For the same dish, Cixi only eats two spoons at most.
If it is really delicious, if you eat the third spoon, this dish will be removed by the eunuch immediately, and you will not be able to eat this dish again for the next ten days.
It's not how self-disciplined Cixi is, it's the family law of the Qing royal family.
As a single, Cixi usually eats alone, with the eunuch serving on the side.
On the first and fifteenth day of the new year, the Emperor Guangxu and the Empress would come to accompany them, which is called serving meals.
More to accompany on the first day of the new year.
This is how we usually eat: Cixi glanced at a dish, and the eunuch moved up the bowl of dish, and then used a spoon to scoop a spoonful for the old lady and put it on a cloth plate. However, the whole process relies on the recognition of the eyes, and you must not ask Cixi which dish to eat, and she is not allowed to gallantly say: Lafayette, this dish is delicious, please try it. In other words: this dish is new, you should try it. That can't be done. The old lady flirted with her eyelids, and the eunuch standing next to her who enforced the family law would scold: "Not a lot of mouths!", and she would slap her mouth when she came down.
Cixi
Feast of Number One
On the evening of the first day of the new year, the meal is placed in the Ningshou Palace or the Hall of Body Harmony.
Body Harmony Hall (Cixi eats here on weekdays)
Identical dishes, set three tables.
One table respects the sky, one table respects the ground, and one table belongs to Lafayette, accompanied by the emperor and the queen.
After a "passing meal", four old eunuchs, wearing official uniforms and tops, lined up in line according to their grades, and respectfully walked up the steps.
After kneeling up, they stood up at the four corners. This is the "Four Diamonds".
These four old eunuchs are not ordinary eunuchs, they all served in the previous dynasty (serving Daoguang and Xianfeng).
Li Lianying stood at the gate of the palace, beaming with joy (this is the basic quality requirement).
There were five hundred eunuchs serving food outside the palace gate, no more or less, five hundred neatly, from the gate outside the palace gate all the way to the birthday dining room.
Of these five hundred eunuchs, the old do not need them, and the young do not need them. They start training after Laba, and they are not allowed to make any mistakes.
They all wore brand-new silk robes and white boots. The head is freshly shaved and full of energy.
The yard is brightly lit, and in front of the five hundred eunuchs, there are lanterns every five steps, like a fire dragon, leading directly to the birthday dining room.
This is called Four King Kong and Five Hundred Arhats serving the Empress Dowager Xitian, Lafayette, and feasting on Yaochi. Majestic and grand, it is truly the number one feast of the heavenly character.
Note: The longevity dining room is responsible for Cixi's daily diet. There are five bureaus: the meat bureau, the vegetarian bureau, the dim sum bureau, the dinner bureau, and the lily bureau. In addition, there is also a "game kitchen", which hires master chefs from outside the palace for the Queen Mother to change the taste.
New Year's Eve dinner
After all the dishes on the table were arranged, the old eunuch called out "Shan Qi".
This is just a signal, ask the old lady to take a seat, the meal is far from complete.
The old lady came out from the back room, and the emperor and the queen accompanied her.
Cixi led the emperor and the queen to greet the table in the east first, and then the table in the west, and then sat upright.
At this time, the four old eunuchs bowed their hands to greet the old lady. At the same time, the five hundred eunuchs outside the door shouted in unison: "Lafayette, 11,000 lives are boundless!" Temple of the Heart.
At this moment, the firecrackers with swastikas started to be set off.
The firecrackers are not allowed to stop during the whole meal, and together with the sound of whips in the ring hall, it is like music, which is really lively.
Note: This is a specially made whip, a stick that is half a chi long, and a whip body that is more than ten feet long. It is twisted with several strands of sheep intestines, and a whip tip more than one foot long is added. It is coiled on the ground like a big snake. . The people who whip this kind of whip are young eunuchs who have been trained. When the whip shakes, the tip of the whip makes a crisp sound. Several eunuchs smoke together, up, down, left, right, front, back, and back, and can draw out a variety of different sounds. This sound is said to ward off evil spirits.
The emperor and the queen are serving meals, one sits on the east side of Lafayette and the other sits on the west side.
The dishes are divided into three categories: one is the auspicious dishes for festivals, such as "Shoubi Nanshan", "Auspicious Ruyi", "Unification of Jiangshan and Mountains", etc., what is good is called what;
The second category is the tribute dishes, such as bear paw, big horn, flying dragon, deer breast, lobster, wine crab, etc.;
The third category is the typical dishes prepared by the longevity restaurant according to the festive recipes.
When pouring wine, the emperor holds the pot, the queen holds the cup, and both give blessings to the old lady.
The emperor ordered a dish (that is, to give it to the old lady), and the queen read out the name of the dish (the old eunuch would read it out when he delivered the dish), just like the one who recited the song, and they cooperated very well.
Note: The song of joy is a song of congratulations sung at the house of the person who is hosting the wedding.
Everyone knows that Guangxu and Longyu usually do not speak, and it is only on this occasion that they seem to be in harmony.
Remember family law
After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, the old eunuch winked at the emperor.
The emperor understood and scooped the third spoon in a dish for Cixi.
An old eunuch standing behind the queen mother and headed, shouted "withdraw"! The voice is loud and can be heard in the hall.
As soon as the old lady stopped the ebony inlaid silver chopsticks, the emperor held the spoon in his hand, and the queen lowered her eyebrows and lowered her hands.
At this moment, everyone in the hall held their breath and seemed very solemn.
This little episode is a routine program, admonishing you not to be negligent at any time, and to strictly abide by the family education handed down by the ancestors.
The purpose of this family method of "eat only three spoons of vegetables" is to prevent others from knowing what vegetables the emperor and empress dowager like to eat, so as to avoid poisoning.
