Minister Gu Ming can't take care of himself

Another day will be New Year's Eve. Eunuch Xiaocheng put the polished camel bone beads on Xu Guanchen's case early in the morning. Xu Guanchen mixed the incense and smoked it slowly so that all 49 beads were stained with new fragrance.

The weaving mansion sent the newly made Duke Ding's gown, which will be hung in the room to be worn by the officials when they meet and worship tomorrow.

Feiyang held on to the glittering hem of his clothes and was reluctant to let go, Xu Guanchen smoked the beads, and suddenly remembered that on New Year's Eve one year, Xiao Zhi glanced at his clothes and asked him if he had any grudge against the Zhizao Mansion.

It turned out that Xiao Zhi didn't mean that he was ugly, but that the clothes made for him by the Weaving House were not shiny enough.

He also thought of the box of beads that Xiao Zhi stuffed here last time, thanks to the fact that he didn't think of stringing these beads together to make him a chain.

That was really... dazzling.

I usually dress gloomyly, but I want others to dress like a peacock.

The new fragrance was made of tung bead and camel bone bead, Xu Guanchen picked one up and put it under Feiyang's nose, asking him to smell it.

Feiyang rubbed his nose: "It smells so good."

In the small copper basin, the bluegrass is soaked in warm water, and the 49 beads are washed once, and the aroma is quite astringent.

Wanting to smell it again, he nodded, "It smells good."

Xu Guanchen twisted the silk thread, and Feiyang handed him the beads, one by one, Xu Guanchen reconnected the torn beads.

Originally, it was a time-consuming and mind-consuming thing, but it took him a whole day to play with these beads.

It happened that Xiao Zhi was not in the palace during the day, so after Xu Guanchen put on the rosary, he still put it in the wooden box where the beads were originally placed.

Feiyang stayed with him in the room for a whole day, seeing the beads finally became strings, stretched out a finger, and poked him lightly: "Brother, go out and play."

Xu Guanchen nodded: "Then let's go out and play for a while."

So Feiyang supported him and ran outside: "Go out and play!"

Xu Guanchen thumped the ground: "I mean you..."

Outside, I met General Pei who came into the palace. Seeing Fei Yang coming out, General Pei hurriedly greeted Eunuch Xiao Cheng: "Quick, bring that woolen hat."

Feiyang was sluggish.

Eunuch Xiao Cheng suppressed a smile and presented the hat made of fluffy wool.

General Pei coaxed Feiyang: "Uncle went to get the wool for you, come and try it on." He held a small ball of wool in his other hand: "There is also a fat sheep tail, come and wear it for the audience to wear." Brother Chen, do a dance."

Feiyang glared at him fiercely, took Xu Guanchen's hand, and dragged him back.

General Pei shouted from behind: "Remember to wear new clothes the day after tomorrow, Brother Xu, remember to wear white fox fur."

Feiyang lay down by the door and watched, waiting for General Pei to leave before he dared to go out to play.

He and Xu Guanchen were standing at the foot of Funing Palace to play.It is a game of guessing which hand the melon seeds are in. The person who guesses correctly goes up one step, and the person who reaches the gate of the temple first wins.

At that time, Eunuch Xiao Cheng was hanging a lantern on the porch, Fei Yang was three steps ahead temporarily, Xu Guanchen turned his back and crossed his hands, exchanging melon seeds in his sleeves.

When Xu Guanchen was lowering his head, suddenly someone stood in front of him, and the shadow just covered him.

"Feiyang." Xu Guanchen said seriously, "Don't peek."

Feiyang behind him said aggrievedly: "It's not Feiyang."

Xiao Zhi caressed his face, then touched his hand: "It's me."

Xu Guanchen withdrew his hand uncomfortably, and tilted his head: "Just playing, don't make trouble."

Xiao Zhi complied and raised his troublesome hands: "Let's play."

On New Year's Eve, all officials pay homage.

