The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 101
Xue Li was really frightened by the posture of these two stacks of posts, and didn't care to look at them, so she let Dou Sha and Xing Ren hug her, and went directly to find Mother Bai.

Seeing her frightened face, Nanny Bai found it funny.

In fact, the palace is not so "isolated".Most of the little maids can't see outsiders, but when they are promoted to female officials, they will meet outsiders more or less.Most of the banquets are held in the palace during the New Year's holidays, or on big days such as celebrating His Majesty's birthday, and people who want to visit the female officials also send in posts.If the female officials want to see them, they can send a post back from the eunuch under their command, specifying when they will come to sit, and then treat each other with courtesy when the time comes.

This arrangement is not to make the female officials have some fun, but because they have a higher status and naturally know more about the affairs of the palace. If people outside want to inquire about something, it is the easiest way to go this way.

It is true that if you simply think about it, most of the things in the palace should not be said to the outside world.But to be honest, people who want to inquire about things will find ways to inquire. If there is no such way, more people will take the path of secretly buying and so on.

It's better to allow the female officials to meet outsiders appropriately.Whoever comes in and whomever they meet, is recorded by the female officer of the code, and it is easy to check if something goes wrong. The female officers know this, and they will naturally have a sense of proportion in their speech-this is better than being bribed secretly. It's much better if there is nothing to check.

Counting it up, Sydney has been serving as the imperial cooking lady for two years.But she never knew there was such a thing and it wasn't her fault.

After all, Yuqian is different from Liushang Bureau. The palace people here have too many important matters, so there is no rule of seeing outsiders.And under the eyes of the emperor, if you really want to take some benefits and inform the outside world, the risk is too great.

Therefore, I have never been very afraid that these people in front of the imperial court will be bribed to spread the word.Whenever a post is handed over, Chen Jijiang must pass it first, and Chen Jijiang will send back all the senders without exception, for one reason: "This is the rule of our imperial court."

In this way, not to mention Sydney, most of those who have been promoted to the imperial court from the court ladies and then promoted to female officials all the way in the imperial court, most of them don't know that female officials in other places can meet outsiders.

As for the smooth sending of these posts to her this year, it was because the emperor told Chen Jijiang that in the future, Sydney could meet people from outside.

He knew that at first she would feel tired and unable to cope, but she would get better gradually.More than half of these people are asking for her, but there are always a few who really want to make friends with her.

And there is no harm in letting her have more friends, and there is even no harm in having her surrounded by a group of people who want her.

He knew very well that the worry in her heart about "falling out of favor in the future" could not be eliminated because of his explanation. If he really wanted her to live a comfortable life, he had to give her a chance to "be confident".

She needs to have her own little circle where she can feel secure.

Even if it makes her less attached to him than she is now, it doesn't matter.

He likes her and enjoys the way she clings to others, but he doesn't want her to live like a bird in a cage.He was very afraid that no matter how happy she was living the life in front of her, she would still feel insecure when she calmed down—this kind of emotion would kill people if they accumulated too much.

He has also experienced what it's like to have honor, disgrace, rise and fall tied to one person. That kind of invisible bondage is more terrifying than the cage in the prison.Ever since she cried and persuaded him to see An Jin that day, he knew that she was falling into this situation now—whether that stupid pear realized it or not, this kind of restraint would make her unhappy after a long time .

If this is really the case, he would rather let her fly out. After flying out, at least she can still live like herself.

In the final analysis, Xie Zhao hoped that she could live for herself, not for him—if he wanted to enjoy being "pleased", he would have gone to the harem long ago.

In the small courtyard, under the encouragement of Nanny Bai, Xue Li frowned and read all the posts.

Needless to say, the people who came to see her could be said to be "a mixed bag of fish and dragons" - some were maidservants around the wives, and some were ladies from the mansion or concubine and so on.

