The daily life of the science master's book-wearing group

Chapter 157 The Birthday Banquet ([-])
Among the gentlemen's banquets across the Quqiao, there was already Ruanxianglou's top Qing Qinger playing the flute to add to the fun.

At the beginning, everyone looked at me and I looked at you. I have never seen a banquet where guests are asked to bring their own food and drink.But the Song family sisters cheered, Song Yaxin and Song Yuxi stood up first, and went to the front of the case to pick out juice.

The Feng family's twins are not twitchy, they like freshness, so they also stand up to pick juice.

This is when the fruit is ripe. Song Qingyue pointed to the juices of various colors in the glass goblet and introduced: "This is strawberry mixed with mango, this is pear mixed with lychee juice, this is orange and mango, this It’s grapes and apples, this is grapefruit and honey, and this one is peaches mixed with oolong tea.”

Feng Xuelan's eyes lit up when she heard this: "Peaches can also be drunk with oolong tea! I must try it!" She took a sip carefully, because they were all chilled, and Mo Xiang was specially prepared for people to put A few mint leaves in it, in this late summer season, it really makes people feel refreshed physically and mentally.

Feng Xueru took a sip of the lychee and pear juice cup, said: "Su Wang's mansion is a big deal, no one can squeeze lychee juice to drink, I have learned a lot today."

Song Qingyue smiled unhurriedly and said: "Canned lychees, I can't afford fresh lychees either. When I was in Lingnan, I could eat as many fruits as I wanted, but I couldn't eat them when I came to the prosperous place of the capital. One Place has the benefit of being a place.”

After speaking, he sighed, which made everyone laugh.

Here, Mo Yun leaned into Song Qingyue's ear and said, "Concubine Shizi, the cream cake is ready, and the servant girl asked them to bring it to you?"

Song Qingyue was so surprised: "And made a cream cake?"

Little Eunuch Qin bowed and smiled, and raised his voice slightly: "His Royal Highness ordered it all, and His Highness said that Imperial Concubine Shi Zi will definitely like it."

When the maids of the palace pushed up the huge three-layer cream cake with a diameter of one meter, the scene was still very shocking.

Not only were the guests amazed, Song Qingyue was also stunned for a while when she saw the big cake.

People in this era are taboo about white, and the cream is specially dyed a light pink with red yeast rice, a lot of canned fruits are added on it, and it is also dotted with meringue that is beaten with egg white and dyed in various colors, and baked. flowers.

A chef ordered flowers with jam as required, and painted the flowers of fairy peaches and red bats with red yeast water, spinach juice, and gold leaf on the cream surface. It has Chinese characteristics. In Song Qingyue's opinion, it is extremely extravagant and extremely luxurious. want.

There's no way, she is the eldest concubine of Prince Su's mansion, so there's still a need for some kind of respect.

Little Eunuch Qin observed Song Qingyue's expression, and added another sentence: "Liuquanju has been closed for three days, just to prepare for today's birthday banquet. Your Highness said that the princess must be happy."

At this moment, it would be a lie to say that she was not moved, Song Qingyue felt very confused.

How can one not be tempted to do so?

Meng Wanfeng is neither stupid nor stupid, she probably fell like this in her previous life...

"Thanks to the concubine, we sisters have gained a lot of experience today! It's the first time I've seen such a big egg cake!" Feng Xuelan said very appreciatively.

"Don't talk about Miss Feng, it's the first time I've seen you, the county head!" County head Ruihua, the eldest daughter of Dunjun Wangfu, was also excited. She was about the same age as Song Qingyue.She has been staring at Song Qingyue for a long time, and has been wanting to talk to her alone, but there are too many guests today, Song Qingyue has not stopped saying hello, now she has found a chance!

Then Song Qingyue's future sister-in-law Zhang Luoyi also said a few words of praise and admiration.

In fact, nowadays, cream cakes the size of half a palm are sold in various restaurants in the capital. This thing looks good, but the taste is average, and the price is not cheap, so the sales are not very good, but there is acceptance.

But it was the first time for everyone to see such a big cake, and all kinds of compliments came one after another.

Song Qingyue came back to her senses, smiled and accepted everyone's praise, and avoided the process of blowing out the candles to make a wish, for fear that everyone would think it would be unlucky if the candles went out.

Then Mo Yun brought a golden triangular cake knife that almost blinded Song Qingyue.It's really the taste of the rich. She scanned around and found that no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with the golden knife in her hand. Also, everyone present was rich and famous.

Song Qingyue personally cut the cake and divided the cake. This step is quite ceremonial.

However, this move seems to have had a special interpretation in the minds of literati. The wife of Xing Zhuangyuan was even moved to tears on the spot, saying a lot of things like "Su Wang's concubine is so humble and respectful, it is really touching" .

This made Song Qingyue a little embarrassed, she just celebrated her birthday according to her past life habit, hehe.

