Half an hour later, the female official beside the Queen came in with an imperial physician.
Seeing Jiang Changning sitting in the hall, he bowed and said, "Princess Jin."
"The condition of Princess Yu doesn't look good." Jiang Changning was unable to sleep because of the screams, so he simply sat in the hall.
The female official quickly led the imperial physician into the right room to examine Zhao Xifang.
By the time Zhao Xifang took the medicine, it was almost midnight.
Jiang Changning, who was used to going to bed early, was so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open. He fell on the bed and fell asleep soon after.
The next day was the ninth day of the first lunar month.
Early in the morning, the Queen sent someone to send Zhao Xifang back to Prince Yu's Palace.
The other noble ladies changed into Taoist robes, tied their hair into Taoist buns, and went to the main hall of the Zhai Palace.
Among the most important affairs of a country, sacrifice is one of them.
The heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, the forests and the marshes are all gods and we offer sacrifices to them.
The ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven is held nine times a year, and the most grand ceremony is held on the winter solstice. Offering sacrifices to heaven is originally for the purpose of repaying the heaven, so the winter solstice offering sacrifices to heaven is also called "great reward to heaven."
However, when it came to offering sacrifices to heaven, it was always the emperor who led all the civil and military officials, and female family members rarely participated.
This time, female members of the family were mainly present to offer sacrifices to the God of Heaven. Of course, the empress could not wear the sacrificial robes embroidered with the sun, moon and stars like the emperor.
The sacrificial robe she wore was embroidered with auspicious clouds holding the moon and a flying phoenix in the sky.
The sun is yang and represents the emperor.
The moon is yin and represents the emperor and empress.
The noble ladies followed the empress and concubines to the Circular Mound Altar, which was a three-story round platform made of clear blue glazed tiles.
Each floor has nine steps on all four sides. The center of the top floor is a round stone, and nine circles of fan-shaped stones are laid out on the outside, extending outward in multiples of nine.
The railings and watchtowers are also made of nine or multiples of nine, symbolizing the number of "sky".
The Queen is in the center, the Imperial Concubine is on her left, and the Virtuous Concubine is on her right.
The other concubines stood on the left and right according to their ranks.
Following the concubines were the princesses and the crown prince's wives, such as Jiang Changning, and then the wives of the various palaces and the crown prince's wives.
The queen led everyone to the Circular Mound Altar with a solemn look, and then someone said, "Kneel."
Except for the queen who had a cushion, everyone else knelt directly on the stones. Jiang Changning was glad that her clothes were thick enough.
"Welcome the Emperor God." The voice sounded again, "Knock once, kowtow again, kowtow three times, stand up."
After everyone stood up, he said, "Kneel down, kowtow once, kowtow again."
After three bows and nine kowtows, the man said, "Pray down jade and silk."
A white piece of jade silk with longevity patterns woven on it was passed up.
The process of offering sacrifices to heaven is lengthy and the rituals are complicated.
Jiang Changning was almost numb from the cold before he heard the man say, "Look for Liao."
This was the final step in offering sacrifices to heaven, involving the burning of 10,000 sheets of paper, 10,000 ingots of gold and silver foil, and prayers copied by the female relatives.
After about a quarter of an hour, the man said, "The ceremony is over."
Led by the Empress, the female members of the family returned to the main hall of the Zhai Palace.
They took off their Taoist robes, put on secular clothes, left the Temple of Heaven, and went home.
After returning to the palace, Jiang Changning first went to Liuxuanyuan to pay his respects to the Concubine Dowager.
Yan Yinyao was accompanying the concubine. The aunt and nephew were talking. Seeing Jiang Changning come in, Yan Yinyao smiled and said, "My cousin's wife is back. We can ask the cook to cook the snow frog."
"Girl, since you were thinking about this, why did you refuse when I asked the chef to cook it for you yesterday?" The concubine said with a smile.
"Snow frog is rare, so of course I have to wait for my cousin's wife to come back and eat it together. People who eat alone will easily get fat." Yan Yinyao said seriously.
