Palace Full of Delicacies

Chapter 68 - Ying Yu

This seafood noodle was a type of cold noodle, they were soaked in a sauce made from seafood broth and the surface was covered with boiled and sliced shrimp meat, then drizzled with a layer of sesame oil, making it smell, look and taste great.

Originally, adding ice cubes to these cold noodles would make them even tastier, but considering that it was already autumn and fearing spoiling the Emperor’s stomach, Su Yu soaked the noodles in the hot spring, making it a little warmer and just right for eating.

The Emperor expressionlessly accepted the jade bowl and crouched with Su Yu, but refused to eat the hot spring eggs because it was “boiled in bath water”.

Su Yu cracked open the half-boiled eggs and mixed them together with the noodles. If it was in his previous life, he wouldn’t dare to eat like this, half boiled eggs had a strong odor, but this was in the ancient times where there was no pollution. The eggs here had a very pure taste, even if eaten raw, there was no problem.

An Hongche looked at Su Yu’s bowl of egg-mixed noodles with disgust and finished his own bowl in two to three bites, afraid that Su Yu would also mix eggs into his noodles.

Su Yu blinked, was it so terrible?

His Majesty the Emperor ignored him and took off his shoes and socks, sticking his feet into the hot spring.

The slightly hot water just touched the soles of his feet inciting him to immediately shrink back, he quickly shook it off and then tentatively tried to reach in again.

Su Yu glanced at the soaking feet and then looked at the eggs that didn’t look so good after mixing them. He silently put the bowl in his hand to one side and raised his hands to scoop another bowl over.

“This bowl is really interesting, does King Jing enjoy eating in the hot springs?” Su Yu ate his noodles while studying the bowl in his hand.

He found these in the teahouse, each one was very small and could probably hold about a chopstick’s worth of noodles. They were carved out of a type of lightweight white jade, it was a double-layered bowl with an empty center, so it could float in the water.

Su Yu expected King Jing to be a person who was extremely good at enjoying himself. Soaking in the hot spring and telling the maids to put delicious food in a bowl, slowly drifting to his hand, it was truly an immortal lifestyle.

An Hongche looked at the seven to eight white jade cups floating in the hot spring and lifted his hand to scoop one up.

“This is a teacup.”

“Cough cough cough…” Su Yu choked.

“However, this is a good idea.” His Majesty turned the small bowl in his hand and said.

“Take this set with you when you leave tomorrow.” When bathing in Beiji Palace in the future, he can lie in the white jade bed and wait for the foolish slave to put the crab sticks and small fish pastries in a small bowl and float them over.

Su Yu: “...” Wouldn’t plundering the Wangye’s property so casually provoke a rebellion?

“From this day forward, you may not take half a step apart from Zhen.” The Emperor suddenly said after finishing five bowls of noodles and rinsing his hands in the hot spring.

Those assassins were not ordered to kill Su Yu but to capture him alive.

From the beginning, when Mister Yuan bought the hamlet, these people were already there waiting in ambush, just waiting for Su Yu to appear one day. They would immediately catch him and send him to a prepared hiding place.

The matter of the foreign star, he’s afraid it was already known to some people, he just didn’t know what that person wanted to do after catching Su Yu.

“Then do I also follow Your Majesty when he goes to the bathroom?” Su Yu was dumbfounded, but then his eyes lit up.

In the past, he was not allowed to follow Sauce when he went to the bathroom, so much so that his high-quality pearl powder kitty litter never came into use.

An Hongche slowly turned his head and silently stared at him.

“Haha, haha, just joking.” Su Yu chuckled dryly and stood up. “It’s getting late, let’s go inside and sleep, ba.”

This stupid slave, he likes Zhen so much that he’s gone crazy… Wait a minute, this stupid slave wants to follow Zhen to the bathroom, is it because he wants to see Zhen… oh, since the foolish slave wants it so much, as a good master, Zhen will definitely satisfy him…

Damn it, Zhen didn’t bring any ointment when leaving today…

His Majesty the Emperor’s ears were bright red, and the expression on his face changed several times and finally, it settled on remorse. With a cold snort, he looked up at Su Yu and stretched out his hands towards him.

The loyal cat slave immediately and eagerly crouched down, letting the Emperor wrap his arms around his neck.

A white light flashed and a golden kitten caught his collar, shook its wet hind paws, and jumped onto his shoulder, stamping a string of paw marks on it.

Su Yu didn’t mind at all. He rubbed the cat’s paws with his sleeve and happily hugged the furball back to bed, not forgetting to bring the set of white jade cups with him when he left.

