Chapter 275 - 274: The Bloodline of the Ye Family
Madam Yin was extremely astonished at Lian Gui’s answer, "Can business really be conducted in such a manner? Without any actual skills and relying purely on imagination, one can make delicious pastries?"
Duke An paid no attention to his wife, asking Lian Gui instead, "How about the pastries made by Qi Ye herself, does she possess the skills?"
Lian Gui replied, "I’ve heard that her soups and such are passable, but when it comes to dough-based pastries, they’re generally not that good, certainly much worse than those made by the kitchen maids. According to the folks at Anshun’s Household, even Nanny Liu and Nanny Zhou from the Wangfu make better pastries than the Young Lady. However, the Young Lady seems to have the ability to improve whatever food she sees."
Duke An furrowed his brows in thought but still couldn’t grasp the concept. He shook his head subconsciously and continued perusing the recipe book. After flipping a few more pages, he suddenly exclaimed, "Ah? What is this cheese here, and where did it come from?"
Lian Gui responded, "The cheese is a dairy product produced by His Highness Prince Yu’s Dairy Products Store, and currently, only the Qi family’s snack shop uses this ingredient. It’s said to be extremely expensive."
Cheese in here? Could it be the recently famed ingredient that His Highness Prince Yu presented to the palace? Startled, the Duchess picked up another handwritten manuscript beside her and started to flip through it.
Setting down the recipe book, Duke An said to Lian Gui, "After you left, the Sixth Prince sent several ingredients and pastry recipes to His Majesty from Yuyuan Prefecture, all made with an ingredient called cheese, a product from His Highness Prince Yu’s own industry. You’ve seen Prince Yu at the Qi family’s place. Could this cheese mentioned in the manuscript be the same as the one His Highness Prince Yu presented to the palace?"
Though His Majesty’s sons often presented exotic pastries to please the Emperor and the Imperial Consort and His Majesty had highly praised them, the Emperor did not describe these items in detail to others. Furthermore, Duke An would not utilize his connections in the palace to inquire about such matters, and thus he did not know whether the pastries and ingredients His Highness Prince Yu had sent matched those in the handwritten book.