After returning to the Imperial Kitchen from the North Kitchen, Su Wan stayed for four or five days before going to the South Kitchen.

She has been busy recently, hanging around these places every day. When Li Rongrong saw Su Wan coming, she subconsciously clenched the rag in her hand.

Her aunt, Deputy Prime Minister Nan Cheng, told her why Su Wan had to work in several kitchens.

It was definitely not about changing the tableware, but using this incident to let Su Wan become familiar with the work of each kitchen.

After a while, everyone knew this clearly, so even though Su Wan was just a little palace maid, there were people praising her wherever she went.

This will allow Su Wan to do her job well in the Shangshenjian.

If female officials are promoted in the future, she will be mentioned first because she is indeed qualified.

On the contrary, I can only do something in the south kitchen.

As she was talking, Li Rongrong calculated the time. The meat was already steamed. Today, a third-rank official was having dinner in the small kitchen of the South Kitchen, and he specifically asked to eat the steamed meat from the South Kitchen.

At any other time, she would have been happy.

But looking at her now, I always feel that Su Wan is many times better than her.

Even my aunt said that I just need to follow Su Wan closely in the future.

In fact, after the last winter festival, Li Rongrong already understood a little bit, but when she really faced it again, she still felt a little uncomfortable.

The more seriously ill Su Wan became, the more obvious this discomfort became.

As soon as Su Wan arrived at the South Kitchen, she felt that the atmosphere there was not right. She worked in the North Kitchen as well, but the feeling here was completely different.

Many people looked at her secretly, but did not dare to get too close.

Su Wan pretended not to notice anything, but just then she smelled the aroma of steamed meat. The aroma was so greasy that she couldn't help but look sideways.

"What a delicious steamed meat." After Su Wan said this, she happened to meet Li Rongrong's gaze.

Li Rongrong forced a smile: "Yes, today someone personally ordered it."

As expected of the Li family who started their business, this family craft is truly extraordinary. It is extraordinary that Li Rongrong has such a skill at the age of seventeen on the 17th day of the lunar year.

The method of steaming food has always been highly praised in ancient times. Among them, Huaiyang cuisine, which strives to preserve the original flavor of the ingredients, has many steaming methods, which also illustrates the wonderful use of steaming food.

Otherwise, the cuisine would not have developed into something uniquely called Shangshi.

Li Rongrong has learned the true skills, and this bowl of steamed mandarin fish is really delicious.

But now it is the tenth day of the second lunar month, and the mandarin fish has just started to emerge, so making such a bowl of it is really precious.

In ancient times, unlike modern times, people can eat out-of-season food at will. Even with modern technology, some out-of-season food is still more expensive.

Nowadays, there is such a portion as soon as the mandarin fish is on the market, which shows its care and preciousness.

Li Rongrong felt relieved when she saw Su Wan's admiring eyes. The dish she cooked at the last winter festival was not her specialty, so she didn't have time to show off.

I made a dish of mushroom and taro under Su Wan's guidance. The fried mushrooms were steamed with taro, and the taste was really delicious.

After returning from the winter festival, she cooked it again for her aunt, Nan Chengfu. Her aunt was also impressed but told her not to cook it again to avoid attracting the attention of the inner palace and having her taken to the inner palace.

This time, she made the steamed mandarin fish because she heard that Su Wan was coming today and another third-rank official wanted to eat steamed dishes from the South Kitchen, so she decided on this recipe.

It’s hard to find mandarin fish in this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the South Kitchen.

After all, this is the most powerful kitchen in the entire Shangshi Division.

Steamed mandarin fish is extremely delicious. It requires good ham, fresh mushrooms, fresh bamboo shoots, a lot of pork, and fine seasonings to make this steamed fish.

The fish meat tastes tender, and this mandarin fish should be considered big at that time.

Su Wan took a careful look and felt that Li Rongrong had good skills. She was worthy of entering the palace for the position of female official, and she did have the ability.

Su Wan was somewhat grateful to Li Rongrong and Deputy Nan Cheng. During the Chinese New Year, Deputy Nan Cheng even sent someone to her house to deliver New Year gifts, which was considered to give her aunt some respect.

When we meet now, we are naturally in harmony.

Su Wan took the initiative to be friendly, and Li Rongrong nodded. Looking at the steamed mandarin fish she made, she felt more confident.

