What does it matter whether you believe it or not? You have to listen to the manager's orders.
If you tell them to go to the West Kitchen for meals, then they should go to the West Kitchen for meals. Now if you tell them to go to Anqingfang, then they should go to Anqingfang.
But needless to say, they were resentful. There was free food but they were not allowed to go, but were forced to pay for it. No matter how you think about it, there was a conflict of interest.
Fortunately, we have just received our monthly salary, so everyone still has some money on hand.
The manager of the Baochao Division originally didn't want to do this, but the Zhang and Wang families asked anxiously and offered a lot of money, so he had to give in.
Besides, if the inner palace asks about it, we can just accuse the western kitchen of not preparing meals on time.
Anyway, the inner palace will be on his side.
As for the palace servants having to spend money to buy meals?
I bought them before, so what's wrong with continuing to buy them now?
We all work under him, so how can we not show some respect to him? He needs money to run various affairs on a daily basis.
These little ones don't even know how to be considerate.
When it was dinner time, the number of people coming to the western kitchen to eat was obviously much less than before.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the West also got the news and learned that the palace servants from the Baochaosi were called to Anqingfang for dinner again.
When others were panicking, Su Wan and Deputy Prime Minister Xi were laughing.
Especially Deputy Prime Minister Xi, who couldn't help but touch Su Wan's head and whispered, "You guessed it a long time ago?"
"I didn't think it would happen that soon." Su Wan said in amazement, "I thought it would take until at least tomorrow."
But the chief steward of the Treasury Department was more greedy for money than she had imagined, and less obedient to the noble ladies in the inner palace than she had imagined.
This is totally normal. Everyone who works under someone else has some ulterior motives.
Besides, even if she is a powerful noble, she is not the real mistress of the palace.
No wonder the nobles in power were angry about why she was not the queen. This was her pain point and also her weakness.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Xi said, "But we have already made a lot of wontons tonight. Can we save them for tomorrow?"
"Yes, maybe the people from the Treasury Department will come again tomorrow, so we can use it as tomorrow's meal."
Sometimes he comes, sometimes he doesn’t.
This is troublesome enough.
Su Wan shook her head: "I won't come tomorrow. They can't make any money, so how can they let me go?"
But these wontons cannot be kept.
These wontons are taken out to be shown to everyone. It's not that their western kitchen doesn't have any food, but that the palace servants from the Baochaosi are unwilling to come.
Otherwise, we will definitely throw dirty water on their western kitchen.
Since the people in the Baochaosi Palace don’t want to eat it, then give it to the guards at the Lingtai Gate nearby.
I guess the guards wouldn't refuse?
Not only will I not refuse!
Commander Qi ate at the western kitchen last night and was looking for an excuse to go for a free meal today, so he waited for the palace servant in the western kitchen to come and said, "We made a lot of chicken soup wontons today, but unfortunately the palace servants from the Treasury Department went to eat elsewhere. If Commander Qi doesn't mind, why don't you take the guards to try it?"
After that, he added, "Yesterday, there was an order from the noble lady of the inner palace, so everyone can go to the West Outer Palace's West Kitchen for dinner in batches. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to enter the Outer Palace without permission today. Our West Kitchen can help cook and send it over."
Upon hearing this, Commander Qi raised his eyebrows.
There is such a good thing?
Even though it's food that the Baochao Division doesn't want, the guards at the Lingtai Gate won't mind!
He, as the leader, didn't mind, let alone the other brothers, who even cooked it and sent it over!
"Okay, thank you to the West Kitchen. The food you cook is of course impeccable, but my brothers have big appetites, so remember to cook more!" Commander Qi doesn't care about fighting or not. It has nothing to do with a military general like him. As long as there is delicious food, it's enough!
Anyway, it can't be implicated him!
The palace servant in the west kitchen nodded immediately and said, "We must cook more. The wontons for the 1,000 people in the Baochao Department will all be used by the 500 people in Lingtaimen."
Not bad, not bad. The western kitchen is really good.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work in the Western Kitchen. This money will be my thank you gift."
Commander Qi is a respectable man, so he just treats it as a dinner for his brothers and doesn't want to make the few people in the west kitchen too tired.
