Chapter 112 Amazing
Qi was too embarrassed to just sit there and watch the show. She had been in Jinling for more than ten years. Although she had never been able to integrate into the most distinguished circle, her reputation and popularity outside were still quite good. She thought this was an opportunity that would allow her to make a further step forward, but who knew that such a thing would happen. She felt like vomiting blood just thinking about it, and she became even more unfriendly to Ye Jinrong.

Ye Jinrong didn't dare to make a sound and sat obediently beside her aunt. However, seeing people around her whispering and occasionally giving them ambiguous glances made her frightened and uneasy. She knew they must be talking about her.

The opera on the stage was sometimes gentle and sometimes high-pitched, which attracted continuous tips from the noble ladies below. Qi also had someone give a envelope of silver to scatter, which was also to give face to the old princess and add a bit of festive atmosphere.

But I guess it would be useless no matter how much silver she throws at it. I wonder if the master has thought of a solution.

When Wei Liujiang got the news, his face turned pale.

"Cousin, something happened." Wei Liujiang hurriedly pulled Mu Qinchu, who was watching the acrobatics with great interest, out.

"What could be the matter?" Mu Qinchu asked blankly.

Wei Liujiang had no choice but to tell him that Jinrong was not the real eldest daughter of the Ye family. His father had originally told him not to tell anyone except his aunt.

"What? The eldest daughter of the Ye family was robbed by bandits and died. The current eldest daughter of the Ye family is the second daughter of the Ye family?" Mu Qinchu exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down and help find a way to make things right, otherwise there will be no way to clean up the mess." Wei Liujiang urged.

Mu Qinchu thought for a moment and said, "I'll go find Zhao Qixuan. He has a close relationship with the young prince. As long as he helps, this matter will definitely be resolved."

"But you can't tell him the truth. Just ask him to meet the maid. As long as he meets the person, everything will be easy to talk about." Wei Liujiang reminded.

When Zhao Qixuan heard that Wei Liujiang wanted to meet the maid who had worked in the Ye family, he said disapprovingly: "Do I need to tell you about this little thing? Just tell the steward to bring the person to you."

The two of them had no way of expressing their suffering.

Mu Qinchu had no choice but to say, "This is the palace after all, it's not good to act on your own."

"Isn't he just a servant? What's the big deal?" Zhao Qixuan watched the show leisurely.

The two had no choice but to go to Minister Mu.

Over at the theater, Mother Gui came back and whispered in Princess Yi De's ear for a long time. Princess Yi De sneered and nodded, then ordered, "Keep an eye on the people first."

Qi and Ye Jinrong were sitting far away and couldn't hear what Mother Gui was saying, so they felt anxious.

"Didn't you just return to Yangzhou? Didn't you see that maid?" Qi asked in a low voice.

Ye Jinrong said: "I didn't see her, but I didn't know she had left the Ye family."

Qi let out a sullen breath and warned, "No matter what, insist that you are the eldest daughter of the Ye family. Otherwise, you can just wait for the divorce letter!"

Ye Jinrong was aggrieved and tearful, not daring to argue.

But even after the show ended, Princess Yi De didn't come to ask.

Ye Jiayao was busy in the kitchen. The original thirty-six tables had now become thirty-nine. Fortunately, there were enough ingredients.

"Brother Yao, the dried fruits, candied fruits, pastries and appetizers are all laid out on the plates." Cui Dongpeng reported.

"Brother Yao, the boxes for collecting money have also been put up." Deng Haichuan came to report.

"Brother Yao, the deer penis soup and Quanfu soup are ready." Wang Mingde reported.

The men's guests were served Changchun Deer Penis Soup, while the women's guests were served Quanfu Soup. Deer penis is something only men like to eat, but women are embarrassed to eat it even if they want to.

"Okay, wait for Manager Liu to pass on the message." Ye Jiayao was busy decorating several dishes.

Today she got up at three in the morning and made various carvings. Because the radish carvings will lose moisture and their translucent luster if left for a long time, they are all carved on the same day and kept in an ice basin.

Zhong Xiang is fully focused on making the dragon beard noodles. The noodles must be as thin as a hair, long and unbroken, and the thinnest strands can be threaded through a needle, showing his real skill.

After a while, Manager Liu came to the kitchen and told us that the meal was ready.

Manager Hu arranged for the maids to serve the dishes.

These maids had all been trained by Ye Jiayao beforehand, and they knew exactly what order they should follow in serving the dishes and how to name the dishes.

As soon as the guests sat down, maids came in one after another with silver basins to wash everyone's hands and dried them with warm, snow-white towels.

This procedure alone made the guests feel that today's birthday party was different and had never happened before.

After washing hands, tea was served. The tea was Lushan Cloud and Mist. The tea soup was light but fragrant and mellow. Everyone's eyes began to turn to the food on the table.

There are four plates of dried fruits, namely, milk white jujube, crispy peanuts, salt and pepper cashews, and two-color soft candy.

There were four plates of pastries, namely pea yellow, walnut crisps, thousand-layer cake, and kidney bean rolls.

The dried fruits didn’t look anything special, but the pastries were eye-catching.

First of all, in terms of shape, the pea yellow is not the common diamond shape, but is processed into a heart shape. The orange-yellow color is lustrous and very pleasing to the eye. The walnut crisp is in an eight-shaped shape, and the thousand-layer cake has changed from a regular square to a diamond shape. There are also white patterns painted on the kidney bean rolls. I don’t know what materials are used.

