I started as a concubine, and I made the crown prince cry with my delicious food.

An urgent letter from the front lines in southern Xinjiang was delivered to the capital at top speed and reached Ye An'an's hands.

When she saw that familiar, steady, and powerful handwriting, when she read those seemingly plain words that were filled with deep longing and concern, Ye An'an could no longer hold back her tears, which flowed uncontrollably.

He's alright. Not only is he alright, he fought so well.

He was still thinking about her. He said he missed her. He said he would wait for his triumphant return.

Ye An'an pressed the letter tightly to her chest, as if she could feel his heartbeat and body temperature thousands of miles away through the thin paper.

She was crying and laughing at the same time, like a fool.

Seeing her like this, Fuyun and Chenzhu, who were serving her, also secretly wiped away their tears.

They knew how difficult things had been for the Empress during this time.

During the day, she had to put on a brave face in front of the Empress and handle a host of complicated affairs in the Eastern Palace and the "Liren Pavilion"; at night, she often suffered from insomnia due to longing and worry.

Now that she had finally received news from His Highness that he was safe, she could finally relax a little.

After crying and laughing, Ye An'an's heart, which belonged to the "food blogger," began to stir again.

No, receiving a letter isn't enough; she has to do something. She has to send him something.

Southern Xinjiang is humid and rainy, so his conditions on the front lines must be extremely harsh. She wanted him to eat something hot and comforting, something that would warm him to the core.

What should we eat?

Soup? It would be cold by the time it arrives. Roast meat? It would have lost its freshly roasted aroma by the time it arrives.

Countless dish names flashed through Ye An'an's mind, only to be rejected one by one.

Suddenly, her gaze fell on the small red clay stove in the kitchen, which was used to warm wine in winter.

Next to the stove was a bag of quicklime left over from when we made "compressed biscuits" last time, which was used to absorb moisture.

Quicklime? Hot water? Hot pot?

An extremely bold and modern idea struck her mind like a bolt of lightning—self-heating hot pot!

Yes! That's it!

In an era where only charcoal and firewood are available, a portable hot pot that boils itself with just a little cold water is an absolute game-changer! It's a divine invention that could move any soldier suffering from cold and hunger on the front lines to tears!

Thinking of Xiao Jingshi's satisfied and delighted expression as he ate the steaming hot pot she had made for him in the cold and damp southern border, Ye An'an's heart burned with warmth.

An unprecedented and intense creative desire instantly filled her entire body.

Without hesitation, she locked herself in the small kitchen and began her third-generation "military food revolution."

The core technology of self-heating hot pot lies in the "heating pack" that can generate heat on its own. The principle of the heating pack is extremely simple: it utilizes the chemical property that quicklime releases a large amount of heat when it reacts with water.

Ye An'an first had someone bring in a large quantity of high-quality quicklime blocks, which were then crushed into powder.

Quicklime alone wasn't enough. To make the heating effect more lasting and intense, she added some iron powder and activated carbon powder.

These two things were not hard to find in this era. Iron powder could be ground up at a blacksmith's shop, and activated carbon was a product of the incomplete combustion of charcoal.

She mixed the three powders together in a certain proportion, and then packaged them into individual "heating packs" using double-layered, thick, breathable burlap bags.

The heating pack is done; next up is the "pot" for the hot pot.

She also drew up blueprints and had craftsmen create a double-layered lunchbox using the lightest aluminum (called "light silver" in this era, an extremely precious metal, but obtaining a little bit was not a problem for the Crown Princess).

The outer container holds the heating pack and cold water, while the inner container holds the hot pot base and ingredients. The two containers can be nested together perfectly, and when the lid is closed, it becomes a sealed, portable self-heating hot pot.

Finally, there's the soul of hot pot – the broth and side dishes.

Considering the dampness and need to dispel dampness and cold in southern Xinjiang, Ye An'an specially prepared a very authentic, rich and spicy beef tallow hot pot base for Xiao Jingshi.

She mixed a large amount of butter with rapeseed oil, added dozens of top-quality chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns transported from Sichuan and Chongqing, along with fermented broad bean paste (which she brewed herself) and various spices that could dispel cold and dampness, such as cardamom, amomum villosum, and cinnamon... and simmered it slowly over a low flame for two whole hours.

When it came out of the pot, the bright red, piping hot butter and the domineering, numbing, spicy, and fragrant aroma instantly made everyone in the small kitchen drool.

After cooling the cooked hot pot broth, she divided it into individual small oil paper packets.

For the side dishes, she chose ingredients that are easy to store and cook quickly. These included thinly sliced ​​dried beef, chewy sweet potato noodles made from sweet potato starch, dried bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, and dried bean curd sticks.

She also neatly packed the prepared ingredients into small paper bags, categorizing them by type.

When the first complete "self-heating hot pot set meal" was assembled, Ye An'an was amazed by her own ingenious idea.

She looked at the small but complete package in front of her: inside was a pot, a base, a heating pack, various side dishes, and she even thoughtfully included a pair of chopsticks and a small dipping sauce dish (containing minced garlic and sesame oil).

She personally demonstrated it in front of Fuyun and Chenzhu.

When they saw the small hot pot that only needed a cup of cold water to boil on its own, and when they smelled the domineering spicy aroma wafting from it, the two maids no longer looked at Ye An'an as their mistress, but as an omnipotent deity descended to earth!

"Your Majesty! You...you are truly amazing!"

Ye An'an smiled smugly.

She immediately had the dozens of self-heating hot pots she had made overnight, along with her reply, sent by express courier to the front lines in southern Xinjiang.

She couldn't wait to see Xiao Jingshi's shocked and moved expression when he received this "love donation that transcends time and space".