Sweet Feast

At this moment, a teasing voice sounded beside her ear.

Startled, Xiaoguo turned to look at Jiang Danhe and asked curiously, “Why are you out here?”

“I was worried that my dear Madam would be cold, so I am here to bring you some warmth.” Jiang Danhe gestured at the shawl in his hand. After putting it on her, he smiled and said, “You can sleep soundly now.”

“Yes… I’ll be able to do that after tomorrow.”

After leaving behind an inexplicable sentence, Xiaoguo strode back, leaving Jiang Danhe feeling confused standing there by himself.

After catching up with her, he asked curiously, “Why tomorrow?”

“It’s a secret.”

Xiaoguo smiled and waved her hand before entering the house.

After a while, Jiang Danhe sighed and shook his head dotingly. His heart had melted again.

—-

The next morning, Xiaoguo pestered Jiang Danhe for a long time. Then, she came out of the house and continued to ask worriedly, “Have you memorized it?”

“Yes I have…”

“Repeat what I have said.”

“…”

“You really didn’t remember it!”

Xiaoguo had expected Jiang Danhe to forget her words, so she was prepared to repeat herself.

“I can remember it. I just need to sort it out.”

Jiang Danhe looked helplessly at her distrustful gaze. He then began to recite her words from beginning to end.

“If there are any big prawns, catch a few more of them. Bring back one sole fish. If there is any kelp, it would be good to get some. If not, forget it. You can also get some of your favorites. But make sure that they are kept fresh. Send them to the kitchen right after you catch them.”

Xiaoguo nodded and looked at him in admiration. “Not bad. Go on, then.”

Jiang Danhe carried the two wooden buckets and slowly walked towards the beach.

Xiaoguo tried to hold it in, but in the end, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Hurry up!”

Jiang Danhe was so frightened by her words that his body immediately tensed up. He immediately sped up and sprinted towards the sea.

Xiaoguo smiled and walked in the opposite direction to go to the kitchen.

The kitchen staff were fishing at sea. However, based on their usual speed, the fresh seafood would be half-dead by the time they made their way back.

That was the reason why she sent Jiang Danhe to pick up seafood from the staff and then send them to her as soon as possible.

She was doing all these because it was an important day today.

This morning, she was going to prepare a feast for Shao Zhan. Apart from agreeing to his request, she was also planning to ask him for a favor.

The success or failure of that matter rested on this meal, so Xiaoguo was taking it very seriously.

The cause of the matter was like this. Yesterday, when she got a physician to check on Zhao Yuyan, she found out that the only thing that could revive the woman was a thousand-year-old ginseng.

It was not just any ordinary wild ginseng. Where could Xiaoguo find one?

Fortunately, Jiang Danhe found out the cause of the matter. He also knew the person who had access to the ginseng. Therefore, he made himself ask Shao Zhan for some thousand-year-old ginseng….roots.

Although he only managed to get some loose ginseng roots, they were just as effective for saving lives.

Moreover, these roots were at least a thousand years old. That piece of ginseng had grown into a human form and looked almost life-like.

The loose ginseng roots were now in their hands, but Shao Zhan asked for a meal made by Xiaoguo in return.

Even a fool would know that Shao Zhan was deliberately going easy on them. Xiaoguo also accepted his favor gratefully.

In order to show her sincerity, she was planning to make a lot of dishes. All of them were customized to Shao Zhan’s liking. There were many occasions when he joined them for their meals, so due to her occupational habit, Xiaoguo did manage to observe his likes and dislikes.

According to his usual preferences, Shao Zhan loved sweet things. As long as he came across something sweet, he would eat more.

There were a few times when Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe had attended a few banquets organized by the emperor. At that time, it was a public event. As the ruler of a country, Shao Zhan had to hide his preferences in case anyone made use of that information to harm him. Shao Zhan had known this since he was young.

Therefore, Xiaoguo decided to prepare a sweet feast to satisfy his sweet cravings.

Although it was difficult to imagine that Shao Zhan had a sweet tooth, him being in that high position for so long, it was inevitable that he needed something to help relieve his pressure. Sweets were well-known as a stress relief treasure.

When Xiaoguo arrived at the kitchen, the servants were all busy with breakfast. When they saw her appear, they couldn’t help but speed up their work. They all wanted to finish their work quickly so that they could learn from her.

During this period, it was all thanks to Xiaoguo that they had learnt so much. The dishes they made were no longer dull and tasteless. They had also won unanimous praise for their cooking. Fortunately, due to the improvements, there was less wastage in the kitchen. There were even some occasions where they ran out of food.

The managers were pleased when the servants cooked well. As a result, they would be rewarded with more fabrics at the end of each month.

The servants here were paid monthly, but their payment was not in silver. Instead, they were given fabrics and daily necessities as remuneration for their work.

This was because they had no need for money on the island. What was more useful than money were daily necessities and fabrics.

If they did well in their jobs, they would receive more fabric. Otherwise they could also exchange the fabrics for other things. Based on their needs, they could exchange fabrics for powder, soap, lip tint, and so on.

While Xiaoguo was getting busy, some people had already finished cleaning up and were gathering around her. Although they were all eager to learn, no one dared to get too close. They left a lot of empty space for her to move around.

There was a story behind this.

This had happened once before. It was unknown who had started it, but after one person came round to watch her cook, more and more people started gathering around her. Very soon, Xiaoguo was surrounded by a large group of people.

It got so crowded that it seriously interfered with her cooking. There were even a few times when the crowd tugged at her or bumped into her. She almost chopped off her fingers because of that.

Xiaoguo had reached her breaking point, so she went all out and gave them a taste of her knife skills.

In an instant, the crowd around her dispersed. The chaotic environment instantly became terrifyingly quiet. They all stood far away from her and did not dare to get too close again.

The few people who were standing nearest to her were now furthest away from her. At that moment, they were still terrified by what they witnessed earlier.

The polished chopper had flown past their hands. They could feel the blade slide across the hair on their skin. Fortunately, they had dodged in time. Otherwise, they would have lost a few fingers.

“I don’t mind sharing my cooking skills. It’s fine if you want to watch me cook. However, if you go overboard and don’t watch the boundaries, I will have to enforce certain measures.”

Not long after, Jiang Danhe returned with fresh seafood.

“There are a lot of prawns. There was only one Long Li fish, so I brought it back. It is not that fresh since it was caught before dawn. There wasn’t any kelp, and there weren’t many other species. I didn’t take those and just left them for the servants.”

Jiang Danhe finished explaining the mission summary in one breath and received a ‘well done’ compliment from the other party. Then, he happily came to her side, getting ready to help her.

There weren’t many sweet dishes that one could make, and there were definitely limited ingredients here. There wasn’t much she could do, but Xiaoguo tried her best to work within the limitations.

It was a very challenging task to create infinite possibilities with limited ingredients. Xiaoguo’s long-awaited challenge had presented itself.

The pineapples in summer had already ripened. Among the fruits that they had received over the past two days, there was one pineapple. It was sweet and came with a hint of sourness. It was a joy to eat.

Therefore, sweet sour pork with pineapples became a must-have dish on the menu.

Neck and neck beside it was the dish of sweet and sour tenderloin.

The fish that Jiang Danhe brought back did not require much deboning. After removing the bones, the fish meat was cut into thick strips. In a while, the fish meat would be wrapped in flour and fried in a pot. Then, she would stir-fry a tomato dipping sauce. That would complete another dish—deep fried fish strips.