Chapter 16 A Solitary Spring Festival

There are no human rights in an imperial society, and people cannot even have a peaceful time during the New Year holidays.

According to court etiquette, on the first day of the first lunar month every year, all officials in Beijing should go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to pay homage to the emperor. However, starting from the first year of Yongchang, officials had to go to the Daming Palace to pay homage to the retired emperor first, in order to show the emperor’s filial piety.

The auspicious time for paying homage to the emperor cannot be changed, so the civil and military officials can only suffer.

On this day, all officials in Beijing had to get up at the beginning of the Yin hour and rush to the Daming Palace at the Mao hour.

The same applies to the families of officials who have imperial edicts. They have to congratulate the Empress Dowager and the Empress on the festival and attend a palace banquet before they can leave the palace.

The clock in the corner rang.

Li Hu put on his clothes, got out of bed, lifted the gauze curtain, walked to the incense burner, opened the lid, blew into it, and the silver frost charcoal in the incense burner burned, and the bedroom immediately became warmer.

With no one to serve him, Li Hu brushed his teeth with green salt, rinsed his mouth with overnight tea, then took out the copper kettle from the incense burner, poured warm water into the washbasin, and wrung out a towel to wipe his face.

After washing, Li Hu began to put on his court robes.

Li Hu was the only one in the huge backyard. He had gone to the human market several times but returned empty-handed every time.

What Xue Baochai said was right, “If you buy something without knowing its origin, and make a mistake, it’s not a big deal to waste money.” You can only slowly inquire about it. If you find out the origin of something, it’s not too late to buy it later.

Wearing his official hat, Li Hu walked to the dressing mirror and looked at himself in the mirror. In one word, handsome!

Li Hu took the cloak hanging on the hanger, put it on himself, and walked out.

I opened the door and lifted the thick cotton curtain, and a gust of cold wind immediately blew in a lot of snowflakes.

Li Hu shivered due to the wind and looked at the heavy snow falling outside the dim door.

Just then, in the heavy snow, a servant holding a lantern led Uncle San in through the moon gate of the courtyard.

“Hey, the Second Master is up.”

Li San said as he walked quickly under the eaves carrying the food box, “Ginseng soup, it’s neither cold nor hot. Drink it quickly, Second Master.” He opened the lid of the box and used his body to shield himself from the wind and snow.

Li Hu held up the bowl of ginseng soup with both hands and drank it in one breath.

Li San took out a purse from his sleeve and said, “There are ginseng slices in here. If you feel tired standing, just put one in your mouth.”

A bowl of ginseng soup, pee first when arriving at Dong’anmen, and then wait outside the Daming Palace in the snow and wind. It’s not easy to be an official!
Although it was snowing heavily, the sky gradually brightened. The imperial city covered by snow could be seen clearly. The red walls and golden tiles formed a sharp contrast with the white snow, which made it look particularly solemn and magnificent.

In the distance, the sound of the Jingyang bell could be heard amid the howling north wind!

The worship ceremony in the Hall of Supreme Harmony began.

On the empty wall of Daming Palace, the emperor stood there alone, looking up at the gray sky with his head slightly raised, letting the snowflakes fall on his head and body.

At this moment, Xia Shouzhong, the eunuch in charge of the Daming Palace, hurried over and whispered something in the ear of the retired emperor.

The Grand Emperor laughed until tears came out of his eyes, and turned to look towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony: “Retribution, retribution has come. This is God’s punishment for you killing your brother and forcing your father! Let you also taste the feeling of fratricide and being too hasty in your relationship, cough cough cough.”

Xia Shouzhong quickly patted him on the back.

The emperor waved his hand and said, “This mistress has always given people the impression of being oblivious to the world outside and devoted to reading the books of sages. Who would have thought it would be him?”

Xia Shouzhong smiled bitterly: “These young masters are not simple at all!”

With a snort, the emperor replied: “They are all things that are not presentable.”

Xia Shouzhong wanted to say something else.

The Emperor: “Who else knows about this?”

Xia Shouzhong: “The Third Prince is really cruel and ruthless. The assassin sent to kill Old Doctor Wang was silenced, and the person sent to silence him was silenced again. The assassin was afraid of being silenced again, so he kept a trick and saved his life from the sea of ​​fire. Only this old servant knows about this! With this handle, the retired emperor can control the Third Prince, and then push him to replace him, and let the retired emperor be the regent!”

