Qizhou

As the winter solstice approached day by day, Ye Huaiyu finally couldn't sit still, no matter how much he tried to hide, life would still pass, and even if he left his apprentice alone in the Qin Tianjian, he wouldn't feel at ease at home.

The sacrificial regulations have been finalized with the Ministry of Rites. Thanks to the servant of the Ministry of Rites who is busy every day, otherwise this matter may not be known for what it will be.He Qizhou went through the regulations of the Winter Solstice Festival again, and then he was relieved.

"It's hard work, it's really hard work."

As soon as the two of them turned their heads, they saw Ye Huaiyu stepping into the Qin Tianjian stepping on the snow. The young and old in the room almost forgot what Ye Jianzheng looked like, so they hurried over to salute him. He Qizhou heaved a sigh of relief and followed suit. He saluted: "Master Supervisor, are you in good health today?"

Ye Huaiyu coughed twice: "Hey... It's almost New Year's Eve, so I have to be a little bit happy. I feel in good health today, so I came to the palace to see if everyone is lazy."

All the colleagues immediately responded: "How dare you be lazy, Ye Jianzheng, you don't know, Mr. He is very fierce!"

"that is!"

He Qizhou turned his head slowly, and glanced at them with a smile: "Stop working?"

The group of chattering colleagues immediately dispersed and went back to their respective desks to continue sorting out the files.Seeing this scene, Ye Huaiyu actually felt a little relieved. He patted He Qizhou's shoulder and said, "It's kind of like that."

He Qizhou said in a low voice: "Master, it's because of your usual management."

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, but they didn't know when the Minister of Rites sneaked away. This person always did this, coming and going in a hurry, as if he was responsible for all the important matters of the Ministry of Rites. It was as if I couldn't leave him for a moment.

Ye Huaiyu looked at the thin and tall figure trotting all the way, and sighed: "Young man, you are in a hurry."

He Qizhou said: "He is the only one working in the Ministry of Rites now, can you not be in a hurry."

Upon hearing this, Ye Huaiyu became worried: "The day after tomorrow is the winter solstice, how about the sacrifice? Don't make any mistakes!"

He Qizhou smiled and said: "Don't worry, what he just took away is the last auspicious time calculation for the winter solstice. The morning will be over that day, and the emperor will leave all the officials to sacrifice together, followed by a dumpling banquet. After eating the dumplings, he will take a day off , everything is arranged, there will be no mistakes."

Ye Huaiyu nodded when he heard the words: "Yes, this is the rule every year, you have to pay attention to the seat number, and there must be no mistakes."

"This is the work of the Ministry of Rites. There is no way to make a mistake. Don't worry, you won't be able to run away." He Qizhou helped the master aside, fearing that he would be worried, so he helped him to the table beside him, and picked up the charter for the record. Once he had seen it, Ye Huaiyu's hanging heart was finally put back in his stomach.

Another day later, He Qizhou received a pigeon from the General's Mansion. Qin Ge's writing style is always concise, without so many twists and turns. The whole article is just one sentence: "Follow Captain Bai to lead the troops." Northern tour, contact us by letter if you have any news."

He Qizhou Zhanxin glanced at it, didn't say anything, just waved the note casually, and threw the note into the charcoal basin for heating.

The long-planned Winter Solstice Festival is finally here.

The weather is beautiful, the snow that fell the night before stopped before dawn.When He Qizhou went out, he picked up Ye Jianzheng along the way. The morning light reflected through the snow on the eaves, making the walls of Chang'an Palace even more vermilion.The two masters and apprentices walked slowly towards the main hall stepping on the snow that covered their insteps.

The sacrifice that has been arranged for a long time is about to begin, and all civil and military officials bow down one after another.Meng Yincheng was dressed in court clothes, with a solemn expression. Guided by the Minister of Rites, he completed the sacrificial agenda step by step. The moment he lit high incense, his shadow was reflected in the vast snow, like a standing tree. Green pine, especially solemn.

