Shocking! The entire court was drooling with envy because of me.

Black Hawk: "???"

Are you crazy? What did he hear?

In this time of national crisis, Your Majesty wants to take him out to eat?

It's absolutely outrageous, like an outrageous door opening for the outrageous. It's outrageous to the extreme.

"I'm not hungry," Black Hawk said coldly.

The Emperor said, "It's not a matter of being hungry or not. Once you have a meal, you'll understand how I feel."

"Your subordinate..."

"This... Commander Black Hawk, His Majesty has sent you, so please go and have a taste. Lady Shen's food is not something you can just eat whenever you want; countless people would fight tooth and nail for it. This is an incredible stroke of luck."

Zhao Gou tried to persuade him from the side.

Black Hawk: "..."

It's even more outrageous. What incredible luck! With war on the horizon, the emperor is only thinking about food. He's really too lucky.

"Let's go, let's go find Madam Shen right now."

The emperor jumped out of bed and, while dressing, instructed Zhao Gou: "Gou, pick out a few of the best pearls and amber that the Liao Kingdom presented as tribute yesterday and give them to Lady Shen."

"Going over so early in the morning, it wouldn't be good if it affected Madam Shen's mood for cooking."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, this servant will go and get it right away."

Zhao Gou went down happily, forgetting all about national affairs, his mind filled with nothing but wanting to pick out some good things for his sisters.

There's also delicious food; maybe he can even get some today.

Black Hawk: "...She's just a cook, why must Your Majesty be so insistent?"

What kind of bullshit mood is this, still wanting to cook?

This Da'an ruler is neither a ruler nor a minister; in his opinion, this Lady Shen is a witch!

"You'll see when you get there," the emperor said, completely unwilling to explain.

Black Hawk: "..."

He was speechless.

The group arrived at the Treasure Pavilion in a grand procession.

The servant guarding the gate of the Treasure Pavilion trembled and said, "Your Majesty, Lady Shen hasn't gotten up yet. This servant will go and call her right away."

"Yesterday's palace banquet was so delicious, Madam Shen must be exhausted," Zhao Gou said from the side.

The emperor glanced at the sky and said, "No need to call him, I'll wait a little while."

When it comes to enjoying delicious food, you need to be patient.

After all, he used to stay up all night researching where Madam Shen would set up her stall, so now he was happy to wait a little while.

Besides, those troublesome national affairs are not something that can be easily resolved in a short period of time.

Let's eat first, then we'll talk.

Black Hawk, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed.

No, His Majesty is waiting specifically for a lowly cook?

Is that correct?

Are you crazy?

Shen Qing didn't get up until the sun was high in the sky.

She was indeed exhausted from preparing so many dishes for yesterday's palace banquet, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

I slept soundly until dawn.

As soon as the door opened, the young palace maid hurriedly informed her that the emperor had arrived.

Shen Qing raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding why the emperor had arrived so early.

After she finished washing up and getting ready, she went to see the emperor and his entourage.

"Lady Shen, you must be tired from yesterday's palace banquet, right? I had Zhao Gou pick out a bunch of good things for you, take a look!"

Upon seeing Shen Qing, the emperor's face instantly broke into a smile.

"Your Majesty, what is this...?" Shen Qing asked calmly.

Arriving so early to wait, it's clearly not as simple as just delivering something.

The emperor rubbed his hands together: "Lady Shen, you haven't eaten all night, are you hungry? Why don't we cook a meal and eat together?"

For some reason, the emperor's tone became somewhat ingratiating.

Black Hawk, who was standing to the side, looked on in shock.

She's a witch, truly a witch.

Shen Qing: "..."

This early in the morning, the emperor's mind was filled with thoughts of food.

However, she was also a little hungry at this time.

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment, I will go and cook."

After Shen Qing finished speaking, he went directly to the small kitchen of the Treasure Pavilion.

After glancing at the ingredients available in the kitchen and thinking for a while, Shen Qing decided on the dishes to be made today.

The first dish is crystal shrimp dumplings.

Pour a bowl of wheat starch and half a bowl of corn starch into a basin, add boiling water, and stir quickly with chopsticks. This step is called scalding the noodles.

Once the flour has been stirred into a crumbly consistency, add the lard and knead into a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for a while.

While the dough is resting, prepare the filling.

Remove the shrimp veins, marinate with a little salt and egg white, take two-thirds of the shrimp and pound them into shrimp paste with the back of a knife, cut the remaining one-third into small cubes the size of soybeans, and cut the pork fat into very fine pieces.

Next, mix the shrimp paste, diced shrimp, diced pork fat, diced bamboo shoots, and diced water chestnuts, add various seasonings, and stir with chopsticks until it becomes sticky and elastic. The filling is now ready.

Roll the dough into a thin wrapper that is thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges. Place the filling in the center of the wrapper and quickly pinch it into fine pleats with your fingers.

After the water boils, steam the wrapped crystal dumplings.

This crystal shrimp dumpling is now ready.

The second round of oil tea.

Roast peanuts and walnuts over low heat until fragrant, then grind them into coarse pieces. Roast sesame seeds until cooked and set aside.

Then heat the wok and pour in the flour, stir-frying over low heat.

Before long, the pure white flour turned golden brown, and a caramelized aroma rose up.

Pour the butter into the flour and continue to stir-fry. Then add chopped peanuts and walnuts, roasted sesame seeds, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and salt, and continue to stir-fry.

When it's almost done, add enough water, stir with a spoon to break it up, simmer over low heat for a while, and finally sprinkle with chopped green onions.

The third dish is sugar-oil rice cake.

Knead glutinous rice flour into a dough, let it rest, roll the rested dough into a long strip, cut it into small pieces, roll each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disc shape.

Pour oil into a pan, place the glutinous rice cakes one by one into the pan, and fry over low heat until both sides are golden brown.

Next, cook the sugar. Leave some oil in the pot, add white sugar and brown sugar, a little water, and stir constantly with a spatula to slowly cook it.

When the syrup turns a deep amber color, pour the fried glutinous rice cakes into the pan and stir-fry quickly.

Before long, each glutinous rice cake was coated with a layer of glistening syrup, and finally sprinkled with white sesame seeds before it was ready to be taken out of the pot.

This is about enough for breakfast.

Shen Qing, accompanied by palace maids, brought three dishes to the table.

Crystal shrimp dumplings are crescent-shaped with fine and even pleats. Each one is crystal clear, and you can vaguely see the pink shrimp, tender yellow bamboo shoots, and white water chestnut pieces inside through the skin.

The dark brown tea oil is served in a white porcelain bowl, topped with crumbs of walnuts and peanuts of varying sizes, scattered white sesame seeds, and a cluster of bright green scallions.

The amber-colored sugar-coated glutinous rice cakes are glossy and oily, with tiger-skin-like brown spots of varying shades on the surface. White sesame seeds are embedded in the sugar shell, making them look absolutely beautiful.

The emperor and Zhao Gou's eyes lit up, and they drooled.

"It smells so good! These three dishes are things I've never seen before, they smell absolutely amazing!"

"Black Hawk, have a taste! Once you taste it, you'll know how I feel!!"