"Xiao Wu,"
Everything was proceeding exactly as he expected. Emperor Xuanwu gave Yun Shu a smiling glance.
"Would you be willing to enlighten everyone?"
"It would be my pleasure."
Understanding that Emperor Xuanwu wished to use the occasion of the palace banquet to normalize the consumption of offal—and even blood—Yun Shu readily cooperated.
She rose with poise and offered a friendly reminder to General Wei Yuan.
"Please steady yourself."
General Wei Yuan blinked.
Was this little girl looking down on him?
He had led troops into battle and seen all manner of bloodshed. Could a few dishes really shake him?
It wasn't as if they were gnawing on raw, bloody flesh!
He dismissed her warning with a snort and kept one elbow propped on the table, his chopsticks still ferrying food to his mouth.
"Please, Your Highness. Speak freely. I've a strong stomach!"
"General Wei Yuan speaks boldly. It seems I've overthought things."
Yun Shu nodded calmly.
"The dish you're enjoying is called Braised Chicken Giblets with Fresh Duck Blood. I can certainly share how it is prepared.
First, mix starch and salt with water in a bowl. Then, after slaughtering a duck, collect its blood in the bowl. Once any stray feathers or impurities are removed, the blood is allowed to congeal into a firm jelly.
Next, prepare the chicken offal: intestines, kidneys, liver, heart, and gizzards—the entire set of organs commonly referred to as giblets.
After that, slice them into thin—"
"Wait a moment!"
General Wei Yuan held his tongue, but some of the more squeamish ministers could no longer stay silent. One elder official, face twitching slightly, interrupted with a tremble in his voice.
"Y-Your Highness... are you saying we've been eating duck blood and chicken innards? Those filthy things?!"
"That's an amusing way to put it."
Yun Shu's smile was polite, but her words were sharp.
"Meat and blood—these two have always come as one. And the organs lie at the heart of both.
We all eat chicken, duck, fish, and meat without complaint. Why then, when it comes to blood and innards, does everyone suddenly turn their nose up?"
"Such things are not the same!"
The protesting official was thin and elderly, his expression pained, a clear picture of a man clinging to old values.
But Yun Shu's logic had already backed him into a corner, and his face turned red with frustration.
"B-but those organs, they... they held..."
He couldn't bring himself to say the last few words.
Fortunately, Yun Shu understood. And she was utterly unfazed.
"Then wash them. Don't pigs' feet and chicken claws stomp through muck before they reach the pot? Has anyone complained about that?
From how upset you look, my lord, I suppose you've eaten quite a lot just now?"
"You—!"
He was left speechless.
He couldn't deny it—after all, the dishes truly weren't poisonous. He could still argue that such fare was unfit for refined company. But the problem was... His Majesty had eaten it too.
However esteemed these courtiers were, none could claim to outrank the Emperor.
With no room to retort, the old minister awkwardly fell silent.
General Wei Yuan, who hadn't said a word since the revelation, discreetly moved his chopsticks to another dish.
"This one is pig brain in clay pot."
Yun Shu offered helpfully.
"Would General Wei Yuan like to hear how it's made?"
"N-no, that won't be necessary."
Hearing such an unambiguous name, sweat began to bead on the general's forehead. For once, his reply was unusually restrained.
"A gentleman keeps his distance from the kitchen. I've no need to learn such things."
"In that case, I shall say no more."
Yun Shu nodded and gracefully followed the path his chopsticks had taken.
"Crispy pork intestines, stir-fried fatty tripe, chilled pig heart, garlic-seasoned liver slices… sautéed kidney flowers—ah, this one's flavored with dogwood berries and pig kidney."
Clack.
His elbow slipped from the table, and General Wei Yuan nearly slammed his face into his plate.
He quickly set down his chopsticks with a forced smile.
"These dishes are… certainly unique."
Heavens help him. This really wasn't much different from gnawing on raw flesh!
"Is General Wei Yuan full already?"
Noticing her most enthusiastic eater had put down his chopsticks, Yun Shu's smile dimmed slightly.
"There are times when I truly don't understand why people harbor such deep prejudice.
Ordinary chicken, duck, fish, and pork weren't always delicacies either. When they were first discovered as edible, were there not also people who scoffed and called them unfit for a proper table?"
Her gaze swept lightly across the hall, settling for a moment on each of the ministers before her voice softened into a musing tone.
"Then again, perhaps not. After all, in those days, food was scarce. The discovery of something new to eat would have been cause for celebration, not disdain."
Something in her expression shifted, and she turned back to General Wei Yuan.
"Marching and fighting on the frontlines demands great strength. When General Lu commanded the camps, surely the soldiers ate meat at every meal?"
"Your Highness jests."
In most matters, General Wei Yuan seemed a bit slow-witted.
But when it came to his soldiers, his expression turned solemn.
Among everyone present, few knew better than he the hardships of war. Yun Shu's remark about eating meat every meal struck him like a blow.
"Conditions in the army are nothing like those in the capital. Our soldiers cannot compare to Your Highness's gilded life. To eat meat even once every ten days is considered a luxury."
"So the truth is, meat is scarce in the army."
Yun Shu nodded as if the realization had just dawned, though her eyes showed only deeper puzzlement.
"That makes it all the more perplexing. The official who earlier disparaged these dishes—he lives in the capital, accustomed to silk and delicacies, and is free to turn his nose up at what he deems filthy.
But you, as the mighty General Wei Yuan, knowing full well the shortage of meat in the camps—how could you look down on these dishes?
Especially when, using the same amount of pig or sheep, these recipes could produce nearly half again as much food for your troops!"
"Huh?"
General Wei Yuan froze. Then suddenly, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed with wide eyes.
"That's right! All the pig blood and offal in our camps has been wasted all this time!"
These were treasures!
Now that he'd changed his mindset, General Wei Yuan looked at the glistening dishes before him with entirely different eyes.
He couldn't even understand what he'd been thinking a few moments ago.
Had he lost his mind? How could he have turned his nose up at something so delicious?