Chapter 303 - 302: The Profligate
Prince Fu’s advisor, named Liu Yu, was a successful candidate in the imperial examinations. In his youth, he was a renowned scholar known for his vast knowledge but got stuck at the Imperial Scholar level, unable to advance for twenty years. Eventually, he gave up his official career aspirations and took service under Prince Fu, where he gradually became trusted and turned into one of Prince Fu’s confidants among his advisors.
Previously, the flavored butter cheese and pastry recipes sent to the imperial palace by Prince Yu were highly praised by His Majesty, earning a deep place in the Emperor’s favor, further ingraining his affection for them. People in Prince Yu’s service who had dealt in the lands of the Northern Barbarians mentioned that cheese and butter were not considered rare in the North, where they were commonplace wherever people could be found. It was just that Prince Yu had used the right methods to process these goods and found a good use for them.
Recently, one of Prince Fu’s stewards had started purchasing cheese crumbs and butter from the Northern Barbarians, planning to make cheese pastries before the new year, so His Majesty would realize that Prince Yu’s desserts were nothing exceptional and not worthy of such praise.
However, before they could produce their butter cheese, Prince Yu had already sent two large carriages from afar, claiming they contained a newly made exotic flavored cheese, which was sold in cuts at His Highness Prince Yu’s stores, with not even ten pieces available for sale each day due to limited stock.
This product wasn’t sent to the imperial palace, and to many, it certainly couldn’t compare to the cheese pastries previously sent. However, given that Prince Yu was willing to invest such effort to transport it from such a distance, one could surmise it was no ordinary item.
Originally, Liu Yu had high expectations for this fermented cheese Prince Yu had sent all the way to the capital and thought it might not be vastly inferior to the pastry sent to the palace.
Who knew that the product didn’t look as appealing as the butter cheese at first glance, emitting an outdated scent with no sense of freshness? The youngsters who tasted it also said it wasn’t delicious.
What puzzled Liu Yu was why, with the original cheese powder and butter, which could create delicious pastries, Prince Yu would bother with this bizarre-tasting ingredient and at a price so extortionate it hardly appeared to be a serious business venture.