The Dragon Boat Festival passed very quickly. I ate sugar garlic rice dumplings in the morning. I heard that there was a dragon boat race near Jinming Lake in the morning, and there was a Dragon Boat Festival sacrificial activity in the afternoon.
However, Su Wan's impression of the Dragon Boat Festival was eating pickled garlic and rice dumplings, and she didn't care at all what happened afterwards.
The rice dumplings from the Dessert Department are of stable quality and are highly praised by people all over the capital. It is unknown since when, but the food from the Shangshi Department has become a symbol of Beijing cuisine.
If someone says that the food is provided by the Imperial Food Bureau, the common people will subconsciously say, "It must be delicious!"
The answer is, of course, "Of course! This is Shangshisi."
Su Wan was listening to people praising her in the Shangshenjian while distributing severance pay to the staff who were leaving several kitchens.
After May, those who need to leave the palace will do so.
However, I heard that because of the reputation of the Shangshi Bureau nowadays, all the palace servants who leave the palace from the Shangshi Bureau will discuss with the restaurant owners in advance whether they can go to their restaurant or work in their mansion, and the remuneration they receive is also quite generous.
Because of this, the people in the Imperial Kitchen were willing to go out on their own initiative so that they would have someone to rely on in the future.
But other palace staff are not so lucky. Those who can manage things are still okay, and some families invite them to be housekeepers, but those who have no special skills and are just trying to make a living in the palace are better off not leaving.
At the same time, the managers of various departments did not want to let them go. As a result, there were various reasons why the list was not submitted in time.
Concubine Jiang was extremely angry about this matter.
He refused to provide any rosters for the several government offices under his charge, obviously not wanting to cut staff.
However, the Imperial Kitchen Department, which was against her, did their job well and she couldn't find any fault with them. Sometimes Concubine Jiang wondered if she had done something wrong.
But this thought only flashed through her mind. In fact, her control over the various departments of the inner and outer palaces was pretty good, but since her interests were often harmed, she would definitely have to gamble a few times.
After all, it’s because the eldest prince’s position is unstable.
If the eldest prince is definitely the candidate for the crown prince, these things will not be a problem and can be easily handled.
But the thing has already happened, what can we do? We still have to solve it bit by bit.
It didn't matter, her intention wasn't really to cut staff anyway.
However, cutting staff and reducing expenses have always been difficult problems since ancient times, and it is not something that Concubine Jiang cannot do alone.
But the staff has not been reduced yet, and summer is coming. It's time to prepare for the palace.
Come to think of it, the ladies in the palace are indeed very busy.
Not only the ladies were busy, but the palace servants were also busy.
The news of going to the palace reached the Shangshi Department, and Su Wan would definitely go with them this time.
Last year she stayed in the West Kitchen and solved many problems, and it was also during that time that she showed her talent. This time, seeing that the Shangshenjian is stable, she will definitely go to Yuhua Palace to escape the summer heat.
Does this count as an obvious promotion?
After seeing off more than a hundred people from the Shangshi Bureau, Su Wan kept all the information about the matter.
The matter of sending away the palace maids also came to an end.
Unfortunately, there are not many government offices in the entire palace that can complete this task properly.
The team that was originally thought to be leaving the palace was actually less than three hundred people, and the majority of them were from the Imperial Food Department.
However, with these people gone, the pressure on the Shangshi Department to prepare meals was great. Seeing this, some palace servants said they could stay in the palace.
But there is only one chance to leave the palace. If they continue to stay in the palace, they will have to wait another six years before they can leave. After much deliberation, the superiors decided to let them go home with peace of mind. Their lives outside the palace are not bad, and there is no need for them to stay here.
The other palace people did not object to this result.
Although it seems that they have heavier workloads now, they all have hope. As long as they work hard in the Shangshi Division, they will be able to have good jobs and a decent life like these sisters when they leave the palace in the future, and live a good life outside the palace.
If I force my sisters not to leave the palace today, will they be the ones being forced to leave in the future?
Everyone will do the math in their mind.
Besides, there will be new maids entering the palace next year. Everyone just needs to work hard. If you work hard, you will have a good life!
So when people say goodbye, most of the time they give their blessings.
By mid-May, everyone had left and peace had returned to the palace.
Just as Su Wan thought, there were no major changes in various places. Concubine Jiang wanted to take this opportunity to cut staff, but failed.
But I heard that a lot of things must have been exchanged privately, and such private matters were naturally said by Xie Pei.
The two were chatting in the Guanxin Hall and happened to talk about this matter.
"Ten thousand taels of gold will be sent to the Jiang Mansion."
Ten thousand taels may be a figurative number, but it is not too little no matter how you think about it.
