Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 96 Liu Jianjun Invites You to Dinner (Seeking First Subscription)

The next day, noon.

Li Xian was very surprised.

Liu Jianjun said he had prepared a table full of delicious dishes and invited his whole family over for lunch.

In fact, this behavior is very impolite. Throughout history, it has always been the monarch who invites his subjects to dinner, and it is very rare for a subject to invite the emperor to dinner.

One issue is trust and security.

Leaving aside the possibility of poisoning or ambush, let's just say that the diarrhea was caused by the food itself. Who's to blame?
Secondly, there is the issue of etiquette.

The dining etiquette used by the emperor and his ministers was different. Even the highest-level dishes that a minister could serve would be considered impolite to the emperor.

Conversely, this problem does not exist.

But since he is Liu Jianjun, that's not surprising.

Li Xian arrived at Liu Jianjun's small courtyard on time with his whole family. Li Xian thought Liu Jianjun would make a hot pot like last time, so he specially asked his wife and children to wear a layer of hemp clothing over their silk robes.

This is an experience I gained from eating hot pot with Li Xian and the others last time. At that time, the smell of cooking oil and mutton on Li Xian lingered all day.

This time, however, Liu Jianjun didn't bother with his hot pot. Instead, he arranged a large number of dishes that Li Xian had never seen before on an exquisite porcelain plate.

Upon seeing Li Xianyi's family arrive, Liu Jianjun placed a plate of bright red, unidentified shredded meat on the table and warmly greeted them, "Xianzi, sister-in-law, please sit down. We have a few more dishes coming out!"

Then he darted into the inner room.

Li Xian chuckled and gestured for the embroiderers and the others to sit down.

Sitting down to eat is a habit unique to Liu Jianjun. He specially commissioned a craftsman to make a round table, as well as some four-legged stools or chairs with backrests. When entertaining guests at home, he doesn't lie on the couch but sits directly on those chairs.

Although Liu Jianjun acted strangely, Li Xian's family had already gotten used to it when they were in Liujiazhuang.

In just a short while, Li Xian noticed the differences among the children.

In the past, the second son, who was the most lively, would have definitely reached out and grabbed the food, but this time, even though he was staring at the novel dishes on the table with wide eyes, he still didn't touch them.

The eldest son, Guangshun, used to talk incessantly when the family was eating, but now he sits upright on the stool.

Liu Jianjun brought out three or four more dishes, then said with a smile, "I've been wanting to improve your meals for a while now. Your cooking methods, like roasting, steaming, boiling, and slicing, are too rudimentary. Try my dishes."

Then he slapped Guangren on the head and said with a smile, "Don't be shy! Eating is all about enjoying yourself!"

Li Xian had long been unable to contain his curiosity.

The dishes Liu Jianjun served included ribs coated in sauce, glistening red and tempting with a smoky aroma; thinly shredded chicken breast paired with blanched sunflower shoots; and lotus root slices coated in a thin layer of batter and fried until golden and crispy… and so on.

These dishes are all unheard of and unseen before. How did he make them?

Upon hearing Liu Jianjun's greeting, Guangren finally couldn't hold back any longer and glanced at Li Xian with a pleading look in his eyes.

Li Xian nodded to him irritably, and then he immediately reached out and grabbed the chopsticks in front of him, picking up a dish that looked like sashimi.

The fish sashimi was just ordinary raw meat slices, cut into thin slices and arranged in a circle, but in the center was a delicate little plate with a dark substance that seemed to be dipping sauce.

Guangren tentatively dipped the fish in the sauce, then put it in his mouth and exclaimed, "It's the same fish, why is it so different?" Liu Jianjun explained with a smile, "The key is this sauce. It's a mixture of minced garlic, ginger, orange peel, plum and minced meat, soy sauce, and sesame oil, replacing ordinary salt and vinegar. It removes the muddy taste from the carp. It has a nice name: Golden Minced Jade Sashimi..."

Upon hearing this, Li Xian was taken aback and hurriedly interrupted, "Lord Chishao!"

"Ok?"

"You used a red snapper to make this dish!"

Liu Jianjun is truly despicable. Doesn't he know that the Tang Dynasty forbade eating carp? He brazenly served this dish on the table, yet he didn't even bother to avoid the taboo.

Why does this fish look so unfamiliar?
Liu Jianjun then realized what was happening and sneered, "Alright, alright, Lord Chishao."

Then he smiled and shook his head, and continued, "Let's talk about something else. The dish in front of you, sister-in-law, is called Lion's Man Fried Jade Hairpin. To put it simply, it's just fried lotus root slices..."

"Deep-fried?" Li Xian was bewildered again.

This time, Liu Jianjun ignored him and introduced the dishes on the table to himself. There were simple dishes like sesame-dressed shredded chicken and honey-glazed ham, as well as dishes with more poetic names like "Golden Minced Meat and Jade Slices" and "Crispy Mountain and Snowy Peak" and "Golden Jade Abundance".

Without exception, all the dishes were delicious, including the raw marinated red snapper.

The children's chopsticks never stopped moving, and even the embroiderer was frequently picking up her chopsticks, losing her usual dignified and beautiful demeanor. She even took the initiative to ask, "Brother Jianjun, how did you make these dishes? How come the chefs in your household can't make them taste like this?"

"Hehe, that's just a different cooking method. I had someone specially make an iron wok, which took three whole days! All these dishes were cooked in an iron wok!"

"saute?"

The embroiderer seemed to be thinking about something, then looked at Liu Jianjun with a smile and said, "Brother Jianjun, you always go out with His Highness, but today you invited me and Guangshun along. I'm afraid there's something that His Highness can't bring up."

Liu Jianjun immediately gave a thumbs up and praised, "Sister-in-law is so insightful! Unlike Xianzi, who's such a blockhead!"

Li Xian glared angrily at Liu Jianjun, but Liu Jianjun acted as if he hadn't seen him. He then asked, "Sister-in-law, actually I wanted to ask you if there are any skilled weavers in Chang'an, preferably folk artisans who have no connection with the government."

"You are a woman, so you should know more about this kind of thing."

The embroiderer thought for a moment and said, "If we're talking about official textile artisans, the best would naturally be the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau under the Imperial Household Department. All twenty-five workshops there are related to textiles, and most of the artisans there have hereditary titles. But Brother Jianjun said that folk artisans would be the best..."

The embroiderer paused for a moment.

Liu Jianjun looked nervous and asked, "There can't be any folk artisans left, can there?"

“How is that possible?” The embroiderer laughed. “Yankangfang has a famous mounting craftsman named ‘Jingbo’. Although Daozhengfang and Changlefang are mostly wineries, they also have a large number of related craftsmen. In fact, if Jianjun’s weaving skills are not too demanding, Fengyifang also has craftsmen who make funeral items with coarse cloth and silk.”

Liu Jianjun's face lit up instantly: "That's wonderful! As for the skill level, we'll see later. By the way, sister-in-law, do you know where I can buy a lot of cotton?"

This time, Li Xian interjected with a puzzled look: "Didn't you plant nearly a hundred acres of cotton in Nanyuan? Isn't that enough?"

"It's not that there isn't enough, it's that we can't keep up. Actually, I grow those cotton plants so that I can use them to weave cloth!"

Liu Jianjun made a startling statement.

……

(End of this chapter)