C54

As the proverb goes, once the year is over, Shen Qi will celebrate the first new year at the Duke Palaces, and when she comes in contact with these things for the first time, she would become flustered for a while.

During the new year, King Duanren also had a few days off, so during this time he was exceptionally busy. But no matter how busy he was, he would always find time to come back and eat with her.

Wang Ma and the others were very pleased that the prince had an imperial concubine in his heart. Otherwise, why would he spend time with her when he was busy?

King Duan had taught Shen Qi's method of keeping accounts to her trusted aides, and once again made a set of accounts to ensure the confidentiality of the accounts. Of course, he wouldn't destroy them.

Although it was a little troublesome, it became easier later on, so he didn't have to worry about divulging this information. Since King Duanren was in a good mood, he naturally wanted to see Shen Qi more, and could be considered his alternative reward.

On this day, Xiao Nian was busy everywhere, every yard was busy, every corner was cleaned, and the palace had people responsible for cleaning this area, so it was not dirty at all.

Since ancient times, there has been a custom of "three people, four ships, five ships" in the stove. That is to say, the official family will have the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, the common people will have the 24th day of the 12th lunar month, and the Shui family will have the 25th day of the lunar month. On this day, they will have to report to the Kitchen King for everything they have done in the past year, smearing honey on the mouth of the Kitchen King's grandma, making them come to the Emperor to say good things about themselves.

Of course, these were all superstitions, sacrifices were a matter for men, and women had no right to participate in it. King Duanren Tian Mu Xiu, seeing Shen Qi busying himself with leading, thought that it was something similar, it should have been so lively during the New Year, but King's Mansion were too quiet in the past.

At this time, he also felt the difference between having a mistress in the house and not having one. Although it was usually done in an orderly manner under the care of the Jiang mama and the, he always felt that something was missing. At this time, he discovered that there was an additional person, yet it filled up the entire empty space.

Shen Qi rolled up her sleeves and washed her hands, wanting to make a dumpling for herself. On this day, she ate dumplings from the "Windward Dumplings" and sent the Kitchen King to heaven, so she ate the dumplings.

The kitchen knew that the wangfei wanted to make dumplings herself, so it quickly filled up the skin and filling. The wangfei only needed to do it, Shen Qi had already done it, Zi Zhu, Zi Li and the rest were all eager to try it out.

Shen Qi did not hold them back and waved her hand, "You guys can play by yourselves, do not worry about me." It was a holiday, so there had to be a festival atmosphere.

When King Xian arrived at Cang Lan Yuan, he discovered that the Royal Concubine wasn't there. He only found out that the Princess was packing dumplings in the kitchen when he asked around, so he turned around and walked towards the kitchen.

Yan Yi was surprised, "Your Highness, you want to go to the kitchen?" A gentleman should be far away from the kitchen, but the prince didn't even care about this?

Prince Xian looked at him expressionlessly. "No?"

As a result, when King Duanren came over, he saw her Imperial Consort rubbing white flour on her face without even realizing it. Her hands were still laughing and talking nonstop, making her look very happy.

Princess Hua-Yang usually kept on smiling. Even when she wasn't smiling, it felt like a natural smile, but it was obvious that she was truly happy instead of being sincere this time.

Upon realising that the Duke had come over, and scared the rest of the people in the kitchen to death, the Duke actually came over, and kneeled down on the ground with a loud thud. Duke Xian waved his hand and ordered them to leave, only then did Shen Qi realize that Duke Xiang had come over.

He looked at him doubtfully, "Your Highness?" King Duan nodded. He looked at her puzzled face with a happy expression. She was truly adorable at this time of the year.

"Is Your Highness hungry? "We'll be able to eat it very soon." Shen Qi was in a good mood, and she had already packed quite a few things, so she smiled and said.

King Xian grunted, pointed to the dumplings on the case, and asked, "You're the one who bagged this?"

Shen Qi nodded her head, her eyes curved with a smile, "En, it's mine."

King Xian glanced at the dumplings on the case. There were all sorts of characters. Some were pinched into the shape of flowers, some looked like crescent moons, while others resembled gold ingots.

"Are you ready?" King Duan asked.

Shen Qi clapped her hands, "Alright, let's go back." After all, she couldn't let King Duanren stay in the kitchen for too long. She turned around and instructed the nervous crowd, "Once the cooking is done, bring it to the Cang Lan Yuan. Alright, you guys can go back to work."

Thus, he brought Duke Xiang back to the Cang Lan Yuan. Shen Qi changed his clothes, redressed himself, and came out to see King Duanren sitting on the soft couch, reading a book. He didn't look like he had anything to do, could it be that he went to the kitchen just to find him?

When did the two of them become so close? But Shen Qi did not ask, and after a while, the kitchen was filled with cooked dumplings, as well as water.

