Yu Xiaocao watched as the two faces, which quite resembled each other, revealed simultaneously an expression of longing and thirst. She felt quite tickled by it. If they were in any other place, who would have believed that these two, who were regarding her quite pathetically, were actually the two most important personages of the Great Ming Empire?

“This subject was idle at home, so I came out with a few new mousse-type cakes. I thought that they tasted quite good, so I brought some over to show my respect to Your Imperial Majesty! Children all love to eat mousse cakes, so I hope that Your Highness, the crown prince, would like to try some too.” Yu Xiaocao stood up and placed the box of cakes onto the study table. She lightly lifted the lid to the box, revealing the tiny adorable pieces of cake within to the father and son pair in front of her.

Zhu Hanwen originally wanted to protest, “This prince isn’t a child anymore…” However, once he saw the beautiful and delicate cakes in front of him, he immediately forgot the rest of his words. He only had eyes for the pastries.

As soon as the Yu’s Dessert Shop’s western-style pastries came out, it caused a huge sensation within the capital and instantly became famous. The cakes were soft and bouncy, sweet without being overwhelming, so they obtained everyone’s approval. However, these pastries could not even compare to the legendary chocolate mousse cake, Black Forest gateau, and tiramisu that had been made by Royal Princess Jinan.

Unfortunately, the western-style pastries made by Royal Princess Jinan weren’t something that could be eaten whenever one had the desire to. Those legendary pastries weren’t for sale anywhere. Only the people closest to her were lucky enough to eat them on occasion. Last time, the matrons and noble maidens who had been invited to participate at Imperial Prince Jing’s Estate for a banquet were all given the opportunity to try her hand-made desserts. When they left, the rumors spread throughout the capital about how amazing her cakes were. Thus, the chocolate flavored desserts had reached another level of fame within these noble circles.

The imperial palace naturally was given desserts made by Yu Xiaocao. Once, when Zhu Hanwen was at his imperial mother’s palace, he had the chance to try some. He immediately fell in love with these chocolate flavored desserts. However, his imperial father told him that as the heir the empire he needed to learn how to endure hardships before pleasure, have a backbone as strong as steel, control his appetites, and strive for enlightenment...so how could he indulge in gluttonous pleasures? Then, all of the pastries that were later sent into the palace had mostly gone into his imperial father’s stomach. Zhu Hanwen secretly wondered if his father’s teachings were merely an excuse for him to stop fighting for sweets with him!

There wasn’t a second person within the Great Ming Empire who could make pastries that could compare with Official Yu’s. Unfortunately, she was way too busy. She had to manage the tasks that the court tasked her as well as keep her own businesses afloat. Thus, she very rarely had the time to bake pastries. Zhu Hanwen could never forget the memory of those unique flavored desserts. When he saw the box full of a variety of mousse cakes, it immediately brought to his mind the taste that his memory savored.

“Imperial Majesty, please wait a bit. This subject will first taste these pastries for poison…” Under the usual state of things, in order to keep the palace safe, it was forbidden for outsiders to bring food into the palace. All of the food served to the emperor first had to undergo tasting by his eunuchs for poison. This was the usual custom, so Eunuch Su Chi’s reminder wasn’t out of the ordinary.

However, the emperor kicked his butt forcefully and growled in a laughing matter, “Screw off! You’re such a sly servant, coming over when you smell delicious food. We haven’t even had the chance to try Lass Yu’s food before you butt in to have a taste. Go stand where it is cool. There are only a few cakes in the box, so there’s definitely not enough for you to get a share. So dream on!”

“Imperial Majesty, food brought in from the outside of the palace normally can’t be…” Su Chi now had a visible footprint on his clothing but he didn’t dare to dust it off. He had an aggrieved expression on his face as he recited the customs.

“Customs were all made by people! If we can’t trust Lass Yu then who is to be trusted? That’s enough, stop looking for an excuse to fight for pastries with us. Aren’t you going to back down now?” Why did this fellow not have any eyes for the situation? If it were Su Ran here instead, he absolutely would not have made such a fuss.

Yu Xiaocao stopped herself from laughing and took off of the lids from all of the boxes she brought with her as she quietly said, “Imperial Majesty, this official has brought over four types of mousse cakes. Each cake came with nine pieces. How about you let Chief Steward Su Chi let you taste test them first?”

“No need, no need! Each cake only has nine pieces, which is barely enough to satisfy us. How could we possibly allow someone else to try a piece of paradise?” Zhu Junfan protectively brought the food boxes towards him and impatiently took out a piece of mousse cake that had been crafted in the shape of a lychee.

“Imperial Father…” Zhu Hanwen noticed that his father seemed to have forgotten that he was here, so he pitifully cried out. He felt like this was deliberate. His imperial father didn’t seem to want to share these cakes with him.

“Hmph! Look at you, do you even have the demeanor of an heir to the empire at this point? If you can’t even restrain your desires for food, how can you possibly keep the empire in your hands in the future?” As Zhu Junfan spoke, he shoved the cake that was in his hands into his mouth. He revealed an ecstatic expression on his face.

Zhu Hanwen silently cursed, ‘Imperial Father, you also have a hankering for good food but isn’t the empire flourishing and doing well under your hands? There isn’t a conflict between the two, alright ah? Do you truly intend on enjoying these pastries alone, letting me, your son, to just watch you pathetically?’

Zhu Junfan felt a sliver of guilt enter his heart when he saw the despondent and pathetic look on his son’s face. He dryly coughed and said, “Alright ah! Since you’ve been working hard on both your studies and martial arts, I will reward you with one piece!”

“Thank you, Imperial Father!” Zhu Hanwen’s face immediately lit up in joy as he carefully picked a piece of cake and delivered it into his mouth. He savored it in small bites as he exclaimed, “Wow! It’s so incredibly delicious ah! It has the flavor of fruit and the spongy texture of cake. Official Yu, what is the name of this cake?”

“In reply to Your Highness, this is called ‘fruit mousse cake’. Within the smooth texture of mousse is the flavor of fresh fruit, which restores the original essence of lychee within it. The taste is very rich.” Yu Xiaocao noticed that the father and son pair had the exact same joyful expression on their faces. She suddenly realized that it seemed like the ‘foodie gene’ could also be inherited. The emperor emeritus was an old glutton, the emperor loved to eat good foods, and, now, even the crown prince was a tiny little foodie!

“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 refreshing 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 bemusement, “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: …