During the Guangxu period, Cuigu, a palace maid beside Cixi, was very popular with Cixi, but she still could not leave the palace at the age of 25. She asked her uncle, who was a royal chef in the palace, and made a dish, and Cixi immediately changed her mind after eating.
According to historical records, Cixi was very particular about her diet and living, and used milk to bathe every day, not only that, but even the bathtub she bathed in several times.
In the summer, Cixi asked the palace maids to wash her feet with chrysanthemums, and in the winter with papaya soup. Whenever Cixi bathed, four or five palace maids were needed to serve by the side, which showed how extravagant Empress Dowager Cixi's usual life was.
And the palace maids who serve around Cixi are also the best in the palace, these palace maids will be transferred every three years, and then a new batch of palace maids will come over, every ten years, someone will select a group of palace maids in the people to send over, and as long as women under the age of 12, the requirements are to act safely, dignified, ugly.
At that time, in the Qing Dynasty, many families would send their daughters to the palace in order to make a living, so there were many women who participated in the draft at that time. Those chosen women would have someone in the palace to train them until they met the standards, and then they would be sent to Cixi.
Because Cixi was very strict in the selection of intimate palace maids, she was reluctant to let out those who used them very well, which also caused Cixi to rely on the people around her.
As Guangxu grew older, Cixi often feared that Guangxu would take back the power in his hands, so he tried in every possible way not to let Guangxu out of his control.
One of the best ways is to send women to Guangxu, and on the face of it, these women are under the banner of being good for Guangxu, but in fact they are all Cixi's eyes, just to monitor Guangxu.
And Guangxu knew Cixi's thoughts, and in order to stop Cixi, he came up with a way, that is, according to the ancestral precepts, he decreed that all palace maids over the age of 25 would leave the palace, and they could freely marry and have children, no longer bound by the court.
As soon as this news was announced, all the palace maids who had passed their age were very excited, because they did not have to be scared every day, and they could leave this man-eating palace.
At that time, several of Cixi's personal maids were over 25 years old, and Aunt Cui was one of them. Aunt Cui entered the palace when she was very young and has been following Cixi to serve, and Cixi is also very satisfied with her, as one of Cixi's confidants, Cixi originally wanted to give her to Guangxu as a concubine, it is possible that Cixi was reluctant to let her, so she was always by Cixi's side and was not sent away.
This stay is for several years, these old people are very popular with Cixi, for people who are very easy to use, Cixi is naturally unwilling to let these people out of the palace.
Although Cixi holds the real power of the Great Qing, she does not benefit the people, only thinks about herself, is selfish, and does not consider things from the perspective of others at all. The palace maids around Cixi were also very anxious, they still had a good life, and they didn't want to spend the rest of their long years in this deep palace.
Aunt Cui is looking at it in her eyes and anxious in her heart. Every time she met her distant uncle, her face was a cloud of sadness, and her uncle, who was the imperial chef, had no way, how dare a cook directly say what was in her heart to Cixi? But he also didn't want to see his niece waste his good time in this palace, so he also racked his brains, that is, there was no way to have the best of both worlds.
On this day, a new batch of fresh prawns was added to the dining room. Aunt Cui's uncle looked at the prawns and had an idea that he could design a dish for Cixi according to the plot in "The Tale of the West Wing", and with the shrewd mind of the Empress Dowager, he would definitely be able to guess the deep meaning of this dish.
He painstakingly designed a dish for the eunuch to send to Cixi, this dish has two shrimp, remove the shell of the shrimp, connect the head and tail parts of the shrimp, fry it and fish it out, arrange it, and then add a garnish, and the dish is complete.
And Cuigu's uncle designed this dish with the original meaning that the palace maids are older, and they should choose someone to match.
Cixi is also very particular about eating, and requires it to stimulate appetite and have a health care effect. When Cixi saw this new dish, she first tasted it, then pondered secretly for a while, and asked, "Which cook made this dish?" What is the name of this dish? ”
The eunuch who passed on the meal quickly replied, "This is specially designed for you by the imperial chef today. They are all used in pairs of shrimp, so it is called 'Matchmaker'. ”
When Cixi heard this, she instantly understood that this was implying that she couldn't force her to keep the palace maid!
Cixi was furious, thinking, how can you be a cook, she said angrily: "This is clearly a sea shrimp, who said it is called 'prawn'!" When the imperial chef heard this, he quickly knelt down and said, "Thank you Lafayette for giving the name 'prawn'." ”
Cixi saw that the words had already been spoken, and it was not good to get angry anymore, after all, the repatriation of those palace maids who were over age from the palace was also the will of the emperor, and now it was not good to gain the face of the emperor.
She didn't go too far, and she loved the dish, eating it every now and then. And she didn't say a word about letting Aunt Cui and the others out of the palace, year after year, at this time, Aunt Cui and a few personal maids were already twenty-seven or eight years old, and Cixi also knew that it would not be good if she didn't let them out of the palace.
Once, Cixi ordered the dish "Matchmaker Self-Serving", and she said, "What do you think this dish means?" ”
After speaking, he looked at Aunt Cui, who trembled all over, and suddenly crawled on the ground and said: "The slave deserves to die, and I hope that Lafayette will forgive her sins!" ”
And Cixi did not get angry, she said: "This is someone interceding for you, you go out of the palace, and then you will be free!" ”
Aunt Cui and a few personal maids were very happy and said, "Thank you for your grace!" Then he went out of the palace.
Reference: [Matchmaker Self-matching_Baidu Encyclopedia] web link
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