Below the jade steps, stand upright according to the grade.

Xu Guanchen was called "little father-in-law" not only because of his younger age, but also because of his seniority.The old emperor and Xu Guanchen's grandpa belonged to the same generation as Lao Dingguo, so Xiao Zhi was considered to be of his uncle's generation, and the generations of the princes in the court were also older than Xu Guanchen.

When he met and worshiped, he stood among a group of white-haired and white-bearded princes, and it was even more interesting to call him "little prince".

After the visit, His Majesty rewarded the ancestors face to face, each family received the rewards, and enshrined the rewards to the ancestors before confessing to the ancestors, and then began to worship the ancestors.

Xu Guanchen was no exception. If he got a reward, he would go back to worship his ancestors.

It's just that the rewards from Duke Ding's Mansion are much higher than the rewards from the other Dukes.

When Xu Guanchen came out with several lords, the carriage was waiting inside the gate of the triple palace, under the eaves of the carriage, the lantern with the word "Xu" swaying in the wind.

The princes stroked their white beards and said with a smile that it was a blessing that the grandson of Duke Ding was favored by the emperor.

Xu Guanchen felt embarrassed and walked along the palace road with them.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, it was snowing lightly, and the attendants behind them held umbrellas to support them. Several old grandpas walked slowly in the snow, and when they left the second palace gate, they began to chat and laugh.

The hundreds of officials leaving the palace lined up neatly, Xu Guanchen took a careful look.

His teacher, He Jijiu, had long since ceased to serve in the court, so he was not here. Yang Xun's father, Marquis Enning, was supported by Yang Xun, and he was also walking with the officials, looking in poor health.

Looking further, he didn't recognize any of the characters here.

After leaving the palace gate, several father-in-laws waved their hands and said goodbye.

Xu Guanchen got into the carriage at last, and the palace people held the rewards they received this morning and lined up in a long line, followed behind, and went back to Duke Dingguo's mansion together with him.Stopped in front of the long street, almost blocking the way of others.

The affairs of Duke Dingguo's mansion were managed by the mansion. Xu Guanchen worshiped incense and kowtowed in the ancestral hall, then covered the door, dragged the futon, and sat down cross-legged before the confession.

With his clothes hem on the floor, Xu Guanchen fell forward, knocked his forehead on the edge of the confession case, and made a loud bump.

Xu Guanchen rubbed his head, leaned against the confession, stared at several rows of memorial tablets in a daze.

I don't know how long it will take, and he will become one of them.

Xu Guanchen sighed unconsciously: "It would be great if my brother was still here."

He got up, took off his elder brother's tablet with both hands, held it in his arms, and wiped the word "Xu Wen" on the spiritual tablet with his sleeve.

Dingguo's mansion started with martial arts, if the elder brother was there, the mansion wouldn't ask a Taoist priest to be in charge, let alone a Taoist priest who was dying soon.

But after him, who should preside over Duke Dingguo's mansion?

What happened afterward was not something he should think about.

Xu Guanchen put his elder brother's spiritual tablet back to its original place, pinched the center of his eyebrows, bowed deeply again, turned and left.

The New Year's Eve palace banquet in the evening is a family banquet for members of the royal family.

The carriage that came to pick up people from the palace arrived at the gate of Duke Dingguo's mansion just after noon.

Eunuch Xiaocheng, who came with the carriage, explained: "Feiyang didn't see the little eunuch all morning, and the disturbance made His Highness Funing restless. His Majesty didn't like his quarrel, so he raised his knife in anger... and started a fight."

Xu Guanchen lifted the hem of his clothes, got into the carriage, and opened the curtain again: "It's cold outside, Mr. Cheng, come up too."

Eunuch Xiao Cheng didn't refuse, and sat down beside him, seeing his pale face in a blink of an eye, he said, "Is the little eunuch cold?"

Xu Guanchen picked up the hand stove in the carriage and sniffed, "It's not very cold."

