Chapter 490 - New Years Eve (1/2)

When Yu Xiaocao got back, she pondered thoughtfully for a long time before she finally decided to make ‘eucommia lower body strengthening soup’, ‘northern groundcone kidney strengthening soup’, and ‘morinda root and pork tripe soup’. All of these would help the heir increase his fertility. For his daily tea, she planned on replacing it with wolfberry tea instead. Furthermore, she wrote down exactly what he should and should not eat on a daily basis...all in all, it turned out to be several pages worth of information.

After looking at her dismal brush handwriting, she felt that it wasn’t too presentable (Zhu Junyang quips: “What do you mean by ‘not too presentable’? Even three year olds who have just started to learn how to write have better handwriting than you!”). The only person in her family who had good handwriting, her younger brother, wasn’t on his vacation yet, so she dragged Royal Prince Yang into this mess and made him rewrite everything she wrote.

When the bags filled with specially prepared medicine and the medicinal cuisine recipes arrived at the grand princess royal’s estate, the grand princess royal noticed the familiar calligraphy on the notes. She shook her head in amusement. Everyone said that her grandnephew had his eye on that preteen Yu Xiaocao and was willing to do almost anything for her. Originally she thought that the rumors had exaggerated things. Now, however, she knew that the rumors weren’t necessarily false!

She sent the sacks full of medicines to an imperial physician and a few other famous doctors who were in the residence. It wasn’t that the grand princess royal didn’t trust Yu Xiaocao but, in regards to the heir of the Marquis Anning’s estate, she needed to be cautious!

The imperial physician and the other famous doctors looked at the prescribed medications and also carefully examined the medicinal cuisine recipes. They couldn’t help but slap the table in astonishment. All of the materials here were for gently replenishing the yang energy in the spleen and kidneys, and they were novel and valuable! These old fellows had never thought of using medications and food in this manner before.

The grand princess royal watched as the old men discussed animatedly between themselves and remarked in a displeased tone, “Have you all seen enough? How will this medicinal cuisine impact my grandson’s situation? If they can be used, then quickly have a maidservant go make some. The earlier he takes it, the faster he’ll get better.”

The imperial physician and the other famous doctors nodded their heads one after another and said, “They’re fine! All of these are astoundingly effective recipes. Would you...happen to know which genius prescribed these recipes? Would you be able to introduce us to this person?”

The grand princess royal gently shook her head and said, “That godly doctor doesn’t want to be known in this world, so…”

“Who can say for sure?” The grand princess royal quirked up an eyebrow and picked up the teacup by her hand before lowering her head to take a small sip. She replied without a hint of emotion.

Imperial Physician Liu smiled, “Your Imperial Highness must remember that the Eldest Imperial Prince was once deathly ill and the imperial physicians found themselves helpless. Only Feudal Princess Jinan was able to cure him with her folk remedies. Unfortunately, this old man was not in the palace that day. Otherwise, I would have asked the feudal princess for some tips and pointers. Every doctor has their own habits when prescribing medicine. This old man has once researched Feudal Princess Jinan’s methods and it seems quite similar to the recipes seen today.”

The grand princess royal raised her eyes to glance blandly at the old doctor. This old man clearly was the most shrewd and innovative imperial physician in the palace. He hadn’t gotten his reputation for coming up with treatments for obscure and unknown diseases for nothing. Originally, when she invited him over to treat her grandson and his wife, she also held onto the hope that this man would be able to create a miracle and fix their infertility. Unfortunately...luckily, her granddaughter had a reliable friend. It looked like Marquis Anning’s future was saved!

While Heir Anning was energetically consuming his medicinal cuisine and downing medicinal tea, the preparations for the New Years were in full swing at the Yu Residence. Everyone in the estate was busy. Although their New Years Eve dinner had already been booked at Zhenxiu Restaurant, they still needed to prepare an adequate amount of vegetables and meat. After all, the Yu Family was planning on spending the entire first month of the year in the capital.

The Yu and Fang Residences were not far from each other. Lady Fang was afraid that the Yu Family might find things difficult as it was their first time in the capital celebrating the New Years. Thus, she came over from time to time to help out with the management. Her personal maidservant, Linglong, also came along and she was a hardworking and diligent girl. She was sent to Madam Liu to help her train a few new maidservants.

Every year, the whole family worked together to make delicious foods to celebrate the New Years. This was the first time Madam Liu had to manage it on such a large scale. Every day, the stewards and senior servants asked her for instructions or reported on matters that were going on in the residence as they were in charge of managing the lower-ranked maids and servants. Luckily, the stewards and senior servants were quite capable. In addition, Xiaocao and Lady Fang came over from time to time to help arrange things. Thus, Madam Liu started out quite frazzled, but, over time, she slowly got a handle on things and it became second nature to her.

On the 28th of the last month, Little Shitou braved the snows and wind to travel to the capital with Headmaster Yuan. As soon as Headmaster Yuan entered the capital, he didn’t even bother going back to his own family and instead went directly to the Yu Residence. His reasoning was simple: he was escorting his little disciple home.

When Headmaster Yuan arrived at the Yu Residence, every word he said hinted at one thing: he missed Lass Yu’s food. Yu Xiaocao was grateful for his treatment of her younger brother, so she naturally wouldn’t refuse his request. She personally went into the kitchen to craft a table full of delicious dishes. She also invited the emperor emeritus over to partake in the meal.

“You’re being too biased ah, Lass Yu!! You’ve already been in the capital for more than half a year but you never invited Fifth Lord over for a meal before. However, as soon as this fellow surnamed Yuan appears, you easily make a table full of food to greet him. The difference in treatment is too obvious, right? That’s not okay, I need to order a few dishes to soothe my broken heart.” The emperor emeritus was currently stuffing his face with red-braised pork as he complained.

Yu Xiaocao had long gotten used to the emperor emeritus’s old urchin antics and suppressed a smile as she said, “Feel free to order whatever your heart desires. As long as I can make it, I’ll make sure that you won’t be disappointed.”

“I want Kung Pao chicken, chopped bell peppers with fish head, sweet and sour pork chops, sweet and sour crispy pork…” The emperor emeritus remembered the delicious foods he had eaten in his past life and his saliva almost dripped down his face. It wasn’t easy for him to encounter a transmigrator who knew how to cook so he needed to sate his cravings now.