Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 419 Emperor's Supreme Filial Piety

  Zhu Houzhao stared at his sister with wide eyes and motionless.

   Seeing her laughing, he was actually drunk, and he was very satisfied.

   Seeing Zhu Xiurong's intoxicated face, Zhu Houzhao was overjoyed, and kept asking: "Do you like it? Do you like it?"

  Zhu Xiurong looked at him, and did not hide his inner joy anymore, and nodded very simply: "I like it."

   "How is brother treating you?" Zhu Hou smiled happily.

  Old Fang has a way, making a pastry can have this miraculous effect.

   "Okay!" Zhu Xiurong answered crisply, without the slightest sloppiness.

  Zhu Houzhao was excited, and danced with his arms and legs: "Now I know how good brother is to you?"

  Zhu Xiurong was thoughtful, a little lost in thought, but still concentrated, looking at the cake, he was stunned.

   "Sister, are you crying?"

  Zhu Xiurong was stunned, but found that the circles of his eyes were slightly red.

Seeing the girl like this, Zhu Houzhao blinked, and the corners of her eyes were a little moist. This is a sister of the same mother, and she may be the only relative in the world in the future. Seeing Zhu Xiurong's tearful eyes, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but said: "Don't cry!" , Sister, why are you so well behaved, you actually cried."

  Zhu Xiurong wiped away tears, sucked her nose, and choked up: "Brother, you are so kind to me."

   "Of course." Zhu Houzhao said triumphantly, "You are the only girl I am, no matter how bad you are, I will still love you."

   "..." Zhu Xiurong couldn't help it, and wanted to sue again.

  Zhu Houzhao excitedly held the dagger: "Come, come, come, cut the cake first."

   As he spoke, he suddenly realized that there seemed to be a ritual missing.

   hurriedly turned around and called out: "Liu Jin, where are the candles?"

   "Come... come..."

  Liu Jin was busy on the cake, carefully inserted a few small candles, lit the candles, and ran excitedly to turn off the lights in every corner of the hall.

The lights were on, and under the candlelight, Zhu Xiurong's pretty face looked extraordinarily alluring. She lowered her head gently, and the fire light reflected in the depths of her eyes, and her eyes were still staring at the "If you are well, , It is sunny' character, biting the thin lips lightly.

  Zhu Houzhao urged with a serious look on his face: "Make a wish quickly. After you make a wish, you will put out the candle. This wish is very spiritual."

   "May...make a wish?"

   "Close your eyes, hurry up!" Zhu Houzhao salivated, he... was hungry.

  Zhu Xiurong lowered her eyes with indescribable solemnity.

"Think about your own wishes, think about it, at this moment, what do you want most, do you want to go to a border town, raise a knife and straddle a horse, and ruthlessly chop down the Tatars on the thousands of miles of yellow sand? head. Or, do you want to..."

  Zhu Xiurong closed his eyes, and some scenes that could be described but could not be spoken to others unconsciously appeared in his mind.

  A trace of Hao Ran's shyness flashed across his face, and he opened his eyes slightly timidly, as if trying to cover up something, busy blowing the candle lightly.

  In the hall, it suddenly fell into darkness.

   With this layer of protection, Zhu Xiurong felt at ease, but immediately, the eunuchs lit the lamps in the palace, and she was placed under the lamps again.

  Zhu Houzhao wanted to know Zhu Xiurong's thoughts very much, so he couldn't help asking: "Sister, what wish did you make?"

   "I..." Zhu Xiurong was a little taken aback.

Zhu Houzhao suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly knocked himself on the head, and couldn't help feeling: "I'm so stupid, you are not allowed to tell people about your wishes. If you say it, it won't work. Well, don't say it, don't say it, say it I don't listen either, well, let's eat cake."

   As he spoke, he took a dagger and cut the cake open.

  Zhu Xiurong saw that the eight characters were broken into pieces by Zhu Houzhao, and his heart was about to break.

  Zhu Houzhao carefully placed the cake on a plate, and brought it to Zhu Xiurong, as if offering a treasure: "Sister, come and have a taste."

  Zhu Xiurong took the plate, looked at the cake on top, scooped a spoonful with a small spoon, and put the cake into the mouth carefully.

  Suddenly, a burst of sweetness and softness began to stimulate the tip of her tongue and taste buds. It was a very strange feeling, very...delicious!

   "It's so delicious." Zhu Xiurong's eyes and brows were filled with smiles.

  She can almost imagine that the owner of this pastry must have spent countless thoughts on it. It tastes sweet and warm in the heart.

   "I knew it." Zhu Houzhao excitedly cut off pieces of cakes and sent them to the Zhou family, Emperor Hongzhi and Queen Zhang.

  Before there is no fresh yeast, all pastries are solid.

  The biggest problem with solid pastry is that although it is easy to satisfy people's hunger, the taste is much worse and it tends to dry out.

  Because of this, when people eat pastries, they have to drink them with tea, otherwise, they will be difficult to swallow.

   Even when many people eat steamed cakes, they need to soak the dry and hard steamed cakes first, and then eat them in one bite.

  Probably... It's almost the same as eating slime.

