the end of December, New Year's Eve.
　　All officials take a break and take the New Year holiday as usual.
　　Zheng Yuheng came back from the Ministry of Revenue, changed out of her official uniform, put on her casual clothes to organize her memorials and books, and waited in the Cining Palace.
　　New Year's Eve is a big banquet in the palace. Dong Lingjiu must go to the banquet and have a feast with many nobles and women in the capital. If the emperor and the empress are there, but the empress dowager has not come, then no matter how big the palace is, it is not worthy of the name and boring.
　　In order to complete this matter, even if Dong Lingjiu is lazy to socialize, she has to go there in person. She has seen those distant relatives of the royal family who are separated by several bends, and watched some young royal children come forward to kowtow and greet.
　　She waited until the sky was dark and after three rounds of wine, she told Meng Cheng that she was tired from the wine and went back to the Cining Palace first. The emperor wanted to see her off in person, but it was not good for both of them to leave the banquet, so Dong Lingjiu told him not to see her off and just to take charge of the situation.
　　Meng Cheng had no choice but to nod his head in agreement.
　　Dong Lingjiu walked out of the palace, where the fragrance and warmth were flowing. She did not get into the sedan chair, but walked alone through a long corridor in the palace. On both sides of the red railings outside the corridor, there was a thin layer of new snow.
　　Ruixue gathered the cloak on her shoulders, handed her a warm hand warmer with changed charcoal, and whispered, "My queen, let's go back."
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "It's stuffy inside, I'll walk a little longer."
　　Her clothes gradually became dry and cold, and the cool air clung to her brocade clothes. Dong Lingjiu took a deep breath, feeling the astringent and slightly cold air rushing into her lungs, making her feel particularly sober.
　　The bright moon was hanging high in the sky, and the cold light shone on the snow.
　　She walked slowly along this section of the road, picked a red plum that had emerged from the Jinfang Garden, played with it in her hands, and then got into the sedan chair.
　　The Cining Palace was brightly lit, and one could occasionally hear the eunuchs happily congratulating each other in private. Jiang Neiren was sitting on a small stool, changing the incense in the gilded incense ball. When the Empress Dowager came back, she saw it from the doorway and coughed twice, and the noisy little maids inside were silent.
　　The palace became quiet.
　　Dong Lingjiu stepped over the threshold, and the palace servants around him bowed their heads to salute. She waved her hand and said, "Let them all go down and rest, leaving only one or two to watch the candlelight all night."
　　Ruixue said, "Yes. The firecrackers these days..."
　　"Let's set them off when we should." Dong Lingjiu said, "It's better to have a little excitement. Children like excitement."
　　Ruixue advised, "If the excitement makes the queen unable to rest, it will shorten their lives."
　　"You know how to be my master." Dong Lingjiu said softly, "It's not that precious. It's just for one or two days. Let them make a fuss. Serving in the palace sounds respectable, but it may not be a good job to be brave all year round."
　　Ruixue responded, "Yes."
　　She knew that Doctor Zheng was in there, so she went down to distribute reward money and New Year's blessing lanterns and gifts to the maids and eunuchs. The
　　palace maids left one by one, and Dong Lingjiu no longer acted like the empress dowager. She relaxed her muscles and bones casually and put the red plums she picked when passing by the garden in the vase on the desk.
　　A branch collided with the bottom of the bottle, making a very slight crisp sound. Zheng Yuheng, who was sorting books at the desk, raised his eyes and saw a face that would make him lose his mind no matter how many times he saw it.
　　The Queen Mother was dressed particularly solemnly for the banquet today. She had black hair like clouds, dark eyebrows and red lips. She wore a crown with golden threads and a phoenix lying on the pearl. The thin tassels of the hairpins hung down from the crown, trembling slightly, setting off her graceful and peaceful eyebrows.
　　Zheng Yuheng's heart skipped a beat and his breathing stagnated slightly.
　　Dong Lingjiu inserted the red plum, turned the porcelain bottle with his fingers, turned the willow branches and spring swallows painted on the bottle to the front, and said to him slowly: "When did you come back?"
　　"I came back... early in the morning." He said.
　　"I'm too busy today." She stretched out her hand, her fingers that had just touched the porcelain bottle were still a little cold, her fingertips gently touched his cheek, icy, "If you had told me you'd be back so soon, I wouldn't have drunk even a glass of wine."
　　Zheng Yuheng's heart was pounding, and he subconsciously covered her fingers, not letting her stop this brief and gentle contact. He closed his eyes, put his cheek against her palm, and whispered: "Have you said this to others?"
