Zhang Bao was stunned: "Thoughts? What's the idea? Then he woke up: "You mean, the matter of taking over ......"

Mr. Su nodded: "It's the cold winter moon now, and there have been a few heavy snowfalls, according to the situation in previous years, this weather will continue to be cold." Presumably, the cost of making an ice lantern in such weather is limited, and if it is made larger, and it is often taken care of, as long as you are careful not to damage it, it can be frozen for at least ten days and a half without melting, right? ”

Zhang Bao thought about it, and it was really a good idea, so he said: "Mr. is polite, I will talk to Lord Fu Yin about this tomorrow, and it must not be difficult to find some carvers in the city. ”

Mr. Su added: "It's best to ask the little girl who waits for the young lady, doesn't she say that her family did it when she was a child, so she still remembers?" She seems to have said that she is from the Songhua River, and if she can't find someone in the city who can make ice lanterns, she is afraid that she will have to go to the Songhua River to find it."

Zhang Bao frowned: "How is it possible?" Time is too tight, if no one will do it, Lord Fu Yin will naturally find another way. Let's think about something else to prepare. ”

Seeing this, Mr. Su changed the topic and mentioned the meal problem when he took over: "The old man An of Feihe Tower in the east of the city has promised to be in charge of the spoon, and his cooking skills are very popular with the emperor and the empress dowager, almost every time he comes to Fengtian, he will be asked to cook in the palace." It's just that the old man Xu of Dongyuanjiang is reluctant to go out no matter what, and when he asks the reason, he only says that he is old, his hands and feet are not dexterous, and he is worried that he will lose his honor in front of the king, so he refuses to go. But others say that in fact, his body and bones are very good, which is really boring. ”

Zhang Bao smiled: "What's so strange about this? He was originally a descendant of the imperial kitchen of the previous dynasty, and it is not surprising that he is unwilling to do things for the current imperial court, but he is just a stubborn and old-fashioned bad old man, so he doesn't have to care. ”

Mr. Su nodded: "It's just that in this way, only Old Man An can preside over the overall situation, and the students are worried that he will not be able to bear it." ”

"He has a large group of disciples and grandchildren, Mr. doesn't have to worry about this, besides, in addition to Feihe Tower and Dongyuan River in Fengtian City, is there no other good restaurant? Even if there really isn't, there is still an imperial kitchen in the palace. ”

Mr. Su actually wanted to say not this, he found that speaking was too roundabout, and it would also cause communication troubles, so he directly confessed: "In the eyes of the students, no matter how exquisite the dishes dedicated to the holy driver, I am afraid that they are not as good as the craftsmanship of the imperial chef in the palace in the capital. Why don't you offer all kinds of food that are special products of Fengtian, so that the emperor and the empress dowager can also taste our rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans and other things in Fengtian? In this way, it is much easier to cook, and the emperor may also think that adults are frugal and will not waste money. ”

Zhang Bao was awakened by his words, looked at him in surprise, and said, "Mr. is really my Zhiduoxing, how do you want to come?" The two things of the ice lantern and the food in Fengtian, I will make a statement to Lord Yin tomorrow, and I think he will agree with it. If I can really make meritorious contributions this time, it will be the credit of Mr., and I will ask you to give me more ideas in the future. ”

Mr. Su just smiled humbly. He is convinced that as long as he behaves well and gets the favor of the nobles in the future, he will definitely have the opportunity to go to school again, and when he has the opportunity to be promoted to the middle jinshi, with the connections he has accumulated now, he will soar just around the corner, and who will underestimate him at that time? The eldest brother and sister-in-law in the family must also regret it, right?

Zhang Bao called Chun Xing overnight and asked about the detailed production method of the ice lantern, and Shuning added the method of making the colored ice lantern, which made him feel that this method was very feasible. Shu Ning guessed his mind slightly, so she told him the ice lantern ice sculpture style in the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in her memory, and provided sculpture schemes such as dragons, phoenixes, tigers, lions, dogs, fish, and birds. In fact, she was a little excited in her heart, maybe she could see the ice lantern exhibition of modern Harbin in Fengtian City hundreds of years ago?

The next day, Zhang Bao took the detailed method of making the ice lantern and went to the yamen with Mr. Su. There was no news on this day, only when Changgui went to deliver food at noon, he saw several officials gathered together and seemed to be having a discussion, but there was no consensus, and there was a commotion, and the sound came to the front yard.

Shu Ning heard about this from Changgui, her eyes rolled, and she thought about it. Most of these officials had never seen an ice lantern before, and they couldn't imagine what it would look like, and they thought it was a bit risky to just use it for driving, but they couldn't think of anything else. In that case, she would give them an example to see, perhaps to add some confidence.

She poured the red pigment into the water and stirred it to make a large pale red ice mound, and called Huzi to carve the simplest single-layer lotus flower according to the lotus flower in the "Guanyin Sitting Lotus Picture" enshrined by the Tong family in the hall. Then she took a small bowl to make a mold, put a small cup in the middle, froze a piece of yellow hollow ice lump, chiseled a few small holes, used them as flower cores, poured water on the ice lotus, and then inserted a candle, pierced a few holes with a red-hot iron chisel, put on a strong hemp rope, and an ice red lotus lantern was made.

