In July, the midday sun is like a ball of fire.
There was an ice pot in Jiang Yanyi's bedroom, filled with sour plum soup, mung bean soup, pear juice and other cold drinks made secretly by the imperial kitchen to relieve the heat. But after drinking them for several days in a row, she inevitably got tired of them and now she had no appetite at all.
The white mist that rose from the melted ice brought a few cool breezes into the palace, so several palace maids stood beside the ice pot and fanned the cool air from the melted ice toward her.
Chenyu pinched Jiang Yanyi's shoulder and said, "The old people in the palace all said that this winter was not as cold as in previous years. Now that summer has arrived, the dog days of summer have not even arrived yet, but it's already this hot."
As the old saying goes, if you calm down you will feel cooler. The hot and humid weather made Jiang Yanyi feel restless and it was impossible for him to calm down.
She turned over in the recliner and said, "It would be nice if there was popsicle or ice cream at this time."
"Is ice cream a pastry? If Your Majesty wants to eat it, I will go to the imperial kitchen and ask if there is any chef who can make it." Chenyu automatically understood ice cream as a pastry, but as for "ice cream", she didn't know what it was.
Jiang Yanyi lay on his back for a while and said lazily, "I'm afraid no one in the imperial kitchen knows how to make it."
Chenyu asked expectantly, "My lady, can you do it?"
Jiang Yanyi replied sadly: "No."
Her specialties are Sichuan cuisine and hotpot. She learned many of the healthy dishes from Chef Li and Chef Yao when she was in Xizhou.
She couldn't count on ice cream and popsicles, but she knew how to make another delicious summer snack - rose ice jelly dumplings. In her previous life, when she was planning to open a hot pot restaurant, she even learned how to make them, and planned to serve them for free in her own hot pot restaurant in the summer.
The reason why the hotpot restaurant here doesn't serve rose ice jelly dumplings is mainly because ice is a rare commodity in summer in this era, and it is difficult to provide it for free.
Once the gluttony came up, it successfully drove away the summer fatigue.
Jiang Yanyi went to the imperial kitchen and asked the head chef if there were any ice jelly seeds in the kitchen, but the head chef had never heard of it.
The ice jelly seeds used to make ice jelly in later generations are actually agar seeds, whose scientific name is Physalis alkekengi seeds. In traditional Chinese medicine, the whole plant can be used as medicine.
Jiang Yanyi asked the palace maid from the imperial kitchen to go to the Imperial Hospital to get agar-agar seeds, while he began to prepare other ingredients for making rose icing jelly dumplings.
In order to avoid having to cook for herself when she wanted to eat in the future, she asked several chefs from the imperial kitchen to watch over her.
To knead the dough and make the small glutinous rice balls, Jiang Yanyi only needs to move his mouth, and the chef from the imperial kitchen will do it. Being able to become an imperial chef, his skillful and vigorous technique of kneading dough and his fine and complicated workmanship are far better than that of ordinary pastry chefs. Jiang Yanyi can only sigh that he will have a good time later.
The higher your cooking skills, the more delicious the food will be, and the more visually appealing it will be.
The cooked glutinous rice balls are white, glutinous, fragrant, and evenly sized. They float in the boiling water like a pot of pearls. After being scooped out and put into cold water to cool for a while, they are mixed with fermented glutinous rice and put into an ice pot to chill.
Rose jam is ready-made in the imperial kitchen and does not need to be cooked.
The young eunuch brought agar seeds, and Jiang Yanyi asked someone to soak a small spoonful of lime powder. Lime is the coagulant for making ice jelly.
Before making ice jelly, she washed the agar-agar seeds, wrapped them tightly with steamed and sterilized cotton cloth, soaked them in cold boiled water for a while, and then started rubbing them.
Agar seeds produce mucus when they come into contact with air, so there will be more bubbles in the ice jelly after it is formed. When Jiang Yanyi rubs the agar seeds, he tries to soak the cotton cloth bag in water while rubbing it, so that it cannot come into contact with air, and there will not be many bubbles in the ice jelly after it is formed.
Jiang Yanyi stopped rubbing the agar-agar seeds when he felt that no more mucus could be rubbed out of them. If the agar-agar seeds were rubbed excessively, the ice jelly would turn yellow.