The Baochaosi and Lingtai Gate are basically next to each other. Whatever the palace servant from the West Kitchen said would definitely be heard by the palace servants from the Baochaosi passing by.
I was stunned when I heard it.
Didn’t the western kitchen prepare their meals as promised?
What if they can’t supply it as promised?
The chicken soup wontons made for the Baochao Division were all given to the Lingtaimen guards?!
These palace servants from the Baochaosi were preparing to go to the Lingtai Palace gate to buy food, and they were buying enough food for one or two hundred people at a time.
There are one thousand people in the Baochao Division, and they cannot all leave the palace at mealtime, so naturally they will prepare the money and send it over, and then give it to others.
I was originally thinking about what to eat, but now nothing tastes good.
From last night to noon this morning, who in the Baochao Division did not praise the food in the western kitchen?
I even felt very regretful. Why didn’t I know earlier that the food in the western kitchen was so delicious?
You went so late.
Everybody thought that they would eat in the West Kitchen from now on, but unexpectedly this incident occurred. Some said that the West Kitchen could not prepare so many meals, some said that the manager took kickbacks from Anqingfang, anyway, there were all kinds of rumors.
The palace servants who were originally going to buy food used to trust the steward, but now all that trust has disappeared, and they are left with anger.
But what's the use of getting angry?
Don't they still have to pay for mediocre food?
I still have to go out to buy food now.
Commander Qi pretended not to see it, but in his heart he wanted to shout at them to fight. From now on, the food from the west kitchen might be distributed to the Lingtaimen guards.
Just when the atmosphere was becoming tense and the palace servants in the west kitchen were about to leave, they suddenly smelled a strange fragrance.
A pure meaty aroma?
It is the refreshing aroma of eating meat.
When I smell it at mealtime, my stomach starts to growl.
When the eunuch guarding the Baochao Division came in from the Lingtai Gate and looked up, he saw more than a dozen pairs of eyes staring at him.
To be precise, she was staring at the braised pork rice in his hand that he was bringing to others.
The other palace servants from the Baochao Division who were about to go buy food said, "What delicious food! Where did you buy it from? Is it a newly opened store?"
"Not really, it's the Li family's pig's trotter, their new delicacy." The gatekeeper eunuch had a low position and rarely spoke in front of so many people, so he couldn't help but explain in more detail, "It's called braised pork rice. You can smell it as soon as you leave the palace and reach Anqingfang. It's very fragrant, and one portion only costs twelve cents."
Commander Qi also thought it tasted good and said, "Open it and take a look."
What’s going on lately? There are delicious foods everywhere. If he keeps eating, he, a military general, will become the chief of the Shangbaojian guards.
The gatekeeper eunuch opened the braised pork rice as instructed. It was right at the palace gate and not too expensive. At worst, she could just buy another portion!
I saw the white rice poured with red soup, and on top of it was the braised meat cut into small pieces with fat and meat. Next to the braised meat were some cooked vegetables and braised eggs of the same beautiful color.
As soon as the meal was opened, the aroma became noticeably stronger.
The unique aroma of braised meat and the color are also beautiful.
Wow, there is such delicious food in Anqingfang!
Forget it, let’s go to Anqingfang for dinner today. We can’t escape from the West Kitchen anyway, so we can eat there later!
The people in the Baochaosi Palace were thinking so, and Commander Qi also ordered someone to buy one and bring it back for him to try.
These matters were reported truthfully to Deputy Prime Minister Xi by the palace servants in the West Kitchen. These palace servants also had the habit of Deputy Prime Minister Xi calling Su Wan to listen together every time they talked about something.
Moreover, what she said to Commander Qi just now was also instructed by Su Wan.
Su Wan smiled and said, “That’s enough.”
It seems that the braised pork rice is selling really well.
Yes, it was already a mouth-watering delicacy, and now with her recipe, it will only taste even better.
By the way, the rock sugar she used to make iced mung bean soup was originally used as sugar color for stir-fried braised pork rice, but it is no longer needed now.
Later she would go to Li's Pig's Trotter to have a meal to make up for her regret.
