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

"If you like it, drink more. There's more in the pot."

Li Lizhi did not answer him.

Because she had already started scooping the second spoonful.

This spoonful is much bigger than the first spoonful.

The spoon went straight to the bottom and scooped up the pear flesh along with it.

The pear flesh is stewed until soft and tender, melting in your mouth.

The sweetness of the fruit pulp combined with the sweetness of the rock sugar doubles the sweetness.

Li Lizhi's eyes curved into crescent moons.

She had never eaten anything so sweet in her life.

It's not the kind of cloyingly sweet that makes your scalp tingle.

It's a sweetness that's just right, making every pore on your body feel relaxed and refreshed.

The third spoonful.

The fourth spoonful.

The fifth spoonful.

She drank faster and faster.

There wasn't even time to wipe the drop of soup from the corner of his mouth.

Finally, she lifted the stew pot, tilted her head back, and poured the rest of the soup into her mouth.

He swallowed it down with a "glug glug".

Put the stew pot down.

He licked his lips, still wanting more.

Then, as if suddenly realizing that her eating manners might not be very good, Li Lizhi quickly hid the stew pot behind her back.

He coughed.

Stand up straight.

To put on airs like a princess.

"It's acceptable."

Lu Chen looked at the drop of soup that she hadn't wiped clean from the corner of her mouth.

Suppressing a laugh, I handed him a tissue.

"The corner of the mouth."

Li Lizhi was taken aback. She reached out and touched it, her fingertips brushing against a drop of residual sugar water.

Her ears turned bright red.

She snatched the tissue and turned around to wipe herself.

"You didn't see anything."

"I didn't see anything," Lu Chen replied cooperatively.

Li Lizhi wiped herself haphazardly a couple of times, then crumpled the tissue into a ball and stuffed it into her sleeve. Such things didn't exist in the Tang Dynasty, and she didn't intend for anyone to see them.

She stood there, her expression shifting back and forth between "reserved" and "wanting another bowl".

Ultimately, he prevailed by a narrow margin, displaying composure.

But they only won by a narrow margin.

"What...is this sweetness made of?"

She tried her best to make her voice sound calm.

"White sugar."

Lu Chen went to the kitchen and took out the five-pound bag of white sugar.

Tear open the seal and pour out a small pile in your palm.

It was handed to Li Lizhi across the dividing line.

Snow-white.

Fine and dense.

Like a handful of snowflakes.

It shimmered with a faint light under the lamp.

Li Lizhi's eyes widened.

"This is...candy?"

Her voice unconsciously rose by half an octave.

In her mind, sugar was dark brown, rough, lumpy, and bitter.

It's completely different from what's in front of you.

"Are you sure this is sugar? Or something else... or salt?"

"You'll know once you try it."

Li Lizhi hesitated for a moment, then extended a finger and gently dipped it into the white sugar in Lu Chen's palm.

There were more than a dozen sugar granules on my fingertips.

She put her fingers in her mouth.

That pure sweetness exploded on the tip of my tongue once again.

It's more direct than rock sugar pear soup.

More intense.

They are even more unreasonable.

Li Lizhi's eyes instantly lit up to the extreme.

Her mouth was slightly open, as if she couldn't believe that this taste was real.

"How is that possible..."

She murmured to herself.

"How could something be so sweet..."

Lu Chen placed the bag of white sugar next to the dividing line.

"This is very common where we live. It costs a few yuan per kilogram, and every household has it."

A few dollars per pound.

Every household has one.

Li Lizhi felt that her worldview had been smashed open.

The best honey in the Tang Dynasty cost several hundred coins per pound.

Ordinary people might not be able to afford to eat this even once a year.

And fourteen hundred years later, something many times sweeter than honey—

A few dollars.

each and every family.

Li Lizhi fell silent.

She lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the bag of white sugar.

The snow-white sugar granules looked like a pile of shattered stars under the light.

Silent for a long time.

Then she suddenly looked up.

The shock in his eyes transformed into something else entirely.

It wasn't the joy of gluttony.