After the sacrificial ceremony was completed, Meng Yincheng turned around slowly and said in a loud voice: "My dear friends, you have worked hard for the country for another year. Don't be restrained at the dumpling banquet later, everyone. Come in and be loyal to the country and the people in the coming year." duty."

The kneeling officials responded one after another and thanked them according to the rules.

Seeing that the ceremony did not go wrong, the two hearts of the Ministry of Rites and Qin Tianjian were finally settled.After such a long period of hard work, it was finally not in vain.All the officials were seated, and the round tables were neatly arranged. Each table was covered with red brocade, according to auspicious intentions, embroidered with festive patterns with gold thread.He Qizhou greeted the censor, then returned to Qin Tianjian's round table, and sat down in an orderly manner.

The dumplings in the imperial dining room had already been prepared, and they were served steaming hot. According to the official position, they were divided into different fillings and styles. The steam was thick for a while, and there was a lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve.

Ye Huaiyu looked around and asked, "Where is General Qin? Today is the winter solstice, why haven't we seen him?"

He Qizhou picked up the dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it hot and swallowed it: "He was ordered to go on a northern tour, and he has business to do."

"Business? Just him?" Ye Huaiyu was stunned, as if he had heard an unimaginable joke, "Is it reliable? It's not that this old man looks down on him. Just this General Qin, he is famous in the court and the public for his incomprehensibility. Yes, if he is really asked to carry such a heavy burden, can he bear it?"

"That's right." He Qizhou smiled, "Everyone thinks so, so he went right."

"When did you learn to talk about strange things all day long, and still play tricks with Master..." Ye Huaiyu teased him, and also picked up his chopsticks, "But since the Holy Majesty gave him a chance, he dared not refuse cherish."

He Qizhou said: "Master, this is what Qin Ge relies on. This is called great wisdom and foolishness."

"It's rare for you to praise him." Ye Huaiyu took a bite of the chopsticks in his hand, and he was stunned when he took a bite.Seeing him in a daze, He Qizhou hurriedly asked, "What's the matter, Master, aren't you familiar?"

The two looked down, and saw that half of the dumplings held on the chopsticks were different from those of the people around them.

Since the founding of Dameng, there has been a tradition of winter solstice sacrifices and dumpling feasts for officials. The number of dumplings, containers and fillings are all passed down from generation to generation according to the rules of the ancestors.Qin Tianjian did not go to court on weekdays. Although he was highly valued, he was only a junior official of the sixth or seventh rank. According to the regulations, these officials of the sixth or seventh rank should use celadon to hold sixteen dumplings filled with fresh shrimp.

But now, the half of the dumpling that Ye Jian is holding is obviously gray and black.

Ye Huaiyu was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak out. No matter how he thought about it, this color could not be fresh shrimp. For so many years, he had memorized the priestly rules of the Winter Solstice Dumpling Banquet. With this color and specification, it could only be the sea cucumber dumplings of the first-rank officials in the court.

This is a veritable arrogance.

He Qizhou also saw the trace of the sea cucumber, he hurriedly raised his chopsticks, and casually punctured a few dumplings on Ye Huaiyu's plate.Each, every dumpling comes with sea cucumbers. This is not a misplacement, but a whole plate, which is the dumplings that are being served to Qin Tianjian according to the specifications of a first-rank official.

There was a loud sound of pushing the door behind him, and the joyous atmosphere froze immediately. When everyone turned their heads, they saw the furious Prime Minister Zhang standing at the door. The emperor noticed the movement at the door, and he was not displeased with his rudeness of pushing the door suddenly. He greeted with a smile: "Prime Minister, why are you late, come here, come up and sit quickly, the dumplings are still hot."

But Prime Minister Zhang coughed lightly, and said loudly: "The old minister is reckless, disturbing His Majesty's interest."

"If so, come on, take your seat quickly."

