The palace has not yet opened its doors during the fourth watch, but there is a place called the Waiting Courtyard for Leakage, which is specially prepared for civil and military officials.

Officials who arrive early can take a break here. And because there is no explicit rule that small vendors are not allowed to set up stalls nearby, the lights in front of the courtyard are waiting for the fourth watch, selling liver clips and flour porridge, and the coming and going are noisy.

Zhou Cheng's breakfast is usually solved here, and Tang Ning was stuffed with a steamed bun by Wang Shi when he went out, and he had already eaten it on the way.

But where can you eat a steamed bun? Just take advantage of this time to fill your stomach in the waiting hospital.

On weekdays, Zhou Cheng's coachman comes back with three scones with shredded chicken, which is Zhou Cheng's favorite food. Then buy a bowl of millet porridge and a plate of pickles, this breakfast, Zhou Chengcheng can almost eat.

On the way, the driver will buy himself a bowl of noodles, and the emperor is not a hungry soldier, so he should have some special treatment if he gets up so early to accompany the old man to the court.

Today, Downing was here, so the coachman bought eight pieces of scones, two bowls of millet porridge, two bowls of noodles, and two plates of pickles.

The scones are the size of a fist, and I heard that each one costs only three cents, which is actually quite cost-effective considering the price of goods in Bianjing.

Tang Ning gave the money bag to Lin Wei and asked him to buy some things he liked to eat, and then sat with Zhou Cheng in a room in the courtyard to eat.

In fact, this scone cake is, in Downing's view, a meat bun. It's just that this cake, I don't know how to make it, is tender and fragrant. The shredded chicken also has a faint salty taste, and when the two are paired together, just smelling the smell can arouse the cravings in the human stomach.

Zhou Cheng grabbed the cake and took a bite, sighed and said, "Alas, only this, I can't get tired of eating it." Unfortunately, the people who make these scones only sell them every morning in front of the waiting yard. Other times, even if you look all over the city, you can't see it.

I found someone to make it, but there was a lack of flavor......" Zhou Huai took another bite as he spoke, and said vaguely while chewing: "If you can hand over this craft to my cook!" ”

Tang Ning smiled when he heard this: "Although I don't know how this cake is made, but if you want to talk about the method of the cake, in fact, I can do it with both hands." ”

As soon as he said this, Zhou Chengcheng became interested. He has tasted Tang Ning's cooking with his own mouth, and it tastes really good. The food he cooks is always much better than the others, and I don't know why.

Raising his eyebrows, Zhou Cheng said: "Then dare to be kind, your eldest brother and I don't like to eat anything else, so I love to eat cakes." Tell me, what kind of bread is it? Did you make it up yourself, or did you learn it from someone else? ”

"It was taught to me by my ancestors." Tang Ning smiled: "The scallion pancakes and tendon cakes taste very good. Especially the gluten cake, after the master finished making it, he put it on the page, and you could see the words on the book through the body of the cake.

Although I don't have the skills, I still have no problem making the tendon cakes tender and fragrant. ”

"Haha, good! Then tomorrow I will rest, and I will go to your house and taste your hands

Art, how? ”

"No problem, tomorrow the little brother is at home waiting for the big brother to come!"

The two of them were talking and eating, and the officials in the courtyard were also eating breakfast and chatting about some messy and irrelevant topics, without exception.

The whole courtyard is filled with the aroma of rice with various flavors, those who eat wontons, eat noodles, and don't bother to drink chicken soup early in the morning...... All in all, everything to eat.

When Tang Ning and Zhou Cheng were eating and chatting, they suddenly heard someone next to him say, "To the adults in the matter." ”

The person who came smiled at Zhou Cheng, then looked at Tang Ning and said with a smile: "This is ......"

Downing looked at the man and felt that he was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him. Looking at his face, he is almost forty or fifty years old, and he should be a person of the same era as Master, but he is younger than Master.

When Zhou Cheng saw this person coming, he hurriedly prepared to get up. But the person who came smiled and held Zhou Cheng down, and Zhou Cheng arched his hand and said, "Lord Cai." ”

Tang Ning was a little surprised when he saw Zhou Cheng's appearance, and this official in the matter was not low. There were also many officials who came to say hello before, but Zhou Cheng just sat and arched his hands, chatting a few words and passing it.

But like this, Zhou Cheng is a little ...... Flattered by the feeling is certainly not an ordinary person.

