Chronicles of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 23 23. Polygonum hydropiper
Akame, Wu Zi, and several of their attendants were silent at this moment.

Although I don't know whether it's true or not, Qin Jun is a nobleman loved by the king, so what she said must be true.

After a moment, Chi Nu took a deep breath and said, "Lord Qin, since we are going to offer food to the king, why don't we go and ask the Zhou official to come in person?"

Qin Shi laughed: "Just tell Zhou Fuling what I just said, and I won't say anything else."

It's just a duck soup, there's no need to worry about whether it's poisonous or not.

But Chi Nu didn't believe it.

She could see that Qin Jun knew a lot, but he would only remember it when he saw it needed. She didn't know what shocking words he would say next, so it would be better to ask Zhou Fuling to come as soon as possible.

...

The eunuchs in the Xianyang Palace all ran away at full speed. A quarter of an hour later, the King of Qin, who was far away in the Zhangtai Palace, put down the bamboo slips in his hand when he heard Qin Qing's shocking words again.

"According to what Qin Qing said, doesn't that mean I'm taking poison every day?"

Although I haven't been able to verify its authenticity yet, just hearing about it is enough to make me feel shocked.

Zhou Ju's hands also began to tremble.

He had just eaten a bowl of sour cherry this morning to whet his appetite, which was cooked in an intricate and gorgeous bronze tripod!

And they had only taken Qin Shi back to Xianyang Palace for one night and half a day! In just half a day, all his food and clothing were poisoned?!
Even someone as calm as Ji Heng couldn't help but rub his brows. Looking at the bronze jar of ice wine on the table, he couldn't help but feel annoyed.
"Zhou Ju! Go! Today I order you to follow Qin Qing and pass on my message—next time, the next time she says something shocking, have the messenger drive back quickly to report."

In the Xianyang Palace, nobles often drove when traveling, but they were not allowed to drive fast.

Now that the king has issued this order, it naturally means approval.

Zhou Ju also quickly agreed.

After he left, the Taiguanling stepped forward silently and replaced the wine jar in front of the King of Qin with a golden one without a sound, and then began to retreat quickly to replace other food-related utensils.

While giving orders in the palace kitchen, he silently regretted: If he had known that a word from the noble lady of Lan Chi Palace could make the king take it so seriously, he should not have sent the clumsy Zhu Kui, but should have chosen more clever talents!

……

By the time Zhou Ju arrived, all the various pottery items found in the Lan Chi Palace warehouse had finally been cleaned and sent to the palace kitchen.

The cooks silently put down their bronze knives, which were very convenient for them, and now picked up iron knives to chop the duck into pieces. The atmosphere was very busy.

Qin Shi was also very happy to see him.

This Zhou palace official once revealed the news about the King of Qin to her in front of the king, and Qin Shi was very grateful.

Now, he took him to see the piles of hot water pepper grass that had just been delivered, and whispered, "Mr. Zhou, thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. I hope you will take the time to come when the new food is ready in a few days."

She blinked and said, "It's a little surprise. The king will probably be very happy to hear about it."

Zhou Ju finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Qin Qing..."

After thinking for a while, he didn't know what to say. At this moment, he could only say helplessly: "The king has ordered that if Qin Qing has anything to say, he can go to Xianyang Palace to face him directly."

Qin Shi shook his head: It is true that close range can increase favorability, but she does not have any systematic words, and now she just wants to say one thing at a time, and her effect on King Qin is very fragmented.

The most important thing is that apart from donating medicine, she has not made any contribution - including what she said today, all of which need time to verify.

If I go and chat with the King of Qin now and say something I shouldn’t, that would be terrible.

Trust and respect need to be accumulated bit by bit, and she is still working hard now.

So he smiled and declined politely: "These are all trivial matters, with no concrete evidence. How dare I delay the affairs of the great kingdom?" "But I just found something wonderful in the palace kitchen. The Minister of Imperial Households said it was tribute from Nanhai County, and only a few are left in the Xianyang Palace... Could you give me some more to try?"