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled: "Who do you want to compare with?"
　　"No... I don't know how to tell you." Zheng Yuheng said, "If I can have this unique grace, Yuheng will remember it for a lifetime."
　　He has only been sensible for a few years, what kind of ups and downs has he experienced, does he know what a lifetime means?
　　Dong Lingjiu looked into his eyes, stared at him quietly for a while, and said softly: "Even if you can't remember this life, I don't love you in vain if you can look like this today and say such words today."
　　She walked around the desk and sat on a chair covered with a soft blanket, but she didn't want to read a single page of the book. She rarely relaxed her tense mind and body. She leaned on the chair with a little laziness and fatigue, put one hand on the back of the chair, pinched her nose with her fingers, closed her eyes and said: "Take off the jewelry. Heavy."
　　Because of this height, Zheng Yuheng lowered his body and knelt down to remove the hairpins and jewelry.
　　He had an unspeakable offense to the Queen Mother, but also a deep respect and love for her. Being able to do some considerate and trivial things for her in front of her was a wish that came only after curing her.
　　Zheng Yuheng had already thrown away the so-called taboos of "favoritism" and "male favorite" in his mind, and also abandoned all the touches about the arrogance of scholars in front of her. He carefully and patiently took off the beads, the crown, and held her drooping fingers.
　　Zheng Yuheng thought his movements were very gentle and secretive, and he seemed to accidentally brush her knuckles, but Dong Lingjiu had opened her eyes and looked at him without knowing when, and saw all his little movements.
　　She suddenly said softly: "... Come closer."
　　Zheng Yuheng paused and moved closer to her.
　　Sandalwood, mixed with a hint of cold air, and the fragrance of red plums in the bottle on the table, entangled around him.
　　Dong Lingjiu stretched out her hand, hooked his collar, pulled out the embroidery of white cranes, and smiled gently: "At the end of the year, there are seven days without work. You should have been released two days ago, but there are too many things to do in the Ministry of Revenue this year, so they extended it for two days. They said... I will make it up to you after the New Year."
　　Zheng Yuheng stared at her hand, not hearing a word she said, he just felt his lips dry, Tan Niang's fingers were so delicate and soft, like a beautiful jade, to be honest, he really wanted to kiss her well, from fingertips, palms, to wrists, roll up the wide sleeves, press his lips against the blood vessels under her skin, beg her not to take it back, beg her to love him forever.
　　Dong Lingjiu noticed that he was distracted, tapped his forehead, and continued: "You have been in the Cining Palace these days, aren't you going back?"
　　Zheng Yuheng said: "... No."
　　"What if there is an emergency?"
　　Zheng Yuheng's eyes turned red at the thought of parting with Dong Lingjiu, and whispered: "I would rather kill people and set fire to them than go."
　　Dong Lingjiu said "hmm", and then said: "What if I ask you to go back?"
　　He was stunned and speechless when he heard it, his expression was gentle and aggrieved, his dark eyes looked at her, and after a long while he said: "Then... I... will listen to you."
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled and said: "Then carry me in."
　　Zheng Yuheng became even more nervous after hearing this, but he knew that the other party was probably not relaxed, so he did not expect anything to happen. He just stood up and put his arms around her waist, and took Dong Lingjiu into his arms, and heard the sound of pearls and jades bumping against her body.
　　She put her arms around him, leaned on his shoulders, and lowered her head to take a nap, like a crystal glass Bodhisattva, held in the heart and arms of devout believers.
　　She felt a brief peace in Zheng Yuheng.
　　Until the bed curtains of the bedroom moved slightly, she finally unloaded the weight of her body and lay in the warm brocade quilt. It was like she had crawled out of the brocade cage, washed away the lead, and restored to the original and most primitive Dong Lingjiu.
　　The bedding under her was stacked in an orderly manner. This was Zheng Yuheng's habit of folding quilts and making the bed. He leaned on her side and untied the white jade cord on Dong Lingjiu's waist. His hands measured her waist, then gently pulled back and untied the layers of gorgeous clothes.
　　At the end of the bed, the heat in the golden beast furnace was strong.
　　The bedroom was only blocked by a screen, but the door was not closed. From outside the curtain came the voices of the young palace maids teasing and laughing. The big red lanterns shone in from the corners of the windows, blending with the moonlight and candlelight.
