Chapter 97
byChapter 97
A Yuan once said that it is not surprising that the food in his restaurant is so delicious that it attracts sages. Who would have thought that this would come true.
Citizens of Chang'an City, who hasn't heard a few stories of the emperor's private visits? Among them, the most widely circulated is Xuanzong's. It is said that the romantic emperor Xuanzong went to Dongshi, first watched Huer singing and dancing and swallowing swords and climbing poles, and then drank a bowl of buttermilk in Qiu's old shop, and another said that it was the cherry glutinous rice eaten in Fuxiangzhai , Naturally, there is also a saying that you drink buttermilk and eat glutinous rice, and then go to Pingkangfang to listen to music, where you see a person who has both the charm of Yang Fei and the talent of Mei Fei...
The later development was different. The versions that the little ladies heard were that the saints were in good spirits, and they played the drums in person and made the prostitute dance a dance of neon clothes and feathers - so Pingkang's neon clothes and feathers were better than the emperor himself. , which is the same as the dance in the Neijiaofang.
What the gentlemen said at their private banquets was much more glamorous. The emperor had to be like this, this, and this with the prostitute. What’s more, the concubine came here with jealousy and caught the rape in bed, and even more so. Some people say that the prostitute was originally a noble concubine, but this is just the fun of the two's boudoir...
In addition to Xuanzong's, there are also Taizong, Gaozong's, Empress Wu... that is the late emperor, there is also such a paragraph - said that the late emperor met a Taoist priest with a straight line on the street. In these stories, restaurants and restaurants often appear as supporting characters passing by, but this time, Shen Ji is the serious protagonist.
After Yuanzheng is over, and people's days are over, the court is going up, the work is starting, but the smell of the festival is still very strong. The people walking on the street are a little lazy, and they still smile and say something when they meet each other. Congratulatory messages such as "Auspicious New Year, Celebrating Longevity without Borders".
The Dongshi Shenji liquor store has passed the peak passenger flow, and Shen Shaoguang is also lazily drinking tea behind the counter and chatting with the steward about changing the new menu for a few days.
The curtain of the store door was lifted, and a group of four or five people came in. Shen Shaoguang turned his head to look over, and couldn't help but be startled.
The steward has already walked over to say hello, "The guests are auspicious for the Spring Festival. Do the guests sit wide in the hall downstairs, or go to the second floor? This hall is convenient for watching teasing, and the second floor is quiet, with high tables and chairs, and exquisite Room."
Qin Xiang, the commander of the Imperial Guard, asked cautiously, "Liulang, why don't you go up?"
The emperor nodded and headed down the stairs to the second floor.
Qin Xiang and Shen Shaoguang had seen them twice from a distance, and then referring to the emperor's face in their impressions, they became more and more certain of their identities. The others behind the emperor, according to the description, should also be the servants and the forbidden army. Several people came in behind them, some were sitting on the first floor, some were guarding the second floor, and it was estimated that there were also people on the street outside the door.
This group of people is not ostentatious, and there are many nobles in Chang'an. The customers in the store don't care, they are listening to Zhang Erlang and the others on the stage.
Zhang Erlang commanded in a grand manner: "You go and tell Hu Liulang, let him buy some good mutton, we eat hot pot, and we only have mutton."
"Tell Feng Saburo again, let him bring some vegetables and tofu, we will eat the pot, and we need some vegetables and tofu."
"Let Li Qilang come to eat the pot, and he said that Hu Liu, Feng San, etc. are all there, and he is missing. Let him bring a fish by the way."
"Fang Erlang's good daughter's wine, let him not be stingy, take a jar and pass it, the brothers conspire to get drunk."
"You absolutely have to tell Thursday to let him bend over to Shen Ji and buy a jar of old soup at the bottom of the pot. Without this, it would be tasteless to rinse anything!"
...
A Dou, who played the slave, asked, "Since Alang treats guests, what should we prepare? The slave bought it together."
