The tall and majestic mountain gate is hidden in the night, and the gold paintings on it can't be seen clearly, only a large, suffocating and heavy shadow can be seen.
Dozens of Beiya Imperial Guards camped at the foot of the mountain and took turns on duty.
From a distance, I saw someone approaching on horseback. Two Ban Jianmo of the Forbidden Army who were on duty in front of the mountain gate swung their swords in front of them and shouted: "Who is this person!"
The voice was extremely ferocious and rough, and it was cold and awe-inspiring in the night.
"A certain person is an internal guard of the Internal Welfare Department. Under the order of the envoy of the Internal Welfare Department, I came to Yuhua Mountain to set up defenses first." The man on the horse quickly dismounted and handed over the waist badge of the Internal Welfare Department and a handwritten letter. The younger Custodes.
The young Imperial Guard with thick eyebrows and big eyes was the person who had just spoken loudly and loudly to stop him.
He lowered his head and glanced, then exchanged the two things to the man holding the horse as if it were hot, and said with a smile: "It turns out he is a brother from the Department of Internal Security. Come in quickly."
The slightly older Imperial Guard next to him poked him and joked with a smile: "Brother, you are obviously a girl, you are blind."
The young imperial guard took one more look at the man, and suddenly realized something. His face suddenly turned red, and he quickly apologized: "My eyes are clumsy. My eyes are clumsy. Don't blame me, girl."
The man smiled broadly: "It doesn't matter."
The older imperial guard also laughed: "Girl, you came here all night long. It's a lot of hard work. Hurry up to the mountain and take a rest. There's still work ahead."
As he said that, he and the young imperial guard stepped aside and added: "Just now, Mr. Gu Qi from the Internal Security Department sent someone a message, saying that there would be internal guards going up the mountain at night, and they actually came. The brothers from the Internal Security Department are stationed in the courtyard halfway up the mountain." He raised his hand and pointed: "Girl, go up this mountain road, and you will be able to see it in about two seconds."
The girl thanked her politely, got on her horse, and walked into the mountain gate. She took off a pouch and threw it over with her backhand. She smiled and said, "Brothers, you have worked hard on duty all night. I'll give you some tea money."
The two Imperial Guards laughed together: "The girl is too polite."
Seeing the girl walking away, the young imperial guard who had mistaken the girl for a man weighed his bag and laughed: "This guard is not as scary as the legend says, he is quite generous."
The elderly forbidden soldier next to him quickly made a gesture of silence: "You haven't seen her killing people. It's very scary."
The young imperial guard said in surprise: "Brother, have you ever seen her kill someone?"
The elder forbidden soldier shook his head: "I haven't seen it."
"Then how do you know that the way she kills people is so scary?"
"My guess."
"You are awesome. How did you guess it? Teach me."
"Didn't you see the knife on her waist? The smell of blood is very strong."
"Does she have a knife on her? Why didn't I see it?"
"..." The elder imperial guard was speechless for a while and frowned slightly: "Did you see the name written on her waistband?"
The young Imperial Guard nodded: "I see, her name is Yao Yao." He paused slightly, laughed and shook his head: "It's just me who is stupid, I didn't recognize such an obvious girl's name."
The elder forbidden soldier frowned, and a shadow of doubt flashed through his mind so fast that he couldn't catch it. He wondered softly: "Why does this person seem to be different from before?"
"Brother, have you seen this man?" the young imperial guard asked in surprise.
The elder Imperial Guard said: "I met him a year ago."
The young forbidden soldier smiled: "Brother, it's been a year, this man must be old."
The elder Imperial Guard said "hmm", but he still had doubts in his heart. He thought carefully about it for a moment, but he didn't find any difference between the girl's appearance just now and a year ago. Maybe she was just old. some.
He put aside his doubts and looked into the vast night with a solemn expression.
After entering the mountain gate of Yuhua Mountain, there are three mountain roads. The middle mountain road is the most spacious and neat, which can accommodate the passage of Emperor Yong'an's chariots and leads directly to the palace on the top of the mountain.
This palace occupies a large area from the top of the mountain to the mountainside, and is extremely magnificent. During the months of summer vacation on Yuhua Mountain, in addition to Emperor Yong'an and his relatives, envoys from various countries lived in the palace. Emperor Yong'an would also move the palace to Some of the courtyards here were given to important officials to live in as a sign of favor.
