Kaifeng Bistro

"Huh? Zhifeng, what are you holding?!" Early in the morning, Zhuozhuo dressed up and walked downstairs, only to see Tan Zhifeng and Changshang holding a lifelike and delicate bird in the shape of a flying swallow strung together by a string of wicker Xiaobing walked out, and she couldn't help asking curiously: "Today is the Cold Food Festival, isn't Brother Bai going to take us out to play? Why do you still have time to make these weird things here?"

"Cold Food Festival? You know how to go out to play, but do you know the origin of this Cold Food Festival?" Yi Yi taunted her and said, "Don't think that you can get someone's favor if you go out in a fancy dress, as soon as they talk to you When you get up, you know that your mind is empty, why don't you turn around and leave right away?"

"You disgusting green-clothed monster!" Burning smoke from the seven orifices: "What are you talking about? How could I not know what the cold food festival is all about?! Cold food, cold food is not the day that everyone is not allowed to light fire for cooking, So should I prepare some food that can be eaten directly in advance? I just wonder what the bunch of swallows in Zhifeng's hand are for..."

"This one is called 'Zi Tui Yan'." When Zhuo Zhuo Yi was arguing in the room, Bai Yutang walked in with a smile. He was wearing a moon-white satin embroidered cloak with a light blue shirt inside. When the morning sun shines, his face is as white as jade and his spirit is radiant.

Seeing that Bai Yutang was the only one coming, Zhuo Zhuo happily ran over with his skirt in hand, asking non-stop around him: "Brother Bai, what is Zituiyan? Why does it have to be hung at the door?"

Yi Yi snorted disdainfully, and muttered: "This stupid girl's flowering period is here, Tan Zhifeng, you have to watch her carefully, don't let her jump up when she sees a good-looking one when she goes out..."

"What?!" Tan Zhifeng's reaction was completely beyond Yi Yi's expectation, he pulled Yi Yi's sleeve anxiously and asked, "You, you said that the blooming period is here, what will happen to her when the flowering period is here?"

Yi Yi glanced at Tan Zhifeng wonderingly: "Why are you so nervous? It's not like you haven't seen her like this before, it's just that she is a little more unreasonable than usual. But you have to be careful. At this time, she is very nervous. It's easy to be fooled by some man who doesn't know where he came from."

"Yes." Tan Zhifeng said to himself: "Zhaozhuo has a flowering period every year, and she doesn't seem to have done anything out of the ordinary..."

But as soon as he said these words, several scenes came to Tan Zhifeng's mind. In these scenes, Zhuo Zhuo was either wearing a translucent dress and singing loudly on the balcony, or holding a wine glass and pulling the guests to dance on the dance floor. Without stopping, Tan Zhifeng was startled, and quickly closed his mouth, but then he remembered what Xu Gan said to him that night: "...your flowering period is different from other flowers, it usually blooms in summer. The time is also very short. So, you don't have to worry about anything. But..." He paused here, took Tan Zhifeng's hand and looked at him, and whispered to him: "If you want to try, this may It's a great opportunity."

Tan Zhifeng was stunned at the time, and didn't have time to ask Xu Gan what it meant, but after that, these words always echoed in his ears.He wanted so badly to find out, but who was he to ask?He glanced at Yi Yi, who was like an expert in the world with fluttering clothes, and then looked at Zhuo Zhuan who was affectionately pulling Bai Yutang to ask questions. He lowered his head again, and Chang Chang was staring at the round Looking at him: "Brother Zhifeng, what did you just say? Flowering period? I... Do I have a flowering period too?"

Tan Zhifeng felt dizzy all of a sudden, he took Changshang's hand and handed his string of chubby little swallows to him: "Go, hang this out with me."

Chang Chang nodded obediently, forgetting the question he just asked.Tan Zhifeng also heaved a sigh of relief.Bai Yutang is still patiently explaining the origin of "Zitui Yan" to Zhuo Zhuo: "... Jie Zitui refused to be an official, and lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan Mountain. In order to let him go down the mountain, Jin Wengong Chonger ordered someone to come here A fire was set at the foot of the mountain, but after the fire was extinguished, people found that Jie Zitui and his mother had burned to death holding a tree on the mountain..."

"Why is this Duke Wen of Jin so bad?" Zhuozhuo said indignantly after hearing this: "If someone doesn't want to be an official, he won't do it. How can there be any reason to set fire to the mountain to force him to come out? The last great hero was burned to death by him. Doesn't he feel guilty at all?"

"That's right," Bai Yutang also said: "Everyone has his own ambitions. Later generations always say that Jie Zitui is too stupid, but he just did what he wanted to do, but he was burned to death by Chong Er because of it. Is it a bad talent?!"

"Shangshang..." Tan Zhifeng just wanted Shangshang to sit on his shoulders so that he could hang the string of "zitui swallows" under the eaves, but Xu Yan came to them at some point, and he raised his hand to pull Tan Zhifeng He got up and said to them, "I'll come."

Tan Zhifeng handed the bunch of wicker knots to Xu Gan, and Xu Gan stood on tiptoe, hanging the grass ring on a small protruding iron piece under the eaves.It was originally used to hang a wooden sign saying whether it is open today. "Today is the Cold Food Festival." Tan Zhifeng said, "I sold a lot of dim sum yesterday, so I don't need to open the door today. Let's go out with Brother Bai and have fun."

