The Rong and Di missions were only staying in Chang'an for ten days, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, and it was inconvenient for Prince Rong and Di to have a broken leg, so Emperor Zhaokang specially stayed them for a few more days, saying that they would spend the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chang'an It's never too late to go.
Qiongqi has been thinking about finding an opportunity to see Tao Ti again, so she readily agrees.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, a good festival for family reunion and connotation of completeness, was prepared half a month ago by the Twenty-Four Divisions of the Sixth Palace of the Imperial Palace. In the first two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole palace was completely renewed, and the lanterns hanging on the porch were also changed to Mid-Autumn festival styles, such as the moon rabbit smashing medicine, Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang cutting laurel, etc., which are beautiful and add to the festive atmosphere.
In the early morning of this day, the female officer of the Neizhi Bureau brought eight sets of newly made clothes, shoes and socks, girdle handkerchiefs, purse pendants, etc. to the Yaoguang Hall. It is to wear new clothes.
Looking at those soft yet gorgeous clothes, Tao Ti lightly stroked the exquisite patterns embroidered on them, praised the female officer kindly, and asked Linglong to take the golden melon seeds to reward.
She has always been polite and generous to the East Palace. Whether it is a high-ranking official or a low-ranking eunuch and court lady, she has more or less benefited from her. Moreover, Tao Ti has never been in the East Palace for half a year. , not even a harsh reprimand. With such a gentle, generous and reasonable hostess, these slaves are naturally 1,100 satisfied.
Before, I was a little talkative and I don’t know if it was just a cheap talk or if I was bought by others. I felt weird about Tao Ti’s marriage to the East Palace. Later, I was beaten up by the palace guards who were on duty a few times, so I didn’t dare to say it anymore. , Save yourself the trouble.
Tao Ti originally wanted to be lazy and didn't want to try on the clothes one by one, but Linglong persuaded her, "There will be a palace banquet tomorrow night, the princess can try new clothes, and she can also choose one that suits her heart. .If the size is wrong, the maidservant can take it to the Neizhi Bureau to let Xiu Niang change it, and it can be changed as soon as possible, so that it will not be too late to change it when the time comes."
When Linglong said this, Tao Ti also remembered the palace banquet tomorrow, so she tried one by one.
Autumn clothes are much more complicated than summer dresses. It has been half an hour since Tao Ti tried on these eight sets of dresses.
She got a little impatient after trying it on, but Linglong kept boasting with a smile on her face, no matter which outfit she was wearing, she could boast flowers.
The warm eyes made Tao Ti wonder for a while whether Linglong was playing the real-life dress-up game "Miracle Tao Tao".
In the end, Tao Ti picked out an apricot red silk-stitched double-neck Yunyan skirt, and she asked Linglong to pick out the matching pearl hairpin jewelry from the dressing box, and she went into the small kitchen with her hands in her hands.
It's the Mid-Autumn Festival, so I have to make some festive food.
There is no such food as moon cakes in Da Yuan Dynasty, but there is a small shortbread filled with sesame and maltose, which is somewhat similar to moon cakes. People here mostly eat sweet-scented osmanthus cakes, drink sweet-scented osmanthus wine, eat hairy crabs, and drink moon soup during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Speaking of playing moon soup, Tao Ti drank a bowl this morning after waking up.
The name sounds a bit elegant, but it is actually a sweet soup made of lotus seeds, longan, and lotus root powder.
Besides, Tao Ti asked the palace people to take out the molds for making moon cakes. She asked the manufacturing bureau to make these half a month ago. Those craftsmen saw that they were sent by the princess, so they didn't dare to neglect them at all, and gave them away in three days. Come here, and the workmanship is fine, such as the characters of Fu, Lu and Shou, magpies and peonies, the hall full of gold and jade, dragon and phoenix presenting auspiciousness, and more than every year, these patterns are all carved vividly.
Taking advantage of the crisp autumn weather, Tao Ti asked people to move a long table in the backyard, and took six maids who were helping the kitchen to make moon cakes. She only needs to set an example, and the rest of the court ladies will learn, and they will start doing other things in a decent manner.
The freshly baked mooncakes are much more delicious than those sold in the supermarket, especially the fresh meat mooncakes. The freshly baked mooncakes are full of fragrance, the layers are crispy, and the crispy skin is so crispy that the gravy is full of juice. Incredibly delicious.
In this way, I happily made moon cakes for a morning, including fresh meat, five kernels, jujube paste, bean paste and egg yolk, sesame, ham, egg yolk and lotus paste... the sweet fragrance of Yaoguang Temple all morning .
