"Tut-tut, it's really terrible, how can there be such a vicious woman in the world, even her own relatives are poisoned, but for the time being, it has nothing to do with Yipinxiang, let's just look at it coldly, don't let her splash dirty water on her body." Ruan Mianmian sighed and continued to eat melon seeds.

"Since Qiu Niang is honest with each other, then stay in the county lord's mansion, and then I will let Treading Water arrange a quiet and tiring errand for you, and then you can recover from your injuries." Jiang Xinyue raised her hand, and the treading water behind her understood, and stepped forward to take Qiu Niang out, and also closed the door to give them a space to talk.

"Well, how credible do you think she is?" Mu Ruqing pinched the bridge of his nose and said a little tiredly: "We originally opened a restaurant, but who knew that it was busier than the middle hall of Dali Temple. ”

"But no matter how interesting it is, you have to continue to plan for this family, other nobles are scattered, and we are thriving with a fragrance, and we will inevitably be seen by others, so we will be involved in this lot of right and wrong, if you really don't want to, we have a chance to leave the capital for a period of time, which is considered clean and clean." Jiang Xinyue smiled and pulled Mu Ruqing's hand, pinching his fingers intentionally or unintentionally to play.

"Sister, sister, are we going to Jiangnan again?" Ruan Mianmian's eyes lit up with a star-like glow, clear and flawless, and she looked at Jiang Xinyue with expectation.

"It's not going down to the south of the Yangtze River, it's going to the northwest." Jiang Xinyue said, "Today in the palace I went to see the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother said that the King of England and Princess Zhuen are about to get married, according to the etiquette to marry from Mobei all the way to the capital with dowry and welcoming team, and now there is still a lack of a few royal relatives and nobles to welcome relatives, listen to the meaning of her words, is to hand over to a pin of incense." ”

"If you go to the northwest, can you go to the cannon?" Ruan Mianmian's eyes brightened, and he suddenly thought of the Fang cannon that he hadn't seen for a long time.

"It's not far away, and you can use the barracks as a rest stop on the road." Jiang Xinyue saw through her mind at a glance.

"Then there's nothing bad about it, we have such a good relationship with Brother Lu and Princess Zhuen, and there are two county lords here, it's the most suitable to contribute to their wedding, and it's possible to see the cannon, this trip to Mobei must be very happy and exciting." Ruan Mianmian smiled to herself, as if she had already made up her mind to go on this trip.

"Look at you, your soul flies when you hear the cannon, and you don't set off today or tomorrow. The wedding time given by the Ministry of Rites is June 7th, and it will not start until next month. Liu Xin'er smiled and stroked the jade chuan on her hand, looking at Ruan Mianmian, who was not a weapon, with a doting face.

"Yes, today the emperor also handed over a task to us, saying that the triennial imperial examination will start at the end of this month, and there will be many candidates from all over the country to take the exam, and the food during their examination will be contracted by us."

"Imperial examinations? Wouldn't there be a lot of literati, maybe you can meet the kind of handsome scholar and merry boy mentioned in the book, hahahaha. Ruan Mianmian knew that it was possible to see Fang Cannon, and the whole person was in a much better mood, and he was heartless and laughing with everyone.

"Stupid girl, even if there is a handsome young man, it will not be the turn of the three of us married women!" Liu Xin'er rushed over and fought with her, and everyone returned to their usual happiness, no matter how many ups and downs there were during this time, it could be regarded as the past.

In late spring, the capital is warm but not hot, the climate is pleasant, even the spring breeze is warm, and the sun is shining. On this day, Yipinxiang was busy early, but did not open the door to greet the guests.

The most important thing in the imperial examination of this dynasty is this examination, erudite people from all over the country gather in the capital, and the streets and alleys can be seen shaking fans to talk about the ancient and modern high-spirited candidates, which is not looking forward to the examination once famous, to see all the Chang'an flowers.

In this month, all the people who do business in the capital have changed their business methods with their keen business sense, and they have changed their ways to add something related to the imperial examination in their own industries. For example, the four treasures of the study room sold during this period are almost engraved with the words of the title of the gold list, and the Buddhist temples in the suburbs of Beijing have launched a special imperial examination channel for candidates to bully, and the cost of incense on a poem is halved.

The streets and alleys are in full swing, watching these vigorous teenagers rushing to the examination room with ambitions, and their hearts seem to be infected by it, giving birth to a surging pride. Yipinxiang and everyone sat in the spacious carriage, talking and laughing and going to the tribute courtyard, and Mu Ruqing explained the rules of the imperial examination to everyone.

The imperial examination is the most direct way to be an official in this dynasty, and as long as the literati and scholars are familiar with the economics of the classics and civilization, they can shine in the imperial examination. From the children of poor families to scholarly families, most of them relied on the imperial examination to obtain a higher status. After the selection of the township examination and the provincial examination, more than 1,000 of the best scholars from all over the country will come to the capital at the same time to participate in the examination, and the outstanding candidates selected by the examination are eligible to participate in the most glorious palace examination, that is, to meet the emperor and be personally selected by him.

