tallest building

Chapter 332 A Quarrel

In the kitchen, Zhang Ma was extremely busy.

A maidservant approached the eldest princess and said to Zhang Ma, "Zhang Mama, the eldest princess said that today's lunch will include another dish of braised pork hock in yellow wine, but please do not add ginger."

After she left, someone from the Empress's palace came to deliver a message: "Zhang Mama, the Empress said that the eel stir-fried with gluten and the embroidered ball palace lanterns you made a few days ago were very good, and she wants to add these two dishes to today's lunch."

Zhang Ma readily agreed and asked the kitchen helper to prepare the ingredients.

He now has to prepare three meals a day for the Emperor, Empress, and Princess Duanmin, and also manage the diet of Consort Hui and the eldest princess.

Therefore, they are extremely busy during mealtimes, as they must try to ensure the timing is right, neither too early nor too late.

"This braised pork hock in Shaoxing wine takes too long to prepare, I'm afraid we won't have enough time," Zhang Ma said with some concern. "If Her Majesty the Empress hadn't added any more dishes, it would have been fine, but now she's added two more..."

"Then why don't we change the dish for the eldest princess?" someone suggested. "Didn't you make pickled goose feet? Wouldn't that be excellent too?"

“Yes, the eldest princess hasn’t tried my goose feet yet!” said Zhang Ma. “I have no choice but to make do with it today.”

The pickled goose feet and duck tongues are kept in a jar for many days before being prepared, essentially like a cold dish. When you want to eat them, you can just take them out and serve them.

It's all for convenience, and naturally, the flavor is quite good too. It's perfect for pairing with drinks or rice.

After some time, the lunches in each palace were served.

The eldest princess looked displeased when she saw that the dishes on the table did not include braised pork hock with yellow wine. The servant who brought the food quickly explained to her, "Your Highness, Zhang Mama said that she was really sorry about today's lunch, but the Empress's palace had added extra dishes, and she was too busy to make it. She said that the braised pork hock with yellow wine would definitely be made for you tomorrow."

The eldest princess didn't say anything more after hearing this, after all, she had to put the empress first.

However, the dish was still not served at lunch the next day, which made the eldest princess somewhat unhappy.

"Your Highness, Zhang Mama said that the red yeast rice she was preparing for lunch today has somehow become infested with insects and can't be used. The weather is prone to dampness at this time of year, so there's nothing that can be done about it. She also said she'll come back to apologize to Your Highness later!" said the palace maid who went to deliver the meal.

When she went there, Zhang Ma repeatedly told her to make sure to explain things to the eldest princess.

"How come when I came from Princess Duanmin's place, they were serving food, and there was clearly braised pork hock with yellow wine on the table?" Consort Hui said with a smile as she returned from outside. "I suppose there was only one serving of braised pork hock with yellow wine on the table."

"What does this mean?" The eldest princess was displeased upon hearing this. "If you can't do it, just say you can't do it. Why make excuses?"

She was naturally unhappy. It was nothing serious, but Zhang Ma kept refusing to cook for her and made excuses to decline, while she readily cooked for others. This was clearly a case of treating people differently based on their status.

“Speaking of which, Zhang Ma is quite a favorite in the palace now. Although we recommended her, people are eager to flatter her.” Consort Hui wanted to make her daughter wary of Zhang Ma, and she felt it was necessary.

The eldest princess didn't say anything more, but she was very unhappy.

On the third day, of the original six dishes at each meal, only four were prepared by Zhang Ma; the others were cooked by other imperial chefs. The eldest princess simply refused to eat, ordering those around her, "Take everything away and send it back to Zhang Ma and the others!"

"Your Highness, please calm down. It's not worth getting upset over such a small matter. We'll go and talk to them later. We should at least have discussed it beforehand. We can't just let them make decisions on their own."

The eldest princess lost her appetite and only ate two pastries before finishing.

Just as he was about to take a nap, someone came in to announce, "Your Highness, Zhang Ma has arrived with her people and has prepared a fresh lunch for you."

Sure enough, Zhang Ma came with four eunuchs, each carrying a food box containing two dishes.

As soon as Zhang Ma entered, she apologized, "Your Highness, please calm down. It is truly my fault. I was so busy that I was dizzy and confused, and I couldn't serve you properly."

The eldest princess glanced at the dishes on the table. They had prepared everything she hadn't been able to eat in the past few days, but the more she did so, the more disgusted she felt.

“Aunt Zhang, I know you’re a very busy person. Whether you agree or not doesn’t matter, the important thing is to please Her Majesty the Empress.”

"Please, Your Highness, don't say that. I really can't bear this." Zhang Ma knelt down. "I know you are the most understanding person. After all, I am old and not Nezha with three heads and six arms."

"What do you mean by that? I didn't hit you, I didn't scold you, and I didn't do anything wrong to you. It's not like I asked you to cook the food again and bring it to me. Why are you complaining in front of me?" The eldest princess felt that Zhang Ma's words were unpleasant, as if she was being blamed for not being considerate.

She felt that Zhang Ma had disrespected her first, and now she was using a feigned retreat to embarrass her, which was really going too far.

"Your Highness, please calm down. It was I who spoke rudely and in a moment of impatience. I didn't think things through. Please don't take offense. I'm illiterate and have always been uncouth. Please don't be angry, Your Highness. You can punish me however you like." Zhang Ma was so anxious that she was about to kowtow.

"Don't do that, I can't bear your head. If you don't know better, you're just overthinking things, but if you don't, you'll think I'm deliberately making things difficult for you." The eldest princess's face was very ugly, and she said to the people around her, "Are you all dead? Hurry up and help Zhang Mama up and take her back."

Then, with a cold face, she said to Zhang Ma, "I'm returning the vegetables to you today not for any other reason than that the weather is too hot and I want to eat vegetarian food."

Zhang Ma wanted to say something more, but she was escorted out by several people.

Just then, Yu Lu came looking for her: "Zhang Ma, come with me quickly, the Empress wants to reward you again."

It turns out that the Empress has been enjoying Zhang Ma's cooking these past few days and has had a very good appetite. Today, when the concubines came to pay their respects, they all said that the Empress's complexion was much better than in previous years, and the Empress was so pleased that she wanted to reward Zhang Ma again.

“I sent people to look for you but couldn’t find you, and that’s when I found out you were here,” Yu Lu said. “The Empress will be resting soon.”

"Oh, Steward Yu, I'm so worried," Zhang Ma said, her face full of worry. "This fool of mine has offended Her Highness the Princess, and I don't know how to apologize. Can you help me think of a way?"

"Oh, is that so?" Yu Lu was surprised. "Why?"

Zhang Ma then briefly explained what had happened in the past few days: "I was really too busy for a while, and besides, these dishes were added at the last minute. These dishes need to be simmered over low heat, otherwise they will be wasted if the heat is not right."

Yesterday we only had one serving of braised pork hock. Princess Duanmin told me two days in advance, and I originally thought it would be enough for two servings, but unfortunately the ingredients spoiled. What bad luck! We considered it for a long time, thinking that Princess Duanmin is, after all, an elder, and pregnant, so we should just go with the palace for now…”