Chapter 19: Entering the Palace for New Year

Each one is a priceless treasure.

Among these noble families, they might not be considered valuable, but in the Hou Fu, Xu Zaijing’s four elder siblings had at most one each, while Xu Zaijing had Siwu pieces.

Before long, it was the Spring Festival.

This year, Xu Minghua did not return home, only sending a letter stating that the northern situation was tense and that generals with real power could not return for the New Year.

In the Xu household, the eldest brother Xu Zaiduan took on the father’s role, leading the three Xu sons in pasting couplets, cleaning the ancestral hall, offering sacrifices, setting off firecrackers, staying up to welcome the new year, and rising before dawn to pay New Year’s visits to noble and high-ranking families in the capital.

Yet the Hou Fu had long lost its former splendor, and few families came to pay their New Year’s calls.

The women of the household were busy preparing festival foods at home.

On the first day of the New Year, as dawn broke, noble ladies and ladies of title in the capital gathered to proceed to the palace to pay New Year’s respects to the Emperor, Empress, and imperial consorts.

Sun Shi took Xu Zaiduan and his two brothers onto a carriage and headed for the palace.

Although the carriage was warmed by smokeless charcoal stoves, it was still cold.

Fortunately, all were dressed in thick clothing, and the five elder siblings, having risen early, dozed off in the carriage’s bumpy ride.

Inside the palace, all around were nobles clad in thick fur robes.

New Year’s audiences were conducted by rank: first, the princes entered the great hall to pay respects to the Emperor, Empress, and imperial consorts.

Then, nobles entered in order of their titles: Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron.

Some remained in the hall; others bowed and departed immediately after paying their respects.

When it was the Xu family’s turn to enter, the eunuch at the door called out loudly:

“The Hou Fu of Yongyi, the Xu family, enters the hall.”

Xu Zaijing entered the hall with his family.

The current Emperor of Da Zhou was notably benevolent, and Da Zhou treated its subjects with great leniency, with no strict rule forbidding direct eye contact with the Emperor.

Especially with children like Xu Zaijing, so he could see the hall clearly.

He saw the Emperor seated on the dragon throne, clad in yellow robes, beside him sat a magnificent, elegant woman wearing a phoenix crown, her age indiscernible—she was Empress Cao, of the Cao clan.

Behind the beautiful woman stood a delicate young wife in her early twenties, daughter of the commoner Rong family.

Behind her were three more beautiful women.

Their seating order revealed their status within the palace.

Below the Empress sat Princess Pingning, who was speaking to the Empress; her words made the Emperor lean sideways, straining to hear clearly.

Clearly, Princess Pingning was speaking of something that interested the Emperor.

The delicate young wife beside the Empress listened with wide-eyed astonishment.

Princess Pingning’s father, the Xiangyang Marquis, had lost a leg years ago while protecting the current Emperor, so Princess Pingning had grown up at the Empress’s side and later married into the Qi Duke family—her speaking freely before the Emperor and Empress was perfectly normal.

After the Xu family entered the hall, the Empress and the young wife behind her immediately noticed the youngest, Xu Zaijing.

After Xu Zaiduan and the others had paid their respects, the Emperor, seated high above, bade them rise and offered general words of encouragement to the head of the Xu family for guarding the borders even during the New Year—clearly formulaic, with no particular meaning.

But Empress Cao, upon seeing Sun Shi, asked a few questions about the health of her parents, revealing her fondness for the Sun family.

After all, when Empress Cao was still unmarried in the Cao household, her third uncle had been her dearest relative.

The Empress saw that the youngest Xu Zaijing was fair-skinned, dressed in deep blue silk, with bright, intelligent eyes that made him appear even more adorable and handsome.

After glancing at the Emperor beside her and Princess Pingning, she beckoned Xu Zaijing with a gentle voice: “Xu’s third son, come here to me.”

Xu Zaijing glanced at his mother; Sun Shi quickly said: “Go. Don’t be disrespectful.”

Xu Zaijing stepped before the Empress, bowed deeply, and said: “Xu Zaijing pays homage to His Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, all Consorts, and Princess Pingning.”

“Hehehe, such a well-mannered, sensible child.”

As she spoke, the Empress removed a jade ring from her finger and placed it in Xu Zaijing’s hand; he was about to kneel in thanks when she seized his wrist.

“Good child, this is my gift to you—no need to kneel.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”

The delicate young wife behind the Empress quickly plucked a finely crafted gold hairpin set with green jade stones from her hair and knelt to place it in Xu Zaijing’s other hand.

“Good child, this is for you.”

Princess Pingning said beside them: “Third son, this is Consort Rong. You need not thank her.”

“Yes, Consort Rong.”

Hearing Princess Pingning’s words, the Emperor’s eyes filled with approval as he looked at the Empress.

The three consorts behind Consort Rong each gave Xu Zaijing a gift.

This left the noble ladies of other families who had just paid their respects filled with confusion.

They were too far away to hear what Princess Pingning and the Empress were saying—the Emperor himself had to lean in to catch a few words.

Princess Pingning had been telling the Empress about meeting Xu Zaijing at the polo field, and what happened after she returned home—she had discovered she was pregnant and given birth to a son.

The current Emperor was a benevolent Son of Heaven, yet his lineage was sparse; Empress Cao bore immense pressure and court criticism.

Consort Rong and the other consorts had also heard.

If any of them could become pregnant first, bear a prince, and raise him to adulthood, though the prince’s legal mother would still be Empress Cao, as his birth mother they might one day become a Palace Empress Dowager when their son ascended the throne.

Xu Zaijing was their omen of fortune, a blessing, a bond of destiny—the gifts they gave him were expressions of their hopes, and they could not let him thank them in return, lest the fortune fade.

Princess Pingning did not make Consort Rong or the others uncomfortable over palace matters; instead, she introduced them, clearly under the Empress’s careful guidance.

After the noble families and their ladies had paid their respects, the palace bestowed many gifts, and then everyone departed, returning home just in time for lunch.

Sun Shi placed the palace gifts into an exquisite wooden box, along with the other presents Xu Zaijing had received.

Looking at her son, Sun Shi said: “You rascal, your gifts are nearly equal to your aunts’ dowries hidden at the bottom of their trunks.”

Xu Zaijing said: “Mother, these are all gifts given to me—may I give them to my brothers and sisters on their birthdays?”

Xu Zaijing faintly remembered watching a drama, where an old nurse had said: “A family shares glory and misfortune; only when siblings are united does the household flourish.”

Xu Zaiduan and his three siblings, having just changed clothes upon returning home, were about to pay their respects to Sun Shi when they overheard their younger brother’s words; they exchanged glances.

Inside the room, Sun Shi stroked her son’s head, her eyes brimming with pride.

The Assistant Prefect’s residence in Quanzhou, Fujian Road,

Shou’an Hall

The Sheng family’s old matriarch received the kowtows of her children and grandchildren.

Sheng Hualan, nearly ten years old, stood beside her grandmother; below sat Sheng Hong and his wife,

Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng, the two grandsons, knelt on the floor kowtowing to their grandmother.

“Recite the blessing.”

Sheng Changfeng was not yet two, and could only mumble words.

Sheng Hong’s gaze upon his eldest son was stern yet proud.

His gaze upon Changfeng was filled with affection.

“Suqin, distribute the gifts.”

Fang Mama beside the old matriarch quickly helped the two young lords to their feet, each receiving a small embroidered pouch of lucky money.

Thank you for your monthly tickets, recommendation votes, and donations.

Gratefully thanked!

Deeply thanked again!

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(End of chapter)