Thanks to someone, Su Qingwen's excitement was all in vain.
Calm down, calm down. She tried hard to suppress her urge to punch someone and said as calmly as possible, "Do you have any other horses? Ones that are already born and can be ridden?" Her smile at the corner of her mouth was extremely stiff.
"I'm afraid there aren't any for the time being." The unreliable someone scratched his head.
Su Qingwen sighed, waved her hand, and left dejectedly. Well, it made sense. Where could one find such a good horse in such a short time? Maybe I should think about something else to give.
What is there on a birthday? System, help!
[System: ... Well, candles, lights, cake, birthday song, and longevity noodles...]
"Maybe I should make longevity noodles? Isn't that too ordinary..." Su Qingwen scratched her chin.
[System: How about making a cake?]
"Right, make a cake! System, you're such a clever one." Su Qingwen slapped her thigh.
"Hehe, that ancient bumpkin Huayueye must have never seen a cake before. Wait until the cream slowly melts in his mouth and he feels the happiness all over his body. Then he'll kneel down and sing praises to me, the divine pastry chef."
[System: ... Wake up. Your hands have their own ideas.]
However, Su Qingwen was completely immersed in her own imagination and couldn't extricate herself.
After giggling for a while, she snapped her fingers and praised herself, "I'm simply a genius!"
So on Huayueye's birthday, someone got up very early and started bouncing around to prepare her luxurious birthday cake.
"System, system, what do I need to make a cake?" The future great pastry chef asked.
[System: ... Wait a moment. I'm searching for you. Ah, here it is! 120g of low - gluten flour, 50g of milk, 4 eggs...]
"Stop stop stop!" Someone foamed at the mouth, with spirals in her eyes, and asked the system weakly, "Is there an easier way?"
[System: Yes... The 96 - rule lazy person's guide: spread cream and chocolate powder on the cake base.]
"Oh my goodness, where can I find cream..." Someone continued to lie there like a corpse.
[System: Then how about making a cake base first? It seems quite simple... It feels like steaming steamed buns...]
Hearing this, Su Qingwen immediately came back to life. "Then let's make a cake base first!"
[System: It seems that making a cake base requires an oven...]
"There's no oven in ancient times. But hehe, the cake base looks a bit like steamed sponge cake. How about just steaming one?" Someone rubbed her hands expectantly, and her sinful steps gradually inched closer to the kitchen.
Poor royal chefs... They didn't know what kind of ordeal their beloved imperial kitchen was about to suffer.
Su Qingwen quickly occupied the imperial kitchen on the pretext of giving the emperor a surprise. She ransacked all the usable ingredients and piled them on a table. However, after she got all the ingredients ready, she suddenly said, "Wait a minute. How do you make steamed sponge cake?"
The system was completely speechless.
So the system had to act as a food recipe and teach Su Qingwen step by step how to make steamed sponge cake.
After Su Qingwen blew the lid of the steamer off for the sixth time with the steamed sponge cake, she finally made a successful one.
Although the color was a bit strange...
[System: Su Qingwen, you actually made something that looks like chocolate brownie with rice and millet. You're really a genius!]
Su Qingwen's ears drooped.
She kicked her feet on the ground. "Forget it. Anyway, there must be steamed sponge cake in the imperial kitchen." Someone comforted herself, and then brazenly took a shiny, perfect steamed sponge cake carefully made by the royal chef from the steamer and passed it off as her own cake base.
Then it was time for the part she had been avoiding but had to face - making cream. "Oh, can I skip spreading the cream? Maybe I should think of something to replace it. After all, cream is sweet!" Someone started to have other ideas again.
The system was too tired to even complain.
When Su Qingwen saw the honey jar on the shelf, her eyes lit up. She grabbed the jar and started spreading honey on her cake base.
However, after it was done, it didn't have the fluffy and sweet feeling of a cake. The sticky honey clumped together. Seeing this, Su Qingwen pouted. "How about adding some soybean powder? Isn't it almost the same as chocolate powder!"
The system didn't even have time to stop her and could only silently cover its face.
Then, Su Qingwen had another crazy idea.
"There should be words on the cake!"
So she grabbed the chili powder and started tremblingly shaking out the four characters "Happy Birthday" in the rhythm of a canteen aunt.
After finishing, she boasted, "It's quite elaborate!"
Finally, with a conscience, she sprinkled a handful of dried fruits, almond and walnut crumbs. "It's exquisite!"
Then she took her carefully patched - together cake to present it.
By this time, it was almost dusk. A banquet was being held in Huayueye's palace. The table was filled with a dazzling array of delicious dishes, and the aroma of wine and food was everywhere.
The steaming heat made people feel tipsy without even drinking. The jade hairpin in Huayueye's long hair was gentle, and his rather gorgeous eyebrows and eyes even had a bit of an otherworldly air. He tapped his fingers boredly.
The next moment, Su Qingwen, with flour and cooking fumes on her face, stood in front of Huayueye, holding a huge cake.
She presented it with a beaming smile. "Happy birthday! Huayueye!"
Huayueye looked at the cake, his face stiff.
"Take it. This is my birthday gift for you, a birthday cake! You've never seen it before, right?" Someone said proudly.
The words on the cake were as ugly as a dog's paw prints. After the long journey, the whole cake had slumped like an old man lying on a chair.
"And candles!" Su Qingwen took out the prepared candles, stuck them on this strange cake, and then lit them.
What on earth is this? Huayueye was terrified inside.
"Take a bite. I've been making it for a whole day!!" Su Qingwen's eyes blinked expectantly.
This thing is poisonous... Huayueye thought.
However, thinking that someone had spent a whole day making this, and looking at her blinking, expectant eyes, he couldn't bear it.
Few people had ever celebrated his birthday. When he was a child in the palace, no one would. After he ascended the throne as a puppet without real power, no one cared either.
He rarely received birthday gifts. Apart from the kite from his adoptive father, the longevity noodles from Eunuch Zhang... and Su Qingwen's... cake.
Huayueye looked at Su Qingwen's face, which was white in some places and gray in others. He gently smiled and said, "Thank you." Then he scooped up a spoonful and put it into his mouth.
………
………
Huayueye's face suddenly turned ashen.
Su Qingwen had been observing carefully and asked timidly, "Is it delicious?"
"Su Qingwen... do you... do you want to assassinate the king..." Someone, who had narrowly escaped death from the food, choked out.
Before Su Qingwen could refute, she heard a system prompt.
[System: Congratulations to the host for achieving the "Deadly Chef" achievement! Reward: 20 points!]
Su Qingwen: expressionless.jpg
You humans who don't know how to appreciate!