But before she could go buy it, when she delivered wontons to Yan Pei in the evening, she saw a bowl of fragrant braised pork rice on the table!
Is this for her?
Without waiting for Su Wan to ask, Yan Pei said, "This meal is selling very well outside the palace today, so I brought it for you to try."
There was a flash of surprise in Su Wan's eyes.
Yan Pei is so nice.
The two of them directly exchanged the food in their hands.
Yan Pei ate chicken soup wontons, and Su Wan ate braised pork rice from Anqingfang.
With one spoonful, the wonton skin is thin and the filling is large.
Another spoon went down and the rice grains and braised meat came with the soup.
It’s hard to say which one smells better.
Anyway, they are all delicious.
Su Wan sighed as she ate, this restaurant is indeed good at making pig's trotters, the braised pork rice is cooked to perfection and is made exactly according to her recipe, it's amazing.
This braised pork rice is soft, crispy and delicious. You can’t stop eating it.
Seeing that she liked it, Yan Pei smiled subconsciously.
When I went out today, I heard that this food was selling well, and subconsciously I thought of Su Wan.
Seeing that she likes it, my efforts were not in vain.
There were quite a lot of people queuing up in that store to buy braised pork rice.
Will this affect the Western Kitchen?
Yan Pei did not ask any further questions, but only asked the people from Lingtai Gate to pay more attention and report directly if anything happened.
After all, Su Wan was just a little palace maid, and many things would not be directly brought to her. No matter what the problem was, there was always room for maneuver.
After eating the braised pork rice, Su Wan immediately felt full of energy. The meat tasted so delicious.
These words were heard in all the departments of the West Outer Palace.
It smells so good!
What happened to the Li family's big pig's trotter? Why did it suddenly become smart and cook such delicious food?
Even some palace servants from the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Treasure Department are planning to try it tomorrow. It’s not that they will eat out all the time in the future, but they want to change their taste occasionally.
As for the people from the Baochaosi Palace who can only eat in Anqingfang, what else can they say? Anyway, they all want to eat braised pork rice! No one can stop them!
But why are the guards from Lingtai Gate joining in the fun and competing with them for the chance to come?
At the end of the day, Li's Pig's Trotter calculated the meals he had sold today. At noon, the palace servants from the Baochao Division were still eating in the west kitchen, so he only sold more than 20 bowls to passers-by.
But in the evening, more than 700 bowls were sold, and in the end even the soup base was scraped clean, and there was not even a vegetable leaf left in the kitchen.
Oh my god!
Over 700 bowls! It’s not that they can only sell so many, but there are only so many servings.
I should have listened to the mysterious man more and prepared more food, but unfortunately they still prepared too little.
But when looking at the money he earned from selling more than 700 bowls, Boss Li's mouth was almost crooked with smile.
He has been so lucky recently. He got the recipe for free and sold so many meals.
The big pig's trotter of the Li family was very happy, while the Zhang and Wang families looked ashen.
They could never have imagined that the two of them paying money to get the chief steward of the Treasury Department to release the palace maids was actually making things easier for the Li family.
Hundreds of taels of silver were just wasted.
These guests were supposed to be theirs, but were all snatched away by the idiot Li family.
Why is this happening?
It would be fine if these palace servants didn't make any money eating in the western kitchen.
Now if you come to Anqingfang to eat, they still can’t make money?
I can only earn some scraps.
There are a thousand people in the Baochao Division, and dozens of other people scattered around.
Most of them went to Li’s Big Pig’s Trotter!
This is the guest he brought here, why should he go there!
I thought I could make some money back tonight, but now everything has been taken away from me!
Just as the Zhang and Wang families were cursing secretly, news came from the Baochaosi again.
The chief steward of the Baochao Department said that tomorrow the palace servants of the Baochao Department will still go to the west kitchen to eat, so they should be prepared tomorrow.
What?!
Are you ready?
Are you prepared to lose money?
Boss Zhang grabbed the palace maid by the collar and said, "What are you talking about? You won't let the palace maid come to dinner tomorrow? I just gave her several hundred taels of silver today!"
