Site icon Global Granary

Royal Feast (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

Jean Morton

Chinese Drama 2022

Royal Feast (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

Royal Feast poster

 

Cast

Episode 1

The palace was recruiting kitchen staff.  The three main candidates were Su Yuehua, Yin Ziping and Yao Zijin.

The matron asked the three what was their reason for wanting to work at the palace.

Su Yuehua said that she wanted to bring the best food to the palace.

Ziping said that as a commoner, she admired the Emperor’s frugality, and therefore, she wants to bring common food at their best into the palace.

Zijin said it was either work in the palace or forced to get married.

The Matron said that Su Yuehua was too arrogant assuming that the palace does not have the best already.

Ziping was deemed too woke.

While Zijin was not serious at all.

The matron asked the guards to escort the three girls out of the palace.

Ziping kowtowed and begged to be allowed to stay.

Zijin, the carefree one was about to walk out when a new announcement was made.

The Emperor had arrived unexpectedly from the Northern region and all staff are needed to feed hungry soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince was being served his lunch.  He almost choke on a dumpling but he was such a people pleaser he said not to worry, trying to reassure the kitchen manager.

His wife, the Crown Princess, turned up and had He Shu kicked out.  And in not so many words, she told the Prince to man up and to develop some spine.

His being so laid back became apparent when the Emperor held a feast.

Prince of Han Gao turned up. The Emperor was annoyed that he left his duty.  The Crown Prince immediately begged the Emperor not to be so heavy-handed with his brother.

Anyway, food after the food was being turned down by the Emperor.

The matrons and kitchen staff were getting worried about their positions and of their necks as well.

Zijin said that she will try to cook something for the Emperor.

The Emperor loved the chicken liver soup, the steamed silken tofu with chicken essence as well as Chairman Mao Red Braised Pork Belly (which of course was called something else as this was the Ming Dynasty🤣)

The next recipe Zijin was making was a whole quail but the matron said she would continue cooking it.

It was then presented to the Emperor by the Crown Princess.

The Emperor was annoyed that the Crown Princess was present at the male-only food fest.

Meanwhile, Zhu Zanji was still gallivanting in the forest.  Zanji is the grandson of the Emperor.

Episode 2

The Emperor did not like the quail/pigeon.

But he was missing his grandson and can’t wait to see him.

The person who saw Zanji was Zijin who fell in love at first glimpse with the gorgeous Grand Imperial Prince.

It happened when Zijin was punished by Matron Wang for adding herbs into the food served to the Emperor.

Because the Emperor like the food, Zijin was awarded first honour by Matron Meng but still Matron Wang just did not like Zijin because there was something about her that is irreverent.

Zijin took her punished cheerfully as observed by the eunuch watching over her.

Heavy iron lamps were clamped on her wrists, she then had to walk around the palace ground shouting ‘Peace reigns over the land’

She had to do it nightly until daybreak.

It was a rainy evening when she saw a carriage heavily guarded coming into the palace.  The saucy minx collapsed strategically.

The prince ordered that her punishment be over.

She was majorly crushing on the kind prince.  The power of love🤣 gave her renewed stamina so she took whatever come her way.

Meanwhile, the prince visited his consort, who feigned a headache.🤣. When Zanji gave her a mandarin (which was like gold at that time), Consort Hu moaned rather than be pleased.  She said that he should be thinking of the nation rather than procuring a mandarin for her.

Zanji gave up.

Another unhappy girl in the palace was Su Yue Hwa.  She spoke to Matron Meng and let herself be known to her as her long-lost daughter.

Matron Meng, however, refused to acknowledge her.

The Emperor was looking at horses.

The Third Prince turned up with a white horse.

Immediately, the Second Prince thought that it would be a good idea for the fat Crown Prince to get some exercise.  He dragged the Crown Prince and hefted him into the white horse and gave it a good slap which made the horse bolt.

The poor Crown Prince was shouting that he was not ready and wanted help.

Then enter the Grand Imperial Grandson to help his father.

Episode 3

An imperial edict was issued to only feed the Crown Prince vegetarian food.

