The spacious banquet hall of the East Palace was filled with round tables full of oriental charm. There were ten people per table and the names of the guests were hung on the backs of each chair.
It seems that the owner has put some thought into it. These exquisitely embroidered tablecloths are all top-notch Suzhou embroidery, with traditional Chinese longevity patterns embroidered on them. Especially the front table is covered with a bright yellow tablecloth that can only be used by emperors. On it are embroidered with gold thread the three stars of fortune, wealth and longevity, as well as bats and swastika patterns.
Needless to say, this is the queen's position, and the seats of Xiao Letian and Emperor Tongzhi are on the left and right of the queen.
At that time, what was popular in Europe was long banquet tables, or free-flow buffets. There really was no such round table banquet, and everyone felt extremely novel for a while.
The circle is an artistic conception highly praised in Chinese philosophy. In the world of the circle, the hierarchical relationship between people is downplayed, while harmony and friendliness are increased. This atmosphere naturally brings the relationship between the banquet guests closer.
Look at the porcelain on the table. This is not ordinary Chinese export porcelain. These are a batch of royal porcelain specially produced by Xiao Letian through the relationship with the Hunan Army in Jingdezhen, which is controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Hunan Army and the Chinese were unrivaled in the south of the Yangtze River. Those officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Jingdezhen dared to take charge of a transaction. They even pushed back the orders for the Forbidden City to accommodate the orders from the head of state.
These porcelains reflected the highest level of Chinese porcelain craftsmanship at that time, especially the series of floral tea bowls, which were painted with various flowers, including peonies, plum blossoms, orchids, crabapples, hibiscus... There were thirty or forty pieces in total. Then, the first guest walked to his seat and took a closer look. There was actually a layer of condensed water droplets on the tea bowl.
When I opened the tureen and looked inside, I found a bowl of dark tea soup of unknown variety. I took a careful sip and the cool, sour and sweet taste directly calmed the heat.
"Oh! God, what kind of oriental drink is this? It's so weird..."
The waiters and maids in charge of the banquet were divided into two groups: British and Chinese. Among them, the British waiter came over quickly and politely and whispered, "Dear Countess, today's banquet provides two drinks to relieve the heat, one is called sour plum soup in China, and the other is sour plum soup." It’s called medicinal herbal tea…”
"What you just tasted was the iced sour plum soup. If I were to recommend it, I would suggest you try the medicated herbal tea... To be honest, we drank a lot today, but after a busy day, no one suffered a heat stroke!"
Today's temperature is even higher than yesterday, reaching 36 to 7 degrees Celsius. British people who are accustomed to cool climates will suffer from heat stroke in large numbers every year when encountering such weather, not to mention those who are busy at work.
As soon as they heard that there was such a good thing, these European ladies who had eaten too much meat and had rough and shiny skin and fell in love with it, hurriedly wanted to try it.
Xiao Letian brought many women with him to Europe this time. Of course, these women were not for his enjoyment. These women had all received excellent etiquette training, including Xiao Letian's etiquette training that would be standard for later generations of state banquets.
To have a dignified manner and elegant appearance, even a smile must show eight teeth, no more than one or less.
Not to mention the appearance of these maids, they all have the most representative oriental gentle style. The girls in this row are all wearing retro Hanfu, their hairpins are all old pit jade, and they have dragon and phoenix patterns on their bodies. Pendant jade.
As they walk, you can see the rhythmic swaying of the thorn hairpins on their heads and the jingling of the jade pendants on their bodies.
Chinese people are very particular about wearing jade. The ancients regarded jade as an auxiliary tool for etiquette. Courtiers must wear jade when they go to court. This is to regulate people's behavior.
If you move too fast and make noisy noises due to the collision of jade objects in nature, then this behavior is rude!
Wearing jade can force people to behave more elegantly, more cautiously, and more cautiously.
Such a group of beauties with strong oriental charm appeared at the venue. At that time, all the European women's eyes were red. They were so angry that they pinched their husbands' thighs hard. Those dirty men were already drooling at the sight.
Bowl after bowl of Chinese herbal tea was brought to them by the maids. They couldn't be rude in diplomatic situations, so these ladies could only suppress their jealousy and nod their thanks.
It was also iced herbal tea, but it had a strong smell of Chinese medicine. You might as well not drink it if you wanted to, but this was what I just wanted. In the end, I had no choice but to pinch my nose and take a sip.
As soon as the herbal tea was taken into the mouth, the lady immediately frowned. It was not that there was anything wrong with the herbal tea, but that they suddenly discovered that this strange-smelling drink actually had a unique taste in the mouth, and it was not as unpleasant as they imagined.
It's sweet and cool, and as soon as it enters your throat, you feel a chill in your heart.
"Oh God! What kind of strange oriental drink is this? I actually drank an oriental drink that is more magical than tea..."
The countess is a fat woman who loves meat and has no pleasures. She has also reached menopause. She loves eating meat and drinking. Menopause, coupled with the unbearable heat, has caused the countess to suffer from severe oral ulcers and constipation.
I have seen countless doctors but it has no effect, because this is entirely a disease caused by lifestyle habits. If you don't change your lifestyle habits, just thinking about using western medicine to regulate it is useless.
According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, in this hot summer weather, there is no need to overeat or eat meat, which will cause internal heat. A cup of traditional Chinese medicine herbal tea is completely symptomatic.
The countess felt as if a bowl of herbal tea had entered her stomach, and her whole heart was relieved. She shouted that it was "miraculous" and strongly recommended it to her sisters.
To be honest, this group of wealthy European aristocrats all have some dietary problems. A high-protein, high-fat diet is basically prone to causing some symptoms of inflammation. In addition, the weather is really hot enough, so everyone Full of anger.
When there is fire, it must be vented downwards. The oriental herbal tea carefully prepared by Dr. Huang Xi was just right for their symptoms, and soon all the guests present drank more than two bowls of it.
The countess drank the most. She drank four bowls by herself, and her husband tried to persuade her several times, but to no avail.
After all, herbal tea is a drug for laxatives. Drinking too much will definitely cause gastrointestinal problems. As expected, the Countess soon felt her stomach churn. She didn't dare to hold back and hurried to the bathroom.
For twenty minutes, when the count saw his wife again, he was surprised to find that her face was relaxed and her whole body was smiling.
"Oh my God, this is such an amazing herbal tea. This is the first time I feel so smooth... I feel like my stomach has been emptied, and all the old stuff has been expelled..."
"And this herbal tea is completely different from the laxatives prescribed by doctors. After the laxatives take effect, your stomach will feel severe pain, but this herbal tea won't. It allows you to ejaculate without causing you pain. It is simply perfect... "
"Oh oh oh... God! Stop talking. This is a state banquet. How can you talk about such a topic at the dinner table? It's so rude!" The old earl in the wig was so ashamed that he almost hid under the table. .
Note: It’s Monday, please give me a red envelope for the third update! Book friends, here comes the red envelope!