The voice was a bit loud, and the eunuch who was delivering the message was startled. He quickly said, "Stop talking. Are you afraid that others won't know?"
"Our inner palace nobles knew about letting the palace maids out today and were very angry, so the steward came to tell us. If we didn't tell you, you would suffer even greater losses."
A noble lady in the inner palace, a noble lady in the inner palace again.
It must be her fault. Does she really want to see the West Kitchen get better?
The chief steward of the Baochao Division must be fooling the two families!
How can you take the money and not do the job?
From the perspective of the Zhang and Wang families, they gave silver, but the steward did not do anything, so they gave more silver, and the steward finally let the palace maids out for dinner.
But these palace servants were intercepted by the idiot Li family, which meant they lost money in vain but got nothing in return.
At this moment he said that the palace servants would not come to deliver money tomorrow.
Anyone who brings this up will be so angry that they jump to their feet.
Only losing money and not making any money can make people so angry that their hearts ache.
Zhang and Wang immediately shouted, "We want to see the steward, and we want to see him now."
"We need to see someone right away!"
"We took the money but didn't let the palace servants come to eat. Are we doing charity?"
Naturally, these words gradually reached the ears of the palace staff in the Baochaosi.
It has been said that if you are anxious, you will become confused, and if you are confused, something bad will happen.
For a moment, the people in the Baochaosi Palace felt mixed emotions.
The fact that they were having a meal was actually used by their boss to make money, and the manager didn't care whether they ate well or not.
That’s right, they are all servants.
But the late emperor had issued a clear order prohibiting harsh criticism of palace maids. If this matter is made public, the steward will be in big trouble!
Look at the Imperial Household Department next door. People there can eat wherever they want. How free they are.
The same goes for Lingtai Sect. Their leader Qi even made an appointment with Li Family's Big Pig's Trotter for tomorrow's braised pork rice in advance so that the brothers could have a delicious meal.
People are most afraid of comparison.
It would be fine if everyone was like this.
But it is only the Baochaosi that is like this.
The Baochao Division with a thousand people is not easy to manage.
It was difficult to manage before, and now that people’s hearts are in chaos, it is even more difficult to deal with.
I don't know who spoke up: "Let's go to Anqingfang, so do we have to go?"
"The money is in our pockets and the legs are on our backs, so it's reasonable for us to eat in the western dining room."
After this sentence was spoken, the surroundings suddenly became quiet, and gradually someone whispered: "If nothing else, I also want to go to the western dining room just to save money."
"Yes, the Western Kitchen is free and the food is delicious. If we do things this way, they will treat us the same as everyone else."
"Never mind. I'm going to the western kitchen tomorrow morning. I'm going to eat two kinds of tofu pudding and scallion rolls."
"The noodles in their western-style kitchen are especially delicious."
"It's okay to have some braised pork rice for lunch."
"You are stupid. Tomorrow at noon the western kitchen will make mao xu wang!"
"There will be four-joy meatballs the day after tomorrow!"
"The day after tomorrow we have West Lake mutton soup!"
As soon as the names of these dishes were mentioned, the sound of slurping could be heard all around, obviously coming from the palace servants who didn't get the braised pork rice that night.
At night, the west kitchen finally sent away the last palace servant, and everyone began to clean up and prepare tomorrow's meals.
I was very tired this morning. Someone came to help at noon, and in the evening not only did someone help, but the people from the Baochao Department were not there. So now everyone had some free time to chat.
Naturally, the topic of conversation was the chaos in the Baochaosi.
Look, they wanted to mess with the West Kitchen, but the West Kitchen stood firm as a mountain and even received extra rewards from Commander Qi.
They were fine, but the troublemaker Baochaosi got into trouble.
What is this? This is called stealing a chicken but losing the rice!
You deserve it anyway!
Everyone was chatting while making scallion pancakes for dinner today. There is actually some technique to making the delicious scallion pancakes.
There is a science to how to fold the dough, how to create the texture, and how to make the flavor more even.
Under the leadership of Su Wan, the four newly assigned palace maids also got started.
Although she was only learning the craft from a little kid, one could tell from the attitude of the people in the west kitchen towards her that she must be a very capable person.