Eunuch Xiaocheng said again: "So you miss your relatives?"

He didn't say anything, it was a tacit agreement.

Silent for a while, Eunuch Xiao Cheng stretched out his hand, held his hand through his sleeve, and smiled at him again, with firm but gentle eyes.

When the carriage rattled and drove into the palace gate, Xu Guanchen asked: "Eunuch Xiao Cheng said earlier that you entered the palace?"

"It was only a few months before he was eighteen, and he was not sent into exile because of his age."

"Then Eunuch Cheng, how many years have you been in the palace?"

"Back to my young master, 13 years." Eunuch Xiaocheng smiled, "But because the slave has a small face and takes up the word 'small', people often feel that the slave has not entered the palace for a long time. The servants in the palace change. After one crop after another, the slave can be regarded as staying for a long time."

Xu Guanchen made a calculation in his heart, Xiao Cheng was eight years older than him, and was the same age as his elder brother Xu Wen.

"My brother..."

Eunuch Xiao Cheng was still smiling: "Prince Xu is the most energetic young man in Jinling City."

Xu Wen had been rolling with his father and uncle in the front line very early. At that time, Xu Guanchen was still young, and his impression of his brother was that he only came back during the New Year's Eve. People who frightened him as soon as he came back would use camel bones to coax him into saying he was a human. Bones, picked him up again after a while, and said that he would throw him into the lake to hear the noise.

At this time, when Eunuch Xiao Cheng mentioned the word "vigorous", Xu Guanchen remembered that his elder brother didn't seem to only scare him.

Xu Wen has a group of close friends.The bright moon was filled in a silver bowl, and before Xu Wen even had time to take off his armor, he drank with a group of friends in the courtyard.He hugged Xu Guanchen on his lap, the armor made Xu Guanchen uncomfortable, Xu Wen was slightly drunk, and asked him to be quiet, so he dipped some spirits into his mouth with jade chopsticks.

Xu Guanchen licked his chopsticks, tasted the wine for the first time, it was very fresh.During the meeting, someone said that Xu Wen was going to have a lieutenant general.

Xu Wen grabbed the chopsticks, slapped it on the stone table, and scolded with a smile: "Fart, my brother is going to be the champion."

After Xi San left, Xu Wen carried him back to his room to sleep, and fell down on the couch with a bang.He took Xu Guanchen, who was seven or eight years old, into his arms, touched his hand calluses from writing, put it under his nose and smelled it, and nodded with satisfaction: "Well, my brother smells very good——"

Xu Wen smirked: "—Scholarly fragrance."

Xu Guanchen pinched his hand, but he remained motionless, smiling and put Xu Guanchen's hand on his shoulder: "Little champion, give me a shoulder squeeze."

After a long time, Xu Guanchen realized that the taste of wine sometimes tastes not as happy as his brother's drinking.

The carriage had already passed the gate of the triple palace and stopped directly in front of Funing Hall. Eunuch Xiao Cheng got out of the carriage, stretched out his sleeves and stretched out his hand to Xu Guanchen.

Xu Guanchen came back to his senses, held his hand, stepped on the footstool, and got out of the carriage.

Eunuch Xiao Cheng's hands are rough, calluses made from working in the palace in his early years.

Xu Guanchen gathered the fox fur on his body, shook off the broken snow on his clothes in front of the gate of Funing Hall, and walked into the hall.

In the hall, Xiao Zhi and Fei Yang were sitting face to face, only making vicious and cold eye contact, a stove was lit between them, and chestnuts were roasting beside the stove.

There are two plates on the small table next to them, both of which are filled with peeled chestnuts, but there is a line drawn on the table between the plates, which is clearly distinguished, it seems to be painted by Fei Yang.

Seeing him coming back, the two turned their heads together and greeted him warmly.

Xu Guanchen paused as he untied the fox fur, and asked tentatively, "I'm back?"