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

The next day, Ye An'an got up very early.

Last night, her mother's "consummation of marriage" theory left her feeling very upset, and she barely slept at all for the rest of the night. Every time she closed her eyes, Xiao Jingshi's face and the scene of him kissing her kept replaying in her mind.

No, no, she can't think about it anymore! If she keeps thinking about it, she won't be able to go out and see anyone today.

To distract herself, she decided to rely on her old skills—cooking something delicious.

Yesterday at noon, the home-cooked meals her mother prepared left her wanting more. Today, she wanted to show off her skills and let her family taste the culinary techniques she had honed in the palace.

What should I do?

The general's mansion is not like the palace; it doesn't have as many exotic ingredients. But it has all kinds of common, down-to-earth food.

Ye An'an walked around the kitchen and quickly came up with an idea.

She's going to make a sumptuous Cantonese dim sum meal!

The shrimp dumplings were already made in the palace yesterday, so I won't repeat them today.

She's going to make steamed shumai, chicken feet with black bean sauce, and soft, sweet lava buns!

Just do it!

She first instructed the kitchen staff to knead a large dough. Half of it was used to make the thin wrappers for shumai, and the other half was mixed with yeast and sugar to ferment and make the dumpling wrappers for lava buns.

Next, it's time to prepare the filling.

The filling for the shumai is the highlight. She uses pork shoulder with a 7:3 lean-to-fat ratio, hand-chopped into a granular paste, then adds sweet shrimp and soaked and chopped dried shiitake mushrooms. Season with salt, sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a little sesame oil, and stir in one direction until it becomes sticky.

Making braised chicken feet with black bean sauce is a labor-intensive process. She has people trim the nails off fresh chicken feet, blanch them, and then deep-fry them in boiling oil until golden brown and crispy with wrinkled skin. This step allows the chicken feet to better absorb the broth during the subsequent steaming, becoming tender and falling off the bone. The fried chicken feet are immediately soaked in ice water to enhance their "tiger skin" effect. Then, they are steamed together with black bean sauce, minced garlic, chili, oyster sauce, and other seasonings.

What everyone is most looking forward to is the filling of the custard buns. She uses salted egg yolks, crushes them, and sieves them to get a smooth salted egg yolk paste. Then, she adds melted butter, a large amount of powdered sugar, and milk powder, mixes them together, and freezes them until set.

When the fermented dough is wrapped around the golden, cool, molten filling, plump, white buns are born.

All morning, the small kitchen in the general's mansion was filled with various tempting aromas.

At lunchtime, baskets of steaming hot snacks were served to the table in a continuous stream.

The golden and tempting shumai are topped with bright green peas, with thin skins and generous fillings, making them look plump and juicy.

The chicken feet, with their deep reddish-brown sauce and black bean sauce, are so tender and soft that they practically fall off the bone with just a touch.

And those plump, white custard buns—just looking at them makes you imagine the wonderful scene of golden custard gushing out when you bite into them.

"Wow! Big sister! Did you make all of these? They look so delicious!" Fourth sister Ye Yunyun's eyes lit up as she looked at the table full of exquisite pastries she had never seen before.

The third sister, Ye Jinjin, was also amazed. She felt that her eldest sister was becoming more and more impressive.

Even the Lin family showed expressions of surprise and relief.

"Try it, try it!" Ye An'an said smugly.

Ye Yunyun couldn't resist any longer; she picked up a shumai and took a bite.

"Ugh!" Her eyes widened instantly.

The shumai wrapper is thin yet chewy, filled with tender and juicy meat, bouncy shrimp, and flavorful shiitake mushrooms. The flavors blend perfectly, making it so delicious she wanted to swallow her tongue!

"It's so delicious! Big sister! This is a hundred times better than the dim sum sold in restaurants outside!" she exclaimed indistinctly.

Lin and Ye Jinjin also took a bite, and were equally captivated by the amazing taste.

Next up is chicken feet with black bean sauce.

Ye An'an taught them to suck on the sauce first, to draw the rich sauce into their mouths.

The salty and savory flavor with a hint of sweetness, along with the unique taste of fermented black beans, instantly awakens the taste buds.

