Li Shen's "Eat Chicken" first came from a short article in "Lecture Room" magazine in 2007, which lacks historical evidence. Since then, it has been interpreted into various versions and widely circulated on the Internet.

There is a record of eating chicken tongue in historical materials, which is an anthology of Jian obtained by Chu people in Qing Dynasty. It is recorded in the book that after Lv Mengzheng became rich, he drank a bowl of chicken tongue soup every morning. One day, he saw a hill in the back garden and thought it was a new scenic spot. He was told that the hill was made up of chicken feathers that were killed every day. This story is obviously an exaggerated novelist's statement. Many contents in Jian Xuan Ji are legends of unofficial history, for example, Qin Gui was recorded by iron whip every day after his death.

The chicken tongue eaten by the ancients may also refer to the fragrance of the ancient chewing gum chicken tongue. This spice from the western regions is small and a little spicy, which is very effective in removing the odor in the mouth. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty once rewarded a courtier. He was so scared that he thought he had offended the emperor and was poisoned that he became a joke for a while.

Other records

When Lu Yechu was stationed in the Western Regions in the Yuan Dynasty, he wrote that eating chicken tongue meat, dividing the horse's head and melon, should also have chicken tongue flavor. Eating fruit after dinner is also in line with the current dining etiquette. Li Shen, who is your prime minister? Compared with the wedding at home, it is not impossible to distribute chicken tongue incense to clean your mouth after dinner.

To interpret historical figures, we should not only learn from modern viewpoints, but also return to the historical situation to understand the rationality of the characters' behavior at that time. Otherwise, it is easy to fall into the strange circle of treating historical figures as faces, which will affect future generations' interpretation of history. Shen Li wrote in his own book that a fake Jin Lifang is plated with real gold, but if it is real gold, it is not plated with gold. After ten years of peace, I won the first place. Why bother on an empty stomach?