Don't be a salted fish, the daily life of the concubine in the palace

...

On the other side, Cai Lian followed Shen Wei's instructions and took half a piece of floating brocade and went to the most famous "Wangfeng Cloth Shop" in Yanjing in a low-key manner.

After some bargaining, this half piece of floating brocade was sold for one thousand and two taels of silver.

Cai Lian put away the banknotes, put on a white veil hat, and followed Shen Wei's instructions, walking around the street a few times in a low-key manner, and then quietly returned to the palace.

Not long after, a middle-aged man with a big belly and dressed in fancy clothes walked into Wangfeng Cloth Shop.

This person was the steward of Prince Heng's palace. He said in a haughty tone, "Boss, bring out the best fabrics!"

The shopkeeper did not dare to delay and respectfully invited the steward into the VIP box and asked someone to take out the best cloth at the moment.

The steward of Prince Heng's mansion fell in love with the half piece of floating brocade at first sight.

Next month, the Prince of Yan's residence will prepare for a spring banquet, and Prince Heng is also on the invitation list. Prince Heng and Prince of Yan have always been at odds, and Prince Heng had long ago instructed the steward to buy the best fabrics to make clothes, so as to overpower Prince Yan in terms of momentum.

The floating luster brocade fabric is smooth, with a faint silver sheen. It is obviously suitable for making clothes for Prince Heng, and is worthy of Prince Heng's royal temperament.

The steward took out the silver and said, "I want this one—but why is it only half a horse?"

The cloth shop owner was shrewd after all. He smiled and explained, "The production area of ​​​​Floating Light Brocade was hit by disasters this year. It's already good to have half a piece of Floating Light Brocade."

The steward didn't think much about it.

Pay the money, take the cloth, and leave.

...

Cai Lian entered the palace from the back door in a low-key manner, carrying a thousand taels of silver. As she walked, Cai Lian suddenly saw Zhang Yue, the maid in the flower room.

Zhang Yue held a package in her hand, looked around furtively, and then secretly left the palace.

Cai Lian frowned secretly, wondering what bad thing had Zhang Yue done?

Cailian has always been a bold and careful girl, and she felt vaguely uneasy. Since Shen Wei moved to Fangfei Garden, Cailian has run into Zhang Yue outside the yard several times.

Zhang Yue acted stealthily, as if spying on Fangfei Garden.

So Cai Lian secretly followed Zhang Yue and saw Zhang Yue run to a medicine shop in Yanjing and stay there for a long time before coming out.

After Cai Lian returned to Fangfei Garden, she handed over a silver note of 1,000 taels to Shen Wei.

Shen Wei fondled the banknotes and said, "The radish and cabbage seedlings in the yard are ready to be picked. Caiping, go to the kitchen and ask for some fresh meat, chili peppers, and a copper pot. I'm going to cook hot pot in the yard tonight."

It has been a month since I planted the vegetables and it is time for the initial harvest.

Cai Ping was full of questions: "Hot pot? What is hot pot?"

Shen Wei smiled and said, "You'll know tonight."

Although Cai Ping was confused, she still went to the kitchen to get ingredients according to the list given by Shen Wei.

Now Shen Wei is in favor, and the kitchen will give her whatever ingredients she wants.

This is the treatment of a concubine.

After Caiping left, Shen Wei took out the materials for making the mask and began to slowly make the mask again. Cailian was helping her. Shen Wei saw that Cailian looked strange, so she asked, "Did you run into trouble when you went out to sell cloth?"

Cai Lian shook her head and told Shen Wei truthfully, "Master, I saw Zhang Yue at the backyard door today. She was hiding something in her arms and sneaking to the medicine shop in Yanjing. I don't know what she was doing."

Shen Wei thought for a moment, and then she took out a few taels of silver from her own small treasury: "Cai Lian, we need some spices for the hot pot, so go to the Yanjing shop again. While buying spices, find out why Zhang Yue went to the medicine shop."

Be prepared for danger in times of peace. Shen Wei had already noticed Zhang Yue's strange behavior.

Zhang Yue is Shen Wei's "former colleague". She has repeatedly advised Shen Wei not to become a concubine and has been waiting to see Shen Wei make a fool of herself.

Shen Wei could understand Zhang Yue's complicated psychology, which is commonly known as - she is afraid that her sisters will suffer, and she is also afraid that her sisters will drive a Land Rover.

Your own failure is terrible, but your colleague's success is even more worrying.

Shen Wei had to prepare in advance.

"Don't worry, master. I'll go right away." Cai Lian clutched the silver and quickly left the palace to investigate.

As dusk approached, Cai Lian hurried back to Fangfei Garden.

At this time, Shen Wei was directing everyone to work: Jixiang and Deshun, two young eunuchs, were responsible for tying up the rack for cooking hot pot, while Caiping and Rong Mama were cutting meat, preparing vegetables, and preparing hot pot base.

Seeing Cai Lian coming back, Shen Wei called her into the house.

Cai Lian reported in a low voice: "Master, I asked the clerk in the medicine shop. He said that Zhang Yue brought a bag of medicine residue for the clerk to identify. That bag of medicine residue is the medicinal material for the contraceptive soup."

Only Cailian and Caiping, two of Shen Wei's confidants, knew that Shen Wei was secretly taking contraceptive soup.

Every time after taking the contraceptive soup, the residue would be buried in a remote corner.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yue actually dug out the medicine residue.

The concubine secretly took the contraceptive soup. If the King of Yan knew about it, there would probably be another bloody storm.

"Master, we must take precautions early." Cai Lian was worried. Cai Lian and Cai Ping were not happy to work at Fang Fei Garden at first.

But Shen Wei was generous and kind, and she did not treat her servants harshly. She could be considered the most tolerant master in the entire palace.

