The happy life of the devil and the devil

Yuan Shao quickly twitched the corner of his mouth, quickly held back, sat back in his original position solemnly, and lowered his head to scoop up the soup.While raising the spoon to his lips, he secretly glanced at Ling Yucheng out of the corner of his eye. Seeing that Ling Yucheng seemed to be looking up, he quickly lowered his eyebrows and closed his eyes, pretending to concentrate on enjoying the delicious food.Listening carefully, the sound of sipping soup on the other side seems to have evened out, and immediately glanced over quickly again.

After more than half a month, Ling Yucheng finally recovered a lot of the vitality lost from the previous injury, and his face was not as pale as before, and even had a layer of grayness.After half a bowl of mutton soup, a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his cheeks gradually turned bloody. Looking at it under the light, it was crystal clear and smooth, like mutton fat and jade. Can't help but want to touch it.

It is early winter, which is the season when the cattle and sheep are fat and the products are abundant.It is rare for the imperial kitchen to expect that the two masters can eat and drink, so naturally they muster their energy to show off their skills.It's not yet snowing and freezing, and the table is full of vegetables except for cabbage and radish. The table is full of green leaves, and the vegetables are tender. They are combined with various mushrooms that are full of gravy. It makes people move their index fingers.

But eating good food comes at a price.The folk customs of Beiliang are rough, and what is served on the table is often a whole chicken, duck, or a whole leg of lamb. The nobles carry a knife with them and cut up the meat on the spot, even the emperor is no exception.Due to limited conditions, no matter how Ling Yucheng performed the table manners cultivated by the Dayu court, his hands would inevitably be stained with oil, and even the corners of his mouth and face would have suspicious traces flashing brightly.

Yuan Shao was amusing, and couldn't help but chuckle.It wasn't until the laughter came out that I knew it was not good, so I quickly lowered my head, and Ling Yucheng was already staring at him.Yuan Shao only felt suspicious eyes turn on his face, as if he was not reconciled because he didn't get anything, he just evacuated and came back and circled around, his face was cut hot and painful.

He murmured inwardly that he was not good, and quickly stuffed down a big mouthful of lamb leg to cover it up.But he didn't notice that the sliced ​​meat that Ling Yucheng gave him was much thinner and less fat, and he couldn't swallow it when he stuffed it in, and it was hard to spit it out, and he choked until his neck was straight and he couldn't breathe.He also wanted to maintain his image in front of Ling Yucheng, tried his best to sit up straight and took a deep breath, only hoping that his movements would be more concealed, and then more concealed, so as not to let the people sitting opposite see the clues.

Then, he watched helplessly as his chin was reflected in a large bowl of sparkling wine...

One, big, bowl!

Is this how wine is drunk!

The wine is clear and the color is like blood.Although the wine was not held in a luminous cup, it was also a clean and bright white porcelain bowl. When I lowered my gaze slightly, my swollen red neck and rolling Adam's apple were clearly reflected in the bowl.

Yuan Shao: "..."

Ling Yucheng did this on purpose, right?

That's right, this guy must have done it on purpose!

In order to prevent him from succeeding and to not continue to lose face, Yuan Shao resignedly picked up the wine bowl, raised his head, and drank cleanly.Then he grabbed the wine urn on the side, put it on the table without any explanation, and poured a full bowl for each of them.

Let's drink together!Do you think it's enough to just look at his jokes one-sidedly!

Since dinner, they have been avoiding each other's eyes, and they bumped into each other for the first time.

Crackling sparks could almost be heard in the air, and the next moment, two hands picked up a bowl of fine wine that almost overflowed the rim, and raised it to their lips not to be outdone.

Kumiss, which is often drunk by nobles in Beiliang, has always been known to taste like a knife, and the taste of wine is much softer in comparison.However, no matter how it is not regarded as strong wine, it is compared with three-steamed and three-brewed kumiss, and it still burns the throat after pouring down such a large bowl in one breath——

In fact, Ling Yucheng couldn't help but turned his head and coughed out after drinking less than half of a bowl of wine.

Yuan Shao had already drank a bowl full of wine to the last drop, and was complacent, seeing Ling Yucheng get up in a hurry to grab it.Ling Yucheng turned around to dodge while coughing, but he couldn't dodge in the end. Yuan Shao wiped his wrist, and the wine bowl came off his hand.I heard Yuan Shao's angry and funny complaints:

"You're not in good health yet, why drink in such a rush! No one will laugh at you if you can't finish drinking in one sitting!"

