Did people eat takeout （外卖）in ancient times?

In fact, there     1     （be） takeout as far back as the Song Dynasty （960-1279）. According    2     history books, Emperor Xiaozong （1127-1194） liked to order takeout late at night. His servants （仆人）then went around the city to pick up the dishes     3     bring them back to the palace.

Ordinary （普通的）people also ordered takeout. Restaurant     4     （wait）would go out into the streets and yell （吆喝）out which dishes could be     5     （order） that day. People could then take     6     order. Later, takeout workers would bring food to     7     （they） homes. In the famous Song Dynasty painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival （《清明上河图》）,a takeout worker can be seen to take food in hand.

People at the time even had some special meal     8     （box） for takeout dishes. It was a long     9    （wood） box with several layers（层）.People also used wanning plates made of two layers of porcelain （瓷）. Hot water could be put between them     10    （keep） dishes warm.

I walked into a restaurant and ordered some food. After about 20 minutes, a large group of people came in and p    1     their own orders.

To my disappointment, the group was s    2     before me. I watched as they began to eat and laugh heartily. I overheard one of them bragging (吹嘘)about how he’s c    3     with someone who works at the restaurant. Unable to t    4     it anymore, I decided to leave. I called the waiter over to cancel my order.

He calmly told me, “Yours is a special order being prepared by the head chef h    5     . It'll take a little more time. Please have a drink while you wait."

I calmed down and waited p    6    . Shortly after, six waiters came with my meal.

To my surprise, the o    7     of the restaurant turned out to be a long-lost friend of mine. He'd seen me as I walked in and decided to surprise me. He upgraded my simple meal to a five -star meal for f    8    . The people at the other table were shocked and couldn’t stop staring.

Suddenly they started c    9    , asking why they didn’ t get that kind of service in a low voice.

Such is life! Some people are a    10     of you, laughing at you. You are working hard tirelessly, wondering why it’s taking so long for you to be rewarded the way they have. You just have to wait longer because your reward is more special.