The next morning, His Majesty the Emperor got up with a face full of displeasure and decided to exile the overseer of the capital 3,000 li away.

Seeing that Cat Daye was unhappy, Su Yu suggested going to the morning market.

The eastern suburbs are very close to the seaside and there will be a fish market in the morning, which was the place where Su Yu used to buy fish every day.

Yesterday, when he brought his donkey back, he remembered the days when one person and one cat relied on each other to sell skewers and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.

They weren’t going to make it to the morning court anyway, so why don’t they go take a look at the morning market and see what fresh ingredients are available?

After all, some inexpensive seafood is actually very delicious and the palace rarely buys such unorthodox ingredients.

Upon hearing this, His Majesty’s expression softened a lot and he immediately had the assassin sent to Xiaoqi Camp to be handed over to King Su, to continue to pursue the person behind the scenes, while he himself went to the morning market with Su Yu in high spirits.

The capital city was said to be facing the sea, but in reality, it was located in the Central Plains. There was just a very narrow gulf that cut through the East Sea directly into the inland area, and the end was where the capital city was located.

So the sea outside the capital city looked more like a large river. The sea surface was not as wide as the real East Sea and the variety of fish was not as diverse as the East Sea, but it was better than nothing.

In fact, whether in terms of military tactics or feng shui, the capital should not be located in such a place. The former capital was not here but in the heart of the Center Plains to the north.

After the An family won the throne, the original plan was to set the capital on the east coast. However, after being strongly opposed by the ministers, they settled for the next best thing and settled in the current capital.

As for the reason, Su Yu didn’t understand it before, but now he completely understood.

The morning market was on the stone beach near the dock, where fresh fish, shrimps, and sea crabs were casually displayed. Fishermen and vendors were haggling loudly and people came and went, making it very lively.

His Majesty the Emperor, for the first time, transformed into a human form and followed Su Yu around the fish market.

This was very different from what he saw nestled in his lapel. The feeling was very novel to him, he wanted to go and see everything he had seen before. Su Yu had to hold his hand tightly to prevent this curious cat from getting lost.

“Jumping fish, jumping fish!” Besides the shrimp stall, there was a large basin with a thin net on top and something kept charging upwards.

Su Yu heard the sound of the hawking and pulled the Emperor closer to catch the mudskipper, commonly known as the jumping fish, which was very difficult to catch. They had to use a few zhang long line to fish it from afar.

In the era Su Yu lived, this ancient skill was almost lost, so delicious wild jumping fish was extremely rare. However, in the Da’an Dynasty, there were many fishermen who could catch jumping fish, so this thing was not worth much.

Whether it was stir-fried with salt and pepper or stewed with tofu in soup, the flavor of mudskipper was very good. This kind of fish, which doesn’t sell well won’t be bought by the palace, so he didn’t think that the Emperor had eaten it before, so Su Yu was ready to buy some.

Su Yu lowered his head to pick the mudskipper and the Emperor stared at the lively sea shrimps next to him. His hand, hidden in his sleeve, clenched into a fist, trying to endure the urge to slap the shrimp back.

“Young Master, how come you came to buy shrimp yourself?” The shrimp vendor saw An Hongche dressed in splendid clothes and knew he was a wealthy and noble person, he then looked at him with an eager gaze reserved for someone with more money than sense.

“Does sir want to buy it for your wife or for your elders?”

His Majesty looked at Su Yu crouching on the ground.

“Wife.” Buy it for his wife, so that his wife can cook a delicious meal.

“Aiya, sir’s wife is really lucky.” The vendor smiled brightly.

Upon hearing the vendor’s words, Su Yu looked up at His Majesty, who had a look of approval on his face and his lips couldn’t help twitching.

Carrying the purchased jumping fish, he pulled the Emperor away, ignoring the vendor who was still strongly recommending “Sea shrimp is suitable for giving as a gift for Furen”.[TL_Note: Furen=Wife]

His Majesty the Emperor was very pleased with himself. This foolish slave is too shy, ba. Even the shrimp seller can see how kind Zhen is to his foolish slave.

Hmm, if Zhen uses the ointment tonight, the foolish slave will definitely be moved to tears.

The dead squids were arranged in an ugly row on the stones, and the squid vendors and the fishermen were bargaining loudly with each other.

“Nobody bought this thing until now, why are you asking such a high price?” Said the vendor who sells grilled squid.

A few months ago, this thing was picked up for nothing. Since Su Yu’s squid skewers became popular in the capital, the price of squid also skyrocketed, but it has never been so expensive.

