Chapter 56

After the New Year's Eve dinner.

Soon the New Year arrived and all officials took a holiday.

Non-important matters that need to be dealt with now will generally wait until after the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.

As for the case of the sword-wielding Marquis killing the "assassin" mentioned by Censor Zheng at the annual banquet, His Majesty's attitude is not to investigate it immediately, and they will not be idle enough to create trouble for themselves.

This day of Chinese New Year.

Except for Qu Dubian, the other princes and princesses all wore festive red. Qu Dubian was not allowed to wear any because the emperor said he still had to observe mourning for three years. Therefore, the most he could do was to wear a little red inside his clothes, or just hang a border on the outside.

Ye Xiaoyuan was very bothered by it, but he endured the discomfort and changed his prince into new clothes for the New Year.

Whenever he had some favorable impression towards His Majesty, His Majesty would always use various means to reduce his favorable impression to zero.

Qu Watanabe didn't care. It didn't matter what he wore. Anyway, he already knew his cheap father's personality.

He is cute and looks good in light blue.

After changing his clothes, Qu Duan took out the small gold ingot given to him by Emperor Chongzhao from his small socks and said, "Ye Banban, Xiaochun, I'll give you a bonus!"

"bonus?"

Qu Dubian smiled and was very generous. He gave each of them two gold ingots. "Yes, there must be bonuses during the Chinese New Year. I am always sick, and it is hard for you to take care of me."

Wen Xiaochun smiled helplessly: "Your Highness, this is what we should do. Even if you want to reward us, just give us some silver. You only have so few gold ingots."

His Highness is too honest. If it were someone with evil intentions, it would be easy for him to swindle all his money away.

"No, you are not outsiders. I won't give him to outsiders."

Ye Xiaoyuan's heart melted, "Okay, Banban will keep it. Xiaochun should keep it too, because you will need money to manage things in the future."

Knowing that Qu Dubian has someone to protect him, Wen Xiaochun has made up his mind to go to the Inspection and Transportation Department. The harder you work, the higher you go, and the more useful you will be.

After they finished packing, they went to Fengwu Palace to pay New Year's greetings.

Qu Duanbian took out two more gold ingots from his socks, and when he was about to leave the Purple Palace, he said, "Ye Banban, you and Xiaochun wait for me."

He ran to the corner and yelled, "Six-six!"

Yi Twelve appeared, holding a book in his hand.

He would watch it occasionally when he was bored at work. It didn't interfere with his work, and there were no film laws to restrict him.

"What kind of book is this?"

Yi Twelve didn't think that the little prince could recognize many words at his age after only attending school for a few days, so he stretched out his hand to show him that there were four words written on the cover.

He: "The Four Books and the Five Classics."

Qu Watanabe: “?”

Don't bully him for being uneducated. The government of the Great Zhou did not allow the Four Books and Five Classics to be published in a combined edition.

After obtaining the consent of Yi Twelve, he picked up a corner and flipped it open. He saw a sentence written inside: […The lightly dressed guardian of the demon sect fell into the arms of a young knight amidst the flying petals. The knight saw that the beauty was injured and angrily cut off the enemy's head. Everyone in the room was shocked. Who would not say something when seeing this? He is truly a domineering and romantic man!]

Qu Watanabe: “…”

The child looked up at the former secret guard.

The former secret guard was wearing a mask, had no expression, and looked cool.

“…”

Qu Dubian closed the book silently. He was thinking, Liuliu is quite young, it is normal for her to read storybooks. It seems that she has read quite a few. After all, she even knows how to wrap books in book covers.

But what perspective did he bring when he read the storybook?

The complex emotions and thousands of words turned into one compliment, "Liuliu is a good student."

"The books of sages are very useful," Yi Twelve said solemnly, put away the book, and encouraged his young superior, "Your Highness, study hard and you will learn it in the future."

Qu Dubian thought about all the sad things in his life and took out some gold ingots from his pocket and gave them to him.

“This is Liuliu’s bonus.”

B12: "Do I have one too?"

"Of course."

Yi Twelve clasped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Listening to the announcement that his favorability was increasing, Qu Duan smiled and said, "Happy New Year."

"…Well, Happy New Year."

-

Fengwu Palace.