Pieces of golden mooncakes were freshly baked, and box after box were sent to families inside and outside the palace who had good friends with Tao Ti.
Her relatives and friends on her side gave it to her, and naturally they didn't forget Pei Yan's.
She thought about the holidays, and the East Palace also had to give some holiday benefits to her subordinates, so she prepared a dozen boxes of mooncakes, and asked the palace staff to send them to Zixiao Palace, and asked Pei Yan to reward the officials of the East Palace by herself.
Zixiao Palace.
Pei Yan opened the box and saw that it was Tao Ti's ingenuity again.
He was unwilling to share her culinary skills with others in his heart. What are others, how can they have the right to taste the food she cooks.
Fu Xirui, who was at the side, saw the prince's complex expression, so he vaguely guessed something, hurriedly offered a box of extraordinarily delicate moon cakes, and said with a low eyebrow, "Your Highness, this box of moon cakes is specially ordered by the crown prince. She made it herself."
Hearing this, Pei Yan turned pale and opened the food box.
I saw six small and exquisite shortbread like a baby's palm placed in separate grids, each of them was golden in color, small and exquisite.
Pei Yan narrowed his black eyes and asked lightly, "Why is this box of shortbread smaller than other boxes?"
Fu Xirui replied, "The Crown Princess said that mooncakes are not easy to digest if you eat too much, but she wants your Highness to taste every taste, so she specially made them smaller."
After finishing speaking, he secretly raised his eyes to look at the prince, and as expected, the prince's brows relaxed, and his expression was relaxed and happy.
Fu Xirui couldn't help but praise the princess in his heart: The princess is really caring! Considering both His Highness's appetite and His Highness's mood, such a good princess is really hard to find even with a lantern!
Pei Yan looked at the six mooncakes with different patterns, and he didn't know which flavor it was, so he picked one up based on his feeling.
As soon as the little mooncake was put into his mouth, his eyebrows slightly raised. The outer layer of the cake was soft and delicate, with a faint sweet fragrance, but the filling inside was ingenious. The first thing the teeth touched was the delicate and soft bean paste. It is sweet but not greasy, and when you bite down, you will taste a salty and rustling taste, which just neutralizes the sweetness of bean paste.
He took a bite and chewed slowly. He looked down and found that it was filled with bean paste and egg yolk. "It's moderately salty and sweet, crispy and delicious, very good."
"Princess Concubine's ingenuity, she can make so many tricks with a single shortbread, she is really very clever." Fu Xirui boasted with a smile.
The corners of Pei Yan's lips curled up slightly, and then he looked at the mooncakes that were going to be given away, thinking that the left and right were not baked by Arti himself, so he asked Fu Xirui to distribute these mooncakes along with the rituals to the officials of the East Palace according to their official positions.
In the end, he also rewarded Fu Xirui with a box, and wiped Fu Xirui's tears with joy, expressing his gratitude.
This night, the full moon was shining brightly, and many palaces and mansions ate mooncakes from the Eastern Palace—
In the Zichen Palace, Emperor Zhaokang tasted a five-nut flavor and thought it tasted good. He took the remaining mooncakes to Fengyi Palace and gave half of them to Queen Gu's tablet. He ate the mooncakes with sweet-scented osmanthus wine by himself. , Drunk again, talking crazy.
In the Mingyue Palace, Concubine Xu and the Fifth Prince argued over who owned the last fresh meat mooncake. Finally, Concubine Xu took out a feather duster, and the Fifth Prince cried and gave up the fresh meat mooncake. scene.
In the Palace of the Sixth Princess, she looked at the bright moon, gnawed on the mooncake with lotus seed paste and egg yolk, and thought of her mother and concubine who died young, and secretly wiped away her tears.
In Yuming Palace, the head of Qinghe County nestled like a kitten in the arms of Princess Jingyang, eating moon cakes. Princess Jingyang was shaking a lotus-leaf lotus fan while talking about her childhood. Sassy and graceful.
As for outside the palace, in Yongweihou's mansion, Mrs. Zhang was eating mooncakes by herself, she didn't know what to think of, the mooncakes were obviously delicious, but she felt that the mooncakes in her hands were chewy, no matter how difficult it was to eat. Afterwards, she put down the mooncakes and went back to her daughter's boudoir before she left the pavilion. She sat there for a long time, weeping secretly.
Compared to Zhang's loneliness, Dingbeihou's Mansion is very lively. His family has a large population, and Tao Ti gave away nine boxes of mooncakes.
A table is full, and whoever has a favorite taste can eat a few more, which complement each other and are very harmonious. Everyone was talking and laughing, and the festive atmosphere was immediately full.
