According to the rules of the Dashun Dynasty, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, officials of the 4th rank and above in Beijing had to bring their families to the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the emperor and empress. Ministers would meet the emperor, and female family members would meet the empress. If there were legitimate sons under the age of eight in the family, they could also be brought into the palace to meet the empress together with the female family members.
Entering the palace means giving gifts, especially during the Chinese New Year. No one's gifts can be too shabby. Of course, the gifts are mainly brought to the emperor by the men in the family as representatives. As for the queen, if she is interested, she can give it. If she really can't come up with a suitable one, it won't be impolite not to give it. In a word, it all depends on personal feelings.
Feng Jinyuan didn't tell them what gift he had prepared, and the children didn't ask. The Feng family also prepared a gift for the queen, which was presented by the eldest daughter Feng Yuheng.
That thing was a jade pillow of very outstanding quality. It was said that the old lady had treasured it in the storehouse for many years and had never been willing to use it.
Feng Yuheng also prepared two gifts, one for the Queen and one for Concubine Yun, which was a complete set of medical cosmetics from facial cleanser to base lotion to powder. This was purely a personal emotional act and had nothing to do with the Feng family, so she naturally had no need to tell anyone in the Feng family.
Of course, there were many ladies who had the same idea as her. In addition to the big gifts for their masters, they also had to prepare some small items such as gold melon seeds to reward the palace servants. These were all necessary.
The Feng family also gave each of the girls a handful of gold melon seeds. After all, they were the family of a first-rank official, so they definitely could not look shabby when they went out.
Just like that, Feng Jinyuan took his four daughters and one son on the carriages early in the morning on the first day of the new year and headed for the palace.
Zi Rui and Feng Yu Heng rode in the same carriage, which was the imperial carriage that Emperor Tian Wu gave to Feng Yu Heng. It was the first time for the child to ride in this carriage, and everything seemed very new to him. He kept asking Huang Quan what this was and what that was.
Feng Yuheng looked at Zirui and said, "Do you really not need a maid to serve you in the academy?" She originally sent a maid to go with him, but she was sent back after only a few days.
Zirui told her, "We are not even allowed to bring book boys to the academy, let alone maids. The headmaster said that we have to do everything by ourselves and cannot expect anyone to help us. Don't worry, sister, I have already gotten used to it, and I think it's good to do it myself."
Hearing Zirui say this, Feng Yuheng felt relieved, and felt more confident and respectful towards the Imperial Teacher Ye Rong.
The group soon arrived at the palace gate. Feng Jinyuan's carriage went straight to the front gate, but the women wanted to go through the side door to enter the harem. But Feng Yuheng's carriage was stopped before it could turn.
The person who stopped the carriage was a eunuch. Feng Yuheng had seen him before. He was the one who served beside Emperor Tianwu together with Zhang Yuan. When the driver lifted the curtain, the eunuch bowed respectfully to her and said, "County Lady, the Emperor has ordered that the young master of the Feng family be invited to accompany Prime Minister Feng to the palace. The Emperor wants to see Junior Brother."
"Oh?" Feng Yuheng blinked. The emperor wanted to see Zirui? Come to think of it, Ye Rong's disciple had not yet been formally received by Emperor Tianwu. "Okay, then please wait a moment, eunuch. I'll tell my brother a few words and then let him go with you."
"Please do as you please, Princess."
After the curtain was lowered, Feng Yuheng took Zirui's hand and said to him seriously: "Meeting the emperor is not a joke. You must be careful in everything. When performing etiquette, watch what others do. Only answer when the emperor asks, and never say too much when he doesn't ask. Do you understand?"
Zirui nodded: "Don't worry, sister. I understand all of this. I will follow that eunuch to find father in a moment. I believe father will never let me make a mistake in front of the emperor. After all, this is related to the honor and favor of the entire Feng family."
Feng Yuheng couldn't help but sigh that this child was indeed taught very well by Yunlu Academy. Not only was he sensible, he also spoke clearly and could analyze things on his own, which made her feel relieved.
So he didn't say anything more and personally sent Zirui to the eunuch. At this time, Feng Jinyuan also came over here. When he saw Zirui, he immediately took his hand and said, "Just follow me, and never leave my side. Do you understand?"
Zirui replied: "Don't worry, father. Zirui understands."
Feng Jinyuan then nodded to Feng Yuheng, turned around and left with Zirui. The eunuch also saluted her and quickly followed.
In fact, Feng Yuheng could see that Feng Jinyuan loved this son, but this love was mixed with many impure things. It was not the love of a father for his son, but he saw hope in this son, and also analyzed how much glory and future brilliance the Feng family would bring if Zirui was the legitimate son of the Feng family. It is said that there is no father and son in the inner court of the imperial palace, but it is unknown that in the mansions outside, the affection between father and son and father and daughter is also pitifully rare. There is only dry calculation between people, how can there be any affection to talk about.
She got back into the carriage, and the driver whipped the horse and drove straight to the Jingxuan Gate leading to the harem.
The number of people who came to see the emperor on New Year's Day was unprecedented in the previous palace banquets. The queue of people waiting to enter the palace stretched two miles from the palace gate. Feng Yuheng's carriage stopped at the end of the queue. Huang Quan lifted the curtain and took a look. He couldn't help but frowned: "It snowed a little this morning. It's very cold. How long will it take to get in if the queue is so long?"
