Kangxi first raised a cup to wish the ministers a peaceful and prosperous country, and then ordered the eunuchs to distribute red envelopes "Safe Years Old" to each table. After that, it was the climax of the palace banquet: enjoying delicious food, enjoying singing and dancing, drinking and drinking, it was very lively...
Jin Xi looked at it with gusto and ate with gusto.
Sure enough, it was an annual palace banquet, comparable to the Manchu and Han banquets.
Not to mention that the dishes, spoons and cutlery used at the banquet were all precious tableware inlaid with gold and silver. The delicacies served one after another made her forget where and when she was, and started to enjoy them with open belly.
First, there are ten kinds of rare seafood soup, which are made of bird's nest, shark's fin, abalone, fresh razor clam, pork belly, fish belly, shredded chicken, prawn, sea cucumber and crab with seasonings, carefully prepared and stewed.
Then there are ten game delicacies, including fish lips, bear paws, monkey brains, pheasants, wind pigs, deer tails, humps, wind sheep, rabbit breasts, pig brains, some braised, some steamed, or sliced...the methods are different and delicious.
Unparalleled.
Then there are ten delicacies consisting of offal and lake fresh meat that can be enjoyed with white rice, including turtle soup, sugared carp, drunken foie gras, chicken gizzards, sauced duck feet, fried pork liver, hibiscus eggs, marinated chicken feet, pickled fermented bean curd,
Wine-flavored fish.
After tasting every delicacy, Jinxi was already nine-tenths full. She wanted to wait for fruits or desserts to be served before enjoying them again. Unexpectedly, the food that was served next made her want to eat it all immediately.
All the delicacies were cleared.
Oh my God, it turned out to be roasted lamb chops, roasted suckling pig, oven-roasted chicken, boiled beef tendons, smoked pork trotters, ham and plum blossom buns... all are large-scale flavored grilled foods.
Unable to resist the salivation of her taste buds, she held her belly open and ate another big meal.
She couldn't help stroking her belly. Oh my God, this was the first time in her history that she had eaten like a hungry wolf. Fortunately, the people at the same table were either Fujin, who was as quiet and elegant as Minrong, or she was with her.
For a girl of about the same age, her eating appearance is not the most exaggerated.
After all, no matter how much a five-year-old girl can eat, her appetite is limited to this.
After a short rest, the fifth batch of delicious food was served.
Twenty pieces of side dishes to accompany wine, twenty dishes of hot foreign dishes, ten pieces of dried fruits, ten pieces of fresh fruits, and ten kinds of desserts.
After drinking a small cup of goat's milk, which is said to be one of the main drinks in the Manchu-Han banquet, Jinxi poked a few pieces of Xinjiang specialty cantaloupe with a silver stick and chewed it slowly.
The scene in her mind was when she went to a six-star hotel in Kyoto to eat a buffet with Yong Xu and Wansheng when she graduated from college. It was the most powerful experience in her life in the past twenty-nine years. She almost walked out of the restaurant holding on to the wall.
.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but laugh softly, which attracted concerned inquiries from the cheap lady.
"Mom, I want to go to the toilet."
She used her urine to escape from the palace banquet hall where people were drinking and drinking.
Smiling, she waved away the little palace maid who was leading the way for her, and leaned against the long corridor columns outside the side hall to eat and rest.
At some point, the snow stopped.
Through the red light emitted by the large lanterns hanging on both sides of the corridor, we can clearly see the outlines of several palaces near and far.
I don’t know what happened to my parents, brothers and sister-in-law who were far away in another time and space. Jinxi looked up at the gray sky and sighed softly.
"Why are you sighing at such a young age?" A clear voice came from beside her, startling her.
Turning around suddenly, "Is that you?"
"It's me." Yinzhen met her displeased eyes and asked with a slight smile: "Why don't you go in? Are you not interested in singing and dancing?"
"Singing and dancing? Uh... I didn't pay attention." She stuck out her tongue slightly. She was focused on the food and ignored the singing and dancing performances in the venue.
"Just now...I saw that you were enjoying your meal. Are the dishes in the palace so delicious?" He couldn't help but take a few more bites. Maybe it was because his life in his previous life was more luxurious, and in this life he is an extremely expensive prince.
, I didn’t think the banquet just now was so delicious.
"Not bad." At least it was beyond the imagination of her taste buds. It was also different from the Man-Han banquet that would be called gluttonous in later generations.
Jinxi tilted her head and responded with a sweet smile, "You can think of me as a little girl who has never seen the world. It is her first time to participate in such a grand palace banquet."
"Isn't it?" Yinzhen asked with a thoughtful smile.
"What do you mean?" She was shocked.
"Isn't this your first time attending a palace banquet?" He withdrew his exploratory gaze and turned to look at the snowy scene outside the corridor.
"Of course...yes. Well...I'll go in first, otherwise my mother will worry." She took two steps back and saw him tilting his head and staring at her intensely. She gritted her teeth and slipped back to the banquet hall along the corridor.
.
It wasn't until her figure disappeared at the end of the corridor that Yinzhen retracted his gaze from her back, and an almost invisible smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He was sure that she and he were of the same kind.
…………
"Xi'er, is there anything else you want to eat?" Seeing her daughter sitting back at the banquet obediently under the guidance of the palace maid, Min Rongrou asked with a smile. The last cake was served, which meant that the palace banquet was coming to an end.
"I'm full, E Niang." Jin Xi held her chin, seemingly enjoying the singing and dancing in the venue. In fact, she was secretly annoyed at her own carelessness.
Although the other party is only eight years old, he is still a yellow belt after all. Why do you speak so bluntly in front of him without using an honorific title?!