　　Zheng Yuheng took off her outer clothes and put them away. He was bending over to tidy up the corners of her quilt when he suddenly stopped.
　　Dong Lingjiu was looking at him.
　　On weekdays, he also had no shortage of doing these odd jobs. Dong Lingjiu either fell asleep quickly or held his hand to warm the bed. She rarely looked over but kept silent.
　　Zheng Yuheng asked softly, "What's wrong?"
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "I was thinking, what would it be like if you were the first person I met."
　　Zheng Yuheng's hands subconsciously closed, causing some wrinkles on the corners of the quilt.
　　"You remind me of my childhood," Dong Lingjiu said, "I was afraid of the sound of firecrackers and the beast Nian. I didn't dare to sleep on New Year's Eve. My mother sat next to me, gently held my hand, tidied the corners of my quilt, and sang nursery rhymes for me."
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned for a moment: "Are you...afraid of the sound of firecrackers?"
　　"Just a little bit." Dong Lingjiu said, "Actually, I'm not afraid of anything."
　　The Queen Mother of the Great Yin, in theory, should not be afraid of anything.
　　But she said, "I used to be afraid of everything, insects, thunder, firecrackers... and riding horses. But since... since I got married, I have gradually become less afraid."
　　Zheng Yuheng's heart suddenly hurt, and he felt an uncontrollable heartache and sadness. In order to stay calm, he had to hold the other's hand and cover his face as if to hide.
　　"My mother passed away on a thunderstorm day." She said slowly, "So I am afraid of thunder. But later Meng Zhen also passed away in this kind of weather. When he passed away, I no longer knew what fear was."
　　Zheng Yuheng listened silently.
　　"After my mother passed away, I felt that there would be no one in the world who would love me unconditionally and forever." Dong Lingjiu said softly, "Yuheng, do you find it strange? Shouldn't I, with my status, have anything to fear?"
　　"...No." He controlled his voice and answered as softly as possible.
　　"A few years ago, the tallest tree in the courtyard of the Cining Palace was a phoenix tree. Later, there was a thunderstorm one day, and it was split in the middle, broken in half, and the inside was charred." She narrated, "It sheltered from the wind and rain for many years."
　　"Tan Niang..."
　　Her beloved father and mother, the weak figure who blocked the sound of firecrackers for her every year, the cold air flowing through the window gap, and the nursery rhyme that was so ethereal that it was close to nothingness... The hand that smoothed the corner of the quilt, like a phantom, floated again in her heart at this moment when the candlelight was dim.
　　But it has been many years.
　　Dong Lingjiu found that many years have passed in her life. She had long been aware that she would not live long, but when she realized that all the beautiful moments in her life were slipping away, she could not help but feel a sense of coldness and loneliness.
　　Zheng Yuheng called her softly, but he was afraid of disturbing the sad memories in her other's memory, so he just held her hand and rubbed her fingers slowly.
　　Dong Lingjiu came back to her senses, took the back of his hand and put it on her ear, as if she had put an invisible lock on him.
　　She looked at Zheng Yuheng and said, "The gambling on books has made the tea smell disappear... I thought it was normal at the time."
　　Dong Lingjiu closed his eyes and murmured, "Yuheng..." "
　　I'm here." He responded gently, but he still couldn't hide the heartache and panic in his voice. He asked almost at a loss, "Can I... sing a nursery rhyme for you?"
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled silently, hugged his arm, and said lazily, "No, you are not my mother, why are you taking advantage of me?"
　　"But I..."
　　Before he finished speaking, Dong Lingjiu reached out and pulled him over, let him lie beside her, then buried her in his arms and gently put his hand on her ear.
　　Zheng Yuheng covered her ears and breathed carefully.
　　"Let's do this." She said.
　　"Okay," Zheng Yuheng lowered her voice and whispered, "No one can take you away from my arms, not even the Nian beast."
　　She did not answer.
　　With the tacit consent of the empress dowager, the light of fireworks lit up outside the palace, reflecting on the window screen layer by layer, the light rose and fell, the east wind bloomed thousands of flowers at night, until the end of the night, the stars fell like rain.
　　The author has something to say:
　　The gambling of books has consumed the fragrance of tea, and at that time I thought it was normal: Nalan Xingde's "Huanxisha·Who Reads the West Wind Alone in the Coolness", these two sentences are allusions to Li Qingzhao and Zhao Mingcheng.
　　The last sentence is paraphrased: The east wind blooms thousands of flowers at night, and the stars fall like rain. (Xin Jiaxuan)