This story starts with the Shangbaojian.
If we talk about Su Wan being transferred to work in the Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau, the two general managers of the Shangbao Bureau should be the most uncomfortable.
They both knew how much Zaliku liked Su Wan. If she was really transferred away, what would they do with their food in the future?
Although the western kitchen has undergone tremendous changes, it still cannot compare with Su Wan's cooking skills.
Everyone would be sad to think that they would not be included in the food tasting in the future.
When I feel sad, I will buy some fresh ingredients.
The young eunuchs who were ordered to take care of the animals could hardly bear it anymore, and they said something vaguely, saying that since Su Wan was so powerful, Deputy Prime Minister Xi would definitely not let her go.
This seems to be correct?
The chief guard of the Shangbao Palace was so happy that he bought a goat and waited for Su Wan to come back to kill it and eat it.
After Su Wan knew this, she was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and simply closed the door of the kitchenette.
Rest for the last two days!
Let the food rest for two more days.
That’s right, Su Wan has some time to rest.
But as a little palace maid, she was not allowed to leave the palace and could only hang around in her residence and the western kitchen.
I originally planned to sit in the small kitchen yard with Yan Pei, but the zoo was too noisy, so we decided to close the door.
Seeing this, Yan Pei chuckled and said, "Why don't you go for a walk near Taiye Lake? There are few people there, and it's morning, so it's okay for you to go for a walk."
Further west of the West Kitchen is the Taiye Pond. The water in the pond is so huge that it is not an exaggeration to call it a lake. Moreover, the water is running, and it is divided into two parts in the middle by a stone bridge.
The scenery on the lake is extremely beautiful. Although not many people come here to visit now, there are still palace servants cleaning it.
Seeing that Su Wan was still interested, Yan Pei continued, "There are several gardens near Taiye Lake. Jiao Garden has beautiful scenery. There is also an eagle house with four or five birds of prey. It's also worth seeing."
As she was talking, Su Wan suddenly realized that after taking a two-day break this time, it seemed that she wouldn't be bored anymore?
The palace is so big that you definitely can’t go to the inner palace, but it seems nice to stroll around the nearby gardens.
Especially the Taiye Pond to the west of the West Kitchen. It is such a large lake and I heard that lotus flowers are planted there.
Just think of it as going out for fun!
Who made the palace so big?
"Okay, but will there be any problem if I just walk around casually?" Su Wan asked doubtfully.
"No, the west is remote and rarely visited. I have nothing to do these two days, so I can stay with you."
This is even better. How can you go out to play without someone to go with you?
After the two came out of the small kitchen, Yan Pei took Su Wan out of the west kitchen with ease and walked directly west along the side palace path.
Su Wan has been in the palace for several months and has never gone west again. After all, the west kitchen is remote enough, let alone going further west.
But after walking for a quarter of an hour, I saw rippling blue waves and a vast pond in front of me. There were willow trees planted around it. Now it was shady in the summer and it was so beautiful.
Only when you walk in do you realize how big the Taiye Lake is. Looking south, you can vaguely see the southernmost palace wall. Looking north, you first see the westernmost stone bridge through the imperial palace. Finally, looking north again, you can't see anything, not even the edge of the lake.
Such rippling green water is a delight to the eyes.
And just as Yan Pei said, there are very few palace guards patrolling around here, making it a great place for an outing!
Walking north along the railing beside Taiye Lake, you will see summer flowers in full bloom nearby. Although not as exquisite as the ones Su Wan saw in the inner palace, they are full of vitality.
We just came out of the zoo. Are we going to the botanical garden now?
Yan Pei was familiar with the scenery nearby, but he never thought that in Su Wan's eyes, this place would be so interesting.
It was a familiar scene, but now it looked different.
When we arrived at the eagle room, we found that the palace servants there were indeed lazy as Yan Pei had said, so it was okay to go in and take a look at the birds of prey.
After a day's work, Su Wan had a new understanding of the size of the imperial palace. The remote outer palace was so beautiful, what about the inner palace?
Unexpectedly, Yan Pei smiled and said, "The view is better over there on the stone bridge."
The entire inner city of the imperial palace is in the middle, with the West Kitchen to the west, and then the Taiye Pond. Crossing the Taiye Pond Stone Bridge to the westernmost part, also called the West Courtyard.
The other side of the stone bridge that Yan Pei mentioned is the West Courtyard.
It is also where the former queen lived.
If the West Kitchen is sparsely populated, then there is probably not even a single person in the West Courtyard.
You know what, Su Wan is really interested.
Who doesn’t want to find a bigger place for an outing?
But she had walked a long way today and was already very tired. She needed to combine work and rest when going out to play! She couldn't be tired at all!
"Then later? We can go and have a look together. If we haven't booked a rafting trip tomorrow, we can go tomorrow." Su Wan said, "It's just that we don't have much time."
The fact that I can go out for a walk now is because of the hard work I have done in the past period of time.
After all, you are not free in this palace.
Yan Pei nodded, but said: "There will always be time."
Too.
This is only her first year in the palace, so there is still a lot of time.
Su Wan had rested enough, dusted off the dust on her body, and prepared to return with Yan Pei the same way: "Let's take advantage of this time to see more. After I leave the palace, I will definitely not come back."
These words made Yan Pei pause.
He knew Su Wan's future plans, but he didn't expect to have a different feeling when he heard it now.
When the two came back from Taiye Lake, they picked some flowers. It was already dusk. They had actually been out playing for a whole day!
I had cakes and pastries for lunch, but it really relaxed my body and mind.
As soon as she arrived at the small kitchen, Su Wan got a headache because there were too many animals in it. Fortunately, the yard was big enough and these animals were kept in the corners, and the room was cleaned very well by the eunuchs of the Shangbaojian.
