The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 156 Chongyang
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the taste of Sydney has reached its peak.

Thinking back to the Mid-Autumn Festival when she was pregnant with A Yuan, she ate crabs seriously, and finally ate local crabs to relieve her boredom.But this Mid-Autumn Festival this year...

It's okay for Sydney not to have the slightest interest in crabs, and she has been "obsessed" with Tangsuan all morning.

She was also very surprised why she suddenly liked it. Anyway, she sat at the table and ate it half an hour after breakfast, and when it was almost lunch time, the sugar and garlic skins on hand were piled up into a hill.

The sugar and garlic in the palace are well marinated, each of them is sweet and sour, and there is no sour taste after being marinated thoroughly.The color is a light honey color, it looks crystal clear, the texture of the slightly thickened sugar garlic skin is clear, when it is broken and torn by fingers, the skin will be torn apart along the texture, and there is a small half-moon shaped inside Garlic cloves appeared in front of my eyes, I threw it into my mouth and bit it, my mouth was full of refreshment.

When she was a little palace maid, she had been obsessed with this sweet garlic for a while - of course not only sweet garlic, but also all kinds of pickled things in the palace that are so folksy.

At that time, when she first entered the palace, her salary was low, and she couldn’t buy much snacks for herself. If she wanted to satisfy her cravings, she had to eat all kinds of kimchi and pickled vegetables that were managed by Shangshi Bureau. When I think of myself still being greedy for this.

——Xie Zhao has never seen her eat this kind of food at all.Last time when she was pregnant with A Yuan, she vomited so badly on the boat that she didn’t eat that much. At that time, she ate sour carrots and bamboo shoots and other sour things, which is far worse than she eats alone now. Get up "shocked".

So when he came to have dinner with Sydney at noon, he was stunned by the huge pile of candied garlic skins on the table as soon as he entered the room!Sniffing the overly strong sugar and garlic smell in the room, Xie Zhao's expression became a little complicated: "I let you lose your mouth?"

"No!" Xueli was washing her hands, she shook her head immediately when he said that, wiped her hands and went to hold his hand, smiling sweetly, "I just suddenly got greedy for this, and it's really delicious. Eat it With the craftsmanship of Fang Si Shan of the Shangshi Bureau, she marinated these things the most delicious!"

Xie Zhaoxin said that Sydney, you are also amazing!
A moment ago, he was still slandering, "This stupid pear is so easy to feed, and when she was pregnant with such a precious family, she would get rid of herself with some sugar and garlic", but in the next moment, she said so lightly who made this thing , her tongue is incomparable to others.

Not only very clever, but also consistent with his preferences.

The two sat on the couch chatting and waiting for the meal to be served. Xue Li sat sideways on his lap, and his hands were pinched back and forth.She felt that he was like "playing" a Wenwan handle, not only holding it very rhythmically, but also looking closely, so she laughed: "What are you doing! It will be patted in a while!"

"..." Xie Zhaoshou glanced at her, stopped "twisting" her hands, and brought her hands to his lips for a kiss, "It's more comfortable to hold than before, soft and tender."

... To put it bluntly, she is fat!

Xue Li glanced at him sideways, stood up, and refused to sit on his lap anymore.She walked over to watch the almonds and the others set the meal, and watched Xiang observe what was delicious today, but Xie Zhao saw her glance at the mirror several times intentionally or unintentionally, frowning every time she glanced.

He couldn't help smiling, walked over to hug her from behind and turned her around: "Don't look, you look good with a little flesh, you look plump!"

Xueli writhed in his arms, muttering, "I must eat less after confinement, because I have gained too much weight recently."

It was the same when she was pregnant with A Yuan, she ate like a big fat pear, which made her afraid to go out for a while.It took Haosheng a lot of work to recover, and when she was able to put on her pre-pregnancy dress again, Sydney felt that it was dawn!

The two used this topic to be intimate for a while, and Sydney was held in his arms to express his grievance and helplessness, so he put his arms around her to coax her, kissed her from time to time, and when the meal was served, the two People stopped in moderation.

They sat down at the table to eat together, and Xueli ordered Mizao to call Ayao and Ayuan.The two children came in separately. A Yuan, who had nothing to do, came early, and A Yao, who was still practicing calligraphy, came a little later after writing the remaining few characters.

As soon as Ah Yao entered the room, he pinched his nose and frowned: "It's so sour! Mom, what are you eating again!"

