As night falls, the sun darkens.

Outside the Ganlu Palace, dozens of palace female eunuchs surrounded their own children, the lanterns in twos and threes glowed with a little fire, and in the middle of the platform outside the hall was a large wooden table, on which were the dishes presented today. On the gilded bench at the entrance of the Ganlu Hall sat Li Shimin, and the four virtuous and virtuous concubines were arranged on both sides, and then there were the concubines of lower rank.

It was late, and it was rare for many concubines to gather together.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Li Shimin and his concubines visited the garden to enjoy the flowers, during which there was constant laughter and occasional delicacies, which added a bit of comfort to today's play.

The stuff is now finished, but the results are not out yet.

Li Shimin's stay here is to listen to the opinions of the audience.

The Imperial Banquet is the rarest and most important event for the chefs, but it is just an opportunity to communicate with His Majesty in the hearts of the concubines present. It's rare, but it's not stressful.

The concubines don't care about what dishes can be selected, but Li Shimin cares very much, because the selection of the Great Dynasty banquet is related to this year's Great Dynasty Meeting and the face of the entire Tang Dynasty.

The IQ of the women who sat down was vividly reflected in a small matter, the wise would comment on the dishes fairly and impartially, and give the emperor the most pertinent advice, the ignorant would be absent-minded and in a trance, and some fake smart people tried to choose a dish because of the emperor's favor for her.

Li Shimin received a lot of opinions, and a total of 16 dishes were selected as the dishes of the Great Dynasty Meeting, but it was difficult to select the eight best chefs from these 16 dishes to enter the final round.

After some discussion, seven people were determined, Cao Fu won the first seat with the first completed and very characteristic roasted matsutake mushroom, Xiahou Jin won the second seat with the soft and glutinous jujube mud cake, and Wang Ting, the third name in the first round, also lived up to expectations with a bowl of lotus seed soup like water hibiscus.

The three of them ranked in the top three in the first round, and this time they were the first to be confirmed, and at the same time, they were all unknown people, which shows that the strength of Datang's folk chefs is unfathomable.

Later, it was the old man Qi Yuanqi who won the first place in the last session, this person worked as a cook in the Changsun Mansion, followed the Changsun family for many years, and was also the most famous chef in the capital, but few people could taste his dishes. Before the last Great Dynasty Meeting, Li Shimin had appointed this person as one of the chefs of the Great Dynasty Meeting, but was rejected by Old Man Qi, only saying that he would rely on strength to obtain this position. The result really lived up to expectations, beating many rookies in the last dynasty meeting and maintaining the first place from beginning to end. Although Old Man Qi still entered the third round this year, he has lost the original brilliance compared to the last time, I don't know if it is deliberately hidden or the strength of other chefs has increased greatly this year.

The fifth place is as expected by Xia Shang, the wind chef who attracted a lot of discussion in the last round of selling sweet potatoes easily won Li Shimin's approval with his new-style stone pot rice.

The sixth is Xu Fan, a famous chef in the south of the Yangtze River, who came thousands of miles to participate in the banquet in order to build momentum for the "mortal" restaurant that is about to open in the capital.

The seventh Dharma name is actually a monk, and he is also known as a meat monk. It is said that taking a Dharma name similar to that of a Taoist priest is to ask him to always remember his identity and not to do things that are inconsistent with his identity. It can be seen that this person has been an unpleasant master since he was a child, and the host who took him in took great pains for him. However, it didn't take long for this idiot to become a meat monk, accompanied by wine and meat all day long, traveling all over the world, just entering Chang'an, he found a lot of turmoil, and now he has entered the third round with a drunken duck.

Only one of the eight selected people remains, and the most promising is the potato flour of the millet.

Potatoes are boiled, then mashed, flour added, mixed with peculiar water made from plant ash, then cut into noodles with a knife, blanched and served with a thick soup.

This thing has a unique taste, the soup is delicious, and more importantly, the potatoes are made into noodles, which is novel and unique, closely related to the word "strange", if it weren't for the previous few people's dishes were too good, this dish would have already entered the list.

Judging from the many dishes on the table, only this bowl of potato noodles is the most suitable. While everyone was waiting for Li Shimin to announce the last person, Li Shimin frowned and thought about something.

After a stalemate for a long time, seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, many concubines did not dare to say much, only the old eunuch behind him ventured forward and asked: "Holy Monarch, it's not too early, this eighth candidate should be decided earlier, don't delay the Holy Monarch's rest." ”

Li Shimin yawned suddenly, and glanced at the dishes again: "These are all?" ”

"That's right, that's all the dishes that have been sifted."

……

Xia Shang returned home in the middle of the night, and he and Xu Yuan ate some fried prawns at a stall on Suzaku Street and drank a little rice wine to celebrate, so he came back late.

As soon as the door was opened, Li Luo greeted him with a cloak: "Xianggong, what is the result today?" ”

"Go to the south gate of the imperial city early tomorrow morning to see the final results announced."

"Huh? No results at this late hour? Father's work is too verbose, right? ”

Xia Shang rubbed his little head and returned to the house. "How can anyone say that about their father? Although I don't know the outcome, there is no danger, and I don't think tomorrow's result will be too disappointing. ”

After entering the house, he threw aside the cloak sent by Li Luo, and was about to go to fetch water, and Luoluo had already prepared everything.

Looking at the small body that fell, it was a little difficult to hold the water basin, Xia Shang was very distressed, and hurriedly took the water basin over: "Don't do this kind of thing in the future, just come by yourself!" ”

Li Luo didn't speak, but his expression was a little gloomy.

Xia Shang realized that there was something wrong with his words, and wanted to comfort him, so he shook his head when he approached the little girl: "Needless to say, the concubine knows that this is all for the good of the concubine, and I am afraid that the concubine will be sick." But the concubine doesn't want to be treated as a patient by the princess, others used to take care of the concubine, and now the concubine wants to take good care of the princess. ”

Xia Shang furrowed his brows, unwilling to continue, and his feet were not washed, so he hid directly in the quilt with Luoluo in his arms.

After a while, clothes of all sizes were thrown all over the house.

The lights went out in the room, and nothing could be seen, only a weak, shy voice.

"Xianggong, don't rub it, no matter how much you rub it, you can't rub it."

"Nonsense, now you are still growing your body, you should rub it, or you will be able to suffocate Xianggong to death in less than two years."

"Xianggong, what do you say? Shame on you! ”

“……”

"Xianggong, when will the concubine be able to give birth?"

"Again, they all said that this matter will be discussed when you are well."

"Okay, good, when will it be good? The concubine only wants a child. ”

"But Xianggong just wants you to be good."