It has been some time since the three heroes of the Jia family went whoring and lost contact.
Every house in the capital is also busy preparing New Year's goods and worshiping ancestors.
In Xue's house, Baochai was busy counting the things and silver sent by Zhuangzi from various places.
There are mountain delicacies and wild animals as well as aquatic livestock: deer, deer, roe deer, Siam pig, Tang sheep, dragon pig, wild boar, domestic wax pig, wild sheep, green sheep, domestic Tang sheep, domestic sheep, sturgeon, live chickens and ducks
Goose, dried chicken, duck and goose, bear paws, deer tendons, sea cucumbers, deer tongue, peppers, dried razor clams, hazelnut peach and apricot flesh, large prawns, dried shrimps, etc...
There are also a year's account books and harvest money sent from stores in various places.
Xue Pan was responsible for counting the income of the Xue family's properties and shops, while Baochai was responsible for the New Year's goods in the house and verifying the items donated by Zhuangzi.
This year Xue Hong and Baochai were each rewarded by Emperor Longqing with a high-quality village. The two households alone sent a total of more than 8,000 taels of silver and various tributes.
Xue Hong was invited to the imperial palace to attend the royal banquet, and all high-ranking officials in the capital were invited.
It's said to be an imperial banquet, but it's just a formality. It's impossible to really expect to be full at the imperial banquet.
The imperial banquets of the Ming Dynasty were divided into four levels: the upper table, the upper middle table, the middle table, and the lower table. According to the official position, the food eaten at each level was different.
Xue Hong is a third-grade Zhongshun doctor. Although his position is meritless, he is still barely qualified to serve.
As for the middle table, there are middle-level officials such as fourth-rank and fifth-rank officials.
At the next table were officials below the sixth rank, sitting far away from the main hall, facing the cold wind, sitting respectfully in front of the case. Jia Zheng was one of them.
Xue Hong's eyesight was very good, and he could see the situation on Jia Zheng's side from a distance. The food on the table was frozen solid! If there was no hammer or chisel, even Ji Xiaolan, who had iron teeth and bronze teeth, wouldn't be able to chew the frozen food.
Hard food.
It was still snowing outside, and Jia Zheng, who was in average physical condition, was shivering in the cold wind.
First of all, there will be nine drinking sessions during the banquet, and there will be music and dancing to add to the fun. One thing to note during the banquet is that they can only start drinking after the emperor tells them to start.
After a set of procedures, Xue Hong was also exhausted physically and mentally, and it was so troublesome to eat.
After the royal banquet was finally over, Xue Hong saw a figure in the back of the hall and ran out. Who else could it be if it wasn't Zhu Hui?
Xue Hong was not in the mood to brag with him today. After all, his younger brothers and sisters were still waiting to go home to have dinner and worship their ancestors.
Xue Hong rode horseback all the way. When he returned to Xue Mansion, it was already getting late. As soon as he arrived at the side door of Xue Mansion, he saw a group of people carrying cages to transport chickens, ducks, livestock and various game to Xue Mansion. The entire side door was blocked.
The blockage was so tight that Xue Hong had no choice but to ride around to the main entrance again.
After entering Xue Mansion, I walked all the way to the inner house, and happened to meet Baochai coming out with a gift list in his hand.
Baochai saw Xue Hong coming back and immediately greeted him: "Brother Hong! Why did you come back so late? Is it cold outside?"
Baochai helped Xue Hong brush off some snowflakes on his body while talking to Xue Hong about the things that each village sent today.
Xue Hong listened and suddenly said: "By the way, isn't this year's harvest not very good? There seems to be a lot less stuff."
Baochai: "I heard from my brother that it seems that several places in Zhuangzi suffered serious natural disasters, so many things are missing. My brother also sent someone to verify it, and it is indeed as Zhuangtou said."
"But Your Majesty, brother Hong and sister Zhuangzi have had a bumper harvest this year. Each of them has sent a thousand dan of rice alone."
After Baochai paused for a moment, he said: "Brother Hong, I want to... take the extra rice in our house and some of the uneaten livestock meat and distribute it to those Zhuangzi areas that were affected by the disaster.
There have been constant natural disasters in various places in recent years, but the New Year will always pass."
Hearing this, Xue Hong touched Baochai's head and said with a smile: "My sister is kind-hearted, which is also a good thing. However, we need to send a trusted confidant to go with the village head to prevent anyone from cheating and giving us to Zhuangzi.
The people's food was sold and greedy."
Baochai nodded obediently after hearing this.
At this moment, Xue Pan came back from outside in a hurry, bringing in a blast of cold air. Xue Hong quickly used her true energy to protect Baochai secretly, and then stretched out her hand to help Xue Pan pat the snow on her body.
Xue Hong: "How old you are, you should be more stable when walking, but you are always so turbulent."
Xue Pan grinned: "Brother, this year there are indeed several shopkeepers who want to play tricks on us, but I found out. After verification, they were all sent to the Shuntian Mansion Prison for the New Year's Eve dinner."
After finishing speaking, Xue Pan had three words written on his face, asking for praise.
Xue Hong: "Okay. Brother Pan has finally grown up, and now he can distinguish between good and evil, good and evil. This is enough."
…
While there was harmony in the Xue Mansion, the Rong and Ning Mansion had not been very peaceful this year.
Ever since Jia Lian was rescued, Wang Xifeng has been at odds with Jia Lian, causing no peace in the Rongguo Mansion.
It's even worse in Ningguo Mansion. Ever since Jia Zhen was troubled by an accident, her mentality has become more and more abnormal. Now even Youshi and Jia Rong are frightened when they see Jia Zhen.
I have to say that the guy who made the move had some skills. As of now, Jia Zhen had nothing to do except the loss of certain functions. Isn't this much better than the masters in charge of castration in the palace?
As usual, Wu Jinxiao secretly embezzled more than two thousand taels of silver and only provided half of the original amount and half of the silver to Ning Guo's house.
Wu Jinxiao originally thought that he could fool him as easily as before, but who would have thought that the moment he saw Jia Zhen, he was so frightened that he sat on the ground.
Although the original Jia Zhen was lustful and vulgar, she was still tall and strong. After all, she came from a noble military general's palace, and her appearance was also good.
But now, Jia Zhen has sunken cheeks, prominent cheekbones, dark eyes, and a sinister look in her eyes all the time.
When Jia Zhen saw Wu Jinxiao looking at her strangely, she was furious!
Like a ferocious devil, Jia Zhen pointed her finger at Wu Jinxiao and shouted sternly: "Even a slave like you dares to look at me like this! Come here! Beat him to death!!"
Jia Rong was clearly standing by, but she was too frightened to say anything.
Wu Jinxiao was surrounded by a group of servants. He was beaten and kicked with sticks and begged for mercy.
At this moment, Jia She and Jia Zheng walked in from outside the mansion.
Jia Zheng: "What's going on? Could it be that he is bullying his master by being a slave??"
Jia Zhen had a cold face, but she didn't want to lose her composure in front of Jia She and Jia Zheng. She immediately waved her hand to signal the servants to stop, and then led Jia Rong forward to salute Jia She and Jia Zheng.
After listening to Jia Rong's few words, Jia She generally understood what was going on, and then said: "Today is the New Year, and it would be unlucky for this slave to walk in our house, so let's make a note of it first.
"
Jia Zhen: "That's what Uncle Pardon said."
In the back house of Ningguo Mansion, the three You sisters and Qin Keqing were sitting together, each with worries and fears in their hearts.