Bringing the Railway to Daming

"Pearl Jade White Jade Soup?"

Hearing this name which sounded like the name of a delicious dish, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but look at Empress Ma.

Then he said, "Could it be that, as you said, a certain restaurant in the future forcibly associated a certain delicious dish with us in order to take advantage of our fame?"

Hearing this, Liu Kuan almost couldn't help laughing.

But he failed to control his facial expression, and Zhu Yuanzhang and others saw his smile.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked in confusion, "What are you laughing at?"

Liu Kuan quickly explained, "Your Majesty, you misunderstood. I wasn't laughing. I just talked too much and my cheek muscles twitched uncontrollably."

Now it was the turn of Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and Zhu Huilan to laugh uncontrollably.

He clearly couldn't help wanting to laugh, and his cheek muscles were twitching uncontrollably - he truly deserves to be Daming's science mentor.

Zhu Yuanzhang also found it funny and said directly, "Don't explain it, let's talk about the story of 'Pearl Jade White Jade Soup'."

"Yes," Liu Kuan replied. "This is actually a story about your majesty when he was a wandering monk. It is said that your majesty had not eaten for many days and fainted from hunger, and was then saved by an old woman."

"The old woman didn't have much good food at home, so she used the leftover rice, cabbage stalks, white radish, a piece of sour tofu, and fish bones to make soup, and gave it to Your Majesty to eat. This saved Your Majesty's life."

"Your Majesty thought it was delicious and asked the old woman what the dish was called. The old woman, who was a very humorous person, said it was called 'Pearl Jade Soup'."

"Of course, some say that the one who saved Your Majesty wasn't some old woman, but a beggar. There are even legends that the one who saved Your Majesty was a transformed immortal."

"Later, His Majesty grew old and ill, unable to eat. He particularly missed the bowl of Pearl Jade White Jade Soup he had enjoyed so long ago, and he sought out the chef, but he was unable to make it."

"Then there was a chef from Fengyang who made you starve for a day and then made the Pearl Jade White Jade Soup just as you requested, only then did he gain your approval."

After telling the story, Liu Kuan thought to himself: Could this story be true?
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "This story is more interesting than the previous one. However, when I was a wandering monk, although I received help from kind people and tried all kinds of strange dishes, I have never tasted the Pearl Jade White Jade Soup in this story."

The implication is that this story is basically fabricated.

Liu Kuan was not surprised either.

There are too many unofficial histories and stories about Zhu Yuanzhang in later generations, and most of them are definitely fabricated.

Even when he was a child, he heard his grandfather tell some outrageous and illogical stories - his grandfather liked to call Zhu Yuanzhang Zhu Hongwu, saying that the Yuan Dynasty's national teacher had calculated long ago that there was a man named Zhu Hongwu who would seize the Yuan Dynasty, so he sent people to find the man named "Zhu Hongwu" and kill him. Of course, he couldn't find him, because there was only Zhu Chongba at that time.

It is also said that Zhu Yuanzhang once tripped over a door threshold while begging. After he became emperor, he ordered that no houses in that place should have door thresholds. As a result, houses in that place still have no door thresholds to this day.

Grandpa loved to talk around the fire in the winter nights, telling stories about wild history, ghosts and human nature. Unfortunately, his grandfather passed away when he was in college, and he couldn't remember many of the stories...

Empress Ma was attentive. Seeing that Liu Kuan was silent for a moment and looked a little strange, she asked, "Kuan'er, is there something on your mind?"

Liu Kuan forced a smile and said, "Nothing, I just remembered my grandfather - he loved telling stories back then, and among them were several anecdotes about Your Majesty. Unfortunately, I was too young to remember most of them."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma, and Zhu Biao looked at each other and sighed in their hearts. At this moment, they felt more clearly that Liu Kuan, a person from later generations, was indeed separated from them by 600 years.

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang did not ask Liu Kuan to tell any stories. Instead, he chatted with him, Zhu Huilan, Su Caiwei and several children like ordinary elders, and then let the whole family leave the palace.