She poured out the clarified part of the limestone water, used a clean cotton cloth as a filter, poured the clear lime water into the agar-agar slurry, and let it sit for an hour, and the ice powder was completely solidified.
While waiting, Jiang Yanyi also joined in the fun and watched an imperial chef make his signature dessert, "Sugar-steamed Crispy Cheese".
This curd is made by boiling milk and sugar over low heat, letting it cool and pouring in rice wine, then steaming it in a steamer over low heat for a quarter of an hour. The steamed curd has not yet completely solidified, so the imperial chef puts it in an ice pot to chill it, and also stir-fries pine nuts, chopped almonds, chopped peanuts and white sesame seeds, saying that these ingredients can be added when eating to make it taste even better.
These ingredients are also delicious when added to the rose ice jelly dumplings. Jiang Yanyi asked the imperial chef to make a few more and said he would send them to Feng Shuo later.
By the time the ice jelly solidifies, the steamed sugar custard will be almost solidified.
Jiang Yanyi scooped a few spoonfuls of ice jelly and added cooled brown sugar water. Brown sugar ice jelly is a summer snack to cool down. She asked the eunuch to crush some ice and put it in the bottom of the bowl. Then she scooped in the chilled fermented glutinous rice dumplings and spread white sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, pine nuts, crushed almonds, rose jam and watermelon cubes on top.
Just holding the bowl of rose ice jelly dumplings felt cool, and the heat in my body seemed to disappear as I put them in my mouth.
The ice jelly with brown sugar water has an indescribable sweetness. The sweetness of watermelon is slightly less sweet, but it is very refreshing. The fried sesame seeds, peanuts and almonds are full of fragrance when chewed. The cold and soft small glutinous rice balls are very chewy, and with the faint fragrance of roses, there are only two words: absolutely amazing!
Jiang Yanyi scooped a few spoonfuls of food and squinted her eyes comfortably. After eating the rose ice jelly dumplings, she scooped up the sugar-steamed yogurt. The milk was only slightly solidified and melted in the mouth. The rich milk aroma filled the tip of the tongue, and it was cool and refreshing. The almonds, peanuts and raisins sprinkled on the milk surface added a layer of taste, sweet and crispy.
Jiang Yanyi asked the imperial kitchen to pack a portion of rose jelly dumplings and sugar steamed yogurt, and she delivered it to Feng Shuo personally.
Now that the imperial court has just been put back on track, there is a lot of work to be done. Feng Shuo is often so busy that he doesn't even have time to eat.
When Jiang Yanyi walked over, several officials from the Hanlin Academy were leaving the imperial study. When they saw her, they all bowed to her, but their expressions were a little strange. After bowing, they left in a hurry. Jiang Yanyi looked at their backs and had something in mind.
She asked the waiter at the door of the imperial study: "Is His Majesty angry?"
The waiter nodded in fear and trepidation: "I heard your majesty scolding the adults, but I don't know what it was about."
Jiang Yanyi nodded to show that he understood, took the food box from Chenyu, and said, "Your Majesty may be annoyed, I will go in alone."
Chenyu didn't dare to get close to Feng Shuo when he was in a bad mood, and she wished it were so.
Jiang Yanyi went in carrying the food box. Because she did not let the waiter at the door inform her, she moved very quietly. Feng Shuo was working on memorials at his desk, and thought it was the eunuch who came in to add more tea, so he did not even look up.
Fuxi was born in the palace, and after Feng Shuo succeeded to the throne, he became the chief eunuch of the palace.
When he saw Jiang Yanyi coming in, he was about to talk to Feng Shuo, but Jiang Yanyi made a gesture to him to keep quiet.
Fuxi understood and nodded. After Jiang Yanyi approached, he helped take out the things in the food box one by one and placed them on the corner of the table. Then he tiptoed out.
Feng Shuo hadn't looked up the whole time, thinking that the person who left was the eunuch who came in to add more tea. After reading the memorials for several hours, he rubbed his brows tiredly, "Fuxi, tea."
There was an ice cauldron in the imperial study, but he had previously angrily scolded several ministers of the Hanlin Academy. In order to save some face for those ministers, he dismissed the eunuch who was fanning the ice cauldron before scolding them.
