mtl008 Chapter 345 New Year's Eve Greetings I Don't Want You to Be Underdog
Chapter 345 New Year's Eve Greetings I Don't Want You to Be Underdog
Because today is New Year's Eve, the concubines were going to have breakfast with the emperor in the Qianqing Palace, so everyone dressed up and went to Chuxiu Palace early in the morning.
This time, there was no distinction between high and low rank in the dining room, and all the concubines in the palace were present.
Shi Nanxi was the person with the highest status. She took the lead. After a brief greeting, everyone got up and headed for the Cining Palace in a mighty manner.
"Your humble servant/concubine pays respects to the Empress Dowager. At the beginning of the new year, I wish the Empress Dowager a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year."
The Empress Dowager on the throne wore a bright yellow court dress today. The dress was embroidered with dragon patterns embroidered with gold and colored threads, colorful sea water and other decorative patterns. The patterns were colorful, festive and warm, and meant auspiciousness.
She looked at the huge group of concubines arriving, and her face was filled with smiles as she saw the large number of them representing the prosperity of the royal family.
"Today is New Year's Eve, a great day, you are all good children, get up quickly."
As he said this, he looked at the leader Shi Nanxi and nodded with satisfaction.
"Noble Concubine Xian is good."
Shi Nanxi was also dressed in auspicious clothes today, and expressed her gratitude openly.
When Imperial Concubine Nianhulu, who was one step behind, saw this scene, her eyes dimmed. In previous years, she was the one who gave orders to all the concubines. But it didn't matter, after tonight everything would return to normal.
After all the concubines were seated, auspicious words and congratulatory remarks came out one after another. After talking for a while, seeing that it was getting late, everyone followed the Empress Dowager's phoenix carriage to the Qianqing Palace.
In the Qianqing Palace, Kangxi received the homage of hundreds of officials in the Zhonghe Hall and the homage of kings and beile in the Taihe Hall. After a short rest, he welcomed the homage of the harem.
Royal rules were complicated and strict, and Shi Nanxi only had time to look at Kangxi before he followed suit and kowtowed. After the ceremony, everyone was finally able to take their seats and have breakfast with the emperor.
"Today is New Year's Eve, and it is a new year. The peace and prosperity of our great Qing dynasty is all thanks to the emperor."
The Empress Dowager was the first to take a seat with the help of Kangxi. She patted the back of the Emperor's hand in appreciation.
As he spoke, he remembered something, looked at the concubines who were waiting to take their seats, and said with a smile:
"There is another happy event today. It is the first time in ten years that the harem has conferred titles on the six concubines. This is double happiness."
Kangxi glanced at everyone and continued with a smile:
"The Empress Dowager is in good health and is extremely happy."
Old people just want a filial descendant, not to mention that this descendant is the emperor. The empress dowager immediately laughed out loud and said:
"The emperor is becoming more and more eloquent."
Kangxi sat down and replied with a smile:
"I stick to my heart, thank you for your praise, Empress."
The Empress Dowager laughed so hard that tears were about to come out. The concubines then sat down one by one and joined in the joke, making the scene extremely lively.
However, when it was time for breakfast, everything returned to the state of silence. Shi Nanxi did not say a few words to Kangxi until the end of breakfast. But the two of them no longer needed words. They could understand each other's feelings just by looking into each other's eyes.
After respectfully seeing off the Empress Dowager, the concubines returned to the palace and waited for the New Year's Eve family dinner in the evening. Kangxi would also host a banquet for foreign officials.
When Shi Nanxi finally returned to Chuxiu Palace, Hongying quickly brought a cup of hot tea and asked someone to send some snacks over, saying distressedly:
"This New Year is like a war. The Queen got up before 5:00 today and has been busy all morning without stopping. She has not eaten much. She has really suffered."
Shi Nanxi leaned back in her chair with her eyes half closed. Nanny Yang stood behind her and massaged her shoulders. She scolded him softly:
"Hurry up and shut up! If someone hears me saying this on New Year's Day, they will think I am unhappy. Besides, I am suffering, but is the emperor suffering more?"
As he spoke, Shi Nanxi couldn't help but light a candle for Kangxi.