The two mountains on the left and right are slightly narrower and lead to other courtyards scattered throughout Yuhua Mountain.
Most of these villas are located below the mountainside of Yuhua Mountain. They vary in size and have different scenery. Some are villas for courtiers, and some are royal villas.
There are no villas on Yuhua Mountain, but those who are qualified to accompany them can stay in these royal villas.
The location, size, and condition of the assigned royal villa are determined according to the grade of the person staying there.
After Gu Chen read Fei Nu's letter, he couldn't help but feel frightened. He ordered the internal guards to temporarily take care of all the cooks in Yuhua Mountain, while he personally waited at the entrance of the courtyard.
It was much cooler in Yuhua Mountain than in the capital. Gu Chen stood at the courtyard gate for most of the night, his legs and feet numb. Finally he heard the clatter of horse hooves, causing ripples in the cool night.
A slim man led a horse and walked out of the mountain road on the left, getting closer and closer.
Gu Chen saw the man covered in night dew and stepped forward with great joy. He took the reins very naturally and looked the man up and down: "A Yao, are you seriously injured again?"
Yao Yao was stunned for a moment: "No, what's wrong?"
Gu Chen glanced at Yao Yao's face and clicked his tongue: "Look at your pale face, it's already as white as the pretty one."
Yao Yao touched his face, with an unnatural look on his face: "Is it white?"
Gu Chen nodded heavily and raised his hand to touch Yao Yao's face with a familiarity: "White, very white."
Yao Yao's expression became even more unnatural, he tilted his head and avoided Gu Chen's hand.
Gu Chen was stunned for a moment and said in surprise: "Hey, it's strange that A Yao is still embarrassed."
"I'm so embarrassed, I'm injured, I was jolted hard on the horse." Yao Yao's expression flashed, and he coughed unnaturally: "Get me some water, I'm so thirsty.
Gu Chen tied the horse, shook his head helplessly and smiled: "You will command me as soon as you come."
Yao Yao kept walking and walked straight into the yard, saying calmly: "I am injured, yet I traveled all night to help you and get me some water. Are you wronged?"
Hearing this, the weird feeling in Gu Chen's heart disappeared in an instant, and he sneered: "Don't be ridiculous, is your injury considered an injury to you? Others don't know you, and I don't know you? "
Yao Yao smiled noncommittally.
The two walked into the house. There was already a guard in the house who heard the commotion. He quickly poured a cup of tea, let it cool and handed it to Yao Yao.
Yao Yao took the cup, and heat filled her face. She took a slow sip and remained silent for a long time.
Gu Chen waited for a moment, but before Yao Yao could speak first, he spoke carefully: "There are not many cooks on Yuhua Mountain now. Your Majesty has his own royal cook, and the concubines, princes and princesses also bring cooks, and other honorary ministers also bring their own cooks." It is estimated that your family has brought useful cooks up the mountain. The only ones who need cooks are the Forbidden Army and the Internal Guard, as well as the chamberlains and maids in the palace. These cooks are already on the mountain. A total of twenty-four people came down. After receiving the letter from your lord, I had all twenty-four people detained."
"Are they all detained?" Yao Yao shouted in surprise. As soon as her voice fell, she realized that she had made a mistake and quickly covered it up: "I'm afraid that arresting so many people will cause turmoil and panic."
Gu Chen frowned slightly: "Isn't this too much?"
"Isn't this enough?" Yao Yao took a sip of tea, his almond-shaped eyes were wide and bright, and his face was full of anger: "This is not much, then it is too much!"
Gu Chen hid: "Don't get excited, why, you want to eat people!"
Yao Yao raised his hand: "I still want to hit someone!"
Seeing Yao Yao's appearance, Gu Chen's doubts disappeared and he quickly held her hand: "Okay, okay, you are awesome. There are still six hours before the Holy Spirit arrives at Yuhua Mountain. These twenty-four people are not allowed to talk about it." More, less is not too much, tell me, how can we find those two people out as quickly as possible?"
Yao Yao's expression flashed, and he pondered for a moment and asked, "Where are they now?"
