I have a city that never sleeps

Everyone stood where they were, watching Chu Zhi's jokes in a leisurely manner.

Although they don't like Tang Tonghua, they don't like Chu Zhi very much either. It's best for the two to bite each other so that they both end up giving up places, which is what they like to see.

However, what surprised them was that Chu Zhihui, who was supposed to be identified on the spot, showed a look of panic and panic, but who knew that this person was not arrogant or impatient, and even smiled calmly when Eunuch Liu asked him to confront him:

"Yesterday, I invited Brother Mao to live in the Wenhua Palace. I did leave the palace. Maybe I was mistaken."

Chu Zhi was assigned to the Wenhua Palace. Eunuch Liu also knew that it was okay to invite friends to live with him. Eunuch Liu's expression softened, and he looked at Tang Tonghua again.

"Don't trust him, Father-in-law!" But Tang Tonghua said firmly, "I'm sure they're not going in the direction of Wenhua Palace, and I also went to Wenhua Palace to knock on the door, but no one responded!"

"Have you ever thought about it, is it possible..." Chu Zhi said leisurely at this time, "Maybe someone doesn't welcome you, so I deliberately refused."

"Pfft-"

As soon as this sentence came out, the people present couldn't help laughing.

Hurt, this Chu Zhi is really hurt, this sentence is like stabbing a knife into the heart of a person's heart!

Isn't that right, now the assimilation of this soup is like a mouse crossing the street, everyone shouts and beats him, no one looks down on him!

Tang Tonghua's face was ashen, and he looked at Chu Zhi's eyes with thick flames, "Since you are not benevolent, don't blame me for being unrighteous! Father-in-law, I have a witness! Yesterday there was a father-in-law who was in charge of inspecting the candles in each hall. I also noticed that there is no one in the room, so I asked my father-in-law to let him come up and talk about it in person, so I will know."

"Oh?" A cold light flashed across Eunuch Liu's eyes, and he agreed to his request.

Seeing that someone was going to invite the father-in-law to come, Tang Tonghua's face showed the confidence that he was determined to win. Yesterday when he realized that Chu Zhi violated the palace rules, he was overjoyed, but he suppressed his emotions and stood guard at the gate of Wenhua Palace. an hour.

He didn't see Chu Zhi come back, but he saw a father-in-law come to check the candles, and he had stopped outside the Wenhua Hall for a long time, and he became more and more excited.

Forgive that Chuzhi will not bribe again, but also bribe the father-in-law who has never met before?

Steady, this wave is absolutely stable!

He glanced at Chu Zhi's calm face, sneered in his heart, ah, pretend, pretend again!I want to see how long you can pretend!You will be imprisoned for questioning later, you must be in a state of disarray already!

His guess was quite correct, because Chu Zhi was indeed worrying about which plan to choose, whether to fly out of the palace and go away to pick Mao Yong out, or to threaten everyone present to remain silent and get through the miracle. It is really difficult to make a selection without losing the degree of fusion.

But when the so-called father-in-law inspecting the candle came, Chu Zhi was taken aback for a moment.

After a while, a happy smile bloomed on the corner of his lips.

Calm down.

"So it's Xiao Xizi." Eunuch Liu glanced at the visitor, and the expression on his face relaxed. He still likes this eunuch who is sweet and clever.

"Eunuch Liu." The uneasiness on Yang Xi's face disappeared in a flash, and after saluting Eunuch Liu, only a simple and honest smile remained, "The slave didn't know that Eunuch Liu was looking for him, and he came late, what a shame!" It's too inappropriate, please forgive me, please forgive me!"

Eunuch Liu smiled and said casually as if greeting the family: "Where did you serve just now?"

"The servant is preparing the seat for Prince Zhao. He heard that there will be a conference of strange talents and talents today. Prince Zhao is very interested. He also heard that Eunuch Liu personally selected them. Those capable people must be very talented, so I want to come and see them too." Look." Yang Xi said softly.

"Then His Majesty will be happy." Eunuch Liu's expression softened, "But speaking of the meeting of strange men and women, I heard that you came to inspect the candles in their palace yesterday?"

