No matter how noisy it is outside, the imperial kitchen still has to cook.
We can't just skip meals just because there are so many things going on outside.
People can choose not to eat it, but they still have to make it.
But it’s different to listen to gossip while cooking.
On November 11, just a few days before Xie Pei's birthday, many things happened in the palace.
For example, at a birthday banquet, almost all civil and military officials attended.
For example, the Minister of Justice investigated a theft case and found the responsible person: Miss Qiang.
Then the prince was implicated, and everyone thought that he was doomed this time.
That night, news came out that the eldest prince had flirted with Concubine Qiang and wanted to forcibly take his father's concubine.
Then, in order to protect herself, Lady Qiang revealed that Concubine Jiang and the eldest prince had forced her to frame the prince.
All I can say is it was brilliant.
But it wasn't just Concubine Jiang and the eldest prince who had accidents last night.
When the guards went to Lady Qiang's palace to search the correspondence, they found that the Second Prince also wanted to cooperate with Lady Qiang and bring down the Crown Prince.
I heard that at that time, Concubine Chu, who was just watching the show, was completely dumbfounded.
But the letter made her believe it. No wonder the Second Prince had not arrived for so long after the incident. He must have gone to destroy the evidence.
Unfortunately, it was not destroyed thoroughly enough and was still discovered.
The two princes framed the prince separately.
This scandal was heard in the imperial kitchen just as he got up.
They were making breakfast and muttering to each other. The imperial kitchen manager didn't even know where he had gone. They were probably communicating with each other.
Anyway, after a night of tossing and turning, the prince who was being questioned in the Qinzheng Hall yesterday afternoon has now turned the tables and not only become the victim, but also the prince who is unique in finding out the spies of the enemy country.
In the past history of Tianxiang Kingdom, Xie Pei can also be counted as a name.
There's no way, this thing was done so beautifully, but it was also so unfair.
He was clearly trying to find out the spies from the Ujiyoshi clan!
When Su Wan heard this, she knew that Xie Pei had revealed the details of the Luandu clan in advance and only mentioned the Yi clan, giving all the civil and military officials in the court a unified window to vent their anger.
The identity of Lady Qiang as a spy from the enemy country was also directly exposed, and the prince also said that this was to provoke relations between the royal government and the opposition.
Unexpectedly, the eldest prince and the second prince actually took the bait.
First, the charge of attempting to murder the prince was suppressed.
Then he was accused of collaborating with spies from the enemy country to murder the emperor.
Say they are bad, or say they are stupid?
Or maybe both?
Anyway, even the imperial kitchen could comment: "If the two of them were to become the crown prince or the emperor, the Shiyi clan might really attack us."
"That's right, even the spies couldn't see it. It turns out that Lady Qiang deliberately provoked the dispute."
"That's too bad! People like this should be dragged out and beheaded."
"No matter what, the eldest and second princes are too stupid."
"We are lucky to have the prince, and there are so many powerful people around him."
"Have you heard of Sheren Kongzhang? He is the one who helped to solve this matter. The guards beside the prince said so."
Su Wan's hand paused.
Is this ok?
Xie Pei also released this news?
Although she has doubts, she still does what she should do.
This morning I made Eucommia ulmoides and kidney porridge.
Since she had said she wanted to make medicinal food, she certainly couldn't change it midway and give people a handle on her.
Eucommia ulmoides is decocted and filtered in advance to remove the bitterness. The processing of pork kidneys is more delicate, but she, Sister Cuizhu, and Aunt Yonglan are all meticulous people. They carefully remove the white layer on the pork kidneys, so that the fishy smell will be much less.
Pork kidneys can regulate qi and the kidneys, lower blood pressure, and have some effect on dizziness and tinnitus, so this is the most suitable time to cook them.
Eucommia ulmoides can also promote digestion and increase appetite. Isn’t the combination of the two just suitable for the saint’s current situation?
Look, their Shangshisi and Imperial Kitchen are better.
No matter how big the difficulties you encounter, even if your son is stupid and your concubine is a spy, even if your stupid son tries to bully your spy and concubine.
We who cook should still cook seriously for you, at least to lower your blood pressure.
Su Wan herself laughed. She cut the processed pork kidney into kidney flowers and then soaked them in the boiled Eucommia juice as seasoning.
