Let there be a contest

Knock knock knock

Mai jumped right out of her daydreaming and went to see who was at the door.

"Good evening miss" the guard started with "My name is Xu Peng, and I have orders from the Emperor that you are to join him this evening"

Mai was shocked and asked "Really?"

"You are the new chef of the manor are you not? Then you have been summoned" Xu Peng stated.

Before he could really give Mai any time to guess what was going on he grabbed her hand and slightly dragged her away to the palace.

Mai heart was shuddering thinking "What do I do for royalty? Do I curtsy? What does he want from me" Mai wanted to cry but no tears would come out at she was being dragged for an audience with the Emperor against her will.

They reached a side door that was for servants before entering a room. The room was lined with bookshelf full of scrolls and an older male sitting in the middle of the room.

"So, you are the new chef then" he bellowed at Mai.

All she could do was nod her head at the intimidating man. "Was this the Emperor?" she thought to herself.

He sat up to question her "Are you really as good as they say?"

Mai shivered but just kept nodding her head.

The Emperor's eyes lit up in delight and said "I will host a contest then to see how good you are. If you manage to win, I will let you return to Han Bings manor" he stared at her while his eyes got a murderous edge to them. "You don't want to know what will happen to you if you lose."

Mai was scared out of her mind. "What the fuck was wrong with this man? Is he seriously threatening me because I made good smelling food?" Mai thought to herself decided to show him a thing or two and make some of her mom's recipes. Gaining some courage because she knew that she would destroy all the chefs in the city blindfolded. "very well" Mai said

"Excellent, excellent!" the Emperor excitedly shouted out. The man once again laughed as he pat his belly.

Mai was under the impression that too much inbreeding had happened in the Imperial family and that they were all crazy at this point. "How does he even run the country? Or do the ministers do it for him and he just enjoys his time playing threatening games with his subjects." Mai thought to herself.

Little did Mai know that her harsh treatment was not the Emperor's normal behavior but simply because she had come from Han Bings manor.

"The contest will be held tomorrow then, you can use the imperial kitchens as you see fit and I will be the judge" The emperor said. Without giving Mai any time to agree the man was already leaving the room. "Just bring her to the pink room for the night so she can get will rested for tomorrow" the emperor shouted at the guard on his way out.

"Yes, your majesty" the guard hurriedly said and bowed.

Mai just stood there with wide eyes. "he's not even going to let me return to my own room?!?" Mai thought "what will everyone think happened to me when I will be gone overnight."

"Let's go, your room awaits" The guard said.

Mai was expecting a rather nice room for this being the empirical palace but was extremely disappointed when she saw what they were going towards.

"is … Is this a prison?" Mai asked mouth wide open. No longer would she ever say that her room in the manor was an actual prison it was paradise compared to this.

"Not exactly" the guard said but wouldn't say anything else about the matter. "Well in you go, someone will get you when the contest starts tomorrow."

Mai was once again shoved into a room. This one had no windows, no bed, no anything just cold grey stone walls all around.

Mai sat in the middle of the room huddling her legs with her arms for warmth. "What is this stupid Emperor trying to do?" Mai thought to herself. "Is this even a contest or is that just what he is calling it. Is he even going to release me?" At this point Mai was starting to hate this so-called emperor. "Haha, just you wait! Trying to trick me into being stuck here with you all my life. You don't even know what you're going up against. I already tasted the shitty food of this world anything that you throw at me I will make better than anyone else here."

Mai was imagining the Emperor's face when she crushed him at his own game. That small delight was the only thing keeping her calm being locked in a real prison.

When Mai was about to fall asleep on the ground she heard screaming coming from the next room over. It was muffled through all the stone but the chilling tones in the man's voice every time he let out a sound stole all of Mai's energy. "This fucking Emperor is insane, what crime did I do to be here" she repeatedly asked herself.

___________________________________

Back at Han Bing's manor.

"Mistress, it is time for dinner. Do you wish to cook something tonight or for this servant to get something from the kitchens" Zhi Ruo called out.

No reply came from the room. "This is odd, normally the mistress would only be in her room or the courtyard" Zhi Ruo thought to herself.

Zhi Rou opened the door to the room and saw that it was empty she was about to close the door when she saw Mulan running at her from the bed.

"Oink ooink" Mulan cried out trying to tell Zhi Rou that something was wrong.

Zhi Rou stared at the pig who was making a ruckus in front of her. Starting to think that something bad had happened to Mai, Zhi Rou ran to find Han Bing and inform him