Come to think of it, Su Wan’s current status is also related to her participation in disaster relief.

Disaster relief sounds easy, but there were so many refugees, such severe snow and wind, and they were trapped there for several days. But after they came back, they all said that Su Wan was fearless in the face of danger and did not feel timid at all.

The little girls were like this, and the other palace servants gradually calmed down and worked hard.

I heard that it is still circulating in the northern suburbs of Kyoto that the palace ladies cook delicious food and are trying to imitate how to stew pig's trotters with soybeans, saying that it is the most delicious meal they have ever eaten.

These news also made the palace maids feel proud.

The Ministry of Rites praised the Shangshi Bureau many times because of this matter, and Su Wan was also given special care.

The Ministry of Rites tacitly approved her to go to various departments.

Otherwise, how could that little palace maid have the permission to go there and go to the Ministry of Rites so often?

Li Rongrong digested these emotions by herself and took the initiative to say: "I have nothing to do today, so why don't I accompany you to the South Kitchen and introduce you to some people. The South Kitchen is a little bigger and is responsible for more meals, so it is busier."

It is naturally better to have someone familiar to guide you. Su Wan stayed in the north kitchen for half a month, and the same went for the south kitchen.

The steamed mandarin fish that Li Rongrong had prepared had already been sent to the small kitchen for the adults to taste, so she was indeed fine.

Su Wan nodded, and the two of them really took a walk around the South Kitchen.

Deputy Prime Minister Nan was not here at the moment, so the left and right officials and the five palace maids all breathed a sigh of relief.

Even the Right Supervisor of the South, who didn't care about all these twists and turns, understood Li Rongrong's feelings. Su Wan also knew the Right Supervisor of the South. She was the female official who was a military general. She had also confronted the former chief steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which left a deep impression on Su Wan.

So the atmosphere was not right when Su Wan came in, but there was actually no big conflict. It was mainly because Deputy Nan Cheng and her niece Li Rongrong were a little bothered, so it seemed awkward.

Su Wan came in and praised the steamed fish made by Li Rongrong. The relationship between the two was good again. How could the rest of the people not breathe a sigh of relief?

It has to be said that the South Kitchen is indeed larger, almost twice the size of the West Kitchen. It has more than a dozen small kitchens and two large kitchens, which is barely enough.

The main reason is that there are indeed a lot of palace maids in the palace.

Su Wan also discovered this. There were too many people in the palace and according to the information she saw in the Shangshenjian, the number of people in the palace increased every year. No wonder the palace's expenses were so high.

Didn't Imperial Concubine Jiang just want to embezzle money in the first place? She probably couldn't stand the excessive expenses in the palace.

"We are now providing meals for 4,200 people in total," Li Rongrong said with some pride, "but the South Kitchen has always done a great job."

"And now the South Kitchen needs to prepare meals for a dozen more people. A dozen people is not a big deal, but one of them is the Third Prince."

Li Rongrong didn't notice Su Wan's slightly surprised expression, she just said distressedly: "We are already an exception to the third-rank official who is here, I didn't expect there is a prince here, if it was the previous dynasty, there were also such examples."

"But Deputy Prime Minister Nan said that the current Saint has allowed most palaces to have their own kitchenettes, even the Armory Bureau has one, not to mention the several princes. Only the Third Prince wants to eat with the palace servants."

Su Wan asked, "In the big kitchen? Or a small kitchen?"

"That's not the case. Every day, people from the South Kitchen deliver meals to Chonghua Palace, which is the most remote palace in our imperial palace. After passing Nangong Road and going south, you will get there."

Li Rongrong was afraid that Su Wan didn't know the place, so she explained it in more detail.

But how could Su Wan not know what that place was? She even went to the Guanxin Hall opposite.

But she had not expected to throw the food in Xie Pei Palace to the South Kitchen. But after a little thought, she realized that now that Imperial Concubine Jiang had taken advantage of the drunken soldiers at Chengtian Gate to regain power, this must have been arranged by her.

I just wanted to humiliate the Third Prince by having dinner with the palace servants.

It might be okay for others, but it’s not the first time that Xie Pei has eaten in the West Kitchen. He definitely doesn’t mind these things. But he doesn’t know what people outside think.

