In actuality, Xiaocao wasn’t interested in the so-called ‘Healing Panacea’ that she could easily make. She just wanted to find a justifiable reason to get the elixir into her hands. From Xu Ziyi’s micro expression, she could see that five pills was his limit, so she stopped forcing him.
She revealed a sly smile and said, “Alright! For the matter of the Healing Panacea, we will do as you say. But——"
“But what?” Seeing the smile on the young maiden’s face, Xu Ziyi helplessly begged for mercy, “My little ancestor, what else do you want? Can you not act so crafty?”
“Actually, this request is a piece of cake for your Medicine King Valley! That is——if the descendants of our Yu Family need medical treatment from Medicine King Valley, may I ask Young Master Xu to please help out!” Yu Xiaocao didn’t continue to make things difficult for him and came straight to the point.
“No problem, no problem! With our relationship, this is something that goes without saying ah!” Xu Ziyi thought that it would be a tricky request. Medicine King Valley had always provided medical services to outsiders, so it naturally wasn’t a problem to provide free medical treatment and so on.
Of course, Yu Xiaocao’s request wouldn’t be that simple. When she was around, she naturally wouldn’t let the members of the Yu Family have any major illnesses or injuries. After all, she had a cheat——the little divine stone. She was doing this for the benefit of her descendants ah!
“Does your Medicine King Valley have some sort of token that, when presented, will ensure that you guys will go all-out to save the patient?” Yu Xiaocao thought about it and said, “Don’t misunderstand, it’s not that I don’t trust you. But, decades later, our generation would be aged. So we need a token that the younger generations of Medicine King Valley will acknowledge!”
Xu Ziyi smiled bitterly and pondered for a moment before saying, “Originally, there was no such thing! However, since you mentioned it, we must have one now! When I get back, I’ll have someone carve a few ‘Rescue Tokens’ with ten-thousand-year-old ebony wood. Those who possess this token are benefactors of Medicine King Valley. With the ‘Rescue Token’, one can request Medicine King Valley to save a life with all their might once. Is it alright like this?”
“Mhm! Can you give me three of these tokens?” Yu Xiaocao made an exorbitant request.
“Miss Yu, aren’t you just making things difficult for me? Only those who Medicine King Valley are indebted to can get a token…” Xu Ziyi felt as if his face was about to turn into a bitter gourd. This Miss Yu was too hard to deal with. He felt so helpless ah!
Yu Xiaocao counted her fingers and said, “Look, Royal Prince Yang and I saved your life in the deep mountains. As the successor of Medicine King Valley, you’re carrying the hope of the rise and fall of Medicine King Valley. Isn’t saving you a great favor to the entire Medicine King Valley?”
Xu Ziyi had to agree with this. As the heir of Medicine King Valley, the clan devoted themselves to train him to be a qualified successor of the valley. If he died while collecting medicinal herbs, it would certainly be a great loss to Medicine King Valley.
Seeing him nod, Xiaocao continued, “Secondly, not only did I let you eat one of the Healing Panacea that my family treasured for decades, but I also provided a pill for Medicine King Valley to do research on. With Medicine King Valley’s attainment in medicine production, it would only be a matter of time before you analyze the formula and produce the holy medicine of life and death! Since I provided such an important formula to you guys, isn’t it considered a favor to Medicine King Valley?”
Alright! Although she didn’t provide the formula, the Healing Panacea used for research was indeed given by Miss Yu. Xu Ziyi must acknowledge this favor!
“There’s more! It was thanks to the clue I provided that your Medicine King Valley was able to successfully capture the traitor. Isn’t this considered a favor?” Yu Xiaocao had a matter-of-fact expression on her face. Her meaning was very clear—it wasn’t an exorbitant demand to request three tokens because she deserved them!
Xu Ziyi couldn’t win against her, so he could only suffer silently and agree to give her three tokens. In any case, if he could successfully produce the Healing Panacea, it would be worth it no matter how many tokens he had to give her.
After sending away Xu Ziyi, Yu Xiaocao was so happy that she was about to fly. First of all, Xu Ziyi resolved the biggest concern in her heart. Without Heavenly Teacher Lei misleading the public with rumors, she could go about freely in the northeast with her hidden guards! Furthermore, she had gained three chances to save the lives of her descendants, which was also an unexpected surprise! Ah, if she knew that Young Master Xu was so easy to persuade, she would have asked for a few more tokens.
While taking the traitor back to the valley, Xu Ziyi sneezed and had an ominous premonition in his heart. He should hurry back to the valley because it was too dangerous outside. Who would have thought that a young maiden, who appeared like a little white rabbit, would be a sly fox?
It was now already late spring to early summer. With suitable temperature and pleasant climate, the grassland in the north was a good place for summer vacation. Unfortunately, someone had been anxious for a long time, waiting to go back to marry his wife. For fear of missing the auspicious date, he urged the group to return to the capital as soon as they settled the foreign invasion.
On the way back, Xiaocao rode in her royal princess carriage. One could lie down or sit in the spacious and comfortable carriage, and it could accommodate seven to eight people. He Wanning and Yuan Xueyan had also benefited from this and sat comfortably in the carriage. Compared with their trip to come here, they were so happy now.
