Laugh at. The sound of a knife stabbing into the flesh.

In the back kitchen, the young chef in clean clothes stared intently at the winter melon in front of him, fine beads of sweat on his forehead, holding the winter melon with one hand, and the small silver carving knife in the other hand kept spinning for a moment, and a three-dimensional fish-shaped pattern was carved on a winter melon with green water and dark stripes. The winter melon pickled with honey is hollowed out of the seeds, split and turned into two halves, and a cluster of swimming fish aquariums is carved out at the inner wall of the melon flesh, which is as smooth and crystal bright as jasper, and the fragrance is elegant. He finally breathed a sigh of relief, straightened up, and said, "Honey melon fish—come on." ”

"It's so slow, it's good, hurry up and send it over, it's going to lose your head a second late, stupid thing. The master next to him spoke in a cold tone, without a trace of a smile on his face: he was about to die.

"I'm sorry, master, I'll be faster next time. I got a new knife today, I'm not very familiar with ......"

"Don't give me a reason. People only care about when they eat, no matter how time-consuming and laborious you make it, and you run out of patience, you can't get it on. ”

The master of the imperial dining room has re-roasted the pickled yellow finch and finished the plating, and the smoking yellow finch meat is placed in a flat crockpot, which is paved with glutinous rice sweet wine, red yeast rice, sake lees, Sichuan pepper, green onion ginger juice, refined salt, orange peel shreds, a piece of red and yellow clear in the past at a glance, it is very good-looking, after the yellow finch meat is paved, the burnt fragrance and freshness are intertwined with each other, the skin is crispy and the meat is tender, and the aftertaste is long.

Immediately, a little eunuch ran over with a plate and ran over in small steps, first ran to the side of the master of the imperial dining room, lowered his head and lifted the plate up. The master of the imperial dining room put the crockpot of roasted yellow finches up, and the little eunuch immediately ran to the little cook with the plate, and the little cook put the carved watermelon on the top, and the little eunuch turned around and trotted to the door.

Tong Guan, the eunuch in charge of the door, rubbed his hands and stomped his feet, the kitchen was very warm, but it was extremely cold outside, in this alternation of hot and cold, he subconsciously wanted to drill into the kitchen, and also wanted to stay a little longer, unconsciously forgot the time, until the little eunuch trotted out urgently, he suddenly came back to his senses, cleared his throat, and urged: "Hurry up, hurry up, why are you so slow! The Queen Mother is in a hurry, and I don't care if I want your head when the time comes!" Hurry up, send it over, run steady, don't spill it, ten heads can't match your fault, hurry up!"

The little eunuch hurriedly nodded and agreed, apologized repeatedly, and unconsciously quickened his pace. He is just an intermediate servant, he is neither a cooker nor a vegetable urge, nor a food, but he is not a food, and as a result, he was scolded by most of the people, carrying a big pot on his back, as if when presenting the dishes, once there is a mistake, it is his fault. He ran in the direction of the Funing Temple, where the worst woman in the world lived—

"Queen Mother, your lunch has arrived. The little eunuch trembled and trembled as he served the dish.

The huge rectangular banquet table is black lacquer, the table top is inlaid with exquisite shell carvings, surrounded by green bamboo woven seat piers, covered with brocade mats, and the table is full of delicacies and delicacies, and the flower arrangements are fresh and dry. An intricately decorated teacup sits next to white ivory chopsticks. There were eight servants standing in the room, one of whom was pouring tea, and a silver pot was placed on the stove where the fire was blazing. In the hall, there are embroidered silks and incense blankets, and the ground is covered with embroidery, and there are silver incense beasts.

A concubine was beside the Queen Mother, waiting with a bowl and spoon, and when she saw someone coming, she asked casually: "Is this the last one?"

Tong Guan nodded and said, "If you go back to your mother, the dish will be the same in the end." This guy was too slow, so the Queen Mother waited for a long time. Next time I'll tell him to be sharper. ”

Tong Guan's age is a mystery, at least looking at the appearance of a teenager from eighteen or nineteen to twenty years old. He has clear outlines and deep eyes, like an elegant nobleman, a beautiful man, and those who see him for the first time will never think that he is the rumored "Tong Gonggong".

"It's okay. Tong Guan heard the solemn voice of the Queen Mother, "It's all this time, and the mourning family doesn't have the heart to eat." ”

Tong Guan hurriedly bowed his head and said: "Queen Mother, no matter how sad and painful you are, your physical health is still the first thing, everything is one thing, this meal is still the top priority for people, don't be hungry!"