Seeing Tan Zhifeng's expectant look, Xu Gan couldn't help but twitch his lips and nodded.When they came to the tavern, Zhuo Zhuo had already served breakfast.Then, she introduced the same thing: "This is Qingjing rice. I use the branches and leaves of some trees to pound out the juice, and then use this juice to soak the good round-grained rice for an hour or two... Steam the round-grained rice and dry it in the sun. You can put away the rice grains when they turn emerald green."

"It's Nanzhumu." Tan Zhifeng said: "It's also called Eclipta chinensis. Come, everyone, try it."

The porcelain white bowl was filled with turquoise and fragrant rice, and on the table were plates of pickles and various snacks that Tan Zhifeng had marinated a few days ago.Although they couldn't cook with fire, they ate a hearty breakfast.With a smile on his face, Bai Yutang picked up a jade-like pastry ball and said to Tan Zhifeng, "This is a youth ball from the south of the Yangtze River. It's made with mugwort leaves and glutinous rice. I want to try it. Zhifeng knows how good your skills are."

Bai Yutang took a bite, and his lips and teeth were filled with the faint fragrance of mugwort leaves. "Well, soft and waxy, sweet but not greasy... not bad."

Tan Zhifeng said with a smile: "It's not in vain to get your praise, Big Brother Bai. I was busy until midnight yesterday. Come on, try this again..."

"Oh, Zhifeng," Zhuozhuo urged after eating a bowl of green rice, "I'm going out for an outing today, I don't want to spend all my time eating. Brother Bai said yesterday that the palace will send a car this morning." Ma is going to pay homage to the imperial tomb, let's go out and have a look!"

"Okay, eat slowly, I'll go to the back to get something, and we'll leave right away." Tan Zhifeng said, went to the back kitchen, took a food box and came out.Seeing that everyone's eyes were on the food box, Tan Zhifeng said: "Oh... this is... the lotus cake I told Zhou Yanjing last time that I would bring it to his daughter. His house is in the suburbs. Let's go for an outing and send it to his home by the way."

Everyone was silent for a while when they heard Zhou Yanjing's name. Shangshang and Ling'er ate a few green balls, and the rest of the people were almost full. They simply cleaned up the dishes, then closed the door and walked out of the city.

Although it was still early, as Bai Yutang said, the Imperial Street had already been fenced off with black wooden fences, ready to allow the carriages and horses sent by the palace to go to Fengxian Temple to worship the deceased concubine.It is said that the chariot tent for the sacrifice is very spectacular, and the common people gathered around both sides just like they waited to watch the white elephant on the winter solstice day, hoping to see the elegant demeanor of the palace caravan before leaving the city.

Xu Gan asked Ling'er to sit on his shoulder, holding Changshang with one hand and Tan Zhifeng with the other.Tan Zhifeng looked into the Imperial Street, and saw two rows of fluttering silk gauze palace lanterns clearing the way, followed by a group of palm fans, and the procession of offering sacrifices from the palace came slowly towards this side.The difference from the winter solstice was that the sacrificial convoy was covered with azure veils, the car body was inlaid with copper ornaments, and the pearl curtains swayed slightly, shining moistly in the sun.Bai Yutang couldn't help sighing beside Tan Zhifeng: "If you only look at this guard of honor, you really feel that today is a peaceful and prosperous world!"

Tan Zhifeng didn't answer, but he knew what Bai Yutang meant.In the past few days, Zhan Zhao said that the news of the border crossing came one after another, but he didn't know which was true and which was false, but no matter whether it was in the court or in the market, everyone had a feeling that the temporary peace would soon be over. it's over.

The long convoy was still moving, but the people couldn't wait any longer. From their discussions, Tan Zhifeng could probably hear that the most interesting place on this day was not inside Kaifeng City, but outside the city.Just like the convoy of sacrificial convoys in the palace, everyone walked out of the city along the Royal Street. As soon as the convoy passed by, they saw young women with heavy makeup riding donkeys, wearing beautiful summer gowns, veiled hats, and He walked towards the city gate with the towel tied on his hat, standing out from the crowd.Zhuo Zhuo couldn't help asking Bai Yutang: "Which family are they girls from? Why are they dressed so boldly?"

Bai Yutang said with a smile: "They are all women from brothels, you will see later that there must be some dudes riding behind them, and when they are outside the city, they will gallop in front of these women and compete with each other , although it’s ridiculous, but sometimes it’s worth seeing.”

"Then, will those big ladies also come out for an outing?" Zhuo Zhuo continued to ask.

"That's natural," Bai Yutang said, "However, female family members of wealthy families usually sit in small sedan chairs, but on this day, in order to enjoy the spring scenery, they generally don't put down the curtains, so the scholars who go out of the city and Among the children of the aristocratic family, there are probably many who want to see the beauty of these ladies in the capital!"

Zhuo Zhuo looked around, and saw that none of the young men coming and going was as handsome as Bai Yutang, and his manners were unrestrained. She looked around again, and saw the eyes of the girls passing by were all on Bai Yutang After sweeping away, many girls even cast envious looks at her.Zhuo Zhuo was in a good mood immediately, she straightened her chest, and was about to raise her hand to hold Bai Yutang's arm, but someone pulled her from behind, pulling her away from Bai Yutang's side.When she looked back, it turned out that Tan Zhifeng was looking at her suspiciously.

"Zhifeng, what are you doing?" Zhuo Zhuo said unhappily, "It's not easy for me to have such a chance to go shopping with Big Brother Bai."

"I want to ask you," Tan Zhifeng looked back, and found that Xu Yan was taking Ling'er and Shangshang to stop in front of a paper shop, so he quickly turned around and said to Zhuo Zhuo: "Yi Yi Said that your flowering period has arrived, so..."