Xia Chunyu was particularly concerned about today's food, and even a little nervous, worried about everyone's comments on the food, because all of this was made by Yaoyao. Before he even started eating, he heard Zhao Qixuan shouting, "What's on this kidney bean cake? It's cool, sweet, smooth, and delicious."

"Hmm... this pea yellow is so delicious. Is it from Baiweizhai or Juxiangyuan? No, neither of these two can make this taste." Xia Chunfeng also lied.

Although the meal hasn't officially started yet and everyone can order whatever they want, the two guys are making too much noise. Xia Chunyu twitched his mouth: Even if you want to show your support, you don't have to do this!
Some old-fashioned guys were not used to the young people's noise, so they tasted a piece nonchalantly, but took the second piece without saying a word. Once someone started, others followed suit, exclaiming in admiration, and some began to ask who made it or where it was bought.

Xia Chunyu thought to himself: This is too much! Aren't they just a few plates of dried fruit cakes? No matter how delicious they are, can they be compared with the ones in the imperial kitchen?

When he took a piece of pea yellow and tasted it, he was stunned. He had eaten quite a few exquisite pastries. Pea yellow is a delicacy from the north. After being improved by southern chefs, it became softer and more delicate. However, these pea yellows were particularly soft and delicate, sweet but not greasy, just right, and delicious enough to make people want to admire it.

It seems that Yaoyao's cakes were not eaten in vain. They combined the strengths of each family and avoided their weaknesses. These four kinds of cakes are enough to be comparable to those made by the chefs in the imperial kitchen. Xia Chunyu completely forgot the thought that had just passed through his mind.

"This pastry is not sold anywhere else. It is made by the chef of Tianshangju himself." Zhao Qixuan was promoting it.

"Really? Is Tianshangju's chef so amazing?"

"You are too backward. Who doesn't know Tianshangju nowadays? Have you heard of Bingyin?"

"So it's him... He's amazing. No wonder he can take on the birthday banquet at the palace."

“I heard that Chef Zheng bought all these things from Juxiang Garden for the birthday banquet.”

"Save some food for now, the good stuff is yet to come. You'll want to bite off the delicious food with your tongue." Helian Jing said with a proud smile.

Helian Xuan shook his head and sneered, thinking that Xiao Jing had invited the right person this time.

Compared to the boldness of men, women are much more reserved. Even if the food is delicious, they dare not eat too much, they can only sip it slowly and secretly ask who prepared the banquet.

At the main table, everyone's eyes were attracted by a sculpture of a crane offering longevity in the center.

"Ancestor, look at this crane sculpture, it looks just like the real thing." Yi De exclaimed in admiration.

"Yes, that Nanji Xianweng has a kind face, even his eyebrows are so clear."

"I don't know what this was carved from, it's amazing."

Mother Gui smiled and explained, "This was carved by Chef Li Yao using radish. He said it was specially presented to our ancestors, wishing them good fortune and a long life."

When they heard that it was carved from radish, everyone was so surprised that they couldn't close their mouths.

The old ancestor was a Buddhist, and when he saw the statue, he was very happy and said with a smile, "The chef is thoughtful, and there is a reward."

Yide smiled and said, "Did you hear that? Go and tell them that the ancestor has a reward."

Ye Jiayao started to stir-fry the dishes in the kitchen when Manager Liu came running over cheerfully to pass on a message.

"Brother Li, the old ancestor has given you a reward. The immortal crane you carved to offer longevity is very much loved by the old ancestor."

Ye Jiayao said happily: "Really? That's great, today we want to make our ancestors happy."

She privately asked Xiaojing what her ancestors liked. Xiaojing said that her ancestors believed in Buddhism, which is why she had this idea.

"What about other foods?" Ye Jiayao asked again. She had put a lot of thought into the dried fruits and pastries.

Manager Liu said: "The response was enthusiastic. Everyone was asking where I bought the cakes."

Ye Jiayao and Zhong Xiang smiled at each other. They succeeded, and all their hard work was worth it.

Delicious dishes were presented one after another, constantly stimulating everyone's taste buds.

Originally, eating was not the main purpose of this kind of banquet; the purpose was to chat, build relationships and get close to people. However, at today's banquet, the topic discussed the most was food.

“The longevity noodles are here.”

A bowl of longevity noodles was served.

The first chopstick should be moved by our ancestors.

Yide helped by picking up and scooping the noodles with chopsticks, but the noodles were really long and it took a lot of effort to finally put them into the bowl.

"It's a good omen. My ancestor will live a long life." Xia Youshi took the opportunity to flatter him.

The old man said happily: "Great, I've lived to this age, but this is the first time I've eaten such a longevity noodle."

"Come, let's taste it and see how it tastes." Yide scooped two more spoonfuls of soup.

The old man took two bites and said: "Not bad, the chicken soup is tasty and the bamboo shoots are delicious."

Mother Gui laughed and said, “Grandfather, this is not made from chicken soup.”

“How can it not be chicken soup? It clearly tastes like chicken soup. Try it, is it true?” The old ancestor didn’t believe it.

"It tastes like chicken soup, very mellow and fragrant, but not greasy." Xia Youshi took a sip.

The other ladies also thought it was made from chicken soup.

Yide said with a smile: "Mother Gui, please stop keeping us in suspense. Tell me, what is it made of?"

(End of this chapter)