Zhang Erlang, the old god of "dispatching troops" is in the tunnel, "Boil a pot on the stove and boil water."①
The guests were all hahaha, the emperor sitting by the fence on the second floor also laughed, and the servants and the imperial guards also laughed.
When the steward came back to get the recipe on the cabinet, Shen Shaoguang took the opportunity to instruct him, but he went to the back kitchen.
With a smile on his face, the emperor asked the wine shop steward, "Does your shop still take out old soup at the bottom of the pot?"
The steward smiled and said, "It's also sold. Many customers always say that they can't make the taste of our restaurant at home. Most of them are because of the lack of this pot of soup."
A regular customer shouted to Zhang Erlang downstairs, "Where's the pot? Shen Ji's pot is specially made."
Zhang Erlang patted his head, "Look at me! Then add Liu Ba and let him ask Shen Ji if he sells pots or not."
The regular customer raised his voice and called the steward, "Steward, steward! Do you sell pots in your liquor store?"
The steward and the honored guest in front of him charged the crime, came to the stairs and said, "We don't sell pots. Someone said that if you want to eat pots, you should come to the restaurant to eat them, not to mention the taste is not good, at least not Let these stingy people be deceived." He pointed at Zhang Erlang.
The seriousness of his speech made people laugh even more, and the crowd laughed more and more.
The steward also returned with a smile and continued to greet the emperor and his party.
The emperor smiled and praised: "Your store is so teasing! Who came up with this?"
The steward smiled apologetically: "Our store uses special cakes as compensation, and asks customers to leave their funny stories, and then our store owner selects and cuts them. There are often stories of several customers in a paragraph, and it's really hard to say who this is. figured it out."
The emperor nodded, thinking that the owner of the shop was really ingenious. It turns out that a wine shop can also "spread the word"... and thought, perhaps people should come to the folks to gather.
In charge of serving the recipe, the emperor bowed his head and turned it over.
Shen Ji's recipes are also a major feature of the restaurant. In addition to the name of the dish, there is one or two introductions, or special practices, or interesting comments, or poems written by past diners, or small allusions. It is beautiful and different from the current books, but it is bound with butterfly pages, which is very convenient to turn.
The emperor was just flipping through it casually, but he looked at it from behind, "Interesting... Not to mention eating, just looking at it is interesting."
The steward laughed.
The emperor looked at the servants beside him, and the servants didn't understand, "The slave has already written it down." Back to the dining room, he also got such a book.
The emperor ordered the classic milk soup pot, and a bunch of meat and vegetables such as mutton, fish balls, and shrimp balls.
The running hall brought tea, cakes, and fruits arranged by Shen Shaoguang, and the steward helped set them up, and then led the running hall back.
When they arrived at the back kitchen, the steward reported the menu to Shen Shaoguang, who instructed the kitchen to prepare dishes according to the emperor's taste.
The steward asked, "Who is this guest? The little lady is so careful."
Shen Shaoguang didn't say much to his "shush" action.
The hot pot dishes were prepared quickly, Shen Shaoguang personally adjusted the basic dipping ingredients, and put some other ingredients on the tray. The steward came in and took the hall to send it up.
The emperor was looking at the poetry collection on the table, and asked the steward with a smile: "Who is the owner of the East Hall who wrote the preface? It's a talented person."
The steward smiled apologetically: "Returning to the distinguished guest, I heard that he is a friend of our master."
The emperor is just asking casually. At this time, there are many scholars who help to write various articles to make money, and most of the so-called friends are like this. The emperor looked at the pompous wording of the preface to the poem, and felt that 80% of it was a high-ranking official in the court - if he could get them to write it, the shop owner had made a lot of money.
The emperor didn't care about the officials. Xianzong even gave 500 pieces of silk for Han Tui's writing of the Huaixi stele. Even when the first emperor, there was a "book of thousands of gold" to help people write the stele inscriptions. , One word can be worth a thousand pieces of gold.