Shen Qi poured the sauce carefully, "Your Highness, are you spicy?" She did all this herself.

King Duo nodded. "Same as you."

Maybe Shen Qi did not feel anything, but Wang Ma and the others could feel that the two of them got along more and more with each other, becoming more and more relaxed and at ease.

It was New Year's Eve and he had to attend the palace banquet at the palace. It was the first time every year that Duke Xiang had attended, but this was the first time for Shen Qi, so he didn't bother the Jiang mama any longer and instead personally explained the rules for the palace banquet to Shen Qi. Shen Qi listened attentively, this was in front of the Empress Dowager and even some ministers, if she did anything wrong, she would lose face greatly, and not only would it damage the imperial family's reputation, it would probably spread throughout the entire capital by the next day.

Seeing Shen Qi's cautious look, Duke Xian couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth, "You don't have to be too nervous. Just follow me when the time comes."

Shen Qi smiled and nodded, "Mn, I will listen to your highness."

But just as he was about to leave, he ate a meal first. Shen Qi looked at him in astonishment, could it be that the food at the palace banquet was for real?

Perhaps it was because he had seen through her confusion, King Duanren gave a rare explanation. "First, take some cushions. The banquet will start late, and you won't have the time to eat when the time comes."

Shen Qi thought that it was true. There were so many great figures present, and they were all paying attention to their own words and actions.

After dinner, he sat in the carriage with King Duanren and entered the palace. First, he paid respects to the empress dowager at the empress dowager's Tzu Ning Palace, then he accompanied her there when the banquet was about to begin. Shen Qi felt that the empress dowager wouldn't add insult to injury after the new year, right?

The empress dowager was very happy when she saw him. However, he only paid his respects to the empress dowager before walking to the front yard, leaving Shen Qi to accompany the empress dowager.

Shen Qi had just arrived at the palace when the empress brought all her concubines to pay respects to the empress dowager, also waiting to attend the banquet together. However, the last ones left were the empress dowager and the empress dowager.

When she arrived, the hall was already filled with people. The seats were arranged according to the arrangement of the seats, so Shen Qi was naturally in line with the prince's wife.

When the banquet was about to begin, the empress dowager and empress arrived late and announced, "The emperor has arrived. The empress dowager has arrived. Esteemed Empress has arrived." Then, a group of people kneeled down and shouted, "Your Majesty shall live for tens of thousands of years, Esteemed Empress Dowager shall live for thousands of years, and Empress shall live for thousands of years."

This was the honor bestowed to him by the imperial power. No wonder so many people wanted to sit in that position, and stand at the highest point and watch the crowd submit to him with the desire to conquer. This should be satisfied by the desire of every man, like the current emperor and the King Rui outside.

The Emperor said, "Rise from the throne." Afterwards, everyone took their seats, and then the banquet officially began. A row of palace maids entered with silver trays in their hands, and the entire process was completely silent. Shen Qi somewhat understood after looking at the dishes in front of him.

It was already prepared beforehand, and from the imperial kitchens all the way to the banquet hall, he had long since lost the warmth, so he could only watch the hot dishes.

Shen Qi had thought that the banquet would end soon, and she would be able to make up for the midnight snack when she went back. The banquet ended very quickly, but it did not end under normal circumstances.

Halfway through the banquet, a cry of surprise suddenly came from the crowd as they were eating and watching the performance. The empress dowager and the empress dowager's gazes were attracted over, and the emperor frowned. Who was it that didn't know better? He was actually being rude in such a situation.

When Eunuch Liu returned and whispered a few words into the emperor's ear, the emperor's face was filled with mystery. He glanced at the empress darkly, and at this moment, the empress already knew what had happened. Her face was extremely ugly, and seeing the emperor looking at her with that kind of expression, she felt extremely wronged.

The empress was the one who presided over all these banquets. Naturally, she had to hurry and tell the palace maid to take the person down first. If they could cover up this matter, they could cover it up. The empress dowager already knew what was going on and was in a very bad mood.

The crowd below did not know what was going on, but their superiors all had unsightly expressions on their faces. They did not even dare to breathe loudly, for fear of encountering the emperor's misfortune.

Although they were taking him down, no one dared to act as if nothing had happened. The second half of the banquet was filled with a deathly atmosphere, and the emperor was no longer in a good mood.

After coming out, everyone was still at a loss. They knew something bad had happened, but no one knew exactly what it was. This kind of unknown thing made everyone feel both curiosity and fear.

Shen Qi was waiting for King Duan on the horse carriage, but it took him a while to return. When she saw Shen Qi, he could only shake her head, "Let's go, we'll talk when we get back."

Shen Qi also knew that it was definitely related to something important, so she nodded and did not ask anything.