After lunch, Ye Jiayao summoned Zhong Xiang, Deng Haichuan, Wang Mingde, and Cui Dongpeng and ran to a small teahouse outside for a meeting.
She couldn't handle such a heavyweight banquet by herself, so she had to bring an assistant.
Ye Jiayao had her own considerations in choosing these four.
Zhong Xiang is more comprehensive, but Ye Jiayao wants him to focus on pastries, while Deng Haichuan is responsible for checking and selecting ingredients. Wang Mingde is good at making various soups. I heard that he once learned Su Shan, and Xiao Jingjing told her that the old princess believed in Buddhism and was a vegetarian. As for Cui Dongpeng, he is a very diligent person and has good knife skills.
Of course, the most important thing is that these four people have a relatively good relationship with her. For such a big thing, you must find someone close to you.
Ye Jiayao talked about the birthday banquet: "When the time comes, I would like to invite you all to come together. If we can open up the situation at once, I believe more people will come to invite you in the future. Now, the opportunity is here. Just tell me whether you want to go or not."
The four of them said in unison without communicating at all: "Go."
There was excitement on all faces.
This kind of good thing, in the past, I wouldn't even dare to think about it. The chef has his own team, and others can't get involved. It's rare that Brother Yao is a bachelor and is willing to cultivate them. There is no reason why he wouldn't want to, unless he is stupid.
Deng Haichuan said: "Brother Yao, whatever you want us to do, you just tell us. We promise not to delay our retreat."
Wang Mingde and Cui Dongpeng nodded vigorously.
Zhong Xiang said: "Li Yao, we will follow you."
Ye Jiayao smiled and said: "Okay, since everyone is willing, let's do it together, but let me say something ugly up front. This matter can only succeed and cannot fail. Everyone must put in 100% effort to do it. I will clearly divide the work and who will do it." If it gets smashed, there won’t be another chance.”
Zhong Xiang said: "The opportunity has been given to us. If we don't cherish it, we will be guilty. Li Yao, don't worry, everyone will go all out."
"Then the matter is settled. Tomorrow I will draft the menu and submit it to Prince Helian's Palace for review. Once approved, everyone will start preparations immediately. Also, the menu from the Palace will be kept secret for the time being until it is finalized."
Everyone nodded: "I know."
Then Ye Jiayao went back to Laifu Inn first to get her booklet, her secret book of success.
She has already seen the menu that Xiao Jingjing gave her last year for Zhao Qixuan's old lady's birthday banquet. Fu Ji gave it to her. It was no different from an ordinary birthday banquet, except that there were a few more dishes and the dishes were more expensive. Sure enough, it was still a full banquet of Manchu and Han Dynasties. The recipes in the Wanshou Banquet are more detailed and the combinations are reasonable. What she has to do now is to modify some Manchu dishes that southerners are not used to eating.
Then I walked around the street, went to a dried fruit preserves shop, and bought a big bag of stuff.
"Brother Yao, do you want to buy these as snacks?" The follower Song Qi's task today is to help Ye Jiayao carry things.
Ye Jiayao smiled and said, "Would you like to come to Double Dunk in the evening and eat and play at the same time?"
Song Qi's eyes lit up: "Okay, okay, the prince is not on duty today, but we still need someone, so it doesn't matter, it's not easy to find someone."
Ye Jiayao looked at the sky speechlessly, she didn't want to play with Chunyu.
"I'm joking, but you can eat these things. By the way, which pastry shop in Jinling has the best pastries?"
Song Qi said without hesitation: "Baiweizhai, apart from the pastries made by the imperial kitchen, they are the only ones made by them, and the prices are not cheap."
"Let's go to Baiweizhai." Ye Jiayao wanted to get a feel for the pastries on the market. How good it is, I have a yardstick in my mind to measure it.
The two went to Baiweizhai again. What about pea yellow, lotus seed cake, sweet-scented osmanthus cake, walnut cake, water chestnut cake, thousand-layer oil cake, etc. I bought some of each kind and wrapped it up in a big bag.
Ye Jiayao wanted to pay, but Song Qi took out the money first and gave it to the waiter.
"Song Qi, I'll do it myself." Ye Jiayao asked the waiter to return the money to Song Qi.
Song Qi said with a smile: "Brother Yao, isn't it the same if I come here? Besides, if you buy so much, I guess most of it will end up in my stomach."
In fact, when Ye Jiayao was taking out her purse in the dried fruit shop, Song Qi noticed with sharp eyes that she didn't have much money. Anyway, the prince had money for him, and he said that he would just buy whatever Miss Ye needed.
Ye Jiayao couldn't grab him, and the two pushing back and forth didn't look good, so he had to make him pay.
After buying so many things, there was no need to prepare for dinner. The two went straight to Ruyi Inn. Song Qi asked the waiter to make a pot of Dahongpao, and then began to unpack and eat.
When Xia Chunyu came to the inn, he saw the two of them feasting in the room, and the table was full of dried fruit candied pastries.
Song Qi was relieved to see the prince coming. As a grown man, he really couldn't get used to eating these sweet and greasy things. The most terrifying thing was that every time he ate something, Miss Ye would ask him how it tasted. He gulped down all the advantages and disadvantages. He ate it and fell down. He didn't know what the advantages and disadvantages were. Then Miss Ye asked him to eat it again. He had to say something to pass the test. He was almost bored to death.
"Your Majesty, you are here. Sit down, and I will make tea for you." Song Qi hurriedly ran away.
"Song Qi, come back quickly and continue, it's not finished yet!" Ye Jiayao shouted.
Song Qi slipped away faster. He would not come back until the prince took over.
