The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 55 State affairs
The night was dark, Concubine Hui lay on the couch and couldn't sleep.Suddenly a decree came from Zichen Hall, saying that His Majesty urgently called envoy Luo Wu to Luo'an, and he would arrive in about half a month, and she was asked to invite the wives at home and abroad to have a banquet with the envoy's family...

Thinking of the banquet, her mind unconsciously turned to the imperial dining room, thinking of the Ruan family.

Turning over, Concubine Hui was lying on her side looking at the wall beside the couch, chanting sutras in her heart to calm herself down, but she was still flustered.

She was startled when she saw the plate of radish cake. Ruan said she had made her favorite dessert, but Concubine Hui knew very well that no one in the palace knew about it.

She likes to eat that because at home, the radish cake made by the nanny is very delicious, and she has been greedy for that bite since she was a snack.

But later when she entered the East Palace, the chef of the East Palace couldn't make that taste. She ate it once and never ordered it again. She followed the crown prince into the palace and never mentioned it to the Shangshi Bureau.

However, she clearly remembered that when she was still in the Eastern Palace, she once mentioned half-jokingly when recalling family affairs: "I still remember that the radish cake made by the nanny is very good, and our dining room in the Eastern Palace can't compare. But That's right, my mother slapped my palm several times because I was greedy for that thing when I was young."

Only he knows...

Concubine Hui felt a burst of coldness, desperately trying to tell herself that this is actually a good thing, the emperor remembered her preferences, but it was of no avail.

Another feeling swelled in her heart, and she couldn't hold it down: His Majesty must have told Ruan about this on purpose.

Did he want her to know that he was supporting Ruan Shi behind his back, or did he want her to realize that he was so assured of Ruan Shi that he could say anything?

Concubine Hui was not sure, but no matter which one it was, it was too scary.She always thought that whether he liked her or not, he still trusted her, but this kind of hint was like reminding her not to think about it—he couldn't trust her?
She was sure that she had done nothing wrong, it could only be that Ruan's weight in his heart was too heavy, which made him want to add a protection no matter what.

omg...

Concubine Hui closed her eyes heavily, thinking for the first time, was she wrong?
This idea is too ridiculous, even when Concubine Li was favored, she never thought of it like this, but today a little palace maid actually inspired this idea.

But when you think about it, everything is so obvious.

She has been so virtuous since she entered the East Palace... no, since she was called into the palace by the former empress and today's empress dowager to teach.

She doesn't let anyone worry about it, doesn't think about anything she shouldn't think about, and doesn't violate any rules.She has even been very careful to put herself in a slightly back position next to him—always reminding herself that the person who can stand beside him is the future queen, she is so careful to keep her duty, and she does not pester him , and will generously persuade him to soak in the rain and dew.

Before today, Concubine Hui was confident that she was doing a good job, but after meeting Ruan Shi, she suddenly became confused.

Ruan Shi is obviously different from her.It may not be possible to get a sign of "not knowing the rules", but she obviously lives more freely, and she is obviously a bit stupid.

If you give her snacks, she will eat them, and if she is given tea, she will drink them. Even Concubine Shu, who is the same product, dare not do this in Roujia Palace.

But His Majesty just treats her better.He seemed to let her come without showing his face, but in fact, a hand was stretched out to block her.

Concubine Hui has never experienced this feeling before, and she never thought that it would still be like this.She has always been so afraid of upsetting him, and there seems to be a very clear boundary when getting along with him. She strictly defines what can be done and what cannot be done.

On the other hand, the sudden decree made Shangshi Bureau and Imperial Dining Room a little bit overwhelmed.

In troubled times, there are a lot of things, and every banquet may be accompanied by open guns and hidden arrows, and every dish has a story; but now it is a prosperous age, and the banquet is always peaceful, and they have long since lost their minds about what to do in the delicacies. .

But today, the holy will came down, and His Majesty asked them to "scheme" with delicacies.

When the whole story reached Zou Shangshi's ears, Zou Shangshi was stunned for a while, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "What is a place the size of a sesame seed for?"

