Royal Feast Episode 15 Recap
> Royal Feast Recap
Meng Ziyun was reinstated to her official position. Zhu Gaochi highly praised the food she prepared, which included pickled preserved vegetables wrapped in golden eggs with wild millet onions, and crispy rice crust from salty soaked rice, noting its enhanced flavor from being cooked with pine charcoal. Meng Ziyun lamented that such simple, flavorful meals were inaccessible to the common people in the capital.
Upon hearing that Tianshou Mountain, where the imperial tombs were located, and the Western Hills were forbidden for firewood collection, Zhu Gaochi immediately declared that while the areas around Juyongguan and Tianshou Mountain would remain protected to avoid disturbing ancestors, all other mountain forests would be opened for public use. He emphasized that ancient mountain forests and rivers should be shared by the people, not exclusively held by the royal family.
Following this, Meng Ziyun reported that some officials were deceiving the emperor. She revealed that Guang Luqing Jing Quan intended to follow old customs by procuring "jade-faced raccoons" from Nanjing, a move intended to please the emperor. Zhu Gaochi, who had just begun his reign aiming for benevolent governance and was not one to bother the people for personal desires, was enraged. He immediately dismissed Jing Quan from his post and ordered a strict investigation.
The inquiry uncovered that Jing Quan had been stealing legal objects from the imperial treasury and enriching his own pockets, implying that the Food Bureau was complicit in these corrupt purchasing practices. Wang Si's meal, knowing that Hu Si's meal was involved in forging account books and embezzling funds, took sole responsibility for all the charges during the investigation by Gongzhengsi.
Moon flower, who had been taught extensively by Wang Si's meal, was distraught to learn of her master's impending dismissal and repatriation to her hometown. She pleaded with Meng Ziyun to intercede and keep Wang Si's meal in the Food Bureau.
Meng Ziyun gently raised the kneeling Moon flower, reminding her that Meng Ziyun had once taken all the blame for Moon flower's past misdeeds that nearly implicated the entire Food Bureau, explaining that protecting one's child was a mother's instinct. However, from that point forward, Moon flower would have to rely entirely on herself.
Moon flower then confronted Wang Si's meal, lamenting that Hu Si's meal, for whom Wang Si's meal was taking the fall, did not even come to bid her farewell. Wang Si's meal, however, recounted how Hu Si's meal had protected her when she was a sickly, hungry 17-year-old entering the palace and had been her only friend there. She knew Hu Si's meal was not benevolent, but she felt compelled to protect her.
Hu Si's meal, on the other hand, believed that appearing would only negate Wang Si's meal's sacrifice. Back in the Food Bureau, Meng Ziyun intensified the training for Yao Zijin and Purple Azolla. She stressed the importance of artistic presentation in cooking, akin to painting with "leaving blank" spaces, and urged continuous improvement, likening learning to sailing against the current.
She explained that the highest level of culinary mastery was achieved when a dish was tasted, and the chef's identity was immediately known without question. Meanwhile, Hu Si's meal paid close attention to Moon flower, who was disheartened by Wang Si's meal's departure. Hu Si's meal encouraged her not to be dispirited, urging her to continue honing her culinary skills, particularly by restoring Tang's burning tail food list. She emphasized that ambition must always be matched by practical strength.
At Kunning Palace, the Empress was experiencing severe symptoms, including dizziness, heart palpitations, abdominal pain, and spontaneous sweating, which had persisted for over three months, with recent bleeding. Pan Siyao diagnosed a "slippery vein," indicative of pregnancy, and offered congratulations.
However, Jiang Siyao, a newly arrived female doctor from the Imperial Hospital, strongly disagreed, stating she did not detect a pregnancy pulse and would not alter her diagnosis, even if ordered by the emperor or high officials, upholding her medical integrity. Despite Dai Yuanpan supporting Pan Siyao's diagnosis of pregnancy, Jiang Siyao remained resolute, citing historical precedents of esteemed female physicians who practiced with integrity.
Hu Si's meal, sensing the delicate situation, assigned Yao Zijin to take full responsibility for preparing the Empress's medicated diet, with Moon flower assisting. Purple Azolla expressed her surprise to Yao Zijin, noting Hu Si's meal's previous attempts to suppress Yao Zijin and even transfer her to another department, making this sudden assignment of such a crucial task seem very odd, especially with the Empress's supposed "joyous news."
Hu Si's meal specifically instructed Yao Zijin to take full responsibility for cross-referencing the Imperial Hospital's prescriptions and forbade Moon flower from directly cooking. The Empress, however, was highly agitated and utterly rejected the medicated dishes presented, overturning them. Her daughter-in-law, Yu An, then suggested inviting Sheng Tai Yi, a doctor renowned for curing the late emperor's chronic ailments.
Sheng Tai Yi examined the Empress and subtly replaced the existing prenatal medication with a formula designed to "break blood and clear fire," changing the diet to include Yu Li Ren porridge instead of the usual lotus seed glutinous rice porridge. Moon flower, noticing the change, brought Sheng Tai Yi's new prescription to Yao Zijin.
Yao Zijin expressed her concern, stating the Empress did not appear pregnant when she last saw her, and worried about the severe consequences if Sheng Tai Yi's medicine proved incorrect. Moon flower, however, dismissed her concerns, insisting they merely follow the doctor's orders. Elsewhere, Zhu Zhanji discovered that Royal Guards were secretly monitoring him. He angrily confronted his father, Zhu Gaochi, in the palace.
He clarified that he did not oppose the relocation of the capital but demanded that his father stop sending Royal Guards to follow him, as he found their constant surveillance discomforting and unacceptable. Zhu Gaochi claimed the guards were for Zhu Zhanji's protection, but Zhu Zhanji countered that inconvenient truths must be spoken, warning his father that if he saw Royal Guards again, he would not spare his father's dignity.
Soon after, a report from the Imperial Hospital confirmed that the Empress, after taking Sheng Tai Yi's medicine, began to bleed profusely. Sheng Tai Yi was severely punished, receiving thirty planks. As he was being dragged away, he loudly protested his innocence, proclaiming that the Empress was not pregnant and would die within ten days if treated with the standard abortion-preventing remedies. Yao Zijin overheard Sheng Tai Yi's desperate cries.
Deeply troubled by the Empress's rapidly deteriorating condition and the Imperial Hospital's collective failure to question the pregnancy diagnosis, she saw it as a disregard for human life. Later, while delivering food to Zhu Zhanji, Yao Zijin bravely spoke the truth. She explained that since the Emperor had determined the Empress was pregnant, no other imperial physician dared to contradict him, despite clear signs that the Empress was seriously ill and not pregnant.
She passionately argued that ignoring the true illness and blindly following a mistaken diagnosis was not the act of a chef, but an accomplice to murder, emphasizing that a physician's ethics and a patient's life far outweighed personal honor or disgrace.
Enraged by this revelation, Zhu Zhanji immediately took Yao Zijin with him to a pharmacy that very night, instructing his Royal Guard, Chen Wu, to demonstrate his ability to "steal drugs that are not available in the medical bureau," and together they broke into the establishment.
