When Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, a local salt merchant invited a famous local chef at a high price to make an authentic Huaiyang dish for him in order to please him. But after eating it, Ganlong shook his head frequently. Why? Is it really that Huaiyang cuisine is not delicious?

six years later, Qianlong went down to Jiangnan again. The salt merchant still won't give up. This time, he invited ten chefs to cook several special dishes for each. He tasted it first, and then decided whether to give it to the emperor. After a long time of hard work, the salt merchant once again set a table of Huaiyang cuisine for Ganlong, but the result this time is still the same as last time.

This time, the salt merchants are bored. Is our Huaiyang food delicious? Or is it that the emperor is not good at this? It's no good just wondering, he has to inquire about it. After many inquiries, he finally understood the reason. It turned out that the royal chefs were afraid that the emperor would like this dish after eating other dishes, and then bring the chef back to the palace. This will definitely affect their status. So, they paid off the eunuchs who served dishes to the emperor and asked them to put sugar in every dish the emperor ate.

Think about it. If sugar is added to this dish, can other dishes be delicious except the sweet ones? No wonder Ganlong shook his head!