Su Wan simply reached into the chicken coop and actually felt two eggs. She smiled and shook them towards Yan Pei.
"Shall we have this for dinner?"
They must not forget to have an egg every day!
Su Wan and the others are relatively relaxed here.
The palace was busy preparing for the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, so Concubine Jiang was allowed to come out and the order of house arrest was lifted.
However, Imperial Concubine Jiang seemed much more low-key. She smiled slightly when she saw the people from the Imperial Food Bureau, and it seemed that she didn't mind what happened before at all.
Anyway, at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the evening, Concubine Jiang and Concubine Chu were both more virtuous and gentle than the other.
It gives one goose bumps.
As usual, whenever the saint spoke, the university scholars would say a few words.
Then there was a palace singing and dancing performance, followed by palace delicacies.
This evening banquet jointly organized by the Guanglu Temple of the Ministry of Rites and the Shangshi Bureau naturally satisfied everyone, and even the Grand Secretary of the Zhongji Hall drank a few more sips of wine.
This wine is made by the Zaliku Brewing House and is only served at palace banquets. Many people beg for it but fail to get it.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is quite generous.
When the mooncakes were brought out this year, why did this beautiful white moon look more and more like the full moon in the sky?
The Minister of Rites laughed and said, "This is the new mooncake made by the Imperial Food Bureau this year. It is called snowy mooncake. It is not only beautiful, but also delicious."
It sounds simple, but this beautiful skin has already attracted many people's attention.
Although the mooncakes we eat everyday are already very good, this is the first time I have seen mooncakes that are so white, tender and crystal clear.
The sage also found it curious and asked someone to take a closer look.
Imperial Concubine Jiang glanced to the side, stared at the head of the Imperial Food Department secretly, and said against her will: "It is indeed a clever idea, but this kind of mooncake is a little different from the ancient method."
Unexpectedly, the Dongge Grand Secretary sneered: "Ancient method? This mooncake was originally called Hu Bing, and the dough was not as soft as it is now. If you want to pursue the ancient method, why not find a Hu person to make it using the most primitive method?"
After the Grand Secretary of the Dongge said this, there was a chuckle around him.
It is good to pursue ancient ideas, but it is meaningless to simply favor the past over the present.
They think the snow skin mooncakes are great, as they have the shape of mooncakes and most importantly, they look exceptionally bright.
Isn’t this the image of elegance?
When you put it in your mouth, you will taste the soft and glutinous skin, the cool taste, and the soft and milky filling.
tasty!
Although it is a pastry that melts in your mouth, it also looks beautiful.
For a time, the palace banquet was full of praise for the mooncakes, and some people even wrote poems for these beautiful mooncakes.
The saint also thinks this thing is good, which shows the effort put into it by the Shangshi Bureau.
Anyway, when the news from the palace banquet reached Kyoto, the people in the Imperial Food Bureau were not surprised at all.
Because the news has gone viral in Kyoto.
The snow skin mooncakes were sent to the homes of ministers outside the palace in advance. After all, only a few ministers ate them in advance, and most of them kept the rewards from the palace to taste at the Mid-Autumn family banquet.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, I heard every family shouting the same thing.
They want to eat mooncakes!
In previous years, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the price of mooncakes would definitely drop because most people would simply not buy them. What happened?
But you can wait a little longer.
What they shouted was that they wanted to eat the snow skin mooncakes in the palace!
Soon, the news spread and everyone was asking what snow skin mooncakes were.
At the same time, there is another idea.
Why are there new foods in the palace?
The weather has just turned a little bit cooler now, and the popularity of cold noodles has gone down a bit. Is there anything delicious to eat now?
Like Master Su of Qingfeng Tower, he said silently in his heart, if the date cakes and peach cakes in the palace can be made so delicious, what about other snacks?
It would be great if Su Wan could get the recipe for snow skin mooncakes.
It’s a pity that a little palace maid like Su Wan definitely cannot access such a precious recipe.
I have to say that the palace and outside the palace are really two different worlds.
Anyway, many families outside the palace asked the Shangshi Division for help. When they asked for help, they found out that before the Mid-Autumn Festival, some people had discovered the benefits of snow skin mooncakes and made reservations in advance.
If these people want it, they have to wait a little longer.
I didn’t expect that one day I would have to wait to eat mooncakes.
Moreover, you still have to wait to eat mooncakes after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
For a time, rumors about palace cuisine resurfaced.
The palace has already put the matter behind them. They are all cleaning up the palaces, preparing to welcome the emperor back!
Now that the weather is gradually getting cooler and it's no longer as hot as before, the saint and his companions will definitely be back from the palace, and they are expected to set off on August 20th.
Arrive in Kyoto around September 10th.
During this period, all palaces must be cleaned in order to welcome the emperor.
Su Wan calculated the time and it was indeed time for her to come back.
But time flies so fast, and a summer is over.
She entered the palace in April, and it has been four or five months now. With her skills, it seems that it is not that difficult to get into the palace?
The news of the emperor's return to the palace was not a big deal for the Imperial Kitchen, but the accompanying news shocked the Western Kitchen.
It was Cui Hucheng, a doctor of the Ministry of Rites who came to eat for free, who said that because the chief of the Imperial Food Department was promoted from the fifth rank to the fourth rank, there were two more fifth rank vacancies around her.
If nothing unexpected happens, he will definitely be promoted from among the prime ministers and deputy prime ministers below.
The positions above are certain, and the ones below will start to move.
Let me put it bluntly.
When the Emperor returns to the palace, all departments of your Imperial Kitchen will start receiving promotions and salary increases!
Looking forward to it!
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