Chapter 636: How Stinky! (4)
Wenlan looked at the stinky tofu before glancing back at Chu Lian. Finally, she shut her eyes, took up a pair of chopsticks, and shoved a piece of tofu into her mouth.
Back in the emperor’s luxurious tent, Eunuch Wei had returned from his journey and was now laying out dish after dish in front of the emperor.
The emperor’s eyes came alight and he pointed at the food in front of him, “Were these all made by Lian’er?”
When there weren’t any strangers around, the emperor had already started calling Chu Lian by a nickname instead, as if he could become closer to his daughter just by doing so.
As the emperor’s trusted confidante, Eunuch Wei knew exactly why the emperor was so delighted by a few dishes.
He smiled and replied, “Yes, these were all made personally by Honoured Lady Jinyi. She even instructed this old servant about this dish. This new dish is called stinky tofu, and it has a rather peculiar smell. She said to simply take it away if Your Majesty doesn’t like it.”
The emperor’s nose twitched. The smell of the stinky tofu was indeed strange. Although it had already been fried and the smell wasn’t as strong as it might have been, that peculiar odour was still much stronger than the rest of the fragrant dishes on the table.
However, since it had been made sincerely by Chu Lian’s own hands, the emperor wouldn’t hesitate to eat it, even if it was a poison.
“No need, we will have a taste of every dish.”
Since the emperor had already said so, Eunuch Wei naturally wouldn’t try to stop him.
Eunuch Wei called over the poison taster, who was also a eunuch. Once the taster had tried the dish, the emperor quickly picked up a piece of stinky tofu and put it into his mouth.
Just like how it had conquered Old Duke Zheng, the emperor’s taste buds were completely taken over by the stinky tofu.
Following that, he tried all the other dishes as well. Since Chu Lian had made them for the emperor alone, there wasn’t much in each dish. There was exactly a single bowl’s worth for each one, so even if he finished them all, he wouldn’t be overly full.
Just as the emperor was enjoying his meal in a great mood, Imperial Concubine Wei and Imperial Princess Leyao arrived.
Even before she had entered the tent, the emperor and Eunuch Wei could already hear Imperial Princess Leyao’s voice from inside.
The eleven-year-old Leyao was still a child. Her voice held a hint of a child’s clear tones, but it wasn’t very likable.
“What’s that weird smell in Father’s tent? Why is it so stinky? It smells terrible! What are you darn eunuchs doing? How could you let Father stay in such a smelly tent? Do you still want to keep your heads?!”
Princess Leyao’s voice had been clear at first, but later on, it turned nasally, indicating that she was pinching her nose closed.
Eunuch Wei looked over at the emperor in alarm. What he saw there made him hunker into his shoulders and take a step back in retreat.
His master’s face was looking extremely thunderous. This was clearly the calm before the storm!
An instant later, Imperial Concubine Wei’s voice travelled over as well, “What are you standing there in a daze for? Didn’t you hear what the princess said? Hurry up and bring over some flower dew!”
There was the sound of footsteps rushing away, clearly off to do Imperial Concubine Wei’s bidding.
It was only now that the tent flap was lifted up from outside as Imperial Concubine Wei and Imperial Princess Leyao entered the imperial tent.
Once they entered the tent, the smell of the stinky tofu was even stronger.
Princess Leyao was both sensitive to and disgusted by the smell of the stinky tofu. She was also used to being spoiled and pampered, which meant wearing incense-imbued clothes and carrying flower dew essence around with her. She had never before encountered such a strong odour before. Her line of sight fell upon the emperor’s dining table and she noticed the disgusting, black thing sitting in a white porcelain dish.
The moment she confirmed that the smell was coming from that dish, Imperial Princess Leyao immediately gagged and ended up puking her guts out…
Everything happened so suddenly that Imperial Concubine Wei couldn’t even stop her even if she tried.
She could only watch as her daughter dirtied the spotlessly clean Persian rug on the floor of the imperial tent.
The emperor had just been eating his middy meal. Now thanks to Imperial Princess Leyao, he no longer had any appetite to eat even the rarest of delicacies.
Eunuch Wei was stunned speechless.
He admitted that the stinky tofu did live up to its name, but the smell wasn’t so bad to that extent, surely? Princess Leyao’s action was quite exaggerated…
How was His Majesty supposed to continue eating like this?
He had just been praising the stinky tofu for being delicious…
The emperor slammed his jade chopsticks onto the table and roared out, “What’s going on?!”
Imperial Concubine Wei’s heart almost leaped out of her throat as she noticed the emperor’s gloomy expression. She hurriedly instructed her attendants to take care of Princess Leyao as she tried to answer the emperor.
“Please calm down, Your Majesty. Yao’er didn’t do it on purpose! She is sensitive to smells and she’s just a child, so her stomach is weaker. She couldn’t help her reaction when she breathed in the terrible smell in the tent.”
“Take her away!” Two eunuchs went up to either side of Princess Leyao, prepared to send her out of the tent.
Imperial Concubine Wei had no choice but to comply. She carefully walked over to the emperor’s side and said, “Your Majesty, it was Yao’er’s fault. Please forgive her as she’s still just a child.”
She then cast a glance over the meal laid out on the emperor’s dining table. When she saw the black stinky tofu, she let out a complaint, “Furthermore, this dish is just too smelly! What are the imperial cooks doing? They should be punished!”
The emperor had lost all of his earlier good mood and he didn’t want to listen to Imperial Concubine Wei’s explanations.
He waved her away impatiently, “You’re dismissed. We’re tired and we want to rest.”
Imperial Concubine Wei hadn’t thought that the emperor would be this angry over the incident. Even if she didn’t want to resign herself, she had no choice but to bob towards the emperor and leave the imperial tent.
Once Imperial Concubine Wei left, she investigated the incident and found out why the emperor had been so unhappy.
