The so-called Zongxi means that Zongzi are placed as offerings during the Dragon Boat Festival. The whole table is piled with Zongzi, and no other food can be seen.
At noon, Cheng'an and his brothers returned to Danbo Jingcheng Hall. When they saw the rice dumpling feast, they excitedly walked around the table.
"Father, can I shoot the zongzi now?" The little guy ran to Kangxi and asked after turning around twice.
When Kangxi heard him say that he wanted to shoot the zongzi, he looked at him and asked, "What if you can't shoot it?"
"I'm sure I can hit it!"
After all, zongzi is to be eaten, so there is a special small horn bow for shooting zongzi. As soon as the little guy said this, someone brought the bow and arrow up.
Seeing how confident he was, Kangxi specifically pointed to a farther distance and asked him to stand there and shoot.
Not only is this distance farther than the distance the little guy shot at the target just now, but the table is also higher than the target specially prepared for him.
After the little guy failed to hit the zongzi with two arrows, he couldn't help but frown.
When the third arrow still missed, he seemed to think that the distance was a bit far. After looking at Kangxi, he finally decided to ask his brother for help: "Second brother, help me~"
Yinreng walked over, lifted up his skirt, squatted behind him, and guided him step by step to shoot an arrow.
An arrow was shot out and hit a pile of rice dumplings directly.
"Wow, I hit it!" The little guy shouted happily and immediately ran to the table, stepped on the chair and held the pile of dumplings in his arms.
He looked at the pile of zongzi happily for a while and then immediately shouted: "Brother, come and eat zongzi~"
Yinreng stood up and walked over with Yinzhi and the others, and the little guys stuffed zongzi into their hands one by one.
"Why do you take a bunch when you hit one?" Kangxi had never seen anyone shoot zongzi like this.
"This is the pile I shot at!" the little guy said, and stuffed two zongzi into his hands, "Father, eat the zongzi quickly~"
When Kangxi saw him stuffing his mouth with zongzi, he thought that shooting zongzi was just for fun and finally he was too lazy to bother with him.
After the little fellow divided that pile, he pulled Yinreng to accompany him to shoot all the piles of zongzi on the table, and then he stopped to eat the zongzi properly.
"Zongzi is so delicious~" the little guy praised while biting into the soft and delicious candied fruit rice dumpling.
Kangxi and his princes were also eating rice dumplings, but their expressions were not as lively as his.
"Dad, where is my meat-filled rice dumpling?" The little guy suddenly remembered after eating the rice dumpling in his hand.
When Yinzhi and the others heard about meat dumplings, they couldn't help but look up, seeming a little surprised.
"Can meat dumplings be delicious?" Yin'e, who was used to eating sweet dumplings, asked Yinsi beside him in a low voice.
Yinsi knew that there were rice dumplings in Jiangnan, but he didn't have the curiosity to try them, so he had never eaten them and shook his head slightly to indicate that he didn't know.
Meat dumplings are meat-based and are best eaten while hot. It was only when Kangxi heard him ask that he ordered someone to bring them to him.
“It smells so good~”
When the small and exquisite meat rice dumpling is peeled into the bowl, the aroma of the meat mixed with the aroma of the rice dumpling leaves instantly wafts out, and the aroma is much richer and more overbearing than that of the sweet rice dumpling.
Cheng'an moved his nose slightly and immediately opened his mouth to bite it.
The sweet rice dumplings made by the imperial chef are delicious, and the meat rice dumplings are equally tasty. The salty and fresh meat mixed with the soft and sticky rice becomes more fragrant the more you chew it.
“This meat dumpling is delicious!”
The little guy's eyes lit up as he ate, and then he started to share the rice dumplings with his father and brothers.
Kangxi had eaten rice dumplings in Jiangnan before, so he took it and started eating it naturally.
However, the other brothers, who were used to eating sweet rice dumplings, felt a little uncomfortable with the salty meat rice dumplings, but they still accepted them out of courtesy.
Yin'e was very curious and was the first to eat the rice dumpling. He immediately felt that it was not as strange as he thought: "It's actually quite delicious."
Compared to him, the other brothers thought that sweet rice dumplings were more delicious. After tasting the one given by the little guy, they never touched the meat rice dumplings again.
