Chapter Eighty-Nine: Monuments
It didn't take long for me to hear a knock on the door of the room, the master got up and went to open the door, and saw Cao Wen and the two waiters behind him standing, the master smiled and said, "Come on, I'm almost hungry."
The master rubbed his hands, Cao Wen nodded with a smile, and said to the waiter behind him: "Quick, let's bring it in, be careful."
The two waiters said hello, pushed the dining cart into the room, put all the dishes on the table, and then Cao Wen said to the master: "Then you eat slowly, I still have something to do here, go and get busy first, and when I'm free, I'll come to you again to catch up with the old days!"
Cao Wen patted the master's arm, the master said yes, sent them out, ran back, sat on the edge of the table, and said: "Oh, I haven't eaten Tan's cuisine for a long time, don't be stunned, come and taste it."
The master urged me, I sat directly opposite the master, opened the lid of the dish, and suddenly, a pungent aroma rushed into my nose, my eyes lit up, and I said to the master: "Master, what is this made of, it is so fragrant"!
The master smiled slightly, pointed to a few dishes on the table, and said: "This is the famous Tan family cuisine in Beijing, and I liked to eat this flavor when I came to Beijing before."
I nodded and asked, "Tan Jiacai?" The person who cooks the dishes also has the same surname as the master, how can there still be a name like Tan Jiacai."
The master made a bowl of soup, took a sip, suddenly stunned, pointed to the broth, did not answer my question, and said, "Hmm! Boy, this soup is good, it tastes the same as before, you can taste it."
I nodded, hit half a bowl of soup with a soup spoon, just drank a small sip, I instantly felt that the whole person was floating, and laughed with satisfaction, this is definitely the best dish I have ever tasted, even the dumpling restaurant opposite my house can't compare, the master saw my expression and smiled: "What's the matter, it's not bad."
I nodded heavily, my mind was hooked by the food, and I didn't reply to the master's words, and the master didn't have time to take care of anything else, so I ate it in a big gulp, and soon, the dishes on the table were all swept away by us, which can be described as a disc.
I touched my round belly, leaned back, burped and said, "Hold me to death, this is too delicious, when I have money in the future, I will also invite someone to cook Tan's dishes."
The master wiped his mouth and said to me, "Then you have to work hard, let's clean up this place first, and take you to go shopping in the afternoon."
I said yes happily, folded the plates together, wiped the table with the cloth the waiter had given us, and tossed it aside.
After I cleaned up, the master glanced at it, nodded and said, "That's it, someone will come to clean up, go, and go to the Forbidden City."
I jumped happily, changed into a set of Chinese-style clothes, the master smiled and shook his head, and took me out of the hotel, after getting in the car, we went straight to the Forbidden City, I looked at the time, it was only more than twelve o'clock, the closing time of the Forbidden City is five o'clock, and it is enough time to play.
Today's weather is exceptionally sunny, and a little hot, after we arrived at the Forbidden City, the periphery is almost full of people, all wearing sunglasses and sun hats, some tourists are still holding bright red flags in their hands, and there are also a lot of foreign tourists, take a picture here with a mobile phone, where to take a picture, after I bought tickets with the master, we walked into the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City is very large, as soon as I walked in, I felt like I had crossed over, and various ancient palace maids and eunuchs appeared in front of me, and the master smiled and said to me: "Let's go, take you to see the capital of the ancient dynasty for 600 years."
I nodded, and followed the master to wander around the Forbidden City, we first went to the Jinluan Palace, along the way, I had questions, and the master was also very interested in introducing me to it.
"This is the Jinluan Palace, in the past it was the place where the ceremony was held, like the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, ascended to the pole in the Jinluan Palace, and announced the enthronement edict, the emperor's wedding, the canonization of the queen, the order will go out, every year on New Year's Day, the winter solstice, longevity, and other festivals must be congratulated and feasted by hundreds of officials here."
I nodded, pointed to some decorations inside and outside the Jinluan Palace, and asked, "Then what are these copper tripods, copper turtles, and cranes for, did they use in the past?"
The master smiled, shook his head and said: "First, it is for good looks and solemnity, and secondly, these copper items are used to burn incense during the ceremony.
I then understood, nodded, and the master pointed to a place and said, "Look"!!
I turned my head to look, but saw two rather large beads standing in front of the temple, and I asked the master suspiciously, "Master, does this bead also have meaning?"
The master nodded and said: "Then yes, these two beads are auspicious wishful beads, among the double dragons, one represents the emperor of heaven, and the other represents the emperor. The pattern of mountains and seas under the double dragon is a symbol of the eternal stability of the rivers and rivers, and you see that the golden Nine Dragons throne and screen in this hall are placed on the golden pedestal of two meters, and they are also placed between the six golden pillars of the dragon, so that the emperor's solipsistic status can be highlighted, and there is a caisson well, and a large round ball hangs down in the mouth of the dragon in the middle of him, which is called "Xuanyuan Mirror", which is a thing to ward off evil spirits, and also has the meaning of the mirror hanging high.
The master breathed, the history and layout of the Jinluan Hall told me clearly, because I am very interested in this kind of ancient architecture, so I listened very carefully, and then we walked around the Jinluan Hall for a while, I also secretly went to sit on the dragon chair, so hurry up not to mention how comfortable.
After visiting the Jinluan Palace, we went to the remaining two halls of the three major halls of the Forbidden City, the master was very patient to explain a lot to me, all of them are some history in the palace, after visiting the three halls, we went to other attractions in the Forbidden City to play, and also saw a lot of treasures from previous eras, when I walked to the red wall, the master stopped, walked to a shady place, the red wall aisle also has many tourists walking around, there are talking and laughing, I also followed the master to rest a little.
The master squatted down, pointed to the long red wall aisle, and said, "Boy, do you know what history this aisle has and what happened."
I was stunned, squatted down, and said, "Is there any history in this aisle?"
The master had a natural expression and said, "Then it must be, all places in the Forbidden City have history."
"And what happened here?"
I asked suspiciously, the master smiled, simply sat on the steps, approached me, pointed to the red wall aisle and said: "The Forbidden City is solemn and solemn, and it is enough to make our people proud, but if you think about it, it has been handed down from that era, and how many years have passed."
After listening to the master's words, I thought about it, the Forbidden City has been passed down from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and has been baptized by the wind and sand of the years, and it has been almost 600 years, so there must be a lot of strange things, I looked at the master, the master smiled slightly, and said: "Although the Forbidden City is magnificent, there have been many inexplicable things in it, such as Zhenfeijing, Shoukang Palace, and the red wall aisle in front of us."
The master pointed to the aisle again, and I became even more puzzled, and my curiosity gradually rose, and I hurriedly asked, "What happened in this aisle, master, tell me about it."
The master glanced at me and said, "Don't worry, it's still early, I know what the future will be, and listen to me carefully, what I said back then..."
The master slowly put up a storyteller's shelf, said very energetically, and there were a lot of movements in the hands, I also listened very seriously, I thought that when I was a child, I listened to my grandfather sitting in a rocking chair and telling me a story, and some tourists around were tired, and they actually came to our side, listening to the master narrate the history here, the master said very interesting, more and more people were attracted to come, some people even picked up their mobile phones to shoot us, the master didn't care, what he said was still eyebrows.