Chapter 144 New Year's Eve Banquet

Like last year, the participants are still harems, clans, important ministers, and subordinate envoys, etc., but at a glance, they will find that the number of people is much higher than last year. Although the Yanping Hall is grand and wide, it is not a problem to accommodate many people, but it is a little cramped. After Feng Yuqi succeeded to the throne, he has been following the ancient legacy and advocating thrift with the people. He has never built a lot of construction. At this moment, he has also decided to expand the banquet hall after the beginning of spring.

At the beginning, the queen still sang a congratulatory message. Under the leadership of the queen, everyone present prayed for the world. There was no clutter in the words. The words were about to fall, and the deep echo was still lingering around the sorghum, but the hall seemed to be so quiet that even the sound of breathing could be clearly heard. At this moment, the banquet hall seems to be particularly dignified and solemn.

The cold wind outside is rustling, and they are all blocked by heavy palace walls. The candle shadows in the hall are swaying, and the red stove is warm. You can't detect the coldness outside at all, and the night is everywhere. Ling Xiao stood up with the crowd, prayed together, and sat down together. She felt that she was like a puppet at this moment. Not only was her behavior manipulated by an invisible hand, but even her thoughts were no longer controlled by herself. On this occasion, all people seem to become particularly small. If there are gods in the last world and look down on everyone in the high sky at this moment, will they be particularly pious?

After the banquet officially began, Ling Xiao found that she had been hungry for a long time. Looking at the delicious food in front of her, and then thinking of the little life she was breathing with her now, she felt very appetizing.

With the song and dance, people gradually relaxed. Some of the people sitting nearby whispered, three or five people toasted each other, and some tall people got up and toasted Feng Yuyu. The atmosphere in the hall slowly eased and became lively.

Ling Xiao is no longer restrained. She is in a good mood, and she is not like other concubines, so she doesn't care about anything else, but only concentrates on tasting the food in front of her. Especially those fresh melons and fruits, which are her favorite, have never been eaten since the beginning of winter.

These are all brought by foreign envoys who have come thousands of miles to pay tribute to the palace, and many of them have never been seen before. And the most amazing thing is that these melons and fruits are very different from the Central Plains. Most of them have extremely thick and hard skins. Even if they are taken off for a long time, they are still very fresh and sweet when opened.

"Jieyu, this is the red dates and red bean honey balls given to you by the emperor." Just as Ling Xiao was eating with relish, he suddenly felt that the light in front of him was blocked. When he was about to look up, he saw a plate of Yuxue's lovely rounds on his table. It turned out that Liu Quan was sent to him by Feng Yuxuan's order.

Ling Xiao is a little puzzled. She also has this dessert on her table, and she is not very sweet. What's wrong? His eyes swept over, but he saw that he was talking to Xie Guifei, and he didn't think of her. Liu Quan was still standing in front of her. She hurriedly got up and thanked him, and blessed in the direction of Feng Yuqi.

After sitting back, she was thinking about this problem when she unconsciously grabbed another piece of melon, as if she suddenly understood what Feng Yuqi meant. She is now pregnant. Naturally, those cold things are not very useful. On the contrary, she needs to eat more red dates and red beans to warm up.

Thinking of this, Ling Xiao was also a little ashamed. For a moment, he was greedy and didn't care about this much. And at this moment, the hall was as warm as a spring day, and he didn't feel cold at all. When he ate melons and fruits, he had no restraint. Unexpectedly, Feng Yuqi had been paying attention to her all the time. Seeing her like this, he deliberately asked Liu Quan to remind her. He didn't want to sweep her face, so he sent a plate of rounds.

Originally, there were a lot of eyes paying attention to Ling Xiao, and now there are more. Men greet each other or squire with their superiors and dignitaries, and the same is true between women. Everyone wants to take this opportunity to find a better future for themselves or their family. And the women in the palace tried their best to make themselves more beautiful and stand out among the people, so as to be noticed by the emperor, and the emperor's every move was naturally closely watched by them. Looking at the emperor's sight, he didn't stop on them for a moment. He was already frustrated, but now he sees Ling Xiao receiving this kindness. How can't it make people jealous?

Ling Xiao didn't care. She was hated for her favor and being pregnant. This had been expected for a long time. If anyone smiled at her kindly instead of covetingly, it would make her feel dangerous. These are normal. She can't avoid it at all. If she just retreats, it will strengthen some people's courage.

Of course, if there is no worry in my heart, it is impossible. However, she is extremely careful about her diet, clothes, etc., and the waiters around her will never leave for a moment. And there is no problem with today's banquet. If something happens at such a grand state banquet, these palace guards and bodyguards really don't have to stay any longer. Think about it, no one has such great courage.

