The besties traveled through the book together, and the prince and general became abandoned husbands

During this meeting, the two only talked for a quarter of an hour.

After quickly repeating the most important things, Xu Junjun urged Chen Liu to leave.

Chen Liu jumped down from the window with two letters, and disappeared from sight with Chen Shiyi and others. Xu Junjun stood by the window and made sure that everyone had left before returning to eat.

Food gets cold quickly in winter. While the two were talking, most of the food on the table was already cold.

After eating something to fill his stomach, Xu Junjun got up and went downstairs to go home.

Ever since meeting Chen Liu, Xu Junjun's mood has been visibly high.

It’s like I’ve regained confidence in life, and I have different plans and arrangements every day.

For more than ten days in a row, apart from meeting with Chen Liu and others every seven days, Xu Junjun's biggest job was to immerse himself in refining medicine in the pharmacy.

As for the elixir for the young Emperor Tianqi, Xu Junjun was the first to prepare it and handed it to Wei Dong, who then continued to make medicine for himself.

Calculating the time, as Xu Junjun deliberately avoided her, she and Jun Xiaochen had not met for half a month.

During this period, Xu Junjun tried to prepare several pills for Jiezimudan, but all ended in failure.

Xu Junjun was not discouraged. She had never intended to achieve success overnight, and a few failures were within her expectations.

In a blink of an eye, there are only three or four days left until the Chinese New Year.

The entire street of the Tianqi Imperial Capital has already been hung with colorful lanterns, and the streets are bustling with people, making it even more lively. The Regent's Palace is no exception, and is preparing for the New Year.

However, because Jun Xiaochen liked quietness, the housekeeper only ordered people to hang some red lanterns to express the joy of the New Year, and did not prepare anything special.

Jun Xiaochen has been very busy, and these days he is busy until midnight every day before returning home.

As for everything in the mansion, he had no time to take care of it.

But Xu Junjun really disliked such a deserted courtyard.

In the past few years, whether in the capital or on the run with Niao Niao, they always celebrated every New Year with great enthusiasm.

It doesn't make sense that now that she has arrived in Tianqi and become a house arrest hostage, she has to spend the New Year guarding a deserted yard.

So, three days before the New Year, Xu Junjun specially set aside a day and asked all the maids in the courtyard to help her write Spring Festival couplets and cut red paper window decorations. She also asked the housekeeper to buy a lot of fireworks and send them into the courtyard.

Because her handwriting was not very beautiful, Xu Junjun specifically told the palace steward to find a handsome guard with beautiful handwriting to come over today to write Spring Festival couplets for them.

I don’t know how the housekeeper arranged it. The handsome guard Xu Junjun didn’t see it, but he did receive two beautifully written Spring Festival couplets.

Pulling open the Spring Festival couplets and looking at the bold and powerful characters on them, Xu Junjun nodded with satisfaction and immediately asked two maids to stick the couplets in front of the door.

Although the Spring Festival couplets posted on the door looked a bit weird, Xu Junjun just wanted to have fun and didn't care at all.

After pasting up Spring Festival couplets and window decorations, some beautiful and exquisite octagonal lanterns were hung in the yard.

Looking at the bare trees in the yard, Xu Junjun tilted her head and asked the housekeeper for some tufted silk thread. She twisted several strands together, taught the maids to weave a few Chinese knots together, and ordered the guards to hang them on the trees.

They were busy until night, when the lights in the courtyard were turned on, and the whole courtyard was dotted with red, which was so beautiful that it attracted the maids' admiration.

Looking at the yard that finally had a bit of the New Year atmosphere, Xu Junjun thought about the snacks that he and Niao Niao made during last year's New Year, and his mouth started to feel greedy again.

So the next morning, Xu Junjun took the maids with her, set up a small pot in the huge courtyard, and made fried snacks with everyone.

The small pot was steaming hot, and plates of crispy and spicy snacks were scooped out of the pot. Xu Junjun, wearing a homemade apron, with her long hair tied up high, revealing her full and smooth forehead, stood beside the small pot and scooped things out with great interest.

Three or four plates of delicious snacks were taken out. Xu Junjun handed the plates to the maid and instructed with a smile:

"Send these plates to Weidong and the old housekeeper in the mansion, and let them taste them together."

In the past two days, the maids in the courtyard have been busy following Xu Junjun, and the smiles on their faces have never faded.

Hearing Xu Junjun's words, several maids hurriedly took the plates and responded with a smile.

After the maids who delivered the things left, Xu Junjun ordered someone to light up the small stove brought from the kitchen and began to prepare the ingredients, ready to have hotpot with them later.

Xu Junjun was so approachable and treated them very well. The maids serving in the courtyard all hoped that she would stay in the Regent's Palace and be the mistress of the palace.

Wei Dong and the palace steward were originally busy with their own things, and were flattered to see the snacks made by Xu Junjun herself.

The two picked up the food and tasted it, and were instantly conquered by this novel food.

Thinking that the quarrel between Miss Xu and the prince had not yet ended, Wei Dong and the palace steward did the same thing even though they were not together.

So, Jun Xiaochen, who had stayed at home for the first time today, was handling government affairs in the study when two plates of identical snacks were brought up to him.

Looking at his master with an indifferent expression, Wei Dong brought two plates of still-steaming snacks to his table and whispered:

"Master, this is food made by Miss Xu herself. Would you like to try it?"

Hearing Xu Junjun, Jun Xiaochen held the memorial in his hand, raised his eyebrows slightly, and his amber eyes swept over the two plates of crispy snacks that looked decent, and finally fell on Wei Dong.

"She asked you to deliver it?"

Wei Dong was silent for a moment, then changed his words:

"These two plates of snacks were delivered to me by Miss Xu."

The implication is that it does not specify to whom it is given.

Jun Xiaochen saw through his word games and snorted coldly, his eyes filled with annoyance.

"Withdraw."

Jun Xiaochen has not yet fallen to the point of competing with his subordinates for things.

Just two plates of food.

Weidong stood still and suddenly talked about what Xu Junjun had done in the mansion in the past two days:

"Master, Miss Xu hasn't been refining medicine these past few days, and has been working in the courtyard with her maid.

They have hung many beautiful things in the courtyard. Today, the old housekeeper saw it and asked his subordinates if they should decorate the entire palace according to the style of Miss Xu's courtyard, so as to make the palace more joyful.

Jun Xiaochen put the reviewed memorial aside and opened another one to read it quickly.

Jun Xiaochen's eyebrows twitched slightly as he wrote on the memorial with a red brush:

"For such a small matter, the steward can make the decision himself. There is no need to consult the king."

Wei Dong was delighted and immediately bowed:

"I understand. I will pass the message on later."

The study was quiet for a moment. After Jun Xiaochen finished reviewing the memorial in his hand, he saw Wei Dong still standing there without moving. He frowned and said:

"What else?"

Wei Dong hesitated for a while, then clasped his fists and said:

"I just want to ask, will the master have dinner with Miss Xu during the New Year in two days?"

Tianqi also has the custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner. On New Year's Eve every year, the main family in the mansion will have a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner together. After the meal, they will set off fireworks together and give New Year's money to the younger generations.

There are no younger generations in the Regent's Palace, and there is only one master, Jun Xiaochen. Therefore, in previous years, they have never cared about the New Year's Eve dinner.

But this year with Xu Junjun, Weidong hopes that his master will be different.