Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

Ever since the medicine he gave his mother took effect.

This incident made Li Lizhi feel completely relaxed.

She's been coming home earlier and earlier these past few days, and she's been smiling more often.

He no longer looked as gloomy as he did a few days ago.

Seeing this, Lu Chen felt a little more relaxed.

However, new problems soon arose.

It was something Li Lizhi mentioned casually during dinner.

"Although Mother's cough has improved a lot, she still can't eat anything."

She picked up a piece of tomato and beef brisket with her chopsticks and sighed.

"The food in the imperial kitchen is bland and tasteless. The Empress Dowager only eats a few mouthfuls of porridge a day now. The imperial physician said she needs to take tonics, but the taste of those tonics... even I can't swallow them."

Lu Chen ate and listened at the same time, pondering in his mind.

Patients with pulmonary tuberculosis are prone to loss of appetite. Coupled with long-term consumption and malnutrition, their recovery speed will be greatly reduced if they cannot eat.

Medicine can cure diseases, but if nutrition is insufficient, the body has no resources to repair itself.

We need to find a way to get Empress Zhangsun to eat.

"How do you usually season your food?" Lu Chen asked.

Li Lizhi thought for a moment, "Salt, vinegar, soy sauce, and honey occasionally."

Are there many sweet things?

"Honey is the sweetest, but it's expensive and not particularly sweet. There's also maltose, which is the kind of sugar made by boiling grains... but it's sticky and the taste is just so-so."

Lu Chen put down his chopsticks.

"Where's the sugar?"

"White sugar?" Li Lizhi tilted her head. "What is white sugar?"

Do you have cane sugar? Sugar made from boiled sugarcane.

"I know about sugarcane." Li Lizhi nodded. "It's found in the South, and I've seen it in Chang'an, but the sugar made from it is bitter and astringent, and dark in color. It doesn't taste good."

Lu Chen understood.

The Tang Dynasty had sugarcane sugar-making technology, but it was extremely crude.

What comes out is the most primitive raw sugar—it has many impurities, a strong bitter taste, and a dark color.

It is completely different from modern white sugar.

For the people of the Tang Dynasty—

No, to be precise, refined white sugar was non-existent in ancient society as a whole.

A pure, unadulterated sweetness.

People in ancient times had never tasted it.

Honey is the closest, but it has its own floral aroma and flavor; it's not just pure sweetness.

And white sugar—

It was a clean, pure, and utterly simple sweetness.

Lu Chen stood up.

"You wait."

"Going out again?" Li Lizhi was still holding her chopsticks.

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

Lu Chen grabbed his coat and went out the door.

There is a supermarket right at the entrance of the residential area.

He went straight to the condiment section and picked up two bags of white sugar.

One bag weighs five jin (2.5 kg).

Two bags, ten pounds each.

I also grabbed two pears, a handful of goji berries, a few red dates, and a small bag of rock sugar.

After paying, I picked up my things and headed back.

He began to make plans on the way.

Rock sugar stewed pear.

This stuff is a common dessert these days, good for the lungs and relieving coughs; you can buy it in supermarkets for just a few dollars a bottle.

But for an ancient person who had never been exposed to refined sugar—

That's a different matter.

Back in his rented apartment, Lu Chen went straight into the kitchen.

Wash the pear, peel it, cut it horizontally from the top, and remove the core.

Cut the pear flesh into small pieces and put them into a stewing pot.

Add rock sugar, red dates, and goji berries.

Pour in water to cover the pear flesh.

Cover the pot and steam it over water.

Keep it low and slow.

Forty minutes later, a sweet aroma filled the kitchen.

The aroma of pears blends with the sweetness of rock sugar, complemented by the mellow flavor of red dates and goji berries—

The scent is not strong, but it smells extremely pleasant.

It was like a warm breeze on a late autumn afternoon.

Li Lizhi's sense of smell has been unusually sensitive lately.

To be precise, ever since she connected with Lu Chen, her nose has become completely "picky".

The creamy aroma of milk, the rich flavor of tomato and beef brisket—

Each one was a scent she had never heard of before.

So when that sweet aroma wafted from the kitchen, she noticed it immediately.

It smells different from the previous ones.

It's not the intense, domineering kind.

It's a gentle sweetness.

It's light and refreshing, like someone gently humming a song in your ear.

Li Lizhi's nostrils twitched slightly.

It twitched again.

She sat on the bed, having already read the medication instructions Lu Chen had given her several times.

The paper was then put down.

My gaze unconsciously drifted toward the dividing line.

Lu Chen walked out of the kitchen carrying a small stew pot.

The moment the lid was lifted, the sweet aroma intensified tenfold.

The entire bedroom was filled with this smell.

"Come here." Lu Chen beckoned to her.

Li Lizhi hesitated for a moment, then got up and walked to the dividing line.

Lu Chen handed the stew pot to her.

His arm crossed the dividing line, and he handed the stew pot to Li Lizhi.

"What is this?"

"Rock sugar stewed pear".

Li Lizhi looked down at the contents of the stew pot.

The pale yellow broth was clear and bright, with a slight steam rising from it.

Several pieces of stewed, translucent pear flesh sank to the bottom, garnished with red dates and goji berries.

good looking.

Like an amber-colored lamp.

"It's good for your lungs," Lu Chen added. "Your voice has been a little hoarse these past few days, drink some of this, it's good for your trachea."

He handed him a small spoon.

Li Lizhi took the stewing pot and spoon.

Hold it in your hands.

The stew pot is warm, not hot to the touch.

The heat spread through her fingers to her palm.

She scooped up a spoonful of soup, brought it to her lips, and blew on it.

Gently put it into your mouth.

The instant it enters the mouth.

Li Lizhi's pupils suddenly dilated.

She froze on the spot.

The spoon was held between the lips, remaining motionless.

That was something she had never experienced before—

A taste I've never experienced before.

sweet.

Pure, clean, and without a trace of impurity sweetness.

It's not sweet like honey.

Even the best honey still carries the scent of pollen and a slightly astringent taste.

It's not the sweetness of maltose.

Maltose is sticky and heavy, and after it melts, it leaves an indescribable residue in the mouth.

It's not as sweet as sugarcane juice.

Sugarcane juice may be sweet, but it always leaves a bitter aftertaste.

And this one has nothing at all.

It has no astringency, no bitterness, and no greasiness.

Only sweet.

It was clear and sweet, as transparent as spring water.

It doesn't assault your taste buds.

Instead, it melts gently and softly on your tongue.

Then it melted into my throat.

It melted into my chest cavity.

Even my lungs felt relaxed.

The sweetness of rock sugar is enveloped by the fruity aroma of snow pear, the red dates bring a touch of warm aftertaste, and the goji berries add a subtle fragrance at the very end.

All the flavors intertwine in subtle ways, like a warm river.

It flowed from the tip of my tongue to my heart.

Li Lizhi took the spoon away from her mouth.

Her mouth was open, and her eyes were wide open.

His expression was as if he had been struck by lightning.

"The world..."

Her voice sounded a little weak.

"Can there really be something so sweet in this world?"

After saying that, she looked down at the stew pot, her eyes completely changing.

It's no longer that reserved "it's nothing special" attitude.

It was a raw, undisguised shock.

Lu Chen leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a faint smile on his face.

He had anticipated this.

But seeing a Tang Dynasty princess so shocked by a bowl of rock sugar pear soup was still quite interesting.