Su Wan subconsciously said, "So she doesn't really want to cut staff?"
Xie Pei looked at him, and the guards beside him were also slightly surprised.
I know Su Wan is smart, but it’s rare for her to react so quickly.
In fact, they are just using this incident to make money.
And he did collect the money. With money in hand, everything would be easy to handle. Didn't you see that some officials in the court had already pleaded with the saint, saying that the eldest prince had been under house arrest for many days and that the punishment was enough. After all, he had only sent a gift and had not really colluded.
The eldest prince did not collude with anyone, so who was he colluding with?
It must be the second prince.
Lifting the eldest prince and stepping on the second prince, I guess it was the money that gave them the motivation.
It seems that all this trouble is useful.
After this incident, the day of going to Yuhua Palace is getting closer.
The weather got hot early this year. It started to get hot in early May, so we had to set off early and come back in August or September.
Su Wan had only heard people say that Yuhua Palace was very cool, but she had never actually been there.
She is on the list of people going to the palace this time, and I am quite looking forward to it.
The most important thing is to avoid the heat!
Last year when I was in the west kitchen, it was so hot that I had to make smoothies to get by.
It would be great to be able to go somewhere cool this year.
However, before setting off, several kitchens were preparing food for the journey. Su Wan was no exception. She made something on the spot and prepared to cook it for everyone on the road.
This thing is ice powder!
It’s not that Su Wan didn’t want to make smoothies, but on the way to the palace, she was exhausted from the long journey, and the few ice creams she could bring with her were naturally only for the nobles. If they wanted to cool off, they could at most eat some fruits, which was already very good.
This is normal. It is said that the poor are rich on the road. It is normal to spend a lot of money on the road.
So she prepared in advance!
Ice jelly is cool, smooth, soft and chewy, and tastes like jelly. Most importantly, you can add any toppings to it.
After traveling for half a day, after eating the soft ice jelly, I felt more energy to continue traveling!
The officer knew that Su Wan was making delicious food, so he naturally wouldn't stop her, but he was also a little excited.
What is Su Wan going to do?
Not to mention that the Chief of the Imperial Household Department is looking forward to it, isn’t the Minister of the Imperial Household Department next door looking forward to it too?
Even some officials from the Ministry of Rites were asking if Su Wan could be transferred over for a few days so that she could accompany the headquarters of the Ministry of Rites and make it easier for everyone to take care of the younger palace maids.
After all, it is convenient for you to take care of it!
Let Su Wan make the delicious food!
Su Wan also wanted to laugh after hearing this, so she decided to just make the ice jelly well.
If it is modern times, you can just buy the powder of ice jelly, it is very simple to make.
Now it’s a little more complicated, and we just need to make the white powder of this ice jelly.
The raw material is called agar seeds. The white precipitate inside the agar seeds needs to be washed out and then dried into powder when the weather is good.
When Su Wan bought this thing, she asked someone to buy it from the Chinese medicine shop. After she bought it, the head aunt Yonglan said that she could buy it from the medical school next door. Although most of the students there were medical students, they also had to have some basic knowledge before they could study in the outer palace. It would be much easier than for her to buy it outside.
Su Wan had forgotten about this. Without Wei Jun walking around, it wouldn't be difficult to buy it.
When rubbing the agar seeds, be gentle and make sure the skin is broken. The white precipitate will form when you rub it with water, but don't use too much water.
Otherwise, it would directly fuse and then solidify into something, which is not the powder that Su Wan wants.
Su Wan was making ice jelly while also doing her job as the Shangshenjian. Seeing that the weather was getting hotter, they decided to set off as soon as possible.
We estimate that we will set off on May 20th and arrive in early June when the weather is the hottest.
The number of people from the Shangshi Bureau who went to Yuhua Palace this time was similar to last time.
The first person who had to go was the chief of the Shangshi Division, who was then accompanied by the Shangshi Youzhonglang, Shangshi Yuanwailang, and Shangshi Zhushi.
The other departments are still led by Deputy Prime Minister Nan, Deputy Prime Minister Li, and their right-hand men.
The next step was to allocate one-third of the palace maids, as well as his own capable palace maids, and so on. These were not all the people who were going to the palace. The first group of palace maids went to deal with the matter, and after they left, there were more palace maids who rode past at full speed.
When a saint travels, he is often accompanied by tens of thousands of people.
Fortunately, we are used to doing this and the schedule is the same every year, so everyone can pack up quickly.
When Su Wan came to her senses, they were already on the road.
During the period before her departure, she not only made ice jelly, but also had to arrange household affairs. She would be away from Yuhua Palace for several months, so she had to put the baking soda for Master Su with Wei Jun in advance and ask Wei Jun to help deliver it every month.
