Court Meeting

Shao Zhan gave him a sidelong glance. He really didn’t know how blessed he was. Didn’t he know that many ministers were envious of him behind his back? It was a great honor to be able to get close to the emperor.

“…”

Jiang Danhe turned his head. Thanks to this great honor, he had completely lost his freedom.

He should be writing sweet letters to Xiaoguo instead. But these days, he was either feigning civility with other ministers or smiling at the fawning of some ministers. In comparison, one was heaven, and the other was hell. He had ended up in this state because of the man in front of him. If Shao Zhan hadn’t insisted on him staying, he wouldn’t have been living his life so passively.

However, although he was complaining, he still had to get down to business. Ultimately, he still had to prepare for the annoying banquet.

“The empress has invited you so many times. Are you really not going?”

Back to business. The emperor and the empress were supposed to stay up to celebrate the new year together. Shao Zhan’s behavior now was quite inappropriate. After all, the empress’s maiden family was still very powerful in the imperial court.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s almost time anyway,”

Shao Zhan said those words calmly with a cold glint flickering in his eyes. When he turned and saw Xiaoyi, who was nodding off, the look in his eyes immediately softened.

He was heartless and sentimental at the same time.

Jiang Danhe retracted his gaze. It was inconvenient for him to probe, so he did not speak.

“Your Majesty, it’s midnight.”

Shao Zhan nodded to show that he understood. He stood up and said to Jiang Danhe, “Let’s go.”

On New Year’s Eve, fireworks were lit on time in the palace.

Shao Zhan saw that Xiaoyi was still sleeping so he gently woke him up. He carried the boy in his arms and walked to the high platform.

When Xiaoyi opened his eyes, he saw fireworks exploding across the city skyline. They looked like colorful chrysanthemums in the sky.

The capital was a large city to begin with. Families that were wealthy were quite extravagant when it came to buying fireworks. Moreover, during this time of the year, the palace would procure a lot of fireworks. Therefore, one could imagine how vibrant the capital looked tonight.

In the sky, other than fireworks, there were also Kong Ming Lanterns. Large clusters of Kong Ming Lanterns flew across the sky, shuttling between the exploding fireworks.

Nestled in Shao Zhan’s arms, Xiaoyi extended his small hand and grabbed at the air. He looked at his hand in confusion. Why did the fireworks look so close, but yet he was unable to grab them?

When Shao Zhan saw this, he chuckled dotingly. How cute. If only she could see it…

At the thought of this, Shao Zhan squinted his eyes and pursed his lips. The longing he inadvertently revealed seemed to be eating at his nerves.

Jiang Danhe looked at the fireworks in the sky and felt very moved. He wondered if Xiaoguo had seen the fireworks. What did she eat for the reunion dinner? Was she missing him? If she was missing him, why wasn’t he sneezing?

At the thought of this, he looked down at himself. Was he dressed so thickly that he had blocked out Xiaoguo’s thoughts?

He was constantly reminded of her words. “Wear more clothes and keep warm. Don’t fall sick or catch a cold.”

Since he had done everything she said, did Xiaoguo also eat more like he had told her to?

The three of them quietly stared at the sky. For a moment, no one spoke. Although the fireworks were beautiful, they were short-lived. But this did not apply to the fireworks in the capital. This was because there was no lack of wealthy people here—it was highly likely that many of them had a huge supply of fireworks at home.

Since the commoners had the means to do that, the palace was even more extravagant than them.

Fireworks of all sizes bloomed endlessly in the sky above the palace. The three of them only got off the tall building when they had seen enough.

When they came down, the guard failed to notice them. He was too engrossed in admiring the fireworks. When Shao Zhan got near to him, he straightened his body in shock. Afraid of being punished, he started trembling in fear.

Shao Zhan saw the guard’s actions, but he did not reprimand him. He quickened his pace and walked past the man. After all, today was a special day so his behavior was understandable.

Seeing that Shao Zhan did not punish the guard, Jiang Danhe deliberately stood still for a moment beside the man. He only left when the guard was shaking uncontrollably.

