Adorable Food Goddess

Ye Jiayao laughed. “I’m sorry. We have made an agreement with the Helian Mansion that we couldn’t sell the mooncake before the birthday feast.”

The woman persisted, “We’ll promise that we’ll keep it a secret.”

“Honesty is important in business. I am very sorry, but we can’t sell you this. Please ask your master to wait for a couple more days. He can have as many as he wants after the birthday feast,” Ye Jiayao said.

“I will pay you 10 silvers for each one,” the woman offered, trying to tempt Ye Jiayao with the money.

Ye Jiayao was kind of impressed. 10 silvers each . For five pieces, I  would get 50 silvers. This master knew that she already had an agreement with the Helian Mansion and still came to buy it secretly. It seemed that the temptation of the mooncake was great. Maybe they could consider raising the price later on?

Despite the amount of money on offer, though, she still wouldn’t sell it. “I am really sorry. According to the agreement, if I break the deal, I would have to pay 500 silvers. Just tell your master to wait a bit longer.

When the woman realized that she couldn’t make Ye Jiayao sell it to her, she left sulkily.

After Ye Jiayao finished working that night, Xia Chunyu came to pick her up again. She had been feeling gloomy all day and couldn’t help but complain to him.

“I know the restaurant has its rules, but I invented the mooncake! It will go places, and yet, I only get to take 30%? That’s terrible! The worst is that they’ll even take away the portable ice cube I invented. That’s intellectual property. I was counting on that to make a little bit of money! Ugh!”

Xia Chunyu bit his lip. He really didn’t mind the percentage she was complaining about, but the ice cube… He didn’t think that Yaoyao had been behind that as well.

He’s the terrible boss she was talking about.

“Don’t be mad. You’re just an employee so you have to play nice. Do you want me to buy you out so you can open your own restaurant?” Xia Chunyu offered, trying to soothe her anger.

“No,” Ye Jiayao rejected without hesitation. She wasn’t really anything to him so she’d never ask for things like that.

“Why don’t you tell the shopkeeper that you invented the ice cube? Tell him that if he wanted it, he could buy them from you,” he suggested.

Ye Jiayao waved her hands dismissively. “I am not interested in one or two silvers as a payment.”

Xia Chunyu laughed. “How much would you sell it?”

“I planned to sell it as five silvers each, 500 silvers for 100 pieces,” she said, her nose scrunched up.

Xia Chunyu frowned slightly. He was thinking at least 10 silvers!

“Ah, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I still have many other good things I can think of. I will bring them out when I open my own restaurant so everything I earn will be just for me,” Ye Jiayao declared.

“If you don’t bring the good stuff out, how can you gain fame and get listed as a famous chef?” he reasoned. “Those master chefs bring out new dishes from time to time so that they won’t get eliminated through selection or competition.”

Ye Jiayao looked at him grumpily. “Is that the only way to become a master chef? To be famous? There would be a competition soon, so if I get a gold, silver, or bronze plate, wouldn’t I be a master chef then?”

Xia Chunyu challenged, “Do you really think that the gold plate is so easy to get? There are many professional chefs with excellent skills in Jin Ling, Yaoyao.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I have my own ways,” she said. “By the way, have you submitted your letter of apology? Did you pass it?”

“It is called self-examing letter,” he corrected.

“Isn’t that the same?”

“No. An apology letter sounds bad. That makes me look like I have done something treacherous.”

Ye Jiayao laughed. “Talking back to the Empress Dowager is  treacherous! But did you pass it?”

Xia Chunyu nodded. “Yeah. Nothing went wrong. The Emperor really just did it all for the show of ‘punishing’ me. I’m actually back on duty today.”

What disappointed him was that the Emperor was still trying to push a marriage between him and Liu Li despite him talking back to the Empress Dowager.

He couldn’t really decline because it wasn’t as if he could just blurt out to the Emperor that he hated Liu Li and that he already had a wife.

Ye Jiayao relaxed at his answer. She told him, “I will be very busy tomorrow. The birthday feast is in five days so I need to get some stuff ready this early on.”

“How are you feeling about that?” Xia Chunyu asked. The Queen Consort’s birthday feast was an extraordinary affair. Every one of high status in Jin Ling would be present and if she succeeds, she’d be famous. If she fails, however, she could kiss her career goodbye.

“Everything is already ready and everyone has been preparing for this. We won’t make a mistake,” Ye Jiayao answered confidently.

“Let me give you a kiss.” Xia Chunyu didn’t wait for her answer and instead planted a hard kiss on her lips immediately.

Ye Jiayao moved her head back. “What? Stop taking advantage of me!”

Xia Chunyu sounded innocent as he said, “I am celebrating your success in advance.”

She snorted.  As if.

