The first luxury quirk formed by Cixi was drinking immortal wine (human milk).
It is said that Cixi started at the age of 26 and didn't stop until she was 75. During this period, she has never stopped for 49 years. If one day she drinks late, she will lose her temper. For this reason, the palace specially raised a batch of "wet nurses" for her, every quarter 120. During this period, these "wet nurses" are not allowed to provide any milk for others, including her children, resulting in many children dying because of insufficient breast milk. From here, we can know how cruel Cixi is.
Not only that, Cixi is also very particular about catering. The most widely known thing is that she eats 100 dishes every meal, and even if she doesn't eat, she has to support a scene.
The institution catering to Cixi's diet is called Shoushan Hotel. The situation of eating in Cixi's daily life is described in detail in Jin Yi and Shen Yiling's "Talking about Maids".
The protagonist in the book is Rong Er, a maid-in-waiting who waits on Cixi to smoke. According to Rong Er's memory, Cixi had lunch around 10: 30, dinner around 5: 00, and two meals at 2: 00 and 7: 00 in the afternoon. On New Year's Day, there are generally 120 kinds of dishes for dinner on holidays, all of which are fresh when taken out.
"No matter where the food is placed, Ningshou Palace, Tihe Hall and three tables of the same food should be put at the same time. Tianyi table is placed at the easternmost end, the floor table is placed at the westernmost end, and the table for people is placed in the middle. " Cixi dines at the middle table.
"There are three kinds of dishes. The first is auspicious dishes that should be celebrated, such as longevity is better than Nanshan, good luck, and the integration of mountains and rivers. The second category is tribute dishes, such as bear's paw, big scorpion, flying dragon, deer breast and so on. The third category is the model dishes made by Shoushan Restaurant according to the holiday diet. "
"The last one is a plate of boiled frozen jiaozi in the coming year" and "Boiled cake in the northeast is a traditional food for the ancestors to celebrate the New Year before entering the customs" to show that they will not forget their ancestors.
When Cixi was eating, the emperor was in the east and the queen was in the west. When delivering meals, it takes more than 500 people from the palace gate to the longevity dining room.
According to the book, when Cixi had a meal, there were four old eunuchs who served the emperors of past dynasties, and they had credit and prestige. When Cixi saw what kind of food, the eunuch immediately distributed what kind of food.
But no matter what dishes can only be served twice, there will be no third time; If there is a third time, the four old eunuchs have the right to shout "withdraw", which means not to let people know what flavor Cixi likes, and people in the palace are not allowed to talk about Cixi's likes and dislikes, just in case.
Cixi's daily dining place is in the palace, which is nothing more than Changchun Palace, Palace of Gathered Elegance or Le Shoutang; In the Summer Palace, we only eat in Leshou Hall.
There is a chair in the middle of the room, and a banquet table similar to a kang table is placed in front of the chair, which is called "Tusgen" in Manchu. Put a picture root on this picture root. The height of the roots of the two pictures is equivalent to the height of an ordinary square table. The picture above shows Cixi's favorite dishes.
When changing food, remove the top root and replace it with a new one, and replace it with a new food. There are many foods that are not like usual, and they are placed on many high tables. These foods are for people to enjoy.
Cixi only ate the middle part of the cabbage and threw away both ends. There should be a lot of fruit on the table.
Before eating, Cixi also appointed a food expert, that is, a poison tester.
Empress Dowager Cixi tried to eat before eating, that is to say, once the food was poisonous, he was the unlucky one who died first. With this insurance, Empress Dowager Cixi still feels uneasy. She also has a more powerful anti-virus measure, that is, a silver medal in poison testing.
Some readers will say that many of Empress Dowager Cixi's tableware are made of silver, as are chopsticks for eating and spoons for scooping soup. These silver tableware can be tested for poison, so why did she get the silver medal for poison testing?
Silver poison test is really different from silver tableware. Although they are all made of silver, the silver in the silver toxicity test is "alive", but the silver used for tableware is "dead".
The theory of "dead silver" and "live silver" comes from Zhao Bao's "Palace Painting Collection" in the late Qing Dynasty: What is the difference between "live" silver and "dead" silver? Let Bian Xiao list it briefly according to the records in that book:
1: The silver used in the silver toxicity test must be the silver mine in Xianju, Zhejiang Province (the three largest silver mines in China are all in Chenzhou, Hunan Province (most of the silver in Yongxing is extracted from waste liquid and waste residue, so the silver is impure), Xianju, Zhejiang Province, and northern Henan Province). The silver mine here is transported to the capital and handed over to the silver bureau, which will extract the purest silver.
2. Make silver half a foot long, finger wide and thin as cicada's wings, and test the poison with 300 silver dollars.
3. The silver medal for drug testing must be enshrined in the idol of Sun Simiao, a drug fairy who has tasted a hundred herbs, three days before he can be moved by the aura of the drug king. Such a silver medal for drug testing can be sent to Cixi's dining table for drug testing.
Cixi loves hygiene, and it is often early after meals, so it is Cixi's habit to take a walk after meals. The walking teams waiting for Cixi are often dozens of people.