Chapter 17

Chapter 17

[To freeze soft tofu, forming small air pockets on the surface. Then place it into the boiling hot pot, letting it roll for a few moments before scooping it out.]

Xiao Chuchu's mouth watered just thinking about it.

[Give it a swirl in hot oil to coat it with green scallions, adding fragrance. With each bite, hot and spicy broth splashes out from the air pockets...]

[At this time, gathered around the warm brazier, take a sip of the sweet and sour plum soup...]

Xiao Chuchu was truly craving it now.

Hearing the thrifty late Emperor Father say that her mother could order whatever she wanted, she couldn't help but let her mind wander.Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

This was not her fault.

She was not a real infant, having only been breastfed for two days before craving bold flavors again.

Especially with the freezing cold outside, it was perfect weather for a steaming hot pot.

[Next, take a crisp little cabbage, wash it clean, tear it into pieces, separating the leaves from the stems, and put them into the pot separately, cooking until completely translucent and soft and sweet.]

Shh-haa shh-haa.

Xiao Chuchu couldn't help but drool.

Even Liu Chaniang, who was holding her, felt tempted.

It seemed that this hot pot was different from the warm pot they usually had. She was quite eager to try it, but couldn't order dishes based on her daughter's thoughts, as that would reveal to the Emperor that she could hear her daughter's thoughts.

Liu Chaniang could only endure, thinking that when they returned to her little courtyard, she would secretly have the palace maids prepare a small warm pot according to her daughter's description.

As she was suppressing this thought, a loud rumbling came from the side palace.

Liu Chaniang looked up to see Xiao Yunzhou's ears turning slightly red.

He was hungry!

Xiao Yunzhou, the supreme ruler above all others.

Occupying the throne of the emperor, he normally ate refined and precious delicacies on a daily basis.

But now, after hearing his young daughter's description of hot pot, the more he listened, the hungrier he became.

As an emperor, he could eat whatever he desired, so there was no need to conceal it!

Observing that Liu Chen's expression remained unchanged, completely unmoved by their daughter's thoughts, he knew that she most likely could not hear them, and only he, as the father emperor, could hear the celestial princess reborn's thoughts!

The hot pot she described must be something from the celestial realm.

"Ahem."

"Wei Zheng, go to the kitchen and pass on the message that His Majesty wishes to have a warm pot today."

"Have all the beef and mutton sliced into thin strips one finger wide and palm-length, thinly sliced like paper, and served on plates immediately."

"Then send some fresh, tender cabbage and baby spinach."

[!! The Emperor Father even knows how to eat hot pot!]

Xiao Chuchu was astonished.

[Is this something they actually have here?]

Xiao Yunzhou's expression brightened, but his eyes betrayed no emotion as he continued instructing the eunuch, "Also, ask the imperial kitchen what other ingredients they have that can be put into the warm pot..."

[Oh, slices of winter melon and white radish, cooked until almost melting, melting in your mouth like snow...]

Now he was increasingly realizing how precious authenticity was!

Both of them ate until their mouths were stained red with oil, only stopping when completely stuffed.

[The Emperor Father actually had a celestial being send him a prophetic dream?]

As Xiao Chuchu watched them eat, the more she reflected, the more astonished she became.

She had read so many novels, with reincarnations and rebirth being commonplace, so what was a prophetic dream?

[But does the Emperor Father know that the recent efforts to control the flooding of the Yellow River will soon fail again, causing it to breach once more, displacing and killing tens of thousands of civilians and triggering a plague?]

The previously satisfied Xiao Yunzhou froze.

[Oh dear, this celestial being is unreliable, only sending the Emperor Father dreams about food? Is this celestial being even capable?]

Xiao Chuchu, having not tasted the hot pot but smelled the aroma, was a little annoyed now.

Her mood wasn't great either.

She completely failed to notice that Xiao Yunzhou, who was holding her, had stopped with his chopsticks in mid-air.

Xiao Yunzhou was both shocked and doubtful.

The Yellow River region would soon breach again?

Impossible!

Just last night, he had found time to meditate and cultivate, precisely because he had been busy these past few days discussing with the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Personnel how to respond to the Yellow River flooding.

On the thirtieth of last month, the river waters had overflowed, inundating the area around Yang Mountain, displacing tens of thousands.

He had urgently dispatched provincial governors to provide disaster relief and resettle the displaced civilians.

He had also ordered the River Management Office to make haste to Yang Mountain and assist the local magistrate in controlling the Yellow River flooding.

Just yesterday, a courier had arrived with a message stating that the breach had been contained and the river channel restored.

How could there be another breach so soon?

Would this not be a punishment from the heavens themselves?

Xiao Yunzhou's expression changed dramatically.

[Emperor Father, the provincial governors and River Management officials you sent are actually not skilled in dealing with flooding.]

Xiao Chuchu recalled the details from the novel.

She remembered this flood causing multiple consecutive breaches.

[The Yellow River will soon flood again, inundating from five miles north of Kaifeng City all the way east to Chenzhou, Xiangcheng, Taihe, and Yingzhou... everything will be submerged.]

Xiao Yunzhou suddenly lost his appetite for the hot pot!

[Then the following year, the Yellow River destroyed countless cultivated lands...]

[Our dynasty's national strength declined greatly, laying the seeds for our eventual defeat and conquest by the Mongols.]

Xiao Chuchu solemnly recounted the events, but then her eyes lit up.

[It wasn't until the third year that a compiler official named Pan Ji, who held a minor fifth-rank position, presented a gift to the chancellery and finally secured a stable position as the Director of Waterways.]

"!"

Xiao Yunzhou slammed down his chopsticks.