Zhang Qirui entered the hall, but he didn't follow his seat to the round table. He half-closed his eyes, and slowly walked to the table of Qin Tianjian, which was closest to the door. He Qizhou hurriedly put one end of his plate on Ye Huaiyu's plate , to cover this terrible dumpling for him.

Ye Jianzheng got up quickly, and bowed respectfully: "Your Excellency."

"My lord, I can't stand it." Zhang Qirui smiled slightly, with a few wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, "This dumpling feast is jointly organized by the Ministry of Rites and Qin Tianjian. Only Qin Tianjian can take on this important task, and it is really not easy to make the dumpling banquet so prosperous."

When He Qizhou heard this, he immediately bowed to the Prime Minister: "Master Prime Minister, Jianzheng is sick at home these days, and I and the Ministry of Rites jointly manage the entire festival regulations. If there are any mistakes or omissions, please let me know."

"Express? I think the two of you are singing together, and I'm afraid that you don't have the official in your eyes." Zhang Qirui dragged out the tune, pushed away the supervisor standing in front of the table, picked up He Qizhou's plate, and held it up to the table. He stepped forward, "Since Mrs. He organized it, please ask Mrs. He to see for himself, what is on your plate?"

He Qizhou didn't change his expression: "Of course it's dumplings."

When Zhang Qirui heard the words, he seemed to have heard a big joke. He picked up his chopsticks, randomly opened a half-cold dumpling, and showed it to the surrounding ministers to watch: "Did you hear what Mr. He said? Of course it is Dumplings, Mrs. He and Mrs. Ye are of the same mind, even the dumplings must be filled with the same kind of filling, not sea cucumbers, it is really not worthy of the hard work of the two of you."

He Qizhou's celadon plate, like Ye Huaiyu's, was full of sea cucumber dumplings.

He Qizhou lowered his head, glanced lightly, and said calmly: "Master Prime Minister, I really don't understand, these dumplings were neither made by my Qin Tianjian, nor cooked by my Qin Tianjian, let alone served by us. Why should the fault of the Imperial Dining Room be blamed on us?"

Cheng Xiangxiang didn't intend to argue with him, he twirled around with the dumplings in his hands, letting the ministers sitting next to him read them all, and then slowly put down his chopsticks.The moment he put down the chopsticks, his tone became furious: "Okay, this dumpling has nothing to do with you, then Mr. He, tell me why I came so late?"

He Qizhou smiled slightly: "Maybe it's because you got up late, but the cries in your house are not under my supervision, so you can't blame us, can you?"

"I believe that your lords received the invitation to the dumpling banquet a few days ago, but it just so happened that I didn't." The muscles at the corners of Zhang Qirui's mouth tensed up, as if suppressing great anger, he said word by word, " I would like to ask Qin Tianjian, if the Minister of Rites is not here, do you still see me as a prime minister?"

"Prime Minister, don't be impatient." He Qizhou said without changing his expression, "Every invitation is made according to the regulations, and we send people to the mansion one by one. The Prime Minister has a high position and is loyal to the country. Naturally, this cannot be missed, so why did your lord make such a fuss when he clearly received it but said he did not receive it?"

This posture of the needle point facing the wheat awn is really not like He Qizhou in the past, Ye Huaiyu stood aside, was too frightened to speak.

The two argued for a while, and then there was a moment of silence. The swords were on the verge of breaking out, and none of the adults present dared to dissuade them.Zhang Qirui looked into He Qizhou's eyes, and the latter stared back without timidity. After looking at it, the Prime Minister actually laughed: "Master He, I think you are really calculating and planning every day, and you think you are crazy. , I am the first rank of the court, the official and the prime minister! Am I guilty of wronging your Qin Tianjian for an invitation letter?"

He Qizhou replied fluently: "The lower officials are also very difficult to understand, but you insist on doing so, and only you know the reason for this."

"Okay." Zhang Qirui stopped arguing with him, but raised his hand and waved towards the door, "Go, bring me the people from the imperial dining room!"