Chapter 279 New Year's Eve
The emperor and empress left the Daming Palace and then took Jia Cong back to Fengzao Palace.
After chatting with the Queen for a few words, Jia Cong saw that it was getting late, so he immediately said goodbye. The Queen was naturally reluctant to let him go, and she winked at the Emperor.
Emperor Longxing understood what he meant, but he couldn't bear to part with his son, so he immediately said to Jia Cong, "Do I bother you like this?"
"I dare not..."
"Since you don't dare, just stay here. You didn't drink much wine at Father's place. Hui'er, have someone prepare some side dishes and let this kid drink a few more cups with me! Don't worry, after half past midnight, I will have Xia Shouzhong escort you out of the palace. You won't stay in the palace all night."
If his wife has a request, the emperor will naturally satisfy it.
What could Jia Cong say? He could only agree.
Afterwards, the queen personally took people to prepare a few dishes and asked people to bring wine. The three of them did not separate, but directly asked people to move a small table, and they ate, drank and chatted.
Jia Cong drank a glass of wine, and thought with a bitter smile in his heart, "If those two brothers knew how I am treated now, they would probably be even more jealous! However, I don't know what the emperor and the queen are up to. Even if they want to stay up all night and drink, they should let the two sons come. Why let me, an outsider, accompany them?"
But the queen had always been very kind to him, and the emperor had never simply treated him as a subject in private, so it was naturally difficult for Jia Cong to leave directly.
The queen did not allow other maids or eunuchs to serve them . She asked the father and son to sit down directly. She poured wine and served food to them. She felt completely satisfied!
Although the palace is nice, it lacks some of the fireworks of the world after all! Even the families of ordinary people gather together on such days, but in this palace, even the emperor and empress need to abide by the rules!
The status of the queen was already extremely noble, and that was why she envied the people the most, who could enjoy the happiness of family life with their whole family. She had been thinking about the scene before her for a long time, and now it finally came true. Her husband and son were right in front of her, drinking, eating, and even bickering. It must be the happiest thing in the world.
After drinking for half the night, Jia Cong looked at the drunk Emperor Longxing, who was still hugging him and calling him a brother. He wondered if he would cause trouble for him tomorrow when he sobered up. He looked up at the Queen for help, but the Queen just kept smiling and didn't want to intervene.
Finally, it was half past midnight. Jia Cong stood up, saluted the emperor and the empress, and said, "Your Majesty and the Empress, I, Jia Cong, respectfully wish you a long and happy life, and a bright future!"
"Okay, okay!" The queen nodded with a smile, and turned around to take a red envelope from the tray in the hands of a maid beside her. "This is the lucky money for you. I have also prepared another one for you. Take it back and reward everyone in your palace."
Jia Cong was not polite and took it and thanked the queen again.
Most families’ New Year’s money is just a red envelope with some copper coins. The royal family does the same, but the copper coins are specially made.
On it are written pleasing auspicious words such as "blessings as vast as the East Sea" and "long life and wealth". On the other side are auspicious patterns such as the Big Dipper, turtles and snakes.
"It's getting late. I think you'll want to make some noise when you return home, so I won't keep you any longer!" The Queen said, "Xia Shouzhong, Zhou Gui, the two of you should escort Jia Cong out of the palace in person, and have a team of Dragon Guards escort him back."
After Jia Cong expressed his gratitude again, he followed Xia Shouzhong and the others out of Fengzao Palace and headed towards the palace gate.
When they arrived at the palace gate, Zhou Gui took out the queen's seal and asked someone to open the palace gate, and called a team of guards over. Only then did Jia Cong return to the mansion.
When we returned to Ningguo Mansion, the entire courtyard was brightly lit. We went back to the main hall and saw a few little birds chirping and talking, and the small table was filled with all kinds of food.
"Master is back?" Several maids stood up to greet him.
"Yes!" Jia Cong nodded and sat down comfortably. "Qingwen, go and see if Yuanyang, the eldest sister-in-law and Keqing are asleep. If not, please invite them all over. Today is New Year's Eve. Let's stay up together. What fun is it to stay alone in the room?"
Qingwen left as soon as she was told. Not long after, Yuanyang came over with two maids.
"Master, Nafu!"
Jia Cong directly pulled up Yuanyang who was bowing, "Today is New Year's Eve, let's stay up together, there is no need to be so polite!"
"Little Bird, go get all the snacks and food you hid. We are not allowed to sleep tonight!"
Xiao Que'er nodded playfully and pulled Xiangling directly into the house. A moment later, the two of them came out holding various fruits and food.
Then, someone brought in a bigger table and filled it with food.
About a quarter of an hour later, Youshi and Keqing also arrived.
Seeing the two of them bowing, Jia Cong hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law, Keqing, please sit down. There aren't many people in our house, so it's more lively if we get together on New Year's Eve."
"Jia Zhong, bring me some of the red envelopes I brought back!"
The Queen was naturally not stingy with Jia Cong. In addition to the red envelope prepared specifically for Jia Cong, she also prepared a dozen more.
Jia Cong opened his red envelope first, but was surprised to find that although the money inside looked like copper coins, they were all made of gold, and the patterns and auspicious beasts on it were also more exquisite.
However, the other red envelopes contained ordinary lucky money.
Jia Cong handed his red envelope to Yuanyang, asking her to keep it for him, and then gave each of the other red envelopes as a reward. "Tomorrow, the servants in the mansion will come to greet you. You can use this as a reward. In addition, Sister Yuanyang, take some and send them to the old lady tomorrow. Take half of the gold ones and take two of the others for the old lady to reward."
Youshi smiled and said, "The master is indeed favored by the emperor. I have only seen this kind of golden lucky money at the old lady's place before. I heard that it was only for the masters in the palace. I never thought that the master also has it."
"You know, in ordinary mansions, even ordinary lucky coins are not as exquisite as this. If we give this away, our mansion will be very glorious."
Xiao Que'er and the maids around them were rewarded first, and they were naturally happy. Jia Cong said to Xiao Que'er, "You don't have to stay around us. You can take them out to play, but be careful with the fire and candles, so as not to leak water!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Que'er nodded happily and said directly to Baozhu and the others, "Grandpa has prepared a lot of red lanterns for me. I'll give one to each of you. Let's go play together."
Afterwards, all the maids ran out happily, and only Qingwen stayed by Jia Cong's side to be taken care of. After all, she was going to be a concubine in the future, so how could she learn to be crazy like that little bird?
