The dishes at the Zhen Guo Gong's family banquet are basically the same as usual, except that the large basins in the past have been replaced by small plates, which makes it look more refined. But it only looks like it. The essence has not changed. The protagonist is still a stew.
As soon as winter arrives in Jiapingguan City, stews become the protagonist of three meals a day. Unless there is an injury or illness, other dishes will not be seen. Compared with the exquisitely made and mouth-watering dishes served by the royal family and nobles in Xijing, it is really not worth mentioning. Even the servants of those mansions usually eat much better food than them.
But there is no way. Except for one or two border gates located in wealthy areas, the remaining border towns, especially those in the north and southwest, have a very difficult life for the defenders. Those delicious and delicious things should be saved for the Chinese New Year for everyone to enjoy together. It is precisely for this reason that from marshal to general, every meal of the Shen family army is basically the same as that of ordinary soldiers. At most, there are more staple foods and a few more pieces of meat in the stew, and that's it.
"Master is quite honest. Miss Mei Zhu and Mei Lin just said that, but they actually got us several jars of good wine." Jin Jing took a wine jar, opened the seal on it, and leaned over to smell it. After smelling it, he praised, "Yes, yes, this wine is indeed good. It's a pity that you guys don't have the taste, so you can only watch us enjoy it."
"Commander, you have forgotten that my eldest brother and my sister never drink. Even if they do drink, they have a small drink when they are alone. How are you like you? It's not elegant at all." Shen Jiu deserves to have the word "wine" in his name. When he smelled the aroma of the wine, he came over and took a deep breath, "It really smells good. Brother, sister, can I have a drink?" A small cup?”
"What are you doing!" Before Shen Haolin and Shen Cha could speak, Xue Ruitian got the better of them. He reached out and patted Shen Jiu on the head and said, "You are a little brat, you are not an adult yet, don't worry about drinking. , be careful of becoming drunkards in the future!" He looked at Song Qiyun and Xia Jiu, who were also greedy, "The same goes for you two. Before you are twenty years old, stay away from the drinking jar. Do you understand? If I catch you behind my back, If you drink secretly while I'm here, I'll kick you two back to Xijing, and you'll never come back again in this life, do you understand?"
"Don't worry, cousin, we're not very interested in this stuff. It doesn't make any difference whether we drink it or not." Song Qiyun and Xia Jiu swallowed at the same time, saying things that went against their will while forcing themselves to look back at themselves. On the small table in front of you. Song Qiyun picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of mushroom from the bowl, put it into his mouth, chewed it, and then said after swallowing, "Don't worry, cousin, we will both lead the team this afternoon and evening, and we will definitely not I'm thinking about your wine. Also, if you receive any news, please inform us in time, so that we don't always think about it."
"Don't worry, there won't be any definite news today. If there is any new change, that bastard has gone back." When he mentioned Song Jue, Xue Ruitian was itching with hatred, and he always did this kind of thing. When something happens, they will be worried even if they are far away from the border. "I wrote a letter to the Queen Mother, so that she doesn't have to worry too much. You two can write one when you have time and send it back together. Although it won't have any real effect, at least it will make her feel better."
"Yes, cousin, we understand." Song Qiyun and Xia Jiu nodded, acting like good babies, "The Queen likes you. If you write more letters to her and make her happy, she won't pay too much attention. The eldest brother. But...as long as the eldest brother stays and doesn't run around, especially if he doesn't run out of the city, no one will care about him. "
"Yes, that's what it is." Xia Jiu nodded, "He knows how to cause trouble for others all day long. If others are unhappy, he will be happy."
"Isn't this his usual style? He has always been this virtuous since he was a child! I thought he would be more restrained when he became the emperor, but I didn't expect that restraint was his strategy. Seeing that we all relaxed Well, a big one came for us. Even if he ran away, he was not stupid if he had to drag Bai Meng with him. He knew that at this time, without Bai Meng, he would never be able to leave the city. "
"Cousin, you said..." Xia Jiu blinked and lowered his voice and asked, "Do Xiaobaizi and Big Brother have... ah, some kind of relationship?"
"Don't be ridiculous, how is it possible!" Xue Ruitian waved his hand, raised his head and looked at Shen Cha, who was worried about the two bowls of clear soup noodles with no oil in front of him, and asked, "That guy Bai Meng, I am I don’t know, but your brother… must have his heart set on something, that’s for sure.”
