Gluttonous Crown Princess

Gluttonous Crown Princess Chapter 17.2

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A breeze happened to pass through, causing the sleeves of his robes to move slightly.
For some reason, Tao Ti’s mind was caught on his statement, ‘The future is long’.

She lowered her eyes and looked at the long fingers that were holding the cup.
The skin on the back of his hand was exceptionally pale, and light blue veins could clearly be seen.

With such a weak body, how could there be a long future…

In this quiet interval, the sunlight darkened by a few degrees without her noticing.

Tao Ti was still feeling melancholic about his physical condition, and when she looked up, she saw a round orange-red sun hanging quietly in the sky not far away.
The gleaming, glistening yellow seemed like the yolk of a Gaoyou salted duck egg1 that was flowing out from a cracked white eggshell.

Thinking of the wonderful salty taste and sandy texture of the salted egg yolk, Tao Ti’s eyes curved into a smile and said to Pei Yan in a light tone, “Your Highness, how about having salted egg yolk fried rice tonight?”

Pei Yan, “……?”

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How did she suddenly get to dinner?

Fu Xirui, who was standing on the side, was also a little surprised.
He was just thinking about whether to help the crown prince change the conversation when he heard the crown prince say to the crown princess in a warm voice, “You must be tired after walking all afternoon, have a good rest and let the imperial kitchen prepare dinner tonight.”

“I was a little tired just now, but I’m fine now that I’ve rested for a while.
Besides, I’m not making a banquet feast, it’s just fried rice, it won’t take much effort.” Here, Tao Ti touched her nose with a little embarrassment and said softly, “The main thing is…
I’m suddenly craving for that bite.”

Although after tens of thousands of years of evolution, the Tao Ti race were no longer as greedy as recorded in the ancient books and eating everything they see, their yearning and greed for food, especially delicious food, was still deeply etched into their bones.

Once they wanted to eat something, they must eat it no matter what.
Otherwise, the food would be like a curse, constantly on their minds, and the more they thought about it, the more they would crave it—therefore, forming a vicious circle.
For example, the first night when Tao Ti’s thirteenth uncle was in Yangcheng on business, he wanted to eat authentic grilled naan and baked buns in the middle of the night, so he immediately bought a ticket to fly to Urumqi just to have a fresh and warm bite.

Tao Ti’s frank and gluttonous look made Pei Yan laugh.

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Tao Ti was confused by his laugh; she blinked her shimmering eyes, “Your Highness, what are you laughing at?” Was he laughing at her for being too good at eating?

Pei Yan’s charming peach blossom eyes looked fixedly at her; with a gentle and magnetic voice, he said, “I’m happy at the thought of being able to taste your skills again.”

Tao Ti, “……”
Shucks, she seemed to have been bewitched by him again.

Her ears burned a little; her tone was flustered, but she pretended to be calm, “I’m glad you like it… Umm, it’s getting late, I’ll go back in to clean up a little, then prepare dinner.”

At that, she got up quickly and walked indoors in a hurry.

Pei Yan looked at her petite back, and the smile in his eyes only gradually faded after a long while.

On the side, Fu Xirui carefully observed the crown prince’s demeanour and thought puzzledly to himself, His Highness had said at the beginning that he was coming to Yaoguang Hall for a short while, and didn’t plan to stay for long… Why is he staying just because the crown princess is frying rice? How strange.

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Then again, this crown princess really… doesn’t know the rules at all.
If the crown prince is staying for dinner, if there was not going to be a banquet, there should at least be a sumptuous spread as a sign of giving regard to the occasion.
But she’s really something—yesterday, it was a bowl of noodles, and today, it’s a bowl of rice?! Her husband is the crown prince, not some peddler!

Criticise as he might, when a rich and tempting fragrance wafted from the small kitchen an hour later, there was not a single person in the entire Yaoguang Hall who didn’t stretch out his or her neck to inhale deeply, including Fu Xirui.
Oh Stove Lord, what is the crown princess making? How can it be so fragrant?!

Even Pei Yan, who was sitting in the hall playing chess with himself, paused for a moment holding a black chess piece in mid-air.

Can fried rice smell so good?

Of course——
Fried rice alone did not have such power.
The reason it was so fragrant was because of the salted egg yolk chicken wings.

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In the small kitchen, a small pot of boiling oil was bubbling away; chicken wings covered with batter were put into it one by one, immediately emitting a crisp sizzling as they touched the oil, while also exuding an incomparably tempting aroma.

After the wings were fried until they are golden and crispy, she fished them out.
She heated up another wok, put the salted egg yolk and other ingredients needed for the sauce in to dissolve them, then cooked it until a dense golden foam was created.
Finally, she poured the fried wings in and quickly stir-fry them to make sure they are covered with the salted egg yolk sauce.

Thus, a plate of delicious salted egg yolk chicken wings was ready.

After plating them up simply on a dish, Tao Ti turned to make salted egg yolk fried rice.

The rice was the overnight rice she specially got the imperial kitchen to prepare.
Chief Steward Sun had been a bit stunned at first upon hearing this request.
After all, the imperial kitchen only provided freshly steamed rice for the masters in the palace—who would dare to try to pull a fast one by using overnight rice? But since the crown princess specifically asked for it, he had no choice but to brace himself and send a large bowl of leftover rice meant for the palace staff’s meals to Yaoguang Hall along with some other ingredients.

Footnotes:

1 Gaoyou salted duck egg:  Gaoyou, a city in East China’s Jiangsu province, is well known for the production of salted duck eggs, especially the double-yolk duck eggs, which are commonly thought to be more nutritious and are usually more expensive.