Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

When Lin Xi arrived at Fuxue Courtyard, Xie and Yu had already had a cup of tea. When they saw her coming in with the maid, they looked at each other and smiled narrowly.

"Mother, please forgive me. I am late." Lin Xifu bowed.

Mrs. Xie hurriedly called her up and asked her to sit down beside him. She then took her hand and looked her over carefully. She looked at the light blue color under her eyes that could not be covered up even with her powder on. She wanted to laugh but was also angry. "This Ting brother is too naughty."

Although she did not say it explicitly, everyone present heard the implicit meaning of her words. As the elder, Yu was more reserved and only covered her mouth with a handkerchief when she smiled. The maids all lowered their heads slightly, but their red earlobes betrayed their inner feelings.

Lin Xi, the person involved, blushed and quickly pulled her hand back, turned her head to the side, and defended herself, "It was a frost last night, and the room was a little cold, so I didn't sleep well."

"I see, that's how it is. But I see that you look a little short of energy and blood. Why don't we ask the court doctor to come and take a look?" Mrs. Xie did not expose her, but continued with what she said.

"I have some medicinal herbs that can replenish qi and blood. I'll send someone to deliver them to Cangfengyuan later." Seeing Lin Xi's actions, Yu couldn't help but tease her and spoke deliberately.

Lin Xi realized that if she let them continue talking, her reputation would be ruined, so she quickly turned around and changed the subject, saying, "Didn't we say that we were going to discuss the ancestor worship today? Mother and Second Aunt should tell me what they have to say."

Seeing that she was really embarrassed, the two stopped joking. Xie had someone serve Lin Xi a cup of Angelica and Astragalus tea, and then she said, "Ancestor worship is held every year, so it's nothing special. But this year, Ting'er was named the crown prince, and you got married, so it's a double happiness. We have to open the ancestral hall to take out the family tree and add your name to it."

After saying that, he took a sip of tea, looked at Yu and continued, "And Gao brother, before in Shanzhou, we just burned paper to inform our ancestors, but now it seems that it has been established, so it's time to write it down." Yu smiled and replied yes, and the three of them chatted on the topic for a while, and then they dispersed.

Lin Xi held the hand of the maid and slowly walked towards Cangfeng Courtyard. Seeing that she was having difficulty walking, Xie scolded Helan Ting again. She wanted to send a maid to carry Lin Xi back in a sedan chair, but Lin Xi decisively refused.

If He Lanting knew that she was in good health but suddenly sat in a sedan chair, he would definitely think that she was not feeling well and would definitely ask her about it. What would she say then? Would she say that she couldn't stand his clinging last night and her legs and feet were sore that she couldn't even walk today? Then he would be so embarrassed.

Besides, she had lived too comfortably in the past two months and had indeed neglected the exercise of this body. Thinking about the upcoming final plot point, she pursed her lips and decided to put sword training on the agenda starting tomorrow.

As expected, He Lanting came back very late tonight. The end of the year was approaching, and although the emperor had put down his pen and no longer dealt with government affairs in the court, there were still a lot of things waiting for him to decide. How to arrange the reception of foreigners, how to distribute the annual gifts to officials, and what the procedures for the palace banquet on New Year's Eve were all dependent on him to set the general direction so that his subordinates could make arrangements accordingly.

As the indispensable right-hand man of Emperor Hui, Duke Anguo was naturally very busy. He also wanted Helan Ting to be familiar with these things, so he asked Emperor Hui to take him with him so that there would be more people to help him with the work. Moreover, this person was Helan Ting, who was well-known for his talent, so Emperor Hui was naturally happy to oblige him.

Today, the father and son came to the palace for the New Year's Eve banquet ten days later. The New Year's Eve banquet was the most grand banquet of the year in the palace. The emperor would first ascend the Star-Picking Tower to report to the heaven about his merits and demerits in the past year, then go to the Moon-Watching Tower to accept the people's worship, and finally return to the palace to attend the banquet.

This series of procedures may seem simple on the surface, but they are extremely cumbersome to implement. From the route planning of the emperor's travel to the dish he casually enjoys at the banquet, there are extremely strict requirements. Although the Ministry of Rites has old precedents to follow, every detail still needs to be confirmed repeatedly before the New Year's Eve banquet. Emperor Hui is very particular about rules and regulations in this regard, so today he specially summoned officials from the Ministry of Rites and the father and son of Duke Anguo to the palace to rehearse the process of the banquet from beginning to end, in order to avoid any mistakes.

This drill was not a big deal, but it was hard work for all the accompanying officials, who had to endure it from dawn to dusk. Fortunately, Emperor Hui was not a stingy monarch, and after the drill was completed, he rewarded all the officials with a small banquet. Naturally, there was a lot of toasting at the banquet, and the monarch and his officials got along harmoniously.

He Lanting drank a lot of wine. The emperor gave a banquet, and the wine on the table was naturally rare fine wine. And everyone saw that he was quite favored by Emperor Hui and was being trained to be the next Duke of Anguo, so they also toasted him a lot of wine after Emperor Hui left the table.

He had the least experience and was the youngest among all the officials, so it was difficult for him to refuse. Although Duke Anguo tried to stop him, he still drank quite a bit. He didn't feel anything at the banquet, but now that he had returned home, he was a little drowsy due to the alcohol.

But he still remembered that Lin Xi was very clean. After smelling the alcohol on himself, he took a shower and changed his clothes before entering the inner room.

He opened the curtain and saw Lin Xi facing inside with her back to him. Her raven-black hair covered the entire pillow, leaving only a section of her snow-white neck exposed. The extreme white and extreme black formed a sharp contrast, which caught Helan Ting's eyes directly and sobered his brain, which was drowsy due to the alcohol.

Thinking of Lin Xi's trembling body and the stunning scenery under her jade neck when he kissed her last night, He Lanting couldn't help but feel a little moved, and his Adam's apple rolled, but seeing that Lin Xi had her back to him, breathing steadily, and was obviously asleep, he suppressed his thoughts, reached out his hand to gently pull the corner of the quilt that Lin Xi was pressing under him, and prepared to go to sleep.

But after pulling for a long time, he found that the originally silky quilt cover did not move at all. He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, and increased his strength in his hands. However, he saw that Lin Xi's body was somewhat displaced, and the quilt seemed to be stuck to her body, pressing her tightly. The originally quiet bed was also filled with slightly rapid breathing sounds.

Obviously, this little movement couldn't make He Lanting's breathing disordered, so the somewhat disordered breathing could only come from the person who had his back to him and seemed to be asleep. Thinking of this, He Lanting looked at the quilt wrapped tightly around Lin Xi and suddenly chuckled.

"Oh, I learned something new today, which made me feel very embarrassed. Fortunately, Xixi is sleeping soundly, which is really a godsend." He cleared his throat, as if talking to himself.

"you dare!"