Then add the scallion and ginger to stir-fry the soaked kidney, and finally add a little salt. After stir-frying, you can put it into the porridge that is cooked until it is soft and glutinous. This pot of Eucommia ulmoides kidney porridge is ready.
The soft and glutinous milk-flavored egg cake that had been steamed early next to it can also be served.
A bowl of salty porridge and a portion of milk-flavored egg cake, breakfast is simple and delicious.
When Zhang Yuchu came over, he was surprised and asked, "How did you make so many?"
Sister Cuizhu smiled and said, "The Saint needs to eat, and the ministers need to eat too. They have been busy since last night."
As she spoke, Aunt Yonglan whispered, "The food is prepared by us, so you can rest assured that it will be served to the prince."
Chef Zhang Yu looked at Su Wan subconsciously.
One must be careful in the inner palace, but he actually forgot this.
As expected, he is the one who can convince the beautiful lady Qiang.
Speaking of Lady Qiang, Zhang Yuchu whispered to Su Wan, "Lady Qiang will be fine. The prince says all your promises to her are valid."
Su Wan was curious: "Does he know what I said?"
Zhang Yuchu shook his head and said honestly, "I don't know, but the prince said, I will do whatever you say."
Su Wan smiled: "Is Miss Qiang planning to fake her own death to trick the Shiyi Clan into letting the Luandu Clan go first, and then she will go back?"
"You are very good at predicting things." Imperial Physician Zhang said, "You also know that if she dies openly, the Shiyi Clan must also fulfill their promise to set the Luandu Clan free. When the news spreads and the Luandu Clan is free, the beautiful lady Qiang can go back secretly. At that time, she will still be under our protection, and the Shiyi Clan will not do anything to them for a while."
That's good.
It can be said that he has not let down his promise to Miss Qiang.
But no one knew what Xie Pei was talking about, and the arrangements she made were basically based on what she had discussed with Lady Qiang.
I guess with his intelligence, he can guess about 70% of it.
Su Wan said: "The food is ready, try not to ask others to do it for you."
Su Wan was afraid that the saint, as well as the eldest prince and the second prince, would do something desperate.
After all, assassinations and poisonings have been done before, and everyone knows now that after this incident, those two will have no chance of seizing the throne, and they may even be sent to guard the imperial mausoleum.
The saint watched as Xie Pei firmly established himself as the crown prince and became the heir apparent that all civil and military officials had been waiting for. It would have been strange if they could have stayed in that position.
It is no exaggeration to say that after this incident, the situation in the Tianxiang Kingdom’s court has become clear.
Everyone knows who to support and who to scold.
At this critical moment, we cannot relax for even a moment.
As expected, Zhang Yuchu started to make arrangements, and tea for Xie Pei and others was specially supplied.
At this moment, everyone has returned to the Qinzheng Hall, waiting for the outcome of the matter, or in other words, waiting for the saint to wake up.
After the Saint found out that the eldest and second princes were in collusion with the spy Concubine Qiang, and then he saw the spies in the porcelain warehouse being caught, as well as the members of the Shiyi clan who were hiding around them, he was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted.
From the hour of Chou until now, four or five hours have passed. I am so angry.
At 7:00 a.m., no matter what happened to others, the imperial kitchen would serve meals as usual. The meals for the saint were mainly prepared by the imperial chefs, and only Eucommia ulmoides and pork kidney porridge was served.
It's no use, the person is still unconscious.
Instead, the prince and the ministers were the first to eat the hot pork kidney porridge.
Some university secretaries, for example, were already over 70 years old. Normally, when there were no court meetings, they would have to eat at five or six in the morning.
Now I don’t even dare to drink tea easily. How can I not feel uncomfortable?
Not only Su Wan was cautious, but everyone present was cautious at the moment.
Everyone knows that the saint hates the prince. When thinking of the prince, one will think of Queen Ding and whether Xie Pei is his son.
It just so happens that this kind of thing happened again recently, and it seems like he has endless cuckoldry.
Actually, to be honest, what Lady Qiang did was intentional, just to irritate people, but the others were different.
If you know the saint’s hatred, you will know how much he dislikes Xie Pei.
But everyone knew that Xie Pei would be the final winner. He was probably so angry that he fainted. Some also knew that Xie Pei had already secured the position of crown prince.
