Chapter 73: State Banquet

Amidst everyone’s celebration, Ye Jin looked at Ye Lin’an and Ye Xu, who had been looking a little tangled and a little embarrassed. He cautiously stretched out his hand and dragged Ye Lin’an’s clothes and said, “Don’t be angry; he treats me very well. If he treats me badly, you wouldn’t have helped him today, would you?”

Ye Lin’an looked at him with a look of care and joy in his eyes and couldn’t help rubbing his hair. He couldn’t help but regret the iron for not becoming steel and muttered, “People say that girls are extroverted (about love). How come you are more extroverted than girls, huh? Why do you like him so much?”

Ye Jin glanced at Ye Lin’an, who was annoyed. He then carefully tugged at his clothes and persuaded him: “Cousin, don’t be angry. He treats me very well. If he treats me badly, I won’t stay. I will leave him immediately.”

Ye Jin turned his head and looked at Fu Chen seriously as he spoke. It was obvious that the last sentence was said to Fu Chen.

Ye Lin’an’s face improved a little when he heard this, but he still said to Fu Chen fiercely: “If you dare to bully Xiao Jin, our Ye family will not let you go.”

Fu Chen looked at Ye Lin’an with a fierce face and at Ye Jin with a serious expression. He promised with a serious expression: “I will not bully Xiao Jin. How can I be willing to make him sad if I have loved him too late?”

Ye Jin squinted his eyes happily when he heard this, and Ye Lin’an and the other onlookers were so disgusted by Fu Chen’s cheesy words that they turned their heads and pretended to vomit, but they still looked closely with a blessing smile on their faces.

…

The day after the proposal, Ye Jin was still busy teaching a few apprentices in the shop to study medicinal diet. Meanwhile, Fu Chen did not return to the military department, but instead followed Ye Jin back to the shop to assist and arrange the two’s engagement.

However, even though Ye Jin and Fu Chen’s engagement had not been negotiated, there were rumors that the federal people who were going to visit the imperial capital had arrived at the port of the empire. Therefore, Fu Chen could only return to the military department and arrange personnel for protection with His Royal Highness Zhaoxi.

Ye Jin also received an official invitation from the Empire a day after Fu Chen left, inviting Ye Jin to the palace to make Chinese dishes to entertain the Federal visitors.

Ye Jin looked puzzlingly at Mu Zhihe, who had come to the house to discuss matters with him: “Why do I have to make Chinese dishes for the Federalists? I’m pretty sure everyone knows that they have always been ill-intentioned.”

Mu Zhihe also held his breath, but thinking of these despicable Federalists blatantly visiting the Empire, he could only explain patiently: “We all know that they are not coming with good intentions.” However, we are unable to avoid their obvious visits.

“As for their request for you to make dishes, they negotiated for it; they even sacrificed part of their interests to give up part of the energy mine.”

When Ye Jin heard this, he knew that he couldn’t refuse at all. If he refused this invitation, it is very likely that he would lose a lot of benefits to the empire and offend many people in the empire. 

This would make his future development very unfavorable to the Ye family; they would even use this as a reason to force the Ye family to hand over the recipe again and let the Ye family repeat the same mistakes again. Ye Jin absolutely could not and would not let this happen.

Thinking of this, Ye Jin lowered his eyes and finally nodded in agreement, and at the same time he made a request to bring a few of his apprentices together.

Mu Zhihe had a relaxed smile on his face when he heard this, “Don’t worry, I will definitely let you bring a few apprentices over, otherwise, no one can help you.”

Ye Jin nodded with a heavy heart. After Mu Zhihe left, Ye Jin immediately told Fu Chen the news, and asked, “Did you know about this? Why would the Empire agree to this request from the Federation? It’s obvious they were behind the chaos on the StarNet.”

Fu Chen smiled and shook his head to comfort him: “Don’t be angry, this matter is about the diplomatic relations and interests of the two countries. 

Even if you know that they secretly participated in the chaos before the kick, since they blatantly came on the grounds of a friendly visit, we can’t help but receive it, otherwise it is likely to bring unfavorable remarks to the empire.”

Ye Jin calmed down a little when he heard this. In fact, he also understood in his heart that diplomatic relations between the two countries could not be used to incite anger. 

He just wanted someone to make it clear to coax him, but even if he knew the situation, he still couldn’t get through that cut. However, for the sake of the empire and his own safety, Ye Jin couldn’t refuse and could only agree.

Fu Chen looked at Ye Jin’s somewhat angry face and fiery eyes, and couldn’t help showing a gentle and spoiled smile on his face. After comforting Ye Jin with a warm voice, he was interrupted by a sudden voice. It was obvious that Adjutant Xiao’s voice seemed to be reporting something.

Mr. Mu explained that a Heavenly Empire official would send someone to pick us up and take us into the palace. Mr. Mu explained that an official of the Imperial Empire would send someone to pick us up and take us into the palace. Make sure you pay attention to your body so that you don’t get too tired.”

After Ye Jin hung up the communication, he sent a message to several apprentices and Ye Lin’an, telling them that they were going to the palace to make dishes tomorrow.

After chatting with Fu Chen, Ye Jin felt a little more at ease. After waking up from a dark and sweet sleep all night, the suspension car that would escort Ye Jin to the palace had already stopped at the door.