The terrible thing about fresh yeast is that it can make all pasta expand, not only making food soft and delicious, but also more convenient to eat. Therefore, after the appearance of fresh yeast in the East, steamed buns in the eyes of later generations came into being. Steamed buns instantly became a staple food and became popular all over the world.

  In the West, people learned from the Egyptians the skill of making and cultivating yeast, thus making bread a staple food, which continues to this day.

  Emperor Hongzhi took a bite of the cake and suddenly felt the lingering taste and unique flavor. He couldn't help nodding his head: "When did Fang Jifan learn to cook again?"

   "He made it for his protégé Tang Yin, saying that Tang Yin's birthday is coming, so he made this cake."

  Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

  Emperor Hongzhi ate it, and said to himself, it's so sweet, what kind of father is this child, to be born, to do everything better than others.

  Even the cooking here is more varied than professional cooks, and the taste is better.

  Zhu Xiurong's pretty nose wrinkled slightly, but she still smiled sweetly.

  She didn't believe what Zhu Houzhao said, besides, Fang Jifan would definitely not tell the truth.

  Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help but said: "Really? Unexpectedly, Fang Jifan has always been heard to be harsh on his disciples. He never expected that there is such a side. This cake is very sweet and has a unique flavor."

  Zhu Xiurong ate with his head down, chewed slowly, and listened intently to the gossip of Emperor Hongzhi and his son.

  Zhu Houzhao said solemnly: "Father, Fang Jifan is a bit stricter with his disciples, but there is a saying that is good, the so-called son does not teach, father and son are wrong, if the teaching is not strict, the teacher will fall."

   "Really? You also understand this truth?" Emperor Hongzhi looked at Zhu Houzhao strangely, his eyes were deep and bottomless.

   "Why don't you know, father really thinks that my son knows nothing." Zhu Houzhao was a little unconvinced.

   Today is different from before. Now that the Empress Dowager and Empress Zhang are both here, Zhu Houzhao is full of confidence.

  Emperor Hongzhi was astonished, so he lowered his head and took a bite of the cake, saying, "It's good if you understand."

  Zhu Houzhao said: "Of course my ministers understand."

  The Empress Dowager is getting old and has lost many teeth, so she can only eat some porridge and water. Seeing everyone eating cakes, she smiled inwardly, but an **** brought cakes to her, and she waved her hands.

  Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao immediately said: "Great-grandmother, you have to taste it too, it will make you happy."

   Zhou Shi just shook his head: "Ai's family is old, how can you eat it, you can eat it."

   "It's very soft." Zhu Houzhao widened his eyes and said seriously: "Great-grandmother will know after trying it."

  Emperor Hongzhi suddenly thought of Mrs. Zhou. He looked at the fluffy cake thoughtfully.

Ordinary food, if it is too hard, even if it is soft, it tends to stick to the teeth, but this cake is soft and delicious, it melts in the mouth, but it is not sticky to the teeth. He couldn't help saying: "Please try it, grandma." .”

   Mrs. Zhou hesitated.

  Sometimes if she eats something that is too hard, her teeth will hurt badly. With this lesson learned from the past, she is somewhat wary of any food.

  Usually for the Empress Dowager’s meal, the Imperial Dining Room has put in all of their thought, cooking porridge for the Empress Dowager, but no matter how many tricks are changed, the cooked food will inevitably be boring.

  As a grandson, Emperor Hongzhi had already noticed it, and didn't mention it, because he was afraid that Mrs. Zhou would be sad and touch a pain point, but now...he suddenly lost his mind to eat cakes.

   No matter how delicious the cake is, it can't compare to Zhou Shi's smile.

  So, he gently took a spoon to scoop up a little bit of cake, carefully dipped this small piece of cake with a little cream, and personally handed it to Mrs. Zhou.

   "Grandmother, give it a try."

   Mrs. Zhou hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but said, "I'm afraid my teeth will hurt again."

  But seeing Emperor Hongzhi looking forward to it, Zhu Xiurong, the birthday star, seemed to be looking forward to something, so he smiled: "Come on, let's give it a try."

  Emperor Hongzhi no longer hesitated, and fed the cake into Zhou's mouth.

Mrs. Zhou seemed very careful. When the cake entered, there was a long-lost sweetness. The instant entrance stimulated the tip of her tongue. Mrs. Zhou closed her eyes and hardly dared to use her teeth. Soft, but that soft feeling entered her heart all at once.

  Swallowing slightly, the creamy and sweet stuff has already entered the throat.

  After eating porridge for several years, according to others, this old lady has enjoyed countless blessings, but she knows everything in the world.

  The older I get, the more I lose my teeth. I don’t dare to take out the things I wanted to eat before, and I don’t dare to try the foods I used to like.

Now, let alone a cake, it is an ordinary sweet-scented osmanthus cake. The old lady still thinks about it, but she dare not eat it for fear of discomfort. Therefore, the taste stimulation brought to her by this cake is more than ten times magnified , but a hundred times, a thousand times.

   Suddenly, Mrs. Zhou opened her eyes, looking at Emperor Hongzhi, Empress Zhang, Zhu Houzhao, and Zhu Xiurong all looking at herself motionless.

  Zhou's lips pursed a little, and subconsciously, he licked a little cream off his lips, and said with a lot of meaning: "It's delicious, sweet, delicious!"

  (end of this chapter)