Here, Lord Ruihua took the opportunity to come to Song Qingyue's side to help, and asked, "Sister, this thing is so beautiful. I heard it's made of milk. Could you ask the cook to come over and ask how it's made?"

When she asked such a question, everyone expressed their curiosity in a hurry.

Mo Yun interjected at the right time: "Master, you don't need to ask the cook about this. It's a fresh meal that our concubine Shi Zi came up with when she was still in Lingnan."

Everyone was amazed again.

Song Qingyue hurriedly waved her hands, and said with a guilty conscience, "I didn't come up with it. When I was young, I got a cookbook from a foreign Taoist by chance, and tried to follow it."

Then she briefly talked about the process of how to make it.

The most primitive way to make cream is to use fat-rich buffalo milk, boil it with water, collect the milk skin, then chill it, stir it, add sugar, color it, and beat it.Of course, instead of using chopsticks, it is also possible to use a tea whisk for making some tea, or a bamboo brush for cleaning pots.

Xing Zhuangyuan's wife is an honest person, and she sighed regretfully after hearing this: "It's good, but it's too much milk."

When she said this, several wives who were in charge of the house nodded their heads in agreement.Even if it is another palace or noble family, no matter how rich it is, almost no family can afford to consume so much fresh milk.Most people only raise some chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep on the Zhuangzi, even if there is occasional milk, it is extremely precious.Of course, in recent years, some milk powder can be bought on the market, but the price is very expensive.

Song Qingyue, who owns several cattle farms, just smiled and didn't answer, besides, skimmed milk is not a mistake to drink, and it doesn't have to be thrown away.

While everyone was chatting about the topic of cakes in full swing, Eunuch Huang, the servant of King Su, came to greet him, and said with a smile, "Concubine, my lord asked, why is there no big cake at the men's table, and sent servants to ask for birthday cakes?" some past!"

Song Qingyue said: "Sweet and greasy things are not necessarily delicious, they just look good when displayed."

Eunuch Huang smiled even brighter, and said: "Isn't it just for a festive and beautiful picture!"

Song Qingyue nodded, and told the maids around her to move the entire upper two layers to a large plate with peony twigs wrapped in red underglaze, and bring it over.

As soon as it was done, another eunuch came over with a very delicate wooden box carved with red lacquer, bowed to Song Qingyue, and said with a beaming smile: "Concubine Shizi, please have a look at the birthday gift from His Highness Shizi."

As he spoke, he opened the large carved lacquer wooden box in public, and inside was a set of tin combs carved with Twelve Letters.

In this era, the technology of refining tin was not yet mature, and tinware was an absolute rarity.

Of course, the most important thing is that in the Great Zhou Dynasty, a man giving a woman a comb is equivalent to a man giving a woman a rose, which is an extremely romantic thing.

All the female relatives laughed when they saw the extremely exquisite set of combs, and the county magistrate Ruihua even joked: "The twelve letter flowers are really well carved! This is His Royal Highness, besides, he misses His Royal Concubine all the time throughout the year!"

"This gift is really thoughtful." Feng Xuelan also teased Song Qingyue.

Song Qingyue blushed at the right time, of course, this blushing was not faked by her.Song Qingyue's acting skills weren't that good, she was sincerely seduced by that bastard Li Zhao again.

The lunch has been set, and when everyone was about to be told to go to the flower hall for dinner, another eunuch hurried over, bowed to Song Qingyue, and said, "Shizifei, there are people coming from the palace, please go to the second gate to meet your majesty and empress." reward."

Song Qingyue's eyes widened, and the guests behind her widened their eyes even more. It's not surprising that Concubine Shu in the palace sent someone to send a birthday present, but why did His Majesty also send a congratulatory gift?
When they came to the second gate, they saw Meng Wanfeng standing next to the servant in the palace.

She has been treating the emperor's headache in the palace for the past few days, and it was only in the morning that she learned from eunuch Yin that today is Song Qingyue's birthday banquet, so she begged the emperor's grace to come to the banquet.The emperor conveniently asked Eunuch Yin to prepare a congratulatory gift for Song Qingyue: a three-tailed phoenix bird made of gold and pearls made inside.

Tsk tsk, the old emperor is really stingy all the time!
one step shake...

But this thing is really good stuff!The status of the base silk craft in the world of gold and silverware is equivalent to that of the brocade craft in the textile world.However, the symbolic meaning of the things given by the emperor and his elders is the greatest value, which represents the importance the emperor attaches to Su Wangfu.

But what is the meaning of asking Meng Wanfeng to be sent to the palace as an angel? This is a bit intriguing.

Song Qingyue knelt down to thank Emperor Long En, stood up, took Meng Wanfeng's hand with a smile, and led her to the flower hall for dinner.

"Why are you here? What a surprise!"

"I begged the emperor's grace to temporarily let me out of the palace to attend your birthday banquet."

"I heard that Miss Meng is treating His Majesty's headache. Is His Majesty's headache better?"