Compared with the variety of identities, the reason for visiting is much more single. They all said that they wanted to ask her, the imperial cooking lady, to teach her cooking skills, and there was no other excuse.

After she finished reading, Bai Momo asked, "Miss, who do you think should be seen and who should not be seen?"

Sydney thought about it, she said that she thought she should see the maids around the wives.

—The reason is obvious.When meeting people in the palace like this, isn't it all based on their corresponding identities?For example, His Majesty entertained the clan relatives and courtiers at the front, while Concubine Hui met the wives at the back.

Then she, the female official of the royal family, is of course also the maidservant next to the married woman. What's the matter with seeing the young lady or concubine of other people's family?She is not a Princess Di Ji or a concubine.

But Bai Nao said with a straight face: "That's wrong. Those maidservants, no matter how much face they have in front of the wives, they are not worthy of the girl to see them."

Sydney doesn't understand.

Nanny Bai was not in a hurry, and explained to her earnestly.In fact, Nanny Bai read all these posts long before she came back, thinking that His Majesty meant to mention her, so she didn't directly make up her mind.

If you want to tell Nanny Bai, those who know how to pass the post to her are all smart people.But among this group of smart people, those who sent their servants to see them were obviously not smart enough.

——The fact that Sydney will be accepted by His Majesty in the future is already on the table.At the moment, I only know that the servant girl was sent here according to her status as a female official, but that's not enough brains: Oh, now that a servant girl is sent here, and she has made friends, what will happen after Sydney enters the harem?Then let the maidservant come, isn't it appropriate, right?But when the time comes to change the master's house, will it be Sydney, who is a friend of your maidservant, who will greet you, or you, a foreign maid, who will greet your majesty's favorite concubine?
So Bai Momo said: "You don't have to worry about these servants who come here, just ignore them, and you don't have to worry about what they think in their hearts. What you need to understand is what Your Majesty thinks of you. You have to meet people according to your position in His Majesty's heart, that's right."

Oh, so oh!
It was easy for Sydney to figure this out—the maidservants from various prefectures accounted for two-thirds of the stack of posts, and the ladies' concubines accounted for one-third.It will be easier to entertain in this way. Just now she was seriously worried about how to hold a banquet if so many people came.

Even so, Nanny Bai still took the one-third of the posts and sifted through them for her again, picking and choosing and putting aside most of them, leaving only eleven or twelve.

Bai Nanny handed the eleven or twelve letters to Fugui: "Zhang Suicai has some literary talents, let him write a reply, and you can send it out with someone early tomorrow morning. Don't worry about the rest, let's not say anything, he will naturally I know it's gone!"

Nanny Bai said it very calmly, but after seeing the second batch of posts that she screened out and decided not to see, Xueli couldn't understand how she picked them.

Thinking about it, Nanny Bai had her reasons, but when she pressed her question, Nanny Bai was sloppy and refused to say more.Xueli was quite puzzled, and she couldn't figure out why she turned over and over again, so she had to be obedient first and figure it out slowly later.

The truth behind this, Bai Nao really couldn't tell Xue Li clearly, she was afraid of scaring Xue Li.

The posts she screened out for the second time were those who had a wife in the house but sent a concubine to see them.

In other words, after being screened by her, the only ones who can really come to see Sydney, except for the young ladies of various prefectures who are similar to her age, are the concubines of various prefectures who do not have regular wives.

This is what Grandma Bai made by herself.She thought about it carefully, His Majesty did not regard Sydney as a court lady, but counting in the harem, only the Queen and the third wife can do this job of receiving wives, if the nine concubines below want to do this, they have to be superiors decreed.

That's why Bai Momo was a little startled—His Majesty is planning to put Xue Li directly in the position of Mrs. Xian, or the higher one...

She didn't dare to think about those two words anymore. After all, His Majesty didn't say it clearly, so whether it was Sydney or the people around her thinking about it, it was considered "ambition".