The usually easy-going Crown Prince had gone off his food so a chef fried mushroom in pork oil.

This was found out and the cook was hunted down by Lord Yu.

Seeing the punishment given to one of them, the chefs tried to make more inventive truly vegetarian dishes.

Meanwhile, Zijin was so nosy.  She can’t help herself, she just had to look at everything when she was tasked to bring in the food for the Imperial Grandson.

She interferes in Zanji’s study.  She would wander in the study and even did something with the prince’s writings.

He noticed the candle stain on the parchment had disappeared.

Because of this, a handmaiden was beaten up and kicked out of the palace because she pretended she was the one who did it.

Zanji knew that the handmaiden was lying so he drew a rat meant for the one who was interfering with his work.

Zijin just can’t help herself so she then added her own design to it.

The prince was intrigued.

Meanwhile, Matron Meng made an announcement of selecting her disciple to pass all her recipes and cooking tricks and hacks to.

She then singled out Zijin which made her own daughter, Su Yue Hwa rather crashed while Ziping became jealous.

Episode 4

Zanji is getting annoyed with his wife because she would like to suffer in silence and would not want to see a doctor.

Zanji himself was ill, he was coughing out blood.  The Royal Physician said that he had been poisoned.

Now the suspect was the little maid that brings the Prince food.

Meanwhile, Lord You was investigating the impostor who entered the palace as maid/cook.

It looked like it was Zi Ping.

Zi Ping got Zijin alone pretending that she was unwell.

But she tried to strangle Zijin with a rope but Zijin fought back.

They got interrupted by Su Yue Hua who said that someone wanted to speak with Zijin.

Zi Ping quietly begged Zijin not to turn her in.

Anyway, the cooks were gathered in the courtyard where Lord You was presiding.  He brought in a commoner as a witness to the imposter.  Lord You asked the commoner if the girl was Zijin.  The commoner could not tell for sure.

Another one was brought if.  It was the woman the imposter run away from.

She had a look at Zijin and said that she knew the girl very well.

23 February 2022: This drama had already accumulated 100,000,000 on its second day of broadcast!

Episode 5

The woman said that the girl had a very distinctive mole on her hand.

Zijin showed her hand and there was no mole.

As he can’t find his suspect Lord You had to leave.

Zijin then went to see Ziping who told her sad story.

She said she was all alone now because her family was branded as traitors so they had all been killed.

She had been working in restaurants to learn the craft and living on leftovers.  She took all the insults and everything else just to be able to survive.

When the pampered daughter of the restauranteur refused to enter the palace Ziping gladly took her place.

Her confession was overheard by Su Yue Hua.

She immediately told Matron Meng about it.

And therefore Ziping was banned from the kitchen and handling food.  The issue remained within the food court because Matron Meng would be in trouble if it got out as she was warned by Lord Yu that she will be liable for harboring an impostor.

Meanwhile, Zhanji realised how he got poisoned.  It was from eating a candied cherry when he visited his consort.

The consort was slowly poisoning herself because she was unhappy with her position.  All she ever wanted was to become a medicine woman but due to circumstances, her father married her off to Zhanji.

Zipeng was finally forgiven and returned to the kitchen.

She was talking to a rather excited Zijin who confessed that she had seen her crush.  She said that she had been crushing on him since she was a girl when he visited her family farm with the Emperor.

She was dreaming that she could get together with him one day soon.

Matron Meng was surpised by the Second Prince when she got to her villa.

The Second Prince asked her if she was happy to be reunited with her daughter.

It then came out why she got separated from Su Yue Hua.

Ten years ago, her Su Feng, her brother in law was intent on raping her but she stabbed him to death.

She was arrested and would have been beheaded but the Second Prince helped her and she eventually became a palace made.  Through sheer hard work, she became the chief matron of the kitchen.

Now the Second Prince wanted to do him a favour.

The usually easy-going Crown Prince was going mental.  He even screamed at his wife and called her a jailer.

The Crown Princess investigated what made the Crown Prince become so tetchy.  She found out that it happened after he had a meal.

She called in Matron Meng who confess about the Second Prince.  She said that her allegiance was always been with the Crown Princess.

