Chapter 245 New Year's Eve Handover 1
"ah!"
Yunshan was startled and took two steps back.
Because she reacted quickly, the snow only got on her collar a little and did not seep into her neckline.
"What is your Majesty doing?"
Song Zhao smiled but said nothing, but Xiao Fuzi quickly realized something and said:
"If a little snow touches the skin, a normal person would quickly avoid it because they would feel cold, and would not give the snow a chance to get into the collar. This is the case with cold things, let alone boiling hot soup? It is obvious how the emperor poured the whole bowl of hangover soup into Huipin's collar? She was burned, didn't she know to avoid it?"
Yunshan said, "You mean, Huipin took advantage of the emperor's drunkenness and deliberately didn't dodge, so that the emperor 'accidentally' hurt her with the sobering soup? But who would do such a thing? Even if it was to win the emperor's sympathy, her own body would be completely ruined, which is not worth the loss. Maybe... Huipin was slow to react?"
"Slow?" Song Zhao suddenly sneered, "Didn't you see me serving her soup just now? The temperature of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall should be similar to the hangover soup I made that day. Looking at Concubine Hui's quick movements, does she look like someone who is slow to react?"
Xiao Fuzi was puzzled and said, "I am really confused... What is Huipin's motive for doing this? If she wanted to win favor, why would she deliberately burn herself?
With her family background, she doesn't need to play dumb and live peacefully in the palace. When she gets pregnant, the emperor will give her a concubine position for the sake of her mother's family. Besides, I don't think she likes the emperor..."
His question was exactly the same as Song Zhao's question.
Song Zhao had seen many evil spirits since entering the palace.
Only when it came to Concubine Hui, she couldn't find any mistakes at all.
So many of her speculations about Concubine Hui were groundless.
But Song Zhao firmly believed that Huipin was definitely not as simple as she appeared.
Although I have doubts, I can't confirm them.
For now, we can only be on guard against her, and we will have to take things one step at a time in the future.
"Let Zhihua continue to keep an eye on her. Then tell Rongyue to be more careful about Huipin. If Huipin is really troublesome, she hides so deeply that no one can see through her. I'm afraid she will become a more troublesome person than the queen in the future."
*
This winter, Kyoto was covered with continuous snow.
It is said that auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, but too much snow can also be a disaster.
Many of the thatched houses of the poor people in the suburbs were crushed by the snow.
The people had no shelter in the severe cold, and some were even frozen to death.
After Xiao Jingheng learned about this, he urgently opened the national treasury for disaster relief, built temporary shelters to accommodate the victims, and even took care of their three meals a day so that they had no worries.
The court spent a lot of money on this matter.
So the New Year’s Eve dinner was also kept simple.
On New Year's Eve last year, Song Zhao was confined by Xiao Jingheng and was not allowed to go out.
This year is the first time for her to celebrate the New Year in the palace.
The rules of this New Year's Eve banquet were similar to those of Xiao Jingheng's birthday banquet. The concubines gathered together, the prince joined the banquet, and the family got together at the end of the year to drink, talk, sing and dance to entertain themselves. There was nothing new to do.
When the banquet was halfway through, the concubines who were supposed to show off their special skills had finished their performances, and it was time for everyone to give gifts to Xiao Jingheng.
Because Xiao Jingheng was in conflict with the lucky year last year, he was careful to avoid everything and finally managed to spend the whole year safely.
Therefore, this year the concubines all thought of ways to congratulate him and prepared gifts with special care.
The various treasures sent to them were overwhelming, and most of the concubines started saving money three or four months in advance.
For example, concubine Yao, who was not favored to begin with and whose mother's family was not powerful in the previous dynasty,
He even started saving money half a year in advance, thinking about what to give to the emperor to please Xiao Jingheng.
Song Zhao quietly watched the beautiful women surrounding him the whole time, not knowing whether to find them funny or pitiful.
What's funny is that they actually think that as long as the gifts they give are expensive enough, Jamel Xiao will look at them more;
What's pitiful is that the people in Kyoto are suffering from the snowstorm and are displaced, the imperial court is opening the treasury due to the earthquake and even the New Year's Eve banquet has to be kept simple. Now they are rushing to give Xiao Jingheng all kinds of expensive gifts. What's the difference between this and courting death?
Of course, there are also smart people in this palace.
Among those who had already sent gifts, Concubine Ying and the newly entered palace Concubine He gave Xiao Jingheng small gifts.
And Rong Yue, a maid, actually gave Xiao Jingheng a Hetian jade Ruyi.
This item is of top quality in both jade quality and color. It cannot be purchased without more than a thousand taels of silver.
After accepting her gift, Xiao Jingheng's face became noticeably gloomy.
But it's okay.
Xiao Jingheng's disgust was exactly what Rong Yue imagined.
Later, when she went to Song Zhao to give a gift, she gave Xiao Jingheng a jade pendant with a dragon pattern carved on it.
The dragon pattern on it is not clearly carved, the jade color does not look transparent, and there are even some jade impurities mixed in.
Seeing this, Concubine Yun smiled softly and said:
"What is this gift from Concubine Yi? It's fine that the jade is not transparent, but why is the dragon pattern carved on it crooked? It's really petty for you to let the emperor wear this thing."
She glanced at Song Zhao with contempt, and said with a dagger hidden in her smile: "You are now a concubine, and your monthly salary is not small. Why are you so careless when giving gifts to the emperor?"
Song Zhao smiled gently and replied calmly,
"My younger sister is naturally not as wealthy as my elder sister. My mother's family has no help. Last month, there was a snowstorm in Kyoto. It was pitiful to see the people displaced. The emperor was also worried about this matter and couldn't eat.
I have given all the monthly money I have saved over the past few months to the Ministry of Revenue, so that they can use it to help the earthquake victims first. This can be considered as a small contribution to help the victims."
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