Spring in the East Palace

Chapter 184 Understanding the Queen Mother

These words made everyone present understand that Shen Muyin would be the one to prepare dinner.

"Xiao Hezi, prepare everything for Miss Shen according to her request. I will have dinner in half an hour." The Queen Mother said calmly.

Since Shen Muyin has accepted it, she wants to see how capable Shen Muyin is. This is to test whether she is qualified to become the Crown Princess of the Eastern Palace.

These words made Qin Chuyan look at Shen Muyin with a half-smile, and Shen Muyin felt a little numb on his scalp when he was looked at.

It’s hard to say why, but Donggong seemed to have silently kept a record of himself.

Shen Muyin sighed in his heart, it’s not that bad, it’s really not that bad.

But soon, Shen Muyin responded in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Yes, I obey your command."

Then Shen Muyin and Eunuch He walked towards the small kitchen. During the whole process, Qin Chuyan's eyes were looking in the direction where Shen Muyin left, without any expression.

"Don't look at it, Your Highness." The Queen Mother was not polite at all. "Everyone in the palace is watching. Your Highness doesn't care what others say, but you have to give the girl some face. Do you understand?"

The implication was that Donggong should either sit here and wait for meal, or go back to his Donggong and not cause trouble for Fengxi Palace.

The Eastern Palace could easily destroy the good reputation of Fengxi Palace that had been built up over several decades. People outside would not know how to spread the news of the incident that the Eastern Palace had caused in Fengxi Palace.

How could the Queen Mother allow such a thing to happen?

She could turn a blind eye to things that didn't happen in Fengxi Palace, but that was absolutely impossible in Fengxi Palace.

"Grandson dare not." The prince said perfunctorily.

The Queen Mother sneered, not giving any face at all. She turned around and chatted with Princess Pingxi.

But as the conversation went on, the topic turned to Shen Muyin. From the words of Princess Pingxi, the Queen Mother could hear that she liked Shen Muyin.

The East Palace remained calm and quiet.

Half an hour later, the servants from the small kitchen had served the dishes one after another. The empress dowager took a look and said nothing.

The dishes in front of him were no different from those prepared by the imperial kitchen just now, but there were a few more dishes, which the empress dowager also noticed.

Here you can find the Jiangnan cuisine that Princess Pingxi likes, as well as the hot and sour cuisine that the picky eater in the East Palace likes.

Shen Muyin is really amazing. He has noticed everyone's preferences.

So when faced with the dishes that looked no different from those in the imperial kitchen before, the empress dowager did not take the initiative to complain. She wanted to try them.

Just give it a try and you will know where Shen Muyin's level lies.

Shen Muyin had also walked up slowly, without any smell of oil smoke on his body, and he was still clean.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, dinner is ready and you can enjoy it." Shen Muyin said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

The Queen Mother hummed, and Eunuch He had already served the dishes to her: "Your Majesty, please try it. When I watched Miss Shen cooking, I really felt that the dishes were delicious. Compared with the imperial chef's, they have a little more wok flavor."

Eunuch He was an old man close to the Empress Dowager, so he naturally knew what to say in order to please the Empress Dowager.

Shen Muyin stood there quietly, without saying a word.

She knew very well that it was not that the food cooked by the imperial kitchen was really bad, but that the imperial kitchen did not know the empress dowager well, so they appeared to be overly cautious.

From the presentation to the dishes, everything looks exquisite.

This kind of exquisiteness lacks the worldly touch.

So after reviewing the situation, Shen Muyin probably guessed this point.

The Queen Mother followed the late Emperor to build the country. At that time, she was not a high and mighty Queen Mother. Instead, she was in the military camp every day.

In this situation, what people like most is the atmosphere of human life.

It's not that what you eat has to be noble and luxurious, but what you want is the aroma of the dish. So after the Queen Mother entered the palace and was in a high position, she could no longer find this feeling.

The people below couldn't figure this out, so they could only keep changing up the dishes to make them more and more exquisite.

But he could never win the favor of the Queen Mother.

These were Shen Muyin's guesses, but she was gambling and she thought she would not lose, so she did it.

She quietly watched the Queen Mother taste the dish she had cooked, and joy gradually appeared in her eyes. She knew that her bet was right.

Sure enough, when the empress dowager followed the emperor to build the empire, what she was most concerned about was this smell of anger.

The conditions back then were very simple, far less luxurious than they are now, but the aroma of this kind of pot was enough to soothe people's hearts.

Shen Muyin looked at the empress dowager quietly, always neither humble nor arrogant.

Instead, Princess Pingxi and Qin Chuyan looked at the Queen Mother with some surprise. After all, the Queen Mother had disliked the things made in the imperial kitchen for many years.

This is no secret in the palace.

No matter how many imperial chefs the emperor changed, he could never satisfy the empress dowager.

The dishes Shen Muyin prepared today were obviously all the same, and even the presentation was not as good as that of the imperial chef, at least not as exquisite.

But even so, the Queen Mother is still satisfied?

"Okay, okay, okay." The Queen Mother nodded repeatedly.

Shen Muyin stood aside calmly: "My lady, as long as you like it."

He was unperturbed by praise or criticism, without any arrogance. He looked at the empress dowager calmly and naturally, without any pride or impatience.

"How did you do it?" The Queen Mother put down her bowl and chopsticks and looked at Shen Muyin.

Shen Muyin explained calmly: "In fact, when it comes to cooking skills, I am far inferior to the imperial chefs in the palace. The imperial chefs in the palace are already among the best in the world, and even the ingredients are the same. I am just a little more skilled than them."

"Wok qi?" The Queen Mother looked at Shen Muyin with some confusion.

Shen Muyin explained calmly: "The smell of the wok is the smell of people's lives. I stir-fried it quickly over high heat without paying attention to the details, including the presentation of the dish, which looked extremely rough. I served it to Your Majesty right away. I didn't wait until it was neither cold nor hot, and the presentation was elegant and refined before serving it."

The Queen Mother kept nodding and did not interrupt Shen Muyin.

"I think that when the Queen Mother fought with our ancestors in the past, what she cared about most was the aroma of the pot, not the delicious dishes. So I dared to do this. It just so happened that I was lucky and made the right bet." Shen Muyin remained neither arrogant nor impatient when she spoke.

The Queen Mother looked at Shen Muyin, and her eyes were different after all.

At first, I just thought that this was the woman that Donggong liked, who could ride a horse and was smart and sensible.

Now it seems that it is far more than just being smart and sensible, Shen Muyin can even see through people's hearts.

Even though no one in the palace had noticed these things for so many years, Shen Muyin could easily discover her thoughts.

Her ancestors have passed away, leaving her alone. Even though she is enjoying wealth and glory now, what she cares about in the end are still the times when she fought in battles with her ancestors.

She even missed this bite of food, as it was a way of remembering her ancestors.