However, it is actually a double test for the candidates, both psychologically and physically. The examination is for three consecutive days, and the candidates will stay in a room in the Gongyuan for three days and cannot come out at will, and each room can only fit a set of tables and a straw mat, which is like squatting in prison, which is why it is necessary to send food three times a day, and the articles written by the candidates will also be sealed and handed out by a special person and handed over to the examiner for evaluation.

Ruan Mianmian opened the curtain and looked at the scholars coming and going at the gate of the Gongyuan, pursed his lips and said: "I didn't expect it, it's not easy to study and test your fame, if you lock me in, no one to talk to me and play with me, I will be bored to death in less than a day." ”

"If you let those scholars eat and broadcast all day long like you, and eat a table of hot pot in one meal, they will not be able to stand it, everyone has a field that they are good at, let's sleep, it is the fate of being born to eat all kinds of food." Jiang Xinyue stroked her somewhat messy bangs, and handed over a plate of osmanthus cakes.

As he was talking, the car stopped at the gate of the Gongyuan, but they did not go down immediately, but waited until the hour was complete and all the candidates had entered the hall before getting off the bus. The palace maids and the servants who came quickly removed the food boxes from the carriages that followed the back door, and put them on the ground separately, piling them up into several spectacular hills.

Ruan Mianmian picked up one casually and opened it for inspection, the food box was made in accordance with the regulations of the imperial examination, the simple wooden box was only covered with a layer of varnish, without any lettering and patterns, this is also to avoid suspicion, and the people in the province said that there was a suspicion of cheating. When I opened the lid, there were several dishes next to it, stir-fried asparagus, rock sugar yams, stir-fried meat with red peppers, and a bowl of white rice and a bowl of shrimp and egg soup.

Although it is only that breakfast needs to be light and easy to digest, Yipinxiang has also put a lot of thought into it, and according to the different hometowns of the candidates, they specially let the cooks make local dishes from various places, such as steamed buns for candidates from Shandong, rice from Jiangnan, and scones from the west, all of which are their eating habits.

And because it is the first meal, so each candidate has a red pepper fried meat, which means a good start, although the chopsticks and spoons in the food box are all wooden, but they are also tied together with a cut thin red ribbon, which looks joyful and a good fortune.

After picking a few food boxes in a row to check and confirm that there was no problem, Mu Ruqing arranged for the person in charge of the Gongyuan to hand over and send the food boxes into the number room inside, and each candidate had a copy, so that they could start answering the questions after they were full.

Yipinxiang was personally ordered by the emperor to undertake the imperial examination, so he naturally had to go all out, even if the meal was delivered, he could not leave, but stayed in the tea room specially prepared for them, in case there was any emergency, and the chefs returned to Yipinxiang in the carriage to prepare the ingredients for the next meal, after all, thousands of people dined at the same time and they also needed to rotate continuously, and several chefs plus the small guy sent by the Anyang Houfu to support it could barely be completed in the kitchen.

In order to prepare for this supply, Yipinxiang purchased a large amount of meat and vegetables ten days in advance, and those dry goods that were easy to preserve were as many as they wanted, and the yard and warehouse were full of ingredients, and the servants who cleaned the ingredients alone invited a dozen.

Such a large amount of preparation must be a huge amount of expenditure, just the purchase of dishes is a lot of money, not to mention that the business has been closed for a few days to specialize in cooking, and there is speculation outside that the emperor has given what benefits to make Yipinxiang such a cost.

In fact, the benefits of the emperor have long been given, from supporting the first chef competition, holding the signboard of Yipinxiang openly and secretly, and the love for the two county lords, all of which are the benefits he invisibly gave Yipinxiang, and now Yipinxiang has taken out the money to undertake scientific research, and there is no need to use the money in the treasury, but it is just to repay the emperor's favor. The wool is out of the sheep, and the emperor has brought a steady stream of amazing wealth to Yipinxiang, just take out these, Mu Ruqing will not feel distressed, he is a long-term person, and he knows how to stand in line and show goodwill.

However, a pint of incense will not let go of such a good marketing opportunity, the scientific expedition to the afternoon of the third day, about to ring the final bell, naturally a pinxiang task has ended, but there are still a lot of ingredients left, it is a pity not to use, so a pinxiang immediately released the news, the next three days will launch a new recipe, champion meal.

Every diner who comes to Yipinxiang only needs to spend a small price to eat the same meal of the candidates in the Gongyuan, choose any three dishes, one soup and one staple food among the more than a dozen dishes, and then get a chance to express their admiration to the favorite candidates, the mystery is on a large wooden board ten meters wide and three meters high erected outside the door of Yipinxiang.