Hidden golden branches

In this room, Yunman looked at the maids setting out the meal and couldn't help but glance towards the door.

Chen Youyu knew what she was waiting for and couldn't help but smile: "Mother, the prince is not coming. Today is both Xiu Mu and Laba. If he comes, he will probably come for lunch."

As soon as Chen Youyu finished speaking, he saw the door curtain being lifted, revealing a smiling little head.

Yun Man was about to laugh at Chen Youyu: "Look, isn't this coming?" When she saw that it was her precious daughter, she smiled happily and said, "Mom, I thought you were eating in Jinxiuyuan! Come and try it here, mom." How's the Laba porridge?"

"Father, mother, my daughter will eat later. You guys try the Laba porridge that my daughter brought here first!"

I've been eating Laba porridge every day for the past few days, and I'm tired of it all the time.

After Chen Rong finished speaking, he waved to Cuizhu. Cuizhu hurriedly placed the red box he was holding on the table with square curly grass pattern next to him, and took out the laba porridge in a four-series can of purple gold glaze.

Chen Rong personally presented the Laba porridge to the black lacquered gold dining table in front of his parents.

When Chen Youyu was about to praise his filial daughter, Ji Yuxian opened the curtain and came in, calling with a smile: "Uncle Chen, aunt, Rong'er is good morning."

Yun Man greeted with a smile: "My nephew has arrived just in time, please sit down quickly."

"Um? Brother Ji, come and try the Laba porridge I cooked." Chen Rong stood up, took a bowl of Laba porridge from Cuizhu, who was very discerning, and placed it on the table in front of where Ji Yuxian usually sat.

"Okay, I'm in for a treat today." Ji Yuxian said happily as he sat down on the ebony armchair.

Mingzhu, who was standing aside, quickly fetched Ji Yuxian's purple bamboo-inlaid silver chopsticks without being asked by her master, and placed them on the plate in front of Ji Yuxian.

Ji Yuxian nodded politely to Mingzhu in thanks.

After finishing breakfast, Chen Youyu took the mouth towel handed over by the servant, wiped his mouth and threw it into the mahogany tray held by the maid. He praised Chen Rong without hesitation: "Rong'er, I'm eating this for my father today." The best Laba porridge ever.”

Ji Yuxian hurriedly followed up and praised: "Yes, that's right. The Laba porridge cooked by Rong Rong today is also the best I have ever tasted."

When Yun Man heard them praising Chen Rong, she couldn't help but laugh and said, "Look, you are praising her so much that you can't even find her!"

"Mom!" Chen Rong raised the corners of her mouth and said coquettishly.

Chen Youyu laughed and took Yun Man away first, leaving the two of them behind.

I saw Ji Yuxian take out a gold-threaded red heart knot from his sleeve pocket, with six symmetrical golden ears on the left and right sides on the outside, a circle of vermilion flowers in the middle, and a bright yellow inner plate interlaced as finely as a sunflower, with a small copper coin and gold thread underneath. The tassels are floating, delicate and complex, gorgeous and exquisite.

There was no one who didn't like the pretty flower knots at her daughter's house. Chen Rong took them and looked through them curiously, but couldn't figure out how to weave them. She couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the person who knitted them.

"I made this up when I was practicing in southern Yunnan a few years ago. It's called Star Knot, which embodies peace and wealth. Rong Rong, do you like it?" Ji Yuxian asked Chen Rong tenderly.

Ji Yuxian had told her before that he had liked her a long time ago. No need to ask, this heart-star knot was made up for her.

"Thank you, Brother Ji. I like it very much." Chen Rong was moved, and then praised: "Brother Ji, you are so skillful with your hands!"

Yes, Ji Yuxian is not only good at both civil and military skills, but also very skillful with his hands.

"Rong'er, as long as you like it, I will make you a red knot every year from now on," Ji Yuxian took the opportunity to wrap the little girl's soft hair in his palm. After the Laba Festival, it will soon be the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, celebrating the New Year.