The Queen Mother was dressed in a gorgeous crown, with a golden phoenix on her forehead and temples, and sat upright in her position, with a solemn, sad, and cold expression. The Empress Dowager Xiang, who is in her fifties, has always been elegant, her appearance is always beautiful, and her eyebrows and eyes are especially suitable for demons and fairies. Her shoulders are flat, her slender neck and smooth jawline bring elegance. Her expression is dignified, charming and fierce, she filters out the impurities of the years, hides most of her murderous aura, and precipitates an elegant atmosphere, so that when people look at her, they completely ignore the small wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and are only shocked by the beauty and momentum she still retains, which is bizarre and hideous.

Even the concubines around her couldn't catch up with the brightness she exuded.

In other words, it's not enough experience, and it's still a little tender.

"The emperor was in a coma for a while, and the mourning family's heart tightened. From last night to now, the emperor has not eaten a drop of water, and his condition has not improved, where can the mourning family eat?" The queen mother sighed lightly, and the concubines beside her glanced at the table, and their eyes stayed on the scallop dried sea tiger wing porridge closest to her hand.

This bowl of porridge can be described as the freshest thing, take the sea tiger wing needle blanching water and drain it, add the broth to the wing cup to taste, put the sea tiger wings after steaming in the basket, and then add Jinhua ham shreds, condiments and cooking wine to boil, simmer to thicken the juice. The porridge next to it has been boiled for half an hour, smooth and mellow melts in the mouth, and then the soup and porridge are stewed together, when they are boiled through and smooth, the fire is collected, the conpoy is kneaded and dispersed in the pot to fry fragrantly, sprinkled with the fried fragrant conpoy silk, cooled slightly, and a layer of film is condensed on the surface of the porridge, so that a bowl of fresh things with calm surface and turbulent dark tide at the bottom are made.

The concubine leaned over slightly, leaned down and scooped a spoonful of porridge into the bowl, the enamel bowl was quickly heated by the temperature of the porridge, hot, the concubine's hand holding the bowl trembled, but she couldn't help herself, scooped a spoonful and handed it to the queen mother's mouth, and said softly: "The queen mother, if you can't eat anything, just eat some porridge, this porridge is the most nourishing, if you have a stomach ache for a while, the servants in the whole palace, but you can't afford to cut off your head." ”

The Queen Mother glanced at her, smiled slightly, and said slowly: "The mourning family is not willing to eat, it has nothing to do with you, what are you afraid of, you have to disobey the wishes of the mourning family and force the mourning family to eat this bite?"

The concubine hurriedly knelt down with the people serving around her, and said, "How dare the slave and maid force the queen mother!"

The concubine's hands trembled. The bottom of the bowl is hot and hot, but her heart is cold and thorough, her hand is frozen in mid-air, this time it is not fed, it is not fed, the other hand is holding the bowl, so hot that she closed her eyes and quietly took a deep breath to endure the pain. The Queen Mother didn't speak, and she really didn't dare to move.

The Queen Mother was silent for a while, and she didn't dare to speak for a while, only to see the smoke of the food rising into the air, a little cloud and mist, where the wind blew, but who could know where the wind went. The concubine's shoulders were trembling, she was almost in tears, and at this moment, the queen mother said leisurely: "I said, Concubine Shen." ”

The concubine hurriedly replied, "Hey." Her voice trembled a little, both because of the unbearable heat and because of the fear of the Queen Mother. The weight of the Queen Mother's casual words was too heavy.

"Hey?" the Queen Mother smiled and sighed helplessly, "The name of 'Prudence' was given to you at the beginning, just to make you cautious in your words and deeds, not to be reckless, it seems that it is just an expectation, as for whether it can be realized, it has to be said separately." Now, the emperor's life and death are uncertain, but you are still the same as before, reckless, self-righteous, and can't look at the landscape...... Either way, no matter what. ”

Concubine Shen lowered her head and didn't dare to speak.

The Queen Mother paused and said, "You can taste this porridge yourself." ”

"Ah, I ......" Concubine Shen lowered her head in embarrassment, looked at the porridge in the bowl, and whispered, "This is the meal used by the Queen Mother, how dare the slave maid-"

The Queen Mother frowned slightly, and said calmly: "Then you should test me for poison and see if there is anything unusual in this porridge." ”

"Poisonous?" Concubine Shen said in shock, "If it's poisonous, it's even more inedible!"

As soon as these words came out, the audience was speechless, and even the Queen Mother closed her eyes and sighed, her voice was low, and she said: "This is the Queen Mother's decree, you drink this porridge!"

