bookrandom Chapter 159 Inviting the Queen to Drink Milk Tea
Chapter 159 Inviting the Queen to Drink Milk Tea
The morning light was dim, and the morning mist in December covered the Yinglan Pavilion with a thick layer of white frost. Sanpang led several other young eunuchs and set up a stove outside the yard early in the morning.
The long table next to the stove is filled with jars of ingredients prepared in advance. Once the fire burns more vigorously, they can start making the eight-treasure milk tea.
Lu Qingqing was still resting in the bedroom at this time.
The weather is getting colder, and now that her baby is a little older, she feels more and more lazy. Before, she had the energy to get up early and do morning exercises in the yard for a few minutes, but in recent days, she just wants to lie lazily in the warm quilt and have a good rest.
As I fell asleep, a sweet scent wafted into the bedroom.
Lu Qingqing smelled a familiar smell and was attracted by it. She opened her eyes in a daze and asked in a mumbling voice:
"Xiao Tao, what does it smell like outside? It smells so good!"
Hearing the noise coming from the bedroom, Xiao Tao hurriedly led a group of maids to help Lu Qingqing wash up.
She first warmed her hands on the stove in the bedroom, and when her hands were warm, she personally helped Lu Qingqing up from the couch.
Xiao Tao put a white fox cloak on Lu Qingqing, her voice clear and lively.
"My dear, you forgot that you asked Sanpang and the others to make eight-treasure milk tea early this morning yesterday. Their milk tea should be ready by now."
Lu Qingqing slept soundly. After being reminded by Xiaotao, she remembered her plan to compete with the Queen.
She wrapped her white fox cloak tightly around herself, washed and dressed, and then she couldn't wait to walk into the yard and go to the door to see the grand scene of distributing milk tea.
It was just as she expected.
The warm and sweet fragrance of Eight Treasure Milk Tea is particularly attractive in the cold winter. The palace servants from several palaces in the surrounding area are attracted to the Yinglan Pavilion by this warm fragrance in winter.
When Lu Qingqing looked towards the door, the palace servants outside were already bustling around in a circle.
Sanpang and Erxi gathered around the stove, using hollow bamboo tubes as disposable milk tea cups, and handed out cups of Eight Treasure Milk Tea to the palace servants who came to get the milk tea.
As they distributed milk tea, they also did not forget to call out. Whenever a palace servant came to receive milk tea, they would say, "This eight-treasure milk tea is specially given to you by Ming Guiren because she understands your hard work in winter!"
When the palace servants took the milk tea, they were already salivating at the sweet aroma. After drinking it, they all praised the deliciousness of the Eight Treasure Milk Tea.
"Hmm! This Eight Treasures Milk Tea from Yinglan Pavilion is much better than the Laba Porridge from the Imperial Kitchen yesterday!"
"That's right. There are only a few grains of rice in the Laba porridge. Drinking it is almost like drinking water. I heard that the Queen ordered the Imperial Kitchen to make it..."
"It seems that it is the noble lady Ming from Yinglan Pavilion who truly cares about us!"
……
Not only the palace servants near Yinglan Pavilion, but all the palace servants who had tasted Eight Treasure Milk Tea were running around to tell each other, and they couldn't wait to tell their friends in the palace about such good news.
The news spread from mouth to mouth among the palace maids, and from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. In just one morning, almost half of the palace maids in the harem had tasted Yinglan Pavilion's Eight Treasure Milk Tea.
Lu Qingqing stood far away in the courtyard, watching the palace servants coming and going outside to get milk tea, with a perfect smile on her lips.
Her eight-treasure milk tea not only tastes good, but also uses real ingredients! Compared with the Laba porridge that the queen gave yesterday, one is a delicacy and the other is a tasteless soup!
People's hearts are changed in a moment. A small cup of eight-treasure milk tea helped Lu Qingqing gain a good reputation in the harem for being generous, kind and caring for the palace maids.
The news that Lu Qingqing rewarded the Eight Treasure Milk Tea quickly spread throughout the harem.
In Yanqing Palace.