Qu Dubian, together with several other princes, wished a happy new year to Emperor Chongzhao and the Empress who were sitting in front of them.

He kowtowed three times in a very proper manner and received two huge red envelopes of money for the New Year.

Qu Dubian had a hard time weighing the bonus that he had just given out in his hands, and it was recovered in an instant.

There are other ladies in Fengwu Palace. They don't have to kneel, they just need to bow and wish a happy new year, and they can receive red envelopes. Some give more and some give less.

Qu Dubian was so happy that his teeth were not visible as he held the New Year's money in his hand, and he kept saying auspicious New Year greetings.

He is truly happy, and he makes those around him happy too.

The atmosphere in Fengwu Palace is very good. It is rare to see such a harmonious atmosphere among the people.

When they reached the Empress Xuan's New Year, Qu Dubian pulled Zhiyi along and said, "Happy New Year, Empress Xuan! I wish you become more and more beautiful, and grow more and more delicious food."

He handed all the red envelopes he received to Ye Xiaoyuan, and spread his hands: "Empress Xuan must have prepared a gift~"

The tone he used when speaking to Concubine Xuan was very intimate and more natural than when speaking to other concubines.

The empress turned her head to talk to Emperor Chongzhao and said with a smile: "Xiaoqi looks a little rosy. The food made by the kitchen to replenish qi and blood is still useful."

Emperor Chongzhao nodded: "Yes, I just won't grow taller."

A knife stabbed my heart.

Qu Duanbian gritted his teeth secretly.

Concubine Xuan: "That's nonsense. It's still a little longer." After a moment's silence, she added, "Maybe it's because the boots are too high."

The whole audience laughed.

Qu Dubian pressed his head on Concubine Xuan's knees, unable to lift his head: "Ahhh Concubine Xuan!"

The Fourth Prince sat on a stool, grabbed the Sixth Prince and massaged his shoulders, and he was also enjoying it.

The second prince said softly, "As far as I can remember, this is the first time that the New Year's greetings have been so lively. This is also the first time that Concubine Xuan has come to Fengwu Palace to celebrate the New Year."

"Hahahahahahaha." The eldest prince wasn't paying attention here and didn't hear what he just muttered. "What, what did you say just now?"

The Second Prince: “…”

The third prince heard it, but rarely did he say anything in rebuttal.

Who doesn't like this kind of pure happiness, without any calculation, a warm scene that can only be seen once in several years in the harem, as if they are really an ordinary family in the folk.

In the past, when we greeted each other during the New Year, although everyone was smiling, in the end...

It seems lively on the surface, but lonely on the heart.

"This is New Year's money," Xuan Fei handed over a small bag of little rabbits made of gold, each only as big as a little finger, "and there is an extra one, I will give it to you later."

Qu Watanabe's curiosity was piqued: "Okay!"

Emperor Chongzhao: "Okay, the family dinner will start soon. This time it's really a family dinner. We didn't eat well at the dinners yesterday or last year."

The Queen smiled and said, "It has always been like this."

Just pretending.

It's time for the family dinner.

Emperor Chongzhao was in a good mood today. After the family dinner started, he looked at the Sixth Prince picking up food for the Fourth Prince and asked leisurely, "Little Six, why are you so attentive to the Fourth Prince?"

The Sixth Prince said reluctantly: "I promised to help Fourth Brother for a month, but now it's not time yet."

Emperor Chongzhao: "Why?"

The Sixth Prince was unwilling to talk about the punishment he received in the academy. He pouted and said, "Don't tell me. It's a secret."

Both Concubine Lan and Concubine Yi knew the inside story. Seeing her son serving others, Concubine Lan was of course unhappy and wanted to find out about Concubine Yi's affairs. However, she was always choked by the other's lukewarm and indifferent attitude.

I can only comfort myself that she is an adult and I should not interfere in the child's affairs.

Emperor Chongzhao raised his eyebrows and glanced at his youngest son who was eating happily.

His intuition told him that this matter had something to do with this brat.

But it was not a big deal. He said, "There will be fireworks outside the city tonight. Come with me to the city wall to watch."

"Wow!"

"Thank you, Father!"

For those of us who are younger, we don’t have the opportunity to go to the city wall to watch the fireworks every year.