When the scallion pancakes came out of the pan, the four new palace maids knew that they must be delicious without even tasting them.
It looks like it has distinct layers, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a hint of oily aroma. It's obvious that Su Wan didn't use too much oil when making this pancake.
This shows his superb craftsmanship.
The new palace maid was nervous before she came, but after eating the hot scallion pancake, she was no longer nervous.
It's worth coming here to eat such delicious food!
The new palace maids were discussing food, but the other palace maids in the West Kitchen were discussing the chaos in the Baochao Department. It had been too chaotic there recently and many things had gone wrong.
In the eyes of the people in the West Kitchen, the people in the Palace of Treasure Bank were just dissatisfied with all the hassle.
But those who knew the inside story understood that the Baochaosi was actually more chaotic than anyone imagined.
Dissatisfaction with the chief manager of the Baochaosi has reached its peak.
But what does this have to do with the West Kitchen? They handled everything very well that day.
When he hurried back at night, Deputy Prime Minister Xi specially thanked the palace servants from the three ministries who came to help, took out a part of the reward money from Commander Qi, and also took out the extra subsidies from himself and the chief of the Shangshi Division.
These thirty or forty palace people were extremely surprised. Although it was tiring, they got reward money.
Who doesn’t like to make some extra money?
Not only those who came to help received rewards, but the eighty palace servants in the west kitchen naturally also received rewards. Everyone immediately smiled.
When you do work, you either have little money and do nothing, or you work hard and earn money.
If there is little money and too much work, even a god cannot survive.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the West distributed the reward money that he had prepared long ago, and then said: "Tomorrow, palace servants will be transferred here one after another, and slowly our West Kitchen will not be so tired anymore."
"But our superiors have remembered everyone's hard work. Once this matter is settled, we will give everyone one more day to visit their families next month."
One more day to visit relatives?!
As soon as this news came out, the money in my hands no longer mattered.
Originally, relatives could come once in March, but now they can come once extra.
Who doesn’t have family? Who doesn’t miss family? Every day is a good day.
If money soothes the hearts of the palace maids in the West Kitchen, then visiting relatives helps boost their spirits.
They will be busy tomorrow!
They are not afraid!
Su Wan was originally worried that everyone would go on strike because they were too tired, but now after seeing the two pieces of news coming down from her superiors, she was no longer worried about anything.
Giving them both money and spiritual strength, everyone would be completely devoted to the female officials of the Imperial Food Bureau.
She still remembered that before she entered the palace, the then Deputy Prime Minister Nan said that the Shangshi Division was the most protective of its people and there weren't so many messy things going on. This was obviously true.
With such a leader, the atmosphere in the Shangshi Department will naturally be good.
Just as Su Wan was thinking about this, Deputy Prime Minister Xi secretly stuffed a silver ingot into her hand, which felt heavy.
Deputy Prime Minister Xi put the money in her palm and said, "Take these ten taels of silver. Don't refuse them. You have done much more than these ten taels of silver."
Deputy Xi Cheng spoke very seriously. Seeing Su Wan looking up at her, he smiled and said, "We all say that if a family has a little girl like you, it is definitely a blessing from their previous life."
ah?
We're all saying it.
Which ones are you?
Su Wan was praised by Deputy Prime Minister Xi again, and then he let her go.
This compliment is really embarrassing.
Deputy Prime Minister Kexi, other deputy prime ministers, and the chief of the Imperial Food Department all knew Su Wan's abilities well.
Despite all the commotion outside, as long as they can ensure the food in the western kitchen is stable, this is the stabilizer, and only then can they do other things.
The drama is about to end.
They naturally understand who is the most critical person in this.
Not to mention that the head of the Imperial Food Department got the secret note, and there was also the recipe for the braised pork rice that suddenly came out from the Anqingfang Li family's big pig's trotter.
The chief of the Imperial Food Department took out the menu that Su Wan had previously decided on. The menu that was originally designed was slightly different from the actual menu, as some dishes were deleted.
Among the deleted dishes, there was one named Braised Pork Rice.
Such a clever idea is not spoken out loud, and only the superiors know it clearly.
She really likes Su Wan.