And so it is.Compared with Daqi, the Luowu Kingdom, which is adjacent to the southwest border of Daqi, is really a "sesame-sized place". In calculation, there is really nothing good about that place. It has no good scenery and its national strength is weak, but there are two important things.

One is that it is rich in gold, and the gold that is tributed every year is indispensable to Daqi; the other is that Pingfeng Mountain lies across it, and the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The tower, the well water does not violate the river water.

We have been living in peace for so many years, and now the emperor has received the memorial from the envoy Luo Wu, which roughly means: Recently, Kerta has shown great hospitality to our king. Go to Luo'an for an audience and show your loyalty.

— Only ghosts believe this.

Kerta's wooing of Luo Wu was obviously carried out in secret, and he did it very carefully. If he hadn't mentioned it in this memorial, Xie Zhao would not have known about it, and he hadn't even heard of the imperial guards hiding in Luo Wu.

So this is intentional.That old and cunning King Luo Wu was hesitant and didn't know which side to go, so he planned to wander around to see which side would be more beneficial.

The translation is: Kerta has been wooing us recently, Your Majesty, if you don't pull back, we will leave?
Xie Zhao: Hehe.

He is actually not in the mood to play this kind of game with Luo Wu. If he is really allowed to act according to his own ideas, he is more inclined to reply to the other side: "You go! I don't have a bastard friend like you!"

However, this is unnecessary. If Luo Wu were to leave, Daqi would have to deploy at least 20 more troops to garrison the border. Although in terms of national strength, even if a war really started, he would definitely be able to hold Kerta down and beat him to death. But isn't it unnecessary?What's wrong with doing something with this spare money?Why waste your money and your life?

So Xie Zhao intends to express his attitude: Do you want to gain benefits, but you can see clearly, you can't afford to offend Daqi.

Envoys can come if they want to have a look, even if they drag their families along.The reception here is generous, and the basic necessities of food, housing and transportation are guaranteed so that Luowu Kingdom can experience what is called "big land and rich resources".

To put it bluntly, it is to make them dizzy from all aspects, and to give advice and smile at the right time: These enjoyments are all spare money, and we can not enjoy them when necessary, and transfer this spare money to the army.

Soft first and then hard, courtesy first and then soldiers.If you can bluff it, then bluff it, and if you can't bluff it, talk about beating it up.

Does this burn money?nature.But it's much better than directly mobilizing troops, not only saving material resources, but also saving lives.

Therefore, not only Shangshi Bureau and Yushanfang, but also the other five bureaus and even the weaving bureaus have received relevant arrangements.It's just that the palace banquet and the like are more direct, making everyone in Shangshi Bureau suddenly have the illusion that "the rise and fall of the country are on their own shoulders".

In the imperial dining room, everyone from Cui Wan to the servants was in a state of disarray, and Shang Shi was hastily invited to sit in charge, to discuss something.

The younger ones in Sydney and the others are even more puzzled: How can this be a political matter?How do you feel like playing house with a child? "I won't give you delicious food if you play with others" - what does this mean?
Zou Shangshi, who has rich experience, smiled leisurely: "Don't be surprised, this matter really has a relationship."

Then Zou Shangshi took the tea from Yue Tingxian and told them about the past.

"When I first entered the palace, I heard about it from the old ladies." Zou Shangshi said, "Decades ago, when His Majesty's grandfather first succeeded to the throne, Da Qi and Luo Wu hadn't Make friends. Da Qi took the initiative to send envoys, but the country was still weak at that time, and Luo Wu didn't take Da Qi seriously, so he ignored Da Qi for half a year."

"Then what?" Xue Li hurriedly asked when she saw that Zou Shangshi was going to show off.After all, what she had heard before was that the process of getting Luo Wu to bow his head and surrender as a vassal went smoothly...

