Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Jiang Shangxian inevitably started to get distracted when he suddenly saw his female idol: it wasn't even the season for peonies to bloom yet, but she was wearing one. It seemed like it was specially cultivated in the palace. I wonder if the Siyuansi was good at cultivating peonies to bloom in advance, or if this empress was not as unpopular in the early days as she was in the TV series?

Seeing her lost in thought, Li Xueyan grew anxious and secretly pinched her waist, "What are you doing? Why don't you greet Wu Cairen?"

Yes, yes, yes, you have to be polite, you have to be polite!

"Greetings, Lady Wu!" Jiang Shangxian was startled back to her senses by the pain. She was really too excited, and her mind began to wander uncontrollably. This is the empress!

Think about those modern star-chasing girls who scream when they see their idols. It was already a tough guy for her to see the living, breathing Wu Zetian without collapsing at the sight of her.

Wu Meiniang paid no attention to her absent-mindedness. Instead, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand and smiled vaguely. Although her face was round, she was young after all, and her firmness made people happy. She spoke frankly, "What's the use of talent or not? There are nine talented people in the palace. If you call out 'talented', many people will respond!"

Jiang Shangxian didn't dare to respond, and neither did Li Xueyan. Didn't they see that although the six people had their heads lowered, their ears were perked up?

It is not certain whether you will be punished for making irresponsible remarks about the concubines in the harem, but if the news gets back to the palace and the concubines hold a grudge against you and make things difficult for you, that would be an undeserved disaster.

Fortunately, Wu Meiniang only made a small complaint and quickly got down to business: "Wu Niang said those snacks and the instant noodles were all made by you?"

She looked at Jiang Shangxian and felt a little satisfied. He seemed to be about the same age as her and also had a plump face. She liked girls with some flesh on them like her. Those girls who were as skinny as bamboo poles and had not a pound of flesh on their bodies could not even hold up a piece of clothing. They looked pitiful as if they had not had enough food. Women should be plump and round to look good.

"In reply to Lady Wu, it was indeed done by me." Jiang Shangxian was honest yet respectful at this moment. Putting aside historical achievements, anyone who has made contributions to the status of women deserves admiration.

As for the merits and demerits of Emperor Wu, it will be up to future scholars to judge, and someone as insignificant as her is not qualified to make such comments.

"What's that roast duck you have? Is it ready to eat?" Li Xueyan saw that she was a little nervous and embarrassed, so she joked to ease the situation: "I'm so greedy, I heard that they only made two. That's a deal, you have to give one to us, right, Mei Niang!"

She was a daughter of the royal family. Although Wu Meiniang was a concubine, she was only a talented person of the fifth rank. When the two of them interacted, there was no clear distinction between superiors and subordinates. What's more, because of the food issue, Wu Meiniang became closer to Li Shimin.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken this matter so seriously just for the sake of satisfying her appetite.

"Almost done, preparing the side dishes."

Jiang Shangxian was obviously relieved when facing her best friend. She grinned and said, "You're here with us. It's better not to stand here. I'll give it to you as soon as it's ready."

The smell of roast duck was getting stronger and stronger, and the whole backyard was filled with the overbearing aroma of roast duck. Wu Meiniang heard this and said, "Let's keep the other one for now."

If it was really that delicious, she would bring it back for His Majesty to try, so that they could dine together and strengthen their relationship.

Jiang Shangxian understood the implication of her words and sighed in his heart, but on the surface he still looked like an honest man: "Yes, don't worry."

After respectfully watching the group leave in a mighty procession, the three disciples rushed out impatiently. Zhou Ying, the loudmouth, was the first to ask, "Master, who is that? Why did you bring so many people? Are they from out of town?"

Lexianlou has guards. Generally, the dignitaries from Chang'an who come here to eat would not bring so many people with them. Only those from other places would bring so many servants. They spoke in a low voice just now, so naturally no one inside heard what they said.

"Don't ask about things you shouldn't ask about." Jiang Shangxian was also worried about this disciple. He wanted to make sure that this chatterbox and nosy person didn't cause any trouble.

Fortunately, although Zhou Ying was a little loudmouth, she was very smart. After hearing what she said, she didn't ask any further questions. It was unknown what she was thinking.

"Okay, let's go see how the duck is roasting. I think it's almost done." Jiang Shangxian turned and walked towards the small earthen kiln.

When the wooden planks at the kiln entrance were removed, a fragrant aroma, accompanied by a wave of heat, swept over. Xiao Jiang, with his dog nose, was almost unable to breathe because of the stench. He immediately held his breath and took several steps back, constantly fanning his nose: "Come on."

This nose caused her trouble most of the time. Her overly sensitive nose was really annoying. For example, when she squatted on the toilet, she had to grab a small piece of cloth to plug her nostrils every time. She didn't know whether her nostrils were stretched, but she felt that the smell was stronger than before with her nostrils blocked.

Really unlucky!

As expected, one can only understand how something feels when it happens to oneself. Now she can even empathize with dogs!

"Master, this roast duck is really good!" Wang Wan and Li Meng each held a roast duck in their hands. The duck skin was plump and exuded an oily luster, the sugar color was perfect, and the whole roast duck had an amber color.

"Color, fragrance, and taste, now it has all the color and fragrance, and the only thing left is this taste..." Zhou Ying felt his mouth watering: "Master, let's try it!"

What chef wouldn't try a new dish? Not to mention the three apprentices, even Jiang Shangxian was drooling. She had been looking forward to this roast duck for so long!

"Eat, eat, and eat!"

Jiang Shangxian, who was unable to get what she wanted, was no longer so sad at the moment. The art of diverting sadness was a good thing. She looked at her three disciples who kept swallowing their saliva with evil intentions and said in a mean way, "The nobleman just said that one should be sent now and the other should be kept. Don't touch a single one!"

"Ah!" The three disciples groaned in unison. They had nearly caught a cold from fanning themselves so hard, and now they couldn't even eat a single bite!!!

How could this be possible? How could such a mad and insane thing exist in this world?

"Stop yelling and go get the knife and ingredients ready. This has to be eaten while it's hot."

Jiang Shangxian rolled her eyes at them. Who could be more miserable than her?

It would be fine if I couldn't even have a bite, but I even had to perform a roast duck demonstration while watching others eat it!

But at least she met Emperor Wu, and her third mission finally had some clues.

As for the roast duck...

"Kill ten more later and I'll come back to cook them. Okay, stop yelling. When the roast duck slices are done, I'll bring them back to make crispy duck racks. I'll save some duck butts for you guys to eat. And after you finish eating them, you have to tell me what they taste like, okay?"

The roast duck can be made again, at most we will just eat it one day later, but the mission is more important!