Chapter 649 - Being Promoted Forcefully (2/2)

“Is this a chocolate flavored cake ah? I love chocolate the most!” Zhu Hanwen saw another type of cake in the box and immediately forgot the words that his imperial father had said about him only being allowed one slice. He reached his hand into the box and pulled a piece out as he delightedly tasted the pastry.

The emperor glared angrily at the look on the crown prince’s face. It was truly too interesting! Yu Xiaocao controlled the twitching lips on her face as she was afraid she might burst into laughter at any time. She managed to say with a straight face, “Imperial Highness, that piece has hazelnut mousse. Mousse that is chocolate hazelnut flavored is filled between the slices of chocolate cake. The hazelnut adds a unique fragrance to the mousse. Chocolate and hazelnut are a pair made in heaven, so when paired with the cute shape of the pastry, it is truly considered a piece of culinary art!”

Zhu Junfan also placed a piece of mousse cake into his mouth. He delicately tasted it for a long time before he finally said, “Mhm...in one bite, the dense mousse explodes into my mouth. Paired with the refres.h.i.+ng flavor of fruit and the spongy cake, it truly makes me feel quite satisfied!”

The European pear mousse cake was also another example of a beautifully made cake. Not only was the outside delicate and lively, but it also preserved the unique characteristics of a European pear. The cake was filled with a caramel pear mousse filling, and, naturally, the taste was divine.

“The last type is cherry mousse. The outside is beautiful and translucent. In order to decrease the amount of mousse filling needed in the cake, this official added a bit more cherry flesh inside to improve the flavor——please go ahead and try some!” Yu Xiaocao had finished introducing all four types of mousse cakes but noticed that the father and son pair were solely preoccupied with eating. They didn’t even say a word, so that’s how she knew that they truly loved these cakes.

Zhu Junfan saw that his son had eaten a piece of each type of cake and was raring to grab more. Thus, he placed the lid back on the boxes and said, “Don’t eat anymore. Otherwise, in a moment when it’s time for the meal, you won’t be able to eat much. The rest of the cakes should be given to your imperial mother!”

Each piece of mouse cake was only about the size of a ping pong ball. After eating four pieces, Zhu Hanwen naturally desired to eat more. However, he was a filial child. As soon as he heard that the rest were to be given to his mother, he didn’t protest anymore. His imperial mother loved him very much and always gave him the best she had to offer. How could he possibly fight for food with her?

“Official Yu, are the raw ingredients for these cakes easy to come by ah? Will these be added onto the pastries that will be sold at the Yu’s Pastry Shop?” Zhu Hanwen was very interested in this point. If the market had these cakes available, then, in the future, when he wanted to eat these cakes, all he had to do was send one of his personal eunuchs out to buy them.

He remembered that the previous chocolate flavored desserts required raw ingredients that were too hard to find, which was the reason why they weren’t sold on the market. If the ingredient problem could be solved, then all of these desserts could be added to her store, which would be too awesome. Official Yu was someone who really loved to make money, so she wouldn’t let go of such a good money-making opportunity, right?”

Yu Xiaocao solemnly replied, “These mousse cakes truly test a pastry chef’s abilities. I’m pretty sure that if someone didn’t study under me for at least a year, it’d be hard for them to create a satisfactory product. However, Imperial Highness, you don’t need to worry. If the emperor decides not to promote this official, then this official will have plenty of time to make these new cakes to send into the palace…”

“Official Yu, you’re quite an odd person. Other people, for the sake of a promotion, wrack their brains to find out a method to climb up higher. You, on the other hand, act as if my imperial father was harming you for trying to reward you for your merits. What should we do with you? Looks like you don’t care about fame or fortune.” Zhu Hanwen was a bit curious. Why didn’t she treasure this opportunity to increase her official rank?

“Sigh...the higher one climbs, the more responsibility one has. I’m just a small little girl and I’m about to become a married woman soon. In the future, I’ll be tending the household and children for my husband, so how would I have so much extra time to do other things? The most important factor is this: this subject remembers that ranked five officials and above all need to attend morning court…” In a moment of carelessness, Yu Xiaocao said her true thoughts.

Zhu Junfan burst out into laughter and pointed at Xiaocao. He stated in a voice filled with bemus.e.m.e.nt, “Apparently the reason why you really didn’t want to get promoted is right here ah! Is it really that bad having to go to morning court once every five days ah?”

“This subject truly sleeps heavily and likes to sleep in. I’m afraid I might sleep past the time and get punished for missing morning court…” Yu Xiaocao meekly replied in a quiet voice. What a joke! Morning court started at five in the morning, so that meant she had to leave the residence at around four. Didn’t that mean she had to get out of bed before four then? That was asking for her life ah! When her younger brother and sister were studying for their college examinations, they didn’t even have to get up that early.

Zhu Junfan snorted and said, “If I waived away the requirement for you to go to morning court and promoted you, would you be okay with that?”

“Uh...after I get promoted, would I still only be in charge of the imperial plantation and other farming matters ah? If I need to manage anything else, I’m not sure I could do it!” Yu Xiaocao had a good grasp on her own abilities. She knew she was only able to handle so much, so she truly didn’t want to have more extraneous duties added on!

“Your duties will not change! The only change that could happen would be that you will have more people under you. We will send some officials over to help you. All you have to do is make sure your high-yielding crop breeding continues on course!” Zhu Junfan suddenly felt fatigued. This was the first time he had to chase someone to promote them yet they truly didn’t want this honor.

“Then...that will work ah!” Yu Xiaocao reluctantly said as if someone had a knife to her throat, “Then make sure you send two hardworking and humble ones over. Ones that are easy to get along with. I don't want to deal with any annoying ones ah!”

Zhu Junfan: …