The chubby little Imperial Grandson whispered into Li Shi’s ear, “I told you Grandfather would be overjoyed. See, he was so happy he fainted just now.”
Li Shi: “…” Father might have been frightened.
Anyone would be startled to suddenly hear that their younger brother had ascended to the heavens.
Li Yu finally snapped out of his shock. Since the New Year, he had been frequently dizzy—it seemed he needed to eat less meat and exercise more.
“Shaolang, what did you mean earlier when you said he was in the sky?”
The Imperial Grandson whispered, “In Chengqing Hall, Great-Uncle is hanging up there.”
Li Yu felt himself about to faint again. What did he mean by “hanging up there”? Hanging with a three-foot white silk rope?
Wasn’t he supposed to have left the capital?
“Who hung him from the rafters? Has he been taken down?”
“He… he can’t be taken down,” Li Shi stammered.
“Then why haven’t you taken him down immediately?” Li Yu felt his head throbbing and dizzy.
Li Shi struggled to explain, “Father, you should see for yourself.”
The grandfather and his two grandsons entered the main hall of Chengqing Hall, ordering the other eunuchs and palace maids to wait outside. Only the Emperor’s chief eunuch, Ma Song, followed them inside.
Li Shi led the group toward the rear hall. As soon as they entered, they saw an image descending from mid-air like a curtain. The person in it was none other than Li Xi, whom they had been murmuring about.
At that moment, Li Xi was lowering her head, seemingly occupied with something.
Li Yu’s jaw dropped, and he rubbed his eyes. “Shaolang, Lier, you both see this, right?”
The Imperial Grandson exclaimed, “I see it, I see it! Grandfather, why does Great-Uncle look as if he’s right in front of us? Do you think if I touch him, I could actually feel him?”
With that, he jumped as high as he could, but at just five years old and short for his age, he couldn’t reach the figure in the image.
Just as Li Yu was marveling at the wonder of this phenomenon, he heard his son speak up beside him.
“Your son once heard Great-Uncle speak of mirages at sea and visions in the desert. This is not the work of spirits or demons but rather light refracting and projecting to another location. It must be that the scene from Great-Uncle’s side is being refracted into the palace.” Li Shi continued, “Actually, it was Lier who first caused a commotion in the hall. I happened to come in looking for him and saw it. At first, I found it unbelievable—how could Great-Uncle be in the sky? But then I thought about all the strange things that have happened before. It must be because our Li Imperial Clan has received divine favor from the heavens, which is why this divine blessing has descended. This proves that Your Majesty is the rightful ruler ordained by heaven.”
There was no harm in boosting the legitimacy of the Li Imperial Clan. Besides, if his father was chosen by heaven, couldn’t he, as the son, bask in that glory too?
Li Yu fell silent for a moment, gazing at the lifelike image suspended in mid-air. “What is your great-uncle doing?”
The figures there looked as real as living people. At that moment, Li Xi was still lowering her head.
Following her gaze downward, the scene shifted downward as well. A large pot was bubbling vigorously, and smoke rose from whatever was cooking inside. Li Xi was instructing someone to pour something into it—first this, then that, and finally, they heard Li Xi cheer, “It’s done.”
Grandfather and grandsons: ?
Done? What’s done?
The mutton paomo was ready.
The aroma spread throughout the camp, and many people began to salivate.
Some had already decided that they, too, would cook a pot of it that evening.
The method for this pot of soup is actually quite simple. First, boil a kettle of water in a jar, slice the marinated mutton, toss it in, and let it simmer for about half the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Marinated mutton can be stored for a relatively long time, which is why it’s one of the favorite military rations for long-distance trade caravans or armies. With just a brief simmer, the aroma of the mutton emerges. Add a spoonful of lamb fat, sprinkle a spoonful of salt, remove from the heat, and pour in the crumbled Hu Cake. Finally, top it with wild vegetables that can be picked anywhere on the grasslands, and you have a simple version of mutton paomo.
The Hu Cake, soaked this way, is no longer as hard as it would be after days of storage. Instead, it gains the savory aroma of mutton and the fresh fragrance of wild vegetables, making it a rare delicacy in such circumstances.
Just one glance was enough to make Lady Wu’s mouth water, and she hurriedly asked someone to serve her a bowl.
Chun Tao ladled the mutton, paomo, and wild vegetables into a bowl and carefully presented it to Lady Wu.
Lady Wu took a sip, and her eyes instantly lit up. Her Guanzhong genes were swiftly awakened.
This was even more delicious than Soup Noodles.
“Is it good, Mother?” Li Xi asked, looking at Lady Wu.
Lady Wu nodded repeatedly. “Delicious, delicious. You should eat some too.”
She added, “Send a bowl to your teacher and the officials as well.”
Li Xi had a new teacher named Xue Dou, an elderly Confucian scholar who had also accompanied them to the Fief. He also served as the Chief Steward of Li Xi’s Wang Fu.