When they travelled to the borders, they had to rush over on horseback because a certain little grass had a task on hand. When they settled down each day, their waist and back would ache. They didn’t even want to get up in the morning. They had also encountered many setbacks on the way, which let the two pampered noble maidens from the capital experience the feeling of thrill.
The return trip went smoothly. The firearms camp sent a dozen men to escort their caravan out of the borders so that foreign tribes eager to cause trouble would give up on the idea and powerlessly watch as their targets passed the borders.
It was already midsummer when the group arrived in the capital. Yu Xiaocao, Lu Hao, and Ning Donglan entered the palace to report to the emperor. Due to the dangers of this job, Xiaocao was rewarded with a lot of goods to comfort her startled heart. She was also granted a half-month vacation so that she could have a good rest.
When Princess Consort Jing heard about the danger on the road, she called Xiaocao to the prince’s estate and held her hands as she carefully examined her from head to toe. After she confirmed that Xiaocao was not hurt, she pulled her into her embrace and said with lingering fear, “How could they assign such a dangerous task to a girl? It’s perfectly possible to make the antidote in the capital, and then have someone deliver it to the borders! You must be scared, right? Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Chongan Temple and ask the abbot to calm your uneasy and startled heart!”
Allegedly, the Chongan Temple’s soul calming mantra was very effective in soothing one’s mind and soul. For children who had suffered a fright, many would invite the abbot to chant the soul calming mantra to dispel the fright in the child’s heart. Yu Xiaocao really wanted to say that she wasn’t a child, and she didn’t suffer a fright. However, she couldn’t refuse the good intentions of her future mother-in-law and could only go along with her. She would just take it as easing Princess Consort Jing’s heart!
The war in the northwest borders was in full swing. They had Royal Prince Yang, who was the invincible ‘God of War, so they had never lost any of the battles. With the protection of all the different kinds of medicinal pills he carried, the enemy had no chance to plot against him. In terms of martial arts skills, there was no one in the entire northwest who was on par with him. He could even fight to a draw with Su Ran, the army supervisor.
Normally, in between battles, Zhu Junyang often asked the army supervisor for advice. Royal Prince Yang and Xiaocao were already engaged and confirmed their relationship. With the mentality of ‘love the house and its crow’, Su Ran gave him advice unreservedly, which greatly improved Zhu Junyang’s martial arts skills.
Repeated reports of good news helped relieve Xiaocao’s anxious heart. Next, she had to put all her attention on the Medicinal Cuisine House. During the period when she went to the borders, the Medicinal Cuisine House had been fixed up in accordance to the blueprint that she had left behind. The training of the medicinal chefs was also in full swing.
The division of labor in the back kitchen was very clear. Each medicinal chef was only responsible for one medicinal meal, and they each had their personal kitchen. Thus, each medicinal chef was only trained in one method of cooking medicinal cuisine. The less than half a year of intensive training made them very familiar with the cooking technique, heat control, and so on. The medicinal meals not only required color, fragrance, and taste, but it was also important to achieve the curative effect of the medicinal meals.
This would test the ability of the medicinal chef. Fortunately, Yangliu had high talent in cooking and was strict towards others. Some of the medicinal chefs had worked under her since she was managing the braised food shops. To be able to work for her for so many years, they definitely had some merits.
Allegedly, when they were at the pastry shops, these people could only work as assistants. But ‘a real piece of gold would shine sooner or later’. Hence, when the master announced that she wanted to establish the most popular medicinal cuisine restaurant in the capital, these girls, who had followed Yangliu for many years, suddenly felt that there was a use for their abilities.
When they learned to cook the medicinal meals, they were particularly diligent and attentive. Moreover, they were all decently talented. All of them passed the medicinal chef examination with excellent performance and were honored with positions as medicinal chefs of ‘The Yu’s Medicinal Cuisine House’.
In addition to these four, the other medicinal chefs were recruited from outside. There were both men and women, and some of whom were cooks with good cooking skills. There were also housewives skilled in cooking who had come for the high wage offered by the medicinal cuisine restaurant. There were also people who were loyal fans of ‘The Yu’s’. These young maidens and youths had no doubts about the abilities of the founder of ‘The Yu’s’, who was also the first female official of the Great Ming Dynasty, to prosper in all the business that she endeavors in. They strived to become a member of ‘The Yu’s’ with their own efforts…
Before ‘The Yu’s Medicinal Cuisine House’ had opened for business, the notice of recruiting medicinal chefs became a heated topic as soon as it was posted. The people signing up almost filled the room that served as a temporary recruitment agency. For the recruitment of twenty medicinal chefs, over a hundred people had signed up for training.
The training also abided by the principle of fairness and equity. The hundred or so people were divided into twenty groups, which consisted of five to six people in each group. Each team was trained on twenty different medicinal meals, respectively. After over four months of intensive training, Yu Xiaocao, the owner of the ‘Medicinal Cuisine House’ who had just returned from the borders, personally tasted and selected the top two medicinal chefs of each course. The first place in each group was the main chef, and the second place was responsible for assisting. If there was booming sales and exceeding demands for the medicinal meal, the two medicinal chefs would have to work on the cooking…
Those who weren’t selected could continue participating in the training with no fees until they received Xiaocao’s approval. These people were all reserved talents of Medicinal Cuisine House, who could be used when the restaurant expanded or opened branches in the future.
