Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 260 - 258

The embroidery competition was replaced with a cooking competition because every year, the same few people would win the embroidery competition, making it unexciting and tiring even for the Empress.

Cooking was different, though every lady would learn it, no one would invest great effort in it because that’s what their household cooks were for.

Cooking was only a compulsory class due to a custom in the Imperial Capital: on the second day after a new bride enters the household, she would need to establish her authority by cooking a table full of dishes for the whole family.

Although that was the custom, in reality, most of the cooking was done by the cooks, and the new bride only had to serve the dishes from the pot to the table.

Therefore, most ladies, when learning cooking, needed only to learn how to make tonic soup.

As for why most would diligently learn how to make tonic soup, it was self-explanatory to everyone, no explanation needed.

The competition took place in the Imperial Dining Room.

The Empress, the Chancellor’s wife, the Duke’s wife, and the wives of the six ministers served as the judges.

To ensure fairness and avoid favoritism, the Empress mandated that everyone had to use fish as the main ingredient in a dish. It could be a soup, a main course, or something else, as long as it was made with fish.

The ladies were stunned when they heard this.

"Cook fish?"

"How does one cook fish?"

"Can fish be used to make soup?"

"I don’t even like eating fish, I’ve never cooked it, how am I supposed to cook it now?"

...

Wails rang out all around!

"Ladies, you can each choose a fish, and then the eunuchs from the Imperial Dining Room will help you clean it thoroughly," said the head maid by the Empress’s side to the crowd.

The ladies were utterly dumbfounded as they watched the fish swimming around in the wooden barrels.

What kind of fish were these?

They could recognize themselves, but they couldn’t recognize them!

All the lovely ladies looked at each other, clueless as to how to proceed.

Xiao’er walked to the wooden barrel and picked the most common grass carp.

She didn’t ask the eunuch for help, but cleaned the fish herself, skillfully removing the bones and cutting the fish into slices, all actions executed as smoothly as a flowing cloud and running water.

It took less than half an hour to do everything.

All the young ladies were amazed, the fish was ready already?

Not only were the contestants astounded, but the Imperial chefs, eunuchs, and maids in the Imperial Dining Room were all astonished as well.

How were Xiao’er’s knife skills so much better than theirs, considering they had been working in a kitchen for years?

"How long have you been practicing these knife skills? Who is your teacher? Even I don’t consider myself your equal. I’m in awe." The head chef of the Imperial Dining Room sincerely praised as he watched the equally sized, paper-thin slices of fish.

"I learnt it when I was young from my mother, I got used to it after lots of practice." Xiao’er replied while preparing the meat slices.

"Humph! It’s indeed something a country bumpkin would be versed in. Only a country bumpkin like you would flaunt such a dirty job!" Chu Die took the opportunity to attack Xiao’er’s background upon hearing the master chef’s praise.

Everyone knew that in this circle, a noble birth was more important than anything else.

"So what if I’m a country bumpkin? Am I getting in your way? Or does a country bumpkin need you to support them? So is that why you despise country bumpkins so much? You also grew up eating food grown by country bumpkins, why do you despise them so much? Tell me, Miss Chu, doesn’t your behaviour resemble that of a thankless wolf?"

"Who are you calling a thankless wolf!" Chu Die’s face darkened in anger at these words.

Seeing this, Li Yunning hurriedly pulled Chu Die back, "Enough, stop it. You were the one that was being impolite first, are we still going to compete or not?"

Having said this, she turned to Xiao’er and smiled apologetically, "Please don’t take offense, Miss Rui’an. Miss Chu didn’t mean anything by it."

She’d just managed to steer the conversation away from embarrassing topics on Xiao’er’s behalf. Xiao’er ought to remember this favor, right?

Why bother wasting breath on empty words? Everyone knows she didn’t have any other intentions, just one: she looked down on people of lower status like herself.

However, whether other people looked down on her or not didn’t matter to her in the slightest.

Where you come from doesn’t matter, what matters is where you are going.

Xiao’er ignored the two of them and continued her work.

Seeing the expertise in Xiao’er’s movements, Li Yunning had an idea and said to the eunuch beside her, "What kind of fish did Miss Rui’an choose? I would like the same. Can you prepare it the same way as hers for me?"

If she didn’t know how to cook fish, it was alright. As long as someone else here knew, she could just learn on the spot. The taste couldn’t be too far off, right?

Upon hearing these words, the other ladies finally understood. Just like finding a supporting pillar, they felt more at ease. After giving instructions to the eunuchs, they all began to imitate Xiao’er, busy and disoriented.

Xiao’er was preparing a poached fish slice porridge. After the white porridge was done, she carefully added the pre-marinated fish slices. Once the porridge boiled again and the fish turned white, it was ready to be served, garnished with a few pieces of chopped scallion.

While cooking the white porridge, Xiao’er simultaneously fried the fish bones and head, then turned them into a fish soup. When serving, she added some salt and a little bit of pepper to the milky white fish soup, garnished with some cilantro.

Two simple and homely dishes.

A maid came over and tested the soup and the porridge for poison with a silver needle. After that, she served them in small bowls and brought them over.

Seeing this, the others rushed to finish their cooking and served their dishes. There was a flurry of activity, everyone was busy and flustered.

The Empress and the other ladies found it a bit plain when they saw the pot of porridge and the milky white soup. But they felt that it was normal. If the dishes presented were all full of appealing color, aroma, and taste, they would start to question.

The judges opened the dish covers elegantly, took a small spoonful, sniffed it first and found it quite good!

Then, they carefully tasted it.

Oh? It tastes good!

The taste was fresh and sweet, with a hint of scallion’s fragrance. The fish was tender and delicious, and in no time at all, the small bowls of porridge were all finished, leaving them wanting more.

It was delicious!

They then tasted the milky white soup, it was so good!

"Is this a soup made from fish and milk?" the Chancellor’s wife asked uncertainly.

"No, it doesn’t taste sweet like milk. It has an indistinguishable spicy taste."

"Let’s try the next one." The first dish was so delectable that the Empress had high expectations for the next ones.

The judges put aside their guesses, rinsed their mouths and began to taste the next one.

"Is this also fish porridge? The color is quite unusual. It’s yellowish, did they add something to it?"

"It seems like the porridge has a taste of being burnt."

...

The judges took one bite of it.

Yuck!

The taste made them want to vomit!

They all turned to look at the Empress. If the Empress vomited, they would all definitely follow suit.

Unfortunately, the Empress managed to swallow it down.

The wives of the officials wanted to cry: Can we really eat these? Your Majesty, this is a matter of life and death, not a game!

Forget it, if we die, so be it! Who knows which girl made this, she really brought disaster, the Chancellor’s wife cursed in her heart.