Yinreng was okay with the meat dumplings, but seeing the little guy eating the meat dumpling in one bite and the sweet dumpling in the other, he couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
"This is the last one." Kangxi didn't care how the little guy ate, he just reminded him when he finished three dumplings.
Hearing his words, the little guy who was about to reach out to take another rice dumpling suddenly hesitated.
The little guy is not picky about taste, he likes both sweet and salty food, and he likes all kinds of buns.
There were so many flavors of rice dumplings on the table, and he hadn't tried many of them yet. His little hands were waving in the air for a few circles but didn't fall down in the end.
What did the last one eat?
The little guy tilted his head and looked at the rice dumplings in front of him with an embarrassed expression on his face.
The brothers all found it funny to see him struggling so much over eating a rice dumpling.
Upon seeing this, Yinreng picked out an eight-treasure rice dumpling that he had never eaten before and put it in his bowl, then scooped a small bite from the center of the rice dumpling with a spoon and fed it to him.
After the little fellow ate it in one gulp, Yinzhi next to him fed him a mouthful of jujube rice dumpling with dates.
And next to him, Yinqi immediately picked up a zongzi and started preparing.
Seeing that Yinreng and the others spoiled him so much, Kangxi shook his head almost imperceptibly but said nothing.
When Cheng'an understood what his brothers meant, his eyes lit up. If his mouth wasn't a little sticky from eating the rice dumplings, he would have wanted to hug each of his brothers and give them a kiss.
"What kind of rice dumplings does Cheng'an want to eat?" Yinyou asked him when he came to him.
The little guy immediately said: "I want to eat sweet cold rice dumplings~"
He was talking about the cold rice dumplings with rock sugar. The rice dumplings made with sugar are placed in ice water for a while and then taste soft, sweet and cool.
Yinyou picked up a cold rice dumpling with rock sugar and gave him a small bite from the center of the dumpling where it was not so cold.
After the little guy finished eating, he hugged him and then consciously went to the next brother.
Yinsi also let him pick a rice dumpling by himself, fed him a small bite first, and then ate the rest himself.
After he finished eating a round, including the three dumplings he had eaten before, the little guy had eaten twelve different kinds of dumplings.
"Father, what kind of rice dumplings are you eating?" Cheng'an licked his slightly sticky lips and stood on tiptoe to look in front of Kangxi.
Seeing him stretching his head over like a greedy cat, Kangxi finally fed him a small bite and said, "One last bite."
The little guy nodded, and when he put the food into his mouth, he found that it was a kind of rice dumpling he had never eaten before, and his eyes were curved with smiles.
After all, zongzi is made of glutinous rice, so the little guy is actually full after eating so much, but he still feels greedy when he sees there are so many zongzi on the table.
"Father, it would be a waste if we don't finish eating these rice dumplings."
"We'll distribute it to others later." Kangxi knew what he was thinking and said immediately.
"All right."
It is really not suitable to eat too many zongzi, so in order to prevent the little one from thinking about it, Kangxi put down his chopsticks after finishing the one in the bowl.
He put down his chopsticks, and the brothers followed suit.
It was not a good idea to go watch the dragon boat race right after dinner, so the father and son went to watch a festive performance first.
For the little guy, opera is just for fun and is not as attractive as the food on the table.
Kangxi had just been looking at the stage and listening to the play for a while when he heard a faint sound next to his ear. He turned around and found that it was the little kid eating melon seeds.
Considering that today was a holiday, Kangxi finally looked away and said nothing to him.
The little guy used to ask his brother to peel melon seeds for him, but now he has learned to eat them by himself. However, it takes him half a day to peel one, so he eats very slowly.
Seeing how seriously he was peeling the skin, Yinreng deliberately reached out his hand.
The little guy had just peeled a melon seed when he saw an extra hand in front of him. When he looked up and found that it was his brother, he immediately smiled and put the melon seed kernel in his palm.
"Brother, eat~"
Yinreng was originally going to return it to him, but he ate it only after hearing his babyish urging.
“Is it delicious?”
"tasty."
After hearing this answer, the little guy immediately said, "Then I'll peel it for my second brother~"
After he finished speaking, he picked up another melon seed and peeled it carefully, then put it directly to Yinreng's mouth.
Yinreng couldn't bear to let him peel melon seeds for him all the time, so after he finished eating, he touched his head and told him that he didn't want to eat anymore.