It was already mid-afternoon when the family dinner ended. While everyone was waiting for the fireworks display in the evening, they played mahjong at several tables in Fengwu Palace.

Majiang is the predecessor of mahjong in later generations. Pai Gow was played with dominoes and dice in ancient times. They are usually more common in casinos. Qu Watanabe knows a little about these.

However, he didn't know the ancient way of playing leaf cards.

He asked Ye Xiaoyuan to hold him and look at the cards back and forth for a few times, and slowly he understood that the leaf cards of the Great Zhou Dynasty were divided into four suits: Wen Qian, Bai Zi, Wan Guan, and Shi Wan Guan.

The method of counting cards is very similar to mahjong.

The place where the concubines confronted each other changed from the harem to a card table. They covered their lips and giggled, but they attacked without mercy and the smoke of war was faintly visible.

Qu Dubian couldn't play, so he went to look at other people's cards. Occasionally, he would help the ladies cheat for money.

A true gentleman watches chess without speaking, and watching cards does not count.

Not long after, he, the man who disrupted the market, was driven aside by his cheap father. The palace servants brought up a plate of clean mud and asked the four young princes and Princess Zhiyi to play with it.

Until dark.

After finishing their meal, everyone went to the city wall together.

The emperor, high-ranking concubines, and all the royal heirs appeared here, and the defense was fully activated.

There are imperial guards guarding the area in the open, and secret guards in the dark.

Yi Twelve did not deliberately hide his breath. After all, it would be bad to be mistaken for a killer. The place where he was hiding would not be discovered by other people, but it would be easy for the secret guards to detect him.

With milk tea in one hand and a book in the other, and a year-end bonus in the pocket.

The new dark guard Xin Yi Twelve couldn't stand it and made a few gestures, meaning: This man has become more and more lax after he stopped being a dark guard. He recognized the prince as his master, but his life was still controlled by the dark guard. Once the seventh prince didn't want him, he would die. It was really sad.

The head of the secret guard Yi Zi glanced over there and replied: "Master?" He did not acknowledge the master.

The secret guard has to take off his mask to recognize his master again.

As far as he knew, Yi Twelve had never revealed his true face in front of the Seventh Prince since he followed him.

Bang--!

Brilliant fireworks exploded outside the city walls.

Yi Twelve finally came back to his senses from the book and his eyes fell on the Seventh Prince.

Qu Dubian raised his head, and the brilliant light from the sky was reflected in his clear black pupils.

The people standing around were my stepfather, my brothers, my elder sister, Empress Xuan, Xiaoyuan, Xiaochun, Dahei...

Qu Dubian exhaled a breath of white air, his eyes curved.

This was his first New Year spent with these people in this strange dynasty.

-

The city wall fireworks are over.

Emperor Chongzhao did not ask Qu Dubian to return to the Purple Palace. He thought he was going to follow Empress Xuan to Shunning Palace, but Empress Xuan took him to a carriage instead.

Xinqing, the head maid of Shunning Palace, ran over and brought a brocade box.

Qu Watanabe: "Empress Xuan, where should I go?"

It's not like his cheap dad is so upset that he wants to throw him away, is it?

"You'll know in a moment," Concubine Xuan smiled and opened the brocade box. "Look."

A red scarf made of wool, woven a little crookedly.

"I knitted it myself. My knitting skills have deteriorated. I didn't finish it properly, so I asked Guo Changzai to finish it for me. It's just been finished. Fortunately, I finished it in time. It can also be considered that I finished it myself."

Qu Dubian pinched the soft red scarf and his heart softened.

He is not a person who is easily moved, but when surrounded by warm and sincere feelings, he will gradually become soft.

He grinned and hugged Concubine Xuan, "Concubine Xuan is the best Concubine Xuan!"

Concubine Xuan put it around his neck and looked at it for a moment. "Yes, it fits. Don't believe what His Majesty said about mourning. If I were your mother, I would be happy to wear anything as long as you are happy."

Qu Watanabe nodded heavily: "Yes!"

The carriage slowly stopped, and Concubine Xuan said, "We're here."

Qu Dubian followed her downstairs. This was Donghua Gate, which was actually open.

A carriage had been parked outside early in the morning. Sword-wielding Marquis Xu Jin and Old Marquis Madam Wu Siwan were waiting here nervously, peeking inside from time to time.