When considering this matter, you have to take this factor into consideration.In this way, it would be more appropriate for Sydney to meet the wives of each mansion like the two wives, but after all, the wives are going to attend the banquet of Concubine Hui.

She had no choice but to find concubines who were not under the pressure of their regular wives to come in to see her.In this way, even if Sydney doesn't understand, people outside will understand it at a glance, and they will know whether there will be others pressing down on Sydney in the future.

The next day, when Fugui took Peng Qizhong and Peng Qiyu out of the palace to deliver the post, Xueli sat in the room and listened to Bai Nanny's instructions on how to meet guests.

The first thing Bai Nanny told her was that in front of these guests, there was no need to call herself a "servant".

Bai Momo said: "Don't think that you are a court lady, you have to think that you are the royal servant who was personally appointed by His Majesty. Those young ladies and concubines, who have the title bestowed by His Majesty? So with your status, Maybe you can't be considered a 'master' in the palace, but you can't be considered a 'servant' in front of outsiders, then there will only be the relationship between the host and the guest in this courtyard, you, don't underestimate yourself."

Xue Li nodded: "Understood! If I appeared humble at that time, I would lose His Majesty's face. I won't."

Nanny Bai was very satisfied, and then the things she explained were detailed and trivial.For example, who should be greeted at the gate of the palace, where should she wait to be greeted, how to greet each other, what else can and cannot be said.

Sydney listened carefully and wrote down every sentence clearly.Then, inspired by Nanny Bai, he set about arranging people by himself.

She said: "Let Xiao Quanzi take Yu Xiang back to the Beast Taming Department for the time being. After all, it's a lion. If it gets excited and hurts someone, it will be bad."

After careful consideration, Nanny Bai agreed: "This is a good arrangement."

Xueli smiled, and said again: "It's all the wives who are going to the harem, and the ladies and concubines came in with them, right? Then, mother, you take Xingren to wait at the gate of the harem? Almonds made her feel familiar too."

Bai Momo nodded again: "Sure, I will also explain to Xingren in advance."

Two consecutive arrangements were not refuted, and Sydney's self-confidence was raised, and she continued: "After entering here, I will let the red bean paste bring candied dates to welcome at the gate of the courtyard, and let sesame bring brown sugar to serve tea with dim sum. Because these are not used Talk too much, even if Brown Tang is young, he can't do anything wrong, and he is not afraid of something going wrong, Zhima responds quickly."

It is true that Zhima has a playful heart, but he does have a clever mouth.When chatting, she is very good at finding words, and when she makes mistakes and needs to make up, she can also deal with them cleverly.

In this way, the court ladies were all arranged, and when they arrived at the eunuch, Xue Li thought about it and said, "Well... let Zhang Suicai take Peng Qizhong and Peng Qiyu to run errands, and the snacks and lunch will be brought from the imperial dining room. Zhang Suicai was more articulate and could clearly explain the requirements. Dai Xuyong... let him stare back and forth, and help him wherever he needed help. After all, it is unpredictable where there will be a little accident. "

Nanny Bai was generally satisfied.It's just about Zhang Suicai's arrangement, she thought Sydney would be handed over to Fugui.

But it was the same when explaining to Zhang Suicai, she just asked again: "What about Fugui?"

"Fugui told him to be idle." Xueli paused, "Just let him wait in the room and don't have to do anything. Once something happens that we can't take care of, let him go find it quickly." Mr. Chen or Mr. Xu, if he has work at hand, he will inevitably be delayed, and the trouble will be even bigger!"

Tsk, this little girl doesn't know much about rules and sophistication, but she really has her own way of using people.

Bai Momo was a little emotional, as if she suddenly understood why such a dazed girl was so attractive - she was not really stupid, it was really a big deal, if she was given the opportunity, she had a clever idea , will make up her mind, as for the twists and turns that she doesn't understand, it's because she is still clean in her heart, not because she can't tell good from bad.