Even after he said he didn't want to eat it, the little guy continued to peel the melon seeds. He only peeled them but didn't eat them. He put them all in a small plate.
After peeling out a handful of melon seeds, the little guy brought the plate to Kangxi and said, "Father, eat some melon seeds~"
Kangxi looked down at the melon seeds he had peeled and took the plate directly.
The little guy spent a long time peeling the melon seeds on that plate. He was originally planning to share them with his father and brothers. But when he saw his father took them all away, he blinked his eyes and was a little unresponsive.
Seeing that he was standing beside him motionless, Kangxi took an orange from the fruit bowl beside him and stuffed it into his hand.
Then let the brothers eat oranges.
The little guy looked at the extra orange in his hand and returned to his seat while thinking.
Yinreng saw that he wanted to peel the orange, so he reached out and helped him make a cut at the top of the orange.
Cheng'an peeled the orange right where he had opened it, then held up the first slice for him to eat.
"Are the oranges sweet, brother?"
Yinreng nodded and said, "Sweet."
When the little guy heard that it was sweet, he put a petal in his mouth first, and then went to share it with his other brothers.
It took a long time for the little orange guy to come back, because when Yinzhi and the others saw him coming, they would either hold him for a while or feed him a bite of the food they had at hand.
"Cheng'an, do you want to eat pine nuts? Brother Shi will peel some for you." Yin'e asked after eating the orange he fed him.
"eat."
The little guy nodded, first distributed the remaining oranges to the brothers behind him, then ate the cherries that Yinli fed him and returned to Yin'e to wait for him to peel pine nuts for him.
Yinsi reached out and held him to sit beside him, and started peeling the silk for him.
"Brother peels the fruits so fast!" the little guy praised, clapping his hands.
When Yin'e heard what he said, he put all the fruits he had peeled first into his hands and asked him to eat them.
The little guy did not forget to feed them a few pine nuts while eating, so when he returned to his seat, he still had a handful of pine nuts in his hand.
Kangxi tilted his head slightly, and it seemed that he didn't listen to much of the play, but he kept talking.
"Dad, do you want to eat?" The little guy noticed his gaze and asked generously.
Kangxi simply reached out and grabbed half of it, and then took him away after the show was over.
"Ama, where are we going?"
The little fellow who hadn’t watched enough of the show… no, he hadn’t eaten enough of the food that came with the show, looked up and asked.
"I'll take you to see the dragon boat race."
As soon as Kangxi finished speaking, the little guy immediately became excited and turned around and shouted, "Brother, hurry up, Ama wants to take us to watch dragon boat racing~"
"Coming!" Yin'e responded loudly, probably affected by his emotions.
There is a lake inside the Mountain Resort, so you don’t have to go anywhere else to watch dragon boat racing, you can just go directly to the lake.
Before reaching the lake, the little one in his brother's arms saw several dragon boats on the lake from afar and immediately shouted loudly.
A grandstand had been prepared by the lake for Kangxi and his party to watch the dragon boat race. When Kangxi came over, everyone present saluted him.
After Kangxi was exempted from the formalities, he took the little one and sat down in front of the throne, and at the same time signaled to the people below that they could start preparing to row the dragon boat.
"Dad, do you want to eat?" The little guy asked while looking at the dragon boats in the lake and stretching out his hand.
Kangxi turned his head subconsciously when he saw the pine nuts in his hand. After confirming that there was no food on the table besides tea, he asked, "Where did you get them?"
"I was just pretending~" the little girl said and opened the purse around her waist to show him.
When Kangxi saw that his purse was full of peanuts, melon seeds and pine nuts, he was speechless for a moment.
Next to them, Yin'e was already chatting with his brothers, asking them which dragon boat they thought would win.
There are a total of eight dragon boats in the lake, representing the Eight Banners, and the people rowing the dragon boats are also descendants of the Eight Banners.
Every year during the dragon boat race, the brothers would place some bets on the boat they thought would win.
Kangxi vaguely heard the sound of them betting, and couldn't help but look at the little guy beside him: "Does Cheng'an want to play too?"
"What to play?" the little guy asked puzzledly.
