The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 12 Banquet
Several chefs were already waiting in the dining room, and they had finished drinking two cups of tea before the servants came back.At this time, they put down their teacups and looked at the past, waiting quietly for the report.

There are three low-ranking concubines who are prepared by the little palace maids, Lu Lingyi and Qiao Xuanyi of the seventh rank, and Zhang Baolin of the eighth rank.

"Lu Lingyi likes the egg and shrimp rolls made by Ting Xian very much," said the first waiter.

The ladies nodded.In fact, Yue Tingxian had already been promoted to the honorary envoy last time, so it is logical that he does not need to participate in the meal preparation this time.But the female history who brought her wanted to let her practice for a while, and the high-ranking female officials were always optimistic about her, so she asked her to prepare one, and she really did a good job.

The waiter then said: "Your servant, please pay attention. Except for this egg and shrimp roll, the only dishes presented by the little palace maid are coconut shredded honey bean roll and crab roe tofu, which made Mrs. Yi eat two more bites. The rest are tasted and will not be eaten again." Moved."

The female official Shangshi nodded, and looked at the waiter holding the booklet next to her: "Look at who made these two dishes, and write down the names."

The waiter Dian said "No", and the other waiter said: "Zhang Baolin likes the purple rice dish very much. He bluntly praised the steamed chicken and vegetable rolls for its exquisite cooking. He also ate two pearl balls. In addition, Mrs. Fang Ji came to Zhang Baolin's table I ate some radishes when I sat down, and I seem to like it."

While she was talking, several waiters on both sides of Shili Shangshi had already turned over the booklets in their hands.After finding out the name of the person, I circled around, and memorized a few sentences about the one who made the cherry radish. Fang Ji is a palace concubine of the fourth rank.

Then Shang Shi looked at the waiter on the right, and asked her, "Where is Qiao Xuanyi?"

But the other person bowed his knees and blessed: "Miss Xuanyi was summoned by His Majesty to accompany the banquet, and all the dishes served in the back were presented to the front, and the slaves watched."

These words made the hearts of all the female officers tense, and then they quickly relaxed.Although the meal was prepared by the little maid, but before the banquet was over, the emperor hadn't heard any dissatisfaction, so it should be fine.

Shangshi's female officer calmed down: "How is it?"

"Miss Xuanyi likes the clam steamed egg dish, and the white fungus soup has been used a lot. And..." The waiter paused for a while, cleared his throat, and then continued, "Miss Xuanyi stewed pears with rock sugar After a few sips, His Majesty also tasted it, saying that it was done with care."

Zou Shangshi was slightly taken aback.

She did have an impression of the rock sugar stewed pear dish, and she felt that it was quite ingenious when she tasted it, but she was still a little surprised to see that even the emperor noticed it.

The ten people to be promoted were quickly settled.Not counting Yue Tingxian who has been promoted, there are only nine names just counted, and the female officials recalled the meal tasting that day, and picked out one with good color and fragrance to add.

Then the list was transcribed, and a clerk sent the message.

The little maids were all too nervous. Seeing that there had been no movement for a long time, they couldn't help but walk out of the room and look around in the corridor.Then unconsciously, he got closer and closer, and when the waiter who was waiting to pass the message pushed the door out, he was startled by dozens of little girls hugging him at the door.

The waiter's face darkened in an instant, and all the little maids felt embarrassed, and they couldn't escape, so they bit the bullet and said, "Lady."

The door was still wide open, Dian waiter turned his head to look at Shang Shi and the chefs sitting in the room behind him, Zou Shangshi didn't show any displeasure: "It's fine to say it here."

Dian waiter turned around, opened the booklet in his hand, and read the name clearly: "An Jin, Bai Xinyi, Wei Xi..."

Xueli held her breath and listened tightly, holding Su Zixian's hand tightly. Su Zixian couldn't take it anymore: "Take it easy!"

Five more names passed by, and Dian Shi was still reading: "Ruan Xueli, Chen Qi."

Xueli felt her whole body go limp in an instant, and was supported by Su Zixian before she could stand firm, and stepped forward to salute and thank her.

So far, twenty ministers have been promoted, and four more will be promoted.The maids who were originally on the positions of honorary envoys have also recently been promoted, or transferred to various palaces as missions.

After being promoted to the throne, I was happy for two days, and a new errand came——His Majesty wants Qiu Yu.

Qiu Xi's location is in Linhe, more than thirty li away from Luo'an, there is a palace there but there are not many palace people left, once the royal driver goes, it is inevitable that the palace people will accompany him.

What Zou Shangshi meant was that half of the female officials in the Shangshi Bureau would go, and each of them would bring seven or eight selected and regular servants.These newly promoted envoys follow them all, let them do business and see the world, and there will always be time for them to do things alone in the future.

There was another saying that made Shangshi Bureau's heartstrings tense. Zou's original words were: "Don't let the people in the imperial dining room see the joke."

Sydney has been in the palace for three years, and this is the first time she has heard the "Imperial Dining Room" mentioned by a Shangshi female official, that place is like a taboo in the Shangshi Bureau.

During the Great Qi Dynasty, the Imperial Dining Room was a separate place.The Monk’s Food Bureau prepares different meals for each palace every day. The imperial dining room is located behind the Zichen Hall, which is only for the emperor, and there is no need to prepare meals seriously, just a few dishes that the emperor likes.