"Exactly." Yang Xi was a little nervous, "I wanted to send you the report after preparing the matter of Prince Zhao, but I came late."

Eunuch Liu waved his hand, not caring about his fault at all: "Our family heard that the Wenhua Palace was empty yesterday, and someone took the opportunity to sneak away. Do you know about this?"

Having said that, he took advantage of the opportunity to raise his chin and raised his chin in the direction of Chu Zhi, which was a reminder to Yang Xi. Yang Xi's heart moved, and he was about to report what he saw yesterday, but his eyes subconsciously fell on Chu Zhi, and his pupils froze. shrink.

Fortunately, the years of vigilance made him calm down quickly, and no one could see this fluctuation. Tang Tonghua was still proudly waiting for the verdict, with the corners of his mouth almost grinning to the base of his ears.

In such an atmosphere, Chu Zhi and Yang Xi met each other's eyes, and neither of them spoke, but they both saw understanding and smiles from the bottom of each other's eyes.

The next moment, he looked away, and Yang Xi had confidence in his heart: "Back to the father-in-law, yesterday the servant inspected each hall, so it can be guaranteed that these people are under the slave's nose, and you can see any disturbance. "

"That's right!" Tang Tonghua couldn't wait to agree, he wanted to prove that what Yang Xi said was absolutely true, "I saw this with my own eyes!"

He looked at Yang Xi expectantly, waiting for the other's next words.

So Yang Xi continued: "So even the servants don't know why there is no one in Wenhua Palace, so the rest of the people will not know."

Just as Tang Tonghua was about to nod, his eyes widened in an instant.

He looked at Yang Xi, who had an innocent face but was full of lies, and was so shocked that he couldn't speak: "Elder-in-law...you, what are you doing?"

How can you talk nonsense with your eyes open! !

At this moment, Tang Tonghua panicked.

"Yo, our family doesn't know you." Yang Xi immediately took a few steps back vigilantly, "Don't act like you are very close to our family, our family just explained the facts that I saw with my own eyes, is there any problem? "

"...You, you!" Tang Tonghua was so angry that he almost vomited blood. When Yang Xi said this, the situation became more like a trick he deliberately set up to frame Chu Zhi!

Although what he saw was true, but at the moment he couldn't argue with it, and was confused.

And the cold gazes from the surrounding candidates and Eunuch Liu broke his heart even more.

"Sure enough... he was the one who slandered us. Fortunately, Chu Zhi was chosen instead of us, otherwise we would have been killed by him without anyone noticing it!"

"I thought there was something really wrong with Chu Zhi, but I didn't expect...Tang Tonghua looks like a good-looking person, but he turned out to be so vicious in his heart. I was wrong."

……

The volume of the whispering was just within the hearing range of Tang Tonghua. Seeing that everyone regarded him as a sinister villain, and his reputation was finally bad again. : "I'm telling the truth! This father-in-law is lying!"

"Enough!" Eunuch Liu sneered.

Compared with Tang Tonghua, who has always had a bad impression, he is of course more willing to trust Xiao Xizi who knows everything.

He stared at Tang Tonghua's pale face viciously, then shook his sleeves and said, "Thinking that our family will let you play tricks over and over again! Our family sees that you should go out of the palace and wake up and never come back!"

After hitting the stick here, I want to give some sweet dates to the person who was slandered. When Eunuch Liu turned his head to look at Chu Zhi, a gentle smile appeared on his face: "I have wronged you this time, you can see the punishment given to him." It can be regarded as satisfactory, as long as it is not too much, you can mention it at will, and our family is the master to satisfy you!"

This can be said to fully delegate power to Chu Zhi, and Tang Tonghua's fate is in his hands!

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help shaking their heads. Now that Tang Tong has finished, Chu Zhi has been slandered like this, how could he miss such a good opportunity.

Tang Tonghua's body was even more shaky, and he seemed to faint.

But what no one expected was that Chu Zhi just showed a bright smile and waved his hand: "There is no need to expel the palace, there is no need for such a severe punishment, why not... put his order of appearance behind me Bar."

"..."

