While waiting for the duck blood to solidify, Qiao Jinniang taught the cooks how to stew ham and duck soup.
This was the second dish that Qiao Jinniang prepared if the people of Xiliang insisted that duck blood was also an internal organ.
The ham and duck soup needed to be simmered for two or three hours with a small fire.
Fulu watched on the side and said, “Isn’t this dish the signature dish of your Tasty Pavilion? You actually told these chefs how to make it?”
The royal chefs all bowed to Qiao Jinniang. “Thank you for teaching us, Your Highness.”
Qiao Jinniang smiled and said, “Get up. I like to cook, but because of my status, I can’t cook every day, so I teach you how to make this dish so that I can eat it when I want to.”
To be honest, the dishes in the imperial palace were all tasteless.
Qiao Jinniang didn’t think the chefs were perfunctory about their work.
The royal chefs did have cooking skills, but they could only make bland dishes, and even when they made chicken and duck, they could only boil them with water.
She only told them how to make the dishes she liked so that she could eat better in the future.
Yuyan entered the kitchen and said, “Your Highness, Duchess Wu brought the two young ladies of the Zhou family and Miss Tong to see you.”
When Qiao Jinniang saw that the soup had already been stewed, she instructed the royal chefs to keep an eye on the fire and not let it go out.
After sorting her clothes, she followed Fulu to the main hall.
After Duchess Wu and her party saluted Qiao Jinniang and Fulu, Qiao Jinniang said, “Aunt, Cousins, please get up.”
Tong Yingying quickly said, “Crown Princess, I have already figured out how to solve the problem raised by Princess Xiliang, Come on, give me those two ducks!”
Tong Yingying was eager to win honor. If she solved this problem, she would be a heroine who defended Datang’s dignity.
Maybe her father could even be reinstated, and maybe the Emperor would even let her marry into the East Palace.
Hongling snapped, “How dare you?! Tong Yingying, your father has been dismissed from office and you are a commoner now. Her Highness didn’t ask you anything. How dare you speak in front of Her Highness without permission? Come on, slap her!”
Qiao Jinniang didn’t stop Hongling. She had long wanted to slap Tong Yingying.
Tong Yingying looked at Duchess Wu and said, “Auntie.”
Duchess Wu said, “You have been taught etiquette and rules since you were young. How can you even forget this? Quickly apologize to Her Highness!”
Luhe and Yingtao were slapping Tong Yingying as hard as they could.
As early as that day in Jewelry Pavilion, they had wanted to beat this stupid woman.
But at that time she was the daughter of an imperial censor, so they couldn’t do anything to her.
After all, imperial censors had a special status. Although they were not high-ranking officials, no one dared to offend them.
Seeing Tong Yingying shed tears after being slapped, Zhou Sisi threw herself on Tong Yingying and said, “Don’t hit Sister Yingying. Bad women! You bad women!”
Luhe and Yingtao didn’t dare to touch Zhou Sisi and both retracted their hands.
Zhou Shihui originally thought that Tong Yingying’s solution was unreliable, but since there was no solution, they could only have a try.
But at this moment, seeing Tong Yingying being slapped just for speaking without permission, she felt obliged to uphold justice for Tong Yingying.
Although Qiao Jinniang was the elder sister of her senior brother, she was raised by slaves after all. Just because she was in power now didn’t mean she could bully a girl like this!
Zhou Shihui said indignantly, “Your Highness, Miss Tong was eager to defend our country’s dignity so she spoke to you before you allowed her. Why do you make such a fuss about it? If the problem can’t be solved at dinner time, this will be a big disgrace for Datang.
“How could you punish her for such a trivial matter? Do you forget that you’re from the Qiao family? Xiliang killed so many ancestors of the Qiao family. If Datang is defeated by Xiliang today, how can you explain to the ancestors of your Qiao family?!
“Miss Tong kindly wanted to help you out, but you repaid her by bullying her! This is really too much!”
Qiao Jinniang took a sip of tea to suppress her anger. “Since I have taken the two ducks and told Princess Xiliang that I can give her an answer at dinner time, it means I have a way to solve the problem. Why do I need her to ‘help me out’?”
Zhou Shihui said, “Didn’t you just say that to buy time?”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Of course not. Duchess Wu, where is Tong Xuan? Seeing you bring your niece into the imperial palace, I thought Tong Xuan had come too, but I didn’t see her just now.
“Since when is a concubine-born daughter more distinguished than a wife-born daughter in Chang’an?”
Duchess Wu noticed that Qiao Jinniang didn’t even call her “Aunt” now and hurriedly said, “The invitation is for Xuan’er, but my brother was dismissed from office yesterday and Xuan’er was so worried about her father that she fell ill, so her sister had to attend the banquet in her place.”
“So a daughter was so worried about her father that she even fell ill, but the other daughter happily came to the imperial palace to attend a banquet!”
Qiao Jinniang sneered. “I heard that Imperial Censor Tong has always been partial to his eldest daughter, but I didn’t expect his eldest daughter to be so unfilial! Tong Yingying, is this your filial piety that you always lecture others about?”
Tong Yingying knelt on the ground and looked at Qiao Jinniang unyieldingly, but couldn’t retort.
At this time, an eunuch reported at the gate that His Royal Highness had arrived, and Tong Yingying’s eyes lit up.
“Brother!” As soon as Zhou Sisi saw Lu Chen, she got up and walked to him.
Lu Chen said to Duchess Wu, “Auntie, I would like you to teach Miss Zhou the right way to address me. Although her brain is damaged, she can still recognize people. If she calls me ‘Brother’ again, don’t blame me for being cold-hearted!”
Duchess Wu quickly said, “Yes.”
Tong Yingying raised her head and said to the Crown Prince, “Your Royal Highness, I have a way to solve the problem raised by Princess Xiliang.
“I was in a hurry to tell Her Highness the solution, so I spoke to her before she allowed me, but the maids of Her Highness scolded me for that and even slapped me!”
“I just want to defend my country’s dignity, but the Crown Princess trampled on my loyalty to Datang! Your Royal Highness, please give me justice.”
Lu Chen said slowly, “How dare you disrespect the Crown Princess? Come, throw her out of the imperial palace.
“Imperial Censor Tong was dismissed from office yesterday for slandering the Crown Princess, and today, the Duke Wu Mansion brought his daughter to the Crown Princess. Duchess Wu, what do you mean by doing this?”
Seeing that Lu Chen was annoyed, Duchess Wu hurriedly knelt down and said, “I made a big mistake. Your Royal Highness, Your Highness, please forgive me.”
Watching this scene, Zhou Shihui frowned. Why did the Senior Brother Qiao that she liked have such a narrow-minded sister?
And how could the Crown Prince, who was admired by many students in the academy, be so unreasonable?
When Tong Yingying was being carried away, she still shouted, “Your Royal Highness, if you don’t use my solution, Xiliang will win. How can you watch Datang be humiliated?
Your Royal Highness…”
Tong Yingying kept shouting, and even when she was thrown to the gate of the imperial palace, her eyes were still unyielding.
If Qiao Jinniang wanted to win, she had to use her solution, and she would still be the heroine of Datang!
She was going to talk to the literati she was familiar with and let them publicize her contribution.
The next morning, they would go to the teahouses in Chang’an to tell everyone how clever Miss Tong was to work out this marvelous solution.
Moreover, she had to get them to stress how jealous Qiao Jinniang was of her, to the point of having her maids slap her.
With this in mind, Tong Yingying straightened up and went to find those literati!
