Chapter 282 - Shock (2/2)

Zhu Junyang bent down and picked up a palm-sized potato. He carefully examined it, and then asked, “Do you know the methods of eating potatoes? Do we just cook it like sweet potatoes?”

Yu Xiaocao thought about it and answered in a vague manner, “I think so? But potatoes don’t have much taste. It has a very plain flavor, so it’s better to dip it in salt or sugar. However, during times of disasters, it’s enough to satisfy our hunger. Also, unlike sweet potatoes, eating too much won't cause heartburn.”

“How do you know? Did you secretly taste it?” Zhu Junyang gently glanced at her with his charming phoenix eyes, but there wasn’t any sense of blame at all.

Yu Xiaocao laughed hollowly and said, “While digging out the potatoes, quite a few of them were damaged. We were afraid that they would go bad, so we tried making a few dishes with the potatoes. It tasted quite good. Young Royal Prince, should I prepare a potato feast for you for lunch?”

“At least you still have a heart!” Zhu Junyang looked at the room full of potatoes with a faint trace of a smile in his eyes. He looked at Yu Xiaocao and said, “This prince will make the decision and give one-tenth of the potatoes in this room to your family. It’s up to you how you want to eat them! You don’t need to sneak around!”

“May Young Royal Prince live for ten thousand years——” As soon as Yu Xiaocao shouted, her mouth was covered by Head Steward Liu, who came out from nowhere. The expression on Royal Prince Yang’s face also abruptly changed.

In a flustered and exasperated manner, Head Steward Liu cried in a low voice, “Do you want to kill our Royal Prince? How can you casually say words such as ‘long live’? If someone heard it and wants to accuse our master of treason, would you be able to take responsibility?”

Yu Xiaocao remembered now that ‘long live’ could only be used for the emperor during ancient times. It wasn’t a synonym for cheering like in her previous life. She also realized the severity of this matter. Her eyes were red, and tears welled up in her eyes, “Young Royal Prince, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was so happy that I didn’t know what I was saying! What should I do? I’m just an ordinary commoner, so it doesn’t matter if I die. But will this cause trouble for Young Royal Prince?”

Zhu Junyang looked outside. Yu Xiaocao’s voice wasn’t very loud earlier. Based on the response of the members of the Yu Family, who were rubbing off corn kernels in the yard, it seemed like they didn’t notice the incident here. The entrance of the courtyard was far away, and the imperial bodyguards guarding outside were all his trusted subordinates. He signaled Head Steward Liu with his eyes, telling him to check around the area to see if there was anyone else around.

Head Steward Liu glared at Yu Xiaocao like he wanted to eat her, and then he took his order and left.

Zhu Junyang looked at Yu Xiaocao, who was so scared that all color had drained from her face. He unconsciously softened the expression on his face, and his words of reproach also turned into comfort, “This prince believes that it was unintentional. In the future, you must be more careful when speaking. Not everyone is as forgiving as this prince! If you said such treacherous words in the capital, all your family’s properties will be confiscated, and your entire family will be beheaded!”

With tears flowing down her face, Yu Xiaocao nodded, sniffled her nose, and said, “I understand! In the future, I won’t mention that phrase again!”

Zhu Junyang seldom saw her being as obedient as a rabbit. Usually, when he said one word, she would readily refute him with several words. When faced with a pitiful and obedient Yu Xiaocao, the cold-faced Young Royal Prince was actually in the mood to joke with her, “It’s not that you can’t mention it, but it depends on who you are addressing. If you see the emperor, you can still say that phrase.”

Yu Xiaocao’s tears hadn’t dried up, but she started arguing with him again, “I’m just an ordinary commoner, so how can I have the chance to see the emperor? You’re the most honorable person who I have ever met… No, I think I have cooked for the emperor emeritus when he traveled incognito in the past!”

Zhu Junyang remembered his imperial grandfather, who would mention delicious food in every three words, and didn’t know what to say. Last time, when he returned to the capital, his imperial grandfather had specially visited him to ask for the pig head meat and pig ear ribbons made by the little lass of the Yu Family. He also said that the ones made by the capital’s Zhenxiu Restaurant wasn’t authentic, and only the ones made by Yu Xiaocao suited his taste.

When he heard that he didn’t bring any back because of the hot weather, his foodie imperial grandfather clamored about going to Dongshan Village. He said that he hadn’t eaten the meals of a peasant family cooked by the little lass of the Yu Family in a long time and really missed it. In the end, he finally stopped after his older cousin, the emperor, tried his best to persuade him and made a promise to ‘find an opportunity to bring the little lass of the Yu Family to the capital to cook a table of delicious dishes for him’.

Imperial Grandfather was getting old, so the emperor was afraid that his body couldn’t withstand him travelling all over the country. Thus, he didn’t want him to get exhausted from running around and had him stay and relax in the imperial palace.

However, his imperial grandfather insisted, “Life lies in movement!” He could never stay still for a moment, which caused all his imperial children and grandchildren to be worried all the time. He heard that a few days ago, if the emperor hadn’t noticed in time, his imperial grandfather would have ran to the borders to do some military drills with General Zhao.