The two of them gossiped a little, seeing that it was getting late, Aunt Zhou was about to cook, and Hu Xianxian hurriedly said to help her do it.

The two were about to eat when they heard someone shouting: "Is Mother Zhou at home?" ”

Aunt Zhou went out with her to look, only to see two green tweed sedan chairs parked outside, and a woman was looking into the house.

Aunt Zhou saw her and hurriedly said, "Granny Li, is Mrs. Shen and Miss Shen here?" ”

Grandma Li smiled, "Yes, I just went to meet the old princess and the prince, and Mrs. said to come and see Mother Zhou again." ”

Aunt Zhou went to the sedan chair to help Mrs. Shen get off the sedan chair, and Hu Xianxian also followed her to help Miss Shen. Miss Shen is about fifteen years old, with phoenix eyes, goose egg face, and a graceful body.

When she saw Hu Xianxian coming, she raised her eyebrows, "Who is this sister?" How come I haven't seen it? ”

Aunt Zhou stepped forward and said: "Her surname is Hu, and she came from Lingzhou to send some strange flowers and plants to the prince for the ceremony, and because I am old friends with her family, she stayed in my house." ”

Hu Xianxian hurriedly said: "I opened a small inn at home, and this time I also had to be guided by immortals to find the spirit grass." As soon as I saw Miss Shen's appearance and dust, I was in a trance, thinking that it was a fairy descending to earth, and I couldn't help but want to get closer, not wanting to offend Miss Shen. ”

Miss Shen didn't say anything, and walked into the house. Mrs. Shen smiled and said, "This girl has such a sweet mouth. ”

Aunt Zhou said: "She is a sincere person, and Miss Shen is really like a fairy." ”

Mrs. Shen sighed as she walked inside: "My Zhujun's appearance is indeed one in a million, and her father taught her piano, chess, calligraphy and painting since she was a child, and her talent is also rarely compared, but her temper is too twisted." Today, I heard that I couldn't participate in the old prince's ceremony, so I turned down in front of the old princess, and even the old princess left her for dinner, and she dared not eat it. ”

They went into the house and sat down to talk about many family affairs, and Hu Xianxian listened to the relationship between the Shen family and King Shenjun. Mr. Shen was the champion appointed by the first emperor, and after a few years in Beijing, he resigned and returned to his hometown in the name of serving his mother.

After the death of the first emperor, the old Shen prince hired Mr. Shen as the teacher of the king of Shenjun. This Miss Shen often comes to the palace because of her father's relationship, and she and Shenjun Wang are childhood sweethearts. The old princess originally wanted to marry him and Miss Shen after the filial piety period of King Shenjun, but who knew that King Chengjun actually went to the emperor and said that the marriage between the two families was to cultivate their own separatist forces in Taixing, and the marriage had to be put on hold for the time being.

Hu Xianxian sighed secretly, this is really a big family business and a big family business. However, a champion is unwilling to be an official and wants to be a teacher in the palace, and wants to marry his daughter to King Shenjun again, no wonder others want to say it. Hu Xianxian glanced at Miss Shen again, she was wearing a light green shirt and a white silk skirt, although she was not gorgeous, she had a sense of nobility.

Hu Xian secretly thought that she didn't dare to play the hole card that knew that the old prince had changed the Buddha treasure, and she couldn't figure out whether this hole card was useful, she thought that maybe this Miss Shen was a breakthrough.

While everyone else was thinking, Miss Shen suddenly asked, "Mother Zhou, are you preparing to eat?" ”

Aunt Zhou replied with a smile: "I haven't moved the chopsticks yet, if Mrs. and Miss don't think we have coarse tea and light rice, please eat some." ”

Mrs. Shen was about to excuse herself, but Miss Shen said, "Okay, I've never seen this kind of dish, I want to try it." ”

She was referring to a plate of shredded bamboo shoots mixed with shredded chicken, and Hu Xianxian moved the plate in front of her. She tasted a few chopsticks in a row, "It's really delicious, the fragrance is wrapped in fat, crispy and tender, and it is soft and smooth." How do you do it? ”

Hu Xianxian smiled secretly, this shredded chicken is made from half of the leftover chicken that Aunt Zhou ate at noon, thinking that Aunt Zhou had bad teeth before removing the bones and tearing the meat, but this can't be said.

She said: "Cook the chickens in water, let them cool and take the shredded chicken breasts. Then blanch the fresh and tender bamboo shoots with boiling water to remove the astringency, and also cook them in water to dry the cold shreds. Shredded chicken and bamboo shoots add salt, tea seed oil, a little pepper oil and sugar. ”

Mrs. Shen asked, "No sauce or vinegar?" As he spoke, he tasted two bites himself.

