hundred thousand.

"Put this in the study. Place it securely and be careful not to bump it when cleaning." Tao Yanyan said, then picked up the vase.

I have to say that real antiques feel high-end when you hold them in your hands. The heavy texture and delicate touch seem to contain the sedimentation of history and traces of time in every detail.

Tao Yanyan likes this vase very much. It is more beautiful than the ones she has here. The shape is exquisite and unique, the lines of the bottle are smooth and natural, the colors are bright and rich in layers. It is worthy of being the Queen Mother's thing. Any one of them can be better than the ones she has here.

"Put this in my room. We'll go to the Imperial Garden and cut some flowers for flower arrangement later." Tao Yanyan seemed to have thought of something and let out a sigh of relief: "Forget it, let's not go to the Imperial Garden. You can go to the Queen Mother's place for me and tell her that I am now reflecting on my mistakes. After I have copied the palace rules ten times and can go out, I will go to thank the Queen Mother in person."

Qing Feng said, "Then what should we send over? We can't just go there empty-handed."

Tao Yanyan looked at her empty warehouse. If there weren't so many rooms in Yingyue Pavilion, she would have felt that there was no need to set aside a warehouse specifically to store things. It would have been a waste of space.

"I don't have anything suitable to give. How about this, I'll make some food and you can take it to thank the Queen Mother. It doesn't matter if you eat it or not, as long as our intentions are there."

Tao Yanyan thought about it and felt that the snacks made by the imperial chef were all delicious. However, the imperial chef had never seen snacks from later generations, so the taste might not be as good, but he could put some thought into the variety.

Thinking that the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming soon, Tao Yanyan went to the small kitchen to prepare some mooncakes. Fortunately, she was now a beauty and had her own small kitchen. Otherwise, if it was before, she would not even have a place to light a fire and cook.

Caiyun and Hongxia were palace maids who were transferred here later. They were cleaning in the kitchen at that time. When they saw Concubine Tao come in, they hurriedly greeted her.

"What's in the kitchen? Is there flour?" Tao Yanyan looked at the spacious and bright small kitchen and was very satisfied.

Caiyun quickly went to the cabinet where the food was kept, opened it and showed it to Lady Tao: "There is half a bag of flour, red beans, green beans, rice, pork, chicken, two fish, half a basin of shrimp, and some vegetables, fruits and melons."

"My beauty, the meat won't last long. I'll pickle it after cooking tonight and air-dry it for bacon."

The status of a beauty is to receive 100 kilograms of rice, 100 kilograms of flour, 10 kilograms of other grains, 3 kilograms of meat, two chickens, two fish, and a small bowl of shrimp depending on the situation, 2 kilograms of vegetables and a plate of fruits every day.

She has two masters and eight servants, which is just enough.

"Caiyun, can you knead dough? Go and knead some dough first. Qingfeng, go and cook the red beans until they become red bean paste. Hongxia, go and chop the meat. Chop the meat. I'll make fresh meat mooncakes."

Everyone then went about their work as instructed and soon finished the work.

Tao Yanyan tied up her sleeves with cloth strips, leaving only her arms exposed, put on an apron, and began to make the red bean paste filling.

Pour the stewed rock sugar syrup into the cooked red beans, stir evenly, and stew until it becomes thick, and then set aside as red bean paste. Take out the flour with puff pastry and start wrapping.

"You guys come and make them, do it like me, and I'll go mix the meat filling." After instructing three palace maids to make mooncakes, she began to cut scallions and ginger into shreds and make scallion and ginger water as she knew how. After marinating the meat filling, she began to make fresh meat mooncakes.

We have all seen mooncakes with red bean paste filling, but we have never eaten mooncakes with fresh meat filling. The main reason is that mooncakes need to be cooled down. Red bean paste filling is delicious when it is cooled down, but won’t the fresh meat filling be inedible when it is cooled down?

Several people looked at each other and saw suspicion in each other's eyes.

Caiyun felt sorry for the meat used for the fresh meat filling, fearing that it would be wasted.

But when the pot of fresh meat mooncakes came out of the pot, everyone was dumbfounded.

The fragrance is too strong!

The whole kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma of meat, and the crispy and meaty mooncakes made everyone salivate.

Tao Yanyan packed six fresh meat mooncakes and six red bean paste mooncakes into a food box and handed them to Qingfeng: "Send them to the Queen Mother's palace now and tell them that they are freshly baked. The red bean paste mooncakes can be cooled before eating. If the fresh meat ones are cold, brush a thin layer of oil on the bottom and heat them in a pan before eating. Please don't despise my cooking skills, Queen Mother. At least have a bite. But the Queen Mother can only eat two at most. If she eats too much, she will get sick of it. Let them finish them today so that they are fresh."

Qingfeng wrote down everything and took Hongxia to the Empress Dowager's palace.

Tao Yanyan looked at the remaining mooncakes, counted them, and after making sure that everyone here could get two, she packed the remaining four fresh meat ones and two red bean paste ones and asked Chang Tai to deliver them to Eunuch Zhang.

"Give it to Eunuch Zhang and tell him that I made it myself. Divide it into two portions, one for Your Majesty to taste, and one for Eunuch Zhang to eat. Eat the meat portion while it's hot, and the bean paste portion can be cooled and used as a snack in the evening."

Chang Tai agreed and hurried to the Qinzheng Hall with the food box.

Fortunately, the Qinzheng Palace was very close, and when Chang Tai arrived, the mooncakes were still hot. Eunuch Zhang checked the food box and said, "Oh, I am so embarrassed. It is hard for Lady Tao to make such a snack and think of me. It looks delicious. I will send it in right away. Please thank Lady Tao for me!"

Eunuch Zhang smiled and left his copy, then took another box and went into the imperial study.

Qi Yizheng happened to be discussing matters in the imperial study. When he smelled the delicious aroma, he looked at the food box that Eunuch Zhang brought in with shining eyes.

"Your Majesty, Lady Tao personally made fresh meat mooncakes and red bean mooncakes, and sent someone to deliver them to Your Majesty for a taste. Lady Tao said that the fresh meat mooncakes should be eaten fresh and hot, and the red bean mooncakes can be cooled down in the evening and served as a snack to Your Majesty."

Qi Yizheng swallowed and looked at the emperor eagerly.