Oops, I just ate some candied garlic!
Embarrassed by her daughter's condemning tone, Sydney beckoned her to sit down quickly, and immediately took a crab from the plate in front of her and put it on her plate.

Ah Yao has also been greedy for this crab for the past two days, but knowing that Mother can't eat it, she can't bear to mention it—Mother is much more particular about eating than she is!She will get hungry if she eats now!

Now that the crab is in front of her eyes, Ah Yao is very happy, she turns her head to look around, and the people beside her see Ting Han in the room, and said crisply: "Ting Han help me peel it!"

Just as Ting Han was about to step forward, the emperor raised his hand to stop him. He smiled and said, "Father taught you to use eight pieces of crabs. It's interesting to peel them yourself."

As soon as he finished speaking, without further instructions, the palace servant presented two sets of crabs that had been prepared in advance.Hammer, upsetting, pliers, shovel, spoon, fork, scraper, and needle were neatly placed in a small box. Xie Zhao took the square pier and put it on the table, and put a whole crab on the square pier, and then Take the "scissors".

He skillfully cut off the crab legs and claws, seeing that Ayao didn't have enough strength to cut them open, so he held her hand and helped her cut them together.After that, the small hammer knocked around the crab shell finely, and the back shell was removed with a small shovel.

This is ready to eat. The spoon, fork, scraper, and needle must be used flexibly to perfectly eat fresh and tender crab meat and crab roe and crab paste.

This set works well with Sydney as well.When I was a beginner, I felt that there were too many details in the palace, and it was too troublesome to eat crabs like this. After I was familiar with it, I found that eating crabs like this really added a bit of elegance, and it was much more beautiful than breaking the shells with bare hands.

Seeing that A Yao was frowning and trying to fiddle with her and didn't help her, A Yao finally took out a large spoonful of oily and golden crab roe after a long time of muffled tossing, she laughed as soon as she ate it, and fed the next spoonful to A Yuan .

Xie Zhao scratched her nose: "You eat yours, father feeds Ah Yuan."

"Yeah!" Ah Yao should be happy, and then probably suddenly remembered the pitiful thing of "mother can't eat crabs", looked at the dining table, and took a pineapple from the bottom of the south leg pineapple for Sydney.

Sydney likes to eat this very much recently, even if the protagonist of this dish should be the ham on it.

She felt that the ham was too salty, but the pineapple underneath was candied. After steaming with the ham, the outer layer was drenched with a very light salty taste, but the inside was still as sweet as honey.What's more important is that the pineapples coming out of this method are hot, soft and warm in the mouth, and it is very comfortable, and it has a sweet and sour taste. She can eat all the pineapples at the bottom every time, and only a few are left. Slices of ham floated in a thick white sugar soup.

After happily eating three pieces of pineapple sent by A Yao, and eating another squirrel mandarin fish with chopsticks, Sydney saw that Xie Zhao was still feeding A Yuan crabs.

This is more or less related to his recent mood.Probably because he became more and more aware that the brothers were no longer close. When he came to her, he would inadvertently treat the two children very close-although they were close enough at first, but now he is like Sydney. And the two kids liked being with him, too.

It's just that when I look into the reasons occasionally, there will always be a little sadness in Sydney's heart.Biting her lips secretly, she took two crab tendons and fed them to his mouth: "Don't bother feeding him."

"...Mmm." Xie Zhao turned his head and ate.The tendons become delicious after being stained with the taste of crab roe. This dish is light, and it doesn’t feel salty without the staple food. It just feels the chewiness.

After eating, he sighed a little, shook his head, and fed the remaining tender meat of the crab in his hand to Yuan, before he concentrated on eating by himself.

At the beginning of September, when Yu Jia returned to Luo'an, the palace was already preparing for the Double Ninth Festival.

There are many festivals in the palace that follow the emperor's absence - it will be a big one when he is there, and it will be simpler when he is not.

Only on this Double Ninth Festival, his presence or absence doesn't affect the complexity much.The main reason is that the most important thing in the Double Ninth Festival is "respect for the elderly", so regardless of whether he specifically ordered it or not, the palaces still have to congratulate the queen mother and concubines.

On the night of Sydney's return to Liugeyuan, Zhima said that the Empress Dowager's house is empty this year.Although the day has not yet arrived, but in the past, gifts would be delivered everywhere at this time, but there are not many things that have been seen yet.