Other civil officials, such as the messengers from the Court of State Ceremonial and the clerks from the Ministry of Revenue, were also part of the traveling party.
Unlike military officers, these scholars had struggled with the food since leaving Xiazhou.
The large pot that had just been cooked wasn’t enough to share with everyone, but there was enough to give each of these scholars a bowl.
Lady Wu, attended by her maids, began devouring the meal with gusto. This was undoubtedly the best meal she had eaten since leaving the palace.
This bowl suited her taste perfectly. The hardness of the Hu Cake was completely softened in the broth, and each bite was filled with the savory juices of the mutton, accompanied by its rich aroma. Alternating between bites of paomo and slices of marinated mutton felt like a rare delicacy in such a place.
Lady Wu ate, alternating between paomo and mutton, occasionally sipping the broth. At this moment, she bore no resemblance to the dignified Niangniang she had been in the palace. After finishing one bowl, she asked for another, and only after two bowls did she finally stop.
“Chili, what is this called? Why haven’t I seen you make it before?” Satisfied and content, Lady Wu’s eyes sparkled.
The Tang people admired plumpness as beauty, and Lady Wu was the epitome of a healthy beauty—skin like congealed fat, features as lovely as peach blossoms.
Dieting and weight loss were entirely beyond her consideration.
Rubbing her full belly, Lady Wu felt truly content for the first time.
Li Xi had also been eating Hu Cake for several days, and now that she tasted the paomo, she found her appetite greatly revived. Being at an age when she was still growing, even after finishing one bowl, her stomach felt empty, and she wished she could have three more large bowls. So, she completely disregarded court etiquette, eating in big mouthfuls and answering loudly, “You call this paomo. If you use lamb bones and raw mutton as the base to simmer a lamb broth, then add vermicelli and wood ear mushrooms, the flavor would be even better. If you still want to eat it tonight, soak some wood ear mushrooms in advance. Since we’re on the road and it’s inconvenient, we can only cook marinated mutton. The taste naturally can’t compare to that made with lamb bone broth, but if you drizzle some chili oil over the soup, the flavor might be even better.”
It was just a pity that chili peppers hadn’t yet reached the Tang Dynasty.
The American continent was too far from the Eastern lands. When her imperial elder brother heard Li Xi’s plan, he repeatedly waved his hand, saying it was too costly.
She wondered if she would ever get to taste chili peppers in this lifetime.
Lady Wu praised, “Mother thinks this is already delicious. If it were cooked with lamb broth, the flavor would surely be even more extraordinary. But as for that chili oil you mentioned, where could we possibly get it?”
Li Xi sighed, “I mentioned to my imperial elder brother that if there were capable sailors, they could be sent further south. There’s a continent there that hasn’t yet had any contact with our Tang Dynasty. It’s rich in resources, but unfortunately, my imperial elder brother refused. Such capable people are hard to find, and our Tang Dynasty doesn’t have ships large enough for such a journey. I can only hope that the Tang Dynasty remains prosperous and peaceful, and that one day my imperial elder brother will have the resources to send people to America.”
Lady Wu naturally had no idea how far the American continent was and casually remarked, “Your imperial elder brother wouldn’t listen to a child like you about such matters.”
She simply assumed Li Yu had no time to humor a child’s whims—after all, he was a man of great affairs.
Meanwhile, Xue Dou and Li Xingren were also enjoying their meal with great relish nearby.
Xue Dou was forty-six this year, with grandchildren old enough to run around, making him a genuine “elderly person” in this era. He had endured considerable hardship along the journey, especially when gnawing on Hu Cake on the grasslands until his teeth ached, to the point where he felt he might never make it to the Western Regions.
But after finishing this bowl of mutton paomo, not only was his stomach warmed, but his heart was also comforted.
Like the other civil officials, he was given a large bowl, which was just the right amount for him. He couldn’t help but praise, “Could this be something passed down from the palace? It’s truly both convenient and delicious. Li Xingren, you often go on diplomatic missions—have you ever cooked this on the road before?”
Xue Dou had reason to ask this. Li Xingren was a descendant of Emperor Gaozong’s line. Although by his generation, the blood ties to the current imperial family had grown somewhat distant, he was still recorded in the Li family genealogy.
The Li family’s emperors had astonishing reproductive abilities. Emperor Xuanzong had thirty sons, and Emperor Taizong had fourteen. With so many sons producing grandsons, and grandsons producing great-grandsons, in this dynasty, any clan relative beyond the fifth degree of mourning had to fend for themselves. Even if you were a descendant of the emperor, you still had to work for a living.
Thus, like Xue Dou, Li Xingren relied on the court’s salary to make ends meet.
Li Xingren smiled and said, “This is also my first time eating it today. If I had known about this during my previous journeys, I would have suffered much less hardship.”
If even Li Xingren had never heard of it, then it must have been the ingenious idea of His Highness the Prince of Xizhou.
This Prince of Xizhou was truly unfathomable.
Author’s Note:
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