Next, Ling Xiao did not dare to be so unscrupulous. He chose some more gentle and healthy dishes and snacks to eat. Maybe it's because of the two of them. She always feels that her appetite is much bigger than before, and she doesn't know if she will get fat if it goes on like this? Should we be more restrained? But I'm afraid of the hungry child.

In this way, Ling Xiao ate and thought, and occasionally looked up a little at the others at the banquet. Seeing that the food on the table of the other concubines hardly moved, even if they were eating, they squeezed their mouths little by little, which was extremely elegant. Looking at Lin Xuanyu and Lu Qianmo in the distance, they are similar to her. They must feel bored and focus on eating. While people are not paying attention, they smiled and wink at each other.

At this time, I don't know who started it. Several good concubines exchanged food made by themselves, either specialty dishes that they are good at, or unique snacks in their hometown, etc. Feng Yuqi saw a faint smile, but it was a little encouraging. After all, he always wanted to see his harem harmonious.

In fact, this has long been angry in private, otherwise it would have been impossible to make it at the last minute. Although Ling Xiao was too lazy to make peace, she was not too unique. Since Feng Yuqi also acquiesced, she still prepared a double plum cake made by herself.

The so-called double plum cake is actually not special, but it is interesting to eat. Cut the green plum meat into cubes, mix it into the flour, and fully melt the sour, sweet and fragrant taste of green plums into the pastry by kneading and steaming. And the pastry is deliberately made into a plum blossom, which is the same size as the real plum blossom. After steaming, before it cools down, quickly put the plum blossom marinated with honey on the cake ball to make it fit tightly.

The sweetness of plum blossoms and the sourness of green plums are combined with the taste of wheat. After a bite, the aftertaste is endless. It takes the meaning of double plum and named it double plum cake. After finishing it, in order to be afraid of getting cold, I put it on the steamer in the pot, put half a pot of plum water under it, and keep warming it with a gentle fire. Even if it is taken out after a while, it will never spoil the taste. Even the plum blossom is more fragrant, and the taste is more crispy, soft and glutinous.

Ling Xiao originally planned that if no one mentioned it, she would pretend not to know. When the banquet was over, she would go back to the palace for a midnight snack, and even the catwoman coveted for a long time. It's just that she doesn't want to be in the limelight, and there will always be someone who won't let her worry.

"Empress, this is an almond muffin made by the concubine. Although it is an ordinary thing, it is also made by the concubine carefully. I don't know if I can be lucky enough to be appreciated by the empress." Ling Yuechan walked to the queen and presented a colorful phoenix pattern plate with her own hands. The small muffins were arranged in the shape of a "phoenix". The snow-white cake was embedded with fine almonds, which looked very good.

The queen smiled faintly and raised her head slightly. Ke Ling beside her stepped forward and took the plate in Ling Yuechan's hand, carefully forked a piece of almond muffin with a silver fork, and put her hands in front of the queen. Although Keling picked up a piece at will, in fact, if you look carefully, you will find that this is also exquisite - this small piece is the center of the word "phoenix", but it does not destroy the aesthetic structure of the whole "phoenix".

The queen was about to take a small bite, tasted it carefully, nodded, and praised Ling Yuechan: "Xiao Ronghua is really clever."

Ling Yuechan was praised by the queen and was very happy. She raised her chin and glanced at Ling Xiao intentionally or unintentionally. When the other concubines saw that she was praised by the queen, they also presented the things in their hands to the queen, hoping to be appreciated.

Of course, with so many people, the queen can't taste them one by one. She just always wears a shallow smile and accepts everyone's hearts one by one, but only puts them on the case in front of her and has not moved.

At this time, Ling Yuechan opened her mouth again and said, "Empress, it's a great honor for my concubine's poor craftsmanship to be appreciated by you, but to speak, this is really incomparable compared with my concubine's sister and Ling Jieyu."

"Oh?" The queen said "Oh" gently and didn't say much, just waiting for Ling Yuechan to say something.

"My sister has been good at cooking since she was a child, and the whole family praised the pastries." Ling Yuechan smiled.

This sentence is really thought-provoking, "Since I was a child" and "the whole family praised it". At first glance, it sounds like Ling Xiao has been doing the work of a servant in the house since he was a child. Everyone looked at Lingxiao.

Ling Xiao was not angry. He stood up calmly and said lightly, "My sister is flattered." After saying that, there is no follow-up, and she will not explain anything foolishly. At this time, the more calm she is, the more convincing she is, and the more she can argue with speechless.

"Sister, aren't you ready today?" Ling Yuechan asked deliberately. If Ling Xiao is not prepared, he can also secretly demean her. If he is ready... it's better.

Ling Xiao answered the question. He looked at the plate of muffin and said, "I didn't know that my sister's craftsmanship is so good now. It's not an exabling step forward than before."