There was a sudden silence in the arena, and everyone looked at each other in shock.

"Are you sure?" Eunuch Liu looked at Chu Zhi in disbelief. In his opinion, this punishment was too light, and the order of appearance was placed after Chu Zhi?Then don't you still have to play, it's like there is no punishment!

Chu Zhi didn't hesitate at all: "Sure."

In fact, Chu Zhi felt that Tang Tonghua was quite a miserable person, so he enthusiastically reported it, but he didn't expect to be cheated instead.

To be honest, Chu Zhi didn’t expect that Eunuch Yang Xi was the last person he met in the palace gambling house by such a coincidence. At the beginning, he reminded him about the waist card, but he was rewarded today. Life is really impermanent, and there must be good people Good news.

When Chu Zhi saw Yang Xi, he knew that the matter had been resolved.

As for Tang Tonghua... What's the point of sending him out? It's better that when he was expecting to be a blockbuster in front of the emperor, he would be the first to go on stage and light up the audience to win the championship. Everything he did would be useless.This is the way of punishment that Chu Zhi thought of to scare those who expect to be famous the most.

It has to be said that even Chu Zhi himself trembled faintly after thinking about it in another place.

But the other people present obviously didn't expect that level, and they all looked at Chu Zhi in shock, as if they had discovered some new continent.

Someone couldn't help asking: "You just let him go?"

Dozens of pairs of eyes were fixed on his face, making Chu Zhi want to ignore it, but he couldn't do it. Chu Zhi touched his nose and said loudly: "His jealous and ugly heart allows him to be ruthless, but I am an upright person. A frank person cannot be unrighteous."

Everyone was startled, and they almost looked at Chu Zhi differently. They didn't expect him to be such a gentleman!

Chu Zhi added leisurely: "And I can understand him. After all, someone as good as me should be jealous, but jealousy is jealousy. It's wrong to have nausea. It hurts others and eventually hurts yourself!"

"..." Although he rolled his eyes at his thick skin, the words still made sense. Several candidates who originally hated Chu Zhi because of jealousy suddenly felt very ashamed, and saluted Chu Zhi, " Brother Chu, Gao Yi, I am ashamed."

The image of Chu Zhi in their minds suddenly became taller. Thinking in another way, they could not be as open-minded as Chu Zhi.

Comparing it with the soup assimilation of the villain's heart, it is natural and instantly clear whether it is cooked or not.

Not to mention them, when Tang Tonghua, who thought he would be expelled from the palace and was in despair, heard Chu Zhi's words, his eyes were full of excitement, and even at this moment he was very grateful for Chu Zhi's generosity.

But he gradually realized that he has become such a field because of Chu Zhi's gift!He is grateful ass! !

So he looked at Chu Zhi with even more resentment.

Everyone noticed the fierce light in his eyes, they all quietly took two steps back, and moved closer to Chu Zhi subconsciously.

And Mao Yong, who was extremely worried from the beginning to the end, finally breathed a sigh of relief, his face flushed with excitement. Sure enough, Hero Chu is worthy of being Hero Chu. People admire it!

The atmosphere became much more relaxed for a while, and some time was delayed due to the pursuit of responsibility. It was completely at noon when the Magical Stranger Conference started, and everyone had no time to prepare, so they hurriedly took their luggage, and Eunuch Liu took them towards the Go to the back garden.

The place where the emperor and others watched was in the back garden. From a distance, they could see the backs of three people sitting in a beautiful rockery pavilion.

The one in the middle wearing the yellow robe is the present day. On his left is a man in white, with a well-groomed beard, a calm face, and steady movements. On the right is a young man in blue, about 20 years old, Dressed luxuriously, with a dignified appearance, the corners of his lips are slightly raised when he meets people, and his eyes are extremely bright, giving people a rather shrewd feeling.

The middle-aged man in white is the prime minister on the left, while the young man on the right is the emperor's uncle, Prince Zhao, and the youngest brother of the late emperor.

As for the equally prestigious right minister, he was nowhere to be seen.

Chu Zhi was only curious for a moment, and didn't look any further. He approached Eunuch Liu three times, five times, two times, and indicated that he lacked the ingredients needed for today's cooking.