Meng Wanfeng lied without changing his expression: "It's much better, in fact, I don't really need my treatment anymore."

Song Qingyue smiled: "This is Miss Meng's great achievement!"

Meng Wanfeng said modestly: "It's not worth mentioning any credit, His Majesty just worked too hard, just sleep a little more."

Song Qingyue thought that it would be great if she could ask the palace about His Majesty's specific illness.There seems to be a chapter in the book that said that the emperor woke up with a headache in the middle of the night, angrily accidentally killed a maid who was on duty at night, and I don't know if it has reached that level now.

Pain like this is no small matter.

Either intracranial hemorrhage, or neuroinflammation. No matter how serious it is, brain tumors may also occur.

No matter how good Meng Wanfeng is, it is impossible to cure these diseases, most of them are just to relieve the pain.

Emperor, time is probably numbered.

Just a year or two, Song Qingyue thought.

The banquet was rich in dishes, full of color and fragrance, and the last person finished a bowl of longevity noodles. Song Yaxin and the eldest daughter of Xing Zhuangyuan's family took the lead in playing Shefulai, an advanced guessing game that requires a full reading of poetry and books.

Song Qingyue couldn't play that, so she played with her second sister, Meng Wanfeng, the sisters of Feng's family, and the head of Ruiyang County to win popularity, that is, throwing dice.One person bets on a few silver peanuts and the like, and the game is full of enthusiasm.

Somehow, on the side playing Shefu, Song Yaxin and Song Yushu got into an argument, which made it a bit embarrassing.Song Qingyue saw that this was serious, so she quickly put down the dice to smooth things over.

In the end, after all, it turned from playing Shefu to a poetry writing competition!

There is a very famous small group in the circle of noble women in the capital, called Qushang Poetry Club, and the members who can enter this poetry club are all the top ranks in the circle of noble women in the capital.Both Song Yushu and Song Baizhi were veteran members of this poetry club, but with the death of Mrs. Song and the transfer of Mr. Song, Song Yushu and the others gradually felt a sense of loss being excluded from the spotlight.

Here I met Song Yaxin who was very interested in poetry since childhood, wouldn't it be a match?
Song Baizhi glanced at Song Qingyue who was standing aside and waiting to watch the show, pointed at her and said, "Is this how the concubine sees it?"

Song Qingyue admitted openly: "This concubine is really not good at poetry!"

Song Yushu raised his chin and asked, "Really? What is the cousin good at? Since everyone is here today, why don't you show us something?"

Song Qingyue rubbed her chin and thought for a while, she felt that she could perform a dictation of "Jimedovich Exercises"...

She smiled and said, "Why don't I draw a picture for everyone, I'm good at drawing."

She turned her head and glanced at Meng Wanfeng, and said with a smile: "Miss Meng, sit down, how about I draw a portrait of you?"

Meng Wanfeng raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then remembered that she was not good at piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, so she couldn't perform acupuncture, could she?Then he nodded and agreed: "Okay, then I will trouble the princess."

That being said, other girls who are good at painting also actively signed up for the competition.

There are so many princes from aristocratic families here today, why don't the girls want to express themselves quickly?

In the end, a birthday banquet turned into a poetry and painting competition!

This is even more interesting.

Many female family members who originally wanted to return home early also stayed with interest.

As for the male guests, boxing and chess skills also competed.

When the pen and ink were put on the table, everyone started to write.

Song Qingyue naturally used charcoal pencils. While drawing, she shook her head in her heart, thinking it was funny. Couldn't her birthday party become a blind date meeting?

Look, the active participants are all unmarried little girls and young masters!Of course, it doesn't mean that there are no married people, but everyone is not very old.

Song Qingyue's sketching skills are quite good, and she understood the outline and the general arrangement of light and shade in about two quarters of an hour, and the next step is to add a million points of detail.

But Meng Wanfeng's appearance had already been imprinted in her mind, Song Qingyue asked Mo Yun to tell Meng Wanfeng that she didn't have to sit down, she could stand up and move around.

Meng Wanfeng breathed a long sigh of relief, helped her maid to stand up, moved her joints slightly, just happened to be a little maid came over with tea, walked too fast and bumped into her.

A cup of bright red tea spilled all over Meng Wanfeng's dress!

The little maid immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Meng Wanfeng: "Miss Meng, forgive me! This servant did not mean it! Miss Meng, please forgive me!"

With so many people, Meng Wanfeng wouldn't embarrass Song Qingyue, so she waved her to get up.

Mo Zhu reacted quickly, and immediately turned his head to look at Song Qingyue: "Concubine Shizi, this servant will take the girl to change clothes."

Song Qingyue nodded.

But vaguely, he felt that something was wrong. He poured tea soup on the person and asked him to change his clothes. Was this someone trying to frame Meng Wanfeng?

But the little girl serving tea just now was Xinlu, the third-class girl in her yard, and she didn't want to harm anyone...

(End of this chapter)