"Oh? Who is it?" Song Qiyun and Xia Jiu looked at each other and rushed in front of Xue Ruitian, "Although the queen mother doesn't interfere much in his marriage, she also hopes that he can find someone he truly likes as soon as possible and spend a lifetime together. Since my brother has his heart set on someone, he will directly issue an order to marry that person into the palace. He is the emperor, is there anyone in this world who refuses to marry the emperor? "
"What's wrong with the emperor? Do you think it's really a good job? If it's really that good, you, and you..." Xue Ruitian pointed at Song Qiyun and then at Xia Jiu, "You two tried so hard to run out of Xijing. Why? Your brothers, sisters, uncles and uncles are all like great immortals. They are like dragons but never come to an end. Why are they not seen in the capital all year round? Song Jue spends all day acting like a monster and tormenting the ministers. And why? You are the only ones in the world who know that the palace is a cage?" Xue Ruitian rolled his eyes and looked at the stew in front of him with disgust, "This is the same thing every day, master, don't you think so? Can’t you change your style?”
"Just two days, after the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, there will be delicious food!" Song Qiyun poked him, "Continue to say that my brother's heart belongs to someone else. Do you know who the other party is?"
"I know I won't tell you!" Xue Ruitian glanced at Shen Cha, who was still looking at the noodles, "Tell you, what are you going to do? Are you going to stir up trouble?"
"Let's talk together and see if he also has this intention for my brother."
"It's beyond our reach. You're at the border now. Who can you talk to?" Xue Ruitian sighed, "Stop worrying about this and go eat!"
Watching Song Qiyun and Xia Jiu leave, Xue Ruitian turned around, leaned on the table, and asked, "Xiaocha, have you been in contact with His Majesty too frequently recently? Otherwise, how do you know what he likes recently? .”
Shen Haolin glanced at Xue Ruitian and secretly said hello to him in his heart. This question was exactly what he wanted to ask.
"Brother Xiao Tian, is your brain not working well? Didn't you ask me this once before? The correspondence with His Majesty is not very frequent, almost once every half a month. Sometimes His Majesty will send a letter with news about Xijing, The content is not long, just a few pleasantries and a chat about the current situation."
"Fortunately, otherwise, if he made such a fuss, we would really be blind."
Xue Rui didn't believe that Song Jue just wanted to chat. This guy definitely had evil intentions towards Shen Cha. He was very sure of this. That guy probably took the path of boiling a frog in warm water, trying to subtly make her unable to live without him, so that she had to choose him in the end. Unfortunately, this trick may work on others, but it may not have any effect on Shen Cha. However, this potential love rival is scary enough. If you don't pay attention, the treasure you have watched for more than ten years will be snatched away. He had to think of a way to avoid this happening.
"Haolin, Haolin!" Xue Ruitian patted Shen Haolin's arm, waved to him, and asked in a low voice, "Do you think...that boy Song Jue, did he treat Xiaocha..."
"You feel it too?" Shen Haolin sneered, "He is just daydreaming, Cha'er's future is up to her."
"I know, but we still have to be on guard against him. He has refused to get married all these years, so he is most likely targeting our little tea."
"Don't worry, with us watching and Xiaojiu, he won't succeed."
"What are you two muttering about? You've been working on it for a long time, let's eat quickly!"
Shen Cha asked Mei Zhu to bring an empty bowl, poured half of the soup out of the two noodle bowls, then snatched Xue Ruitian's bowl of stew that he disliked, and picked out the stewed vegetables that looked softer. , mushrooms, and a few pieces of tofu were put into Shen Haolin's noodle bowl, stirred a little, and placed them in front of him.
"The military advisor is right. The master is really honest. He told him to make it a little lighter. Unexpectedly, it was really too light. I just cooked a bowl of white noodles and served it."
"Let's have one. We had breakfast a little late, and we're not too hungry yet." Shen Haolin handed the untouched bowl of noodles to Shen Jiu, "Xiaojiu is growing stronger now, so he should eat more."
"Big brother still loves me. No matter how much I eat every day, I still feel like I'm not full." Shen Jiu took the noodle bowl, ran back to his seat, and said to Song Qiyun next to him, "Brother Qiyun, do you want some? "
"Okay!" Song Qiyun rudely took a large piece of chopsticks from the noodle bowl handed over by Chen Jiu, put it in his own bowl, mixed it, looked left and right, and asked with some confusion, " Where did Hongye and Sister Miaomiao go? Didn't they eat? "
"Over there!" Shen Jiu pointed to the northeast corner of the flower hall, "They disliked us and were not willing to sit with us, so they ran over there."
"It's not that they dislike us, they dislike that we can't drink together." Song Qiyun pouted, "When they drink, they are more manly than men. Let alone us, even my cousin can't drink them."
"They can drink this time." Shen Jiu yawned and said sleepily, "His Majesty has caused such a big trouble for us, and the security at all borders must be raised to the highest level. Therefore, our The annual meeting gets extremely busy.”
"That's right." Song Qiyun poked at the bowl of stew depressedly, "It's really annoying to have a big brother who can make trouble. I'm going to write a letter to complain to my mother!"