Wei Jun is also watching over the snack bar, so basically everything is fine.
In fact, Wei Jun is also very busy. His master has already left the palace to recuperate, so he must be busy making arrangements.
Speaking of this, Su Wan subconsciously said to him: "Once you go to the temporary palace, the inner and outer palaces are much emptier. If you have time, you can check the warehouse carefully."
It doesn't matter what others say.
But this was Su Wan's words. Wei Jun nodded and asked, "What did you see?"
Su Wan shook her head: "I'm just confused, but those thieves stole for the first time, the second time, and there must be many more times. Checking from time to time will definitely be correct."
This will save you from discovering problems later when it will be too late.
In fact, ever since the incident with Wei Jun and the loss of items at the Qionglin Banquet, Su Wan had been confused.
How could he be so clever and skilled that he could steal so many things without being discovered?
This time they were setting out for the temporary palace to escape the summer heat. Su Wan looked at the people packing their luggage everywhere, and then she asked Wei Jun to be more careful and not let thieves take advantage of the fact that there were few people in the palace and steal the things in the Imperial Household Department.
The chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department also had to go to the palace. There were only a few eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department left in the palace, and Wei Jun was one of the responsible persons.
There can't be any problems at this time, otherwise he will definitely be implicated.
After all these things were arranged, Su Wan was on her way to the palace.
There was a huge procession of carriages and horses, and the speed was obviously very slow. After all, there were several thousand people from beginning to end, so naturally they had to move slowly to avoid tiring the nobles riding in the carriages.
Speaking of carriages, the one behind the saint's carriage should have belonged to his eldest son Xie Pei, because he had the most noble status.
But it is not the case now. The princes are not divided according to the legitimate and illegitimate children, but according to the seniority. Naturally, the eldest prince comes first, then the second prince, and then Xie Pei.
When it comes to the seniority of legitimate and illegitimate children, there are actually a lot of debates. In fact, there are very flexible standards to decide whether to follow the seniority or not.
Let’s not talk about ordinary families for now. For the royal family and royal relatives, the status of legitimate and illegitimate children actually depends on the power of the biological mother’s family.
Whether a legitimate son is truly noble depends not only on his father but also on his mother’s family background. It is very important whether the mother is the daughter of so-and-so’s family.
If Xie Pei's biological mother's surname was not Ding, and she was not the daughter of General Ding, but a woman from a humble family, then even if she was the queen, the situation would be different from what it is now.
In that case, Xie Pei, the legitimate son, would be valued, but not as much as he is now.
That’s why Xie Pei is so strong, and his confidence comes not only from his biological father, but also from his biological mother.
Even if the Ding family is gone, he is the only close relative left.
The only one is called Zhang Guojiu, and the sage forcibly promoted him to be the emperor's uncle just to look good. In fact, they have nothing to do with each other.
This Zhang Guojiu has been mentioned briefly before, but he has no real power. His existence is just to show that he owes the Ding family a favor, and he doesn't want the Ding family to be destroyed.
No matter how you look at it, the Ding family is indeed gone.
But as long as the Ding family's achievements are there, then he, as the bloodline of the Ding family and the grandson of the Ding family, will be secretly recognized by many people.
The battles fought by so many people were not in vain, and so much blood was not shed in vain.
Therefore, the order of the carriages and horses this time made many people frown secretly.
But when you think about it, this time last year, the Third Prince didn't even go to the palace. Doesn't this seem like progress?
Xie Pei didn't care much about whether he made progress or not. He just heard that everyone in the Ministry of Rites got a bowl of ice jelly and was eating it happily.
It seems to be very effective in relieving heat and reducing internal heat.
But he didn't.
It would be great if Su Wan could come over openly and deliver food to us someday.
Xie Pei smiled to himself and asked his guard Zang Dongxin to secretly go and get one back. No, he asked Su Wan to get one back.
After four or five days on the road, Su Wan finally found the right time to do it.
It wasn't because the time was right, but because it kept getting hotter and hotter. Every time I arrived at a place, I had to wash my face with ice water to cool down.
In this situation, I naturally thought of the ice jelly that I had prepared long ago.
Because it has been made into powder, it can be made when the carriage is resting.
Find a clean, deep flat pot, pour in the prepared ice jelly powder first, then add clean water, at the same time, turn on low heat and stir the ice jelly and water in the pot constantly.
This powder has been processed in advance and can be condensed into small jelly-like pieces. With the naked eye, you can see that the water and powder in the pot have turned into soft, elastic and transparent food.
The soft, elastic and transparent original ice jelly is ready.
Now it has no texture, just soft but no flavor.
