I Make Scallion Pancakes in the Ming Imperial Palace

Zhu Dayu used to be an actor. Now he sold pancakes in a stage costume. Today, as he walked through the familiar tourist attraction built to resemble a Ming imperial palace, something felt off. There were no tourists, only men and women dressed as Ming eunuchs and palace maids... He thought he’d stumbled onto a film crew and hurried forward. Even when he reached a plaza packed with over a thousand people, he still thought it was a big production. Even when the old man in an imperial robe onstage called out to him, “Come here and let us have a look,” he still thought so. He gave the man a thumbs-up. “You’re brilliant as Zhu Yuanzhang, brother. How about a pancake? This is the kind Empress Ma specially made for Zhu Chongba back in the day, a testament to their eternal love.” At that moment, the square before the Fengtian Hall was silent on the morning of the first day of the fifth month in the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign. Only Zhu Dayu’s voice could be heard...