While nibbling on the mooncakes, Xu Wenchan was making calculations in his mind, thinking that if this kind of shortcakes were sold in the store, wouldn't it be possible to make a lot of money again? Thinking of the shiny snowflake silver, she was as happy as a little mouse.
Beside her, Xu Guangji in a green shirt was holding a mooncake with the words "Flowers are happy and full moon" printed on it, thinking deeply.
Mrs. Dingbeihou, who was seated above, glanced at the dining table, and saw the other six sons and wives in her arms, the husband and wife were harmonious and beautiful, except for the two at the end of the table, one was a cheerful fool who got into the eyes of money, and the other was an absent-minded idiot.
Mrs. Dingbeihou sighed: Oh, worry, when will she sell these two slow-moving goods!
...
The next day was the Mid-Autumn Festival. From the middle of the corner, the palace became lively, and the princes, daughters, and wives from all the prefectures came to the palace to pay their respects.
Tao Ti also got up early in the morning, took a shower and changed clothes, sat in front of the vanity mirror and tidied up carefully, then went to Ganlu Palace to receive these exchanges with Queen Zhou.
This busy work lasted for most of the day, and it was not until the afternoon when the light dimmed that she took a breath and took her leave from Ganlu Palace first.
Sitting on the sedan chair back to Yaoguang Hall, Tao Ti thought that she would have to change her clothes and make up again later, and would go to Yanfang Hall for a dinner in an hour, so she couldn't help rubbing her cheeks that were about to freeze from laughing.
The work of the princess is sometimes quite difficult.
Just as she was about to take a nap, she inadvertently raised her head like telepathy, and glanced to the front right.
Looking at it, I saw Qiongqi's burly body of 1.9 meters appeared in the palace gate on the right.
She leaned on a crutch and looked around, clearly waiting for the glutton.
Tao Ti was shocked and woke up immediately. She hadn't seen Qiong Qi for several days, so she asked the palace servants to stop the sedan chair.
As soon as Linglong saw Prince Na Rongdi, her expression changed immediately, and she stepped forward to dissuade the princess.
Tao Ti understood what she meant, and comforted her, "Don't worry, I'll confess to His Highness when I get back to her today. I'll just say a few words to her, so everyone can see her, and I have a clear conscience."
The Crown Princess had already said this, Linglong didn't want to say much, she just lowered her head and stepped back to one side.
Tao Ti lifted the hem of her skirt and walked quickly towards Qiongqi.
This place is relatively deserted, and the sedan chair is parked some distance away. Tao Ti and Qiongqi don't have to pretend to talk, and said directly, "Aqi, how is your leg? I asked someone to send you two boxes yesterday." Mooncake, have you eaten yet?"
"My leg is fine. I also ate mooncakes, but you understand me, you only give me fresh meat. If you want to give me five kernels, I will definitely beat you!"
"Actually, the five kernels are quite delicious."
"No, Wuren is the devil's cuisine!" Qiongqi said bluntly.
Tao Ti didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and didn't waste time on the taste of the mooncakes, and asked directly, "What's the matter with you waiting for me?"
The smile on Qiongqi's face subsided a little, she nodded and said, "Ah Ti, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the mission is going back, and I'm leaving too."
Tao Ti frowned, and Shui Lingling's eyes were a bit sad, "Are you leaving? Are you going back to Rongdi to play for two years, or reincarnated directly back to modern times?"
Qiongqi shrugged her shoulders, "Let's go back to Rongdi to play for a year or two. It's not good for me to lose my hair as soon as I left Chang'an. I don't want people with a heart to conspire and cause disputes between the two countries. That would be a crime."
"It's still your consideration."
"That's for sure, I'm not as stupid as you, and I live three hundred years faster than you anyway."
The two chatted and laughed, and Qiongqi looked at Tao Ti firmly, "Ah Ti, do you really plan to spend your whole life here?"
Tao Ti was stunned for a moment, and there was affirmation in her shiny eyes, "Yes."
The person she likes is here, and she has made a lot of friends, and she is living a happy life now, so far she is quite satisfied.
Although Qiongqi had guessed her decision a long time ago, when she heard it with her own ears, she still felt a little bit emotional, "Beauty is misleading!"
Tao Ti blushed and tried to defend herself, "Actually, I'm not a person who looks at faces..."
"I don't know you yet." Qiongqi smiled narrowly, and without delay, she got down to business, "By the way, when I came through, your thirteenth uncle asked me to bring you something."
Tao Ti was taken aback for a moment, and saw Qiongqi pull out a delicate and small emerald bell from her sleeve with her backhand.