the imperial cuisine

slave from the outer palace

there was once a girl who was born as a slave her mother and father were slaves. she has 1 sister and 1 brother. she was the youngest among her other siblings. when she was 3 her mother taught her how to cook. she would always cook for her family. she is also kind hearted she gives leftover foods to other slaves.

everyone in the village loved her cooking. and her name was " shi lingyin" growing up she was always interested in reading recipe books. she studied about foods and she would always cook for her family.

while on her way back to her house she harvested ingredients to make a dish. and then when she got home she cooked and she named the dish "moon charm" it is a pastry. the next day she sold the pastry everyone loved her cooking cause it was so yummy. the children are her main costumers they like sweets. shi lingyin also cooked food for the adults and also for the elderly.

one day while walking in the streets someone grabbed her. she refused and kept kicking her legs but they made her fall asleep. the next she woke up her body was tied with rope along with other children she was already 9 at that time. they were in a cottage and she met a boy and she saw that the boy was the same age as her. she talked to him and they became friends.

they they were thinking about a way to escape the kidnappers but the kidnappers are always in the house so there was no chance for them to escape. one night shi lingyin sneeked out and quietly grabbed the keys. but the kidnapper woke up and saw her she grabbed her and the kidnapper punched her.

however her friend hitted the kidnapper with a chair. they were about to go out of the door but her friend got grabbed by the kidnaper. shi lingyin had no choice but to leave and call for help.

it is now daylight and she found her parents house she said that there were kidnappers who kinapped her. her parents and siblings hugged her and cried. she also mentioned if they could save her friend. they went to the eunuchs but the eunuchs could not do anything cause they thought she was just lying cause shes just a child.

the eunuchs also didn't help them cause they were just slaves. the next day she tried to find her friend but she failed. every night she would always think about her friend thinking what happened to her friend. she didn't even knew what her friend's name was. she felt guilty that she wasn't able to save her friend.

the next day she continued to learn about cooking. she cooked then sold them she repeated it everyday. one day there was a woman who was blaming her that her child was sick because of the pastry she gave. the woman was asking her for a refund but she couldn't give her a refund cause she only has a small amount of money.

the woman yelled at her. after that she didn't have any choice she gave the money to the woman. after that happened she was curious if there really was poison in her food. so she learned about different kinds of poisons and cures from plants and foods. now she is studying about cooking and nursing.

she did it so that next time she could be more careful on what ingredients to use. and for her to defend herself from people who are scamming her saying that they get poisoned.

the next day she bonded with her sister and they talked about her sister's work. her sister was already 16 year old and her sister was a maid in the palace her sister talked about the happenings in the palace.

in the other side of the village there was the inner palace. there were wives of the emperor alot of consort and concubines. but the emperor loved the most was the empress her name was "empress hanyu" empress hanyu was a nice empress she cared for the emperor and the city.

however there is also "noble consort yui" she was mean she wanted power. she wanted to become the empress thats why she dislikes the empress and she is always being mean to the empress. when the empress is sick she is the one who rules the imperial harem.

the daughter of the empress died and she didn't want to eat thats why the empress is sick. so noble consort yui was incharge of the imperial harem. the other consorts were afraid of noble consort yui cause she was evil and mean to the other consorts.

but one day the empress recovered and called out a meeting. while they were waiting for the empress noble consort said

"empress hanyu is taking too long i think i need to go now since i think she is still sick"

but then the door opens and the empress went to the room and said

"why is noble consort yui leaving. arent they a little impatient."

the noble consort got embarrased and she sat down. while she sat down the empress talked about the imperial harem and said

"now that i am fully recovered. i will manage my role as the empress. i will now manage the imperial harem. noble lady qian since you are pregnant with the emperor's baby i will send doctors everyday to check your pulse. and i would also send more guards to guard your baby"

the noble consort said

"empress isnt this a little too much. she is just a noble lady. as the empress you should not spoil her its your role to manage her and not spoil her too much."

the empress then replied

"i am not spoiling her but i need to protect her baby from people who wants to kill her baby. and also she needs a daily pulse check since she is pregnant with the emperor's baby isnt that right my sisters? who do you think is right me or noble consort yui?"

the consorts and concubines replied and said

"you empress you are right"

again noble consort yui got embarassed she got mad. but she knows that she cannot yell at empress cause that is a huge discrimination to the imperial harem. so she just stayed quiet.

back to shi lingyin. she is now 13 year old and she is still cooking and selling. she spended time with her sister, brother, mother and father. she was the smartest student so the teacher was fond of her.

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the next chapter would be the POV of the characters. i would only narrate the story a little bit. cause there would be POV's of the characters.