Mei Bo replied with his hand: "Grandpa Guo, don't worry, the old slave will set off now, and he will never miss Grandpa's big event." ”

"Wait, wait a minute!"

Mei Bo asked with a twist on his heels, "What else does Grandpa command?" ”

"Didn't you find out this news from Ji Boyan -------?"

"Exactly. Zhongwen's little doorman was full of brains, so he only had to put pressure on him to go to his brother to cry and die, there was nothing wrong with that. ”

Zhou Gongding narrowed his eyes and said, "That's very good." It's just that if you use this trick too much, people won't care. If there is no critical joint in the future, don't move this line. ”

"No!"

On the day of the winter solstice, Zhou Li Wang Jihu held a small banquet in the palace of Luoyi, and only invited close ministers to participate.

Winter solstice, winter is coming. After that, after the two solar terms of small cold and big cold, it will be the beginning of spring when all things recover. In the pre-Qin era, the countries of the Central Plains called the winter solstice solar terms solstice, long solstice, and short solstice.

"Solstice" takes its original meaning - this day is the coldest, and the winter solstice is the same! "Long solstice" is the longest night of the year. It is shortest, taking the shortest day of the year. No matter what it is called, in the ancient hair, the winter solstice is an extremely important solar term. The root of this is that the winter solstice is the transition season from the cold winter to the beginning of the new one, the long dormant winter period is coming to an end, and the vigorous spring is coming.

Because the winter solstice is cold, and it has the symbol of cold and spring, the Central Plains countries have the custom of warm soup in winter. Warm soup, hot food also. Drunk, drink together. In fact, it is a gathering of relatives and friends to eat a hot soup and rice. This romance has spread to later generations, and there is a custom of eating hot soup dumplings on the winter solstice, and if you don't eat hot dumplings, it is "not winter". There is also a proverb: "The winter solstice is not winter, and there is no positive wind in the field." That's for later.

Although Ji Hu didn't care about the auspicious and evil words, he couldn't stand the persuasion of the inner servant Jia, and the Son of Heaven was out on patrol, and everything had to step on an auspicious step. Besides, Zhao Bohu and the two royal brothers were both in Haojing, Ji Hu inevitably felt lonely, and wanted to take this opportunity to be lively, so he agreed to set up a banquet in the side courtyard of the other palace, and only entertained Rong Yi and other close ministers.

There are internal servants Jia and Qi Zhong in charge, and all the affairs of the palace are very neat. At noon on the day of the winter solstice, Luoyi Palace was festive and peaceful. Ji Hu didn't inform the other princes and officials, only invited Rong Yi, Chongli, Wei He, these three, I wanted to invite Ji Duoyou, but Cheng Zhou couldn't leave, so I had to give up.

Because Ji Hu doesn't like restraint, he naturally doesn't like those neat palaces, so the winter solstice banquet was arranged to be held in the side courtyard of the palace. The courtyard of Sanjin is located on the mountainside, the waterfall and the spring are murmuring down, the bamboo forest is green, the poplar is golden red, the thatched house pavilions are scattered between the mountains and rivers, and it is a quiet and unworldly birth atmosphere.

The six-bay row of blue brick houses in the second courtyard is the main hall, which is spacious and bright, except for the brand-new red carpet and the one-color ebony case, there is no other elegant furnishings.

At this time, the door in the hall was already open. Qi Qiu and the chamberlain Jia stood on the stone steps of the entrance hall with a left and a right color, seeing Ji Hu and his party coming from afar, Qi Zhong let out a long shout: "The king has arrived, and all the guests are seated——"

With this shout, everyone also took their seats in a serious manner. Ji Hu naturally sat on the main seat of the royal rank, his left hand was Wei He, his right hand was behind the table, and the opposite side of the lower head was Chongli. Because Wei He is the commander of the Eighth Division of Cheng Zhou and the prince of the country, he is naturally one level higher.

"Cloth wine and cloth dishes—"

The chamberlain Jia shouted, and the six palace maids brought wine and food. The wine is three barrels per case, one sweet mash, one week of wine, and one Lanling wine. The dish is a ding, a pot, a plate, not on the desk, the steaming fragrance has been diffused with the hot air of the four large furnaces in the four corners of the hall.

Wei He shrugged the tip of his nose and smiled: "What kind of meat is this?" So fragrant? ”

The chamberlain Jia explained with a smile: "Hehe, these three smells, I'm just afraid that the old slave will talk to Xiao Weihou." ”

Wei He shrugged his nose dissatisfiedly: "Wei Hou is Wei Hou, why do you want to add a 'small' word?" ”

After all, he is young, and his tone is so coquettish, that everyone can't help laughing. Ji Hu interjected: "Let's talk about it alone." The meat of this tripod is called bear steaming, that is, steamed bear meat is also. The method of steaming the bear is the first in the palace: hunt a big bear, peel the skin, open the abdomen, chop five or seven large pieces with the head and feet, increase the green salt, stew it over high heat until it is cooked thoroughly, but the skin and flesh should be complete. Then the big cage is sealed, steamed for half an hour, and after the cage is torn into palm-sized slices of meat, dipped in bitter wine, soy sauce, onion and garlic, everyone is salivating! ”

"I also hunt bears and steam bears, so I can do it!" Chongli, who has always been silent, has risen today, and said: "It's just that the method is different from that in the palace, and it is not as strong as the king." ”

"So, there are two ways to steam bears?" Wei and Da were curious.

Chong Li Kan said: "The southern bear is small, you have to remove the head and feet, and then disembowel, cut the bear meat into two inches of squares, add soy sauce and rice to knead thoroughly, and then cut the thin orange peel, garlic, celery and grits, a layer of meat, a layer of rice and a layer of grits, spread into a large cage, steamed for half an hour, rotten and taken out, cut into six inches long and one inch thick pieces of meat, spread into a large plate, around the rice arch guard, very catchy! ”

He spoke vividly, and even Ji Hu was aroused: "I think General Chongli must have been born in the Great River Basin, and the auxiliary materials used in the steamed bear are really different from those in the Central Plains. ”

Wei He also made peace with each other: "No wonder General Chongli Dahe is so skilled, he grew up in Hehan since he was a child, and it is strange that he has such skills!" ”

After hearing these words, Chongli suddenly felt that he was speechless, and glanced at Rong Yi, but saw that the master was still quietly pouring wine for himself with a slender copper handle. Immediately made up his mind: "The little one has taken the words away, so let's ask Lord Wang Cheng to tell me about the rest of the smell!" ”

The waiter Jia knocked on the lid of the large pottery plate with a smile: "This is a roasted pig, and the fungus is black." Noon has passed, the old slave no longer talks, please let my king open the banquet! ”

Ji Hu raised the wine lord and said with a smile: "On the day of the winter solstice, the cold spring is coming, do this hot wine!" ”

"King Tonghe, heaven and earth turn around! Dry! "Raise your seat and drink it all with a croak.

Qi Zhong knocked on the lid of the tripod: "The king opened the tripod and got started-"

Ji Hu laughed: "Good rules, get started!" Pick up a copper hook in the wooden plate in the case and hook it to the lid and lift it, and a cloud of heat suddenly steames to the face: "Eating bear meat in winter, warming your heart and lungs, please get started!" ”

"Get started!" Everyone laughed and shouted, Jingdong hook opened the lid, and then hooked out a piece of fat steamed bear meat, tore it with both hands, and dipped it in the onion and garlic bitter wine cup at hand and chewed it.