Ling Yucheng was coughing so that his eyes were full of tears, and before he could get over his breath, he heard the voice, supported the corner of the table with one hand and just shook his head.With a light hand in his hand at this moment, he raised his head following the sound, and saw Yuan Shao lift the wine bowl he had snatched to his lips through his tearful eyes, and he lowered his head and drank it clean regardless of the half bowl of wine he had drunk in it. , and specially took a photo of the bottom of the bowl to himself, and then slowly put it back on the table with a smug smile.

"Cough cough cough...Your Majesty!"

"What's the matter? Well, it's my fault to force you to drink. I didn't expect you to be cured and unable to drink...Come, come, sit down and eat!"

"Who can't drink wine anymore! I'm just not used to wine! It's not the kind of wine I drank since I was a child!"

"Oh—?" The leisurely voice was deliberately drawn out, with a suppressed smile, "Really?"

"Of course!"

As soon as he gave an order, a whole jar of rice wine was brought up immediately.The trade between Dayu and Beiliang has always been controlled, that is, materials such as pig iron, medicinal materials, and tea cannot be sold casually, and materials such as rice wine that have nothing to do with the military and state affairs can be bought as much as they want.The waiter who served the wine removed the mud seal in front of the master, filtered it once with gauze, then poured the filtered wine into a silver bottle, and sat in the pot on the small red clay stove to warm it over the water. After a while, it became soft and tender. , with a floral and fruity sweet fragrance.

Slapped away from the mud seal, Yuan Shao stared curiously at the servant's every move. Seeing that the small jar of wine had been filtered, he fiddled with the residue curiously—with this flick, he actually pulled out a half-foot-long Fish spines come.He fiddled with the residue again and again, but except for some distiller's grains, there was not half a piece of fish scales and gills, only a few small hard bones that seemed to have fallen off the head of the fish, which together with the spine proved the existence of the raw materials.

"What's the matter?" Seeing that he was focused, Ling Yucheng also squatted over, leaned side by side with him and looked down.Seeing the fishbone that Yuan Shao pointed out to him, Ling Yucheng's expression changed, and after a long while, he sighed softly:

"I can still drink..."

"Have you ever drank before?"

Yuan Shao was aroused by this moment, bumped Ling Yucheng's shoulder with his shoulder, and asked in a low voice.Ling Yucheng didn't look at him, he stared fixedly at a small piece of fish bone in the distiller's grains, paused for a moment before realizing it, and replied:

"It's not considered to have been drunk... When I was young, the wine made by the grandfather next door was very fragrant, and it was very famous in the neighbors. Once I went to his house to play, just in time for him to seal the altar, and I saw him put a Put the cleaned crucian carp into the wine jar... I even asked for their wine lees to eat, and when I came home drunk, it took a long time for my mother to wake me up..."

While talking, he waved his hands to let the servants back down, rolled up his sleeves himself, put green plums, goji berries, shredded ginger, etc. into a silver vase, squatted in front of the stove, held a cattail fan, carefully stared at the pot, and licked the pot from time to time. bottom flames.When the hot water in the pot boiled and the aroma from the silver vase filled the room, he scalded the wine cups with hot water and poured a full cup for Yuan Shao and himself.

The amber wine is rippling in the white porcelain cup, and with only a slight shake, the liquid hangs lingeringly on the wall of the cup, and it takes a long time to slowly fall, while the aroma becomes more intense.Yuan Shao raised his eyes, only to see Ling Yucheng slightly closed his eyes, put the wine glass to his nose and took a deep breath, with a look of intoxication and nostalgia, and he took a light sip until the breath was exhausted.

Yuan Shao also took a small sip in line with his movements.Rice wine brewed with rice has a soft taste and a slightly sweet taste, with a special aroma of green plum and shredded ginger.The memory revived in the mouth along with the taste. I remember that I drank this kind of wine when I was traveling in Dayu. A thing that is no different from sugar water...

I didn't understand it when I was young, but today, after seeing it a lot, I know that these wines made from rice and spring water in the south of the Yangtze River also have their special mellow taste.

Its nature is divergent, and there is a slight warmth that spreads to the whole body with the power of alcohol, making people fall into a pleasant and warm slightly drunk before they have time to raise their guard...

Just like the person who ate at the same table and sipped wine slowly like him.

Tasting while sighing, before I knew it, most of the food on the table was swept away, and the jar of wine was cleanly drained.Yuan Shao put down his chopsticks and got up, walked to the compartment to wash up, and when he came back, he saw Ling Yucheng lying halfway on the table, staring blankly at the empty space with his chin propped on one hand, and turned his head following the sound of the door curtain, and moved his eyes After looking at the focus two or three times, he finally stared straight at him.