Main food: boiled pastry
The etiquette of the last staple is also very grand.
Li Lianying and the other two eunuchs who were serving dishes on the table knelt down on their knees and put the box of this meal on their heads.
Another great eunuch respectfully held it over, opened it, and handed it to the emperor in person, and the emperor placed it in front of the old lady.
This is a plate of boiled dumplings (that is, frozen boiled dumplings for the next year), and it is also a traditional Chinese New Year food in the Qing Dynasty.
Note: Eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year is an extremely important custom in the Qing court, mainly to show that you will not forget your ancestors. Before entering the customs, the Manchus lived in the north where the climate was cold. Before the Chinese New Year, many dumplings were packed and stored in large tanks for freezing. They started eating dumplings on New Year’s Eve, and continued for more than ten days. .
At the end of the evening feast, the old lady ordered to choose a few good dishes to give to the four old eunuchs, and then ordered the other dishes to be distributed to everyone according to their grades.
Li Lianying hurriedly greeted and thanked the reward, and the five hundred eunuchs outside shouted in unison: "Thank you, Lafayette for the reward."
The old lady also instructed: everyone in the palace, every living thing, must have a portion of the cooked pastry, which is the grace left by the ancestors.
Li Lianying's "嗻" sound was quickly passed on, so there must be dumplings in dog pens, cat rooms, bird sheds, monkey cages, stables, and even mouse dens in the corners.
This is called "The Emperor's Enormous Grace". At this time, the sound of gratitude and firecrackers mingled together outside the palace gate.
A dinner is over.
Shan Bi returns to the palace
After the meal, the old lady returned to Chuxiu Palace to rest.
Chuxiu Palace (Cixi Palace)
The two large pots of charcoal in the Chuxiu Palace's house were burning vigorously, filled with a slight charcoal incense.
On the bookcase, two pots of Zhangzhou Datou narcissus, which are tributes from Fujian, are in full bloom. In the clean room, there is a large pot of Yanling Lamei, which is a tribute to Henan. The fragrance of narcissus and the sweet fragrance of winter plums wafted over from time to time.
During the meal time of the old lady, the maids cleaned Chuxiu Palace again. The table top was spotless, the brick floor was moist, the charcoal ash of the bone charcoal had been dusted off long ago, and the copper charcoal basin cover was polished brightly.
The old lady looked around at everything, and she moved to sit on the east side of the Tiaoshan Kang.
Two palace maids always served behind Cixi. Juanzi on the right toasted a cup of Pu'er tea, which was warm and oily; the old lady glanced to the left, and Rongzi quickly toasted the hookah.
(Note: The situation described in this article comes from Yonko's memory.)
There is a small kang table in front of it, and the small holding box on the kang table contains the candied fruit specially made by the court. The old lady doesn't like to eat sour, nor particularly sweet, and she often eats preserved peaches and preserved apples.
Cixi's daily life was very clean. Therefore, on weekdays, the maids and eunuchs did not speak much, but acted by their eyes and gestures. Another point, when working in Chuxiu Palace, you must be beaming, want to laugh, but can't laugh, purse your lips, and be happy in your heart.
Cixi
King please
After a while, Emperor Guangxu came, followed by four eunuchs.
Cui Yugui hurriedly walked a few steps on his side, knelt down to the Queen Mother and said, "Long live lord is here." He got up and stepped back, closing the hall curtain.
The four eunuchs brought by Guangxu, please kneel up in the middle of the dormitory, and then stand in a proper manner under the steps of the dormitory to serve.
As soon as Emperor Guangxu entered the hall, please kneel and ask, "How are you?" The old lady nodded with a smile.
Longyu brought the two little masters (Jin, Zhen) over and greeted the emperor. The emperor also returned the salute to Longyu, then nodded to the two little masters and said, "Hello."
The queen mother said, "Show the emperor a seat."
The maid brought the chair over, and Guangxu said, "Thank you, Father Huang."
The queen mother said again: "bring a chair for the queen." At this time, the emperor and the queen said in unison, "Thank you, father."
Note: "Imperial Dad" is Guangxu's special name for the Empress Dowager Cixi.
The two little masters have always had no seats in front of the queen mother.
The old queen sat casually and asked about Guangxu's situation, saying, "The emperor is in good health these days, and the solar terms are coming, so you must pay attention to adjusting your clothing and food."
The emperor immediately stood up and said, "Please rest assured, father, my son must pay attention at all times."
Let's talk about the daily life, the old lady finally said, "You all go back and rest."
So the emperor, the queen, and the little master, in turn, please kneel and exit the Chuxiu Palace.
ending
After Guangxu started to drive, the old lady would let the maids play a game of "snatch red" for a while, and Li Lianying also participated in it, making jokes to make the old lady and the maids happy.
A little later, the refreshments came, four eunuchs carrying two large food boxes.
First, I gave the old lady a box. In addition to the four kinds of snacks, there was a plate of fried noodles, a plate of fried triangles, and a special plate of minced fruit rice cake and fried Jiangmi white rice cake. I wish the old lady good luck, longevity and new year. When the year is high, along with a small bowl of barley rice porridge, it means that everything is going well.
The other food box is several large plates of fried rice cakes, which are specially for palace ladies, and two pots of barley rice porridge, accompanied by various pickles such as silver bars, cylinder reeds, and eight treasures vegetables.
Finally, when everyone was tired, I served the Queen Mother and went to bed.
The palace maids set up a street stall and slept wholeheartedly.
It is precisely: the phase and the pillow are in the palace, and I do not know the whiteness of the east.
Reference excerpts: Jin Yi, Shen Yiling, "The Palace Maiden Talks to the Past" and so on.