Gu Chen pursed his lips towards the back: "The back is a large kitchen specially used for cooking for the Beiya Imperial Guards. I brought them all there, and there are internal guards guarding the outside." He paused slightly: "After receiving the letter from Fei Nu, I asked the inner guard to carefully check the calluses on their hands, and there was nothing wrong with them. They should all be old cooks." He looked at Yao Yao and said, "A Yao, could you have made a wrong judgment? "
Yao Yao pursed his lips and said thoughtfully: "Did you know that the calluses on your hands can also be faked?"
"...What do you mean?" Gu Chen said blankly: "Can the calluses on your hands be fake? You can make one for me to see!"
Yao Yao's face was a little ugly when Gu Chen scolded him, and he held his neck and argued: "Anyway, it's unreliable to judge whether they are real cooks or fake cooks based on the calluses on their hands. We still have to find other ways to identify them. "
"Other ways." Gu Chen chimed and glanced at Yao Yao: "As a cook, the most outstanding thing is not only the knife skills and cooking skills. If you are a killer, the knife skills will definitely be good, but the cooking skills may not be the same. ."
Hearing this, Yao Yao felt like he was enlightened. His eyes lit up and he slapped the desk hard: "Yes, let each of them cook a dish!"
"One dish for each person," Gu Chen stared at the sky outside: "It's so late, everyone has gone to bed, and after cooking so many dishes, no one will eat them!"
Yao Yao pursed his lips and said, "I'll eat it."
Gu Chen glanced at Yao Yao: "One person has one dish, and you're not afraid of dying?"
"How can you survive after eating one bite of a dish?" Yao Yao grunted: "Do you have a pen and paper?
Upon hearing this, the inner guard quickly took a pen and paper, sharpened the ink, and placed it on the desk.
Yao Yao picked up the pen and was about to put it down when he suddenly thought of something and put it down again.
"What's wrong?" Gu Chen looked at Yao Yao's hand and wondered, "What's wrong with the hand?"
Yao Yao opened his right hand and saw a bloody scar across his palm, which looked particularly shocking.
Gu Chen hissed, hurriedly went to the medicine box, found the gold sore medicine and cotton cloth, and while grabbing Yao Yao's hand to bandage the wound, he complained naggingly: "You must be riding a horse so fast that you can handle it It's worn out, why didn't you tell me earlier and let me bandage it for you."
Yao Yao's heart moved, and he was about to pull his hand back, but he only moved his fingers and held it down.
Gu Chen wrapped Yao Yao's hand like a rice dumpling, tied it in a nice knot, and patted it twice: "Okay, your hands are inconvenient. You tell me, and I'll write."
Yao Yao thought for a moment and talked non-stop in one breath, describing a total of twenty-four dishes, even the requirements were explained in detail.
Gu Chen also slowly put down his pen and slowly dried the ink. As if he was meeting Yao Yao for the first time, he looked at her deeply and smiled: "I have known you for so many years, but I didn't know you were so... He’s well-informed and the dishes he’s eaten are all things I’ve never heard of.”
Yao Yaoqian laughed twice, pursed his lips and said nothing, looking a little guilty.
Gu Chen was surprised, his eyes became deeper and deeper, and he looked Yao Yao up and down: "Hey, what's wrong with you today? Why do you talk so little and stop cursing?"
Yao Yao snorted: "I'm tired and can't curse anymore."
"I have no words." Gu Chen smiled with unknown meaning.
Yao Yao said: "Try it!"
Gu Chen shrank his neck, thinking of the first time he met Yao Yao, when she had a fight with the gangster Zhao San'er on the street in Jinchangfang.
No, that was not a quarrel, that was a one-sided, crushing insult.
Gu Chen listened for a while, and he realized that those unusual curse words were completely unheard of. They didn't sound like they were coming from a girl's mouth, which was breathtaking.
From then on, when he saw Yao Yao, he couldn't help but feel fear.
It is very easy to be scolded by a girl who pointed at your nose and scolded her so hard that she couldn't hold her head up. The scolding continued for half an hour without any difference. Even eighteen generations of ancestors and descendants were pulled out and scolded. Something that breaks one's mind.
What's even more devastating is that the girl doesn't use any curse words when she curses people, it's all just words!