Eunuch Liu was taken aback, and then realized that Chu Zhi didn’t have time to prepare the ingredients in advance because of the morning’s events, and once again secretly scolded Tang Tonghua for being troublesome, and quickly said: “Tell the servants what you need, they will prepare it for you, and our family will prepare it for you. Your order of appearance is moved back a little, so you can catch up."

Chu Zhi turned his eyes, and suddenly said: "Can I go to the imperial dining room to find some ingredients in person, it will make me feel better."

Eunuch Liu frowned and looked at him. Maybe it was because his upright remarks just now gave Eunuch Liu a great impression, or maybe he felt sorry for him, so Eunuch Liu reluctantly nodded: "Let Xiao Xizi accompany you Go, but don't move around at will, walk around!"

"Understood." Chu Zhi smiled, "Thank you, Eunuch."

Chu Zhi followed Yang Xi to the imperial dining room.

A strange figure suddenly appeared in the imperial dining room, accompanied by the father-in-law in charge, which immediately made all the imperial chefs a little confused.

I saw the young man walking back and forth leisurely in the room with his hands behind his back, commenting from time to time:

"The heat of your dish is not right. Be careful next time. It will destroy the aroma of the ingredients."

"There are some problems with your knife technique, remember to cut on the side."

"With less salt, the taste is better at half the price."

The young man spoke clearly and clearly, and he really got to the point. All the royal chefs nodded their heads and listened obediently like students, but in fact they were very confused.

"Okay." After pondering for a while, Chu Zhi casually pointed at some ingredients on the table, "This, this, this... plus this... this is also fine... take it carefully and send it to the Royal Garden .”

Yu Chu nodded subconsciously, and immediately obeyed in a hurry.

"Ah, besides—" Chu Zhi looked back leisurely at this moment, "I have taken care of the emperor's meals at noon today, so you don't have to worry about it, understand?"

This sentence is really the demeanor of a high-ranking person, and all the royal chefs expressed their understanding again and again, and sent Chu Zhi away respectfully with low eyebrows and eyes.

It wasn't until he was no longer visible in the field of vision that the imperial chefs looked at each other and asked each other: "... who is this person?"

"You do not know??"

"I thought you knew!"

"You don't know at all."

After asking around, no one was able to answer this question, as if this person appeared out of thin air, which is very strange.

A very senior imperial chef scratched his head and couldn't figure it out, so he could only drag a young eunuch who came to fetch the ingredients and asked, "Who wants these ingredients?"

The little eunuch rolled his eyes: "Of course it's Mr. Chu Zhichu who participated in the meeting of strange men and women today."

The senior royal chef was startled, then dumbfounded: "...what?"

"So he, he is an ordinary person???"

...After a long time of suffocating silence, in an instant, he was furious!

Their well-known royal chef is being played around by a commoner like this?

Too much deception, simply too much deception! !

The imperial chefs were immediately angry, and someone proposed to sue this matter to the imperial court, so that the ignorant boy would suffer a lot.

But some people think that His Majesty might like these strange talents, so it's better not to be reckless.

Feng Yuchu, a senior imperial chef, sneered and said, "He said that he would cook for His Majesty himself. Isn't that a cook? What does it have to do with strange talents!"

The other imperial chefs looked at each other in blank dismay: "That being said, he was brought over by Eunuch Liu, maybe he is related to him."

"...That's it!" Feng Yuchu thought for a moment, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "We might as well go and see for ourselves what this strange man surnamed Chu can perform. If he is just a fake, we will directly sue him Shangyu, if he has two brushes, we can see it with our own eyes!"

The crowd readily agreed.

However, almost everyone does not think that a cook can have any extraordinary performances. After all, they are cooks, and they are the best cooks in the country. Even if they can't do things, a mere 20 How could a [-]-year-old brat do it!

All the imperial chefs were gearing up, so they met and went to find Eunuch Liu to intercede.

Those who enjoy the performances of strange men in the back garden are all famous and noble people. They are not qualified to stand on the sidelines, so they can only ask Eunuch Liu to ask if there is a way.

