The next day, Princess Yongning indeed presented the adoption plan written by Li Ying before the emperor.
Princess Yongning didn't shy away at all and straightforwardly said that the idea of "adopting a cow" was conceived by Li Ying.
Li Ying took the hint and specially prepared several milk desserts to present.
Fresh buffalo milk, after being slightly boiled and then left to cool, would form a thick layer of milk skin.
Carefully pierce that milk skin, pour out the buffalo milk inside, add egg white and sugar, stir gently, and then pour it back into the steaming bowl with the milk skin.
When the milk skin floats up, put it into the pot and steam for a quarter of an hour on high heat. Then the steaming double - skin milk would come out of the pot smoothly.
The taste of buffalo milk is more mellow and delicious than ordinary milk. The double - skin milk made by steaming is smooth, tender and fragrant. The thick milk skin melts in the mouth and slides smoothly down the throat, leaving a strong milky aroma lingering on the lips and teeth for a long time.
Then make a bowl of ginger milk curd. Different from the double - skin milk that coagulates with egg white, this ginger milk curd relies entirely on the reaction between ginger juice and the protein in the milk to coagulate the milk into a soft and tender milk jelly.
The already rich milky aroma of buffalo milk, set off by the slight spiciness of ginger juice, is fragrant but not greasy, with the flavors complementing each other perfectly.
Now that the sea is very rough, the queen, the empress dowager and other female members of the palace can't bear the cold. Having a bowl of ginger milk curd is the best way to warm the stomach and body and dispel dampness.
Add egg white and starch to buffalo milk, season with a little salt and sugar, and then stir - fry in the pot. It becomes a famous soft - fried dish suitable for all ages.
Most of the moisture in the milk is fried out, leaving white, soft and tender milk cubes with a more intense and rich milky aroma. The side dishes are fresh shrimps and diced ham. The shrimps are sweet and chewy, and the ham is salty, fragrant and moist. Matched with the delicate fried milk, it has a sense of being appropriate whether simply or elaborately dressed.
Beat the remaining egg yolks, stir them evenly in the milk, put them into the pot and boil them. Heat slowly on low heat and stir constantly, and you can cook a delicate and yellowish phoenix milk paste.
The milk paste has a smooth texture and is steaming hot. When tasted, it is sweet with a long aftertaste. The warm feeling spreads directly from the tip of the tongue to the heart. Although it doesn't look very eye - catching, it has a special gentle and soothing taste.
Take a free - range chicken cut into pieces, marinate it slightly, then immerse it in a boiling buffalo milk pot. Simmer it on low heat for a quarter of an hour, using only the heat of the milk to cook the chicken.
The meat of the free - range chicken is extremely fresh and tender. Stewed in milk, it is even more soft and delicious. The rich aroma of chicken fat and the sweet aftertaste of milk match perfectly.
In this milk pot, you can also cook freshly sliced beef, which will be cooked until soft, tender and fragrant but not greasy.
When you are fully satisfied and satiated, put in large pieces of papaya to stew. The milk that has had most of its water evaporated will coagulate into jelly because of the papaya juice. It has a delicate sweet aftertaste in the salty taste, with a smooth and soft texture, making people feel content.
Li Ying stood by personally and explained to the emperor and others one by one the many advantages of buffalo milk, which is rich in nutrition and has great health - preserving effects.
The empress dowager has a light diet and really likes the sweet ginger milk curd. She couldn't stop praising it.
Princess Yongning immediately laughed and said, "Since imperial grandmother likes it, Yongning will take the lead and contract for a hundred buffaloes. From now on, I will send this milk into the palace every month for imperial grandmother and father to taste!"
With such filial piety, the emperor and the empress dowager were naturally very happy.
The emperor put down his silver spoon. When he saw a line on the "Adoption Dairy Cow Project Document" that read "Transfer musicians from the music workshop in the capital", he couldn't help raising his eyebrows.
It was just raising some livestock. Why did they need musicians!
Seeing his doubts, Li Ying quickly stepped forward and explained gently and smoothly.
"Your Majesty may not know. Have you ever heard the saying 'playing the lute to a cow'? This may seem like a joke, but in fact, the melodious and beautiful celestial music is indeed very beneficial to the milk production of buffaloes."
She gently explained the soothing effect of music on the emotions of dairy cows one by one. But seeing that the emperor still looked hesitant, Princess Yongning quickly echoed, "Father, I think although what Miss Li said sounds a bit strange, it's a good idea."
Buffaloes have a gentle temperament and are easy to raise. As long as local farmers teach them, it's very easy to get started.
There are many idle young men in the capital who engage in cock - fighting and dog - fighting. They come from official families but are good - for - nothing, just like the young master who wanted to take A Man as a concubine that day. There are countless musicians and dancers in their mansions.
These girls live under others' roofs, have no control over their own lives, have to flatter others, entertain and sell smiles, and have no skills to rely on.
"Father, I'm willing to come forward and recruit these musicians and dancers to play music for the dairy cows to increase milk production. In this way, the young men in the capital can also focus on their studies, and father can get a few more pillars of the country."
Princess Yongning's proposal was naturally approved by the emperor.
She was a princess of the country. As a woman, it was most appropriate for her to handle this matter.
As for the monthly allowance for these musicians, if the dairy cows really increase their milk production after listening to the music, they should be rewarded according to their merits. Naturally, some money should be taken out from the income of selling milk for the reward.
The emperor waved his hand generously and simply left all these trivial matters to Princess Yongning to handle.
Princess Yongning received the order and thanked the emperor. She exchanged a look with Li Ying quietly, and both of them understood each other.
If they handled the "adopt a cow" task beautifully, it would be a meritorious service in front of the emperor. In the future, if Yongning wanted to cooperate with Lu Xunguang and get involved in his various industries, and become the most favored daughter of the emperor and hold the power of finance and business, this would be the first step.
The emperor also wanted to see how far Li Ying and Princess Yongning could go, so he simply stopped asking about it. With an imperial edict, he left all the matters of post - disaster reconstruction in Huan City and the adoption of buffaloes to Yongning to take care of.
Previously, the coastal people in Huan City lived in shabby huts with paper - pasted window lattices. Now, because of the emperor's southern tour, they had replaced them with solid and beautiful glazed windows and the indestructible oyster - shell houses. Everyone felt that there was hope in life from then on.
When they heard that the princess was going to lead them personally to raise buffaloes and that the buffalo milk would be offered as a tribute to the nobles in the palace, everyone was overjoyed.
After receiving the money from Princess Yongning for adopting buffaloes, they immediately regarded this beautiful princess as a goddess descending to the mortal world. When they heard that she and Li Ying were discussing to enclose a place in the mangrove forest by the sea to raise dairy cows, they were eager to immediately cut down all the mangroves with overgrown branches to let the nobles plan at will.
Hearing this, Li Ying quickly stopped them repeatedly, saying, "No! Absolutely not!"
The mangrove forest is known as the "green lungs of the sea". Although she intended to raise buffaloes to earn money, she would never do anything to exhaust the resources.