In this way, it will be the right day after another day.This day, Xue Limao got up before time, and was sleepy enough, but he still started to get ready with a tense heartstring.

She watched in amazement as Nanny Bai took out the pear flower hairpin that the emperor congratulated her on the year of the golden hairpin from the dowry for her to wear—this hairpin has been in her hand for almost three years, but she has never worn it seriously, at most Wear it for yourself in the mirror for a while, then take it off when you go out.It's so dazzling, the hairpin shaft is made of pure gold, and the pear blossoms are made of fine white jade pieces.I like it, I really like it, but it's too ostentatious.

Bai Momo was next to her and laughed at her: "When you are a guest, do you think that you are showing off by wearing this? If you really think that you are showing off even if you wear a gold hairpin, are they worthy of coming to see you?"

Didn't you come here specially because you know that she has good looks in front of His Majesty?How normal is it for a person who already has face to have some nice things in his room?It would be wrong if you don’t have it—it’s the same as other people’s things, so what’s wrong with you?

It was only then that Xueli made up her mind to let the hairpin stay in her bun.The clothes are simple to choose - a chest-length skirt with yellow and white, which can match this hairpin in terms of color, but the material is not luxurious.

Bai Momo said, this is called letting the hairpin be the finishing touch, and if the whole body is extremely luxurious, then it is really showing off.

At that time, the guests arrived one after another.The second lady of the servant of the Ministry of War, the concubine next to the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, the granddaughter of Jing Yunhou...

All of them are enough to make Xueli kowtow in terms of family background, but now they are extremely polite to her.

The process of chatting was different from what she thought, she thought they needed to inquire about the affairs of the emperor, but she didn't hear a word from the beginning to the end, and they just talked about cooking with her.

From how much sugar to add to the sugar-steamed crispy cheese for the best taste, to what is the top-secret recipe for the boiled cabbage, the group of people chatted very seriously, as if they were cooking every day in the mansion.

Ordered lunch an hour later.More than a dozen people set up two seats in the main room.

Knowing that it was something from the imperial dining room, everyone would of course praise it, this one was delicious, and that one was exquisitely made, on the contrary, it made Xueli unable to talk.

As a result, there was one of the guests who didn't talk too much, Mrs. Hu, the daughter-in-law of Shaoqing of Dali Temple. Seeing that she hadn't spoken much for a long time, Mrs. Hu opened his mouth and asked, "Is this dish not suitable for the female official?"

Everyone is stupid, okay...

It's right for the host to ask the guest, but it's screwed up if the guest asks the host.Besides, she is a female official of the imperial dining room, who is on duty in the imperial dining room, isn't asking this a slap in the face...

Even Bai Nao's face was a bit ugly.Pian Xueli didn't realize anything, and when she heard Hu's question, she immediately answered very sincerely, and even apologized for making the guests worry: "No. I'm used to eating this every day, and I can't taste it. It’s special, I think any meal is similar.”

Everyone: "..." Sure enough, as expected, the female official of the imperial kitchen.

People eat imperial meals as home cooking!
Nanny Bai: "..." All right, casual arrogance is the most frightening.

Besides, it is not false to say this.

The topic changed after lunch—it was monotonous to talk about cooking from morning till night.

Let’s talk about hairpin accessories and gouache rouge that girls like. These people who often go to the palace and live in Luo’an City, they have the ability to compare in detail the difference between the hairpin hairpins that are popular inside and outside the palace. What kind of rouge do the girls like to use?

This Xue Li was still very interested, but she hadn't seen much of her, and felt that she had nothing to talk about, so she asked Dou Sha to bring out the hairpins that His Majesty brought her during his southern tour.

This kind of thing that has never been seen in Luo'an City caused a burst of exclamation. When Bai Nai saw it, she hid behind the screen and laughed: Yes, Miss Ruan probably will cause a new wind in Luo'an City.