Xia Chunyu frowned and asked in confusion: "It's not finished yet? What are you doing?"
Ye Jiayao pointed to the small book in her hand: "I'm doing research. Xiaojing's grandmother's birthday party was given to me. I have to research what dried fruit candied snacks will be used to see what can be improved. We must make sure that I have what others don’t have, and I am better off if others have no one.”
Xia Chunyu said in surprise: "Xiao Jing entrusts you with the birthday banquet? Can He Lianxuan agree?"
This is no joke. Hosting a birthday banquet is not just about cooking a few tables of food, it involves all aspects. Can Yaoyao do it
Ye Jiayao narrowed her eyes and smiled, and said proudly: "If He Lianxuan doesn't nod, Xiaojing dares to leave it to me?"
"Hey, don't look like you can't believe it. Don't you think I can do it?"
Xia Chunyu looked at her big, fluttering eyes, which conveyed a strange threat. For the sake of safety, he decided not to attack her.
"Then do your best. Do you need any help?"
"Yes, I have!"
Xia Chunyu was stunned, so happy
Ye Jiayao's smile became even brighter, pointing to the table full of food: "Help me eat."
Xia Chunyu frowned. He rarely ate snacks.
"Come on, try this pea yellow and lotus seed cake. Which one do you think is more delicious? How does it compare with what you had in the palace or what you made at home?" Ye Jiayao enthusiastically handed over the cake.
Looking at her expectant eyes and flowery smile, Xia Chunyu's heart beat fast. Does this mean that she is no longer angry with him and the weather has cleared up
So he happily took the cake.
"How about it?"
"The pea yellow is very delicate and melts in the mouth, and the bean flavor is rich. However, it is slightly sweet and can easily make you tired if you eat too much. As for the lotus cake...it has the fragrance of lotus seeds, sweet and soft, but the disadvantage is that it is too tender and not flexible enough when steamed. It's pretty good, I guess it was bought by Baiweizhai!" Xia Chunyu said.
Ye Jiayao said in her heart that after all, the prince is cultured, tasteful, and well evaluated, unlike Song Qi, a rough guy who ate a lot, but couldn't say anything else except that it tasted delicious.
"You have a very keen sense of taste. You bought it from Baiweizhai. Song Qi said that Baiweizhai is the best in Jinling City." Ye Jiayao said while taking notes.
"You're done if you listen to him. Baiweizhai is just a time-honored brand with a great reputation. In fact, Juxiangyuan's is better than this. Take pea yellow as an example. Juxiangyuan's is light yellow in color, more pleasant, sweet, cool and refreshing. " Xia Chunyu said.
Ye Jiayao raised her eyes: "I thought what he said was so sure that it was true."
"The shopkeeper of Juxiangyuan was originally the pastry chef of the Imperial Kitchen." Xia Chunyu said.
Ye Jiayao suddenly said: "No wonder it's so good. I must try it tomorrow."
"Come on, try this sweet-scented osmanthus cake again."
Xia Chunyu reluctantly ate another piece: "The scent of osmanthus is not strong enough, so the osmanthus should be last year's osmanthus. In fact, the best time to eat osmanthus cake is when the osmanthus is in full bloom. The osmanthus cake at that time mostly uses newly beaten osmanthus, especially fragrant."
Ye Jiayao clicked her tongue and said, "I think you have the potential to be a gourmet."
Xia Chunyu raised his eyebrows, squinted at her, and said proudly: "It turns out that you took all the cakes from various houses in Jinling City and mixed them together, so I can taste them."
Ye Jiayao curled her lips and boasted.
After eating seven or eight pieces of pastries, Xia Chunyu couldn't bear it anymore. Then he remembered that Song Qi said he was going to make tea. Where was the tea
Even if you go up the mountain to pick it, you still have to pick it back.
Xia Chunyu reached out to get Ye Jiayao's tea to drink.
"Hey, this is what I drank." Ye Jiayao stopped him from taking it.
Xia Chunyu said leisurely: "I've already kissed you, so what does the tea you drank have to do with it? I don't dislike you."
Ye Jiayao's face turned red, and she gritted her teeth and said, "Thank you for not hating me, but I don't."
Xia Chunyu said angrily: "Hey, I helped you eat so much, and you don't let me drink water. Do you want me to choke to death?"
Ye Jiayao was a little embarrassed to hear what he said. She only broke off a small piece of each pastry and was tired of eating it. He ate so much, it was really uncomfortable.
"Didn't Song Qi make tea for you?" Ye Jiayao muttered.
Xia Chunyu said angrily: "You think he really went to make tea? He must be afraid that you would catch him trying to taste it again and escape. That's me. I have gritted my teeth and held on until now, but you didn't even give me a drink of water."
"Take it, take it, it's all done for you! I'll go get another cup myself." Ye Jiayao left her seat to get tea.
Xia Chunyu said, "Stop screaming. I haven't eaten dinner yet. I've eaten a lot of cakes. Come with me to eat and suppress the smell, otherwise you'll vomit."
"It's so late. You can go eat by yourself. It's time for you to go home." Anyway, the tasting is over and he can get out.
Xia Chunyu pointed out the window: "Didn't you hear it's raining heavily outside? I didn't come by carriage. I'll wait until the rain stops."
Ye Jiayao thought about it. In fact, Ye Jiayao also wanted to eat something else, but it was raining outside, and she didn't have rain boots these days, so she felt wet and uncomfortable when walking.
He said, "How about I go downstairs and ask the waiter if I can use their kitchen to make something to eat?"
Xia Chunyu thought for a while and reluctantly said, "Just make some fried rice!"
The first time Yaoyao cooked him fried rice, the taste was still fresh in his memory.
(End of chapter)