Anyone who is less literate may not even be able to understand!
Thinking of this, Gu Chen shook his head in horror, stopped being a bitch, cut a piece of thick opaque white paper into long strips, and copied the twenty-four dishes that Yao Yao had just dictated on the paper one by one. On the table, twenty-four paper lots were made, placed in a white porcelain bowl, and handed to the guard next to him.
Yao Yao watched Gu Chen's movements and ordered with a solemn expression: "Let each of the twenty-four cooks draw a lot and cook a dish according to the requirements on the lot. Send a few people to watch them cook and tell them, The saint wants to choose a few cooks, and whether they can be favored by the saint depends on this dish."
Gu Chen understood Yao Yao's intention in an instant, raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "If you are greedy, just say it, you are falsely preaching the imperial edict, and you will lose your head."
Yao Yao smiled nonchalantly. She had done so many things to lose her head that she didn't care about this one more thing. She smiled and said, "You're afraid of losing your head, so don't eat it for a while."
Gu Chen finally regained the familiar feeling and grunted: "If I don't eat, I still lose my head with you, wouldn't it be a great loss for me?"
He thought about it again and again, but still did not dare to leave the matter to others. He personally took the white porcelain bowl to the yard behind and stared at the twenty-four cooks to draw lots.
The courtyard at the back was the public kitchen that cooked for the Beiya Imperial Guards. A large kitchen room occupied most of the courtyard, with more than thirty stoves in it, which was enough for these people to show off their skills.
Yao Yao looked at Gu Chen's disappearing back, took another sip of tea, and asked the guard next to him in a deep voice: "Where is Fei Nu?"
The inner guard was stunned for a moment: "It's in the wing next to it. Yao Canjun wants to deliver a message?"
Yao Yao said "hmm" noncommittally: "Go and have a look."
The inner guard hurriedly led the way.
The west wing room was a utility room with a lot of firewood originally piled up. After the people from the Department of Internal Affairs moved in, they moved all the firewood to the yard at the back, and placed two iron cages in the free space.
Each cage contained four snow-white flying slaves with their necks stretched out and cooing.
These flying slaves are specially used by the Internal Security Department to deliver messages. They are all neatly and smartly groomed, their blood-red eyes are rolling around, and their wings are spread out strong and powerful.
Yao Yao glanced at the cage for a few times, then turned to the inner guard and said, "Do you have paper and pen?"
The inner guard nodded: "Yes, Yao Canjun will wait a moment."
Yao Yao thanked him.
Not long after, footsteps were heard at the door of the ear room.
Yao Yao turned her head and saw Gu Chen walking in with paper and pen. Her face sank slightly, but her expression remained normal for a moment: "Hey, Mr. Gu Qi personally sent the paper and pen. I was flattered. What, the lot has been drawn?"
Gu Chen didn't miss the fleeting panic on Yao Yao's face, but he didn't think deeply about it and sneered: "I heard that you were going to pass a letter, didn't I rush to serve you, and you still... You're mocking me, my heart." He pretended to hold on to his clothes, making a look of grief on his face: "It's so cold."
"Those who are too cold are dead people." Yao Yao sneered and took the pen and paper as usual.
Seeing that Yao Yao was about to write, Gu Chen quickly turned his head without looking at what she had written.
After a moment, Yao Yao put down his pen.
Hearing the movement behind him, Gu Chen turned his head and took a look, then went to open the cage with a smile: "I'll catch the fastest one for you."
The flying slave fluttered violently in the cage and made a rapid cooing sound.
In just a moment, Gu Chen grabbed a snow-white flying slave and brought it out. Its blood-red eyes moved rapidly, and its cooing cry was louder than other flying slaves.
Yao Yao glanced at Fei Nu, tied the bamboo tube to Fei Nu's leg, and said softly: "Okay, let it go."
Gu Chen walked to the door of the ear room and raised his hands in the air.
Fei Nu fluttered his wings, soared into the sky, turned around in the dark night sky, turned into a pale white light, and fluttered his wings away in the direction of Chang'an City.
Gu Chen looked at Fei Nu's retreating direction, his eyes flickered, and asked, "Did you send a letter to the Lord?"