These ladies who have nothing to do in the mansion will definitely find Dai for this curiosity, and then outsiders will follow suit.

It is not allowed to send it back to the palace when the wind direction changes. At that time, Miss Ruan, if you turn your head and like something else... then you are really playing with courage.

After chatting like this until the sun was setting, none of the people present had the intention of saying goodbye. After seeing it, Bai Nai also told Zhang Suicai to send a message to the imperial dining room to prepare dinner here.

As a result, half a moment later, when everyone was still chatting lively, Xueli suddenly threw out a sentence without warning: "It's getting late, I won't keep you guys any longer."

For a while, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

But since the master has opened his mouth, the guests can't wait to leave, can they?They still greeted and bid farewell to each other amicably.

After everyone was sent away, Nanny Bai finally frowned: "Girl, what do you mean?"

Seeing off the guests was too direct and sudden, almost catching up with the chase!

Sydney said, "There are still important things to do!"

In fact, she couldn't sit still after lunch. She felt that after chatting all morning and eating, this group of people should leave, right?But they can really chat!

She has been, has been looking at the sky outside, and while looking at it, she is estimating what is going on in Zichen Palace.

Earlier, the clan members might have had a cup of tea, but now the dinner party must have begun—thinking of this Sydney makes my heart tense, and His Majesty must drink a lot of wine again, which will inevitably make him uncomfortable.

If they continue to chat, they can talk until the banquet ahead.The more Xue Li thought about it, the more anxious she became, but she didn't know what to say when she was tactfully seeing off the guests, and finally she had to say it bluntly!

So she didn't bother to explain more to Nanny Bai, Xueli put on a thin cloak and ran to the imperial dining room, Cui Wan was quite surprised to see her coming now, so she said: "Go and rest, banquet We are busy enough to add more food."

"I'll make porridge for His Majesty." She said this without stopping.Cui Wan understood for a moment, turned her head and asked someone to prepare ingredients for her.

I still make salty porridge, this time it is chicken porridge with mushrooms.

Sydney chose chicken thigh meat. She put a few simple seasonings and cooked it to taste, and then cut it. She chopped the meat so finely that it was minced chicken before adding it to the pot.

I'm afraid he'll be upset if he drinks too much and won't be in the mood to chew well... The meat is too big to eat and it's easy to feel uncomfortable.

The same is true for shiitake mushrooms, which are chopped over and over again until they are minced shiitake mushrooms before they are put into the pot.Stirring the porridge with a spoon, Xue Li stuck out her tongue while looking at it: the appearance is not very good.

There is nothing unsightly about the minced chicken, but shiitake mushrooms are cut too finely and become small black and brown spots, which do not look attractive at all...

It still tastes good after being cooked.

It is still kept warm on a low fire, and the salty taste combines the deliciousness of chicken legs and the mellow aroma of mushrooms.Since she didn't greet Xu Shishui in advance this time, she had to inquire after a while.

Hearing that the banquet was over, Xueli put the small casserole and the empty bowl of porcelain spoons into the food box, and sent them to Zichen Hall by herself.

When I arrived at the entrance of Zichen Hall, I saw that the guests had not completely dispersed.

She thought that it would be better to wait outside, so she walked to a position not far from the gate of the hall and waited, leaning her elbows on the stone railing and staring down in a daze.

I don't know if he still has the energy to eat, and if she told him about the process of meeting people today, would he feel very dissatisfied?

Sydney thought about it alternately, sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning.

"...Sydney?" A voice behind him hesitated.

Xueli turned her head to look: "Mingxuan-jun!"

Wei Chen also obviously drank, looked at the food box in her hand, yawned and then smiled: "I heard that you have been busy all day today, and you are still on duty tonight?"

"No." Xueli shook her head and explained with a smile, "Your Majesty must be drunk again. I'll bring some porridge here, so as not to sleep directly and feel uncomfortable tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)