It's an urgency that comes from thinking about something important.

"Lu Chen".

When she called his name, her tone was different from before.

"Mother has been unable to eat anything lately."

"She doesn't want to drink the porridge because it's too bland, and she can't swallow the tonic because it's too bitter."

"The imperial physician said that the Empress Dowager should eat more, otherwise her body will not be able to withstand it."

Li Lizhi stared at the bag of white sugar, her eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"If we had this..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

But the meaning is already quite clear.

Sugar dissolved in water becomes sugar water; mixed into porridge, it becomes sweet porridge; and stewed into soup, it becomes sweet soup.

For a patient who can't eat anything—

A bowl of sweet, palatable food may be more effective than any delicacy.

Lu Chen smiled as he looked at her expression.

"I still have half a pot of rock sugar pear soup in the pot."

He paused.

"Enough to fit a lunchbox."

…………

Li Lizhi never procrastinates when she does things.

That evening, she had Lu Chen pack the half-pot of rock sugar pears into a food box.

I also asked for an extra small packet of white sugar, about two ounces, which I carefully wrapped in oil paper and stuffed into my sleeve.

Early the next morning.

Lizheng Hall.

Empress Zhangsun looked better than she had a few days ago.

The medicine is taking effect.

The coughing up blood has stopped, and I can sleep through the night again.

But my appetite is still not working.

The breakfast delivered by the imperial kitchen was barely touched.

The porridge got cold, and only a small piece of pastry was broken off.

The embroiderer watched with heartache, but there was nothing she could do.

This kind of thing can't be solved by just a few words of advice.

If your body doesn't want to eat, forcing it in won't help.

When Li Lizhi entered, Empress Zhangsun was leaning against a soft pillow, holding a scroll in her hand.

Upon seeing her daughter, she put down her book and smiled.

"You're here early today."

"Your Majesty, I have brought something for you."

Li Lizhi placed the food box on a small table next to the bed.

"Has Mother not eaten yet?"

Empress Zhangsun glanced at the almost untouched breakfast on the table next to her and felt somewhat embarrassed.

"I ate a couple of bites... but I really didn't have much of an appetite."

"Your subject understands."

Li Lizhi opened the food box.

The rock sugar pear soup was packed last night, and Lu Chen specifically instructed me on how to store it. A thick cloth was placed at the bottom of the food container, so the insulation was passable.

It's no longer hot, but it's still warm.

The moment the lid was lifted—

A sweet fragrance filled the Rikjeong Hall.

It's very light.

But in a bedroom filled with the smell of medicine and stuffy air, this fragrance was like opening a window.

Empress Zhangsun's nostrils twitched slightly.

The embroiderer also raised her head.

The two palace maids standing in the distance both looked towards the food box.

"What is this?" Empress Zhangsun asked, somewhat surprised.

It wasn't because of the food itself—as a queen, what rare things hadn't she seen?

What surprised her was the smell.

sweet.

A sweetness she had never smelled before.

It's not as thick and cloying as honey, nor as heavy and cloying as maltose.

It's refreshing, like the freshness of the air after a spring rain, but with an added layer of warm sweetness.

"Rock sugar stewed pear." Li Lizhi scooped a spoonful and held it to Empress Zhangsun's lips. "Mother, try it. It's good for your lungs."

Empress Zhangsun did not hesitate.

She trusted Li Lizhi unconditionally.

Take the spoon and put it in your mouth.

Then--

Empress Zhangsun stopped moving.

The spoon was still between her lips.

Her eyes changed.

It was almost the exact same reaction as Li Lizhi's yesterday. Her pupils dilated slightly, and all her expressions froze for a moment.

But Empress Zhangsun was, after all, Empress Zhangsun.

Her shock lasted only a moment.

It was immediately suppressed.

She slowly removed the spoon from her mouth.

I savored that bite of rock sugar pear soup.

Swallow it.

Then she put down the bowl.

Place it on the small table.

It's very light.

You can barely hear the sound of the bottom of the bowl hitting the wooden surface.