Mrs. Qi really had no shame sitting there watching the show. She had stayed in Jinling for more than ten years. Although she had never been able to integrate into the most noble circles, her reputation and popularity outside were quite good. She thought this time would be an opportunity to make her more popular. What's more, who knew that something like this would happen, I feel like vomiting blood just thinking about it, and I feel even worse towards Ye Jinrong.
Ye Jinrong did not dare to say a word and sat quietly next to her aunt. However, when she saw the people around her whispering and occasionally throwing unintelligible glances, she was frightened and felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. They must be talking about her.
The opera sung on the stage was sometimes tactful and sometimes high-pitched, which attracted the ladies below to constantly reward her. Mrs. Qi also asked someone to seal a letter of silver and scatter it, which also gave the old princess face and added a bit of happiness.
But it is estimated that no matter how much money she throws at it, it will be in vain. I wonder if the master has thought of a way.
When Wei Liujiang got the news, his face turned pale instantly.
"Cousin, something happened." Wei Liujiang hurriedly pulled Mu Qinchu out who was watching the sideshow enthusiastically.
"What can happen?" Mu Qinchu asked blankly.
Wei Liujiang had no choice but to tell him that Jin Rong was not the real eldest daughter of the Ye family. Originally, his father had told him not to tell anyone except his aunt.
"What? The eldest daughter of the Ye family was robbed by bandits and died. The current eldest daughter of the Ye family is the second daughter of the Ye family?" Mu Qinchu exclaimed.
"Please keep your voice down and help find a way to put things right, otherwise there will be no way to deal with it." Wei Liujiang urged.
Mu Qinchu thought for a while and said, "I'm going to find Zhao Qixuan. He has a close friendship with the young prince. As long as he helps, this matter will definitely be solved."
"You can't tell him the truth and just ask him to meet the servant girl. As long as he meets the person, everything will be easier to talk to." Wei Liujiang reminded.
When Zhao Qixuan heard that Wei Liujiang wanted to meet the servant girl who had worked in the Ye family, he said disapprovingly: "Do you need me to talk about such a trivial matter? Just ask the person in charge to bring the person to you."
The two of them had troubles that they couldn't tell.
Mu Qinchu had no choice but to say: "This is the royal palace after all, so it's not good for you to make your own decisions."
"Isn't he just a servant? What's important?" Zhao Qixuan watched the show leisurely.
The two of them had no choice but to go to Minister Mu.
Over at the theater, Gui's mother came back and whispered in Princess Yide's ear for a long time. Princess Yide sneered and nodded, and ordered: "Keep an eye on the person first."
Qi and Ye Jinrong were sitting far away and couldn't hear what Gui's mother was saying, so they felt worried.
"Didn't you just return to Yangzhou? Haven't you seen that servant girl?" Qi asked in a low voice.
Ye Jinrong said: "I haven't seen her, but I didn't know she had left the Ye family."
Qi let out a dull breath and warned: "No matter what, you must insist that you are the eldest lady of the Ye family, otherwise, you will wait for the divorce letter!"
Ye Jinrong was aggrieved and in tears, not daring to tell the difference.
But until the play ended, Princess Yide didn't come to ask.
Ye Jiayao was busy in the kitchen. There were originally thirty-six tables, but now there are thirty-nine tables. Fortunately, there are enough ingredients.
"Brother Yao, the dried fruits, candied fruits, pastries and appetizers are all plated and arranged." Cui Dongpeng came to report.
"Brother Yao, the savings box has been put up." Deng Haichuan came to report.
"Brother Yao, the deer penis soup and Quanfu soup have been stewed." Wang Mingde came to report.
The male guests were served Changchun deer penis soup, and the female guests were served Quanfu soup. Men like to eat deer penis, but women are too embarrassed to eat it even if they want to.
"Okay, let's wait for Manager Liu to send the message." Ye Jiayao was busy decorating several dishes.
Today she got up at three o'clock in the morning, carving all kinds of flowers. Because if the carved radish flowers are left out for a long time, they will lose moisture and lose their translucent luster, so they are all carved on the same day and placed in an ice basin to freeze. .
Zhong Xiang concentrated on pulling the dragon's beard noodles, which must be as thin as a hair, long and continuous, and the thinnest noodles can be threaded through a needle to show his true skill.
After a while, Manager Liu came to the kitchen to send a message that the banquet could begin.
Manager Hu arranged for a group of maids to serve the dishes.
These maids have been trained by Ye Jiayao in advance. They are very particular about the order of serving the dishes and how to name the dishes.
As soon as the guests sat down, maids filed in and brought silver basins to clean everyone's hands and dry them with snow-white warm handkerchiefs.
This procedure alone made the guests feel that today's birthday banquet was unique and had never happened before.
After washing their hands, they served tea. The tea was Lushan Yunwu. The tea soup was light but the aroma was refreshing. The drink tasted mellow. Everyone's eyes began to turn to the food on the table.
Four plates of dried fruits, including milky white dates, crispy peanuts, salt and pepper cashews, and two-color gummy candies.
Four plates of pastries, namely pea yellow, walnut cake, mille-feuille cake, and kidney bean roll.
There’s nothing special about the dried fruits, but the pastries are eye-catching.
First of all, in terms of shape, the pea yellow is not the common rhombus, but is processed into a heart shape. The orange and bright color is very pleasing, the walnut cake is in the shape of a figure eight, the mille-feuille cake has changed from a regular square to a rhombus, and the kidney bean rolls are also painted I have a white pattern, but I don’t know what material was used.