Miss Shen replied for Hu Xianxian: "I don't like to eat dishes with some oily sauce, which are greasy and ugly. ”

After tasting it, Mrs. Shen also said, "It really tastes refreshing." He also beckoned Aunt Zhou and Hu Xianxian, "You guys come to eat too." Zhujun is not sensible, she originally came to visit Zhou's mother, but she ate first. Alas, he said before that he was not hungry when his stomach was swollen. ”

Shen Zhujun smiled coquettishly, "Listening to their words, I really got angry, I can't do any little thing, and I can't compare to ordinary people when I say that it is the royal family and nobles." ”

Hu Xianxian smiled and said to her: "Since Miss Shen can dissipate her anger after eating my food, how about I cook a day's food for Miss Shen tomorrow?" ”

Mrs. Shen wanted to excuse herself, but Miss Shen happily agreed, "Let's do it in the small kitchen of the palace, let the prince taste it too, he eats too many greasy dishes, and people become a little stupid." ”

Hu Xianxian happily agreed, and was worried that King Shenjun would find an excuse not to see her and drive her back to Lingzhou, so he had to take this opportunity to persuade him to find a way to get rid of the bandit den in Gaojia Village.

The next day, Hu Xianxian made five dishes of steamed taro balls, Huoxiang crucian carp soup, pork stuffed tofu buns, bitter gourd roast duck, and radish with vegetarian roast sauce at noon.

Shen Zhujun likes steamed taro balls very much, she said that it is more fragrant than steamed sea bass, and the boiled taro she used to eat always had an astringent and numb feeling, but this dish is soft and fragrant.

The old princess was originally from the Northeast, and the vegetarian roasted radish was very good for her, she said that the roasted radish would inevitably have a bad taste, and Hu Xianxian's dish did not have a bad taste, only a strong sauce fragrance.

King Shenjun said that every dish was delicious, but he didn't understand why the pork stuffed tofu buns were not greasy and did not smell meaty. Hu Xianxian told him that after frying it, he would soak it in tea water, and after soaking, drain the water and pass the oil again to get rid of the smell of meat.

In the evening, she made soba bread and ham, shrimp and mushroom asparagus soup, stewed pheasant with pine nuts, fried beans with vegetarian beans, and lotus seeds with honey root. The old princess, King Shenjun, and Shen Zhujun also ate praise.

After resting for a while after dinner, Shen Zhujun was going home, and King Shenjun sent her out of the house, and Hu Xianxian followed.

When he was about to arrive at the door, King Shenjun reluctantly said, "Zhujun, are you still coming to dinner tomorrow?" I'll stay with Miss Hu for a few more days. ”

Shen Zhujun sighed lightly: "Of course I'm coming, I don't know how many times I can eat in this county palace." As for you, let your cooks cook more carefully, and don't mess around with some delicacies from the mountains and seas to pass you away. Miss Hu always has to go back to run her inn, she is not the chef of the palace. ”

Hu Xianxian was secretly happy in his heart, but he said with a very sad face: "As long as the prince and Miss Shen are happy, I will close the inn and come to the palace to be a cook." It's just that I'm afraid I'm going to return to Huangquan when I go back to Lingzhou this time......"

Shen Zhujun exclaimed: "Fate to Huangquan? What happened to you? ”

Hu Xianxian looked at King Shenjun, and King Shenjun said helplessly: "This matter is a long story, go to the study and talk about it." ”

In the study, King Shenjun briefly told Shen Zhujun about the matter, and Shen Zhujun was extremely indignant when he heard it.

"Those people dare to be overbearing, and it is clear that they are connived by the prefect. There's nothing you can do? I heard that Pan Zongqiang's personal relationship with the old prince is also very good. ”

King Shenjun sighed, "What can I do?" Our marriage still has to take many twists and turns, how can we take care of others? ”

Shen Zhujun's somewhat immature face became solemn, "I said that you have become stupid, and you don't want to admit it." Han Zexi, you don't want to take care of others, who is willing to help you when you want to use people? “

King Shenjun didn't answer, and Shen Zhujun asked again: "Compared with the emperor, who can use more people and who are less?" ”

King Shenjun shuddered, "You can't compare like this." ”

Shen Zhujun sneered, "Of course it's not as good as the emperor." If you can't compare to him, he will rest assured that he will not suppress you? You just don't have a reliable person around, and he won't be at ease with you. He has no heirs, and even if he does, he will be young and weak, and you are all potential threats. ”

King Shenjun's face turned pale, "Zhujun, didn't you say that you don't covet glory and wealth, and you don't want to be a dragon or a phoenix?" How can you say that? ”

Shen Zhujun said softly: "Don't force what you can't get, but you can't give up everything you should have?" To protect oneself, it is not to be bullied by others, but to make people fearful. ”

Hu Xianxian secretly praised, Shen Zhujun really deserves to be the daughter of the champion. She saw that King Shenjun was still hesitating, so she knelt down and said: "Don't ask the prince to suppress the bandits with great fanfare, as long as we can sweep away the den of Panlongzhai in Gaojia Village, we will be grateful." Lord Wang, as long as the surroundings of Lingzhou City are peaceful, the people of Lingzhou City will definitely remember the great kindness of the prince from generation to generation. ”