The civil and military officials speculated that among these dozen adults, the youngest was over fifty years old, and they were all waiting for the results of the interrogation in this cold weather.
Then Chef Zhang came over with the hot porridge.
Seeing that it was delivered by Zhang Yuchu, the guards and others still conducted a routine inspection. Although they knew there was no problem, they still wanted to be cautious.
The inspection was conducted without any reservations made to the ministers, which also put their minds at ease.
Seeing that the prince had already taken the first mouthful of porridge, everyone became impolite.
Just as they took a breath, the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Rites were slightly surprised. Is this Su Wan's craftsmanship?
Don’t ask why she is so smart. Both of them have tasted Su Wan’s cooking. The food she cooks is always different from others.
Taking another bite of the milky egg cake, I was even more certain that no one could make an egg cake as light and soft as Su Wan’s.
For a while, there were constant exclamations of admiration in the side hall of the Qinzheng Hall.
"As expected of the palace's craftsmanship, the food is indeed delicious."
"How is this porridge made? Pork kidneys are the fishiest, but they are handled very well."
"I never eat these organs normally, but they taste so good?"
"Why do I feel that my dizziness is much better after eating this porridge?"
“It tastes really good.”
The one who liked porridge the most must be the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion. He didn't expect that he could eat such delicious food by coming here to work overtime. It was really a good thing.
Xie Pei finished his porridge and looked at Guard Xiao Song. He already knew that Guard Xiao Song went to look for Su Wan at night, and he also knew that even if the guard didn't go to look for her, Su Wan would still come to the palace, so he was in a good mood at the moment.
He even smiled when he looked at the interrogation results.
In fact, there is nothing to interrogate. The enemy's spy must be killed without a doubt, but more information must be forced out before he dies.
This is the Ministry of Justice's business. With this being the only difficulty, the Minister of Justice will definitely follow Xie Pei. There is nothing to say about it. Therefore, Lady Qiang will be taken away so that it can be dealt with later.
To the outside world, they are all spies from the enemy country. To the inside, they are also divided into the Shiyi clan and the Luandu clan. The former must be killed, and the latter depends on the situation.
After the external affairs were dealt with, the only things left were the internal ones, such as the two princes who almost colluded with the enemy and sold out the country.
The saint is still in a coma, so everyone will naturally turn to the prince to decide how to deal with him.
The prince said directly: "First, they will be confined. The two princes will go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to reflect on their mistakes. Imperial Concubine Jiang and Concubine Chu will be confined to the palace."
This treatment was already very mild, and no court official could say that Xie Pei had gone too far.
In the past, Xie Pei might have killed him directly, but now he feels that there is always a better way to deal with it than killing.
This is better, naturally, it is better for him.
He already had all the advantages in this matter and had an absolute grasp of victory, which was something Su Wan had helped him to achieve.
In order to make the victory more beautiful, he didn't mind being a little gentle, so that people could not even say that he was cruel to his brother.
Is he still cruel by doing this now?
Xie Pei looked at the satisfied eyes of the court officials. He did this because he didn't want to let Su Wan down, but not for them.
The court officials were actually somewhat surprised by the prince's gentle approach.
According to his habit, how could he let it go so easily?
But this approach was undoubtedly very effective. All the civil and military officials in the court had nothing but praises for it, and even felt a little relieved.
Such a crown prince really gives them hope.
Isn't such a magnanimous, benevolent and generous crown prince exactly the wise ruler that the court officials yearn for?
Only a few people knew that Xie Pei was willing to let these people go not because he was so kind.
He just didn't want to disappoint his sweetheart's plan.
He couldn't wait to see his sweetheart.
But now there are so many people and eyes, so it can only be postponed temporarily.
That night, the palace was still handling official business for the spies who had shocked the world.
Su Wan had already left the Kyoto city gate in Xie Pei's carriage.
Xie Pei was not in the carriage. Instead, there was another woman sitting in it whom no one expected.
Lady Qiang changed into low-key clothes, but she was still staring at Su Wan. She was going back to the northwest border anyway, so she was obviously much bolder. She didn't have to smile, she could have any expression she wanted.
The palace clearly restricted her too much.
Lady Qiang, or Hu Yanqiang, said: "The Kong Zhang Sheren that Tianxiang Country and even the Shiyi Clan suspected was actually you."
Su Wan smiled: "Why not me?"
