Yu Xiaoxiao asked Nanny Wang: "What are the rules for entering Zhuque's palace?"
Nanny Wang glanced at her own princess and said, "Anyway, you can't jump in..."
Yu Xiaoxiao...
"It's snowing!" The Fifth Emperor was sitting on Gu Xinglang's lap at this time, and the fat boy pointed outside the window and shouted.
Everyone looked out the window together, and snowflakes were flying outside again.
Yu Xiaoxiao thought about the long journey she had to make in the snow and ice, and muttered, "This Li Xiaoyuan didn't even pick a good day to celebrate his birthday. It must be hard to travel in this world."
Can you choose a date for something like your birthday?
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
The emperor, who was also born in winter, glared at his sister. Could it be that his sister disliked the fact that he was born in winter?
The snow was falling without stopping. That night, Gu Xinglang was lying in bed with his wife in his arms. He suddenly remembered something and asked Yu Xiao, "Xiao Xiao, what gift does His Majesty want to prepare for us to send to Zhuque?"
Yu Xiaoxiao knew the etiquette of birthday gifts. She yawned and said to her little Gu, "Give some money. My dad keeps saying he's dying of poverty. I think he'll give me 10 or 20 taels of silver."
Ten or twenty taels of silver? Gu Xinglang's mouth twitched.
Yu Xiao: "How much rice can this money buy? But there is nothing I can do. He is my aunt's man. If my father gives more money, Li Xiaoyuan will be better to my aunt, right?"
Gu Xinglang made an unclear "hmm" sound and began to think whether he should talk to his sister-in-law and ask the family to prepare a gift. If they really gave 10 or 20 taels of silver as a birthday gift, Li Xiaoyuan would not only kill them suddenly, but also send troops to attack Fengtian to vent his hatred, right?
"I'll go ask my dad for the money tomorrow," Yu Xiaoxiao added, "I'm working for him, I can't not get the money."
"We have money," Gu Xinglang said as he tidied up Yu Xiaoxiao's long hair.
"That's the money to buy rice!" Yu Xiaoxiao rubbed her head against Gu Xinglang's shoulder.
Gu Xinglang shook his head. Never mind. It wasn't him that his wife was tossing and turning. "Go to sleep," Young Master Gu coaxed his wife. "I'll go to the palace with you tomorrow."
"Yeah," Yu Xiaoxiao responded, and fell asleep while holding Gu Xinglang.
Yu Xiaoxiao was fast asleep, while Xianzong was still busy in the palace. Although he said he had no money, he didn't dare to be careless about this birthday gift. After looking through his private storehouse for a long time, Xianzong picked out a lot of good things, especially a red bird carved from a whole piece of red jade, as one of the birthday gifts.
Reaching out to touch the red jade bird, Xianzong and Qinghai sighed, "We Fengtian people call this the Vermilion Bird. In the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, this is their guardian beast, the Vermilion Bird."
Qinghai looked at the red jade bird and whispered, "Your Majesty, it looks like a phoenix to me."
Emperor Xianzong hurriedly asked, "Li Xiaoyuan is celebrating his birthday. Should I give him a jade-carved phoenix?"
Qinghai looked silly and said, "Is Phoenix not good?"
Qinghai's pretending to be stupid successfully pleased Emperor Xianzong, who laughed and said, "If Li Xiaoyuan's mother were alive, I would have sent him a jade phoenix. But now that he is celebrating his birthday, I am sending him a jade phoenix. Am I calling him a woman?" No matter how tough his daughter is, he can't commit suicide like this.
Qinghai looked as if he had suddenly realized something.
Xianzong pointed at the body of the Red Jade Vermilion Bird and said, "The Vermilion Bird looks like a phoenix, but the pattern on its feathers is different."
Qinghai was not interested in knowing the difference between the Phoenix and the Vermilion Bird. After listening to Xianzong's words, he pretended to stare at the Red Jade Vermilion Bird, and then flattered Xianzong and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Xianzong touched his treasure reluctantly and ordered, "Pack it up."
Several officials from the Ministry of Rites responded in unison: "I obey your order."
Xianzong walked out quickly. He could not stand in his own private vault any longer. His heart would break if he did so.
These rare treasures selected by Emperor Xianzong were packed into boxes and placed in the warehouse of the Inner Court at dawn. After the gifts from Prince Rui and Prince Yu were delivered, the officials from the Ministry of Rites would be responsible for counting and compiling the lists.
The Minister of Rites looked at the twenty or so neatly stacked black lacquered wooden boxes and said, "Wu Zhen will stay behind to guard them."
After hearing what the Shangshu said, all the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the eunuchs of the Inner Court looked at Wu Zhen, the Minister of Rites. They thought, "It would be enough to send a small official from the Ministry of Rites to sit here and guard the box. Why would it be necessary to send a full-fledged Minister of Rites to guard it?"
"Yes," Wu Zhen, who was being watched by everyone, responded calmly.
"Let's go," the Minister of Rites glanced at his subordinate, flicked his sleeves and walked out.
The chief supervisor of the Internal Court also came up to Wu Zhen, cupped his hands, and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Lord Wu, to look after this place."
Wu Zhenchong nodded to the chief supervisor.
The chief supervisor snorted, turned around and left with his men.
Wu Zhen looked at the other guards who were guarding the warehouse with him, and his calm face twisted. Wu Zhen was the top scholar in the imperial examination two years ago. He was in his prime, and was born into a noble family. He had a bright future in the government, but unfortunately, the Wu family of Liuzhou was related to Zhao Qiu Ming. Zhao Qiu Ming's fall from power also dimmed his career.
Looking back at the warehouse which only had wooden boxes and no chairs or stools, Lord Wu was upset. He was having a hard time in the Ministry of Rites now. The newly appointed Minister of Rites had a close relationship with the Gu family. Wu Zhen felt that his boss was ready to find faults with him at any time and then drive him out of the Ministry of Rites and the court of Fengtian.
Turning around and standing, snow was falling outside the door. Wu Zhen thought to himself that it was too late to make friends with Gu Xingnuo now. If Prime Minister Zhao couldn't turn over, he would just wait to be squeezed out of the officialdom. Thinking about the situation of becoming a commoner or even being convicted, Wu Zhen shuddered.
Lord Wu stood stiffly in the warehouse of the Inner Court until dawn.
After daybreak, the palaces of Prince Rui and Prince Yu sent over birthday gifts, all of which were more than twenty top-quality wooden boxes. However, the paint color of the boxes was lighter than those in the palace, as a sign of respect for Emperor Xianzong.
Wu Zhenqiang, who had been stiff all over, perked up and started counting the birthday gifts with the clerks.
When the wooden box containing the red jade bird was opened, it caused a burst of exclamation from the crowd.
Wu Zhen looked at the red jade bird, and an idea so bold and daring that it could lead to the extermination of all nine generations of the Wu family in Liuzhou suddenly appeared in Wu Zhen's mind.
At this time, the Minister of Rites came in with a group of officials from the Ministry of Rites. Seeing that Wu Zhen had already led people to open the boxes and count the items, his face darkened and he said, "Master Wu, you are so bold! We haven't even arrived yet, and you have already ordered the boxes to be opened?"
The Ministry of Rites had acted this way before, and no one had ever said it was wrong. After hearing his superior suddenly attack him, Wu Zhen bowed his head and admitted his fault, saying, "It was my insolence."
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