Kangxi signaled him to listen to what Yin'e and the others said. After listening carefully, the little guy said, "I choose the yellow flag~"
"Then you can take out this purse as a prize." Kangxi said, pointing to his bulging purse.
"good."
After the little guy finished speaking, he ran to his brothers, put the purse into the tray containing the prizes, and said, "This is my prize!"
Yin'e curiously picked up the purse and opened it. He found that it was full of food and said with a smile, "That's a lot of prizes. Cheng'an, who do you want to bet on to win?"
"The yellow one~"
"You have good vision. You and Brother Ten are on the same side." When Yin'e heard that he also chose the Plain Yellow Banner, he immediately praised him.
Kangxi would not deliberately let the Plain Yellow Banner lose just to make the little guy eat less dried fruits, but he did increase the prize for this year's winner, causing the competitive atmosphere in the lake to become more intense.
As the drums sounded, the dragon boats lined up in a row immediately paddled forward quickly, chasing each other.
"Paddle quickly, row quickly~"
When Cheng'an saw that the dragon boat he had chosen was slightly behind, he immediately jumped up and shouted with his fists clenched.
When Kangxi heard him shouting so excitedly, a smile appeared in his eyes.
The drum beats on the lake became more and more enthusiastic, and the rowers worked harder and harder. Several dragon boats were rowing in one direction after another, and the onlookers couldn't help but get nervous.
"Oh no, what should I do, Brother Shi?" The little guy found that the dragon boat he chose suddenly began to fall behind, and he pulled Yin'e.
Yin'e said, "It's okay. We're still a long way away. Maybe we can catch up with them later."
The little guy nodded and continued watching, and soon he heard a splash coming from the lake.
"Someone fell into the water!" Cheng An pointed and pointed.
Yinreng was afraid of scaring him, so he reached out and hugged him, patting him and saying, "It's okay, they all know how to swim and can swim to shore by themselves."
Every year, people fall into the water during dragon boat races. This is not uncommon. After all, it is summer and the rowers are all good at swimming, so it is not a big problem.
The little guy subconsciously stood on tiptoe, and was relieved when he saw the people in the lake actually swam ashore.
At the same time, the competition in the lake has come to an end. The Zhenghuangqi dragon boat supported by the little guy has caught up and is already in second place.
"Look, Cheng'an, we are going to win!"
Yin'e said this too early, because in the end the Bordered Yellow Banner Dragon Boat was one step ahead.
"Thank you."
After the results came out, Yinzhi, who chose the Bordered Yellow Banner, smiled and bowed.
"Tenth brother, we lost..." the little guy said next to Yin'e.
Yinzhi heard his voice and waved, "Come here Cheng'an, Third Brother will return your prize to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kangxi, who was sitting at the top, looked directly over there.
Yinzhi realized something, and when the little guy ran over with a smile, he picked up the purse that belonged to him on the tray, pushed the other things over and said, "These are all for you."
In the tray were the prizes that the brothers had just offered, which were all jade pendants, finger rings and other personal belongings.
These were things the little guy would like. Seeing that Yinzhi said he would give them all to him, he no longer thought about his own wallet.
He stood in front of the tray and played with the prizes for a while, then looked up and said, "Third brother, can I give them back to you brothers?"
"It's yours if I give it to you. You can do whatever you want with it." It was just for fun, so Yinzhi naturally wouldn't care about this little thing.
However, the other princes did not ask the little fellow to return it, but said: "Cheng'an just keeps it for fun."
Seeing that his brothers didn't want it, the little guy finally took it and brought it back to show off in front of Kangxi.
"Ama, look!"
"You still have the nerve to take the jackpot after losing," Kangxi joked.
"It was given to me by my third brother~"
Far from feeling embarrassed, Cheng An puffed out his chest and spoke with a hint of pride, as if he was showing off that he had such a good brother.
"Dad, I want to row a dragon boat too, can I?" After the little guy shared the prizes on the tray with him, he looked at him expectantly.
Kangxi looked at him and said, "You are not even as tall as the oars. How can you row the boat?"
"I row like this~" The little guy showed him the rowing gesture with his hands.
Kangxi didn't agree, and the little guy immediately jumped into his arms and hugged him, saying, "Father, I really want to row a dragon boat, can you let me row?"
After being shaken by him until his body was almost falling apart, Kangxi finally agreed to him.
