On the fifth day of the Dragon Boat Festival in the first month of May, according to the custom, the Son of Heaven should reward the ministers, and the adults above the third grade will reward summer clothes, five poison bags, Baishou wisps, Ai Hu, folding fans and other things, and then reduce the number according to the official rank, and the last nine officials will only have one five poison bags, one hundred longevity wisps, and a folding fan. Zongzi has a share for everyone, not for civil and military ministers, but for the officials and servants of the yamen, the eunuchs and women in the palace.

From April 20, the back kitchens of all yamen have joined the ranks of assistant cooks, and they can only meet the needs by cooking day and night. During the Great Wei Dynasty, "Jingbaisi as for the county government of the world, there is a Cao Bureau, then there is a public kitchen", this rule of the Great Zheng Dynasty has also inherited, every festival is the time when the major yamen kitchens compete in craftsmanship, take the shape of the zongzi as an example, you wrap it into a cone, I will tie it into a diamond shape He is wrapped into a cylindrical shape, the filling is even more ever-changing, jujube dumplings, bean dumplings, meat dumplings, bean paste, eight treasures, ham, mushrooms, egg yolks can be stuffed into the rice, salty, sweet taste is very different, but the same glutinous fragrance is delicious, the whole imperial capital is wafting with the fragrance of zongzi leaves.

As the chef of Shang Shi Jian , Fu Fuying is the heirloom of the imperial chef, since his ancestor has been in the palace as the imperial chef, to his generation of youth out of the blue has become one of the sixteen staple foods of Shang Shi Jian , although it is only three products outside the stream, but from the chef to the official body, it can be regarded as the "champion" of the cook. There are 784 people in the palace and there are 49 chefs under each staple food, and he mainly focuses on pastries and sweets, and the dumplings of the Dragon Boat Festival are naturally taken care of by him.

Fu Fuying is not short of money, his family has been the imperial chef for generations, his uncle and brother have opened several large restaurants in the capital, and he is making money every day, as the eldest son in the family, he occasionally goes to the restaurant to fry two dishes when he is not on a bad time, and the money comes like flowing water. Every time Fu Fuying goes to help the cook stir-fry, the business of the restaurant has to be booked in advance, Fu Fuying knows that his skills are similar to those of his uncles and brothers, the reason why it can be so popular, the people who come to eat are nothing more than the word "imperial kitchen", this golden sign is more valuable than the real craftsmanship.

Last year's Dragon Boat Festival Zongyi Competition, the zongzi in the palace imperial dining room actually ranked behind the Ministry of Rites and Guanglu Temple, and lost face in the palace. Since April this year, Fu Fuying has been racking his brains and carefully planning how to shine and regain the reputation of Zongshou. Referring to the practice of nine palms, Fu Fuying developed the "six six Shunxin zongzi", respectively, with bean paste, eight treasures, ham, mushrooms, egg yolk, and millet as the filling of six zongzi group, each six groups of color line tied into a large zongzi, a total of 6636 zongzi synthesis, meaning "six six Shun", "Shun Xin". After the new zongzi was made, it was sent to the harem to try it and was praised by Queen Wang, Liu Guifei, and Huang Shufei, and naturally no one else said badly, which made Fu Fuying full of confidence in regaining the first zongzi.

The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and the joy is diffused in the palm incense inside and outside the palace, but Liu Weiguo, the eunuch of Bingli, found that the frost on the face of Shi Fangzhen, the son of heaven, is getting heavier and heavier. As a eunuch Liu Weiguo knows some reasons, long live the matter of the Yuanhua River embankment is worried, two days ago Long Wei reported, because the embankment also caused a rebellion, the thieves of Zhongshanzhai went down the mountain to capture Xingling County, Yuan Tianjiao took the opportunity to make waves, burned the disaster relief grain, although this group of rebels was defeated in Linhua County, but more than 10,000 people died.