Now the cool air from the ice cauldron could not reach here, and the dragon robe he wore to court was tight. In addition, he was very angry, so he felt the heat attacking his heart and was uncomfortable all over.
Jiang Yanyi pushed the rose ice powder dumplings with crushed ice in front of him and said softly, "The summer heat is strong, Your Majesty, eat this to cool down."
Feng Shuo then realized that it was Jiang Yanyi standing next to him. His frowning brows relaxed, he turned slightly, and asked in a slower tone: "When did you come?"
Jiang Yanyi used a spoon to mix the ice jelly and glutinous rice balls in the bowl and said with a smile, "I just arrived."
She scooped a spoonful and fed it to Feng Shuo, who chewed it a few times and swallowed it. The anger in his heart that had nowhere to vent seemed to dissipate along with the coolness that spread from his throat to his stomach.
Jiang Yanyi asked him, "What happened to make you so angry?"
Feng Shuo took the small bowl and ate it all in three or two bites. He said, "Shuzhou is suffering from a severe drought. The reservoir that the court repaired just two years ago doesn't store a single drop of water. The crops can't get rid of the drought. I'm afraid there will be no harvest in the fall."
After he said that, Jiang Yanyi understood what he was worried about. The Daxuan Dynasty had been fighting wars for two consecutive years, and the people had fled everywhere and had no time to grow crops. If there was a drought this year, the court's granaries would have been almost empty during the war, and they would not be able to provide so much grain for disaster relief.
Repairing the reservoir is a huge project. The national treasury probably gave a large sum of money to the Ministry of Works to do this. However, the reservoir after the repair could not store water even after two years. It is obvious that the people who repaired the reservoir embezzled the money, which led to the reservoir becoming such a shoddy project.
Two years ago was the time when Feng Shiyan came to power. After the war, a new group of people from the six ministries were replaced after Feng Shuo succeeded to the throne. Even if we investigate now, it will be a mess.
Jiang Yanyi pushed the steamed cheese in front of him and said, "The matter of negligence in repairing the reservoir can be put off for a while. Your Majesty may as well send someone to investigate the matter secretly. Solving the drought in Shuzhou is the most important thing, but if God does not rain, we have no other choice but to try our best to recover the losses. Hengzhou is close to the sea and has many good farmlands. After the harvest this year, Your Majesty will collect a batch of grain and send it to Shuzhou to solve the urgent problem. Even if Hengzhou's rice production is not much this year, there are still several months before the harvest, so we still have time to buy a large amount of rice from outside the pass."
Feng Shuo pulled Jiang Yanyi closer, held her in his arms, gently rubbed her temples, and said with a smile: "Did I marry a counselor?"
Jiang Yanyi touched the blue stubble on his chin, put his hands around his neck, leaned into his arms and said, "Your life was hard enough when you were the King of Liaonan. Now you have to deal with more memorials than back then. I feel bad for you."
Feng Shuo gently stroked her fair cheek and said, "When I was the King of Liaonan, I only governed the three regions of Yu, Heng, and Xizhou. Now I have to protect the entire Daxuan Kingdom, so I naturally have to be more diligent."
He ran his fingertips from her chin to the back of her neck, then all the way down to gently touch her back.
Summer dresses were thin, and Jiang Yanyi wore a pear blossom white lace-stitched long dress with a snow-white gauze dress on the outside. Feng Shuo's palm was burning hot, and just by pressing against it, Jiang Yanyi had the illusion that the skin on her back was about to be burned by his palm.
Noticing that his eyes had darkened, as they were already an old couple, Jiang Yanyi naturally knew what he was thinking.
She had no intention of hiding. She just picked up the bowl of cool steamed cheese on the desk and glanced at Feng Shuo: "Do you want to eat more?"
Feng Shuo didn't answer, but raised his eyebrows, and his expression clearly said "feed me".
Jiang Yanyi scooped a spoonful and fed him.
The cheese was less refreshing than the icy rice dumplings. Feng Shuo said, "The bowl of dumplings just now is better for cooling down the heat."
As he said this, one of his hands had already reached around her chest, squeezed through her corset and held it. Jiang Yanyi was now married, and when she styled her hair, she put all her hair up in a bun, revealing her slender neck, which made it easier for someone to cause trouble.
