Shao Zhan glanced at him sideways. He really didn't know how lucky he was. Didn't he know how many ministers envied him behind his back? It was a great honor to be close to the emperor.
“…”
Jiang Shanhe turned his head and was very grateful for this great honor. He had completely lost his freedom.
Originally he should have been writing sweet letters to Xiaoguo, but these days he was either flattering other ministers or accepting the flattery of some individual ministers with a smiling face. One is heaven and the other is hell, what a real contrast, and all this is because of the man in front of him. If he hadn't insisted on staying, he wouldn't have lived such a passive life.
However, complaints may be complaints, but business should not be delayed. The annoying banquet should be prepared, what should be said should be said, and what should be done should be done.
"The Queen has invited you so many times, are you really not going to go?"
Back to business, the emperor and the empress should have observed the New Year's Eve together, but it was inappropriate for him to do so now. After all, the empress's family is still very powerful in the court.
"It doesn't matter. It will be soon anyway."
Shao Zhan said this calmly with a cold light flashing in his eyes, but when he saw Xiao Yi, who was looking sleepy, his eyes softened in an instant.
He is ruthless, but also loyal.
Jiang Shanhe withdrew his gaze. It was inconvenient to ask more about his affairs, so he did not say anything.
"Your Majesty, it is the middle of the midnight hour."
Shao Zhan nodded, indicating that he understood, and stood up and said to Jiang Shanhe, "Let's go."
The New Year’s Eve fireworks were also lit on time in the palace.
Looking at Xiao Yi who was still asleep, being gently awakened by Shao Zhan, held in his arms, and came to the platform in a daze.
When I opened my eyes, I saw fireworks all over the city, colorful fireworks exploding in the air, as beautiful as brightly colored chrysanthemums.
The capital city is large to begin with, and every household with money will be a bit extravagant and buy fireworks to set off. In addition, the imperial palace will purchase a lot of fireworks at this time of year, so you can imagine how lively the capital city is tonight.
Besides fireworks, there were Kongming lanterns in the sky. Large groups of Kongming lanterns flew across the sky, shuttling between the exploding fireworks.
Xiao Yi stretched out a small hand from Shao Zhan's arms, grabbed something in the air, and looked at his hand in confusion. How come he couldn't grab it when it was so close?
After seeing this, Shao Zhan chuckled fondly. How adorable! If only she could see this...
Thinking of this, Shao Zhan half-covered his eyes and pursed his lips. The longing that he inadvertently revealed seemed to devour his nerves.
Jiang Shanhe looked at the sky full of fireworks and was deeply moved. He wondered if Xiaoguo saw the fireworks, what he had eaten for the New Year's Eve dinner, and whether he missed him. If so, why didn't he sneeze?
Thinking of this, he looked down at himself. Was it because he was wearing too thick clothes, blocking Xiaoguo's thoughts?
But he always listened to Xiaoguo's words, wearing more clothes and warmer clothes to avoid getting sick or catching a cold.
He has done all of this now, so has Xiaoguo eaten more rice obediently?
The three of them stared at the sky quietly. No one spoke for a while. Although the fireworks were beautiful, they were short-lived after all. This saying did not work in the capital city because there was no shortage of people with money here. Many people had warehouses full of fireworks at home.
Not to mention that this is the case among the common people, it is even worse in the imperial palace.
Fireworks of all sizes were set off continuously in the sky above the palace. The three of them did not go down the building until they had seen enough.
When he just came down, the guard had not come to his senses yet and was concentrating on looking up at the fireworks. When Shao Zhan approached, he stood up in shock, trembling with fear for being punished.
Shao Zhan also saw it, but did not blame him. He just quickened his pace and walked past. After all, today was a special day, and it was understandable that he would fail to do his job occasionally.
Shao Zhan did not blame him, but Jiang Shanhe deliberately paused for a moment until the man was exhausted, and then he left.
Although there are excusable circumstances today, being on duty is being on duty and one should do one's job.
Safety must be put first. If someone were to do something secretly at this moment, but the guard was too engrossed in watching the fireworks and neglected his duty, this loss would be intolerable.
I stayed on duty because of trust. Don't let this trust down.
So there is no punishment, but appropriate pressure is still necessary.
To outsiders, it seemed that Jiang Shanhe just stood there for a while, but only the person involved knew that his legs had become weak, and the pressure was gone just before his breathing was completely prohibited. Only then did he dare to breathe in fresh air with all his strength.
From then on, the guard never lost his mind while on duty again. Whenever his thoughts wandered, he would subconsciously think of Jiang Shanhe, and then his whole body would be shocked and he would never dare to be distracted again.
Back on this side, Jiang Shanhe came to the door of the hall where he was temporarily resting, which was actually Shao Zhan's side hall. At this time, Xiao Yi had already been taken away by Zhixia to rest.
The two walked alone to the main entrance of the hall. Before they parted, Shao Zhan reminded Jiang Shanhe, who turned around and left, "Remember to get up early tomorrow."
Jiang Shanhe turned around and saw the handsome figure who had already turned around and left. He then rubbed his forehead irritably. There was a grand court meeting tomorrow!
The grand court meeting, like the New Year's greetings, is held on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. On this day, all civil and military officials will come together to pay homage to the emperor. Messengers from afar will also pay tribute to the emperor on this day.
And at night, that is the most important part of the grand court meeting, the grand court banquet, which can be imagined as the Spring Festival Gala of Shao State.
Singing and dancing, celebrating the festival, talented people are everywhere, toasting each other.
These four idioms can summarize it very well.
Jiang Shanhe walked towards the palace. At this time, there were still sporadic fireworks blooming in the sky. He looked up and chuckled. It seemed that tomorrow would be another busy day...
-
"Sister Xiaoguo, why are you chopping chicken?"
Xiao Cui held the copper pot in her hand and looked at her in confusion. Isn't it said to be a hot pot? Does it need chicken?
"We'll have hot pot chicken. We'll stir-fry it with some ingredients. It's delicious."
Xiaoguo threw the chopped chicken into the pot. A total of three large broilers were prepared, which were also the last three chickens in the refrigerator. The usual original spicy soup is also delicious, but it also has a unique flavor when made into hot pot chicken.
Two copper pots were prepared, one for spicy food and one for sauce-flavored food.
From blanching to frying the chicken, Ruyi and a few others surrounded her and watched her. Under the pretext of learning the skills, they followed her closely like a little tail.
A few people took over Zhuangzhuang's usual position, causing Xiao Zhuangzhuang to be squeezed out as soon as he squeezed in, and then be squeezed out again as soon as he stood firm.
He simply waved his hand and went straight to find Qin Anming, thinking generously in his heart that a good man does not fight with a woman, and he does not bother with a bunch of grown girls like them.
Charcoal was put on the table, and two pots of fragrant hot pot chicken were placed on the table. Meatballs and vegetables were placed around them, and there were also two large bowls of lamb rolls.
The restaurant also offers Xiaoguo’s exclusive secret sesame sauce and sweet and sour garlic.
I went to the market before and found new garlic, so I bought a bag of it. I ate half of it raw and pickled the other half into sweet and sour garlic.
If you eat lamb without garlic, the flavor will be half lost.
Raw garlic is spicy and not as delicious as sweet and sour garlic, but Xiaoguo likes it even more, so she ate a lot of it tonight.
The hot pot chicken is tender yet slightly chewy, and the soup is tasty. The more you eat it, the tastier it becomes. Even the bones are filled with fragrance.
It was a very warm meal in such a cold weather, and the hot pot chicken was well received by everyone.