Yao Yao said "hmm" and said, "Fei Slave from the Internal Security Department, if you don't deliver a message to your lord, who else can you deliver a message to?"
Gu Chen chuckled and said, "There is a lot of work behind us, why don't you go and take a look?"
Yao Yao said briskly: "Let's go and take a look."
When they heard that Emperor Yong'an was going to select a few cooks, these cooks who originally only cooked for the imperial army and the palace people suddenly became excited and geared up, trying their best to show off their skills and win the favor of the erudite Emperor Yong'an.
If you can become an imperial chef, it will bring glory to your family.
The yard was filled with the sound of washing vegetables and the sound of chopping vegetables.
The noise echoed halfway up the mountain for a while, and the kitchen was in full swing. The pale smoke rose into the air, and the steam filled the yard.
He Zhenfu entered the courtyard, and a few lamps cast a dim yellow light. He saw the old god Yao Yao sitting and drinking tea. He smiled: "I saw smoke coming from the courtyard behind me from a distance. Who did I think?" I ordered the house, so it’s you who is here.”
Yao Yao had a serious look on his face: "As I said, I came to the house specifically for feelings. Am I so sinister?"
He Zhenfu laughed so much that he fell down: "The trick you are trying to do is definitely more destructive than targeting a house."
Yao Yao smiled dryly, pursed his lips and said nothing.
Seeing that Yao Yao did not retort to him for the first time, He Zhenfu looked at her as if she had seen a ghost. If it were not for the lack of intimacy between men and women, he would have pinched her face: "Yao Canjun, is this still you? ?”
Hearing this, Yao Yao suddenly frowned and said: "I made some midnight snacks for everyone, and I will serve them later. If you can, don't eat them."
He Zhenfu blinked in surprise, and in a flash he understood the meaning of Yao Yao's words, and his face almost burst into laughter: "I know you have many damaging tricks, and Mr. Gu and I were worried just now, but now you come There is a way."
Yao Yao was a little embarrassed, and after thinking for a moment, he shook his head: "Not necessarily. Since they have the courage to Li Daitaojiang, they must have made complete preparations. I'm afraid the people sent here are also people with advanced cooking skills. This method is not necessarily It works.”
He Zhenfu was very optimistic. He slapped his thigh hard and said with a relaxed smile: "It doesn't matter. If you can have a good meal, you will make a profit." He took a sip of tea and said: "You don't know. Yesterday, I rushed to Yuhua Mountain in one go and even had a meal." I didn't even bother to eat, so I started working. I originally wanted to have a good sleep tonight, but then I received a letter from my lord, it's really not an easy time."
Hearing this, Yao Yao's eyes flashed, he lowered his head and took a sip of tea to cover up the fleeting coldness in his eyes, then slowly raised his head and asked a little meaningfully: "I don't know if Jingli how's it going."
He Zhenfu said casually: "In Beijing, anything can happen in Beijing, it's okay. Whatever happens now is nothing bigger than what happens on Yuhua Mountain."
Yao Yao didn't ask any more questions, and followed He Zhenfu's words: "That's right." She cheered up and looked back, only to see large areas of white heat spreading in the kitchen, like a sea of clouds rolling and elegant. When we got to the yard, with such huge smoke, it was no wonder that He Zhenfu thought the yard was on fire.
She composed herself and said, "Let's go and see how the cooks are doing with their midnight snacks."
Walking into the big kitchen, I took a quick look and saw that the twenty-four people were all dressed up. Even the oil stains on the aprons tied around their waists seemed to be slapping the people in the Interior Department in the face, saying that they were real cooks. .
From their regular and orderly movements, it was indeed difficult to tell who was the real cook and who was the fake cook.
Some people have quick hands and have already put the vegetables in the pot, while some people have slow hands and are still struggling to chop the vegetables.
Yao Yao's apricot eyes were not as lively as before, they were a little dull, and his expression was a little nervous. He and He Zhenfu walked slowly behind everyone, stopping from time to time to take a look and smell. Taste, praise.
Before Yao Yao and his wife came in, Gu Chen had already been in the kitchen for a long time. His body was stained with oil smoke, and there were fine beads of sweat on his forehead. He stared at the room full of cooks. .
Yao Yao and He Zhenfu looked relaxed, but in fact their minds were tense. They didn't even dare to blink, and they didn't miss any clues.
