The Princess and Her Rough-Rider Khan-Chapter 104 is really a silly girl (first update)

The Khitan Imperial Court had a tradition, that after the ministers had deliberated for a while, they would take a break.

Yelu Yan took the opportunity, while the maids were serving tea and water to the ministers, to glance at Jinwu waiting outside.

Jinwu immediately walked up the high platform respectfully, approached Yelu Yan, and whispered, "Reporting to Khan, the Empress is making a Zhuge Wuhou Carriage."

"Zhuge Wuhou Carriage?"

Jinwu nodded and said, "I inquired with the palace servants, it’s for Minister Xiao’s court attendance tomorrow."

He paused for a bit before continuing, "The Empress also said there’s no need for me to run back and forth; once the snacks are ready, she will have someone bring them to you."

Yelu Yan turned to look at Jinwu and asked, "Does the Empress think that this Khan wants to eat snacks?"

Jinwu nodded and said, "It seems so."

A smile curled up at the corners of Yelu Yan’s mouth, brimming with amusement.

Seeing this, Jinwu immediately thought of the conversation he had overheard last night by the corner of the carriage — the exchange between the Khan and the Empress about "intimacy", thinking to himself how rapidly the relationship between the Khan and the Empress was progressing.

Just look how happy the Khan is.

The Khan has always been distant and not prone to laughter — always stern and rigid, quite serious and old-fashioned; he must be very fond of something to smile like that.

It seemed that the Empress had completely pulled the aloof, lofty Khan off his pedestal.

— Quite good.

After Li Xianyun finished crafting two wheels, the jujube cake dough was also ready.

The most important parts of the Zhuge Wuhou Carriage were the wheels and the control mechanism; she planned to make the control mechanism after she had finished the jujube cakes.

If the dough was left standing for too long, it would turn sour, and it wouldn’t taste good anymore.

Li Xianyun ordered the palace servants to assemble the simpler parts first, such as the backrest, seat, pedals...

By the time they had finished assembling those, her jujube cakes would also be ready, and then she could work on the control mechanism.

She wouldn’t be delaying either the making of the jujube cakes or the Zhuge Wuhou Carriage.

After giving instructions to the palace servants, Li Xianyun went to the kitchen.

She led the kitchen maids in taking out the dough and kneading it.

Once the dough was sufficiently firm, she worked with the kitchen maids to shape the jujube cakes using molds.

These molds had been made by the palace servants according to her drawings and directions.

After finishing the hanging chairs, the palace servants were eager for Li Xianyun to assign them more carpentry tasks to undertake.

Carpentry can be addictive; watching a product gradually take form before one’s eyes brings a particular sense of achievement.

Li Xianyun then drew some rough sketches of molds for them, planning to use them when making pastries.

These molds came in many shapes, including flowers, leaves, birds, fish... about seven or eight types in total.

They varied in form, lifelike in their detail.

Li Xianyun and the kitchen maids took the molds out, washed them thoroughly, wiped them down with a soft cloth, and pressed the right amount of dough into each mold.

The dough had to be firmly compressed to ensure that the shapes came out complete and looked more appealing.

The kitchen maids followed Li Xianyun’s example in their work.

In just over half an hour, dough in various shapes appeared on the kneading board.

Seeing that the work was nearly done, Li Xianyun instructed a kitchen maid to put water in a pot and set up a steamer.

Just as the kitchen maid was about to cover the pot, Li Xianyun opened her red lips and said, "Wait a moment."

She walked over, washed her hands, and then took a white steaming cloth, moistened it in water, loosely wrung it out, and laid it bit by bit on the steamer, saying,

"When steaming buns or other kinds of pastries, one must use a steaming cloth, otherwise the bottom of the buns or pastries will stick to the steamer, which wouldn’t look good."

The kitchen maid spoke a little embarrassedly, "This servant is clumsy, please forgive me, Your Highness."

Seeing the kitchen maid’s embarrassed look, Li Xianyun smiled and said, "It’s okay, once bitten twice shy, next time you’ll know."

The kitchen maid was quite moved, never expecting the princess’s thoughts to be so meticulous, and so empathetic as well.

Li Xianyun then covered the pot and said to the kitchen maid, "Call me when the water boils."

"Yes."

Li Xianyun continued to make red date dough of various shapes with the other kitchen maids.

Youlan and Zhuo Ma also joined in to help.

As soon as the dough was ready, the maid in charge of the fire reported, "Your Highness, the water is ready."

Li Xianyun brought the wooden board with the dough to the pot, placed it on the stove, and put the various shaped doughs in. frёewebηovel.cѳm

The Chief of the royal kitchen said, "Your Highness, is there a particular method to the spacing of the dough? I’m afraid some are placed too far apart and others too close."

Li Xianyun looked at her and smiled, "You could hold the dough as I do, keeping roughly a finger’s width between each piece. This way, the finished steamed buns or date cakes won’t stick together, and the spacing will be more even."

The Chief and the kitchen maids nodded repeatedly in agreement.

The date cakes were only about the size of a five or six-year-old child’s fist, and a large pot could hold more than thirty.

Li Xianyun only placed one board’s worth of date cakes, and the large pot was full.

There were still ten boards left, which meant they could make over three hundred date cakes.

Apart from serving them to the Palace Servants and maids, there would still be plenty left over, ready to be sold at the Ice Porridge Shop the next day.

Li Xianyun looked at the Chief and said, "The only task left is steaming the date cakes, I’ll leave it to you. If there are any problems, come find me."

The Chief and the kitchen maids all bent their arms in a salute and said, "Yes!"

Li Xianyun said to Zhuo Ma, "Zhuo Ma, have the maids carry some Ginger Sugar Water to the working Palace Servants. They must be tired after working for so long, give them a break."

Zhuo Ma bent her arm in a salute and replied, "Yes!"

"I’m a bit tired, I’ll go lie down on the bed for a while. Youlan, come with me."

Youlan said, "Yes."

Just as Li Xianyun reached the door, she remembered something and turned to the Chief, "After the first pot of date cakes is done, take a few to the Khan."

"Yes," the Chief replied.

Accompanied by Youlan, Li Xianyun walked towards the inner chamber, as Youlan looked at her with concern at her somewhat pale face and asked, "My lady, are you alright?"

Li Xianyun said softly, "My monthlies are about to start."

Youlan asked anxiously, "Are you feeling very uncomfortable right now?"

"Judging by the days, it should be tomorrow, but I’m feeling a bit of back pain now and want to lie down for a while," Li Xianyun said.

"Should I boil some Ginger Sugar Water for you?" Youlan asked with concern.

Li Xianyun nodded and said, "Find my sanitary cloth as well, just in case."

"Okay."

Li Xianyun returned to the inner chamber, drank a cup of hot water, and lay down on the bed.

Lying there, she unknowingly fell asleep.

In her dream, she saw a girl about thirteen or fourteen years old walking in a snowy field under the icy sky.

She was looking around for something, calling out a name that wasn’t quite clear.

Suddenly, she saw a cloth bag hanging from a tall tree by the river.

The bag was suspended high above the ice, apparently containing a child.

The girl was terrified and ran towards it as fast as she could.