That night, the staff in Heavenly Residence finished work and went to bed. At midnight, someone quietly got up and dragged out a bag of stuff from the corner. He then opened the sweet rice flour bag, which Ye Jiayao prepared before, took a few spoons out, and put a different powder to mix in. After that, he quietly went back the room to go to sleep.

Wang Mingde opened his eyes in a daze and turned back around to continue sleeping.

Ye Jiayao spent two nights making a few tubs of ice cream as mooncakes should be prepared earlier. On the day of the feast, she would need to cook the dishes and she wouldn’t have time to do these things.

The day after tomorrow would be the birthday dinner. After she finished that night, Ye Jiayao brought out a few helpers with her. Helian Jing had sent a horse cart for their transport and also to carry all the necessary cooking materials to the mansion.

“Yaoyao, I don’t have any duty in the military department tomorrow. The King gave us three days of holiday so that we could prepare for the birthday party at home. If you need me for anything, just let me know.” Helian Jing said with a smile.

He just started working in the military department and he needed to familiarize himself with the business there. He had been too busy to meet Yaoyao. He could now finally understand why his brother didn’t have that much freedom to do leisurely activities.

Ye Jiayao squinted at him and tried, “Alright, you can be a kitchen helper. Make a fire for me.”

It was a joke, but Little Jing answered happily. “Okay. Whatever you ask me to do, I will do it.”

He could watch the fire while chatting with Yaoyao. That was also a win-win because he enjoys watching Yaoyao cook.

Ye Jiayao raised a brow, surprised. She appreciated his eagerness, but if his mother and brother find out that she was ordering Little Jing around, they’d probably fire her on the spot.

“Don’t worry. I was kidding. You have many things to prepare, you don’t need to help me burn some fire,” Ye Jiayao told him.

“If you need me, I’m here,” Helian Jing told her seriously.

Ye Jiayao looked at him expressionlessly. “If the servants from your mansion see you burning some woods in front of a stove, they will drop dead in surprise.”

Helian Jing laughed in agreement. “Totally.”

The carriage suddenly stopped – they’ve arrived at the Helian Royal Mansion. The only ones who have been here before were Deng Haichuan and Ye Jiayao. The others were new to the mansion’s lavishness. They looked around excitedly, not quite believing that they get to cook in here. Even Master Chef Niu had never been awarded that kind of chance!

Ye Jiayao coughed twice to get their attention. “Everyone, stay calm. If we do our best here, there will be many opportunities like this in future.”

Cui Dongpeng moved closer to her and flattered, “Following you, Brother Yao, can get us rich. Rest assured, I’ll be following you in the future, no matter what.”

Ye Jiayao rolled her eyes.  Kiss ass.

Together, they hauled their ingredients and materials into the kitchen. Helian Jing waved two people over and introduced, “This is Manager Liu. If you need something and you can’t find me, you can come to him. This one here is Manager Hu, the master chef in the royal mansion and the manager of the kitchen. He will follow your orders in the next days.”

Ye Jiayao greeted them politely.

Manager Liu and Manager Hu humbly returned her greeting.

Helian Jing turned to the two staffs of the mansion and said sternly, “You will completely answer to Li Yao’s orders for these next days. If you give him any grief, I will make you suffer.”

Everyone who works in the royal mansion, even the doorkeepers, think that they’re superior to others. Li Yao was only a young chef and he wasn’t famous just yet. Helian Jing was afraid that they would look down on Li Yao and make him feel embarrassed when he’s not around.

“Yes, Young Royal Highness,” they acquiesced. No matter how contemptuous they might feel, orders were orders.

“I know that we can work together and make the birthday feast great,” Ye Jiayao told them with a warm smile.

Deng Haichuan came in to report, “Brother Yao, we’ve already moved all the things here.”

Ye Jiayao nodded and turned back to the managers, “We will use the kitchen tonight, but we don’t need your help yet.”

They would start doing the mooncake and others were not allowed to watch.

Helian Jing persisted to stay and Ye Jiayao couldn’t exactly make him leave, so she just let him watch.

Zhong Xiang dumped out sweet rice powder in a pan to cook. Wang Mingde mixed the milk and sugar with Deng Haichuan’s help while Cui Dongpeng started with the fire.

“I heard from my mother that this ice cream mooncake is extremely delicious. I can’t wait to taste it. Yaoyao, where is the ice cream you talked about?” Helian Jing asked, looking around.

Ye Jiayao opened a big ice cube and took out a scoop for him to eat. “Try this. If there are leftovers later, I will let you have more.”

Helian Jing eagerly took it from her.

Ye Jiayao turned back and rolled her sleeves up to start working. She was busy arranging her materials when she saw Deng Haichuan made a face at her. She turned around and saw Helian Jing opening the ice cube where the ice cream was placed in.

This fat cat…