Although his behavior was understandable on this day, he was still on duty after all.

Safety must come first. If there were any intruders, and the guards failed in their duty because they were too distracted by the fireworks, it was something that should not be allowed to happen.

The guard was on duty because the palace had placed its trust on him. He shouldn’t betray this trust.

Although there was no punishment, proper intimidation is still necessary.

In the eyes of outsiders, Jiang Danhe only stood by his side for a while. However, only the person involved knew what was going on. His legs immediately turned weak and just before he completely stopped breathing, the intimidating presence left. Only then did he dare to breathe normally.

From then on, the guard never got distracted again while on duty. Whenever his thoughts wandered, he would subconsciously think of Jiang Danhe. Then, his entire body would tremble and he would not dare to daydream again.

Speaking of which, Jiang Danhe came to the entrance of the hall where he was temporarily resting. It was actually Shao Zhan’s side hall. At this moment, Xiaoyi had already been carried away by Zhixia to rest.

The two of them walked to the main entrance of the hall alone. Before parting ways, Shao Zhan did not forget to remind Jiang Danhe, who had turned around and was on his way out. “Remember to wake up early tomorrow.”

Jiang Danhe turned around and saw that Shao Zhan had already turned around and left. He rubbed his forehead in frustration. There was still a court meeting tomorrow!

Just like the New Year visitations, the court meeting was held on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. On this day, the civil and military officials would come together to pay their respects to the emperor. There were also envoys who would travel from afar. On this day, they would pay tribute to the emperor.

During the night, the most important segment of the court meeting would be the court banquet. It could be considered as the equivalent of the Spring Festival Gala being held in Shao Nation.

Songs, dances, festivities, talents, drinks and merriment.

The banquet could be summarized in those few words.

Jiang Danhe walked towards the hall. At this moment, there were still sporadic fireworks in the sky. He looked up and chuckled. It seemed that tomorrow would be another busy day…

–

On New Year’s Eve, it was customary for everyone to take a shower. It was a symbolic act to wash away filth and bad luck, and welcome the new year with a fresh attitude.

After watching the fireworks, the group returned to the house and boiled a few pots of hot water. Everyone took turns to take a hot shower.

Then, they fell asleep comfortably under the warm blankets.

On the first day of the new year, everyone was woken up by the sound of firecrackers instead of the rooster.

As soon as the firecrackers sounded, everyone got out of bed. The first thing they did when they woke up was to set off the firecrackers, add firewood, and boil water.

Dumplings just before dawn had the meaning of “sending the old and welcoming the new”. The words had the same pronunciation as “dumplings” and “midnight”, which signifies “festive reunion” and “auspicious wish”.

It was still dark outside. However, people would only wake up earlier and not later. This was because they believed that whoever woke up early to eat the dumplings would enjoy more blessings.

At the table, a group of people was gathered in a circle, looking for the dumpling with a copper coin.

In the end, under Zhuang Zhuang’s expectant gaze, Ling Long was the one to get it. This 1% chance landed on her.

You win some, you lose some. Of course, only Zhuang Zhuang was feeling defeated.

He was looking forward to this moment for the entire night. To think that the dumpling was found just like that by someone else. He was so depressed that he was in no mood to do any visiting later.

On this day, people were dressed in new clothes and shoes, from head to toe, in anticipation of the new year.

As Xiaoguo and the others still had to boil water, they didn’t put on their new clothes yet. They were afraid of getting their clothes dirty, so they planned to finish the dumplings before dressing up.

After eating the dumplings, Xiaoguo put away the bowls and chopsticks since she couldn’t do any housework this morning. Doing any form of cleaning was associated with sweeping wealth and prosperity away.

Qin Anming was the only member in Xiaoguo’s maternal family, and the Qin family did not have any immediate family members. The Jiang family was not a local family. All their immediate family members had already passed on, so there was no need for Xiaoguo to visit any relatives. This really saved her a lot of trouble.