A Mysterious Ingredient

"The Queen still doesn't take a bite!"

"Ah, we're doomed!"

Inside the magnificent decorated kitchen of the palace, several chefs let out a desperate wail in horror.

It turned out that a few months ago, the Queen had come down with a strange disease, with no appetite at all, and was completely uninterested in facing the mountainous delicacies made by the royal chefs - even smelling the aroma would make her feel uncomfortable. The doctor claimed that there was nothing wrong with the queen's body, but the king did not believe him. The king insisted that it was because the food prepared by the royal chefs was not good that the queen had lost her appetite. After putting all the royal chefs in jail, the king began to recruit chefs in the private sector - however, if the queen still didn't want to eat, then the chefs would be put in jail or even killed.

After the announcement went out, no chef dared to apply for the job for a while. Because everyone knew that the king would do anything for the queen. And seeing that no chef applied for the job, the king was so furious that he ordered the court knight to arrest the chef on the street. As a result, the people in the kingdom were in a state of panic, and the restaurants and canteens were closed one by one.

The young prince, the only son of the king and queen, was very worried about his mother's situation. He loved to cook, and as a child, he used to imitate the chefs in the royal kitchens. But his father, the king, didn't think the prince should be doing such things - besides, the prince was a really bad cook, chopping ingredients out of shape and seasoning them terribly. At the time he shared the food he made with his parents, only the queen barely ate a portion herself, while the king didn't touch it at all. In fact, the prince himself considered what he had made completely inedible. To avoid a repeat of this behavior, which the king called "food waste," the prince was banned from the royal kitchens.

And now, one by one, the arrested cooks were imprisoned, and the prince felt sorry for them and wanted very much to help them. Meanwhile, the queen's health was failing day by day, and the prince was very anxious about it, but he could do nothing to change the situation.

For advice, the prince went to a respected magician in the kingdom.

The magician told him that in a village far away, he could find a very rare ingredient, and no matter how little appetite he had, he could not resist the temptation of dishes made with that ingredient.

Without saying a word, the prince took the fastest horse from the king's stables and tried to find that ingredient within a day, so that his mother could get well soon.

The king, in spite of his bad temper, was very protective of his family. The queen never once left the royal city after she married him, because there were many wild animals and bandits outside the city. And for the same reason, the prince grew up in the castle since childhood. Not to mention leaving the city, he hadn't even walked the streets around the castle a few times. So he quickly got lost, and was chased by wolves on his way to get lost. After he finally got rid of the wolves, the sun was already going down. The prince was tired and hungry, but he had to light a torch to keep searching for the village the wizard had mentioned. It wasn't until the middle of the night that he finally found the village, but by this time everyone in the village had gone to bed early. The prince tied his horse at the entrance of the village and prepared to knock on the door of the first family. But he was so tired that before anyone answered, he had fallen asleep at the door.

"Are you awake? You've been sleeping at the door all night!"

When the prince opened his eyes again, he smelled an aroma of food. As far as his eyes could see, an old woman with snowy white hair was stirring the contents of a pot while her husband, an old man, was burning the fire.

"I just happened to see you collapsed at the door when I went to chop firewood! You are a guest from the King's City, isn't it? Hope you won't detest peasant food "

The old man said, offering the prince a bowl of the pot's contents, in a broken wooden bowl.

The prince looked at it, broken and dried rye and oat grains with a few caterpillar bitten cabbage leaves and carrots that had obviously gone nutty floating on top.

Porridge made from stale grains and crushed vegetables was something the prince would rather starve to death than eat in normal times, but he had been starving all day yesterday and couldn't care less now.

It was delicious!

That was the only thought that ran through the prince's mind the moment the porridge slid down his throat.

His tears suddenly flowed as well.

It was clearly poor quality grains and rotten vegetables.

But why was it so delicious?

Could it be?

After finishing the bowl of porridge, the prince explained his intentions to the old couple and pleaded with them to share some of that mysterious material with him.

"Mysterious ingredient huh?

The old couple exchanged a look and told the prince that they would put the ingredient right in as soon as they were taken to cook for the queen.

The prince agreed and quickly brought the old couple back to the royal city.

The young captain of the guard was against letting the old couple into the royal kitchens, but the prince said they could be trusted. As the two sides argued, a very senior minister arrived, and when he understood the situation, he told the captain of the guard to shut up and take all the responsibility.

After thanking the minister, the prince took the old couple into the kitchen. Soon, the prince had doubts about his judgment as well, because they didn't use any special ingredients at all.

Even the finished product was the same as what the prince drank in the morning, vegetable porridge made with inferior ingredients.

When they brought the food to the king and queen, the prince was very worried, and he was afraid that his father would put the old couple to death in a fit of rage - even though they might have lied to the prince, they had given him food in his time of need, and it was considered a favor.

Surprisingly to the prince, when the king saw the old couple, he did not have his usual majesty at all, but instead had a look of surprise and even fear.

"Hi ......Father-in-law and mother-in-law."

The prince was very surprised because he was completely unaware that the old couple were his grandparents.

It turned out that when the king was young, the relationship between the countries was very tense. The previous king suddenly died, leaving him, who had never handled political affairs, in a critical situation. The country was not considered very strong and the royal family was not very wealthy. So one wrong step in politics could lead to the destruction of the country. For this reason, the king had to be careful with every task, which gave him both physical and psychological pressure. One day, overwhelmed by the burden of politics, he secretly left his throne and went on a trip. While passing through the village, he fainted from hunger due to running out of food, and his life was saved by the present queen, and they fell in love with each other. The queen's parents did not approve of them at the time, so the king eloped with the queen one night and the two fled back to the capital. After that, he was always worried that the scandalous story of robbing the people's daughter would be exposed, because the newly appointed young king needed the support of all his subjects-especially since he needed to make amends for his irresponsible escapades. If the royal family is discredited because of him, it might even cost him the support of his people. What's more, the Queen might leave him because of it - that was his greatest fear at that time. And this fear spawned in him a strong possessiveness and protectiveness towards his family, which manifested itself in the form of an overprotective attitude towards the Queen. Though he still engages in some overzealous behavior, "all for the sake of his family" seems like a logical explanation to outsiders.

However, the Queen had never once seen her parents since coming to the King's City, and the Prince had rightfully never met his grandparents.

The only person who knew the whole story was the old minister, who had been loyal to the current king's father. He had also helped the king as much as he could to cover up after this almost unbelievable behavior in his youth, and that was why the world had not been given the truth, and they all assumed that the queen was a relative of the old minister.

Now the Queen saw her parents, whom she had not seen for many years, and her tears flowed uncontrollably from the deep sockets of her eyes, which were sunk by thinness. Soon, she wolfed down the vegetable congee served by the old couple.

"It's still the same as when she was a child!"

The old couple smiled at each other.

Soon, the queen regained her health, and the old couple refused the king's reward and returned to their village, only making the king promise to be able to have their daughter and grandson visit them in the future.

As a matter of fact, when the fainted prince was found by the old grandpa, the old grandpa probably guessed who he was from his clothes. He hurriedly greeted his wife to make some food for his grandson. They didn't hate the king for taking away their daughter, they just loathed him for preventing their family from meeting. Faced with their grandson, whom they had never met before, but who was starving and cold, they still decisively lent a helping hand.

The mysterious ingredients added to that bowl of ordinary vegetable porridge are pure care and love for the family. Regardless of the quality of the ingredients and the cooking techniques, as long as these are added to the dishes, it is delicious for the diners.