The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty

Yelu Niaolu held the reins tightly with both hands, his head became more and more dizzy, the world in front of him seemed to be turning upside down, which made him even more dizzy, and he couldn't help lying on the horse's back.

Ever since entering the border of the Song Kingdom, Yelu Niaolu has been uncomfortable everywhere, and at this moment, her grievance has reached its peak.

——Why did you send me on a mission!

At this moment, Yelu Niaolu, who was troubled by the acclimatization of the environment, had completely forgotten the excitement in his heart when he learned that he could travel with the mission to Song State at public expense.

Moreover, the mission had already arrived at Chenqiao, meeting with the people from the Song Dynasty.

Yelulu struggled to see Zhengshi and Song's embassy envoy, Kaifeng government officials and other reception officials saluting and greeting each other, opening and closing their mouths, talking endlessly, while the companions beside them had already dismounted from their horses.

"Hey, come down?"

The companion called Yelu Niaolu.

Yelu Niaolu turned his head and glanced at him, "I, I can't do it..."

As he spoke, Yelu Niao's body tilted and he fell off the horse.

His last thought before he lost consciousness was: Damn, no one picked me up.

……

Yelu Niaolu woke up in the warmth. He opened his eyes and found himself wrapped in fur, his head wrapped in gauze, and the medical officer of the mission was sitting beside him.

The medical officer saw him and blinked, "How are you?"

Yelv sat up and looked around, "Where is this, have we arrived at the post?"

"No, this is still Chenqiao, the long pavilion of Chenqiao," the medical officer explained, "Because you can't move for the time being, the envoy took everyone into the post first, and left me and two guards to take care of you—oh, what's the matter?" There are two people from Kaifeng Mansion."

Yelu Niaolu turned his head and saw a figure sitting at the door. He was very thin and didn't look bloated even though he was wearing thick clothes. He was completely different from the Liao people. As for the other, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh..." Yelu Niaolu scratched his head, "I'm hungry."

Of course he was hungry, and he fainted from morning to afternoon.

The medical officer only had dry food on him, and this was the territory of the Song State, so he naturally went to the officials of the Song State for anything he wanted, which was why the people of the Song State kept the people from Kaifeng Mansion.

The medical officer walked to the door, and switched to Song dialect to tell the boy what he needed.

He needs a little food, and it's for acclimated patients, so it's better to be gentle.

"Oh." The young man responded, and took out a bamboo cup from his arms. The weather was cold, and there was firewood in the pavilion for warming up. The young man raised his head and shouted, "Guard Zhan."

A person jumped down lightly from the top of the long pavilion, which startled Yelu to jump.

The man took out the lamp, lit the fire, and then the boy heated up the food in the bamboo cup, put in a spoon, and brought it to Yelu Niaolu.

"Thank you." Yelv Niaolu thanked him in awkward Song dialect. The nobles in Daliao basically learned the culture and language of Song Dynasty from an early age, but he really didn't have much talent in language, and he always failed in this one.

Looking at the bamboo cup again, the light black glutinous rice is dotted with red dates, red beans, peanuts and other things, steaming hot air blows towards the face, mixed with a sweet fragrance.

Yelu Niaolu was very pleasantly surprised, felt a warm current flowing into her heart, and her eye sockets became moist.

It is a custom in Daliao that they cook glutinous rice on the day of Zhengdan. In Yelv Niaolu’s memory, the bowl of glutinous rice before and after Zhengdan is the sweetest childhood memory.

It took almost two months from Daliao to Song, during which time he became ill due to acclimatization. Today is December 27, and Yelu Niaolu is really homesick.

It's no wonder that this bowl of glutinous rice forced his tears out, and he choked up and said to the boy, "Thank you, thank you..."

……

Yun Yanhui looked confused, looked back at Zhan Zhao, and said hesitantly: "I have seen diners who cried because it was so delicious. There are many diners in Kaifeng, but this is the first one who cries without eating."

Zhan Zhao: "..."

Yun Yanhui felt that she had learned a lot. Seeing the tall and burly Liao people eat the eight-treasure rice while chattering, her complexion improved a lot, and she felt relieved.

When this man fainted, the officials of Song Dynasty were a little nervous, fearing that something might happen, so when they were keeping people, they kept him and Zhan Zhao.It is an exaggeration to keep too many people, and if you stay too little, you are afraid that they will cause trouble, and it will not be enough. However, the combination of Yun Yanhui and Zhan Zhao, one can meet their normal needs, and the other can hold unexpected events.

Yunyan thought back and took the bamboo tube over, but the Liao man held his hand and wouldn't let go.

Yun Yan replied: "??"

Liao people: "What's your name?"

Yun Yanhui felt very inexplicable when facing his enthusiastic eyes, it was just a bowl of eight-treasure rice, and it didn't save his life. As for being so enthusiastic, "Yun... Yun Yanhui."

"I remember," Yelu Niaolu said sincerely, "I, Yelu Niaolu."

Yun Yan replied slightly drunk: "...Okay."

On the way back, Yunyan inquired with the medical officer in many twists and turns, only to find out that they had such a custom in Daliao. He was relieved. He was afraid that this man had other plans, as long as there was a reason. It turned out that it was because of illness. When I was fragile, I ate glutinous rice.

Yun Yanhui and Zhan Zhao brought them into the post house in Bianjing and handed them over to the people in the post house.