Wait a little longer, until things are stable and that person is more at peace, then bring Su Wan to live with me, and I can be considered the successor.
In other words, Su Wan is more likely to be better than her teacher.
There's no rush now.
After all, he is still too young.
There was no conversation that night. When the palace servants in the western kitchen woke up again, they were discussing the money they received yesterday. The palace servants who were transferred today were even talking about what they would talk about when they saw their relatives next month.
However, there were not many palace servants coming to the West Kitchen to eat today.
Naturally, not all the people from the Baochaosi were present. Only one or two hundred out of the thousand people came to eat. The others were still a little afraid, or they did not dare to come openly.
It seems that he can't hold back any longer, and it's only a matter of time before he comes to the west kitchen.
More and more people came for the three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. No matter what the Baochaosi said, there would always be people who would sneak over.
To be honest, one that costs money tastes average, while the other that doesn’t cost money tastes good.
This is the real truth.
The key point is that the people in the Palace of Treasure Notes had already figured out what happened last night. It turned out that although they were having dinner outside, the money was actually earned by the steward.
No wonder they were stopped from going to the west kitchen and they even deliberately tried to make trouble for the west kitchen so that they couldn't cook well.
Thinking about the money I spent in Anqingfang before, I feel really sad.
After everything was understood, the Baochaosi became difficult to govern.
After all, it is a place with a thousand people, and they are not really united internally.
The chief steward of the Baochao Department was almost fainting. He had been the chief steward for four years and had never been so worried.
Outside, the Zhang and Wang families urged him to call the palace maids out to eat.
The noble lady in the inner palace urged him to ask the palace servants to go to the west kitchen.
The palace servants in the Baochaosi became resentful and dissatisfied with him and gradually stopped listening to his instructions.
No matter where I go, it's always uncomfortable and I'm always bullied.
Even if the palace people in the Baochaosi were originally just secretly dissatisfied, they had to watch helplessly as the big pig's trotter of the Li family was driven away by the Zhang and Wang families.
Directly ignite all the anger that had been accumulated before.
From May 12th to today's 13th.
The palace servants of the Baochaosi who dared not go to the west kitchen for meals relied on the Li family's large pig's trotters to survive. They were delicious and not expensive, so they naturally liked them.
It can be said to be the last delicacy they can catch.
Who knew that when everyone was lining up to buy food, the Zhang and Wang families repeated their old tricks and deliberately came to disrupt the party, saying that there was something wrong with the food at Li's Big Pig's Trotter's house.
When the people in the Baochaosi Palace were wondering, another voice appeared in the crowd: "They are the Zhang and Wang families, and they are working with the chief steward! They also monopolize most of the restaurants and prices."
"They must have deliberately driven away the Li family's pig's trotters and asked us to go to their place for dinner so that they could take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit!"
Great, you are not allowed to go to the west kitchen.
The Li family's big pig's trotter needs to be driven away.
Don't they treat them as human beings but as money bags?
Isn't it just for this meal that people are busy?
Haven't they been tortured enough these past few days? They are not even allowed to eat a peaceful meal.
"We are going to the Censorate!"
"We want to see the Imperial Censor!"
"Let's go to the Imperial Household Department! It's close!"
May 13th, evening.
The officials in the palace who were peacefully enjoying their dinner of scallion pancakes, cold cucumber salad, and millet and pumpkin porridge in the west kitchen heard the noisy sounds outside.
The big show starts on the evening of May 11th.
It finally came to an end two days later.
Su Wan looked outside. When she first came to the palace, she heard that the Tianxiang Kingdom's Censorate liked to interfere in everything.
It's so lively today, they are bound to cause trouble, right?
The hustle and bustle is all due to the Baochao Division, while their Western Kitchen and Shangshi Division are clean, peaceful, and well-behaved.
There is no department more obedient than them.
Su Wan put down the final stroke.
The summer menu is out!
We will start food tasting tomorrow, and after this round of five-day dishes is over, the refreshing summer menu will be officially launched!
Let's have a bowl of hot and sour cold noodles to whet our appetite! Since they still have an ice cellar, let's freeze some big watermelons for dessert!
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