Ma Chao raised his head, shook his head, and smiled humbly: "Your Majesty, the world's beautiful words are not enough to believe. ”

Ma Chao looked at the Empress Dowager Dong holding the hands of the two again, and put on a confident look, and said, "But the minister does understand the identities of the two nobles." ”

Ma Chao's eyes moved to the girl, the girl was looking at him with a smile and smugness, Ma Chao said: "If Ruochen guessed correctly, this noble man is the princess of Wannian." ”

Hearing Ma Chao accurately tell her identity, Princess Wannian raised her head slightly, and looked at him with obvious pride and appreciation in her eyes.

Ma Chao looked at the little boy carved in pink again, and said, "This noble man is raised by His Majesty Dong Hou, His Royal Highness the Second Prince. ”

Empress Dowager Dong nodded, and Ma Chao saluted Princess Wannian and Xiao Liu Xie, and said, "Minister Ma Chao, I have seen the two highnesses. ”

Empress Dowager Dong said: "Get up and sit down." ”

"Whoa." Ma Chao got up, walked to the other three people standing on the side and prepared to sit down, the three of them immediately saluted him respectfully, and one said: "Under Dong Chong, it is Your Majesty's little nephew, who has seen the foot." ”

One person said: "The slave and maid are sealed, please see the foot." ”

One person said: "Slave Xia Yun, see you." ”

As soon as he heard the last eunuch's self-report, Ma Chao suddenly remembered that Xia Yun was also one of the ten permanent attendants, and once secretly visited the Ma Mansion, and under the leadership of Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, the ten permanent attendants coerced him to join them. Ma Chao returned the salute, secretly thinking that Empress Dowager Dong had taken great pains to summon him secretly today, and called Fan Ling, a nephew of Yongle Shaofu, Dong Chong, and two eunuchs, so presumably these four people are Empress Dowager Dong's most trusted henchmen.

Historically, when Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty died and the two royal relatives of the He family and the Dong family fought for power, the Empress Dowager Dong used Dong Chong, who was then a hussar general, to intimidate Empress He. As a result, Empress He told her half-brother He Jin about this, and He Jin and his own nephew, the young emperor Liu Wei, his half-brother He Miao, and the three dukes discussed together, and forced the Empress Dowager Dong to move back to Hejian on the grounds that Empress Dowager Dong instructed Xia Yun and Feng Yu to accept bribes from prefectures and counties, and Empress Dowager Dong was not allowed to stay in Beijing. In this power struggle, Empress Dowager Dong died of sorrow, and everyone said that it was poisoned by He's family; And Dong Zhong was surrounded by He Jin in the mansion and committed suicide.

Empress Dowager Dong actually called her cronies to have a secret meeting together, Ma Chao guessed that she must have trusted him very much, otherwise she would never be so careless. And he is just a newcomer, and the Empress Dowager Dong dares to trust him, which shows that she has a request for him, and only with the help of Ma Chao can she achieve some of her goals.

Thinking of this, Ma Chao settled down, and no longer felt deeply worried because he didn't know what was going on. He sat in the seat for a long time, Dong Zhong and Fan Ling also sat down one after another, and Feng Yu and Xia Yun have been standing on the side because of their low status as eunuchs.

As soon as Ma Chao sat down, Princess Wannian immediately spoke: "Hey, you have been in the court for a long time, and now it is noon, you must be hungry, right?" ”

Ma Chao just wanted to say that he was not hungry, but his stomach screamed twice. Ma Chao had to say honestly: "Back to Your Highness, the minister is indeed hungry, but he can withstand it." After the consultation with His Majesty, it is not too late to eat. ”

Princess Wannian smiled: "You are hungry and must be distracted, how can you answer your grandmother's questions wholeheartedly?" Besides, you have come all the time, but the palace sits back and watches you hungry and does not give you food, doesn't it make everyone in the world think that we people in the Han Palace are stingy? ”

Empress Dowager Dong slapped Princess Wannian with a little dissatisfaction, but Princess Wannian didn't care at all, and looked at Ma Chao with a proud face, she knew that Ma Chao couldn't say too much excuse after all.

Ma Chao thought about it, it didn't hurt to eat something, just to see how the food level in the palace was. Ma Chao said briskly: "Okay, since His Royal Highness is gracious, it is enough for the ministers to eat." ”

Princess Wannian raised her head and said proudly, "Well, that's right. As she spoke, Princess Wannian clapped her hands, and a eunuch bent down holding a square lacquer plate, walked quickly to Ma Chao's desk with small steps, and put a steaming lacquer bowl and a pair of silver chopsticks on the lacquer plate on Ma Chao's table.

Ma Chao looked down and saw that the lacquer bowl contained steaming noodles that resembled the dough of later generations, which was the "soup cake" of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At this time, soup cakes also have noodles, but because they are more difficult to make, they are not as popular as just pulling off such simple noodles. A lot of mutton pieces were also added to the noodle soup, and Ma Chao sniffed the steaming heat and asked about the rich aroma of pepper and peppercorns in it. Sichuan pepper and pepper are very expensive, so even Ma Chao is difficult to eat. As soon as he smelled the aroma of Sichuan peppercorns, Ma Chao instantly recalled the Sichuan cuisine of later generations, which made Ma Chao feel a little emotional.

Princess Wannian was very dissatisfied. In order to test whether Ma Chao is a Fu fan, she deliberately summoned Empress Dowager Dong to meet her in this cold day and gave Ma Chao a bowl of steaming soup cakes. In this way, Ma Chao will definitely sweat hot when he eats, so he has to wipe his face with a towel. If he really made powder, then when he wiped his sweat, he would reveal the filling, and she would be able to ask him for the method of making powder; At the same time, she can regain some self-confidence. But Ma Chao just looked at her soup cake in a daze, and didn't move the chopsticks for a long time, in case the soup became cold, her plan would be ruined.

Princess Wannian said, "Hey, do you want to eat or not?" You've been watching it for a long time! ”

Ma Chao came back to his senses at this time, why did this princess live like those brutal and willful little girls in later generations, and she couldn't see a bit of royal dignity in her. While slightly surprised, Ma Chao was also very interested. Ma Chao thought that if this princess was too dignified and elegant, he would still feel bored and boring.

Ma Chao said: "Your Highness forgives your sins, and the minister will eat it." ”

Seeing Ma Chao pick up chopsticks with one hand and start eating soup cakes unhurriedly, Princess Liu Man of Wannian opened her eyes wide in anticipation, she wanted to see Ma Chao wipe off the makeup powder on her face.

This bowl of soup cake is based on mutton soup. Ma Chao first picked up the lacquer bowl and tasted the taste of the soup, the slightly hot soup flowed into his mouth, and immediately awakened the taste buds, a stunning umami taste, which immediately made Ma Chao feel refreshed. Ma Chao couldn't help but sigh, it really deserves to be a royal privilege, and even ordinary mutton soup can be made full of umami. Then Ma Chao, who had a big appetite, picked up the noodles and tasted them, thinking that there was no alkaline water and noodle technology at this time, so there should be no elasticity, but this soup cake was slightly chewy, which made Ma Chao feel quite uncomfortable.

Although it was a little embarrassing to eat alone in front of many people, Ma Chao was really hungry, and this soup cake was really delicious, Ma Chao tried his best to maintain etiquette, but he still ate quickly. Every time he ate a few bites of soup cakes, he would take a sip of hot soup, and when he ate half a bowl, small beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. In order not to be too embarrassed and ugly in front of the Queen Mother, Ma Chao took out a white towel from the pocket inside the cuffs, wiped his sweat, and continued to eat.