86 Whining and Complaints

A few more people came to the gathering in front of the doors to the hall.

There were still shouts coming from the inside of the room as all the ministers and other lower level bureaucrats continued on arguing behind closed doors. They broached all sorts of topics ranging from the fare that they had already presumably discussed yesterday to all sorts of other matters, including but not limited to: the division of labour among the different kitchens going to to argue whether some palace kitchens were more well equipped to create certain dishes, pointing out the tastes of several concubines and how they had essentially trained up their own personal cooks to specialise in very specific and useful meals and styles; how they were all going to buy all the specific ingredients, throwing out the names of random vendors and transportation companies from different reaches of the Empire, and how they were all supposed to possibly complete all the work that they needed to do, that was demanded of them, on time.

Xiao Ying, listening to the final point of conflict, found himself sympathising and nodding along as one man, loudly, began to stutter and sounded as if he was about to burst into tears at any moment as he began detailing how the Defence Minister's Budgeting Office was going to slaughter him for not getting this balance right and how all the generals in attendance were going to hunt him down and slaughter him for this and why was the military base being made to contribute their effort when they were focussed on already feeding the soldiers and the swelling army with their rations.

"Alright everybody, I'm here now. Oh dear, they're still arguing inside the hall."

Xiao Ying turned around to see another man now arriving, his robes brighter and much more refined than what all the heads of the kitchen wore.

From the gleam and glitter of the fabric in the sunlight, he quickly realised that he was looking at a silk ensemble. He wore several layers more than the cooks, indicating a role within the government that did not require him to be anywhere near any hot stoves or open flames, nor requiring something like physical exertion.

He looked like a desk worker through and through but the standards of clothing he wore indicated a position of prestige that nobody present was even supposed to even be around.

Xiao Ying looked directly at the man and examined his uniform, trying to identify whether he wore any charms or whether his clothing bore any markings of his exact status and role within the palace.

Outwardly, there was nothing but the high quality fabric.

Immediately, all the other head cooks got in line and bowed to him, and all of them, all at the same time in one exact motion spoke and said," This one meets their respected supervisor."

Xiao Ying couldn't help the incredulous quirk that he knew that his eyebrows were making.

Why was the representative of the Imperial Palace cooks wearing garments of such high rank when he was so low in the Palace hierarchy in general?