"At that time, Luo Wu's crown prince was about the same age as the envoys he sent. The envoys wanted to take this path, and occasionally invited the crown prince to his residence for a drink of tea and a chat. Although the crown prince went there often for the sake of face, he would go around in circles when it came to business. "Zou Shangshi thought about the following things, and laughed himself, "Until one day, the prince was in a good mood and came to the envoy's house uninvited. It happened that the envoy was cooking--everyone said 'gentleman' Far away from the kitchen', the envoy was still very embarrassed..."

Zou Shangshi was about to pause again, and Xue Li heard that this was about to reach a critical point, so she continued to ask in a dignified way: "And then what?"

"Then the crown prince didn't even leave the soup for that pot of sweet and sour pork ribs."

Everyone looked at each other: "..." Sweet and sour gravy?Nothing left?Prince Luo Wu has a strong taste!
After that, even if this avenue is really opened up.Although Luo Wu is a small country, the prince still has people under his command. As soon as he became interested in this, he sent a group of people to explore the delicacies of the Central Plains.It is said that he really worked hard, recorded a lot of things back home, taught them and wrote books.

Zou Shangshi said: "For a long time, Luo Wu's classics called Daqi the 'Great Food Country'."

The maids were all stunned!It turns out that the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, potatoes, radishes, red meat and white meat they are exposed to every day have such a big effect?

Anyway, that's the truth.Although there were no cooks on the table when diplomatic relations were established, there was an important process before the establishment of diplomatic relations, that is, the group of people sent by the prince kept going back and forth between the two countries. Looking at the whole Daqi is particularly pleasing to the eye, exaggerating everything in Qi with a thumbs up, effectively promoting the process of establishing diplomatic relations.

After that, Taiping lasted for nearly a hundred years.

After hearing this, Sydney and the others suddenly became very confident and ambitious!

Drilling back to the room, I started to get busy, took out the letter and circled it, put myself in the position and thought about which practices would shock Fanbang, and then practiced hard back and forth, as if no matter what I did, I was not satisfied.

Just the method of cooking rice, Sydney has practiced dozens of methods in a row, changing different water and different rice to taste which tastes best, how long to cook for the best taste, and how to eat after cooking is the most comfortable.

After four or five days like this, Xie Zhao felt that the time to see Sydney was obviously less in the past few days.

In the past, she would go to the Zichen Palace to "report" first, go when she was going to do something, and then come back to idle when she was done; now she disappears when she reports, and doesn't come back when she is done, and she doesn't come back until she has to go back to rest at night. present.

What is this for?

When Sydney came to leave in the evening, the emperor stopped him.

He put a plate of kidney bean rolls that he had prepared earlier in front of her, his expression darkened: "What have you been up to these days?"

Xue Li was not in the mood to eat, and wanted to go back to the dining room to practice cooking after resigning. He didn't want to delay at all, so he obediently made it clear when he asked: "Your Majesty asked the Shangshi Bureau and the Imperial Dining Room to cook for Luo Wu Everyone is busy preparing for the palace banquet where the envoys welcome the wind! It will definitely shock them, and we will definitely not lose face on it!"

After finishing speaking, another blessing: "Slave and maidservant leave!"

"... Sit down!" Xie Zhao stopped her, until she suddenly looked terrified, and went over to sit down obediently in fear.

He thought about it, but he didn't know what else to say—could the maids contribute to state affairs, how can he, an emperor, say that this is not good?

Xueli lowered her head to be honest, twisted her index fingers together, and was seriously thinking about what she said wrong just now.

——She knew that she was stupid in this aspect, and she couldn't notice the mistakes at all, even if she saw his dark face, she still didn't understand.

Xie Zhao thought about it, and asked her with a straight face, "You think this kind of thing is very interesting?"

Of course it's interesting!She never knew that food has such a big effect!Immediately, I felt that what I had done was thrilling!

With that in mind, Sydney lowered her head: "No."

Xie Zhao frowned slightly.

She pursed her lips nervously, the fingers of her hands on her knees were almost twisted, and she raised her eyes to scan his face carefully.

Before she could see clearly, a slightly thick memorial was slapped on her forehead.

(End of this chapter)