Dressed like a loser and went to raise a baby

Chapter 442 It’s your choice, my empress.
Bai Jieyu came up in the morning, cleaned up briefly, and then went to the royal kitchen to check the ingredients for the birthday banquet, and asked the nanny beside her to take the list.

The ingredients for the birthday banquet are the top priority and cannot be taken lightly.

"One hundred catties of sea cucumbers roasted with green onions." Grandma read the list, and Bai Jieyu asked, "Where are the sea cucumbers?"

The chef in charge of preparing seafood pointed to the two large wooden basins on the table and said, "It's still soaking in the basins! It's almost ready."

Bai Jieyu walked over with her grandma and frowned when she saw the sea cucumbers soaked in well water in the basin. Although she had only eaten sea cucumbers, she had never seen what sea cucumbers looked like before they were cooked. I understand that the size of the sea cucumber in front of me is abnormal.

The sea cucumbers she had eaten in the past were three fingers wide and the middle finger long. The sea cucumbers that were about to be soaked in the basin were only as big as a thumb. This was not a normal sea cucumber.

"W-why is this sea cucumber so small?" Bai Jieyu pointed at the sea cucumber in the basin and asked, suppressing her anger.

The imperial chef said with an innocent face: "This is your choice, my queen!"

"I chose this? When did I ever choose such a small sea cucumber?" Bai Jieyu's anger could no longer be suppressed. These damn slaves came out with such a small sea cucumber to fool people, and yet they said she chose it. .

"It's your choice, my dear. There are not enough sea cucumbers in the palace. The younger one said that he would purchase them outside the palace. There are 50 taels of silver per catty, 100 taels of silver per catty, 200 taels of silver per catty, and 400 taels of silver per catty. The one that costs 50 taels of silver per catty, my dear wife, you chose."

Sea cucumbers are treasures found in coastal areas. They have a long way to go to Kyoto, so the price is naturally extremely high, and they are divided into four grades.

The price of 50 taels per catty is low-grade sea cucumbers, the price of 100 taels is normal sea cucumbers, the price of 200 taels per catty is medium sea cucumbers, and the price of 400 taels per catty is high-grade sea cucumbers.

The tribute paid to the palace along the coast has always been high-grade sea cucumbers.

Ordinary low-grade sea cucumbers, which this wealthy family would be too embarrassed to serve to entertain guests, have now appeared in the palace and at the emperor's birthday banquet.

Bai Jieyu was stunned for a moment with a pale face. She remembered that it was indeed her choice. Sea cucumbers cost 50 jins, and 5000 taels per catty cost 100 taels of silver, let alone those 200 taels per catty and [-] taels. Two to one pound.

She was favored by the emperor because she saved a lot of money for the emperor. She thought that if she could save money on the birthday banquet, she would compare the expenses of the palace banquet with Concubine Li in front of the emperor with the account book. The emperor would naturally think that she could handle it better than Concubine Li.

So when the people in the imperial dining room told her the price of sea cucumbers, she did not hesitate to choose the one with the lowest price. She never expected that the sea cucumbers costing 50 taels of silver per pound would be so small!

"Why didn't you tell me that sea cucumbers worth 50 taels per pound are so small?" Bai Jieyu asked through gritted teeth.

The steward, the chef, lowered his head and whispered: "Your Majesty, you didn't even ask! And when I wanted to say it, my Majesty, you had already made up your mind. It will cost 50 taels of silver per catty." You have already made up your mind. Well, how can I say it easily?

Bai Jieyu was so angry that she clenched her fists and rolled her eyes. She felt that these dog slaves did it on purpose. They knew she didn't understand, so they deliberately didn't say anything.

But she couldn't do anything to this dog slave, because he was indeed purchased according to her instructions.

Someone must be behind their backs and deliberately instigating them to do this so that she could mess up the emperor's birthday party.

As for who this person is, she has a candidate in mind.

It was Concubine Li who she came to seek advice from but avoided her.

Don't think she can't see it. Concubine Li is a very power-hungry person. She was very unhappy when she took over the management of the harem from her.

She was afraid that she would mess up the emperor's birthday banquet and embarrass herself in front of everyone, so not only did she not let her learn from it, but she also secretly ordered people to trip her up.

But she was not that easy to defeat. Bai Jieyu's eyes were filled with blazing anger and fighting spirit. "Have all the sea cucumbers left in the palace been soaked?"

"The hair is soaked."

"Those sea cucumbers will be given to the emperor, the empresses of the various palaces, the princes and princesses, as well as the first-rank ministers and their wives." She had seen it last time, and there were not many sea cucumbers left, and it was only enough for these people. , as for the others, just eat this little sea cucumber, as long as the emperor doesn't know about it.

The imperial chef said: "Yes."

"What's next?" Bai Jieyu looked at her grandma and asked

Grandma looked at the list and read: "One hundred catties of dried abalone for sugar-coated abalone."

"Where's the dried abalone?" Bai Jieyu asked.

The imperial chef pointed to several steaming cauldrons on the stove and said, "It was stewed last night." This dried abalone needs to be simmered slowly for a day and a night to taste good.

"Let me take a look." There can be no problem with this abalone, Bai Jieyu thought silently in her heart and walked to the stove.

The chef opened the lid of the pot, and the red abalone juice gurgled in the pot, and the abalone as big as the steamed dumplings was tumbling in the soup.

Bai Jieyu almost fainted when she saw it. The runny abalone she used to eat was half the size of her palm. The abalone in the pot was half the size of her palm. Obviously, there was something wrong with the abalone. .

"Why are you so young?" Bai Jieyu took a deep breath and asked the same question again. She also expected what kind of answer she would receive.

The imperial chef said with an innocent face: "This is your choice, my dear wife!"

Bai Jieyu didn't say anymore about when I had chosen such a small abalone, because it was possible that she really chose this abalone.

At that time, the imperial chef gave her a choice of abalone, one, two, three, four... eight, nine, nine was the cheapest, so she chose the nine without hesitation, but she didn't know , the abalone is still so small.

Bai Jieyu resisted the urge to faint, took a deep breath and thought of countermeasures in her mind. The abalone was so big, it was not easy to hide it from the emperor and everyone.

But there is no rush to change the menu now, because the emperor's birthday banquet is held at noon.

The nanny beside Bai Jieyu offered advice, "Why don't you cut the abalone before serving it? It won't look too small after it's cut and served."

Bai Jieyu thought for a while, nodded and said, "This is the only way."

Bai Jieyu checked the other ingredients and found that the shark fins used to make shark fin soup were also very small, but this did not have a big impact. After all, the size of the shark fins could not be seen after being made into the soup.

When Bai Jieyu came out of the imperial dining room, she looked quite haggard.

After leaving the imperial dining room, she went to the Changle Hall to see how the decoration was. Generally speaking, there was nothing wrong with it, but she felt that it was not as gorgeous as the Queen Mother's birthday banquet and the little prince's birthday banquet.

However, she felt that this was not a big deal. What the emperor disliked was extravagance. The simpler the decoration, the more satisfied the emperor might be!

After the inspection, Bai Jieyu went back to the palace to dress up. Little did she know that what happened to her in the imperial dining room reached the ears of the concubines in the harem.

(End of this chapter)