The Emperor Emeritus glanced at him and shook his head: “No! We can’t get involved. Once we get involved, the evildoers will use this as an excuse to attack the ‘Emperor Emeritus’ party.'”

“But the Third Prince has no chance.”

“Give those civil servants who have not been discovered by that evil creature to the Second Prince, push him to the front, let him fight with the Crown Prince, and let him die. Let that evil creature also have a taste of fratricide.”

“Yes.” The retired emperor suddenly remembered: “Also keep a close eye on the Fourth Prince. He is so young and yet he knows how to protect himself. He is obviously not a good person!” After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the city wall.

After the court worship ceremony, Emperor Yongchang gave a banquet in Yongshou Palace.

Of course, not everyone is qualified to attend the palace banquet. Those officials who stood in the square to participate in the worship ceremony went directly home to their wives and children.

Because officials and nobles had different ranks, the ingredients they prepared were naturally different. The dishes for the palace banquet were divided into two grades: first-class and second-class.

The first-class banquet table entertained high-ranking officials of the first and second ranks, the Li royal family, and high-ranking nobles. It prepared “a silver hot pot, a tin hot pot, a plate of pork slices, a plate of mutton slices, a plate of roasted venison with deer tail, a plate of mutton leg with black fork, four bowls of meat dishes, a plate of steamed longevity food, a plate of oven-cooked longevity food, two plates of conch boxes and side dishes, a pair of ebony chopsticks, and shredded pork soup and rice.”

The second-class banquet table was for middle-level officials and lower-level nobles, and prepared “two copper hot pots, one plate of pork slices, one plate of lamb leg slices, one plate of roasted roe deer meat, one plate of steamed longevity food, one plate of oven-cooked longevity food, two plates of conch boxes and side dishes, a pair of ebony chopsticks, and shredded pork soup and rice.”

The gap is very obvious.

According to the prince, the wine they drank was several times better than that served at the second-class banquet table.

Li Hu walked out of the imperial city cursing.

The snow was falling heavily, and everything was white.

In the vast snow, Li Hu rode his horse, let go of the reins, and slowly walked into the West City.

It is said that the emperor is a lonely man, but Li Hu is even more lonely than the emperor. He has no relatives and has nowhere to go even to pay New Year’s greetings.

Being a stranger in a foreign land, I miss my family all the more during the holidays!
Maybe it’s time to start a family. Goodbye, my golden hairpins. We haven’t even met each other, and our fate is over.

The horse suddenly stopped and Li Hu came to his senses.

A man dressed as a steward stopped the horse and said, “Sir, there is something going on at home today. I am very sorry to trouble you to take the street ahead!” As he said this, he bowed to Li Hu.

Li Hu looked over and saw many ceremonial guards and musical instruments lined up on the street. Which noble family did this belong to?

He turned and looked at the big archway, on which were written three large characters “Ningrong Street”.

Ningrong Street, Jia family?

The new house is not far from Ningrong Street, just two blocks ahead.

Li Hu: “I’m sorry.”

Li Hu urged his horse to go.

Jia Yun’s voice came from behind: “Sir!”

Li Hu had no choice but to rein in his horse.

Jia Yun ran over like the wind, with a big smile on his face: “I just said I wanted to come and wish you a happy New Year.” As he said this, he bowed to Li Hu.

Li Hu stretched out his hand to support them: “Forget it, this is not the place for ceremony. Come and sit with me when you have nothing to do, and I won’t disturb you from worshiping your ancestors.” After saying that, he squeezed his legs together and urged his horse to go south.

Jia Yun watched Li Hu disappear in the snow. Suddenly, a voice sounded behind him: “Yun’er.” He turned around quickly.

Standing behind him is the clan leader Jia Zhen.

Jia Yun quickly bowed and said, “Patriarch.”

“Don’t be so polite.” Jia Zhen looked in the direction where Li Hu disappeared. “Who is that person?”

Jia Yun: “Hey, Chief, this is my superior, the guerrilla general of the Southern Camp.”

“Oh?” Jia Zhen’s eyes flickered, “He is Li Hu?”

Jia Yun: “Yes.”

Jia Zhen: “Since you have chosen this path, you should do your job well and not bring disgrace to your ancestors.”

Jia Yun: “Yes.”

Jia Zhen: “Okay, follow me to the West Mansion to pay respects to the old lady.” Having said that, he thought for a moment and said, “You and Rong’er should sit together at the dinner.” After saying that, he turned and walked towards Rongguo Mansion.

(End of this chapter)