On this day, people in the capital offer sacrifices to hundreds of gods and communities.

As the New Year is approaching, officials from various ministries in Beijing have no intention of doing anything. They drink tea and chat in the yamen every day, looking forward to the Spring Festival holiday. There is another grand event before the annual holiday, which is the moment that all the civil and military officials of Quan Zhao Kingdom look forward to most throughout the year - the distribution of wax gifts.

The gift of wax is a rule established since the time of Taizu. In order to reward officials across the country for their hard work for a year, the officials will be given New Year's grain, meat, oil, cloth, etc. in the middle to late lunar month of the twelfth lunar month. Lin Lin finally arrived soon Half a year's salary.

Except for the floods in Tongzhou this year, the weather has been good in other places. All taxes and grains have been recovered in spring and autumn. Coupled with the opening up of business, Tongzhou and Huaizhou, except the capital, collected a total of more than 300,000 taels of tax money this quarter. When I came back, the treasury was quite surplus at the end of the year.

After the distribution of gifts, all the ministries and offices were completely in a state of semi-rest. Only the people in the household department were still too busy to touch the ground.

Next year's fiscal revenue and expenditure budgets for the local, state, government and eighteen central yamen still need to be scrutinized carefully. Chen Youyu has such a strong sense of responsibility that even the emperor Xiao Xuan is ashamed. There is no room for numerical matters. No matter how thick or complicated the account book is, he can find the problems page by page.

In the past few days, Chen Youyu was running between the cabinet courtyard and the Household Department Yamen. He was so busy that he didn't even have time to go back home. He has a group of officials under him, from the principal to the lieutenant, all of them are working on their abacus day and night with a black eye under their eyes, and they wish they could even use their toes.

After Chen Youyu has been busy for several days, he has lost weight and has not been able to take good care of his beard.

Yun Man was very distressed when he saw this. He stewed some supplements for him every day and took them to the Yamen to drink.

At the end of the year, Chen Youyu finally finished handling his official duties and rested. Only then did I start to get busy with the New Year celebrations in a relaxed manner.

Because this year is Chen Rong's last year at home, Yun Man doesn't need her help with anything. . But Chen Rong can live with his spare time?

Since childhood, she has been busy.

After the New Year, she first prepared large and small lanterns for the New Year. The large lanterns must have been bought at the store last year, and the small lanterns were made by the maids and boys in Jinxiu Courtyard.

Every year since Chen Rong was ten years old, she would take the servants of Jinxiu Court to make small lanterns.

Therefore, the most skilled job of the girls and women in Jinxiuyuan is making small lanterns.

On the day my eldest brother Chen Zhao got married, the red lanterns hanging on the trees all over the yard were Chen Rong.
Aunt Jiang from Zicuiyuan, who rarely appeared in public, also came with a few maids to help make small lanterns.

In the past, it was the second brother Chen An who came to Jinxiu Courtyard to accompany Chen Rong in making small lanterns.

On New Year's Eve, the entire Chen family was filled with joy.

From the big red lantern hanging in front of the mansion gate to the small red lanterns on the trees throughout the mansion, people immediately feel that the New Year is here.

Chen Rong was busy hanging lanterns, while Chen Youyu and Yun Man went to the ancestral hall of Mr. Chen's family in Xifu to worship their ancestors.

In the past, Chen Rong would follow her parents and brothers to join in the fun, but the rule of the ages was that women were not allowed to go to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors.

Therefore, every time Chen Rong went to do nothing, he would quarrel and make himself unhappy when he met two cousins, Chen Ying and Chen Fu, who he didn't care about. Yan Yan came back full of anger.
This year Chen Rong will not go to his uncle's house in Xifu to find trouble. Instead, he will have fun at home under the guidance of people hanging lanterns and posting couplets.

In a blink of an eye, it’s New Year’s Eve, couplets are pasted, and lanterns are hung.