“Ten wen per piece, take it or leave it.” The fisherman was very arrogant and seized the squid from the vendor’s hand.

“It’s not easy to catch things in the deep sea now. Tomorrow it may be worth twelve wen.”

“This is too expensive!” It was not just the squid vendor, even the fish seller was also full of complaints.

“There are fish monsters in the sea, and we only catch so much in a day. If we don’t raise the price, we will all drink the northwest wind.”

“The court offered a reward for the fish monsters. Weren’t those black-haired fish exchanged for a lot of money?”

“If only it was just the black-haired fish…” Before the fishermen finished speaking, there was a sudden commotion on the beach.

“Come and see, this is the sea monster!” Someone shouted loudly and everyone rushed to that side.

The rocky beach was uneven, and the jostling crowd made Su Yu stumble, almost losing the fish in his hand. An Hongche held Su Yu in his arms and said.

“Foolish, can’t even walk well.”

Su Yu glanced at His Majesty the Emperor, whose face was full of impatience as he held him firmly to his chest and blinked.

“Let’s go check it out too, ba.”

His Majesty glanced at the dark mass of human heads and decisively rejected Su Yu’s proposal, dragging him away from the rocky beach and gesturing to the guards hidden in the crowd.

When the two returned to the courtyard, the fish monster that was being watched by the crowd had already been placed in the yard.

Su Yu curiously leaned over.

“Be careful!” A black shadow suddenly shot out of the water basin. The Emperor quickly took action and knocked the thing down to the ground. Two guards quickly rushed up, threw the stunned fish monster back into the basin, and covered it with an iron mesh.

“Ying Yu!” Sure enough, the <Mountains and Rivers Illustrated Book> was not written in vain, and Su Yu recognized the true face of this thing at a glance.

This fish had a slender figure that was no different from ordinary sea fish, except that its two fins had been replaced with wings that were almost as long as its body and they were covered with silver feathers as hard as scales.

“The body of a fish and the wings of a bird, makes a sound like a mandarin duck…”Su Yu looked at the Ying Yu, who had turned over his belly for a while and was gradually regaining consciousness through the iron mesh, and then looked up at the Emperor.

“What is its Mandarin Duck calling like?”

Mandarin Ducks play on the sand in pairs, artists long doubt when portraying.

Seamstresses race to depict them, songs love to name them.

Its Mandarin Duck-like calling must be…

“Gagagaga!” The Ying Yu, unwilling to be left alone, immediately answered Su Yu’s question.

Su Yu: “...” This call is not romantic at all!

When the Ying Yu was brought back to the imperial palace, he naturally needed to show it to the State Teacher first.

The State Teacher silently looked at the squealing Ying Yu for a moment, and then slowly lifted his cold eyes to look at Su Yu.

“Do you remember how to slaughter a Ying Yu?”

“Ying Yu can attract water disasters, and the water counts as Yin. When the Yang energy is at its peak at noon, break its wings with internal force…” Su Yu skillfully recited the killing method of the Ying Yu from the <Fish Killing Heart Law>.

Looking at the sky, it was already past noon, they couldn’t kill the Ying Yu today.

“Gaga!” The Ying Yu, who had escaped death, mercilessly mocked the superstitious cook.

Su Yu scratched his head. “Chen will come again tomorrow.”

“Wait a minute.” The State Teacher raised his hand and stuffed the cage containing the Ying Yu into Su Yu’s hands.

“The Anguo Tower is the holy land of the country and it’s inappropriate to be disturbed.”

Su Yu, who had originally thought that he completed his task, had no choice but to leave the Anguo Tower with the Ying Yu.

“Gagagagaga…”

The Ying Yi was too noisy. Su Yu didn’t understand, as a fish, how could it talk so much?

After much thought, he had to throw the fish and cage together in the small lake of Yexiao Palace. Anyway, he lived in the Beiji Palace at night, so it couldn’t disturb him.

The author has something to say:

Small Theater:

That night the West Palace was in a state of panic

Ying Yu: Gaga!

Imperial Concubine A: What’s that sound? Did Xiaocui’s wronged soul come to find me?

Ying Yu: Gagaga!

Imperial Concubine B: What’s that sound? Could it be someone is practicing witchcraft?

Ying Yu: Gagagaga!

Little Fish: It’s so noisy, I’ll eat fish tomorrow

Cat Gong: (Taking out the ointment) I will eat tonight(⊙ω⊙)

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

Xiaoqi Camp -> Brave Cavalry Camp

zhang -> ten Chinese feet (3.3 m)

drink the northwest wind -> go cold and hungry

Mandarin Duck -> affectionate couple; happily married couple

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