"Ama, you are so nice~" the little guy raised his head and rubbed his face, then took his hand and invited, "Ama, do you want to row with me?"
"I don't have the energy to ask your brothers to accompany you." Kangxi said.
The little guy didn't force it, but said: "Then watch how I row later~"
After saying this, he hugged Kangxi again before running to find his brothers.
The brothers had just heard his conversation with Kangxi. When they saw him coming, Yin'e was the first to speak: "Cheng'an wants to row a dragon boat? Then let's compete with the tenth brother and see who will win."
"Okay!" The little guy nodded in agreement with interest.
Seeing that he agreed, Yin'e looked at the brothers around him and said, "Then let's divide it up, five people on each side, and bring the people around us to form a boat."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yinreng and Yinzhi stood up and each held one of the little guy's hands.
Yinqi, Yinyou, Yinlu, Yinwei and Yinli were a step behind them, but they also walked towards the little guy.
"No, what do you mean?" Yin'e was stunned and could only look at Yinsi.
Yinsi wanted to stand on the side of the little guy, but he felt embarrassed to leave him alone when he was looked at like that.
Seeing this, Yinzhi lowered his head and said something in the little guy's ear.
"Mynah bird, come here quickly~" Cheng An looked up and shouted.
Yinsi was still hesitating, but when he heard the little guy's voice, he gave Yin'e an apologetic look and walked over.
The little guy saw that all his brothers were on his side, and then he looked over to see that he was the only one on his tenth brother's side. He thought it was very funny and couldn't help laughing.
Hearing his clear laughter, Yinreng and the others were infected and smiled as well.
How can this be compared?
Yin'e looked at the group of people over there and thought it was outrageous. He immediately took two big steps over and demonstrated with his actions what it meant to join if you can't beat them.
"How can we compete if you come over, Old Ten?" Yinzhi looked at him and said.
"As the saying goes, brothers working together can break metal. I think it's better for us to compete with others together." Yin'e picked up the little guy and said, "Cheng'an, can you let Brother Ten be with you?"
The little guy thought about it and still couldn't bear to leave him alone, so he nodded and said, "Okay."
He agreed, and the other princes didn't say anything. After all, if they really wanted to play, there was no shortage of people who could compete with them.
Before the princes were about to board the ship, Kangxi called them over and gave them a few instructions, telling them to take good care of Cheng'an.
"Ama, if I win, can I have another zongzi tonight?"
Seeing that he had not eaten enough zongzi, Kangxi reached out and pinched his chubby face and said, "You can't eat any more today."
Just as the little guy showed a disappointed expression, he heard him say, "But if you win, you can have another one tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll go then~"
The little guy cheered and pulled his brother to run towards the lake.
The brothers were not as interested in dragon boat racing as the little guy, they just accompanied him simply because he wanted to play.
Before getting on the boat, Yinreng picked up the little guy directly, and Yinzhi and the others hurried to lend a hand, as if they were protecting some treasure.
After getting on the dragon boat, the brothers placed the little guy in the middle and surrounded him.
"How am I going to row like this?" Cheng An looked up and said unhappily.
Rowing a dragon boat is quite tiring and requires cooperation. With the little guy's small arms and legs, the brothers were reluctant to let him row.
"How about letting Second Brother teach you to play drums?" Yinreng suggested after glancing at the dragon boat.
The little guy had never rowed a dragon boat or played the drums before, but after being coaxed by his brothers, he quickly agreed.
Boom——
Yinreng carried him to the drum and held him between himself and the drum. The little guy tried to hit the drum and immediately started laughing.
“This sound is so loud~”
When the dragon boat rowing started again, Kangxi leaned slightly on the throne, obviously watching more seriously than before.
The drums sounded and several dragon boats rowed out at the same time. The boat with the brothers on it was not slow at all.
Kangxi's gaze fell on the little guy who was being played the drums by Yinreng, with a smile in his eyes.
On the dragon boat, the little guy, perhaps sensing that he was looking at him, suddenly turned around and smiled at him: "Ama~"
There was some distance between the dragon boat and the stands, and rowing a dragon boat made quite a bit of noise, so the sound naturally could not reach Kangxi.
But as soon as the little guy moved his mouth, Kangxi knew he was definitely calling him, and waved his hand to signal him not to be distracted.
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