Zhu Biao also wanted to resign.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "It just so happens that your mother and I are here today, so I will tell you a family matter." Family matter?

Zhu Biao was slightly stunned after hearing this, then he said, "Father, please tell me."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Xiongying will be nineteen next year, and twenty in lunar age. It's time for him to get married. What are your thoughts on this matter?"

Zhu Biao said, "Father and Mother will make the decision on this matter. However, I suggest that we wait for Xiongying to return and ask his opinion."

"This child is very opinionated now. Although marriage matters should be decided by parents, it's always better to ask his opinion."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "As a father, you dote on him quite a bit. Well, he will be back in the capital in half a month anyway. I'll listen to his thoughts then."

Empress Ma also smiled and said, "Being able to see Xiongying get married and have children, your father and I are relieved."

There was nothing wrong with these words, but both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao had an inexplicable bad feeling about them.

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In the blink of an eye, it’s the end of the year.

On a snowy day, bad news came from the palace: Empress Ma fell ill again.

The imperial physician did cure Empress Ma, but she caught a cold again a few days later. Famous doctors from the Imperial Hospital, the Medical College, and even the entire capital took turns visiting the palace to treat her, but their condition only managed to slow down.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious. If it weren't for Liu Kuan's influence over the years, which made him no longer treat doctors with the historical attitude, and Empress Ma's persuasion, he might have exiled these famous doctors.

As a son-in-law, Liu Kuan entered the harem with Zhu Huilan to visit Queen Ma.

Only then did we know that Empress Ma spent most of her time lying in bed, could only walk a few steps in the room, and relied on medicine to maintain her current condition.

According to a joint consultation by several famous doctors, Empress Ma lost too much vitality in her early years and was not well cared for afterwards. Although she had been carefully cared for over the past ten years, her recovery was limited and she is now almost at the end of her life.

With the current medical level of the Ming Dynasty, there is no problem for Empress Ma to survive the New Year, but it is hard to say how long she can survive next year.

While Empress Ma was seriously ill, Li Shanchang, who had been seriously ill for a long time, eventually could not survive the winter and died.

Liu Kuan didn't know whether Zhu Yuanzhang had secretly investigated the victory plan when Fengyang was established as the capital, but Li Shanchang had a good end in this time and space - not only did he retain his Duke of Han title when he died, but he was also posthumously named Prince of Pingyang, plus several other regular posthumous titles for civil officials at the duke level.

Because of this incident, and because Empress Ma was seriously ill, the Zhu family did not hold a movie-watching party as in previous years on the second day of the first lunar month in the 26th year of Hongwu.

However, every time Zhu Huilan went to the palace to visit Empress Ma, Liu Kuan asked her to bring a tablet computer and play some videos or TV dramas that would make people happy and joyful for Empress Ma to watch.

Although the playing time was not long each time, Zhu Huilan went there more often, which led to a scolding from Queen Ma, who said that she should not waste the life of the tablet computer like this.

Zhu Huilan had no choice but to reduce the number of times she brought the tablet with her and go alone, spending more time talking to Empress Ma and telling her about the later events she had heard from Liu Kuan.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Crown Prince Zhu Xiongying got married to the legitimate daughter of Liu Jing, the second son of Liu Bowen.

Because Liu Bowen's eldest son Liu Lian died by falling into a well under duress during a conflict with Hu Weiyong's party, after Liu Bowen's death, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his eldest grandson Liu Qi (Liu Lian's son) to inherit the title.

Now Zhu Xiongying is asked to marry Liu Jing's daughter. I don't know whether it is compensation for Liu Bowen or simply appreciation of Liu Jing's talent.

Whether it was because of the joy of Zhu Xiongying's marriage or because the weather was warmer in spring, after the Dragon Raising Day on February 2, Empress Ma's health was better than before and she was finally able to go out for a walk.

This made Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Liu Kuan and others who were concerned about Empress Ma's health breathe a sigh of relief. They could finally shift their attention and devote themselves to their own affairs... (End of this chapter)