Although it was New Year's Day, Kangxi actually got up at the beginning of the morning at one o'clock. He then went to the Qin'an Hall to worship the Zhenwu Emperor, then went to the Chengrui Pavilion to worship the Mother of the Dou, and then went to the Tianqiong Hall to perform the ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows.
After a short rest, they would take a sedan chair to the Fengxian Hall to worship their ancestors, and then return to the Tiandixiang Pavilion from the Hongde Hall of the Qianqing Palace to the Yangxin Hall to burn yellow money and gold and silver ingots to the paintings of the gods of the three realms of heaven and earth.
Then he kowtowed again, went back to the east warm room of the Qianqing Palace to burn incense, went to kowtow before the Sage in the east wing of the Qianqing Palace and before the King of Medicine in the North Five Imperial Pharmacies, and then took a sedan chair out of the Qianqing Gate to the "tangzi" outside the Chang'an Left Gate to offer sacrifices.
Finally, I went back to the Qianqing Palace to the Zhongzheng Hall, Jianfu Palace, and Chonghua Palace to burn incense and worship Buddha. In short, I worshipped, kowtowed, and burned incense all the way.
After these, all officials and royal relatives will pay homage, followed by the imperial harem, and finally the group will have breakfast together.
Shi Nanxi thought about it and realized that she was so tired that she had no appetite after visiting only two or three places, and Kangxi was probably even worse.
Once again, we come to the conclusion that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were not human beings.
After Shi Nanxi had rested enough and had some snacks, she picked up Xixi, who was dressed particularly festively today, and felt alive again.
"My queen, when we were in the corridor today, many of the palace servants around the queen asked me if their masters were on the list of the six palaces to be conferred titles, and they all came back empty-handed."
Hongying remembered something and told it to the Empress with a smile.
Shi Nanxi touched Xixi's head and raised her eyebrows:
"Oh, how did you get back?"
Hongying heard this and a hint of cunning flashed in her eyes. She covered her mouth and chuckled:
"I said that this was decided by the emperor. How could I know? I only know that there are many ladies who will be conferred titles this time. There will be many surprises tonight."
After saying that, he winked at his own queen mischievously with his left eye and said mischievously:
"Among them is Sister Jingyan, who is beside the Imperial Concubine Niuhulu!"
This time Shi Nanxi also laughed out loud, pointed at Hongying and shook her head:
"You, you, wait for Concubine Niuhulu to return disappointed tonight, you better be careful when you go out, don't let anyone put you in a sack."
Hongying stuck out her tongue:
"I only said that there were many people who were given titles, and everyone was very surprised, but I didn't mention any names and said that Consort Niuhulu would be given the title this time."
He said with a chuckle:
"When we were unaware of the movements of the Nianhulu clan in the court, Concubine Nianhulu insisted on pretending to be noble in the harem. As a result, it was all in vain. There will be a good show to watch tonight." His tone was full of gloating.
Shi Nanxi lowered her eyes, a smile flashing across her eyes. Concubine Nianhulu made things difficult for her everywhere, so of course she would not ignore it.
She thought about how she had deliberately promoted Concubine Nianhulu to a higher level in the initial list of titles to be conferred to the six palace maidens that Kangxi had asked her to draw up, but when she submitted it, Kangxi rejected it, saying that Concubine Nianhulu had failed to teach the concubines in the harem well and that she should be kept in her original position.
He even told her the truth that if Noble Consort Nianhulu was promoted to Imperial Noble Consort, the Tenth Prince would become the son of the Vice Queen, which would threaten the position of the Crown Prince.
As for why she was not given a title, it was because of her own reasons. At that time, she saw that Kangxi was so friendly with her, so she asked directly why he did not give her a title?
Kangxi took her hand and said:
"I said I would pamper you, love you, protect you, and give you the best of everything, but some things cannot be realized for the time being, and I don't want you to be inferior to anyone."
"Empress, what's wrong?" Hongying asked in confusion when she saw that the Empress was suddenly distracted.
"Nothing." Shi Nanxi came back to her senses, touched Xixi's head, and lowered her eyelashes, making it impossible to see her expression.
At 5 o'clock, the sky was getting dark and it was finally time for the New Year's Eve family dinner.