As usual, Concubine Xian sat at her desk studying classics. She was so engrossed in reading that she kept reciting the words of the sages.
Yuzhu, who was serving on the side, prepared breakfast for Concubine Xian. When she invited Concubine Xian, who was devoted to studying the books of sages, to have breakfast, she specially replaced the usual soup with the eight-treasure milk tea she got from Yinglan Pavilion.
The virtuous concubine only took a quick glance at the breakfast arrangement and keenly noticed the difference today.
She pointed to the particularly eye-catching bamboo tube on the table and asked, "What's in this bamboo tube?"
Yuzhu presented the bamboo tube filled with Eight Treasure Milk Tea to Concubine Xian and answered truthfully.
"Your Highness, this is the Eight Treasures Milk Tea that I got from Concubine Ming when I passed by Yinglan Pavilion this morning. Would you like to try it?"
After just one sip, Concubine Xian found the Eight Treasure Milk Tea delicious. Compared with the Laba Porridge that the Empress Dowager distributed to the six palaces yesterday, the difference was immediately clear.
While drinking the sweet milk tea, she shook her head and a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
The Queen’s skills in managing the harem are still too inadequate!
She also knew that some time ago, the Queen had deliberately given Lu Qingqing inferior carbon bars, and Lu Qingqing had used just one move to expose this scandal to the entire palace.
Even though the Queen wanted to save face by rewarding the palace with Laba porridge, she did not expect the imperial kitchen to come and deduct the expenses of the palace servants.
Concubine Xian believed that the Empress would not be stingy and that she would give enough silver to the imperial kitchen. However, the palaces only received Laba porridge with bland soup, and the silver must have been withheld by the imperial kitchen.
The queen has never been good at managing her harem, so she certainly hadn't expected so many twists and turns. In the end, she was still outdone by Lu Qingqing's Eight Treasure Milk Tea.
The virtuous concubine sighed secretly in her heart.
It's really frustrating to be the queen now! She has no ability and no means. If I were the queen, I would be able to govern the six palaces in an orderly manner!
Yuzhu carefully observed the subtle expressions of Concubine Xian, as if the fact that the Queen's Laba porridge was rejected made her very happy.
So Yuzhu also echoed.
"It seems that this Concubine Ming is quite capable. I'm afraid that the Queen will suffer a lot from Concubine Ming."
The virtuous concubine smiled but said nothing.
Although she hated Lu Qingqing, she hoped that the position of the queen would be unstable. Maybe one day, she would have a chance to ascend to the top position.
In Yongning Palace.
Concubine Zhuang got up early, and her palace also received Eight Treasure Milk Tea from Yinglan Pavilion.
Concubine Zhuang's personal maid Shuqi came over with a bamboo cup of eight-treasure milk tea in her hand, smiling and speaking in a cheerful voice.
"Have a try, Madam! This is the Eight Treasure Milk Tea that I brought back from Noble Ming of Yinglan Pavilion early this morning. I heard it is a new product from Mixue Ice Palace!"
Concubine Zhuang had finished her breakfast at this moment, but when she heard that it was the milk tea newly developed by Lu Qingqing, she couldn't wait to take it.
The milk tea in her hand smelled fragrant. She stirred it in the bamboo cup with a spoon and found that there were many small ingredients in the milk tea, various candied beans and colorful dumplings, all of which were Concubine Zhuang's favorite.
She smelled the fragrance and took a big sip.
"It's so delicious! I heard that Mixue Ice Palace was closed down some time ago. I was very worried that I would never be able to drink delicious milk tea again! I didn't expect that Qingqing, although she was under house arrest, was still able to distribute this Eight Treasures Milk Tea to the harem. She is really amazing!"
Concubine Zhuang had always been on good terms with Lu Qingqing. A few days ago, she heard that Lu Qingqing was under house arrest and she could not go to visit her, so she was very worried.
Now that she received the milk tea from Yinglan Pavilion, she knew that although Lu Qingqing was under house arrest, her behavior was not restricted and she must be living a comfortable life.