But at this time, it was already nightfall, and it was already past dinner time. The imperial banquet given by the government was swept away by more than 100 members of the envoys, leaving only some leftovers. It's for these people.

The embassy escort who was in charge of receiving the Liao mission saw it, and thought it was terrible, and forgot to leave a meal for them.

Moreover, he has done his homework for those who have a certain status in the mission. This person is a painter who is deeply loved by the emperor of the Liao Kingdom.So, it's not easy to wait too long.

The accompanying envoy of this restaurant is from Honglu Temple, and I thought about it for a long time. How can I say that it is very impolite for people to come here on the first day, so they didn’t get a royal banquet? Should I buy it now or ask someone to make it?It seems that it is not rich enough...

The ambassador of the embassy thought that the Xixia Station in Duting seemed to be entertaining the Xixia mission who also came to Beijing today, and they were not far away, so they asked people to go quickly to see if there was any food, or asked their cooks to cook some now. He remembered that the chef of the official chef of Kaifeng Mansion was cooking over there.

Because there is a royal banquet here, there is no chef at all today, only a few apprentices who are in charge of warming dishes and wine.

Sure enough, the people sent by the accompanying envoys brought back five dishes and some fruits and wine from Dutingxiyi, plus some fresh fruits left here, which is enough to entertain.The embassy ambassador personally apologized, sniffled, and sat down cheekily, "I'll accompany you for a drink..."

Then I asked someone to add a pair of tableware.

Although the Liao people felt that the envoys were inexplicably enthusiastic and came to accompany the wine, and they were not important figures such as principal and deputy envoys, but it was impossible to be shameless, so they silently accepted.

It was the first time for these people to join the embassy, ​​and they had never eaten the imperial banquet, nor had they eaten the reception meals of other embassies. After seeing a few dishes on the table, they were interested to ask, what kind of dishes were they.

Although the embassy envoy was in charge of the Liao mission, he had seen the menus of other post houses, but he had never eaten them, so he suppressed his saliva and introduced them to them: "This is crispy barbecued pork, which is made from pig meat. It is sweet and salty. Delicious. There is also a three-slice soup of Hehuayu, which is made of Daxiangguo Temple Hehuayu, tofu, mushrooms, ham, etc. The Hehuayu is raised in the rice fields and grows on the grass in the water, without any fishy smell If you want to eat it, you need to 'kiss first, then peel off your clothes', the mouth of this flower fish is extremely sweet..."

I don't know if it's Yelu Niaolu's illusion, but he always felt that the embassy slobbered while talking.

"There is also this dish, this dish is amazing... Chinese characters rarely mean fish and sheep. This dish is made of fish and mutton, so it is called No. [-] Fresh. The meat is fresh and tender without any fishy smell, and In such a weather, it is most suitable to drink fish and sheep soup, hehe, come on, let's have a bowl of soup first, and talk while eating."

The embassy couldn't help it anymore, so let's have a bowl of soup first.

So, everyone filled a bowl of the first fresh soup and prepared to wait for the embassy to continue the explanation.

As soon as the soup was in the mouth, several people were amazed. It was just as the embassy said, delicious!This word is almost nailed in their minds!

The minced mutton flows into the mouth along with the soup, warm and melting, and after biting down, it is incredibly tender.

Liao people usually eat all kinds of meat and rice noodles, and they also eat a lot of mutton, but they have never tasted such a dish that is almost as tender as fish without any mutton smell.

The ambassador of the embassy also felt comfortable all over in an instant, and said lazily: "There is also this lamp shadow beef shreds, which is said to be popular in Sichuan and Chongqing... Hey, let me take a bite first."

I don't know why, the embassy has changed from introducing to eating with everyone, and then to eating first.

One bite, there is a hint of sweetness in the spicy, the shredded beef is roasted very dry, the red oil is shining, dotted with sesame seeds, it looks very appetizing, not to mention the taste is so appetizing.

The embassy envoy took two mouthfuls, and couldn't help but take another big mouthful of soup.

Several members of the Liao mission were stunned for a while, and they were also stunned for a while.It's no wonder that so many people in the country are vying for the idea of ​​going to the State of Song. It turns out that the food served by the State of Song is so delicious!

Yelv Niaolu even thought of the bowl of glutinous rice in the daytime. Although it was all glutinous rice, the taste was much richer than what he ate at home.

But the weird thing is, as they ate and ate, there were more people around them unconsciously...

I didn't avoid people at first, but one or two people passing by or following the scent in the room stopped to watch, which made people feel a little bit overwhelmed.

Yelv swallowed a mouthful of food, and couldn't help but said, "Haven't you guys eaten it?"

Everyone lowered their heads in shame. Yes, they had eaten, and they were very full. However, for some reason, seeing people eating at this table, they became hungry again...

Ah, is this going to leave a bad impression on Song people?

But, who made you eat so deliciously, so greedy...

Yelu Niaolu suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis. He looked to the side, took part of each dish into his own bowl, then stood up and said, "I'm not feeling well, I'm going back to my room first."

Yelu Niaolu, who hurried to the door, looked back and saw that the table had been drowned out by the voices of "I'll try this" and "Give me some".

Yelu Niaolu felt lingering fear, but couldn't help fantasizing.

Song Dynasty always treats different countries differently, and their treatment in Daliao is generally the best. If even the dinner of the Xixia Mission is so delicious, what kind of dishes were served at the previous imperial banquet?He didn't even eat it, what a pity!