With a gentle bite, the chicken foot instantly separates from the bone. The tender skin and chewy tendons melt in your mouth.

"My God, how can these chicken feet be made so delicious?" Mrs. Lin couldn't help but exclaim.

Finally, there's the much-anticipated Flow Packet.

Ye An'an reminded them, "Be careful when you eat this, it will burst with filling inside."

Ye Yunyun picked one up with some skepticism and carefully took a small bite.

next second.

Golden-yellow quicksand, carrying a rich aroma of salted egg yolk, flowed out slowly like lava.

She quickly took a breath.

Fragrant! Sweet! Salty! Sandy!

Several seemingly contradictory yet perfectly harmonious flavors exploded in her mouth in an instant!

It was an unprecedented kind of sweetness that made people so happy they wanted to cry!

"Waaaaah... Big sister! This is so delicious! I love you so much!" Ye Yunyun was so happy that her eyes narrowed into slits.

A sumptuous Cantonese morning tea completely won over the stomachs of everyone in the General's Mansion.

After dinner, the three sisters sat in the pavilion in the back garden, drinking tea, chatting, and enjoying a rare moment of sisterly time.

"Big sister, the food you made is so delicious! Do you eat this every day in the palace?" Ye Yunyun asked with envy.

"Of course." Ye An'an proudly raised her chin. "If you want to eat it, I'll have someone send it to you often after I return to the palace."

"Yay!"

The three sisters were chatting happily when a servant from the mansion suddenly came to report.

It is said that several young ladies from official families who were on good terms with the General's Mansion came to visit Ye An'an after hearing that she had returned to the mansion.

Soon, several young women dressed in their finest attire entered the garden together.

They were all prominent noblewomen in the capital, and they often played together with the Ye sisters.

"Sister An'an! You're finally back!"

We've missed you so much!

As soon as everyone met, they chattered and exchanged pleasantries.

As the group grew larger, the conversation naturally shifted to the latest happenings in the capital.

"Have you heard? Lately, all the fuss in the capital is white powder and rouge makeup!" a girl in a pale yellow dress exclaimed excitedly. "The whiter the better, and the redder the lips, the more beautiful!"

"Absolutely!" another girl chimed in. "My mother specially found me the finest pearl powder, mixed it into a paste, and I apply a thick layer to my face every day. It makes my skin look so fair!"

As she spoke, she deliberately raised her face, revealing that the powder was indeed applied thickly, making her fair-skinned, but with a bluish tinge.

Ye An'an, who was listening nearby, almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.

What kind of aesthetic sense is this?

With pale faces and bright red lips, they looked exactly like a gathering of little zombies.

Her gaze swept over the noble ladies present, then fell upon her two younger sisters. Jin Jin and Yun Yun's makeup was lighter, but their lipsticks were all applied in the same way, creating the same cherry-like lips.

All the girls in the capital were pursuing this crude aesthetic.

The foundation was cakey and clumpy, the lip rouge was applied stiffly and rigidly, and the eyebrows looked like two caterpillars.

Ye An'an suddenly realized that she was also very good at modern makeup.

Now that you're back, how about... you take the opportunity to lead a new beauty trend in Daliang?

The moment the idea popped into her head, she found it increasingly interesting.

Since we're all free anyway, this way we can keep these girls from running around with such awful makeup.

Her eyes lit up, and an idea came to her.

"Yunyun," she suddenly said, "go to my room and bring me those little boxes from my dressing table."

"Huh?" Ye Yunyun was taken aback. "What box?"

You'll know when you get there.

Although Ye Yunyun didn't understand why, she still obediently ran off.

The other noble ladies exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what Ye An'an was up to.

Soon, Ye Yunyun returned carrying a small sandalwood box.

Ye An'an opened the box, inside which were neatly stacked a dozen or so exquisite small porcelain boxes and bottles.

"Sister An'an, what are these?" someone asked curiously as they approached.

Ye An'an smiled without saying a word, but simply picked up one of the white porcelain boxes and opened the lid.

Inside is a finely textured foundation cream with a natural shade, definitely not that dead white.

"This is some makeup powder I just mixed at the palace," she casually made up an excuse, "Would you like to try it?"