After Qixi had served her meal, she packed the bags she had prepared in the afternoon on a tray and brought them all in.
The purses were divided into three colors and arranged neatly. Ji Ling reached for one and weighed it, then stood up and said to Bixue: "Call everyone to the main hall of the front hall."
After she finished speaking, she asked Qixi to help her change into a sapphire blue flag outfit, comb her hair briefly, and then walked to the front hall.
The servants were already kneeling on the ground. When they saw Concubine Chen come out, they all kowtowed and shouted loudly: "I would like to say hello to Concubine Chen! May Concubine Chen be blessed!"
Ji Ling called the people up, didn't say much nonsense, and started to reward the purses directly - the rules in the Forbidden City are that during the Chinese New Year, the lower the status, the more rewards will be given, and there are still direct rewards in the purses.
The heavy little ingots were wrapped and handed out at this time, and everyone's faces were filled with joy.
Xiao Fenzi was the leader eunuch. He knelt at the front and kowtowed to his master, and the others followed him.
After receiving the reward, the third princess began to make a fuss, clamoring for noodles.
Before Ji Ling could understand at first, he saw his daughter gesticulating and shouting, "Duck noodles! Duck noodles!"
After Grandma Chen explained, she realized what she wanted to eat - the three princesses wanted to eat the camphor tea duck shredded noodles made by the imperial kitchen of Yangxin Hall at yesterday's New Year's Eve family banquet.
It was an inconspicuous side dish, and it was only served after three rounds of banquets. Everyone had a small cup in front of them. The noodles were cooked to perfection, and the chopsticks broke before they could be picked up.
At the age of the third princess, she must be able to eat this kind of noodles, so Ji Ling let her eat a cup, and unexpectedly, she became interested in it.
Ji Ling asked someone to call Xiao Dazi and talk about it.
Xiao Dazi was in a dilemma - it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. Although camphor tea is not a precious leaf material, it is rare in the palace. That is to say, it is specially prepared in the imperial kitchen for the New Year's Eve family banquet.
The so-called camphor tea is actually not tea, but a kind of leaf. It is more abundant in western Sichuan and mostly grows in high mountains and dense forests. The leaves are thicker and larger than ordinary tea leaves. The branches can be used as medicine. After boiling, the tea juice turns red.
It is brown in color, promotes body fluids and quenches thirst, and has a special fragrance. The smoked duck made with this camphor tea is called camphor tea duck.
The camphor tea duck is deep red and shiny, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with the fragrance of camphor wood - of course, a sauce duck cannot only rely on camphor tea, it also needs to be added with fermented glutinous rice juice, five spices, Shaoxing rice wine, pepper and green onion,
Ginger, etc., simmered till rotten, and colored with brown sugar.
What Xiao Dazi said makes perfect sense, but he just can't do it.
Xiao Fenzi listened nearby and reminded Ji Ling in a low voice: "Master, since I want this taste, why don't I send someone to the imperial kitchen of Yangxin Hall to bring this dish?"
In the imperial dining room, there was actually a small stove for Chengqian Palace, but Ji Ling rarely used it, or in other words - basically never used it.
She doesn't need it, but her daughter wants to eat it, so a mother naturally has to satisfy her daughter.
Ji Ling nodded.
Xiao Fenzi took the order, walked around in the yard for a while, and then raised his hand to tell Xiao Yangzi to go. Every time he sent Xiao Yangzi, he always felt an inexplicable and hearty pleasure.
Xiao Yoko was originally doing carpentry work in the yard. When he saw Xiao Fenzi's instructions, he stood up, wiped the sweat from his head with his sleeves, and walked over. He waited until he heard Xiao Fenzi's explanation clearly.
Yoko didn't say much, just nodded and went straight to the dining room. Xiao Dazi had already prepared the food box and had it delivered to him.
Little Yoko left the palace gate.
Chengqian Palace is not far from Yangxin Palace - go south past Jingren Palace, then walk to the entrance of Chengsu Palace, turn west, enter Rijing Gate, and cross the square in front of Qianqing Palace to reach it.
But the Ni Jing Sect is not a place for a slave like him to go.
Little Yoko took a different route, made several right-angle detours, and passed several more questions before finally arriving at the door of the imperial dining room.
He didn't come here much. When he got to the door, he was slightly startled for a while. Just then, a cart carrying charcoal came from the north. Several handy eunuchs saw him standing next to the door and shouted at him to get out of the way.
Fortunately, there was an old eunuch in the middle. When Hai Guiren was favored for a short time, he had been fawning over Jingyang Palace for a while. When he saw Xiao Yoko's face, he just felt familiar.