In the past few days, there have been continuous pieces of music, and Liu Weiguo noticed that the dark clouds on the face of the Son of Heaven were accumulating heavier and heavier, and his heart was full of worry. The Son of Heaven is over half a hundred years old, and he has already shown dizziness and woodenness in his hands and legs. Liu Weiguo tried to distract the Son of Heaven and let the Son of Heaven go to the Imperial Garden to relax, and finally unraveled Shi Fangzhen. Liu Weiguo thought that the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month of May would give a banquet to the ministers, and the monarchs and ministers would have fun at that time, and this matter might be over.

However, the one who should come will still come, and on the fourth day of the fifth month, a secret recital was placed on the table in the imperial study. Liu Weiguo muttered in his stomach when he took the fold out of the box, which shameless courtier seized the opportunity to write so much, not to mention more than 100 pages, long live the lord This is going to see when to go. There was still half an hour before noon, and Queen Wang sent someone to tell him that Princess Anshou was here, and asked the Son of Heaven to go back to Kun'an Palace for dinner at noon.

The weather was already hot, Shi Fangzhen changed into a light silk shirt, sat at the table with his face and sleeves folded, Liu Weiguo told the Son of Heaven what Queen Wang said, Shi Fangzhen sighed, and began to look at the thick music. Liu Weiguo quietly retreated, standing half a foot away on the right side and waiting, secretly looking at the expression of the Son of Heaven.

After a while, Liu Weiguo's heart lifted, and he saw that the Son of Heaven frowned, and his face began to turn blue. Liu Weiguo

The secret path is not good, and he nervously pays attention to the demeanor of the Son of Heaven, ready to come forward to remind him at any time. Shi Fangzhen looked at the ten lines faster and faster, and sometimes nodded to show joy, Liu Weiguo just breathed a sigh of relief, Shi Fangzhen slapped the table again and lifted his heart, Liu Weiguo didn't know what was written in this recital, how to make it happy and sad.

Almost halfway through it, Liu Weiguo saw that the Son of Heaven's face was swollen and red, and his temples were beating "suddenly", knowing that the Son of Heaven was angry, he hurriedly stepped forward to massage the Son of Heaven, only to see Shi Fangzhen slam the fold in his hand on the table, and four words popped out of his mouth: "Qi kills me." ”

Liu Weiguo didn't dare to slack off, standing behind the Son of Heaven, stretched out his hand and gently pinched Shi Fangzhen's temples, and persuaded worriedly: "Long live, it's not that the old slave is talkative, the imperial doctor said that you must not be angry, your anger hurts your body, you are the king of a country, the lord is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and you have your own civil and military ministers to relieve your worries, otherwise what would you do to raise so many civil and military forces on the Golden Palace?" ”

Shi Fangzhen's words amused him, and he sat up straight, Shi Fangzhen scolded with a smile: "You old slave, now that you are about to become a master, I think you can be a doctor of imperial history, and Kong Province is not as good as you." ”

Seeing that the Son of Heaven's complexion improved, Liu Weiguo asked the little eunuch to send medicine, and when Shi Fangzhen swallowed the water and took it, Liu Weiguo said carelessly: "The slave only thinks about living for another twenty or thirty years, and can watch the Long Live Lord become an emperor through the ages." ”

This sentence is a bit presumptuous if you study it carefully, but Shi Fang was really moved and sighed: "Liu Weiguo, I borrow your good words, you can live well, and when I die, you will accompany me into the mausoleum." ”

Liu Weiguo couldn't cry, knelt on the ground and couldn't speak.

Shi Fangzhen picked up Jiang Anyi's recital again, endured it and read it, and finally didn't have a seizure on the spot. When Liu Weiguo accompanied him to Kun'an Palace, he noticed that the Son of Heaven was clasping his hands tightly behind his back.

On the fifth day of the fifth month of May, the Son of Heaven gave a banquet to the Hanyuan Palace, and the civil and military officials above the fifth grade in Beijing were eligible to participate, and no one would miss this opportunity, and the huge Golden Palace was crowded with four or five hundred people. Because it is a banquet, unlike the rules of the court meeting, everyone gathers in groups to chat, and there are snacks and tea on the table for them to eat.

