(The timeline is the second year after Ye Jingchen transmigrated into the book, after the little ones had already entered the kitchen and could make longevity noodles for the emperor.)

Dayuan also celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival, and the customs are similar to those of Ye Jingchen's era, including activities such as dragon boat racing, eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), drinking realgar wine, hanging mugwort and calamus, wearing sachets, tying five-colored ropes, painting foreheads, and flying kites.

Early that morning, the little ones gathered at the Wenhua Hall.

Artemisia and calamus are now hanging everywhere in the Wenhua Hall, meant to ward off evil and disaster.

Their outfits today are quite special: uniform cross-collar straight-sleeved long gowns in two colors, dark green and yellowish-green, which are the colors of bamboo leaves and also their team uniforms for today's dragon boat race.

As for the embroidery patterns on the clothes, there are more than a dozen kinds of ingredients for making zongzi, such as glutinous rice, yellow rice, purple rice, red beans, mung beans, red dates, sesame seeds, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, egg yolks, and pork belly. The best embroiderers from the Imperial Clothing Bureau were invited to embroider them, and each piece of embroidery pattern is different.

After changing her clothes, a palace maid brought her a specially made mugwort sachet and a five-colored rope.

The sachet is made of colorful silk threads and was embroidered by Fanghua, a skilled female sculptor. It is exquisite and beautiful, and is also infused with the fragrance of mugwort prepared by Fangrong.

The five-colored rope is made of red, yellow, blue, white and black silk threads by Fangcao. It is tied to each person's ankle and symbolizes the harmony of the five elements and the warding off of disasters.

Fangfei brought realgar and drew three horizontal lines on each of their foreheads, signifying both warding off evil and bringing good fortune.

After dressing up each child, they went to the kitchen of the East Palace to wrap zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).

In the kitchen, bamboo leaves, various kinds of glutinous rice, and all sorts of ingredients are ready for the kids to use as they please.

Before this, they had already learned how to wrap zongzi and planned what flavor of zongzi they wanted to make. After arriving in the kitchen, they all got busy.

Their little hands displayed a dexterity beyond their years.

Watching this group of little kids busily working in the kitchen, whether willingly or unwillingly, their little faces showed a mix of tension, excitement, and seriousness—

"The brushstrokes need to be more delicate, especially their expressions; you must capture them."

Ye Jingchen arranged for three court painters to paint from three different angles, recording this bustling scene.

It would be very interesting if he invited them to appreciate the paintings together again in ten or twenty years.

After everyone has wrapped the zongzi and marked them with their own unique symbols, they are all put into the steamer to steam.

While they were steaming the zongzi, they had breakfast.

There were no classes in the morning, but while waiting for the zongzi to steam, Qin Feng told them about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival and the meanings behind various customs.

About two hours later, the rice dumplings were cooked.

At noon today, the emperor will hold a grand banquet for his officials in the palace.

These steamed rice dumplings are just right to be served at the banquet for their parents to enjoy.

"Brother, if each of us gives Father a zongzi, will he be able to finish it all?" Ye Jingyu asked the crucial question.

Excluding the three little brats who can't even walk properly, there are eight princes and princesses here, which means there are eight zongzi (rice dumplings) to be presented to the emperor.

Although Ye Jingchen had told them beforehand not to wrap the zongzi too big, it was difficult for the children to control this, so the zongzi were of different sizes.

Eight zongzi represent the wishes of eight children. It's impossible for the emperor to eat eight at once, but how to eat them is a problem.

Ye Jingchen had already anticipated the hellish situation the emperor would face.

"We'll just deliver the rice dumplings. As for how to choose them, let Father Emperor figure it out himself!" Ye Jingchen waved his hand dismissively.

The main dish for lunch was zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) that they had made themselves, which they shared with each other. There were sweet ones, savory ones, and sweet and savory ones. In short, the flavors were very rich and the combinations were varied. Every bite was like opening a blind box.

What impressed Ye Jingchen the most was Yun Shu's pork belly rice dumpling. There was more meat than glutinous rice. As soon as the bamboo leaves were unwrapped, the dumpling fell apart. It was golden and greasy. Ye Jingchen could only pray in his heart for Marquis Zhongyong, his wife, and the old lady, hoping that they wouldn't need to call a doctor after eating it.

In addition, Ye Jinghe's zongzi, stuffed with red dates and red beans, was also impressive.

There are two main events in the afternoon: dragon boat racing and kite flying.

They are all children, and it's not safe for them to play in the water, but no one stipulates that dragon boat races can only be held on water; they can also be held on land.

For this program, Ye Jingchen specially commissioned craftsmen to build a dragon boat with wheels.

The twelve of them were divided into two teams for the competition, with six people on each team: a drummer, a helmsman, and four rowers.

The competition was held in the most open area of ​​the Imperial Garden, and many imperial concubines and palace servants were invited as spectators.

Ye Jingyan and Ye Jingyu are the drummers for the two teams, while Wu Zemin and Xie Chang'an are the helmsmen.

To make things easier, the teams were divided according to height this time. After all, dragon boat racing relies heavily on teamwork, and it's difficult to coordinate if there's a significant difference in arm and leg length.

Therefore, Ye Jingming, Ye Jingyu, Xie Chang'an, Ye Jingyu, Ye Jingyu and Ye Jinghe were divided into one team, while the others were in another team.

“There’s a traitor in our team, that’s not fair,” Xie Chang’an expressed his dissatisfaction with the squad.

“Yes, Your Majesty, Fifth Brother definitely won’t cooperate with us!” Ye Jingyu added.

They have a vivid memory of a certain Cuju (ancient Chinese football) match.

"Jinghe, if your team wins, I'll grant you one request, okay?" Ye Jingchen thought for a moment and said to Ye Jinghe with a smile.

Ye Jinghe's eyes lit up, and he asked hopefully, "Any request is acceptable?"

"As long as it's within my power," Ye Jingchen said.

Ye Jinghe is full of energy.

Then they lost.

Because dragon boat racing requires teamwork, his enthusiasm was too much, and the boat capsized.

Ye Jinghe became depressed and got into a fight with Ye Jingyu, feeling that Ye Jingyu was too useless and couldn't keep up with his speed.

After separating the two little ones, they carried out the last activity of the Dragon Boat Festival: flying kites.

Flying kites is also a way to pray for blessings and ward off disasters, and to express one's yearning for a better life.

Their kites all featured designs they liked, and they made them themselves by hand.

Ye Jingchen made a fish for himself, Ye Jingshu made a phoenix, Yun Shu made a chubby little boy, and Ye Jingyan and Ye Jingyu both made butterflies, except one was brightly colored and the other was only black and white.

Ye Jingyu made a gold ingot, Xie Chang'an made a spear, Ye Jinghe made a wolf cub, Ye Jingming made a black kite, Ye Jingyu made a jade pendant, Gu Beichen made a book, and Wu Zemin made a tree shape.

Once the kites took flight, Ye Jingchen cut the strings connecting them. Seeing this, the others followed suit, cutting the strings in their hands and giving their kites freedom.

(Here's a lively little side story, please give it a like!)