After the cart passed by, he finally remembered and said quickly: "Stop! Stop!"
The old eunuch, whose surname was Cheng, bent down and shivered from the cart. He walked up to Xiao Yoko with his eyes narrowed, wiped his sleeves and stepped forward, grabbed his shoulders, and said with a smile: "You... Good boy!"
Little Yoko also recognized him, he was eunuch Cheng.
It was unlucky to become a eunuch in his life, and he did not live as he wished. Even at his age, he was still the lowest eunuch. He could not even make people want to call him father-in-law. He once managed to hug the nobleman Hai's lap. Unexpectedly, that eunuch came again. He is a blessed master.
Little Yoko called him: "Become a big brother!"
Eunuch Cheng raised his hand to wipe the blur from his eyes, then put his hands in his sleeves. With a wink, he stepped forward and bumped his shoulder. He said: "Little Yangzi, are you here to work? You are in Chengqian Palace now. What a blessed place, please take care of me!"
Little Yoko said: "How do you know I'm at Concubine Chen's place?"
Eunuch Cheng laughed and lowered his voice: "Chengqian Palace - how many people are trying to get in, how many pitfalls are there and you can't even count them clearly?"
While he was still talking, he started shouting and scolding: "Where's the charcoal fire? Don't miss it!"
Eunuch Cheng cleared his throat and immediately shouted: "Come on, come on, come right away!" He didn't dare to delay any longer. The woodshed was bustling with people coming and going, so Eunuch Cheng pulled Little Yoko's sleeve and left. When I went in, I saw him holding a food box in his hand and said, "What? Are you here to bring food?"
Little Yoko nodded: "The little master likes a side dish from yesterday, so I will bring it back to you as a filial piety."
Eunuch Cheng nodded, took him forward, and explained a few words to the eunuch guarding him. When the two people heard that they were coming from Chengqian Palace, they immediately retracted their hands to stop him, and one of them smiled and walked with him. When little Yoko went in, he had to reach out to help him carry the food box.
Xiao Yoko said no need.
In the imperial dining room, there is a division of labor between washing, preparing, cutting, and frying. As you walk from room to room, the eunuch Cheng leads the person in front and takes the person directly to the person in charge.
As soon as Little Yoko told him his request, someone brought him a stool and fruit, and asked him to sit and wait, eating while waiting.
Not long after, the fragrant camphor tea duck shredded noodles were put into the food box - the noodles easily absorb water and were placed in three places. The dough was dough, the soup was soup, and the shredded duck was shredded duck.
In addition, the imperial dining room could not help but prepare six dishes of today's imperial meal for Xiao Yoko, and packed them in carved lacquer food boxes. The outside was wiped clean and asked him to take it back to honor Concubine Chen and the third princess.
Little Yoko was afraid of being in front of him for too long, so he stiffened up and hurried outside.
Eunuch Cheng caught up with him, grabbed him by the waist and told him: "Don't forget to support me, brother!"
Little Yoko agreed and thought to himself: When he was young, he didn't rush to make a name for himself. Now that he is here, where can he go to support him?
The camphor tea duck shredded noodles were brought back, and the dining table was immediately set up in the Chengqian Palace. The third princess sat on a small chair specially made for her, holding her chopsticks, picking up the edge of the bowl and started drinking the noodle soup.
After drinking for a long time, she ate some noodles, and finally wiped her mouth with satisfaction and walked away.
Ji Ling saw that the bowl was full of camphor tea duck shreds - the girl didn't even move a bite.
She drank the soup completely, not leaving any bit - she just wanted to drink the taste of camphor tea and duck sauce soup.
Ji Ling:……
On the evening of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Yinzhen came to Chengqian Palace - earlier than Ji Ling expected.
Ji Ling listened to the news outside that the emperor had arrived, and almost thought she had heard wrongly. She didn't even put on her cloak, and trotted out in the cotton robe from the room.
As soon as I stepped down the steps, I saw Yinzhen striding in.
He walked halfway, looked up and saw her, and immediately smiled.
Ji Ling stepped forward to greet him. The two of them were in the yard, holding hands and smiling at each other for a moment. Ji Ling felt a little embarrassed that so many slaves were looking at him, so he pulled Yinzhen's sleeve and went up the steps.
After a year, he became noticeably thinner.
After only a few days, it was clearly visible to the naked eye that Yinzhen's jawline had become sharper - he had been busy for several days, going to bed late and getting up early, and was very busy.
In fact, his schedule was very tight today, so he squeezed in the time to come.
