“This minister has little expertise in matters of money and grain, and would not dare say whether the practice could be promoted widely,” Zao Hu replied with characteristic candor.
“Nevertheless, if shu milk, shu curd, and shu paste truly possess the nourishing properties Gongzhu describes, then spreading the use of stone mills and the methods of preparing these foods would surely benefit the common people.”
His cautious attitude left Ying Yang a little disappointed, and a little uncertain.
“Ah. I’d hoped to present the methods for making these bean foods to A-Fu, so that the people of Qin might grow stronger.”
If the equipment cost too much for ordinary people to afford soy milk, tofu, and tofu pudding, then all she had really done was invent a few new dishes to please her First Emperor dad. And who knew whether a man as formidable as the First Emperor would even like such soft, delicate food…
Zao Hu pressed his lips together.
Because of the difference in height, Ying Yang and the others around her failed to notice the rather peculiar expression on his face.
Zhang Sheng and Xia Wuju saw it. Looking at the matter from the perspective of grown men, they understood at once what the Shaofu Qing was doing. Smiling in sympathetic amusement, neither exposed their superior’s lapse in decorum.
…
Lujin Hall was a splendid, multifunctional pavilion built upon a high terrace. It rose two stories and served as the Qin king Ying Zheng’s residence for his everyday rest and repose. Of the three successive courts, it occupied the innermost position. The Shaofu offices stood nearby, so the Qin king had told his daughter to come home for the midday meal.
The chance to unlock yet another new location delighted Ying Yang, who had always loved traveling. She wandered along the way, stopping here and there, peering left and right, and occasionally reaching out to touch something.
That was the advantage of being a child: one could become distracted and wander off without the slightest embarrassment.
The close attendant sent to convey the message and lead the way watched the little Gongzhu dart about with a smiling face. She circled an enormous pillar, exclaiming in wonder, then squatted down and began picking at a stair…
Hm?! Picking at the stairs?!
“Gongzhu?” What are you doing?!
“Just having a look.” Ying Yang withdrew her hand with perfect composure and stood up.
It wasn’t that she was some country bumpkin. The black lacquer on those steps was simply so beautiful that she had wondered whether they might actually be made of black jade. The modern world possessed beauty in abundance. Sometimes its beauty lay in simplicity, sometimes in technology, sometimes in industry. Advanced productive techniques had once enabled art to combine classical and modern elements and reach extraordinary heights. Yet after flourishing to a certain point, artistic development had grown stagnant, until many artists turned toward abstraction.
What lay before Ying Yang now was the tangible beauty of the classical world.
The bases of the pillars were made from immense timbers, and the floors were painted vermilion. She could not discern the colors or materials of the walls themselves, but she could faintly smell the fragrance of the many aromatic herbs mixed into their clay and straw. Brocade worth a thousand pieces of gold had been transformed into clothing for the walls. Sunlight streamed through openwork lattice windows of interlocking diamond patterns, making the brocade wall hangings shimmer.
Among a line of maidservants walking quietly with objects held in their hands, one glanced curiously toward the Gongzhu. As she turned her head, her headdress caught the orange light and flashed with tiny points of brilliance.
Ying Yang had once marveled at the vast grounds of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Back then, however, she had merely been a modern tourist, making a few idle complaints after walking until her feet ached.
The palace buildings of Qin before her were even more expansive than the halls of the Forbidden City. What truly made her scalp prickle was a sensation she could not quite put into words.
This palace seemed alive.
It was breathing.
It was beating.
Ying Yang could not help wondering: was it because its master was here? Or was it because she already knew the achievements its master would one day accomplish, and how great an emperor he would become?
She turned her head and looked about, the thought returning unbidden. Was it because its master was here?
Doubt stirred in Ying Yang’s heart. What would the master of this palace think of the tofu she had brought him? He was no pampered fool, softened by silk and luxury.
He was the First Emperor!
…
“You’ve brought me a new dish?”
Ying Zheng, dressed in loose everyday robes, was sitting upon a low couch before a screen as he waited for his daughter. At her words he set aside the bamboo slips in his hand, gave a wave of his sleeve, and asked, “What is it?”