She frowned and weighed it for a long time, then nodded: "Dousha, you and Nanny Bai go to the library to pick out a few gifts, preferably light, convenient and precious. Then you bring almonds, sesame seeds, dates, brown sugar and give it to me. Send it, you don’t need to enter the palace to meet, just hand it over to the palace man over there, and then kowtow to the Queen Mother at the gate of the palace for me.”

When Dou Sha heard this, she looked very hesitant, but Xue Li only waved her hand to tell her to go quickly, so she had no choice but to go as promised.

Picking up the curtain and entering Nanny Bai's place, Dou Sha carefully asked Nanny Bai what she thought, and told her frankly: "This servant thinks that the lady did not think about it. If you think it's inappropriate, nanny, you can persuade her." The lady is going?"

Before she finished speaking, Bai Momo laughed: "This matter... the lady didn't think about it, it was you who didn't think about it!"

Dou Sha was stunned.

"All right, all right, let's go pick out gifts." Bai Nao took her hand and walked out, "I will go to the Queen Mother in a while and I will go with you. I heard that the Queen Mother has been ill recently. What's the matter, I am also familiar with the nanny next to her, so I can help you block it."

Bai Momo then changed the topic, and then did not explain why Miss Ruan didn't think about it when she picked the gift.She was too lazy to waste her time talking, and Dou Sha didn't ask any questions, but she couldn't bear Xing Ren and Zhi Ma's curiosity, and kept asking her what was the matter here on the way, finally Bai Nao had no choice but to point a few words at these girls.

Bai Nanny said: "In the past, everyone prepared gifts for the Queen Mother because the Queen Mother was powerful. Now I am not prepared, because His Majesty took action to rule the Queen Mother and the Qu family, and acted according to His Majesty's thoughts."

The five maids all nodded, but then seemed to half understand.

Bai Momo sneered: "You guys...you will look at the face of everything! Why don't you think about it, who is Ruan doing things according to who's mind?"

The five of them pondered for a while, and then gradually revealed their dazed expressions!
This is also His Majesty's mind!Regardless of his relationship with the Empress Dowager, he came back early this time, obviously because he didn't want others to accuse him of being unfilial - the original plan was to wait until Lady Ruan finished confinement before returning.

So why would he hope that others "follow his own mind" not to prepare gifts for the Queen Mother?This seems to be screwed with his way of trying to silence everyone!

It was better for Lady Ruan to do it this way. She is close to His Majesty and has the prince Di Ji. Sending a generous gift is not only her own filial piety, but also brings meaning to her children.If it spreads like this, others will praise His Majesty for letting go of past suspicions. This is what His Majesty wants to see!
The few people who were puzzled and apprehensive just now became refreshed and continued to go to Changle Palace with the gift in their hands, doing their business with confidence.

After arriving at Changle Palace, he asked the palace guards at the gate to report in, and after a while, it was Seventh King Xie Han who greeted him in person.

"Thank you, Mrs. Ruan, on behalf of the king." Xie Han nodded slightly and accepted the gift, then pointed to a plate of Double Ninth Cake offered by Lilac and said, "The queen mother rewarded it, and bring it to Ping'an Emperor Ji and the eldest son of the emperor. The queen mother It's getting colder in late autumn, and the child is still young, so there's no need to come over to say hello."

"No." Nanny Bai led the five of them together, knowing in her heart that this was definitely not the Queen Mother's order, but the Seven Kings' own initiative to say it on her behalf.But since it's a scene, it's seen on the scene, and no one will expose it to get to the bottom of it. It's good to cooperate with each other to whitewash the peace.

Therefore, Nanny Bai greeted the Seven Kings with a smile, and said a few auspicious words for Sydney, and then they left.

Behind them, the Seven Kings watched them leave and sighed: "Lilac."

"Your Highness." Ding Xiang stepped forward to obey.

The Seventh King uncovered the apricot-colored silk covering the tray in her hand, and looked at the gifts below: "Put away the others, and present the golden nanmu carving card to the queen mother when she wakes up. Don't mention it too much." Sydney, let’s just say that the eldest son of the emperor picked it out because he liked it.”

"No." Ding Xiang responded respectfully with her eyes downcast, feeling a little uncomfortable in her heart.

