jdhmnovel Chapter 81 Eating Dumplings
Chapter 81 Eating Dumplings
His arrogant nature is all thanks to his wife's spoiling, and the beating he received today was also his own doing. Fortunately, the injury wasn't too serious, so it serves as a lesson for him.
This matter also involved the King of Qin, who felt it was best not to escalate the situation and just let it go, as a head-on confrontation would never yield good results, and he couldn't win against him anyway.
However, he dared not voice his thoughts, for he was of low rank and his official position was not as high as the other two.
If he refused to come, they might gang up on him, so he had no choice but to come and hear what they had to say.
Among them, Cen Shaoqing and Minister Meng were the most eager for revenge.
Although Prime Minister Ye was also angry, after the incident at the morning court session, he no longer had such a strong desire for revenge.
Minister Meng didn't offer much of his opinion throughout the entire process; he simply listened and offered a few casual responses. He believed it was better to avoid trouble and hoped they wouldn't call him again next time.
The group couldn't reach an agreement in the end, as their ideas and opinions differed. They talked inside for half an hour before dispersing.
two days later
The weather was still quite cold this morning, and Long Chuqing didn't get up until Granny Lin called her for breakfast. She didn't want to get up so early since she had nothing to do.
She got up, washed up, and then went to the living room.
Ziguang has recovered very well after her treatment.
She was able to get out of bed today and got up very early. When she saw Long Chuqing come in, she greeted her happily, "Miss, come quickly. We're having dumplings today for the Beginning of Winter."
As she approached, she saw that they were indeed dumplings, some boiled and some steamed. They have a custom of eating dumplings on the day of Lidong (the beginning of winter), which symbolizes the transition between autumn and winter.
"Ziguang, why are you up? Are you feeling better?" She looked at Ziguang, who was sitting down: "You should lie down and rest more. We'll bring you the food."
"I'm much better." Zi Guang smiled faintly, though there were still some bruises on her face.
"My back is about to break from lying down all the time, so I got up to move around. Just then, my nanny said there would be dumplings for dinner today, so I got up."
"Hmm... that's fine too." Long Chuqing smiled knowingly. "Just don't overexert yourself. If you feel unwell, go back and rest, okay?"
Ziguang smiled and said, "I understand."
"Here come the bowls and chopsticks." At this moment, Granny Lin came in with the bowls and chopsticks, placed them on the table, and called out, "Hurry up and eat while they're hot! Steamed dumplings cool down quickly in this weather."
Long Chuqing picked up a steamed dumpling, took a bite, and her eyes lit up as she said, "Mmm, mine is a three-delicacy filling, it's delicious."
Ziguang scooped up some boiled vegetables and ate them. After taking a bite, she said, "Mine is filled with pork and cabbage, and it's delicious too."
Granny Lin chuckled and said, “When I went to get the filling, I asked the kitchen staff. They said they made several kinds of fillings today: three kinds of seafood, pork and cabbage, pork and shepherd's purse, celery and beef, and many more! I couldn’t remember them all; they were all mixed together. You just get whatever you get randomly.”
Ziguang took another bite of the dumpling with a satisfied look on his face and said with a smile, "Mine is beef filling. The dumplings made by the chef in the Prince's Mansion are the best. I like all kinds of fillings."
Long Chuqing smiled and agreed, "It's really delicious, every flavor is so fresh."
"Then eat more, there's plenty more!" Granny Lin said with a smile.
As for the Empress, ever since the Emperor assigned her the task of hosting a banquet, she has been frowning.
It's neither a festival nor the flower season, so what excuse do you want her to give for holding this event? It's really putting her in a difficult position.
She had recently been going through the list of people's birthdays in the palace and found that Consort Yu's birthday was approaching, so she came up with a plan and sent someone to invite Consort Yu over.
Consort Yu arrived at the Empress's Fengning Palace with doubts. Normally, the Empress would not summon them except for the morning and evening greetings.
"Your Majesty, I greet you." Consort Yu entered and paid her respects to the Empress.
"No need for formalities, sister, come here quickly." The Empress warmly invited her to sit down to the side.
Seeing the Empress's smiling face, Consort Yu felt even more uneasy.
After Consort Yu sat down, she asked, "I wonder what brings Your Majesty the Empress here to see me?"
The Empress had intended to exchange a few pleasantries before getting to the main topic, but when Consort Yu asked directly what it was about, she stopped being coy.
"Since you've brought it up, I'll be frank," the Empress said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I'm sure you know that His Majesty has ordered me to host a banquet."
Consort Yu nodded in response.
The Empress sighed with a worried expression, "Alas... to be honest, I have thought about it and I really can't find a good reason to hold this banquet."
She continued speaking to Consort Yu, "Well... seeing that my sister's birthday is approaching, I'm thinking of holding a birthday banquet in her name. What do you think?"
"No, no, I can't handle these things." In fact, the Consort had already guessed what the Empress was saying before she even finished speaking, but she couldn't interrupt the Empress.
She didn't want to be so high-profile. She thought to herself, "If I hold a birthday party, people will give me gifts and I'll owe a lot of favors. I can't do it, I can't do it."
Speaking of the Empress, she was also someone who disliked trouble. She didn't like to deal with these tedious matters. It seemed that the concubines in the harem were quite harmonious, with very few causing trouble, and there were basically no concubines who were particularly troublesome.
Most of them were influenced by the Empress Dowager and just wanted to be idle and content with living their lives well.
Therefore, the princes and princes were all very friendly and respectful to each other.
The royal family is in harmony, which means the emperor has less to worry about.
The Empress had expected the Consort to refuse, but she hadn't anticipated that she would refuse so decisively. She hadn't even had a chance to utter a whole bunch of prepared remarks!
The Empress looked at Consort Yu with a worried expression and said, "What should we do? Give me some advice."
The Imperial Concubine also looked troubled: "This..., I really don't have any good suggestions."
She couldn't offer the Empress any advice casually; if things went wrong, she might be blamed.
Seeing this, the Empress lowered her eyes and sighed inwardly: "Alas... since my sister has no other choice, I will have to feign illness and return to the Emperor. I wonder who will take over this task then."
Upon hearing this, the Imperial Concubine was startled. This was terrible! If the Empress were to be appointed, wouldn't she be the one in charge? The task would definitely fall into her hands, which would only make things more troublesome.
"Your Majesty, please don't worry." She put on a bright smile and looked at the Empress, saying, "Let me think about it; perhaps there are other ways!"
Upon hearing this, the Empress smiled with satisfaction. It would be difficult for one person to handle this task, but if other people were involved, someone could help find a solution.
The Imperial Concubine instructed the palace maids to fetch the imperial calendar. She glanced at it and a smile spread across her face.
She pointed to the imperial calendar and said, "Your Majesty, look, next month is the beginning of winter."
The Empress laughed after reading it: "Look... how come I didn't think of that! My sister is so clever, she knew that asking you would be the right thing to do."
"Not at all, Your Majesty was just worried and didn't remember it for a moment. I only found out just now."
"Let's not talk about that," the Queen said with satisfaction. "Then it's settled. Just send out the invitations later."
"Then I shall take my leave." Consort Yu knew that her task was complete, so she left Fengning Palace.