As soon as it was dark, Zhang Bao was still in the yamen and didn't come back, so Shuning called Changgui, who was going to deliver food, and handed him the ice lantern, and after explaining like this, he sent him out of the door.

Zhang Bao came home at the right time, and unlike the previous nights, his face was full of joy, as if he had gotten rid of the long-standing sleepiness. Seeing that he was so happy, Tong asked, "My husband is so happy, but I have an eyebrow about taking over?" ”

"Yes," he nodded, "I proposed to decorate the palace and the streets with ice carvings and lanterns this morning, and they talked about it for a long time, but they didn't have a charter, they didn't say yes, they didn't say no, and they just wasted it, and the time passed day by day, but I was afraid that when the holy car came to the gate of Fengtian City, they hadn't discussed a result." As a result, when they saw the ice lantern that Changgui brought me food, they were relieved, and then they began to discuss it seriously. It took several hours just to arrange the details everywhere. Wouldn't it be enough to agree in the morning? All this time has been wasted! ”

He touched Shuning's head and said lovingly: "My good girl is really smart, no one can compare." Father and daughter looked at each other and smiled.

After the night, the entire city of Mukden was busy. Instead of cleaning the snow and repairing the houses, this time the people had to dig up ice from rivers, lakes, ponds, and other places in and around the city, and gather all the craftsmen to do the carvings.

Because of the lack of time, the ice sculptures in the city are less demanding, just to have a rough appearance, and only in the palace are carefully made, so as to be lifelike and meticulously carved. Most of the ice cubes are white or light green, and the rest of the colored ice cubes are made of water with pigments, but the blocks are not large, some craftsmen have come up with the idea of connecting several smaller pieces of colored ice cubes together, adding water to pour them into a large piece, and some craftsmen have thought of putting more pigments into less water to make a thick pigment "juice", and then pouring them on the surface of large white ice cubes to make them show a faint color.

During this period, there were a few small snowfalls, and the snow covered the streets again, but fortunately, after several cleanings, the road surface was not too dirty, so some people came up with the idea of pushing the snow to the side of the road to pile up small snowdrifts, and then put a small ice lamp in the middle, so that the road surface was clean and beautiful. However, after the people in the palace learned this method, they made improvements, burned long glass cups of various colors, put candles in them, and then put the cups in the snowdrifts on both sides of the corridors in various parts of the palace, so that the originally boring snowdrifts suddenly reflected colorful lights, which were particularly beautiful at night. As long as the candle is kept away from trees and flowers, even if it is on fire, it can be extinguished immediately with the snow next to it, which can be regarded as both safety and beautification.

The generosity of the palace and the government also caused an uproar among the people. When some people saw the large ice sculptures of lions and tigers on both sides of the avenue, they were also aroused, so they made smaller ones on the side of the roads and alleys where they lived, and carved all kinds of things according to their preferences. When other people saw that someone was learning, they also got a horse and a cow at the door of their house, and the aristocratic family who moved from the Mongolian steppe made a big peng with wings ready to fly, which was three feet long, and stood on the horse stone at the gate of their house, attracting many people to watch.

On the twenty-second day of the lunar month, the ice lanterns and ice sculptures in the whole city were almost done, and only some detailed work was left. Colorful lights are lit up all over the city, and the white ice cubes are reflected, which is like daytime, and it is really a glass world carved with ice and jade. Not only did the people look at the Amitabha Buddha, but Yin Yuheng and many of his officials also added some confidence to the reception of the holy driver, Yuheng seemed to see his own road to the clouds, and excitedly invited all the subordinate officials to go to his house for a big meal, consuming more than 20 jars of good wine that he had carefully collected for many years, and he regretted it when he woke up the next day.

Now it's just a matter of waiting for the emperor and the empress dowager to come. It was originally a peaceful thing, but who knew that the sky was wrong, and the sun was hanging for three days in a row, and the weather was much warmer. This was a good thing, but the people in Fengtian City couldn't laugh, there were already some smaller ice sculptures and ice lamps that were sunburned and began to melt, and the few ice lamps in the palace were even a little blurred, so frightened that the chief eunuch hurriedly summoned all the craftsmen and carefully mended them.

But seeing that the holy car is almost here, if the weather continues to warm up, when the emperor and the empress dowager arrive, if the ice melts, it will be too ugly. Yu Heng asked people to mend the ice sculptures and ice lanterns that began to melt, and at the same time asked people to inquire about the exact date when the saint would arrive in Mukden, and his heart was as anxious as fire.

After a few days of confusion, when the news came that the holy chariot was only a day and a half away from Mukden, it was snowing again. The snow wasn't too big, but it was enough to re-set the ice, which had melted somewhat, and for the worried to put down their porphyrium hearts again. Yu Heng summoned people, cleared the snow, piled up the snowdrifts, placed glass lamps or ice lamps in the snowdrifts, cleared the snow on the surface of the ice lanterns and ice sculptures, and asked people to distribute clean clothes to the people who had arranged to kneel beside the avenue to welcome the holy car, and told them what should be done and what not to do, and asked the guards in the city to strictly guard the main roads and streets and alleys to prevent people from making trouble.

Everything is ready, just wait for the holy drive.