Unexpectedly, Ye Jin saw Fu Chen standing in front of the suspension car. With a bright smile on his face, he walked quickly in Fu Chen’s direction. He didn’t expect him to pick him up so early this morning.

Ye Jin looked at the standing person in the suspension.

Fu Chen looked at the child walking towards him happily, with a smile on his face. He opened his arms wide towards Ye Jin.

Ye Jin walked quickly all the way to Fu Chen and rushed into his arms. After the two stood together and hugged for a while, they drove to the direction of the palace.

Ye Jin sat in the car and glanced at the direction of progress, and asked suspiciously: “Are we going directly to the palace? What about my cousin and my apprentices?”

Fu Chen pinched Ye Jin’s cheek and explained softly: “Someone has already picked them up, I just came to pick you up.”

Ye Jin nodded when he heard the words to express his understanding. After the two of them came all the way to the palace, Ye Jin saw Yu Nian and a few people who had already arrived at the gate of the palace. After they met, Mu Zhihe took them directly to the prepared kitchen of the palace, while Fu Chen left the palace to do his own defense work.

Ye Jin and the others followed Mu Zhihe to the kitchen, and when they saw that all the available ingredients had been prepared, they felt a lot of pressure.

Mu Zhihe left the kitchen after sending Ye Jin to the place. He didn’t tell him what dishes to cook. He only said a word before leaving for Ye Jin to play at will. 

After that, he reminded: “Although it is for you to play at will, you must also suppress the anger of the people of the Federation. Of course, the meals prepared must also conform to the facade of the empire and not be too unsightly. Since there is still a live broadcast, it can be seen by all of Interstellar.”

Ye Jin looked at the fully equipped ingredients and kitchenware in the kitchen, nodded silently while listening to Mu Zhihe’s reminder in his ear. He then began to arrange the dishes for the state banquet with his apprentices.

At this time, on the StarNet, there were a lot of discussions about the friendly exchanges between the Empire and the Federation, as well as the official upcoming live broadcast of the friendly meeting between the two sides. 

At the same time, they were also very puzzled about the official announcement that Ye Jin was invited to the banquet to make Chinese dishes.

    [By the way, there have been friendly exchanges between the two countries before, but I really don’t think it’s as grand as this time. They also opened a live broadcast and invited Ye Jin to make Chinese dishes. Don’t they fear that the Federation will know the secret of Ye Jin’s dishes?】

    [I also want to comment that the friendly exchanges between the two countries used to show the reception screen. This year, even the banquet screen will be broadcast live! They won’t be any conspiracy, right?】

   [I also want to ask, given the Empire’s prior protection of Xiao Jin, why would he agree to make this banquet now? What if he is targeted by the Federation? All in all, this all-interstellar live broadcast is very meaningful.】

  [Upstairs, according to reliable sources, the result of this time is the consequence of the game between the two sides. The empire cannot refuse this request from the Federation due to the interests of the empire as a whole. At the same time, in order to protect Ye Jin, it opened a full interstellar live broadcast channel, so that everyone can pay attention just in case.】

 [Is it true upstairs? Why are they all conspiracy theories? Couldn’t it just be that the empire invited Xiao Jin to make Chinese dishes in order to reflect its own atmosphere in front of the Federation?】

   [Upstairs, are you using village communication network? Don’t you know about the various accidents and online rumors some time ago? According to the official investigation report, there was a handwriting from the Federation. I don’t know what it is to come to a friendly visit right now.】

Amidst the discussion among netizens, Ye Jin was preparing the ingredients for making dishes. In the kitchen, Ye Jin arranged for several apprentices to work together to handle the ingredients.

As it’s a state banquet, home-cooked dishes could no longer be cooked, and because the Ye family had once cooked a state banquet, although the inheritance was not completely inherited, Ye Jin still requested His Majesty to invite Old Man Ye into the palace to help.

Ye Jin and Old Man Ye discussed the dishes to be made, and finally selected a few dishes from the Ye family’s inherited recipes to make. Ye Jin also added several big dishes he would like, including the famous Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in the 21st century, Cabbage in Boiled Water and Wensi tofu.

After the two discussed the menu, Ye Jin started to boil the chicken soup for boiled cabbage, and at the same time asked a few apprentices to prepare alternative ingredients for the Buddha jumps over the wall. The kitchen was busy in full swing. 

In the process of preparing the dishes on Ye Jin’s side, the time slowly approached six o’clock in the afternoon. The live broadcast room of the official platform of the Empire also showed a picture of the banquet hall, but there was no one on the two rows of low tables placed in the banquet hall at the moment, and all the audience saw was a very empty and gorgeous palace.

It was not until eight o’clock in the evening that people began to enter the empty palace one after another.

Flo's notes:

“Buddha Jumps over the Wall,” also known as “Fu Shou Quan,” a wish for good fortune and long life, is a well-known Fujian dish that originated during the reign of Qing Emperor Daoguang (1821—1850)      Wensi tofu is a soup made of finely shredded tofu and other ingredients of different colors, Wensi Tofu is a time-honored dish in southern China's Jiangsu cuisine.      Cabbage In Boiled Water was created by the famous Sichuan cuisine chef Huang Jinglin in the imperial dining room of the Palace, it was later carried forward by the Sichuan cuisine master Luo Guorong and became a fine dish for foreign guests at state banquets.