Surname Cai? Tang Ning looked at the visitor carefully, and then suddenly realized.

No wonder I think this person is familiar, isn't he just like Cai Jing!

"This is my father's apprentice Tang Ning, it's ......"

"Oh, the old man knows you." The man smiled and said: "You are the commander of the Zhenjiang Army and the Mabu Army appointed by the official family, and you have made military exploits in the northwest before.

Not bad, not bad, the future is terrifying, haha! ”

Zhou Cheng smiled: "I don't know what Lord Cai commands?" ”

"Oh, it's fine. It's just that when he saw a new face, the old man was curious, so he came over to ask. After the man finished speaking, he waved his hand and said goodbye, and Zhou Cheng respectfully watched him walk away before sitting down and continuing to eat.

"Who is he?"

"He? Hehe, Cai Bian, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, the younger brother of Cai Jing, the secretary of the household department, and the son-in-law of Jing Gong. Zhou Cheng replied while drinking porridge.

"No wonder." Tang Ning suddenly realized.

"What's the wonder?"

"No wonder I look at his appearance, he looks so much like Cai Jing......"

"Ah, have you seen Cai Shangshu?"

"I've seen it, I saw it from Zeng's Mansion last night. However, I didn't understand why Cai Jing would go to Zeng's Mansion at that time, and I didn't figure it out all night after thinking about it. ”

"If you can't figure it out, don't think about it." Zhou Cheng's face was very serious, and then he looked around, and when he saw that there was no one nearby, he leaned into Tang Ning's ear,

said in a very low voice: "The eldest brother of the Cai family and his younger brother are not all the way, and Jing Gong is quite accurate in terms of seeing people." ”

“……”

………………

On the fifth watch, the palace opened. The officials who had breakfast in the courtyard also got up and entered the palace. It was still half dark and the officials carried lanterns and walked slowly along the road under their feet.

Coming to the front of the vertical arch hall, there are two rows of stone steps. The civil and military officials were very consciously divided into the left and right sides, and walked from the stone steps to the door of the vertical arch hall.

Although Tang Ning received the position of military attaché, no one would really treat him as a military attaché.

Zhou Cheng led Tang Ning up from the row of civil officials, although he had seen him in the courtyard before, and some of them had also said hello, but this new face still attracted the unanimous attention of many officials.

When the rooster crowed, the doors of the arched hall opened. Tang Ning's eyes widened and he looked into the hall, this was the first time he had seen a hundred civil and military officials go to court.

The area inside the palace is very large, and there are four huge mahogany stakes on the left and right, which support the dome of the palace.

In the center, a red carpet more than one meter wide stretched from the entrance of the hall to Zhao Xu's feet. And Zhao Xu was wearing a crimson robe and a crown that reached the sky, and sat on the only chair in the hall with a smile.

Tang Ning blinked, if he replaced the heavenly crown on Zhao Xu's head with a black gauze hat, Tang Ning would not be able to see any difference between him and ordinary officials at all.

It's just that this body is definitely much more majestic than when I saw myself in the imperial study, and Zhao Xu in the imperial study is dressed like a rich son.

The civil and military officials were divided into left and right sides, and consciously stood in two rectangular phalanxes. Fortunately, Zhou Cheng was present, and when Tang Ning was stunned, Zhou Cheng reached out and pulled him over, so that Tang Ning didn't lose this person.

"Your Majesty, Ministers." All the officials bowed down one after another with the wat board, and Tang Ning also did it once.

"Excuse me." Zhao Xu's voice echoed in the vertical arch hall: "Today's court meeting, do you have any affairs to play?" ”

"Official, Weichen has something to play." As soon as Zhao Xu's words fell, he jumped out and stood on the red carpet alone and said loudly.

Zhao Xu felt a headache when he saw this person, sighed and said, "It's Liu Qing, what do you have to do, tell me." ”

"Only." The official surnamed Liu nodded and said: "The minister impeached Leizhou and sentenced Qin Guan, colluded with local magnates, oppressed the good, and ran rampant in the township, causing the sun and moon in Leizhou to be dull, and the people were miserable......

What followed was this person's one-man show, he said that Leizhou was a great villain once in a thousand years, and Tang Ning, who heard it, couldn't wait to rush to Leizhou to tear Qin Guan in half.

"Don't take it seriously." Zhou Cheng whispered: "This imperial history surnamed Liu is a person from the left minister, and the left minister has always hated the old party. ”

“……”