Cai Lian has completely stood on Shen Wei's side and considers Shen Wei in everything.

Shen Wei touched her chin and thought for a moment: "Please invite the prince to eat hot pot tonight."

Cailian: "What about the contraceptive soup?"

Shen Wei smiled and said, "I have my own way."

For some reason, Cai Lian suddenly felt relieved when she saw Shen Wei's ambitious look. It seemed that there was nothing in this world that Shen Wei couldn't do.

Cailian was no longer worried and returned to the yard to help Caiping and Rong Mama prepare the hot pot ingredients.

...

The moon was above the willows. After finishing his official duties, Prince Yan, accompanied by the eunuch Fugui and two personal guards, walked into Shen Wei's Fangfei Garden.

The King of Yan has not yet had his dinner.

He was exhausted after working all day and just wanted to come to Shen Wei's place to rest. Only with Shen Wei did he feel comfortable and free from worries.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, King Yan smelled a strong fragrance. The moonlight was bright, and two large lanterns were hung on the beams of Fangfei Garden, illuminating the entire Fangfei Garden.

Shen Wei and the maids and eunuchs were busy around a copper pot. The copper pot was boiling with fragrant water, and there were slices of meat and green leaves in it.

That fragrance was something King Yan had never smelled before!

It's simply mouth-watering.

"Your Highness, you're back!" Shen Wei's eyes lit up immediately when she saw Prince Yan, and she put down her bowl and chopsticks to greet him.

Cai Lian, Cai Ping and others stood up respectfully and stood on both sides.

King Yan held Shen Wei's hand and asked curiously, "What are you eating?"

Shen Wei smiled and said, "Hot pot!"

As she spoke, Shen Wei led the King of Yan to the table. Cai Lian and Cai Ping quickly cleaned up the table and replaced the bowls, chopsticks and soup base with new ones.

The Prince of Yan had been busy with official duties all day and was already starving.

He looked curiously at the boiling copper pot in front of him. The interior of the copper pot was divided into two parts by a patch - one half was filled with tomatoes and radishes, and the soup was clear; the other half was filled with bright red peppers, which were very spicy.

The Prince of Yan did not like spicy food, and when he saw the half pot of boiling chili peppers, he frowned.

Shen Wei took action herself, picked up a thin slice of lean meat with chopsticks, and dipped it into the clear soup pot for a few seconds.

The red lean meat slices quickly turn white and are cooked.

Shen Wei put the cooked lean meat into the seasoning plate. She knew that King Yan didn't like spicy food, so she made a special duo hot pot.

The hot pot dipping sauce for Yan Wang is made of sesame, sesame paste, spices, green onions and sesame oil. The cooked meat slices roll in the dipping sauce and are covered with the fragrant dipping sauce.

"Your Highness, please try it." Shen Wei brought the cooked meat to Prince Yan's mouth.

King Yan took a tentative bite and his eyes lit up instantly: Delicious!

"Spring nights are cool, perfect for hot pot." Shen Wei said with a smile, "Your Highness, please eat more."

The King of Yan ate five or six slices of pork in a row and loved it more and more.

The eunuchs and maids serving nearby could only stare at them, swallowing their saliva silently.

It smells so good...

I want to eat.

Prince Yan ate the clear soup pot, while Shen Wei ate the red soup pot.

She likes spicy food, the spicier it is. Putting pork belly slices, mutton slices, tripe and meatballs into the red soup pot, cooking them, then taking them out and putting them into her special bowl of chili dipping sauce is simply irresistible.

King Yan saw that she was eating with great relish, his eyes fell on the bright red spicy hot pot, and asked: "Is the meat in this chili soup delicious?"

Shen Wei nodded: "Of course, I like spicy food."

King Yan tentatively picked up a piece of meat from the spicy pot and took a bite. The spicy taste was so irritating that it made his tongue hurt.

It's too spicy!

Fugui, who was standing nearby, was startled when he saw this and was about to step forward to stop the King of Yan from eating, but he saw Shen Wei had already prepared and handed over the homemade sour plum soup.

The icy sour plum soup quickly dissipated the spicy taste. King Yan frowned and never touched the half pot of spicy soup again.

"Spicy food is bad for your stomach, eat less." King Yan reminded Shen Wei.

Shen Wei didn't care: "I like spicy food, I want to eat it."

Prince Yan smiled helplessly. He liked Shen Wei's personality: she was innocent and lively, yet she remained true to herself.

If it were any other concubine, after hearing Prince Yan admonish her to "eat less spicy food", she would never touch chili peppers again from then on.

But Shen Wei is different, she likes spicy food, so she will insist on it. This is her personality, which is different from other docile concubines in the palace.

"You can eat spicy food in moderation, but not too much. The imperial physician said that you are weak and have a deficient spleen and stomach." King Yan smiled and shook his head, letting Shen Wei do as she pleased.

Fugui, who was standing next to him, was stunned.

As expected of Master Shen, he actually made the prince compromise! Tsk tsk, things are about to change in the palace.

Shen Wei rubbed her stomach, and seemed to feel that she had eaten too much meat and felt a little greasy. So she stood up, ran to the edge of the vegetable field, picked some of the growing cabbage and radish seedlings, and asked Caiping to wash them with clean water.

"Your Highness, please try this. These are the vegetables I grew myself." Shen Wei put the washed vegetable leaves into the clear soup pot.

Greens cook quickly.

The King of Yan had just eaten a lot of meat. Now he ate two chopsticks of cabbage leaves. The fresh and refreshing leaves immediately dispelled the greasy taste of the meat.

However, King Yan looked at the small leaves and smiled and shook his head: "Weiwei, the vegetables you planted are not growing well - come here, pick some of the vegetables I planted."