Put the prepared original ice jelly into the ice jar that comes with you and rub it with ice cubes. It is also easy for Shangshisi.
Leave it in there for half an hour and the ice jelly will be absolutely icy and cool, and eating it in its original flavor is enough to relieve the heat.
But the original flavor is still not good enough.
So on the other hand, you need to start making brown sugar water. Dissolve the brown sugar in warm water, and then simmer it in a pot over low heat until it becomes a slurry. This way, the brown sugar water will not be greasy. Add some mint water and honey to make it taste better.
In addition to the brown sugar water, Su Wan also cut some green plums and apricots, as well as some fresh fruits that were available.
We also brought dried plums and other things, which were cut into even-sized strips to use as side dishes.
When Deputy Prime Minister Li of the Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau saw this, he even cooked some tapioca for her.
This was made by Su Wan last year. At that time, she made the dessert mango pudding and sago. I heard that the saint is still eating it now, so tapioca pearls are always available in the dessert department.
Take out the ice jelly later and add some tapioca pearls when adding the condiments. The taste will definitely be richer.
Even a saint would not have thought that while he was still happily eating mango sago, in fact, other people's cold drinks have been updated and you are already behind!
There are fifteen kinds of condiments, not all of which are made by Su Wan herself.
There were also some that Deputy Prime Minister Li and Deputy Prime Minister Nan took over when they were making other desserts.
The carriages and horses are taking a break now, and the Shangshisi must be preparing snacks and sending them to the front. Taking them, Su Wan's small condiments have become particularly rich.
After everything was done, not only the Shangshu people were using it, but people from the Guanglu Temple naturally took the opportunity to come over and eat and drink for free.
Naturally, there were also several ministers from the Ministry of Rites.
Cui Hucheng, the Minister of Rites, heard that Su Wan had cooked delicious food and insisted on taking a bowl away.
For this bowl of transparent and soft ice jelly, first pour a spoonful of brown sugar water on it, then add your favorite condiments.
Cui Hucheng added shredded green plums, shredded apricots, sesame seeds, chopped hawthorns, and several other small ingredients, stirred them gently, and then scooped them into his mouth with a spoon.
The ice jelly, which has been chilled, is soft, smooth and cold. When you eat it, it brings a cool feeling to your throat. It is light and delicious.
But these ingredients are rich in flavor.
This ice jelly is so soft, smooth and delicious, it’s a dessert you’ve never tasted before!
The officials at the Ministry of Rites headquarters were eating ice jelly happily, while officials from several nearby departments could only watch.
The Minister of Revenue was even more sour: "It's good to follow the Imperial Food Bureau, and there are special kitchens for us to eat."
"Why are you not convinced? Do you have a Shangshi Bureau?" The Minister of Rites raised his eyebrows.
It almost belonged to them!
The people in the Ministry of Revenue curled their lips, but they still shamelessly asked the Ministry of Rites to order some to try.
On a summer day like this, eating a bowl of cold ice jelly is just the right way to relieve the heat.
In a moment, the delicious food that the saint had not yet eaten fell into their mouths.
After Xie Pei had finished eating, the Saint realized something. After dealing with the memorials on the way, he casually asked the Minister of Revenue: "I heard that you are eating some fresh food recently that can relieve the heat? How does it compare with this Yangzhi Ganlu?"
How can this be compared?
The two are completely different. What’s the difference between this and Guan Gong fighting Qin Qiong!
Fortunately, the Shangshisi was very considerate. As soon as they heard about this, they made a very delicate ice jelly and served it in extremely delicate bowls and plates.
Finally, the saints caught up with the trend.
Unfortunately, Su Wan has already started making iced milk tea.
This is not the way to the palace, this is clearly the beverage shop she opened!
It’s because the road was too boring. After eating the ice jelly, I always felt like something was missing.
If you think about it carefully, it’s just a lack of milk tea.
But it’s definitely not appropriate to drink warm milk tea now, so let’s have a cup of iced milk tea!
In order to cool down, she really tried hard to eat!
Su Wan is already catching up with the new trend, while Saint is still amazed at how delicious the ice jelly is.
It seems that I have had a lot of good drinks in recent years.
Before, there was a special black plum juice, and mango sago, and now there is brown sugar icy jelly. The saint feels that there is finally something that can make him feel at ease.
A spoonful of beautiful colorless ice jelly goes into your mouth, and there are also various small ingredients in your mouth that bring you flavors.
It really makes people close their eyes and enjoy it comfortably for a while in the summer.
But while eating, the saint suddenly asked, "Who made this ice jelly? Call it over and give it to me."
If you like it so much, you must show it.
Su Wan, who was making milk tea, almost put too much tea leaves in her hand when her hand shook.
The saint wants to see her?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