With a "sizzling" sound, the fresh meat was put into the pot, splashing a little bit of oily smell, and landed on the back of one of the people's hands. The man's face did not change, as if he didn't know, and he didn't even stop to move the fresh meat out. It fell into the pot without any trace, and the mellow aroma overflowed.
He Zhenfu's eyes fell on the hands of the person next to him, looked at them a few more times, and then walked forward.
Yuhua Mountain is much cooler than the capital city, but it is extremely hot in the kitchen. Ordinary people will be so hot and sweaty if they stand there for a while, not to mention these people have to stand close to the stove and be burned by it. The flames were scorching, and the clothes had already been soaked with sweat.
The smell of food was mixed with the smell of oil and sweat. The smell in the kitchen was really not that pleasant.
Yao Yao carefully examined everyone's expressions.
Most people frowned and seemed particularly nervous.
Several people looked relaxed and seemed confident.
There were also a few people who were a little far away from the stove. They didn't know whether they disliked the smell or were afraid of the smelly oil splashing out and scalding their hands.
Yao Yao looked at these people a few more times and wrote down their appearance.
Yao Yao and the three of them looked at each other through the smoke of the fireworks, then sighed together and walked out.
He Zhenfu: "How's it going? What did you see?"
Yao Yao asked those people: "What are those people called?"
Gu Chen and He Zhenfu flipped through the roster and circled it.
Gu Chen said: "I just ordered you to prepare the dishes and put your name on the plate for identification."
Now it seemed that there was nothing to do, so the three of them returned to the front yard together. The most important place now was Yuhua Mountain, and the most important thing was the safety of the saint. He Zhenfu had just patrolled the mountain, so naturally he talked about it first. What happened on Yuhua Mountain.
"This mountain is too big, and the imperial army cannot set up defenses everywhere. They can only guard tightly around the palace. There are inevitably loopholes in the deep mountains. Hunting is a common thing during summer vacation. If the saint wants to hunt in person this time, I'm afraid," He Zhenfu didn't finish his words, but everyone knew what he meant.
Hearing this, Gu Chen raised his head and glanced at Yao Yao, but Yao Yao lowered his eyes and didn't know what he was thinking.
Gu Chen was a little surprised. It was not the first time for him and Yao Yao to go to Yuhua Mountain. They were quite familiar with the situation here and knew that He Zhenfu was telling the truth.
Since he knew that there were many crises in the mountains and Yao Yao always had many ideas, why was he speechless at this time?
Gu Chen didn't think deeply, he just concentrated and said: "It can only be that the saint followed more forbidden troops on the day of hunting."
Yao Yao vaguely felt that the situation was critical. Although the hunting area had been delineated in advance, the Forbidden Army would conduct a careful survey first. There would also be a large number of Forbidden Army patrolling the mountains on the day of the hunt. But if there is a problem in the Forbidden Army, such a large mountain range can cause people to be caught off guard and suffer hidden losses.
Emperor Yong'an was a man who was determined to retaliate, and what he was best at was expressing his anger. If he suffered a secret loss, I'm afraid that both the Forbidden Army and the Internal Security Department would be in trouble.
Thinking of this, Yao Yao said slowly: "It is easy to dodge open spears and hard to defend against hidden arrows. If you rely solely on the Forbidden Army to protect you, there will inevitably be oversights. You cannot rely solely on the Forbidden Army."
He Zhenfu said: "Well, there are only so many people in the Internal Security Department. If you don't count on the Forbidden Army, who can you count on?" He looked at Yao Yao: "What other ideas does Yao have?"
Yao Yao smiled with self-knowledge: "How can I do it? I don't have such an easy-to-use brain. For other methods, I'd better let Sir Shi use his brain."
Gu Chen and He Zhenfu chuckled and looked at each other with a smile.
I’ve never seen such a person who doesn’t strive for advancement!
While he was talking, the inner guard came over to report that the twenty-four cooks had already prepared the supper.
Gu Chen was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered: "Let them bring the dishes in one by one!"
The inner guard responded, and not long after, there was a bustling sound outside.
Gu Chen and the other three smelled the aroma of the dishes, eager to prepare their food, and their mouths were watering.
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