Ying Yang hesitated, then edged over and sat beside him. “Soy milk, tofu, and tofu pudding!” She rattled off the names like a little rhyme.
Ying Zheng lowered his gaze toward the daughter who had wriggled into his arms.
?
That wave of his sleeve had not been an invitation for her to come sit with him…
Ying Yang tilted her face up and blinked adorably. “The people at the Shaofu call them jade milk, jade curd, and jade paste. But I think shu milk, shu curd, and shu squares would be more fitting!”
It wasn’t only the Shaofu officials. Even her own attendants, after tasting the bean foods, had pretended not to hear her preferred names and stubbornly insisted on calling them by their elegant ones…
“Jade milk, jade curd, and jade paste?” Ying Zheng nodded. “Present them.”
Ying Yang was mortified.
【You’re on the fancy-names side too?!】
Ying Zheng had spoken only three words, but no one serving the Qin king was so lacking in discernment as to bring out only the new dishes supplied by the Wu Gongzhu.
Six eunuchs carried in a long dining table—if not a full zhang, then certainly eight chi—with movements at once steady and silent. They placed it in the center of a dining area partitioned by screens.
Ying Zheng led his daughter to their places.
Because they were father and daughter dining as family, their two seats were quite close together, unlike the distant and clearly ranked seating arrangements used when he dined with ministers from outside the palace.
Although he bore the title of king rather than Son of Heaven, the Qin king’s dining arrangements had long since become the equal of those of the Zhou Son of Heaven.
Ying Yang stared, dazed, as maidservants and eunuchs filed in one after another, setting dish upon dish along the table, which was more than two meters long.
Ding-dong—
She turned her head in a stupor.
【Holy shit, there’s a live band playing too?!】
There was not a breath of wind indoors, yet inwardly Ying Yang felt as though she were being tossed about in a gale.
【Isn’t this a bit too extravagant? Will the First Emperor, who’s accustomed to dining like this, really appreciate a commoner’s dish like tofu…?】
Her doubts returned, and she grew less certain of the outcome than ever.
Ying Zheng’s expression did not change. Throughout it all, he kept a fraction of his attention upon the little girl whose face was bright with astonishment.
The chief eunuch stole a swift glance at the Qin king’s expression, then lowered his head in relief.
He had served the Qin king from the beginning and was among his most trusted intimates in the eunuch household. Familiar with his master’s every movement, he could detect the faintest alteration in the angle of his brows or the corners of his eyes.
At this moment, the Qin king was pleased.
Even the mysterious “sage,” whose origins were unknown and who had repeatedly shown disrespect toward the king in her private thoughts, could be struck with awe by royal power. How could that fail to please him?
Not even immortals or sages could treat kingship lightly.
His quiet satisfaction did not last long. Soon his troublesome daughter was making his eyes ache with the sheer noise of her thoughts.
【Holy shit? A swan?!】
【Holy shit! A crocodile?!】
【Holy shit?! An—an elephant’s trunk?!】
Ying Zheng’s brows drew together slightly.
Wasn’t it perfectly natural for a king to eat such things? What was this “daughter” making such a fuss about?
Without speaking, he let his gaze rest for a few moments upon the swan, the alligator stew, and the elephant’s trunk.
The eunuch Bianren attending to the royal meal deftly and elegantly took three small plates of meat and passed them to the beautiful female Bian seated beside the king’s dining table.
The female Bian set the alligator stew before Dawang. Then she heated one of the Qin king’s favored sauces over a small brazier and placed the swan meat into it. When it had been seared a second time to just the right degree, the meat, coated in sauce, gave off a fragrant, toasted aroma.
Ying Yang could not help swallowing.
Judging by the smell alone, it was actually rather appetizing…
[I can smell vinegar, and a little sweetness from honey. They marinated it with Sichuan pepper, ginger, rice wine, and… fennel? The cook certainly did his best. Huh? First Emperor dad doesn’t like sour things? He prefers dipping it in bean sauce?】
Ying Zheng could not help looking toward his daughter.
There was no swan meat on her dining table.
She hadn’t eaten any. How did she know what it tasted like?
Author’s Note
In real life, everyone, please try to eat less wild game! (:з」∠) There are still risks involved.