"Thank you, cousin, for thinking of me. I've been eating vegetarian food for three days, without any midnight snacks, and I still feel like I've lost weight." Jiang Changning frowned deliberately and touched his face.
"That's right, my cousin's chin is pointed." Yan Yinyao echoed.
"My mother still loves me." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"My cousin's wife is so nice, who wouldn't love her, right, aunt?" Yan Yinyao asked with a smile.
Toffee smiled, "Yes."
Jiang Changning's eyebrows twitched slightly. Although she didn't quite understand what the two were singing, it didn't stop her from smiling and cooperating.
But until lunch, the concubine and Yan Yinyao did not make any excessive demands.
Jiang Changning relaxed a little. It was best to be able to live in harmony.
At noon that day, each of the three people had a bowl of snow clam stewed with egg and milk.
Princess Kangren and Zeng Mi had no share, and the imperial concubine even said, "This is a nourishing food, you little kids can't eat it."
After the meal, Jiang Changning chatted with the concubine and Yan Yinyao for a while, then returned to Rujing Courtyard. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he asked, "Is the hot water ready?"
It was inconvenient to take a bath in the Temple of Heaven, so she hadn't taken a bath for three days. Although the weather was cold and she didn't sweat, she felt very uncomfortable.
"It's ready." Xiulan said with a smile.
Jiang Changning went into the bathroom and washed her face with warm water.
Just as she was soaking in the water comfortably, Prince Jin, who missed his wife so much, returned from the yamen early.
When he entered the warm room and didn't see Jiang Changning, the smile on Prince Jin's face faded, "Where's the princess?"
"Your Majesty, the princess is taking a bath." Xiulan replied.
King Jin knew that Jiang Changning didn't need anyone to wait on her when she took a bath, so he smiled evilly, "The sun is shining brightly today, I want to give the princess a surprise, you guys leave."
With that, he strode towards the bathroom.
Jiang Changning, who was soaking in the water and humming a song, had never expected that Prince Jin would come back so early, and she never expected that he would give her such a "surprise".
The King of Jin quietly entered the bathroom and heard the person inside singing in a hoarse voice: "Oh, my dear, don't worry. When spring comes, the building will be covered with snow again. We will live up to the eternal love and the eternal love until we are old."
Prince Jin pinched his throat and asked, "Why are you so happy, young lady?"
Jiang Changning had never expected that a man would come in at this time. In panic, without thinking too much, he ran to the other side, screaming, "Ah! Pervert!"
She was so flustered that her hand touched the bathtub.
Seeing this, King Jin no longer had any intention of teasing and quickly said, "Ningning, it's me, it's me."
Jiang Changning, holding his chest, looked carefully and said, "Yong Zhou, you want to scare me to death!"
"No, I wanted to give you a surprise, but I didn't expect there was only surprise, not joy." Prince Jin said with a wry smile.
Jiang Changning also recovered by now. She was in Rujing Courtyard, and there were so many servants guarding outside. How could a strange scoundrel be so bold as to run in
However, in order to prevent the Prince of Jin from causing any other "surprises", it is better to make it clear, "Your Highness, in the future, you should do less of these things that only surprise but not delight."
"I understand. There won't be a next time." Prince Jin said solemnly.
"Your Majesty, please go out."
"I'll help Ningning wash." King Jin smiled, "Just as an apology for scaring Ningning just now."
"No, the weather is cold. Your Majesty, please stop making trouble. I don't want to drink bitter medicine again." Jiang Changning refused.
"Okay, I'll help Ningning take a bath when the weather gets warmer." Prince Jin didn't want to make Jiang Changning sick, so he could only give up this erotic thing with regret and walked out of the bathroom.
Sorry for the late update.
I took the medicine recommended by everyone and my cough stopped for a few days, but started coughing again yesterday.
My throat was congested and my mouth was full of blood from coughing. I was a little scared, so I went to the hospital.
(End of this chapter)