But...the emperor remembered this interesting teasing and a very ingenious recipe again, and it is possible to say who such a shopkeeper is friends with the court. The emperor is angry again, why don't I have such a fun friend who can tinker with food?
Throwing down the collection of poems, the emperor asked Qin Xiang to accompany him to eat.
Qin Xiang pleaded guilty, "In this way, the slaves have overstepped."
Although Qin Xiang is now the commander of the forbidden army, he was originally a servant by the emperor's side - or because of this, he became the commander of the forbidden army, and serving the emperor is the ability of the family.
He poured out a bit of the dipping sauce, tapped it with chopsticks, and said, "Well—this taste is already enough, and it's not good to add anything else." Then he poured out the dipping sauce plate for the emperor.
According to the emperor's taste, Qin Xiang put some fish balls into the pot first.
The steward smiled and said, "The fish balls in our shop are all made from fresh fish. They are cooked right in the pot and very tender. You need to use a spoon to fish them out."
Qin Xiang fished out the fish balls, put them in his plate and the emperor's plate, and tasted one of them first, "Liulang tastes it, the servant thinks it's very good."
The emperor tasted one, and it was really tender and fresh. It melted almost without chewing when you put it in your mouth. The dish was also very good. Some leek flowers and cornel were spicy, but not too strong. Then he cooked shrimp balls, and all kinds of meat and vegetables, and the emperor began to eat them seriously.
In fact, the emperor was not hungry at all. In the afternoon, after listening to Wu Xian of the Imperial Guard and a few small captains discussing going to Shenji in Dongshi to eat hot pot, and talking about how good the meal was last time, the emperor remembered that Fuhui also said that there is such a restaurant. I got this pot from there, and Li Xianggong liked it. I think it was the same family who came here.
The hot pot here is not so much better than the one in the palace, but it is especially satisfying to eat ironing. , can't I do it at home? The emperor smiled incredulously.
Besides, the atmosphere here is really good, and the teasing downstairs has changed again.
"It's not that I don't like to study, it's that I get hungry when I see it."
"I'm not like you, I'm sleepy at first glance."
"Oh, how can you be sleepy?"
"How are you so hungry?"
"See for yourself, 'Two orioles mingle with green willows', tsk tsk, two orioles, is it bad to eat fried? Or is it bad to eat dry? OK."
"There is also this 'the peony in front of the court is unqualified, and the florets on the pond are pure and unloving. Only the peony is truly national, and it moves the capital when the flowers are in bloom', candied peony, fried peony, sugar-steamed peony... Fragrance is not fragrant, just Do you smell good?"
...
There was a roar of laughter downstairs.
The emperor also smiled. During the New Year, eating such a delightful hot pot, watching the leisurely and comfortable appearance of his own people, the emperor calmed down because of the rebellion in Shannan Road a while ago. In general, the world is still prosperous and peaceful. . And motivated myself, so that they can eat this hot pot every day, I heard this teasing, no matter how hard I work, what is there?
Shen Shaoguang didn't know that her hot pot gave the emperor so much confidence. What she knew was that the emperor left behind more than 20 taels of silver, and wrote a poem in the collection. What surprised her even more was that when the emperor and his party left, Qin Xiang was recognized by a diner, and he was able to be served by Qin Commander in front of and behind the horse... So the truth about the melon-eating crowd came to light.
In a few days, the legend spread that the emperor secretly went out of the palace to eat hot pot.
Shen Shaoguang explained to the steward, and was asked to be ambiguous and vague - one is that ambiguous guessing is more topical, and the other is avoidance. At the same time, the emperor's not-so-smart poem was written on paper by Shen Shaoguang, which was framed and hung in the lobby, attracting waves of guests to Shen Ji.
The author has something to say: ① Classic hot pot jokes on the Internet.
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