She is a few years older than His Highness the Seventh Highness, and it is time for her to be released to marry after the new year.His Highness the Seventh Prince can be regarded as the person she watched grow up. All along, he has always had a little childish temper remaining, he always does things without consideration, and when he gets angry, he even slaps the table and fights.

But in the past four months, he has obviously changed a lot, the last two points of childishness in his eyes have finally disappeared, and he has become very good at dealing with it.

Both Ding Xiang and Zhang Kang knew that His Highness was trying to reconcile the relationship between mother and elder brother.But no one can help, all he can do is watch him struggle with difficulty, with little success.

In the Liugeyuan, Xueli saw the Double Ninth Cake brought back by Nanny Bai, and heard her repeat what the "Queen Dowager" said, and knew that it must be Xie Han's own meaning.

If the Empress Dowager treats A Yuan better, she will still have to pay it back, and she also mentioned "Emperor Ji Ping'an", so it is obviously not from her mouth.

But, that's all, why worry too much about life?Sydney felt that it was good to have a festival, and it didn't matter who rewarded the Double Ninth Cake, even if it was full of politeness, it was still a blessing.

It's silly to make trouble because you don't care about the truth and falsehood!

So she said to A Yao and A Yuan: "Grandma Huang and Uncle Qi have brought you Chongyang Cake, heat it up and eat it!"

A Yuan happily waited for the Double Ninth Cake, and A Yao said, "Leave a copy for Jinshu"——Jinshu went home during the Autumn Festival, but now he is in the palace, just the five-year-old who was admitted to the palace early in the morning to say hello. The king and the fifth concubine took them to greet Concubine Cheng.

After a while, the hot Double Ninth Cake came in, three layers of soft white mixed with colorful.Red and green preserved fruits, red beans, and nuts can be vaguely distinguished, and the brown sugar that hits the face is very sweet and rich.

Xue Li took a piece for A Yao and A Yuan each, and reminded them: "Eat slowly, chew carefully."

It's glutinous rice and nuts, so you'll feel uncomfortable if you eat it in a hurry.

When Xie Zhao came, he saw the mother and son sitting around the table enjoying Chongyang cakes, and there was a small pot of Chongyang wine on the table to meet the occasion—but it was really just "the occasion". Sydney can't drink it if she is pregnant, and the two children are too young. can not drink.

He walked over and poured himself a drink. A Yuan stretched out his chopsticks and poked another piece of Double Ninth Cake. He raised his little hand to feed him: "Father eat it! Grandma sent it!"

Xie Zhao's expression froze in his immature voice, he patted A Yuan's head, and looked sideways at Sydney: "Are you going to see the Queen Mother?"

"No." Xue Li casually patted the empty chair next to him to signal him to sit, and said truthfully, "Isn't today the Double Ninth Festival? I think there should be something to say, so I asked Bai Momo to pick a gift and send it over there. His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince greeted them personally, saying that the Empress Dowager gave some Double Ninth Cakes."

It was so.

He was still wondering why no one had given presents to the Empress Dowager for so many days. A while ago, he suddenly heard that the harem and foreign wives had started to kowtow outside the Changle Palace, so it was her who started it.

"...I want to take a sip, okay?" Xue Li stared at the wine glass in his hand eagerly, Xie Zhao smiled, and poured another half of the glass to her mouth: "Drink, this wine is not strong."

As she drank, she peeked at him, obviously a little guilty.

Xie Zhao snorted and said, "It's fine, it's fine. I was still having a headache, what should I do about this?"

He came back to show his filial piety to the world, but others did not cooperate.He originally thought that if no one went all the time, he would personally go to lead the leader the night before Chongyang Festival, and it would be better if she did it for him a few days earlier.

He also ate a small piece of Double Ninth Cake.

The taste of sweet and sour preserved fruit and sugar blends in the mouth, which is a bit complicated but not unpalatable.It fits well with his state of mind these days. Although it is a bit sour most of the time, there is always someone who can add a touch of sweetness to him.

He drank another glass of wine and looked at Sydney again, but she was just eating the Double Ninth Cake with great concentration, completely unaware of the complexity of his mood.

He looked at her for a long time, but she was still eating, with a look of enjoyment, unaware of his gaze!
Tsk, I'm five months pregnant...

Xie Zhao thought carefully about what he read in medical books at night when she was pregnant with A Yuan, but it was correct for five months.

See you tonight, pear.

(End of this chapter)