Chapter 73: Uncle the Cook Has Disappeared

"I won't eat!" Han Zixuan bit his lip and turned his head away.

"Eh~ Fine then!" Fu Bao withdrew the hand offering the pig's trotter—if you won't eat it, I will!

"Ah! Young master is awake!" The servant Xiaoxi was the first to notice his master had regained consciousness. Oh, how wonderful!

But where did this chubby little girl come from?

"My precious great-grandson!" Old Madam Han turned at Xiaoxi's words and immediately spotted Han Zixuan sitting on the bed, cheeks puffed with indignation. In two or three steps, she squeezed to the bedside, grasped Han Zixuan's little hand, and joyfully fussed over him.

Everyone crowded forward, and Fu Bao, clutching her pig's trotter, was inadvertently swallowed up by the gathering!

"Oh my! My poor foot! Oh my! My pig's trotter!" Fu Bao cried out amidst the throng.

Outside the crowd, Bai Yugu watched Han Zixuan awaken and be surrounded by people, biting her lip. She glanced at Han Ying's profile within the crowd, clenched her palm, and resolved: she must succeed, or today's plan would be for nothing!

Eventually, Fu Bao was dragged out by Bai Yulan, who stood outside. The Bai family, seeing Han Zixuan awake, no longer pressed forward.

Fu Bao, holding her pig's trotter, whimpered in Old Madam Bai's arms.

Oh dear~ Her little foot, her uncle's big foot had stepped on it!

Big-foot Han Hua: "...You're so tiny, how could I possibly see you?"

"Grandmother, I..." Han Zixuan, embraced by his beloved grandmother, mumbled shyly. His gaze swept to the person gnawing a pig's trotter in Madam Bai's arms; suddenly, his mouth began to water.

Han Zixuan: "...Could that pig's trotter be bewitched?"

"Xuan'er, are you feeling unwell? Physician, physician, come see if my great-grandson is ill!"

"No, that's not it."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I..."

"Hmm?"

"I want to eat pig's trotter."

Everyone was stunned—their great-grandson (son) was actually asking for food, and not just any food, but greasy pig's trotter?

Fu Bao looked at the person on the bed, devouring a whole plate of pig's trotters, then at her own gnawed, battered trotter, nearly depleted.

Fu Bao: Weren't you refusing to eat?

Thus, the Han family's young master's inexplicable aversion to food was miraculously cured by a single pig's trotter!

A strange rumor began to spread: the chef of the Prime Minister's household was a celestial cook descended to earth, whose crystal pork knuckle had pulled the Han family's young master back from the brink of starvation!

The Bai family: ...This is too bizarre.

The Bai family chef: ...When did I become a culinary deity?

Fu Bao: My pig's trotter, mine!

In the end, Bai Yugu never delivered her medicinal recipe, nor did she manage to attract Han Ying's attention. After Han Zixuan feasted on several pig's trotters at the Bai household, he was taken back to the Han family.

Old Madam Han clung to Old Madam Bai's hand, calling her "sister, sister," with great affection.

Old Madam Bai's seventieth birthday was lively; apart from the emperor arriving at noon in disguise to take the household chef away, everything went well.

Bai Yulan was left at her mother's home by Old Madam Han, who wanted her to spend more time with Fu Bao. The old lady's eye was sharp—she had long noticed the chubby girl gnawing pig's trotter in Old Madam Bai's arms.

That child radiated fortune; hadn't her own great-grandson's illness been cured simply by craving the pig's trotter she held?

So she let her granddaughter-in-law cuddle the girl more, believing it wouldn't be long before she had another great-grandchild. Haha!

That night, the little ginseng spirit stared mournfully at Fu Bao, who was writing a letter for her parents. At first, Fu Bao was so focused she didn't notice the aggrieved gaze.

When the letter was finished, Fu Bao blew on it, indicating it would dry and then her cousin could send it home for her.

"Eh~ Sensen, what's wrong?" Fu Bao finally noticed the ginseng spirit's bitter expression.

"Tell me honestly, what did you do today?"

"Nothing much."

"You're lying. I can smell it."

"Hmm? Smell it?"

"Yes."

"Alright! I ate a few pig's trotters."

"It can't be just a few."

"Really! Only a few."

"Then why has the chef who made pig's trotters disappeared? Did you eat so much you drove him away?"

"..."

In the study, Fu Bao and the little ginseng spirit conducted a thorough investigation into the disappearance of the plump, kindly chef uncle—they were determined to find him!

At that moment, in the palace, the chef uncle who had been promoted to head chef of the imperial kitchen sneezed: "Achoo, who is calling me!"