He pressed his thin lips against the snow-soft skin of her neck, exhaled harshly, and watched her shrink and tremble slightly because of the tickle, then sucked and kissed her lightly or heavily.
Jiang Yanyi panted and said, "Then I'll make you another bowl tomorrow?"
Feng Shuo hummed, and he did not unbutton her clothes. Instead, under the cover of the dragon table, he pushed up her skirt, piling it up around her waist.
He had been letting Jiang Yanyi hold the small bowl of steamed cheese with sugar, and even when she was so messy that she almost had to hold on to the dragon table to stabilize her body, he got angry and kissed her earlobe and said, "Feed me."
Jiang Yanyi turned around to look at him, and there seemed to be a layer of mist in his autumn-water eyes.
She finally scooped a spoonful of cheese and tremblingly tried to feed it to him, but he suddenly lowered his head and kissed her like a madman.
Finally, the bowl of steamed cheese with sugar was knocked to the ground, and Jiang Yanyi was carried to the temporary resting room in the back.
When Feng Shuo stood up, he accidentally knocked over a pile of approved memorials. Jiang Yanyi glanced at them inadvertently and his eyes suddenly changed.
The book that fell to the ground and opened up happened to be the one in which court officials advised him to select concubines to expand his harem.
Although he had long anticipated that the court officials would force Feng Shuo on this matter, when the moment actually came, Jiang Yanyi still felt it was a bit sudden.
No wonder those ministers from the Hanlin Academy looked strange when they saw her.
Feng Shuo got angry, probably because of the talent show.
Jiang Yanyi knew very well who she was marrying.
Since Feng Shuo had promised her that there would be no one else in the future, he had kept it from her and did not let her know about the pressure from the ministers of the Hanlin Academy, so as not to cause her any trouble.
This person always carries everything on her back.
This time she was particularly indulgent towards Feng Shuo, cooperating with him in whatever positions he wanted. The last time she turned over and was on top of him, forcing Feng Shuo to surrender.
She suddenly behaved abnormally, and even a fool like Feng Shuo could sense that something was wrong.
While lying on her side, kneading her waist and massaging her, he half-jokingly said, "Ayi, I wish you could always treat me like you did today."
Jiang Yanyi was so tired that she didn't want to move a finger. She just opened her eyelids to look at him and said, "Okay."
Feng Shuo no longer had any romantic thoughts. He looked at her for a while and asked, "Did you hear any rumors?"
Jiang Yanyi said, "Didn't the court officials force you to participate in the selection on the pretext of the emperor's heir? Now that we have a child, those old-fashioned people won't have anything to say, right?"
Feng Shuo felt as if his heart was filled with something soft. He leaned over and kissed Jiang Yanyi on the temples. "Silly girl, I didn't tell you this because I had thought of a way to deal with it. You are trapped in this nine-story palace with me, which is already wronged. How can I let you suffer from others' anger? Even the elders of the three dynasties will not allow it."
These words did move Jiang Yanyi, but the touch was only temporary. When someone used her words today as a token of authority to do whatever they wanted every night, Jiang Yanyi regretted it.
The author has something to say: Next is Coke
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2021-04-01 01:00:13~2021-04-05 03:22:34~
Thanks to the little angels who threw the rocket launcher: Hatake Ao, pp 1;
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: a piece of Haoranqi, Qianli Kuaizai, myvanillaworld, irritable kungie, and 1 dumpling;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Jingzi Jingzi Da Jingzi, Rapeseed 50 bottles; thelonious 40 bottles; Crystal 34 bottles; Mo Momo 30 bottles; Zhou Danxi, Hua, Lele, Benming Hotpot, Follow the River, Sweet Wine Stewed Pear 20 bottles; Hanshan Yuanhuo, Xia Zhiying, Hello Haohao, Ouyang Doesn’t Stay Up Late, Wenqing’s ID Was Registered by the Author, Haha Just Haha, Sponge 10 bottles; Mountain King 8 bottles; Don’t Want to Talk 6 bottles; Qingfeng Xulai, 768651, Little Bookworm, Leng Xiaolu 5 bottles; Yunyou, Bai Ze 3 bottles; Guan Jumeng, Xiaoyu 2 bottles; singsing, elle_zj1979, Manman, 22994883, Black-skinned Meow Meow Meow, Lin 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!