Episode 6

I don’t think it was cute. Zijin was a total slapper.  She knew she was almost (actually she was) found out by the Imperial Prince when she was hiding under his bed.

He gave her time to get away by pretending that he had fallen asleep.

Instead of leaving immediately, she went to the prince and remove the book that he put over his face to look like he had fallen asleep.

She then looked at him lovingly as if she had all the time in the world.  Only when the prince grabbed her hand pretending that he thought that she was his manservant that she left.

She then continued mooning that she will be together with him soon.  She sounded like a stalker.

Unfortunately, Wu Jinyan despite being a brilliant actress can’t really do the innocent look so her role as Zijin crushing on Zanji is looking more horny and rather creepy than wholesome and virginal adoration 🤣🤣🤣🤣

There was a feasting contest at the harem.  It was not a pleasant one as everyone was talking with double meaning and bitching.

Then it ended later with a palace fire involving the Yu concubine.

Episode 7

In turned out the Yu concubine has a terminal illness and not much long to live.

At first, she confessed that the Empress was in cahoots with the Crown Prince of trying to kill the Emperor.

But then, during further investigations, like a Miss Marple kind of reveal where everyone who is a suspect was present, the Imperial Grandson divulged to the Emperor that Concubine Yu is terminally ill and that her illness was going to her brain.

Zhanji said that he found out that someone paid a lot of gold to Concubine Yu’s family and in return, she had to frame the Crown Prince.

Then Zhanji said that the one who paid gold to the Yu family was the manservant of the Second Prince.

The Second Prince was shocked but the die is cast and everyone believed the new development including the Emperor.

The Empress was freed and so was Zijin, who got caught in the middle of the controversy.

Alone and now a pariah, the Second Prince met Matron Meng who can’t keep the smirk off her face from feeling schadenfreude from the Second Prince situation.

The Second Prince said that he really did not frame his brother or paid the gold.

Matron Meng asked if he was framed by the Crown Prince of even by the Imperial Grandson.

The prince said that his elder brother was too religious that he would wish real harm to others and Zhanji was a straightforward kind of guy.

Matron Meng remarked that there might be someone who really hates him.

He found that someone by the memorial grave of his wife.  And it was Lord You.  Apparently Lord You was his son who witness how the Second Prince treated his mother like a football when he thought she was cheating on him.

Her mother died and Lord You had never forgiven his father.

Episode 8

At last, Zijin’s dream had come true.  Zhanji was more than willing to have an affair with the help as he was not getting it from his missus.

But actually, the missus had a change of heart but then Zhanji has a new plaything.

The three girls have their individual mentors.

Episode 9

It seemed the relationship between Zhanji and Zijin had progressed exponentially.

He was snubbing his wife’s pleas to visit her again and again. But then he asked Zijin if she would not be upset if he go see his wife.

Zijin encouraged him to do so.

But it was not a successful outing for Zhanji as his wife was out when he finally visited her.

He took out his frustrations of Zijin.

Zijin asked him who is he scolding her or his handmaiden.

He asked what was the difference?

Zijin was upset that he only sees him as a handmaiden not an equal love interest.

She punished him by telling him that she will be his handmaiden from then on.

Whenever she brought his food, she was cold and remote.

So like a man, he tried to buy her jade bracelets but she won’t accept them.

Episode 10

It was the Laba Festival, Lord You went early to Food Court to ask someone to make him longevity noodles because it was his birthday.

It happens that Zijin was on an early duty so she made the birthday noodle and gave it to Lord You who was grateful and rather nostalgic about the ramen with egg.

Later on while everyone was partaking sweet rice porridge to celebrate the Laba festival, a matron warned everyone to keep away from Lord You today.  He is a jinx.  Anyone he asked to make him longevity noodles dies within three months.

Zijin signaled Ziping not to say anything as Ziping saw Zijin had cooked noodles for Lord You.

Zijin was jinxed because she almost froze to death when she went to deliver Zhanji’s food.  Yuan Qi made her stay outside in the snow while Zhanji’s concubine was throttling the guzheng inside.

The Emperor is on the onset of dementia.

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

Exit mobile version