The emperor would present it at any time when he wanted it, or occasionally give him a meal when he summoned his courtiers to discuss matters.In short, when the female officials of the Shangshi Bureau mentioned the imperial dining room, they always felt angry: "It's so leisurely, but it's a good job, and there are too many rewards."

Hearing the meaning of the female officer of Shangshi, this time it is because the Shangshi Bureau is "understaffed" and the imperial dining room is driving again.

So in the next half a month, the twenty maids who had just been promoted to the position of respectful envoy slept for less than three hours a day.

After all, they had little experience before, and their cooking skills were limited. When they drove to Qiuxi, the female historians were worried that something might happen to them, so they had to hurry up and teach them.

On the second day of September, the palace people first drove away from the palace. When they arrived at the Linhe palace on the evening of the fifth day of September, they heard that the emperor would not arrive until the morning of the next day.

They still can only take a nap.Word has already been passed down from above that a banquet will be held in the evening of the sixth day, and all the clan relatives and courtiers accompanying him will be present.

Wash your face with cold water and pour a cup of strong tea. Before dawn, the food bureau in the palace is busy.

Those who washed vegetables, chopped vegetables, cooked soup, prepared snacks, and checked the menu were all busy step by step everywhere, and they only managed to eat a few bites at noon.

Before he had time to sit down, he was called by the serving lady.

"There are too many courtiers accompanying you, and there is not enough manpower in the Shangyi Bureau. You have just been promoted as envoys, and you all go to the banquet to serve at night."

In a word, the 20 of them probably won't be able to sleep until dawn.

The banquet was held in the Zhenghui Hall in the palace.

This place was built according to the Hanyuan Hall in the Luo'an Palace, but it was a circle smaller than the Hanyuan Hall. The scale of the hunt was large and there were many officials accompanying it, so the hall was not enough.

Therefore, the wide square in front of the hall was also classified as a place for banquets.As usual, the emperor was above the ninth step in the hall, and the important ministers of the Chinese and Chinese military officials and the royal clan were also in the hall.

In the square outside, there are mostly family members who come with the clan, or those with a lower rank in the middle and middle ranks, so they don't need to go in to see them.

The square is divided into three blocks by the tents covered by the wooden frame. The middle block is three to five feet wide, which is the avenue from the palace gate to the palace gate.The place where the two sides are separated looks like a square and narrow whole tent from the outside, but in fact it is cut into several parts inside, which are cut according to different government offices.

The night in late autumn is already very cold. There are stoves for heating next to each table in the tent, and small stoves are also placed on the table. In addition, the tents are used to block the wind. The world is naturally warm and the guests will not feel cold.

It's just suffering from these court ladies walking around the banquet.

When the small wind blows, Sydney's whole body trembles.The trembling slowed down, he let out a long sigh of relief, and continued walking forward with the hot soup in his hand.This square tray is very small, holding it like this with your hand, you can feel the heat coming out of the soup cup.

I really want to have a sip...

She walked to the desk of the official she was serving, bent her knees, and presented the soup.

This was the first time she served directly at a banquet. After the people from Shangyi Bureau briefly taught the rules, she felt a little scared when she thought of the past: it turned out that the food was served directly on the table, so she presented it to the emperor that time. During supper...

Probably because she made a mistake without knowing it before, Sydney is under more psychological pressure this time.The porcelain cup was placed on the table, and the lid was lifted without daring to lift the head.

A few slices of green bamboo shoots were exposed, and there were white and tender chicken shreds and swollen mushrooms beside them.It is a bamboo shoot sliced ​​chicken shredded mushroom soup.

One more stroke to back off, just as Xue Li was about to stop, her wrist was clamped by the person sitting next to her.

She trembled in fright, and then heard a laughing voice: "You wear so little?"

Looking up, it was Wei Chen.His smiling eyes were still so warm, once Xue Li thought about it, she was not in a hurry to go out - it was so cold outside, it would be better if she could stay inside for a while.Anyway, she was stopped by a guest, so it was not wrong for anyone to ask.

Withdrawing her hand, Xueli twisted her sleeves with her fingers: "I want to add more clothes, but my superiors won't let me."

They are not stupid, they all know how cold it is.Hearing that he was going to serve outside the hall, he immediately ran back to the house to add clothes. He added two pairs of padded trousers under the bust-length skirt, and an extra pair of tube tops under the jacket.

When Nai He was about to leave the house, the dining officer came to check on them, and she knew something was wrong when she saw that they were a lot fatter than usual, so she said coldly, "Take it off."

I had to be obedient.

She told Wei Chen the whole process in detail, and the description was so detailed that she almost explained how to wear a tube top.If there was a pause in the speech, there would be a longer pause. Wei Chen listened to it with a smile, and knew that she wanted to stay in the warmth for a while without asking.

So just as she finished speaking, a plate of mutton was handed over: "Cut it for me, thank you."

Xueli was so happy, she moved the plate to the small case beside them for their convenience, and immediately picked up the knife to cut it for him.The silver knife scraped across the bones to remove the soft roasted meat, and after removing the bones, cut the meat into pieces.

(End of this chapter)