Su Wan smiled: "Who cares? It has little to do with us anyway. We just need to do our job well."

Li Rongrong nodded in agreement. As soon as they returned, they heard a palace servant coming to announce good news. Although they said it was good news, their expressions looked a little strange.

"Sister Rongrong, the steamed mandarin fish you made just now was very popular with the adults, who even gave you some money as a reward."

This was a good thing, and Su Wan was happy for her. However, the palace maid's next sentence made people change their expressions: "But that lord said that mandarin fish is very rare nowadays, and the ham and fresh mushrooms inside are even more valuable. He should not be so extravagant when he comes next time."

I have praised it, and I have said it.

Indeed, it is somewhat inappropriate to eat mandarin fish nowadays.

Li Rongrong also heard the hidden meaning and felt annoyed for a moment. She thought it was inappropriate to make such an expensive dish just to show off in front of Su Wan.

Just as Su Wan was about to comfort her, Li Rongrong was called away by Deputy Nan Cheng who had already returned, apparently because of this matter.

Li Rongrong left, and Nan Youzhi took Su Wan back to Dafang. Lunch had just begun, and although the tableware had not been changed yet, it was always good to follow and see.

Although they are all kitchens, everyone has slightly different ways of doing things, so it's always a good idea to take a closer look.

Su Wan also discovered that the South Kitchen was responsible for more palace servants, and the personnel deployment was indeed more complicated, but the number of palace servants in the South Kitchen was only twenty more than that in the North Kitchen.

That is, three hundred and forty people, responsible for the meals of four thousand two hundred people.

When talking about this, Nan Youzhizhang felt proud and said with a smile: "This shows how powerful we are. Besides, we have the best ingredients and the most money, so we must do our best."

Su Wan nodded slightly, she was thinking wrongly.

However, it can be seen that Deputy Prime Minister Nan has great skills and strength. She has been in the Southern Kitchen for 20 years. If she had not been able to make proper arrangements, the Southern Kitchen would not be so powerful.

This is the first in the Shangshi Department, and it is justified.

Now that all three kitchens have moved aside, Su Wan understands even more clearly why even Deputy Prime Minister Xi himself was embarrassed to hire more people in the West Kitchen.

But now it seems that the Western Kitchen is catching up.

Li Rongrong followed Deputy Nan Cheng over after lunch. There were traces of tears in the corners of her eyes, but she was in a good mood. She must have felt both self-blame and comfort from Deputy Nan Cheng.

Li Rongrong walked over to Su Wan and smiled, "Deputy Nan Cheng said that we will work together for the next half month, so he asked me to leave the stove for a while."

The punishment is so harsh?

However, Su Wan pretended not to know and nodded, saying, "I'm definitely happy to have you here."

This is not the first time the two have worked together, so there will definitely be no problem working together.

But Su Wan vaguely discovered that the South Kitchen was still more complicated and not as relaxed as the North Kitchen, so she also worked very hard to do her job well.

But Su Wan and Li Rongrong didn't know that someone in the inner palace had already thought of the vegetarian meals they made and wanted to find them to help during the next festival.

During the winter festival, Su Wan had already collected the food and prepared vegetarian meals, but the ten little magicians in the inner palace still missed her.

It’s just that something happened in Buddhism after the winter festival, so they don’t want to bring it up again.

Now that the Taoist curse case has occurred, the status of the monks in the palace has returned to what it was before. It happened to be the sixth day of the second lunar month, the day of Sakyamuni's ordination. At that time, the celebration was not grand enough and the vegetarian food was ordinary.

Anyway, after a few things happened, the ten monks reached a unified opinion and asked their master and forefather to recruit several palace servants from the Imperial Food Department to come to the inner palace to help, in order to prepare for the Buddha's Birthday on the eighth day of April.

For such a small matter, as the mages take it very seriously, it can be accomplished with just a word.

When the news came, Su Wan and Li Rongrong were both shocked.

It was Su Wan who reacted first. It was not a coincidence, but an unfortunate one.

The fake monk case had weakened their morale, so they naturally would not cause trouble to them. Now that they have become more arrogant, it doesn't seem like a big deal for them to come to them to satisfy their appetites.

If you want to blame someone, you can only blame yourself for not removing the roots last time.