Concubine Shen finally understood, and hurriedly said, "Yes!" She picked up the bowl, the edge of the bowl was close to her mouth, the spoon stirred the hot porridge, and snorted and drank it. This porridge is really good porridge, extremely lubricated, delicious and abnormal, but it is too hot and too hot - the film formed by the cooling of the upper layer blocks the heat inside and outside, so that the moment the lips and tongue touch it are cold, but after a moment, the hot porridge gushes up like a volcanic eruption, so hot that Concubine Shen's eyes are full of gold stars, the six relatives do not recognize, the throat is sharp, and the white eyes are turned to the sky: her eating appearance is rude, and the people on the side are so disgusted that they frown; if this bowl of porridge is drunk, it will really burn her half to death!

"Boom!" she finished her porridge, as if relieved, and put the bowl on the table at once, shaking one hand violently, and gasping for air like a dog in her mouth. The movement was too huge, and Tong Guan was so frightened that he was about to pee out: this concubine Shen is too rude and ignorant, she was born dignified and virtuous, white and pure, but she is really smart and stupid!

Everyone was waiting for the Queen Mother to be angry, but the Queen Mother didn't. The Queen Mother did not laugh angrily, her laughter was soft and long, and you could get a glimpse of the timbre of a delicate and lovely girl like a yellow warbler and a lark when she was young, but the years passed, and it was broken and decayed little by little. After laughing, the Queen Mother said slowly: "Is it hot?"

Concubine Shen immediately knelt down and said, "Hot...... It's hot. The slave deserves ten thousand deaths, and the sins deserve ten thousand deaths, if the queen mother drinks this porridge, I am afraid that even her tongue will be burned and foamed. Queen Mother, you are really ...... You're really sharp-eyed. ”

The Queen Mother said solemnly: "The process of cooking is very complicated, in order to ensure that the cold and heat of each dish are evenly matched during the meal, the cook will try his best to maintain the temperature of the dish, this pot of porridge is like this, it should be cold and cold, and it will be eaten until the end, but you come up and let the mourning family eat this." Her eyes grew colder, bursting out with a fierce demeanor, her voice was still calm and stable, it was enough to appease the solemn voice of the full court, "You don't know the temperature of the porridge, won't your hands feel hot?

"The slave maid doesn't dare!" Concubine Shen kowtowed vigorously, "The slave and maid never dare to have such a mind, the Queen Mother spares her life! The slave doesn't want to die! The Queen Mother, it's too ......."

The Queen Mother sneered and said, "Why, if you don't want to die, the Mourning family can't kill you? The Mourning family can kill you anytime and anywhere, what does it have to do with your own wishes?"

Concubine Shen trembled, lowered her voice, and said weakly: "The Queen Mother ......"

"Get up. The queen mother sneered, and said slowly, "It's just a meal, why bother to be so serious? Is it true that someone will kill people because they are not happy to eat? The emperor has this power, but the mourning family does not, you are the emperor's favorite concubine, and you have received a lot of favor." Now that something has happened to the emperor, the mourning family feels uncomfortable, will you harem concubines feel better? Some mistakes and mistakes are inevitable. And if I kill you, I won't be able to see you until the emperor wakes up, but I have to blame the mourning family, and ask the reason, but it's just because I didn't eat a mouthful of porridge, how ridiculous. ”

Concubine Shen was stunned for a moment and looked up at the Queen Mother. She didn't understand the deep meaning of the Queen Mother's words, but she didn't have to die, she could understand it. As soon as she thought of this, she immediately hurriedly got up and said, "Empress Dowager Xie...... Thank you, Queen Mother!"

The Queen Mother's voice sounded a little tired, and she said boredly: "It's strange that you've been standing for so long, and you're hungry, right? The mourning family is really preoccupied, and they can't eat it...... You're really, so much hard work all day long, and in the end it's useless. It's useless, it's useless. The Queen Mother sighed, her eyes narrowed slightly, and she glanced at the pickled yellow finch meat in the shallow crockpot next to her, and her eyes lingered for a while.

When Concubine Shen happily said "yes" and stepped back, Tong Guan rushed up like an arrow from the string, picked up a new bowl, and the ivory chopsticks flew towards the pickled yellow sparrow, picked up a piece of chopsticks and put it in the bowl, and placed it in front of the Queen Mother uprightly and steadily, and the bowl made a "click" sound. Then he rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "Queen Mother, do you want to taste something like this?"

