After inspecting the city, Gonggong Cen invited Yang Huairen to dinner as usual, but this time he did not go to the restaurant outside, but went to Gonggong Cen's mansion.

Officials who normally work in the city department will generally live in the backyard of the city department, where there are several characteristic courtyards, and ordinary officials from other places live here.

There are also some local officials, or those who have bought better houses outside the home, and naturally live in their own homes.

Cen Xiaonian's mansion is not far from the back alley of the city, the yard is actually not big, but the design is very exquisite, one side is a quiet alley, one side is a small river in the city, and the other two sides, are two lush bamboo forests, the environment is very elegant.

Jiangyin is a county governor, and there are not as many officials with heads and faces as Yangzhou, and even the Jiangyin county magistrate is not qualified to accompany Yang Huairen to eat at the same table.

Like Zhao Xianqiu, Cen Xiaonian is also quite careful, and he also ordered the chef in the house to get a table of standard official dishes, and of course there are a few dishes that can be regarded as local characteristics of Jiangyin.

Geographically speaking, Jiangyin's dishes should also belong to the general category of Huaiyang cuisine, but a few dishes are somewhat different from Huaiyang cuisine in the traditional sense.

A cold dish like a cucumber is naturally a representative of the delicate knife technique of Huaiyang cuisine, but in Jiangyin, the cucumber is a special cold dish, and sometimes oil is poured on the top of the cut cucumber.

Jiangyin stewed eel, it is even more individual, Jiangnan yellow eel is not uncommon, there are many dishes with yellow eel as the main ingredient, but most of them are braised or make soup, with the stewed technique to make yellow eel, the adult vegetable is more oily, it is really the local characteristics of Jiangyin.

Although Jiangyin was a river port, the Yangtze River at that time began to widen greatly from Jiangyin, and the river channel was wide, and there was no big difference from the seaport.

Whether it is the northern cooking skills that came from the south of the canal, or the cooking skills from other cities that came from the sea, and the local traditional cooking skills of Jiangyin, they gradually formed such a unique Jiangyin cuisine.

Jiangyin's products are also quite abundant, especially in terms of ingredients, such as river saury, catfish, anchovy and other river fresh, as well as all kinds of shrimp, and the crab claws in the reeds on the bank of the Yangtze River, all of which are very Jiangyin characteristic ingredients.

Local chefs have created dozens of different dishes and ways to eat these ingredients in different ways.

Yang Huairen found that the chefs in Jiangyin are particularly good at using oil, as if no matter what ingredients, they must be used with oil before they are delicious, so as to meet the taste of Jiangyin people.

Jiangyin also has a well-known delicacy, that is, puffer fish, but at that time, there were relatively few cooks who could slaughter puffer fish, so there were cases of feeling unwell and even dying because of eating puffer fish.

Cen Xiaonian invited Yang Huairen to dinner this time, even if he knew that Yang Huairen was a gourmet, he didn't dare to serve him the dish of puffer fish easily, in case something went wrong, he couldn't afford it.

Of course, even if he really eats the dish of puffer fish, I'm afraid Yang Huairen won't eat it, a poisonous delicacy like puffer fish, unless he slaughters and processes it himself, and he won't touch it if someone else kills it.

Yang Huairen tasted a few Jiangyin specialties, and suddenly had a feeling that Jiangyin cuisine may be an alternative in Huaiyang cuisine, which is characterized by light and delicate dishes.

Because there were chefs in Yangzhou, even if Yang Huairen wanted to talk about some topics about food, it seemed that he was playing the piano to them, so he was a little less interested.

Cen Xiaonian didn't know much about food, so he just talked to him about some local areas in Jiangyin and things about maritime trade, and Yang Huairen listened as if listening to the report, nodding from time to time.

The meal was also eaten by the guest and the host, although Cen Xiaonian wanted to stay at home for a few days after the meal, Yang Huairen had to use Princess Anguo's illness as an excuse and rejected his good intentions.

When it was time to leave, Cen Xiaonian seemed to be anxious to speak, and Yang Huairen was a little uncomfortable when he saw it.

Although Cen Xiaonian is not a real man, he should be closer to a man than a woman, and his face is already smeared, and he looks constipated, who sees who is uncomfortable for him.

When Yang Huairen was about to go out, he suddenly said, "The prince stays, our family still has something to tell." ”

Yang Huairen was curious and a little impatient, "Cen Ge Ling will say it directly." ”

Cen Xiaonian did not speak directly, but stared at Tong Guan and several other officials of the city, several officials were very knowledgeable, and they all said goodbye to Yang Huairen and exited the room first.

Tong Guan was naturally a little unhappy in his heart, Cen Xiaonian meant that he had something to say to Yang Huairen alone, Tong Guan was also very curious, and he wanted to hear it at that time.

But Cen Xiaonian overwhelmed him in terms of qualifications, and his power in Jiangnan was also many times stronger than him, even if he was reluctant, Tong Guan still withdrew with Xiaoxiao.

Seeing this, Yang Huairen became even more curious, came back from the new and sat down, and pointed to a seat in front of him, "Cen Geling, you can also sit down and talk." ”

Unexpectedly, Cen Xiaonian walked in front of him, suddenly knelt down, and said softly, "Cen Xiaonian, the subordinate guard of Ziju Hall, meet the chief manager." ”

Yang Huairen was stunned for a moment, he never thought that Cen Xiaonian would still have the identity of an internal guard.

But when he calmed down and thought about Cen Xiaonian's past experience, he gradually guessed a rough idea.

When Cen Xiaonian served Yingzong, he was still a little eunuch, and when he arrived in the Shenzong Dynasty, Gao Taotao became the queen mother, and he should have been recruited into the internal guard.

According to this, Empress Dowager Gao asked him to go to the palace of Empress Qincheng, who was still Concubine De, to be the eunuch in charge of the palace, and actually ordered him to spy on Concubine Zhu De.

Later, I don't know what happened, and I don't know if Concubine Zhu Defei found out Cen Xiaonian's identity, or it was just a simple exchange of interests in the harem, so Empress Dowager Gao let him out of the palace and came to the city in Jiangnan on an errand.

Or Empress Dowager Gao figured out that the city would be an important source of wealth for her, so she sent Cen Xiaonian over.

The transfer division was still unaffected by the Empress Dowager Gao at that time, and the transfer envoy of the Caoyun Yamen has always been the most trusted eunuch around the emperor.

Zhao Xianqiu was the eunuch of Renzong, the influence in the palace and the court was relatively large, and the relationship network was more complicated, Zhao Xianqiu did a very good job in office, and even the Empress Dowager Gao did not move him during his later reign, and perhaps there was also the intention of wooing him.

However, after the death of Empress Dowager Gao, things were different, and Zhao Xianqiu's network in Beijing gradually shrank, but he still relied on the power that had been operating in Jiangnan for many years, and he still had a lot of influence.