Talking about "you" and "I", she completely forgot that she should use honorifics and call him prince. But when he noticed her homesickness, she completely forgot to pretend.
Fortunately, the other party had no intention of arguing with her, otherwise, the first person to be criticized would be her cheap dad.
Alas, remember, Lin Jinxi, you are now in the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century, and you are the daughter of a second-rank official who occasionally interacts with the royal family. You must not forget the etiquette and humility you should have. Otherwise, you will suffer disaster.
It’s not just the cheap dad who is responsible, he himself is also to blame.
She patted her forehead in annoyance and couldn't help but look towards where Yinzhen was. Unexpectedly, she met his thoughtful gaze.
She hurriedly looked away, damn it! Even if he is a high-ranking prince, no matter how outstanding and capable he is, he is only an eight-year-old child. Why should she be so afraid of him?!
Well, forget it, try to stay away from him in the future. I always feel that he is not a simple character. Then again, which of the people in power in the Qing Palace is a simple character?!
…………
"Fourth brother, are you in a good mood today?" Yinzhen, who was sitting next to Yinzhen, leaned into his ear and asked curiously with a smile.
"What should I say?" Yinzhen recovered his unrestrained thoughts and turned his head to look at Yiqi.
"Because Fourth Brother has eaten several chopsticks of mutton. Don't you usually hate the smell of mutton?" Yinqi laughed loudly and pointed to the mutton slices on the plate in front of him.
Only then did Yinzhen realize that someone had placed a plate of sliced roast lamb on his plate, and after he sat back down, he unconsciously put several chopsticks in his mouth.
I glanced at the five brothers sitting around the table. The eldest brother Yinyin and the third brother Yinzhi have always been calm and would not do such teasing things. Yinyou is timid and has always been a little afraid of him. He must not dare, so that's it.
Prince Yinreng or Yinqi.
"Second brother?" He raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Yin Reng, who was sitting at the front seat, drinking and dancing by himself.
"Fourth brother, is the second brother this kind of person?" Yinzhen was secretly shocked by Yinzhen's keenness, but he still looked at ease on his face. "You are too serious. You should learn from the fifth brother."
Yinzhen did not pursue further, lowered his head and took a sip of tea. He remembered that he took Qiying out of the palace in the morning to explore the relationship between Nixiao Pavilion and the prince. He knew that sooner or later he would confront the prince. He simply lost his temper and followed the prince intentionally or unintentionally.
Take the opportunity to teach.
"Fourth brother, are you still angry that your second brother didn't take you to go shopping?" The prince stared at Yinzhen and asked with a gloomy face.
For some reason, facing this younger brother who was always reserved and quiet, he couldn't help but think of Emperor Ama. He secretly glanced at Kangxi who was receiving congratulations from the ministers at the main table, and Yinreng felt angry in his heart.
He is the crown prince of the East Palace, why did Huang Ama summon Yinzhen privately? That is the treatment that he can only enjoy. Yinzhen and other brothers are just his younger brothers who will help him unify the country in the future.
"Second brother is worrying too much. Yinzhen has never thought about it that way." He is not a child with a yellow mouth. He spends all day thinking about going shopping and watching big shows. Even the three-year-old Yinzhen has long forgotten that the prince let them go.
"I hope so. You also know that Huang Ama often sends me out of the palace to do things, so he doesn't have much free time to go shopping with you and watch the fun... However, my second brother promises you that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he will definitely take you out of the palace to enjoy the feast.
Let’s go to the lanterns.”
"The Lantern Festival? But didn't the palace also invite a lion dance team to come in and have fun? It is said that the imperial garden also hangs lanterns and guesses riddles. How can there be time to go out of the palace to play?!" Yinqi couldn't help but interrupt.
Yinreng was stunned for a moment, then smiled coquettishly and said, "Oh, no, I was so focused on taking you out of the palace to have fun that I forgot about this."
"Forget it, second brother. After the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, classes start again in the study room, and the younger brothers don't have that much time to go out to play. The second brother should also have a lot of things to do, so how can we bother the second brother to spend these thoughts again."
Yinzhen put down the cup in his hand, smiled lightly at Yinzhen, and declined politely.
The key is that he still has to complete the investigation assigned to him by Kangxi. He really doesn't have time to leave the palace with the prince. Fortunately, Yinzhen and the other two are not around, otherwise he really wouldn't have the chance to refuse.
"That's right. Let's talk about it next time when we have free time." The prince nodded, which was considered as his own opinion.
To be honest, he was not happy to take so many carrot heads out of the palace to play. The same time would be better spent on Feng'er.
When he thought of the girl he had been feasting on recently, he couldn't help but feel his stomach tightening. Tsk, tsk, after tasting that, the maids who served him in the palace had become out-of-season salty pickles.
Very little, no flavor at all.
Thinking about when to go to Nixiao Pavilion again... I heard from grandma that a girl escaped that day, but I don't know if she has been found again...
Since the top flower girl in Nixiao Pavilion was spotted by the prince from outside Tibet and was redeemed as a concubine, Nixiao Pavilion's business has slowed down a lot. If we don't find a flower girl who can control the scene,
His private money has shrunk. It is not enough to cover his own expenses. How can there be any extra rewards to retain those disciples who are dedicated to giving him advice?
Yinyin and Yinzhi said nothing to Yinzhen, which meant that the prince was making empty promises again.
Yinzhen twitched the corners of his lips. It wasn't the first time he had written a bad check, so it didn't matter to him for a long time.
What's more, now that he has a new goal, he hopes that the prince will completely forget about him.
He raised his eyes and glanced at where Jin Xi was sitting, and saw that she was also looking at him, and he couldn't help but feel relieved. It would be a good thing to have multiple companions in such a time and space that requires constant vigilance...