Eunuch Liu originally wanted to reject such rude people, but he suddenly thought that the little emperor had always liked excitement, so he might like such a farce, so he went to ask in person.

The 15-year-old little emperor's face has not yet opened, but his black eyes are as bright as grapes. When he heard that there will be a cook next, he was very surprised.

But when he heard that all the cooks from the imperial dining room had come, he seemed not convinced that this person could become a strange person, so he immediately found it very interesting.

"Okay! Then let them all come over!" The little emperor was very happy, and agreed with a wave of his hand.

But with a light cough coming from his side, the little emperor's body froze reflexively.

Seeing Prime Minister Zuo stroking his beard, he said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, don't mess around, this is not a place where everyone can come."

"...Left Prime Minister, what you said is true." The little emperor lost his breath visibly to the naked eye, and forced a smile, and he no longer had the excited expression just now.

But at this time, Prince Zhao Qi Huan's eyes flashed across his eyes, and he said leisurely: "The left prime minister is too rigid, since the next person dares to perform cooking skills, then naturally his cooking skills are special, we are not Professionals, how do you tell the difference? How about asking the royal chef to judge, wouldn’t it be exciting?”

Zuo Xiang was silent for a moment, then nodded and said: "What the lord said is that the old man was thinking too much, so let them come up one, and the rest wait outside with these strange men."

Chu Zhi looked at this scene meaningfully, and thought of some information in the game. For example, Prince Zhao Qi Heng is a member of the right faction. Prime Minister Zuo was not good at contradicting him face to face, but secretly tripped him up behind his back.

I saw it today, and sure enough, these two arguments were not based on the emperor's thoughts. It can be seen from the fact that the emperor couldn't come back with a smile even if he got what he wanted.

He recalled that the little emperor was treated like a puppet by the two kingdoms, and he never lived free for a day, so that when Zhang Ling announced his seizure of the throne when he was truly liberated, he felt a little unbearable. It is somewhat similar to the time when the bed can only stay in the hospital for treatment.

Since the little emperor can't laugh, let the dishes he cooks make the little emperor laugh.

There was a subtle change in Chu Zhi's eyes.

"Brother Chu...it's your turn."

Suddenly, someone whispered in his ear to remind him that it was time to appear.

Chu Zhi came back to his senses and was about to thank him, but he saw that the people around him looked at him sympathetically, with pity in their eyes.

Chu Zhi:?

After a while, he realized that it seemed that the group of royal chefs came to visit just to make it more difficult for him.

Hmm...but to Chu Zhi, it really doesn't matter.

He immediately smiled and cupped his hands at the surrounding chefs who were glaring at him, "So you all came here to watch my performance alone! Oh, how polite you are!"

If this sentence only made the royal chefs scold and roll their eyes, then the next sentence made them dumbfounded.

"It's really a good time for you to come here. You can witness the moment when I win the championship with your own eyes, and you can also taste the dishes I cook. I'm afraid you don't see this kind of opportunity once in your life. I'm so happy for you!"

All the royal chefs: "..."

Pooh, you little bastard is quite proud!Also won the championship!Also honored!Why don't you want to fart!

Because they were in front of the emperor, they didn't say a word, they just shot at Chu Zhi with their eyes like knives.

The little emperor thought this person was very interesting, and once again there was a trace of anticipation on his face.

But Prime Minister Zuo suddenly said, "You are Chu Zhi?"

This sentence inevitably makes people a little startled. I don’t know why Prime Minister Zuo knew about such a small person, but after Chu Zhi agreed, Prime Minister Zuo only looked him up and down, and then drank tea without interest, which made everyone a little confused. Can't figure it out.

In short, at this moment, Chu Zhi took the stage as the finale.

"He won't want to play knife skills again?"

Tang Tonghua couldn't hold back a sarcasm in a low voice.

But Chu Zhi looked at him as if he had eyes on his back, and smiled: "This time, I plan to cook."

"I will make an unprecedented dish to prove that I am the number one chef in the country!"

As soon as this sentence was said, the others just looked weird, but the imperial cooks were furious, thinking that Chu Zhi was robbing them of their jobs.