Zhou Ju took a closer look and saw black bamboo joints, as hard as sticks: It was Zhuzhe!
He hesitated. "The jujubes are not yet ripe, so Nanhai Commandery has only sent two carts. Because they are sweet, the king has already rewarded another cart."

The bamboo joints were too dense, and it was difficult for the palace chefs to chop them. They had to use stone awls to pound the bamboo to make sweet juice, and they haven't finished enjoying it yet.

"There's only one car left, is that enough?"

Qin Shi was pleasantly surprised. She had been thinking that if there was only one basket, she would not make it yet. Now she nodded naturally:
"enough."

Zhou Ju heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. As long as they didn't say anything about poison or insects, the mere Zhuzhe was really not worth mentioning!
When she looked at Qin Shi again, she had already directed the kitchen workers to blanch the duck pieces in cold water and add ginger, green onions, etc.

The kitchen workers also breathed a sigh of relief.

They would blanch meat, but they had to search for this winter melon for a long time before they found a basket of it among the tributes from Nanhai County based on the description. It was called "Shuizhi".

It is named this way because it is so large, soft and juicy when cooked, and can clear away heat and promote salivation.

But it doesn’t matter, since the noble person said it is winter melon, it is called winter melon!
Now, after hearing the nobleman's instructions to blanch the duck pieces and drain them, and then put them back into clean water with ginger slices and simmer, and also writing down "after an hour, add winter melon and simmer for 25 minutes", everyone carefully wiped the sweat off their foreheads.

The other kitchen workers silently memorized the tricks so that if one day it was their turn to cook for the distinguished guests, they would also have their own special soups.

Zhou Ju watched silently from the side, feeling much more relaxed than when he was in front of the King of Qin. And as long as Qin Qing didn't say anything shocking, he could relax for a while.

But then he saw a large pile of Polygonum hydropiper being cleaned, so he asked, "Is this the 'surprise' in two days?"

Qin Shi nodded and watched the kitchen workers spread out the water pepper to dry, while instructing others to prepare the pounded rice and glutinous rice and grind them into powder using a stone mill.

The huge palace kitchen was under her command and no one had any free time at the moment.

Zhou Ju, on the other hand, was quite relaxed. Someone even laid out a mat on the corridor for him to sit down and rest. Seeing Qin Shi coming out, he couldn't help but ask again, "What's the surprise with this Polygonum odoratum? Is it going to be crushed and used to soak persimmons?"

He had just asked the Minister of the Imperial Household, and he learned that soaking persimmons in water pepper would make them less astringent and more sweet.

But now, the persimmons are not ripe yet!
Qin Shi summarized his thoughts: "The surprise is, using one pound of flour, without adding any water, you can make a pancake weighing one and a half pounds?"

That is steamed buns.

Half a catty weighs eight ounces, and one catty weighs sixteen ounces. The ratio of flour to steamed buns is about 1.5 times, so the difference should not be too big.

The king conquered the Baiyue just a few years ago. Now the population in the country is declining and food is scarce. Although steamed buns may not be more economical than soup and noodles, they can still fill the stomach when resources are scarce.

Most importantly, it is easy to carry and store.

"boom!"

Zhou Ju stood up from his heels and his knees hit the table in front of him heavily.

***
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The Qin Dynasty had fermentation technology, but they didn't know how to use yeast, so there were no steamed buns.

Sugarcane, also known as zhezhe, was introduced from the Nanyang Islands during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou in the Zhou Dynasty. Sugar beets were not introduced until the Yuan Dynasty.

[Nanhai County is roughly the same as today's Guangzhou]

The Qin Dynasty used the lunar calendar, which also had intercalary months. By the end of the seventh lunar month, it was almost September, less than a month before the sugarcane was fully ripe.

[Sources speculate that winter melon existed during the Qin Dynasty, but it wasn't widely available. The name "Shuizhi" comes from the Shennong Herbal Classic. If there are any omissions, I'll just make it up (the point of this is finally being made clear!)]

Coming!