The Queen Mother finally smiled and said leisurely: "You are still sensible." ”

Tong Guan grinned and touched the back of his head, and said: "After all, the slave has been with the Queen Mother for a long time, and the Queen Mother likes and eats whatever she wants, and those of us who are slaves naturally have to understand it." I remember that you like to eat yellow finches, the palace knows that you love to eat, so I specially made hundreds of catties of yellow finches pickled and dried in one place, you can eat as much as you want, as much as you want. The Queen Mother tasted the yellow finch today, are you still satisfied?"

The Queen Mother took a bite of the finch meat. Although she is getting older, her teeth are still very good, and her snow-white teeth are neat and bright. The yellow finch meat is oily, it is crispy and tender, and it is fragrant on the teeth and cheeks after a bite, and the aftertaste is long.

Tong Guan was still waiting for the Queen Mother to praise herself, but when she saw the Queen Mother's brows, she was suddenly shocked, her legs and feet were weak, like five thunderbolts, and she only heard the Queen Mother's slightly disappointed tone and said slowly: "Today's pickled yellow finch, why is the oil so heavy?"

"I think the cooking in the kitchen today is quite orderly, and nothing has happened. Tong Guan was a little puzzled, but he reacted quickly, immediately put aside the relationship between the matter and himself, and immediately ordered his subordinates angrily: "Go and tie up the cook who made this dish!

The servant immediately went out. Tong Guan was busy sandwiching other dishes for the Queen Mother to eat, while chatting with the Queen Mother: "The Queen Mother, the emperor is a blessed person, he will definitely be healthy, don't worry too much, there is always a way, isn't this already renewed, that Shao Bowen has also been caught and is bringing it back, it will be fine." The recent events have really bothered the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother, you are haggard a lot, you have to eat more, so that you have the strength to continue to 'toss' the emperor's affairs, this is what the Queen Mother said herself, isn't it?"

The Queen Mother smiled and sighed, her eyes were empty to the distant window, and she said slowly: "Someone once said that Emperor Shenzong's princes had a bad life, and they had to use the word 'person' to be named in order to be saved. Fourteen princes, all of whom follow this method to name themselves: Zhao Tong, Zhao Wei, Zhao Jun, Zhao Shen, Zhao Yu, Zhao Maid, Zhao Price, Zhao Wei, Zhao Wei, Zhao Ji, Zhao Mata, Zhao Si, Zhao Si...... I remember the faces of 14 children, but how many of them are alive now? The name is just a symbol of recognition, whether it is dead or alive, it is just life. When the emperor ascended the throne, he thought that his name was not good, and Zhao Maid, it sounded like a minion, didn't he? He was the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, and he wanted to shine brightly and shine in the world, so he changed his 'maid' to 'Xu', which was for Emperor Zhezong Zhao Xu. What kind of good life is it to be able to become an emperor, no matter how big the disaster is, he can't crush him, he is the real god in this world, and the real dragon has descended...... Who knows. Who knows. ”

"Queen Mother, don't be sad. Tong Guan nodded and said, "Since you are the true dragon emperor, you must also be rich and noble, this may be the emperor's fate, as long as the royal family survives this catastrophe together, the emperor will be able to live forever, and live without borders." When the time comes, add a few young princes to the Queen Mother, and our Great Song Dynasty royal family will continue to thrive. ”

The Queen Mother smiled bitterly: "Yes, so far, I haven't even had an heir, what is going on with this child, I'm really scared, worried......"

Seeing that the Queen Mother became more and more sad about this matter, Tong Guan quickly changed the topic and said: "Queen Mother, you try this honey melon fish, it is said to be a new method, the appearance is good, the taste is good, and the mood is good when you eat sweetly...... Hey, the Queen Mother, you said, it's good to have a meal and call that concubine to come over and talk and chat, but why do you have to call this stupid concubine Shen to come over and serve your old man? Don't you find fault yourself? I look at her stupid and dull appearance, I feel sorry for the Queen Mother!"

"It's not a big deal to be stupid, it's not good to be smart in a place. It always takes a few fools to fill the scene, and a play can be sung. The Queen Mother said slowly, "Her stupidity is famous, but the mourners just don't believe it." The mourning family wants to see if they are really stupid or pretended to be favored like this. ”

Tong Guan leaned down and said, "Queen Mother, then, according to your high opinion, who is Concubine Shen?"

The Queen Mother smiled slightly: "It's really stupid." ”

At this time, there was gradually a louder and louder dispute at the door, and one person said: "What are you doing with me?" I didn't ......poison him, and the person who arrested him said: "If you are arrested, you will be arrested, do you still need a reason?"

When Tong Guan heard it, he lowered his eyebrows and said, "The Queen Mother-the person has arrived." ”