But they couldn't do anything, they could only stare carefully at Chu Zhi's next actions, and planned to find fault with the eggs, so that His Majesty could recognize the nature of this liar as soon as possible!

But when Chu Zhi took out a kitchen knife and a fat fish, their eyes suddenly widened, and they couldn't say a word.

Because his knife skills are really exquisite.

The speed is continuous into an afterimage, but the fish scales, gills, and bones are perfectly cut off, the belly is dismantled, and the internal organs are taken out. There is nothing to be picky about.

Afterwards, Chu Zhi cut the fish into pieces of the same thickness at an astonishingly fast speed, but none of the fish was damaged or uneven in thickness.

It can be said that watching Chu Zhi cook is a kind of pleasing to the eye. His knife skills and his smooth movements are breathtaking.

But Chu Zhi's purpose was not to show off his knife skills. He didn't even play any tricks. After the fish fillets were cut, he beat out the egg liquid, added wine, sliced ​​ginger, salt, and chopped green onion to marinate the fish and put it aside.While waiting, he used a piece of tender tofu to easily carve out a rather stunning petal arrangement, and finally brought out the highlight—a red powdered seasoning for the final seasoning preparation.

When the red powder was taken out, everyone was a little puzzled, and even when the oil was heated, it could smell an unprecedented smell, which was slightly pungent.

The imperial chefs looked around, but they didn't know what it was. Even Prince Zhao was interested and asked Feng Yuchu beside him the name of this object, but Feng Yuchu hesitated and didn't know what to say.

But when the powder was mixed with oil and poured on the fish fillets, everyone could smell a more intense aroma.

Unconsciously, he swallowed his saliva and stared straight at the dish.

Chu Zhi stopped his hands and introduced, "Your Majesty, this dish of spicy sweet fish is what I want to present."

"Bring it up!" The little emperor sat for nearly two hours without eating anything. He was already hungry at this time, and the aroma really aroused his appetite, so he wished he could eat a big bowl of rice.

However, as soon as the spicy sweet fish was served, Prime Minister Zuo reached out his hand to stop the little emperor, first took a deep look at the dish, and then asked, "What is this red thing?"

"It's a kind of spice and seasoning called pepper." Chu Zhi smiled and said, "It's a seasoning I accidentally found from a foreign place. It's very delicious. Why don't you ask Zuo Xiang to taste it too?"

Zuo Xiang naturally stood still, and Feng Yuchu looked at his eyebrows and eyes, and suddenly snorted coldly: "Hmph, this kind of seasoning has never been heard before, and the smell is so pungent! You are indeed a vulgar person in the country. It is a treasure. Who is Zuoxiang, how can he use this kind of thing!"

It's weird to see this red and red one, heh, don't talk about tasting it, even if he starved to death here and jumped from the back garden, he would never try this kind of thing!

Feng Yuchu raised his head contemptuously, and cast a glance at Chu Zhi.

Chu Zhi only smiled slightly: "Since the imperial chef said so, how about asking the imperial chef to try it first, and then consider whether you want to taste it after listening to his evaluation?"

Feng Yuchu: ...

Feng Yuchu choked, but the little emperor clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Very good, then I will leave it to Feng Qing."

"Ah, this..." Feng Yuchu's mouth twitched, he was very resistant in his heart, and looked towards Zuoxiang subconsciously for help.

Unexpectedly, Zuo Xiang nodded lightly: "Then please ask the chef to try the poison first."

... test the poison.

The corners of Feng Yuchu's eyes twitched crazily, almost vomiting blood.

How could his majestic imperial chef be reduced to this point?

What if the nonsense used by this person is really poisonous? He still doesn't want to go to see the first emperor right now!

But facing the oppressive eyes of the left minister, Feng Yuchu had no choice but to pick up the chopsticks tremblingly, his wrists kept shaking, and his eyes were full of despair.

In the end, he could only grit his teeth fiercely under the eyes of everyone, picked up a piece of fish and sent it to his mouth.

After chewing and chewing a few times——

Feng Yuchu: Ah, it smells so good!