Huyan Qiang thought about it again and was not surprised if it was Su Wan, but he couldn't hide his curiosity about Su Wan.
Logically speaking, Hu Yanqiang should be in the Ministry of Justice prison at this time, but Su Wan secretly took him out with the prince's token and sent him directly to Kyoto.
Although she would not return to her tribe immediately after returning to the northwest, as long as she saw that the people in the tribe were no longer slaves because of her "death news", she would immediately sneak back and temporarily hide her identity with the tribe.
During this period, the Ding family army will provide them with assistance until this cold winter is over.
With the support of Tianxiang Kingdom, she and her Luandu tribe will be able to live better than before, and she will be lucky enough to have fulfilled her mission as a princess of the tribe.
Fifteen miles outside the gate of Kyoto, Xie Pei's men had already prepared fast horses and silver, all for Huyan Qiang.
This time she was going back alone. Huyan Qiang didn't trust anyone from the Shiyi clan or the Luandu clan, so she decided to go all the way from Kyoto to the northwest by herself.
Hu Yanqiang still looked at Su Wan, and finally said: "The Crown Prince of Tianxiang Kingdom likes you."
Su Wan almost choked on her saliva when she heard this. She just said, "When you get to the northwest border, there will be someone to pick you up. Don't worry."
Seeing that she didn't answer, Hu Yanqiang understood a little bit in his heart. Perhaps it was the joy of regaining freedom, or perhaps it was his admiration for Su Wan.
Hu Yanqiang said: "Your palace is very good, with fine clothes and delicious food, but it is too tiring."
Before the incident, Huyan Qiang was the only favored concubine in the palace.
She always said she was too tired, and she really was tired.
"But think about what the prince said before. It seems not bad to marry you as the only wife." Hu Yanqiang smiled. She was older and had experienced more things. She didn't have any advice, comfort or encouragement. In the end, she just said, "If you have any problems one day, you can come to the grassland to find me."
"There is a vast world out there, and there is always a way out."
In fact, Hu Yanqiang's words were a bit too intimate.
But she was really happy. After leaving the Tianxiang Palace, her people regained their freedom, and she could go back to hug her daughter.
She couldn't help but say a few more words to the smart woman in front of her, because she was really happy at the moment.
What if there comes a day when Su Wan can come to find me?
The grassland is so vast that even the Emperor of Tianxiang cannot be sure of finding someone.
I thought Su Wan would not respond, but she smiled and said, "Okay, if that day comes, I will definitely come to find you."
This sentence made Huyan Qiang like Su Wan even more, and a bright smile appeared on her face. When she arrived at the designated place, someone had indeed prepared horses, silver, and dry food.
The Crown Prince of Tianxiang Kingdom, or rather, the promise Su Wan made to her was correct.
So before Hu Yanqiang jumped off the carriage, he leaned over to Su Wan's ear and whispered, "Since you kept your promise and let me go, I will give you and your wife a gift."
Su Wan looked helpless after hearing this, and for a moment she didn't know where to start complaining.
But Huyan Qiang had already gotten off the carriage and directly mounted his horse. Without any parting words, he just waved to Su Wan in the carriage and galloped away towards the northwest.
She wants to go home, back to the grassland.
Seeing her back, Su Wan said, "I want to learn how to ride a horse."
Guard Xiao Song, who was the coachman, said, "Then learn. You have already learned to ride a horse before. If you practice diligently, you will definitely be able to ride a horse. There is also a horse farm in the palace, so it is convenient to learn."
Su Wan smiled and looked at Guard Xiao Song as if he were a fool. Guard Xiao Song indeed did not hear what she said to Huyan Qiang.
"Let's go back to Kyoto."
It’s better to go back quickly as there are a lot of things going on over there. She came to see Hu Yanqiang off because she is more familiar with this person.
The round trip of the carriage was thirty miles, and although it ran very fast, it was already dawn when it arrived at the gate of Kyoto.
But the dawn is not the key point. The key point is that white silk is hung on the city wall and white cloth is tied next to the guards at the city gate.
Passersby kept silent. Before entering Kyoto, they had already sensed that the atmosphere was not right.
Could this be the surprise Huyan Qiang was talking about?
Then listen to the sound of bells and drums in Kyoto city.
It's a death knell.
It’s a national mourning.
The saint is gone.
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