Xia Chunyu was particularly concerned about today's food, and was even a little nervous about everyone's evaluation of the food. Yaoyao did all this. Before he even moved his chopsticks, he heard Zhao Qixuan shouting: "What's on this kidney bean cake? It's cool, sweet, smooth, and delicious."
"Hmm... this pea yellow is so delicious. Does it come from Baiweizhai or Juxiangyuan? No, neither of these two companies can make this taste." Xia Chunfeng also shouted.
Although the banquet has not officially started yet, everyone can order as they please, but the two guys were making too much noise. Xia Chunyu twitched the corner of his mouth: Even if you want to cheer, you don't have to do this!
Some pedantic old guys couldn't stand the fussing of the young people, so they tasted a piece of it casually, but then took it the second time with their heads covered.
Some people started, and others started casually. Admirations came one after another. Some people started to ask who made this thing or where they bought it.
Xia Chunyu thought in his heart: It's too exaggerated! Isn’t it just a few plates of dried fruit cakes? No matter how delicious it is, can it still be comparable to the one from the Royal Kitchen
When he picked up a piece of pea yellow and tasted it, he was stunned. He had eaten many exquisite pastries. Pea yellow is a delicacy brought from the north. After being improved by southern chefs, it became even more beautiful. Soft and delicate, these pea yellows are particularly pliable and delicate, sweet but not greasy, just the right amount, so delicious that you can’t help but admire them.
It seems that Yaoyao's pastries were not in vain. They combined the strengths of each family and avoided the shortcomings of each family. These four-flavor pastries are comparable to those made by the chef of the Imperial Kitchen. Xia Chunyu completely forgot about the thoughts that had just passed through his mind.
"This pastry cannot be sold anywhere else. It is made by the chef of Tianshangju himself." Zhao Qixuan was there to promote.
"Really? The chef at Tianshangju is so good?"
"You are too backward. Who doesn't know about heaven? Have you ever heard of ice drink?"
"So it's him... so awesome, no wonder he can take over the royal palace's birthday banquet."
"I heard that for the birthday banquet cooked by Chef Zheng, these things were all bought from Juxiangyuan."
"Save your stomach first. The good stuff is yet to come. Your tongue will bite off the delicious food." He Lianjing said with a proud smile.
He Lianxuan shook his head and smiled. Xiaojing had invited the right person this time.
Compared with men who are bold and unrestrained, women are much more reserved. It was so delicious that I didn’t dare to eat more. I could only take small bites and sip carefully, secretly asking who made this banquet.
On the main table, everyone's eyes were attracted by the sculpture of a crane offering longevity in the center.
"Ancestor, look at this crane carving, it looks real." Yide clicked his tongue in admiration.
"Yes, that Antarctic Immortal is kind and kind, even his eyebrows are so clear."
“I don’t know what it was carved from, but it’s so amazing.”
Gui's mother smiled and explained: "Chef Li Yao carved this out of radish. He said it was specially dedicated to the ancestors, wishing them good luck as long as the East China Sea and longevity as the Nanshan Mountain."
I heard that it was carved from radish, and everyone opened their mouths in surprise.
The ancestor was a Buddhist. When he saw this statue, he was very happy and said with a smile: "The chef is interested, and he will be rewarded."
Yide smiled and said, "Did you hear that? Go and spread the word and say that our ancestors will reward you."
Ye Jiayao started cooking hot dishes in the kitchen, and Manager Liu happily came to pass the message.
"Brother Li, our ancestors have told you to carve that crane as a tribute to your longevity. Our ancestors like it very much."
Ye Jiayao said happily: "Really? That's great. Today I just want to make our ancestors happy."
She asked Xiaojing privately what her ancestor liked, and Xiaojing said that her ancestor believed in Buddhism, so she took this idea.
"What about other food?" Ye Jiayao asked again. She had put a lot of thought into dried fruits and pastries.
Mr. Liu said: "The response has been overwhelming. Everyone is asking where they bought this pastry."
Ye Jiayao and Zhong Xiang looked at each other and smiled. They succeeded and their hard work was worth it.
One after another delicious food is presented, constantly stimulating everyone's taste buds.
Originally, at this kind of banquet, eating was not the main purpose, but chatting and building relationships was the purpose. However, at today's banquet, the most discussed thing was food.
"The longevity noodles are here."
A bowl of longevity noodles was presented.
The first chopsticks must be moved by the ancestors.
Yide helped, picking and scooping with the chopsticks, but the noodles were really long, and it took a lot of effort to put them into the bowl.
"It's a good sign, ancestor, you are going to live a long life." Xia You took the opportunity to flatter him.
The ancestor said cheerfully: "Okay, this is the first time in my life that I have eaten noodles with such longevity."
"Here, how does it taste?" Yide scooped up two more spoons of soup.
The ancestor took two bites and said: "Not bad, the chicken soup is delicious and the bamboo shreds are delicious."
Gui's mother smiled and said: "Ancestor, this is not made of chicken soup."
"Why isn't it chicken soup? It clearly tastes like chicken soup. Try it, right?" The ancestor didn't believe it.
"It tastes like chicken soup. It's very mellow and fragrant, but not greasy." Xia You took a taste.
Other ladies also thought it was made from chicken soup.
Yide smiled and said: "Mother Gui, please stop being so pretentious and tell me quickly, what is it made of?"
(End of chapter)