Just as he finished speaking, a maid came forward with a smile, leaned over to the carriage, and asked, "Has Princess Ji'an arrived?"
Feng Yuheng stood up and walked out of the carriage, saying with a smile: "That's right."
The maid smiled even more: "The county lady's carriage can go a little further inside, and you can get off at the second gate. The families of the first-rank officials are first in line, and you are the county lady, so you don't need to queue up."
Fortunately, Feng Yuheng thought to herself, she really didn't want to wait in such a long line. So she thanked the nanny and led the three carriages behind her to the second gate.
The New Year's audience was actually just a formality. The Empress sat on the phoenix chair in the Zhengyang Palace. The hall was full of people, all kneeling before her. Auspicious words came out one after another, and it was a festive occasion to hear.
The four sisters of the Feng family knelt in the crowd and greeted everyone together. The queen was far away and did not receive much attention.
After this ceremony was over, the palace servants informed all the ladies to move to the Jade Palace, as the New Year Palace Banquet would begin in two hours.
Feng Yuheng calculated that there were still two hours left, four hours, which was enough time for her to go to Yuehan Palace where Concubine Yun was. Of course, before that, she still had to meet the Queen once and give the gift.
So while everyone was walking out, he found a female official who was serving the queen and asked her, "May I see the queen?"
Although she didn't say it explicitly, the female official knew that those who wanted to see the queen at this time were those who gave gifts privately. In addition to Feng Yuheng, there were many people queuing there. However, Feng Yuheng didn't have to queue up. The female official nodded and smiled at her, and first said: "The county lady is polite! I wish the county lady a happy new year and all her wishes come true."
Feng Yuheng smiled gratefully and handed over a small box, "Thank you for your good wishes, aunt." The box contained small packages of chocolates that she had packed when she was in the mansion.
The female official had heard that Princess Ji'an always had some novelties in her hands, and she was even happier when she saw that the reward she gave was not the tacky little things that ordinary people used to give. "Please follow me, Princess Ji'an. The Empress had expected that Princess Ji'an would come to see her alone, and she had told us not to queue up."
As the female official entered the small hall behind the Zhengyang Hall, the empress was sitting in the main seat inside. There were many things placed beside her, which were probably gifts from the ladies of various families.
After Feng Yuheng came in, she bowed first, and then said: "Ah Heng has been taken care of by the Queen Mother many times since returning to Beijing, and I am very grateful. It's a pity that Ah Heng can't find those precious and rare items sent by other ladies, and I don't know if this small gift will be pleasing to the Queen Mother." As she spoke, she raised the gift box in her hand in front of her, and the nanny took it.
The queen was very enthusiastic when she saw her, and quickly said, "Hurry up, don't kneel, and give me a seat."
"Thank you, Madam." Feng Yuheng stood up, walked to the guest chair and sat down.
The queen was opening the gift box herself, with an expression of anticipation that could not be concealed. After opening the gift box, she was stunned by the box full of cosmetics - "What is this?"
Feng Yuheng stood up, walked forward, and explained to her personally: "This is a complete set of skin care products. Look, your majesty, this bottle is called facial cleanser, it is the most comfortable and clean to use for washing your face. Smell it, it smells very fragrant." As she spoke, she opened the lid and let the queen smell it.
The queen was very surprised when she smelled it, "Can this thing be used to wash the face?"
Feng Yuheng nodded, and pointed to other things in the box and said, "This is the base lotion. After washing your face, gently apply a layer on it. It is the best for nourishing the skin. This is the face cream..." She explained them to the queen one by one, and from time to time helped her try them on the back of her hand. The queen's initial surprise turned into amazement, then ecstasy, and finally, it became obsession.
"Were they all given by your Persian master?"
Feng Yuheng nodded, thought for a moment, and then said, "There are also some that Ah Heng developed himself according to the method taught by the master. Your Majesty, please feel free to use them. If you think they are good, Ah Heng will send you new ones after you use them up."
When she heard that there was still some left after using it up, the Queen immediately became happy and kept praising Feng Yuheng, wishing she could praise her to the point that she should only be in heaven.
The palace maids around her were also very envious, thinking that it was no wonder that the Princess of Ji'an was so favored by everyone. There was indeed a reason for it! Compared with her gifts, the pearls, jades, agates and other gifts given by the ladies were too ordinary and were simply not worth looking at.
The palace servants were very good at guessing their master's intentions. Before the Queen gave any instructions, they had already started moving out all the vulgar gifts they had received, leaving only Feng Yuheng's set of cosmetics on the table.
The Queen couldn't let it go, so she said, "Ah Heng, I know you must go to see Concubine Yun when you enter the palace, so go quickly. I'll go back to the bedroom first, and then ask someone to send your reward back to your house. Go quickly! Go quickly!"
This was almost like driving people away, but Feng Yuheng didn't care. She knew what the queen meant, so she stepped back a few steps, saluted, and retreated respectfully.
As expected, as soon as she left the hall, the queen immediately stood up, picked up the box of cosmetics and walked out of the back hall. The palace maids hurried to follow her, and heard the queen say, "Hurry, go back and help me wash and dress again. I want to use this good stuff to re-make up!"
Feng Yuheng left the Jadeite Back Hall, and as soon as she walked out, Huang Quan came to meet her. She pulled Huang Quan and walked quickly forward, saying, "Hurry up, let's go to Yuehan Palace." As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly remembered something and stopped. [End of this chapter]
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