When Shi Fangzhen arrived with the three princes, the zongzi banquet officially began. The three products have a table for one person, the four products have a table for two people, and the five products have a table for four people, and there are six dishes and a pot of wine on the table, which is not rich, the son of heaven is still thrifty, and the ministers know it. In the middle of each table is a huge zongzi - Liuliu Shunxin zongzi, which can be walked around if you can't eat it.

It is a drinking feast, naturally indispensable singing and dancing, singing and dancing after the Son of Heaven let everyone feel free, got up to toast a few old men, and ordered the three princes to toast the ministers for themselves. Prince Shi Chongwei is already in the age of the weak crown, and as an apricot yellow dragon robe, he is full of vigor and a warm spring breeze; Shi Chongjie, the king of Chu'an, was sixteen years old, heroic, chatting and laughing with familiar ministers, and did not care about the prince's gradually stiff smiling face; Luo Huai Wang Shi Chongren is fourteen years old this year, Fengle seventeen years to build a government to open the mansion, this still childish prince is obviously not interested in the errand of toasting, as the two brothers raised their glasses, but their eyes fell on the shooting of rice dumplings by the palace.

After a round of wine toasting, almost half an hour has passed, everyone is seated again, and one of the highlights of the Dragon Boat Festival banquet is about to be staged - eating soup. Owl, evil bird also, ancient books have recorded that owl birds eat mothers, since ancient times there has been the custom of eating dragon boat soup. Emperor Wen of Qi gave his ministers soup for the first time during the Dragon Boat Festival, which was called to drive away the unkind and unrighteous traitors, and this custom has been passed down in the court to this day.

When waiting for the palace maid to teleport the soup, Shi Fang Zhen said loudly: "The Dragon Boat Festival dumplings are to commemorate Chu Yuan, a virtuous minister of the Warring States Period, 'pondering and exalting the white and loyal, and the ancient sad wind on the Miluo River', Chu Yuan is the loyalty and goodness of the country, but unfortunately he was mistaken by the faint king, I asked myself if it is not mediocre, as long as the princes are dedicated to the king's affairs, they will not let you end up in a sad wind." ”

The ministers present didn't know what Shi Fangzhen meant, and they didn't know how to deal with it. As the head of the officials, Kong Province stood up and said: "Long live the Ming monarch, the ministers are fortunate to follow, and dare not be loyal and do their best." ”

The other ministers couldn't sit still, so they all got up and said, "The ministers should do their best." ”

Shi Fangzhen motioned for everyone to sit down, pointed to the soup on the table and said: "I am not a Ming monarch, they all say that the soup can expel the treacherous ministers, but above the Golden Palace, I see that the princes of Gon are the pillars of the country, how can there be a treacherous person." Under the world, it is not the king's land, the coast of the land, the king's ministers, the twenty-seven states in the world, I can't govern it personally, I have to rely on you virtuous ministers. ”

The golden palace was silent, only the sound of the palace maids teleporting the small footsteps of the spoon, as long as they were not stupid, they could hear the anger in the tone of the Son of Heaven, and everyone could only shrink their necks and listen, for fear that the thunder would fall on them and turn them into powder.

"Liu Weiguo said well, the lord is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, this world can't be done by relying on me, the Yuanhua River burst the embankment and caused the Zhongshanzhai thieves to rebel, the Yuantianjiao resurrected, and more than 10,000 people under Linhua City died. I always heard the good things that the world was peaceful, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, the country was rich and the people were strong, etc., I was really a little fluttering, and I thought that I was also a Ming Jun. Today, I want to ask all the dukes, is the emperor who can't tell the difference between loyalty and treachery a Ming monarch? ”

The dark clouds finally turned into thunder and fell, and I don't know who knelt on the ground with weak legs, and the entire Golden Palace ministers fell to their knees.